THEO 530 DB 1
Who is the historical Jesus Christ? This is a question that theologians have debated on for many years. During the past three centuries, two different primary approaches to Christology, Christ’s study, have emerged. One approach being Christology from Above and the other Christology from Below.
Christology from Above takes the approach that begins with the divinity and pre-existence of Christ. Per Erickson, “The basis of the understanding of Christ is not the historical Jesus, but the kerygma, the church’s proclamation regarding the Christ.” This approach supports the presupposition that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and had supernatural abilities. From this presupposition, the discovery of real Jesus can be explained because historical facts alone cannot provide a precise description. The approach bases on the biblical writing of Paul and the fourth gospel. The fourth gospel Erickson highlights that “The former contain more explicitly theological interpretations, whereas the Synoptics are basically matter-of-fact reporting of Jesus’s actions and teachings.” Christology from Above is associated with twentieth-century theologians like Karl Barth and Emil Brunner, the later writing The Mediator, a widely used source to support Christology from Above. Within his writing, Emil Brunner writes, “We are bound to oppose the view that Christian faith springs out of historical observation, out of the historical picture of Jesus of Nazareth.” This approach’s strength is that it recognizes that the value of the incarnation was the effect of Jesus’s life in the believer. A weakness of this approach is the problem of subjectivity in one form. How can we know for sure that the Jesus we know is not based on just our feelings? When you take something by faith alone, you leave yourself in danger of losing the focus of what you are taking faith in.
On the other hand, the approach of Christology from below begins with the human aspect, and the ministry of Jesus ad moves towards his divinity and the mystery of the incarnation. The approach was primarily practiced after Rudolf Bultman published Jesus and the Word. The Christology from below is concerned with historical facts rather than faith. Erickson highlights that “faith in the kerygmatic Christ cannot with certain be connected with the actual earthly life of Jesus of Nazareth.” The approach is concerned with the human nature of Jesus. The approach portrays Jesus as a human without supernatural abilities. The approach is, however, faced with challenges when trying to explain the mysterious features of Jesus. The strong basis on historical facts fails to address the divine nature of Jesus.
Erickson provides “An Alternative Approach” to Christology. Erickson sets out to “unite Christology from above and Christology from below so as to preserve the best elements of both while minimizing the problems of each.” The approach is based on the Augustinian model, where faith precedes but does not remain independent of reason. The model stresses beginning with kerygma, which serves as the hypothesis to interpret data.