The Person of Jesus Christ

Question 1

3 potential aspects of JCs authority

Answer 1

1. As Son of God
2. As a teacher of wisdom
3. As a liberator

Question 2

meaning of ‘son’ - hebrew/greek and how this was used in old testament

Answer 2

• In the East ‘Son’ or ‘Bar’ in Hebrew can mean someone’s actual son, but can also be symbolic to mean that someone is like someone else i.e. holiest person to ever have lived in JC’s case as he would be the person who shows what God is like more than anyone else.
• Old Testament
o Hosea 11:1 - the whole people of Israel are called God’s son; Kings of Israel also called Son of God
o Psalm 2:7 - in this context, used as a metaphor to mean a very holy person who was close to God.
o First Xians used the term in the OT to mean the Jewish Messiah who was the special servant of God.
o Only later that the term meant JC was divine.
o Incarnation of JC not found in early NT, at end of first century that John speaks of JC as God incarnate.

Question 3

christology from above

Answer 3

• Christology from above - scholars who place emphasis on JC as divine. Has strong scriptural backing, particularly in John 1. JC becomes flesh and reaches out to humanity. Starting point of Christology used by Aquinas and Barth.

Question 4

christology from below

Answer 4

• Christology from below - starts from the humanity of JC and then works its way towards JC being divine. Bible support within Matthew 1, who shows JC as coming from the house of David. Used by Pannenberg and J. A. T Robinson.

Question 5

biblical support of JC as son of god

Answer 5

Scriptural support all comes from John’s Gospel. JC is recast as the incarnate Son, identified with the divine logos.
• John 14:6 - ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no one goes to the father except me’
• It suggests JC has a unique connection and knowledge of God. Fundamentalists interpret this to mean that only Christian will go to heaven.
• John 10:30 - ‘The Father and I are one’
• Suggests that JC knew who he was. Supports higher Christological view that JC was the Son of God in the divine sense.
• John 14:28 - JC is about to go through the passion, he says that he is going to the Father, who is greater than him.
• Appears contradictory in that he is not the same as God, but that God is greater. Supports Christology from below.

Question 6

problems with jesus’ humanity and divinity

Answer 6

o To save humanity, JC had to be divine as only God has that redemptive power
• If Jesus was God, did he really suffer on the cross?
• If Jesus didn’t feel pain, the resurrection is not real and Jesus was not human.
o If he wasn’t God he couldn’t overcome the forces of evil
• If he wasn’t human, he couldn’t overcome these forces for humanity
o If he’s not God, he can’t reveal the Father
• If he’s not human, he can’t reveal the Father
o If Jesus is fully human, was he corrupted as Paul writes in Romans 7:18-19 about humans?
• How could humanity be redeemed if not all of human nature was saved?
• Did the word replace the human mind and soul with divine one?

Question 7

how did the church resolve the problems of JC’s humanity and divinity

Answer 7

o First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD decided JC is homoousios (same substance as the Father) and therefore is divine due to God.
o Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD decided Christ is two natures; the two come together in one person and hypostasis. It is not a mix; JC is fully human and divine, and has come together in one being.

Question 8

3 possibilities of whether JC knew he was divine

Answer 8

• He completely knew he was God (scientia visionis)
• He was human, with a small knowledge that he was God (scientia infusa)
• He didn’t know he was God (scientia experiential)

Question 9

rahner view of JC’s divinity

Answer 9

• Different levels to Jesus’ consciousness, multi-faceted layered approach
• Compares JC to an onion and its many layers
• Layers on surface show humanity e.g. human emotions
• Deeper within was a divine self-consciousness
• Knew he was human more so than divine

Question 10

gerald o’collins view of JC divinity

Answer 10

• Cannot understand Jesus’ inner experiences as he left no writings
• Must show an appreciation of the complexity of knowledge e.g. reality, memory
• Consciousness is not the same as knowledge of a separate object. Consciousness always involves a degree of reflection
• It is very difficult to understand JC’s consciousness, ‘it was rather a self consciousness and self-presence in which he was intuitively aware of his divine reality’

Question 11

how many miracles did JC perform

Answer 11

o 17 accounts of healing people, including 3 of people being brought back to life.
o 8 nature miracles

Question 12

stanton view of JC’s miracles as proof for SofG

Answer 12

o Graham Stanton claims the various accounts suggest JC did possess a peculiar ability to perform miracles.

Question 13

JC’s miracles as proof for SofG - mark 4:35-41

Answer 13

The Calming of the Storm
• JC and disciples go on lake, bad storm
• Disciples panic as JC is asleep
• Wake JC up, JC says ‘Quiet, be still!’ and the win dies down
• Disciples say: ‘who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him’
• Suggests they don’t know he is the Son of God

Question 14

sanders view of JC’s miracles as proof for SofG

Answer 14

o E. P. Sanders says ‘the early Christians thought that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God and a miracle worker’
• Claims that Jesus as Son of God was a later development, as contemporaries do not depict JC a miracle worker, it is solely a Christian idea.
• Claim that the calming of the storm was coincidental, does not attribute it to any kind of divine power. Sanders feels that contemporaries did not think that his miracles made him Son of God, but someone who was close to God.

Question 15

JC’s miracles as proof for SofG: mark 6:47-52

Answer 15

JC walking on water
• Disciples fishing, another storm
• ‘He was about to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost’
• JC responds: ‘take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid’
• It is I means ‘I am’ in Greek
• That is the title ascribed to God in the OT and the meaning of Yahweh is originally found in Exodus 3:14.
• Seems to be link between the miracle and deity of Jesus, suggests development of high Christology.
• By calling himself ‘I am’, JC is equating himself with God; Son of God takes deeper and spiritual meaning.

Question 16

boring response to mark 6:47-52

Answer 16

• M. Eugene Boring claims that the response of the disciples suggests they do not yet understand the full significance of this event. This is different to Matthew’s perception of the event in that he shows the disciples praising JC (Matthew 14:33)

Question 17

hume response to mark 6:47-52

Answer 17

• David Hume claims it is not possible to walk on water and that you must either trust or reject the story.

Question 18

schillebeeckx response to mark 6:47-52

Answer 18

• Edward Schillebeeckx claims the story is spiritual and metaphorical, not meant to be taken literally.

Question 19

wright response to mark 6:47-52

Answer 19

• N. T. Wright claims Jesus’ miracles show a greater authority than simply a power to alter the way the universe usually works: JC inaugurates God’s kingdom.

Question 20

JC’s miracles as proof for SofG: john 9:1-41

Answer 20

• Man born blind
• JC asks why he was born blind, did his mother or father sin?
• JC said neither, born so God’s power can work in him
• Grabs mud, spits in it and rubs in man’s eyes, he can see again
• Pharisees find out, angry because it’s the Sabbath
• Pharisees speak to man and parents
• JC goes back to blind man and talks to him ‘do you believe in the Son of man?’ and then admits to being the son of man.
• Evidence for JC as son of God
• Or… metaphor for us being blind to knowledge of God until we meet JC

Question 21

nestorius view of JC’s birth

Answer 21

• Nestorius argues that there are two natures of God: the divine and the human, completely separate and only became one when human JC became one with the will of God.

Question 22

Apollinarius of Laodicean view of JC birth

Answer 22

• Apollinarius of Laodicea worried about the increasingly widespread belief that Logos assumed human nature in its entirety, felt Logos was contaminated by human nature. Worried that sinlessness of JC would be compromised. Argued that JC possessed a human mind, problematic as mind contaminated with sin. Came to conclusion that JC was fully divine, but not fully human.

Question 23

generic criticisms of JC birth

Answer 23

• Human nature cannot be fully redeemed if Logos only took on part of human nature
• Docetism - JC is totally divine, humanity solely on appearance. Sufferings apparent rather than real. Deemed heresy as suggested deceitful God and fake atonement.
o Many people believe John’s gospel was written as a polemic against heresies that existed at the time e.g. Gnosticism and Docetism. This would explain the high Christology of John, mingled with JC as man. Raises issues of historical authenticity.

Question 24

council of chalcedon ad451 response to criticisms of JC birth

Answer 24

• Council of Chalcedon AD451 said that JC is one person in two natures.

Question 25

wright criticism of jC birth

Answer 25

• N. T. Wright - no pre-Xian Jewish tradition suggested the Messiah would be born a Virgin, no one used Isaiah 7:14 before Matthew, therefore story = surprising, unless it was true.

Question 26

borg criticism of JC birth

Answer 26

• Marcus Borg - Does not accept birth stories as historical
• Cannot accept that Mark would have written a gospel without reference to the birth of JC
• Matthew and Luke trace genealogy of JC back to King David, suggesting virgin birth is not true
• Birth in Luke takes place in stable, house in Matthew
• Stories are metaphorical analogies
• ‘I do not see the story of the virginal conception as a marvel of biology that, if true, proves that JC was really the SofG. Rather, it is an early Christian narratival confession of faith and affirmation of allegiance to JC’

Question 27

wilkens criticism of JC birth

Answer 27

o Wilhelm Wilkens published a book suggesting the original gospels were anti-docetic and that the passion etc. was added at a later stage.

Question 28

wright and resurrection of JC

Answer 28

o Difficult to harmonise the various accounts
o N. T Wright argues that these anomalies are not problematic, ‘the surface discrepancies do not mean that nothing happened; rather, they mean that the witnesses have not been in collision’
o JC is transformed into new mode of physicality, Wright sees the stories as full of metaphorical layers and meaning to convey a message
• 1 Cor 15
• Death, burial and resurrection viewed as events in which JC’s story climaxed
• Saw JC last out of the disciples, makes different experience
• Views resurrection as beginning of the end and the resurrection of believers as the final end of the end, opens up hope for LAD

Question 29

borg and o’collins comment on JC resurrection

Answer 29

• Marcus Borg
• Paul does no mention a tomb
• He lists people to who Christ ‘appeared’. Verb connects to the idea of apparitions, Paul could be suggesting that resurrection appearances are like apparitions, not seeing person in bodily form
o Gerald O’Collins claims the resurrection shows JC’s ultimate power and authority

Question 30

general points for resurrection proving JC as son of God

Answer 30

o + Greatest miracle of all, underlines JC’s power
o + Teaches that God is found through suffering
o + Full and final revelation of JC

Question 31

lessing view on resurrection

Answer 31

• Re should be rational and lack anything supernatural
• Needs to be clear distinction between what has been made up about JC and what JC may have said/done
• Lessing’s ditch: when we reach a moment in JC’s life that is contrary to reason, we should not cross the ugly ditch of irrationalism, reason is key.
• Resurrection is untenable

Question 32

strauss view on resurrection

Answer 32

• David Friedrich Strauss
• ‘Subjective conception of the mind’
• JC transfigured into a ‘mythical risen Christ’
• Did not think evangelists tried to distort accounts of JC because Palestine was dominated by mythical worldview of the resurrection, it was the way in which early Xians related to the memory of the dead JC, cannot believe it.

Question 33

bultmann view on resurrection

Answer 33

• ‘Mythical event, pure and simple’, JC raised up into the kerygma. JC rising up is in preaching of disciples not in literal bodily resurrection.

Question 34

macquarrie view on resurrection

Answer 34

• ‘Christ event’ - also found in work of Bultmann
• JC is inseparable from the community of his followers
• Councils who formulated the Creeds are legitimate
• Makes case for adoptionist and Adamic position (JC as 2nd Adam, who didn’t sin)
• JC received God’s spirit and was raised to status of Christ due to obedience
• Fulfilling destiny of first Adam
• Involves no pre-existence, virgin birth or supernatural
• Takes a Johannine ‘lifting up’ of JC at his death, not physical but proclamation of how good his life was.

Question 35

did Jc think he was divine - yes

Answer 35

John 8:56-59 contains two implicit aims:
o ‘I tell you the truth’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!’
• John 3:16, ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’
• Story of the man born blind, Jesus admits to being the Son of Man
• Bible is WofG, in John’s gospel there is a clear reference to JC knowing his divinity
• Karl Rahner - JC’s consciousness was multi layered, deep within he had a self-consciousness of his divinity
• Gerald O’Collins - recognises complexity of issue, JC did seem to have some self-consciousness of his divinity

Question 36

did Jc think he was divine - no

Answer 36

• Liberal Christians argue that the ego eimi (I am) sayings in John have been additionally added
• Bultmann claims we need to demythologise the text
• E. P. Sanders argues that JC’s divinity was added by later Gospel writers
• N. T. Wright argues JC was not divine and instead a messiah, who was to announce the coming kingdom of God and in that way he was doing the will of God
• Marcus Borg proposes that JC was a Jewish mystic, ‘Jesus was the one for whom God was an experiential reality’
• Macquarrie argues JC as divine was a later understanding of him by the Early Church. Seen in the higher Christological emphasis in Jon over Mark.

Question 37

JC as wisdom teacher ft. borg and dawkins

Answer 37

• Most of JC’s wisdom appears in aphorisms and parables
• Marcus Borg argues that because JC knew God in his own experience, he was able to invite new ways of seeing and hearing from his audience.
• Even Dawkins comments ‘Jesus was a great moral teacher’
• JC was sometimes described as a rabbi, special teacher who would interpret the law, people did seem surprised at his educated approach considering his background.

Question 38

3 characteristics of sotm (matt 5:17-48)

Answer 38

o Potentiality: Humans are given potentiality to achieve the righteousness necessary to enter the kingdom of heaven, shown in beatitudes: it is the peacemakers, the pure in heart who are blessed.
o Process actualised: JC shows how people can achieve a moral life often going against/developing Jewish laws.
o Consequence: the way of righteousness is hard to follow, but those who follow it will find their house standing.
o No one really knows the real purpose of the SOTM, some argue he was telling the Jews how the original law was intended to be understood, others argue JC was radically replacing the old laws with a new teaching.

Question 39

JC teachings in sotm

Answer 39

o OT tells us to not murder, physical act (Exodus 20:13)
• JC reinterprets the law to mean don’t even be angry with your brother, go talk to them.
o Do not commit adultery (physical act punishable by stoning)
• Don’t look at someone lustfully; you are committing adultery in your heart.
o Jewish law says you can divorce your wife if you have a permitting letter
• JC says man can only divorce their wife if she is adulterous
o OT says do not break promises/vows, do what you have promised to the Lord
• JC says do not even make promises, say yes/no, have personal integrity
o OT says ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ i.e. you have the right to revenge
• JC says turn the other cheek
o OT says love your neighbours and hate your enemies
• JC says love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you
o ‘You must be perfect, just as your father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt 5:48)

Question 40

JC teaching on repentance

Answer 40

The Parable of the Lost Son, Luke 15:11-32
o Kingdom of God one of the core themes of JC’s preaching, God reaches out to the alienated and oppressed and calls people to repentance.
o Forgiving father is a picture of God
o Younger son symbolises the lost
o Older son represents the self-righteous
o Main theme is the restoration of a believer into fellowship with the Father
o We see a progression through the 3 parables of Luke from the relationship of one in a hundred (Luke 15:1-7), to one in ten (L 15:8-10), to one in one (L 15:11-32), demonstrating God’s love for each individual and his personal attentiveness towards all humanity.
o Graciousness of the father overshadows the sinfulness of the son, as it is the memory of the father’s good that brings the prodigal son to repentance.

Question 41

criticism of luke 15:11-32

Answer 41

o Story only occurs in Luke, can question its authenticity. E. P. Sanders argues the very fact that it only occurs to Luke attests to its authenticity. Others argue it has been developed by Luke to fit in with his theme of showing JC to be one that works with outcasts and sinners to bring them forgiveness.

Question 42

2 source hypothesis on JC as wisdom teacher

Answer 42

o According to the Two Source Hypothesis, authors of Matthew and Luke made use of two different sources: the Gospel of Mark and a non-extant second source termed Q.
• Q derives from word Quelle
• Consists of ‘double tradition’ which is present in Matthew and Luke but not Mark
• May also consist of material that is preserved only by Matthew or Luke (‘sondergut’)
• Majority of material in Q are sayings exc. the temptation story and the healing of the centurion’s son which are also in Q
• Q is sometimes called the Synoptic Sayings Source/Sayings Gospel
• Cannot be said if it is reliable…

Question 43

bourgeault view of JC as wisdom teacher

Answer 43

o Cynthia Bourgeault claims Jesus was ‘not only a teacher of wisdom, he was a master of wisdom’

Question 44

hick view of JC as wisdom teacher

Answer 44

o Hick states that JC was ‘so powerfully God conscious that his life vibrated, as it were, to the divine life; and as a result, his hands could heal the sick, and the ‘poor in spirit’ were kindled to new life in his presence’. Views JC as a deeply moral man, in touch with God, who lived an exemplary life.

Question 45

c.s. lewis view of JC as wisdom teacher

Answer 45

o C. S. Lewis argued that you cannot accept JC as a teacher of wisdom but not the SofG. ‘Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse’

Question 46

hitchins view of JC as wisdom teacher

Answer 46

o Christopher Hitchins wrote ‘if only the non sinners have the right to punish, then how could an imperfect society even determine how to prosecute offenders?’

Question 47

was jesus only a teacher of wisdom? - yes

Answer 47

• Dawkins argued JC was a great moral teacher but that he was only a theist because everyone in his day was. ‘Somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist if he had known what we know today’
• Lib Xians argue JC is only considered more than a wisdom teacher because of how the disciples perceived him, and that his divinity was how later Xians portrayed him in their dogma.
• Bultmann argues JC as SofG is myth

Question 48

was jesus only a teacher of wisdom? - no

Answer 48

• C.S. Lewis argued that the things JC said can only be said by ‘either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion which undermines the whole mind of man’
• Kenneth Scott Latourette argues ‘it is not his teachings which make Jesus so remarkable (…) it is a combination of the teachings with the man himself. The two cannot be separated’
• Fundamentalist Xians would argue that the Bible proves JC as the SofG with the miracles, resurrection etc.
• Liberation theologians such as Boff would argue that to label JC as simply a teacher of wisdom is too narrow as he was a political man as well.
• Hick argues that as well as his moral teachings, JC was ‘so powerfully God conscious that his life vibrated, as it were, to the divine life’

Question 49

summary on lib theology

Answer 49

• Liberation theology expresses how God sides with the poor in history by fully entering into the state of human poverty
• JC’s life and death is liberation from the structures of society that create poverty etc.
• Sin manifests itself in structures found within society e.g. Jose Faus gives the example of a great earthquake in Mexico city, where the capitalist owners saved their machinery before their workers.

Question 50

cone quote on lib theology

Answer 50

• James Cone: ‘The Gospel means liberation, this liberation comes to the poor, and it gives them the strength and the courage to break the conditions of the servitude’

Question 51

pelikan view of JC as liberator

Answer 51

• Jaroslav Pelikan refers to Dostoevsky’s The Brother Karamazov; passage imagines Christ coming back to earth to find himself condemned by the Grand Inquisitor who represents the established Church. Feels theology has ignored why JC was crucified: because he challenged the institutions of his time and came to liberate people. JC continues to challenge all institutions especially institutionalised Xianity.

Question 52

general points about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 52

o Sign on the cross said ‘King of Jews’, shows he was executed as a political rebel
o Clear links between JC’s actions, words and the Zealot’s cause. Matt 10:34 - JC says, ‘I have not come to bring peace but a sword’. JC’s followers also had weapons in the Garden of Gethsemane and some of his followers may have been Zealot’s e.g. Judas Iscariot

Question 53

aslan view about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 53

o Reza Aslan argues JC’s entry into Jerusalem, with people shouting ‘hosanna’ is similar to what the Israelites did for Jehu in 2 Kings 9:12-13 when he was declared King. People also waved palm branches in remembrance of the Maccabees who liberated Israel two centuries earlier. Aslan believes the event was deliberately set up by the disciples and JC to send out the message that JC was the Messiah and King of the Jews who had arrived to free Israel from the Romans.

Question 54

brandon view about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 54

o S. G. F Brandon argued JC was a political freedom fighter; but that later writers toned this down to make him seem more peaceful.

Question 55

gutierrez view about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 55

o Gutierrez emphasises that it was JC’s life of action that clarified his challenge to political authority. He also claims that the fact some of JC’s close disciples were Zealots, that he was a Zealot too. However, does not see him as only a Zealot, ‘the liberation which Jesus offers is universal and integral; it transcends national boundaries, attacks… exploitation and eliminates politico-religious confusions’.

Question 56

boff view about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 56

o Boff says, ‘A Christology that proclaims Jesus Christ as the liberator seeks to be committed to the economic, social and political liberation of those groups that are oppressed and dominated’

Question 57

restrepo view about JC as liberator from political authority

Answer 57

o Camilo Torres Restrepo argued that ‘if Jesus were alive today he would a guerillo’

Question 58

mark 5:24-34 as proof of JC as challenger of religious authority

Answer 58

• Woman approached JC with constant bleeding; she would be considered unclean, enough for her to be cut off from the religious community.
• JC touches her and heals her, continuing his work unaffected.

Question 59

luke 10:25-37 as proof of JC as challenger of religious authority

Answer 59

• JC never elevates the RE of his time in his parables, but instead uses others such as the uneducated and the Samaritans, who were considered religiously unclean
• JC deliberately uses Samaritan as example of good behaviour to subvert societal constructs of Samaritans as unclean

Question 60

amos 5:21-23 as proof of JC as challenger of religious authority

Answer 60

• Condemnation of people’s sacrificial offerings to God because they had become an outward show that did not correspond with what was happening in their hearts.
• JC also calls the Pharisees hypocrites as they have got so obsessed with rituals that they have forgotten the importance of love, mercy etc.

Question 61

collins view of JC as challenger of religious authority

Answer 61

o Gerald O’Collins says ‘there was much in Jesus’ activity to provoke (the religious authorities): his initiatives towards sinners, reinterpretation of the Sabbath obligations, claims to unique religious authority, and promise of salvation to the gentiles’

Question 62

criticisms of view of JC as challenger of religious authority

Answer 62

• Gospels were being written when the Xian movement was separating from Judaism, evidence in Acts that Jews were deliberately persecuting Xians. May have influenced writing of Gospels, downplaying Jesus’ Jewishness and emphasising his conflict with the Jews.
• E. P. Sanders argues Jesus was more Jewish than the Gospels present him e.g. lived life as Jew amongst Jews. Was simply leading a Jewish renewal movement as shown by his teachings in the SOTM.

Question 63

was JC more than a political liberator? - yes

Answer 63

• Biblical evidence that JC was not a Zealot: told people to pay their taxes and voluntarily allowed himself to be arrested.
• Many accuse liberation theologians of a reductionist and eisegetical reading of the Bible.
• John Hick views JC as a moral teacher who had a great deal of ‘God consciousness’
• Bible clearly identifies JC as one who teaches to ‘love your enemies’. He also teaches that God is a God of love, seems to go against the idea that he was solely politically motivated.
• JC should be seen as a spiritual liberator rather than a political liberator as he liberates people from personal sin.
• Jean Galot argues that ‘The Gospels show us that JC abstained more than once from making a political commitment. It was a deliberate refusal on his part’

Question 64

was JC more than a political liberator? - no

Answer 64

• Liberation Theology
o Argue that God sides with the poor, Jesus liberates from the structures of society that create injustice.
o Supported by James Cone (black theologian) and Jose Faus (Latin American theologian)
• Jaroslav Pelikan argues that we must recognise the reason for JC’s resurrection as essentially due to his challenge of political institutions.
• Matt 10:34: ‘I have not come to bring peace but a sword’. Jesus’ followers also associated with violence.
o Weapons in Garden of Gethsemane suggest he may have been a secret Zealot.
• Reza Aslan argued that JC’s entering Jerusalem on a donkey shouting ‘hosanna’ is similar to what the Israelites did for Jehu in 2 Kings 9:12-13.
• As a historical figure, he would have engaged in political authorities of his day in inscription of ‘King of the Jews’.
• S. G. F. Brandon believed later writers had toned down Jesus’ later political activities to make him seem more religious and acceptable to societies. Would have seen political revolutionary as useless leader due to Roman persecution of Christians.

Question 65

was JC’s relationship with god unique or special? - unique

Answer 65

• Those who accept the incarnation believe JC was God’s only son. (View of Biblicists) Creed set at Council of Chalcedon make it clear JC was one person in two natures, truly unique as Son of God.
• Pannenberg views resurrection as proof of JC as SofG.
• CCC clarifies unique nature of JC’s relationship with God, ‘Jesus calls himself the ‘only Son of God’ and by this title affirms his eternal pre-existence’

Question 66

was JC’s relationship with god unique or special? - special

Answer 66

• Marcus Borg emphasises that JC had a special relationship with God, proven by his ability to heal etc. which was as a result of his knowing God.
• Liberation Theologians argue his liberating qualities make his relationship with God special rather than unique.
• Macquarrie suggests Jesus from Nazareth was raised to the status of JC due to his obedience to God. The Church added perception of his relationship with God as unique later.
• N. T Wright sees JC as a 1st century prophet who announced and inaugurated the kingdom of God.
• Hick seems to think JC had a special conscious of who God was, but this was not unique as JC was like many other religious leaders in the other world religions.