Christ and Horrors: The Coherence of Christology

by Marilyn McCord Adams

• ISBN13: 9780521866828
• ISBN10: 0521866820
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-09
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Who would the Saviour have to be, what would the Saviour have to do to rescue human beings from the meaning-destroying experiences of their lives? This book offers a systematic Christology that is at once biblical and philosophical. Starting with human radical vulnerability to horrors such as permanent pain, sadistic abuse or genocide, it develops what must be true about Christ if He is the horror-defeater who ultimately resolves all the problems affecting the human condition and Divine-human relations. Distinctive elements of Marilyn McCord Adams' study are her defence of the two-natures theory, of Christ as Inner Teacher and a functional partner in human flourishing, and her arguments in favour of literal bodily resurrection (Christ's and ours) and of a strong doctrine of corporeal Eucharistic presence. The book concludes that Christ is the One in Whom, not only Christian doctrine, but cosmos, church, and the human psyche hold together.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Christology as natural theology: methodological issues	1	(28)
Posing the problems: beginning with Job	29	(24)
Sharing the horrors: Christ as horror-defeater	53	(27)
Psychologizing the person: Christ as God-man, psychologically construed	80	(28)
Recovering the metaphysics: Christ as God-man, metaphysically construed	108	(36)
Learning the meanings: Christ in the hearts of all people	144	(26)
Cosmic coherence and the primacy of Christ: Christ, the One in Whom all things hold together	170	(35)
Resurrection and renewal: Christ the first fruits	205	(37)
Horrors and holocausts, sacrifices and priests: Christ as priest and victim	242	(40)
Christ in the sacrament of the altar: Christ in the meantime	282	(32)
Bibliography	314	(9)
Index	323