Christology Revisited

In his new book, John Macquarrie returns to the subject of his prize-winning Jesus Christ is Modern Thought. Some things in that book, he felt, might have been said that were not said, and much could have been said better. So he decided to `revisit' christology. And indeed the significance of the person of Jesus Christ is an inexhaustible topic.In this new treatment he challenges extreme views of many kinds. He criticizes those theologies which over-emphasize the divine side of Jesus to such a degree that they almost ignore his humanity, and he criticizes those `adoptionise views, ancient and modern, which threaten to take away the very notion that Jesus Christ is the `God-man'. The paradox of that title is the subject of the first chapter. He also criticizes modern New Testament historical scholarship, arguing that even if we knew vastly more about the historical Jesus, the mystery of his person would remain.The book ends with chapters about two of the major issues relating to belief in Jesus Christ: first, how can we claim to `know' a person who lived two thousand years ago; secondly, is there still any basis for a metaphysical doctrine of Christ.