High/low Christology
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I would think Muslims have a low Christology. They don't see him as divine.
revjohn
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Seeler[FONT=Open Sans said:
Then you are definitely missing out.
Seeler said:
Then you clearly don't have the lowest Christology and there is no reason to feel insulted.
Still since you feel that I have attacked you I will apologize for that.
My intent was not to attack or demean either so much as it was to characterize the highest of the high with the lowest of the low.
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paradox3
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The lowest of the low sounds vaguely insulting if you think about it too much.
Ah, the joys of language.
revsdd
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Interesting question. I referred above to revjohn's "Jesus is just this guy I know" as the extreme low end of the spectrum. Having thought about it, that's not true. Some would say that Jesus existed but was not the human incarnation of God, was not resurrected, is therefore simply dead, and cannot be known - only his teachings can be known. That would be a lower christology that "Jesus is just this guy I know" - since "knowing him" implies that somehow he is available to know. I suppose even the belief that Jesus never existed is a christology of sorts. It would, I suppose, be the absolute extreme on the low end of the christological continuum.
The actual extremes, I guess, would be:
High - Jesus is God
Low - Jesus never existed
At the low end of that continuum, one assumes that a person holding to that position still sees the figure of Jesus as in some way significant and influential, even if the actual existence of Jesus is dismissed. I suppose one would be completely off the continuum if one not only believed that Jesus never existed but also regarded him as of no importance and therefore never even thought about him, or if one had never, ever heard of Jesus and therefore had no knowledge of him. To have a christology, I would say that one has to have some interest in Jesus. Christology is, after all, Christos + Logos, which literally means Christ words, or words about Christ. So christology assumes some level of engagement with the figure of Jesus.
paradox3
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That makes sense.
I am thinking about how we might draw a parallel with atheism and theology. I have met atheists who don't seem to have given much thought to matters of the spirit and others who have thought very deeply about why they don't believe in God.
revjohn
Well-Known Member
revsdd said:
Actually that is Seeler's interpretation of what I said. Based on my faulty grammar.
My quote is a play on a Douglas Adam's quote (specifically Gag Halfrunt talking about Zaphod Beeblebrox) "Jesus is just this guy, you know?" which is now rendered with the more appropriate grammatical devices.
Which I think still enables it to stand as an appropriate image for an extremely low Christology.
revsdd
Well-Known Member
The relationship between atheism and theology is an interesting one. In discussions I've had with some about Gretta (not moving the thread to her, just an example) I've had disagreements about whether we can refer to her theology. I say that atheism (even one that's firm, rather than nuanced as hers is) is a theology - it's a position about the nature of God (saying that God does not exist is speaking about God's nature.) I've had others who've simply said "she's an atheist so she has not theology." The presumption there is that one must believe in God to have a theology. I disagree with that.
Again - atheism as a theology assumes that one expresses one's atheism. If one is really an atheist who never, ever speaks about God then that would not be a theological position. A theological position has to be expressed to be theology. (Theology = Theos + Logos = words about God or God words.)
paradox3
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Oh, I know. I was joking.
revsdd
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Thank you for adding that you have nothing to add.Since I was tagged early on in this discussion, I'll just add that I have nothing to add at this time since everything I would add has already been added by others.
Mendalla
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As I suggested and others agreed, Christology is a spectrum, not a binary. I suggested above that they tend more to a "middle Christology". As the most important prophet prior to Muhammad, their Christology is a cut above "he is just another moral teacher" but certainly well below "he is the Son of God and Saviour of the world". He embodied God's will and message of submission more than anyone else in history save one.
My own Christology is low for sure, but certainly not non-existent and may be a cut above a lot of UUs.
I could agree with "middle," depending on how you mean the term. I would say that their Christology is lower than exact middle. That's just my read on things though. You and everyone/anyone else is free to see things different.
Mendalla said:
Okay. Mine is a high Christology.
RevNP
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I was in line for the microphone, so I had to say something when I had nothing to say because someone already said it better than I would have said it. (church meeting joke)