I apologize for the sparse posting as of recent. My publishing energies at this point are focusing on a paper presentation I'm working on for the MWRC Colloquium in mid-June, where my topic is on Christology and the death of Jesus in Wesleyan theology. In particular, I'm focusing on the interpretation of Jesus' cry of dereliction ("My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"). I've posted a few times on Jesus' cry and its relation to Psalm 22. Here are the posts related to the topic:
To give you a little foretaste of where I think I'm heading... it appears to me that when certain theologians have made problematic conclusions of the implications of this passage (e.g., that there is a split or separation in the Trinity, at least between the Father and the Son), it is because they have immediately taken the passage to the doctrine of the Trinity rather than first addressing the doctrine of Christ's two natures. Once we determine exactly what the cry means and where it is coming from within Jesus, then it is appropriate to raise any Trinitarian questions, but not until then (in my opinion). There appears to be unanimity from the interpreters of the early centuries that when Jesus makes this cry it is from his human nature. There are other significant implications of the passage that early luminaries have drawn out that are related to this insight, but I'll save those for later. As for Wesley's take himself, he doesn't explicitly draw this conclusion (and as I have posted before, he draws conclusions that I find problematic), but I think that several statements he makes elsewhere and his Christology in general finds congruence with the interpretation of the early centuries.
After I finish the paper, I'll share some of the conclusions I'll have drawn as well as some questions that remain unanswered.
Wouldn't it be question begging to begin with the two natures? After all, if Christ isn't divine, then he doesn't have two natures; only one. So the question of Christ's relation to God the Father precedes the question of the relation of the divine and human in Christ.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think you're right, Brad. Having re-read the references to the Fathers I had made in other posts prior to this one, your point comes through. So the problematic conclusion of a split Trinity was not so much from a faulty starting point of two natures of Christ vs. Trinitarian relationship but just bad hermeneutics of the cry of dereliction.
ReplyDeleteSts. Chrysostom and Athanasius especially note, in reference to your point, that Jesus' cry from the cross displays the closeness of the bond between Jesus and the Father...something that even the Roman centurion notices!