Christology in Historical Context

  • Week 2, January 24: “Jesus and Christ Specifically”: How Jesus became Christ

    Week 2, January 24: “Jesus and Christ Specifically”: How Jesus became Christ

    The title of this week’s class is a joke that I probably find funnier than most. On the satirical podcast Mega, the Aussie youth pastor of fictional Twin Hills Community Church, Gray Hass, constantly makes reference to “Jesus… and Christ specifically” (and vice versa). He prays to “Jesus… and Christ specifically.” “Jesus… and Christ specifically”…

  • Week 1, January 17: Entering the Conversation

    Week 1, January 17: Entering the Conversation

    Let’s enter the conversation. For this first week of class, I am asking that you listen to or watch Grace Ji-Sun Kim’s conversation with Tripp Fuller (of Homebrewed Christianity) on her podcast, Madang. Drs. Kim and Fuller are invested in this conversation on Christology from both a theoretical and praxis-oriented lens. Try to follow them…

  • You Should Start Here.

    You Should Start Here.

    New here? Not sure what’s going on? This is the place for you. 🤗 Everything you need for the course is available here–everything, that is, except where you turn in your assignments. But I’ll get to that. If you need anything, anything at all, and you’re not sure where to find it: start here. MOST…

Weekly Schedule

This gives an overview of readings and assignments per week. See the week’s blog post for more details on readings and assignments.

Week 1: Entering the Conversation

Listen: Madang, Episode 10: Theologian and podcaster Tripp Fuller, author of Divine Self-Investment” (1 hr)

Read: McGrath, “The Person of Jesus Christ” (39 pgs) 

Due: Learner Connectedness Survey 

Week 2: “Jesus and Christ Specifically”: How Jesus Became Christ

Read: Hedges, “White Jesus and Antisemitism” (21 pgs)

Read: Kärkkäinen, “The Gospel Silhouettes of Jesus” (15 pgs)

Read: Rieger, “Resisting and Reframing Lord” (44 pgs)

Watch: McClellan, “#maklelan1515” (6 min)

Watch: Amy-Jill Levine, “Who Did They Say He Was?” (26 min [just the talk, not the Q&A])

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 3: Orthodoxy & The Invention of Heresy

Read: excerpt from Wright, “The Invention of Heresy” (16 pgs)

Read: Quash and Ward, “Prologue” (9 pgs)

Read: Young, “From Image to Likeness” (56 pgs)

Read: The Apostle’s Creed: “The Old Roman Creed” and “A Gallican Creed of the Sixth Century” (2 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 4: Work Day: No Synchronous Class!

Due: Grading Contracts

Week 5: 🎅🏽 Christmas in February: The Council of Nicaea

Read: excerpt from Wright, “Constantine, Augustine, and the Criminalization of Heresy” (19 pgs)

Read: Gonzalez, “The Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicaea” (12 pgs)

Read: Farley, “He Feeds on Ashes” (20 pgs)

Read: Geitz, “One Lord Jesus Christ” and “The Only Son of God” (12 pgs)

Watch: McClellan, “#maklelan1491” (8 min)

Read: The Nicene Creed: “The Creed of Caesarea,” “The Creed of Nicaea,” and “The ‘Nicene’ Creed” (2 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 6: Chalcedon & the Christological Heresies

Read: Gonzalez, excerpt from “Eastern Christianity” (14 pgs)

Read: Griffith, “The Melkites and The Muslims” (31 pgs)

Read: Liao, “The Significance of Chalcedon and the Reformation Confessions for Asian Churches Today” (16 pgs)

Prior to this week, you will be assigned a Christological heresy to research. Be prepared to share what you’ve learned with your classmates. 

  • Nestorianism
  • Apollinarism
  • Eutychianism/Monophysitism
  • Docetism
  • Adoptionism

Read: “The Definition of Chalcedon” (1 pg)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 7: 1,000 Years Later…! (Middle Ages/Early Modernity)

Read: Daniels-Sykes, “Anselm of Canterbury” (7 pgs)

Read: “Anselm on the Atonement” (2 pgs)

Read: Milbank, “Seeing Double” (18 pgs)

Read: Hill, “When Jesus Doubted”

Read: Antonio, “Wolfgang Pannenberg” (7 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Creeds or Icons

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 8: Barth & The Black Christ 

Read: Cone, “Jesus Christ in Black Theology” (21 pgs)

Read: Barth, “Jesus Christ” (6 pgs)

Read: Boesel, “Dehonkifying Barth’s Gospel?” and “God Takes Sides—Against Whiteness

Read: East, “In America, Jesus is Black because he was Jewish” (8 pgs)

Read: Douglas, “A Womanist Approach to the Black Christ” (21 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 9: Incarnation I (Gender & Sexuality)

Read: Brock, “And a Little Child Will Lead Us” (19 pgs)

Read: Kwok, “Touching the Taboo” (16 pgs)

Read: Day, “Trans-Formed by the Spirit” (15 pgs)

Read: Cheng, “The Out Christ” (12 pgs)

Read: Copeland, “Marking the Body of Jesus” (30 pgs)

Optional:

Read: Norris, “A Word Made Flesh” (13 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 10: Incarnation II (Culture & Faith)

Read: Chung, “Who Is Jesus for Asian Women?” (20 pgs)

Read: Asis, “Toward a Filipino Christology” (42 pgs)

Read: Tinker, “American Indians and Jesus: Reflections Towards an EATWOT Christology” (20 pgs)

Choose ONE:

Buddhist and Muslim Christology:

Read: Schmidt-Leukel, “Viewing Jesus” (16 pgs)

Mormon Christology:

Read: Bowman, “The Crisis of Mormon Christology” (25 pgs)

Hindu Christology:

Read: Schouten, “Jesus as Liberator” (20 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 11: Atonement, At-One-Ment, and “Penial” [sic] Substitutionary Atonement

Read: Bondi, “Out of the Green-Tiled Bathroom” (34 pgs)

Read: Park, “The Wounded Heart of God” (16 pgs)

Read: Ruether, “Suffering and Redemption” (13 pgs)

Read: Wink, “Breaking the Spiral of Violence” (17 pgs)

Read: Christiani, “Jesus the Slaughtered Lamb” (7 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response

Week 12: OK, What Now? Election, Ecclesiology, & Ethics

Read: Ernst-Habib, “Chosen by Grace” (20 pgs)

Read: Russell, “Sign of God’s Presence” (22 pgs)

Read: Sobrino, “The Ecclesial and Social Setting of Christology” (13 pgs)

Read: Barter, “When Sorry is Not Good Enough” (11 pgs)

Read: Nelson, “Who Is Christ for Us Today?” (6 pgs)

Suggested Due Date: Reading Response