Historical Memory and the Resurrection of Jesus: Encountering the Risen Christ

Why did the risen Christ only impart the truth of his resurrection to future generations indirectly? Why risk the distortion and eventual loss of contact with the truth and reality of his risen life that could result? Moreover, granted he uses mediation to preserve his presence among humankind, what means does he use? This article argues that Christ employs two principal means to preserve the knowledge and saving presence of his risen life in his church, namely: the historical memory preserved in the Gospels and the church's liturgical remembrance. The first part of this work examines the existence and reliability of eyewitness testimony in the Gospels in dialogue with the work of Richard Bauckham. The second part examines the path of liturgical remembrance through active participation in the life of the crucified and risen Christ.     

Preaching a Risen Christ of Resistance among "Captive" Americans

Abstract: In the midst of the current captivity of Americans to governmental policies which most of the rest of the world finds objectionable, what are the challenges facing those who preach? How can these be addressed biblically and theologically, grounded in what it means to be part of a global communion, and empowered by faith in the Resurrected Christ? How can preaching form faith communities through conversion, confession and conversation so that they might confront and change what is occurring, for the sake of the whole world?     

Christ as Chrism,Christ Given Away

This article develops the concept of Christ not as static body but as chrism for bodies. Christ as chrism travels in the matrix of relationality, on a vector toward the benefit of others. Conceptualizing christ as chrism potentially avoids both exclusionary and colonizing tendencies in Christian polity, and frames a Christian ethics that, while vulnerable and risky, marks the sanctity of the one giving Christ away.     

Christ as Culture 3: Christ as Drama

Abstract: Personal identity cannot exist without narrative coherence – without, that is to say, drama. Two sets of narratives make up the identity of Christ: a narrative of a human being among other human beings; and a narrative of the Son with the Father and the Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity insists that these narratives are the same. A culture is necessarily dramatic: a story of persons and their relationships. Thus Christ may be understood as drama and as culture. This identification has implications for the liturgy of the church.     

Christ as Culture 2: Christ as Art

Abstract: Art can be understood as experimenting with possible worlds. There is, however, a real world underlying the possible worlds – the world created by God. We do not have unmediated access to this world, and so must, and can, continue to be artists, and a loss of faith in the existence of the real world leads to a loss of the possibility of art. If Christ is to be understood as art, then the Father is the artist who experiments with a possible world, which is thus defined as the real world, through his Son, the Logos.     

Being Christ for the Other

In recent years, Christian humanism has received renewed attention. This article engages with the works of William Schweiker and John W. de Gruchy, two of the most prominent representatives of Christian humanism in contemporary Protestant theology. In a manner which is complementary to their views, this article attempts to outline a Lutheran Christian humanism based on the ethics of Martin Luther and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Inspired by a Chalcedonian Christology, the article attempts to argue for a polemical affirmation of Christian humanism as a characteristic of the Lutheran tradition. With this paradoxical notion, the article attempts to move beyond the antagonism between universality and specificity in Christian social ethics.