The Future of Christology

Jesus Christ for a Global Age

Dong-Kun Kim

The Future of Christology addresses the questions that Christology currently faces and/or will face in the future in 12 topics. The book consists of two parts. In the first part Kim deals with five topics related to traditional Christology, while in the second part he wrestles with seven topics related to issues of Christology.

The twenty-first century is a challenging time for Christianity. Many in our age are asking what Jesus Christ means in various dimensions of history, culture, nature, and even beyond the Earth. Changes in values, worldviews, and views of the universe are forming a new zeitgeist. Dong-Kun Kim argues that ways of understanding Christ should change accordingly, for a Christology that fails to communicate meaningfully with the times is void of vitality. Postmodernism, dehistoricization and life post-ideology, multiculturalism, multiple religions, and, above all, the rapid development of the natural sciences pose a serious challenge to traditional Christology.

Who is Christ in the age of an infinite cosmos? How do daily human life, social devotion, and praxis relate to salvation? How can we discuss salvation history in an era post-history? Where does Christ stand in the public sphere? Can the Chalcedonian definition of the two natures of Christ, “true God and true human being,” encompass nature and the cosmos; would a third nature of Christ be necessary? Will the cyborg, which may appear in the near future, be the object of Christ’s salvation? If scientific determinism becomes popular in the future, will the basis of faith in Christ lose ground? If intelligent life exists in the universe, what does Christ mean to such life? This book provides innovative answers to these questions in an academic context.

Lexington Books / Fortress Academic

Pages: 296 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-9787-0270-7 • Hardback • June 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-9787-0271-4 • eBook • June 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / Christology

The Future of Christology

Jesus Christ for a Global Age

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The Future of Christology addresses the questions that Christology currently faces and/or will face in the future in 12 topics. The book consists of two parts. In the first part Kim deals with five topics related to traditional Christology, while in the second part he wrestles with seven topics related to issues of Christology.

The twenty-first century is a challenging time for Christianity. Many in our age are asking what Jesus Christ means in various dimensions of history, culture, nature, and even beyond the Earth. Changes in values, worldviews, and views of the universe are forming a new zeitgeist. Dong-Kun Kim argues that ways of understanding Christ should change accordingly, for a Christology that fails to communicate meaningfully with the times is void of vitality. Postmodernism, dehistoricization and life post-ideology, multiculturalism, multiple religions, and, above all, the rapid development of the natural sciences pose a serious challenge to traditional Christology.

Who is Christ in the age of an infinite cosmos? How do daily human life, social devotion, and praxis relate to salvation? How can we discuss salvation history in an era post-history? Where does Christ stand in the public sphere? Can the Chalcedonian definition of the two natures of Christ, “true God and true human being,” encompass nature and the cosmos; would a third nature of Christ be necessary? Will the cyborg, which may appear in the near future, be the object of Christ’s salvation? If scientific determinism becomes popular in the future, will the basis of faith in Christ lose ground? If intelligent life exists in the universe, what does Christ mean to such life? This book provides innovative answers to these questions in an academic context.

Details

Lexington Books / Fortress Academic

Pages: 296 • Trim: 6½ x 9

978-1-9787-0270-7 • Hardback • June 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)

978-1-9787-0271-4 • eBook • June 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

Subjects: Religion / Christian Theology / Christology

Author

Dong-Kun Kim is professor of systematic theology at Youngnam Theological University and Seminary.

Table of Contents

Part I. Topics Related to Traditional Christology

Chapter 1: Methodology of Christology

Chapter 2: Incarnational Theology and Prospects

Chapter 3: Harmony of the Cosmic Christ and the Historical Jesus

Chapter 4: Issues in Soteriology

Chapter 5: Salvation: Is It God’s Grace or Human Cooperation?

Part II. Topics Related to Issues of Christology

Chapter 6: Open Discipleship of Christ

Chapter 7: Christ in the Age of Plurality

Chapter 8: Christ in History and Dehistoricization

Chapter 9: Christ in the Public Sphere

Chapter 10: The Decline of Comprehensive Christology and the Emergence of Private Christology

Chapter 11: Scientific Determinism and Christ

Chapter 12: Christ of the Earthlings?

Reviews

Dong-Kun Kim’s The Future of Christology: Jesus Christ for a Global Age is a timely reminder that faith in Jesus Christ not only has a distinguished intellectual history, but also an interesting and creative present that opens onto a promising global future. This is an exciting book, written from a standpoint of confidence — open to life, scholarship and culture, but also theologically positive and constructive to the core. If you are tired of sterile academic theology, this book is for you.
— Gary D. Badcock, Peache Professor of Divinity, Huron University College at Western University

This exploration of themes in Christology provides a valuable state-of-the-art guide to current debates. With his informed scholarship and awareness of contextual challenges, Dr. Kim has produced an admirably clear and perceptive survey. His work deserves the attention of all those seeking to engage with this field of study.
— David Fergusson, University of Cambridge

The Future of Christology

Jesus Christ for a Global Age

Dong-Kun Kim

The Future of Christology

Jesus Christ for a Global Age

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