All you wanted to know about Jesus

CHRISTOLOGY: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus (2nd edition), by Gerald O’Collins SJ. Oxford University Press, 2009. 385pp

Reviewed by Anthony Egan SJ

A  thoroughly revised version of the 1995 volume of the same name, Christology is perhaps one of the most comprehensive works available on the subject of Jesus – one is tempted to say that it could be subtitled “Almost everything you wanted to know about Jesus, but couldn’t find enough books about”.

Written by one of the finest and most respected Catholic theologians of recent years, Fr Gerry O’Collins, it manages in fewer than 400 pages to be a veritable summa christologica, one that would make an Aquinas envious.

One of O’Collins’ strengths is his familiarity with Christology across a range of theological disciplines – systematic theology, Church history and biblical studies – together with a fine command of philosophy from ancient Greece to present day. As a result he is able to delve into his subject from a variety of angles and draw together, among other things, the biblical, historical and dogmatic.

He starts by looking at the scriptural foundations of Christology in both the Old and New Testaments. Unlike some more fundamentalist theologians he does not read the former simplistically as “prophecy”, but as a way of seeing how Hebrew ideas contributed to the New Testament understanding of Jesus.

Similarly he shows how different New Testament texts need to be read as part of a growing understanding of the significance of Jesus to his disciples after the Resurrection. Here he also avoids the reductionism of many of the scholars centred on the famous (or notorious) Jesus Seminar.

This “theological centrism” is a characteristic throughout most of the book. Fr O’Collins is nothing if not fair in his judgments, while clearly steering an orthodox course through centuries of theological controversy.

As a work of theological history, in three chapters totalling 70-odd pages, he manages to summarise the cut-and-thrust of theological dispute clearly and succinctly. It is so clear and succinct that, I would venture to say, it is the ideal background material for preparing any advanced undergraduate student for the relevant exams.

The author tackles all the key issues in Christology in a similar manner: the Incarnation, the meaning of the Passion, the Resurrection, salvation and the less central but no less challenging questions about Jesus’ birth, what is meant by his sinlessness, and the degree to which the human Jesus knew about the world and his divinity. To say that O’Collins has mastery (if not, to use the chess term, grand mastery) of the debates in these areas goes without saying.

I  do, however, have a number of questions about the book. It revolves around the difference between two questions. The first can be formulated as “Who is Jesus?” or “What does the Church say about Jesus?”. The second question comprises two parts: “Who is Jesus for us today?” and “What does Jesus mean for those outside the religious mainstream?” O’Collins has brilliantly answered the first question. He is less forthcoming on either part of the second.

Unless one is a theologian the kind of universal doctrines that the author deals with may elicit from the ordinary religious person – whether pastor or punter in the pews – a response along the lines of “That’s nice, but how does this actually affect my life?”. Now the case certainly can be made that the classical themes in Christology O’Collins addresses actually do make a difference in the long term, but in the short term I wonder whether the right understanding of the two natures of Jesus is actually what marginal people need from him.

Granted, O’Collins does make passing reference to contextual theologies like liberation and feminist theology. But what is missing in this book is a sustained reflection on how such theologies represent an important development in the Christian understanding of Jesus. O’Collins certainly raises some important questions in passing on feminine imagery in representations of Jesus and the degree to which one must emphasise his masculinity uncontextually – but he seems to stop short of linking this to important issues raised for faith, ministry and Christianity by feminism.

Another area that intrigues me personally and that I would love to see examined are the so-called “modern”, “literary” and “secular” images of Christ one finds in the controversial novels of authors like Nikos Kazantzakis (The Last Temptation of Christ), the Nobel laureate (and militant atheist) José Saramago (The Gospel of Jesus Christ) and the radical philosophers Slavoj Zizek, Gianni Vattimo and John Caputo. One hopes, in his forthcoming examination of Philip Pullman’s anti-religious fiction, O’Collins will address this more fully.

Quibbles aside, this is a superb book, an ideal textbook for theology students and an excellent refresher for priests, deacons and lay ministers. Much as I am loathe to approve the high price of books (this one costs R300), Christology is well worth its price!

Fr Anthony Egan SJ is associated with the Jesuit Institute South Africa.