Symbols of Jesus: A Christology of Symbolic Engagement
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 12/6/2001
EAN 9780521807876, ISBN10: 0521807875
Hardcover, 326 pages, 23.4 x 15.5 x 2 cm
Language: English
This is a systematic theology focusing on what makes Jesus important in Christianity. It studies six families of symbols about Jesus, showing how they are true for some people, not true for others, and not meaningful for a third group. Divine creation is analysed in metaphysical and symbolic terms, and religious symbolism is shown to be wholly compatible with a late-modern scientific world view. Robert Cummings Neville, a leading philosophical theologian, presents and illustrates an elaborate theory of religious symbols according to which God is directly engaged in symbolically shaped thinking and practice. Symbols are not distancing substitutes for God. Theology of symbolic engagement is defended as an alternative to doctrinal or descriptive theology. This major work re-shapes the way we think about Jesus, and will be of value to students, academics, clergy with theological training, and others grappling with the meaning and importance of religious symbols in our age.
Introduction
1. God the Father
2. Jesus the Lamb of God
blood sacrifice and atonement
3. Jesus the Cosmic Christ
4. Jesus Christ the Trinitarian Person
5. The historical Jesus and the incarnate word
6. Jesus as friend
7. Jesus as Saviour
the Eschaton
8. Epilogue
'And the Holy Spirit'.
‘Neville writes well … and the argument is illuminating throughout …’. The Expository Times