God Crucified : Monotheism and Christology in the New Testament

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 89 pages
• Published by: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company April 1999
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0802846424
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0802846426
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Weighs: 4.8 ounces

Reader Reviews
Bauckham offers a new proposal for understanding Christology in its Jewish context; one in which the earliest N.T. Christology "includes" Jesus in the identity of God. He contends that, while this was a radically novel & unprecedented development, it was in no way a repudiation of the strict Jewish monotheistic faith. He disagrees that second temple Jewish inter- mediary figures provide the proper category to understand Christian Christological conception. Such a category would make Jesus a second, lesser, demigod. His basic argument is, that too little attention has been given, in current discussion, to "who" God is, and that once we understand how second temple Judaism understood the identity of God, the N.T. Christological monotheism can be seen as compatible with strict Jewish Monotheistic thought. Basically, he says, God is identified as Creator and Ruler, both of which are aspects of his absolute supremacy over all things. While there are other characteristics of God, these are ones that most readily distinguish God's absolute and unique identity. Since God alone is Supreme, exclusive worship is directed to him, and no other. Primarily through an examination of Psalm 110:1 and Isaiah 40-55, and their reading as reflected in various N.T. passages, Bauckham argues that Jesus is portrayed as participating in the very functions of God that constitute his unique identity, and therefore shares in the identity of God--again, not as a second God alongside of God, but the identity of the one unique God. Some concerns with this proposal would include: 1) He does acknowledge contrary evidence (e.g., some intermediary figures, as angels, do participate in the rule of God and receive homage), but dismisses it because it is not "typical" in the sources. 2) In his treatment of intermediary figures (i.e. principal angels and exalted humans), he argeus that the sources that portray them as exalted next to God also, in most contexts, make it clear they are only servants and are not included in the divine identity. Yet, most of the key N.T. passages (even I Cor. 8:6, which he cites as the earliest text that includes Jesus in the identity of God and uses to illustate the point), clearly distinguish between the one God, the Father, and the one Lord, Jesus Christ. However, rather than focus on this distinction, Bauckham points out that in the original O.T. passage (the Shema), both the word "God" and "Lord" refer to the one unique divine identity; therefore, he argues, by application of the word "Lord" to Jesus in this context, Paul is thereby including him in the identity of God. The last half of the book works the identity in reverse: if Jesus is included in the identity of God, then God is now to be identified via the humiliation, suffering, etc. of Jesus. God's heart is opened to the world--this is the one true God, and no other. Comment | | (Report this)