Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus

The revelation I had when reading "Christology" is that we don't have to understand how salvation works to benefit from its power. A driver doesn't have to understand how a seatbelt functions to benefit from its saving power; but, the driver has to choose to use the seatbelt in order to benefit. There are many sayings in the scriptures like this one: "The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you." (2 Chronicles 15:2, ESV). But, I have never seen a quote that goes like this: "When you have a perfect understanding on theology, you will be saved." In fact, I am thankful there is not, because none of us have a perfect understanding of theology.But, although we admit our knowledge is imperfect, it is worth trying to improve. This book will do a good job of helping you improve your understanding. The author does a good job explaining the evolution of our understanding of Christ. The author describes the arguments made by early Christians, through modern times. Topics include: Who is Jesus? What does it mean to be fully human and fully God? Did Jesus have faith? How does salvation work? What does the presence of God mean? The author is extremely knowledgeable of history, theology and philosophy. The book gave me a lot to think about, which is what I look for in a book like this. The main difficulty over multiple millennia (which the author states often) has been that we are trying to describe things outside time and space (divine things) using language that was developed to describe things in time and space. Or, we are trying to apply restrictions that are intuitively obvious in the physical world, to subjects where those restrictions may or may not apply. It is a challenging quest, to say the least.So, don't read this book expecting that all of your questions will be answered. Read it to learn about the struggles others have had trying to figure things out. It is a trail with no end, but it is still worth traveling on it.

For non-theologians, like me, this is a tough subject. I've been recently auditing a class in Christology. The professor is great but I wanted something than gave a thorough overview that wouldn't be a nightmare to read. This is such a wonderful book. If you read it slowly and with care you will find it relatively easy to follow and understand more about Jesus than you ever have before. It's one of those books that will make you feel smart but also deepen your faith.

Gerald O’Collins, S.J.’s “Christology” is a concise (357 pp.) presentation of systematic Christology, written from his personal, scholarly, Roman Catholic perspective. O’Collins takes as key to his discussion the death and resurrection of Jesus. His approach is both thematic (chapters include “Lord, Saviour, God and Spirit,” “Divine and Human,” “Faith, Holiness, and Virginal Conception”) and broadly historical (“To the First Council of Constantinople,” “Ephesus, Chalcedon, and Beyond,” “Medieval and Modern Christology”). His theology might be described as middle-of-the-road Catholic, but that characterization, like in politics, will somewhat depend on where one is on the spectrum. O’Collins’s writing is usually clear, occasionally dense, but the author has mercifully broken up the text, using chapter sub-headings, into digestible chunks.It’s not entirely clear to me for whom this work is intended. At times the discussion veers into territory that the novice would find challenging to the point of being lost, but that I suspect a scholar would skip over as too familiar territory. The indices aren’t terribly helpful, just names and biblical references; if you wanted to see if there was any discussion of contributions by liberation theology, you’d have to know Jon Sobrino’s name (and even then you wouldn’t find much). The historical aspect of the book is too abbreviated—as witnessed by the 22-page chapter, “Medieval and Modern” —to be a useful survey, and the author doesn’t provide a list of recommended books for follow-up reading. When O’Collins states in the conclusion that, “In this book I have tried as far as possible to refrain from parading my Christian beliefs,” he seems a bit disingenuous, especially given that he follows this sentence with “Yet...." Indeed, O’Collins’s book feels very much like a presentation of *his* Christology in the context of larger biblical, historical, and thematic studies. To perhaps a great extent, I think this book is a summary of his previous work that was aimed at a more scholarly audience.For the most part I enjoyed O’Collins’s “Christology,” even if I skimmed over some of the less accessible content. It’s not really a lucid, introductory survey of Catholic Christology, as I would like to have read, but I did find O’Collins’s presentation often engaging and occasionally challenging.

Read this book cover-to-cover for my Christology class as part of a master's program in Theology. I'm relatively well-read in theology. I found parts of this book somewhat challenging to read. It is very heavy on philosophy. Unless you have a strong background in Christian philosophy or theology, this is definitely not a casual read. I might re-read it this summer to try and more fully understand it. Nonetheless, it's quite comprehensive and should be on the bookshelf of anyone who wants to get a Biblical and historical understanding of Christ and how that understanding has evolved over history.

The best book on Christology that I've read. I've read several books because I have a master degree in theology. Fr. Gerald O'Collins, SJ has written a superb book covering Jesus, the Resurrection, the various Christological titles, the Virginal Conception, the Redemption, and Jesus' continuing presence in the world.

The author has revised this book as a result of 'enriched thinking about what faith in Christ involves intellectually, as well as for Christian life and worship. He has brought this book into the third millenium in a systematic way by making use of the wealth of material from Biblical, historical and systematic thinking over the past ten years. This book provides a valuable framework for any investigation of Christology today.

Although this book is advertised as being for students in seminaries as well as the general reader, I think the general reader (me, for example) would struggle as it is very densely written and packed with scriptural references. It is a good enough survey of the first five hundred years of the development of orthodox Roman Catholic teaching about Christ but thereafter one feels that the author is reluctant to steer too far from orthodoxy in dealing with any further developments. For example, the blurb says this new edition discusses recent theories about near-death experiences and bereavement and their relevance for understanding the resurrection, but such theories are comprehensively dismissed. Further on, the author addresses current gender issues by saying that the earthly Jesus was obviously a man but as Christ he combined masculine behaviour such as assertiveness and anger (!) whilst also being sensitive to women (parables about widows) and displaying nurturing behaviour towards children. I would advide readers wanting a more flexible yet orthodox summary of current Catholic teaching to read Walter Kasper's "Jesus the Christ".

Very handy book for Christology. I used it for my final year theology module on Christ in the Creeds. It was accessible, well laid out but also of some substance so I could use it as a legitimate source.

Good value and good service

As expected

This is an excellent introductory text by a leading scholar in the field. It will serve well as an undergraduate textbook, surveying biblical and historical material and also offering a constructive and stimulating 'Christology of Presence.' It is orthodox in its approach but irenic, Roman Catholic but ecumenical.