Christ Proclaimed/A New Christology:
Shea, John
Books: CHRIST IN THE SPIRIT CHRIST PROCLAIMED CHRISTOLOGY AS RHETORIC Franz Josef van Beeck, S.J. Paulist, $8.95, 616 pp. A NEW CHRISTOLOGY Karl Rahner & Wilhelm Thiising Seabury, $12.95, 239...
...is a legitimate and previous question...
...Van Beeck continues to recapitulate his argument as the book progresses...
...Christ's presence in the Spirit" is Christian code for a certain type of religious encounter...
...Also, as in any original work, a new vocabulary, or more precisely, a new combination of familiar words is evident...
...This secondary function can never replace or overshadow their primary role as expressions of witness and worship...
...This response to the encounter with Christ in the Spirit takes the form of names and metaphors...
...But what would be an added bonus is first-hand narratives of this experience...
...Rahner and Thusing's collaboration offers disjointed insights into the relationship of exegesis, biblical theology, and contemporary systematic theology...
...Even if the witnessing speech act to Christ's presence cannot be reduced to any of its discernments, its grounding can be asked about...
...These thirty-eight pages are more tease than substance...
...As might be predicted, there is not a lot of dialogue...
...Rahner offers some meandering thoughts and Thusing rigorously attacks some New Testament Christological issues...
...Van Beeck's erudition is vast...
...This methodological approach and much more awaits the reader of this six-hundred-page tour de force...
...One of the celebrated strengths of reconstructing a historical portrait of Jesus is that it critiques our projective tendencies...
...Van Beeck's book is a sustained and brilliant argument for the neglected emphases of the presence of Christ in the Spirit, worship, and witness in Christology...
...Rahner treats cursorily the topics of resurrection, the relationship between Christ and the church, and the death of Jesus and the finality of revelation...
...If Rahner is what you want, consult some of his other works...
...Rather these authors are pulled in to clarify van Beeck's own position and chart his unique course...
...but it is well worth it...
...A word about the style of writing in this book...
...For those interested in a very scholarly discussion, this is a fascinating and vigorous exercise...
...To say, "Every human concern is corrected and converted from self-assertiveness, surrenders to Christ's presidency, and thus becomes the stuff of obedience" is a beginning...
...Why say it at all...
...Secondarily, they have a cognitive meaning...
...A work as nuanced as Christology Proclaimed resists summary, but some of its major moments can be indicated...
...and this means more exploration than the pristine fact of witnessing speech...
...Thusing's longer effort is written in a clipped, thesis form, making points and moving on...
...This book takes some pondering...
...I cannot go into this question here...
...Christology Proclaimed is a landmark work...
...What is needed is more content, that is, examples of this important dimension of Christ-ological faith...
...We need solid ground so that we do not reverse the process and make Jesus obedient to our concerns...
...It seems that Christ Proclaimed demands Christ Encountered...
...Our fundamental human concerns are included, made obedient, and given a perspective of hope in our Christological statements...
...First, the key to van Beeck's position is the availability of Christ in the Spirit...
...Can it be presumed that Christian liturgies provide this or that Christians in general would immediately recognize the experiential locale of the speech act "Christ's presence in the Spirit...
...He dialogues with a few of Rahner's ideas (found in other works), relating Biblical ways of thinking to the idea of a transcendental Christology and questioning some of Rahner's historical judgments about the Christology of the New Testament...
...The Christian responds to this presence in an actus directus of faith surrender...
...Their contributions are unequal in length-Rahner has thirty-eight pages and Thusing about one hundred sixty...
...The starting point and enduring touchstone of all Christological statements is the presence of Christ in the Spirit...
...They clarify some characteristics of that which was encountered...
...Can it be talked about or at least paraphrased in language that is not Christological...
...But this is not done as an exercise in historical theology...
...Nevertheless, the encounter with Christ in the Spirit involves discernments...
...What are the contours of this experience...
...These discernments are related to significant human concerns which are taken up and integrated into the act of surrender which the encounter engenders...
...This faith surrender is characterized by worship and witness...
...This worship and witness is conveyed in the act of speaking which becomes the rhetoric of Christology...
...Van Beeck is correct in starting Christology in a present experience open to the future and then incorporating Christological recollections of the past...
...What is most frustrating about these brief reflections is the admission by the author that he is ' 'hitting and running.'' At least a half dozen times Rahner indicates a line of reflection which he admits would be exciting and then apologizes for not pursuing it...
...In this way Christian identity is constituted by a total responsive process to the presence of Christ in the Spirit...
...A New Christology (first published in German in 1972 under the more accurate title Christologie-Systematisch und Exegetisch) brings together a systematic theologian and an exegete...
...This presence is made available through die resurrection...
...Thusing combines both historical precision and philosophical insight in a depth probe of New Testament Christology and the influence it should have on contemporary efforts...
...Rarely has a theological work used previous thinking so creatively...
...but in another sense, it is extremely helpful in keeping the entire argument in focus...
...What are its conscious elements...
...The usual estimate of the movement of Catholic academic theology is that it has shifted from a concentration on church in the post-Vatican II years to an emphasis on Christology in the seventies...
...In one sense, this is repetitious...
...This seems a logical procedure, for the historical Jesus and any Christology based on him should lead people to God.ould lead people to God...
...Secondly, the process and content of how human concerns are brought to Christ and made obedient needs more elaboration...
...The thought of Tillich, Rahner, Pannenberg, Schleiermacher, Bonhoeffer, Schoonen-berg, Ong, and Buber is both appreciated and criticized...
...A NEW CHRISTOLOGY Karl Rahner & Wilhelm Thiising Seabury, $12.95, 239 pp...
...There are subtle hints in both of these books that the next area will be the transformative movement of God in human life...
...But he is most insightful when he is commenting on the ' 'heart of the original experience of Jesus as the Christ...
...John Shea FRANZ JOSEF van Beeck's Christology Proclaimed and Karl Rahner and Wilhelm Thusing's A New Christology are both meant for professional audiences...
...Part of the contribution of a book which argues so forcefully is that while hammering home its points, it also raises questions about them...
...The primary and irreducible function of these expressions is the proclamation of the encounter...
Vol. 108 • January 1981 • No. 2
