Christology 101
At my Field Ed parish last night, the confirmation class was talking about the Creed. Our job was to identify which parts of the Nicene Creed touched on God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Church respectively. We were then going to vote to accept or reject each line, and possibly add in elements that we wanted to include. The end result was for the class to create their own creed, and more importantly to stimulate conversation about these theological points.
We had a good amount of discussion and debate around the nature of Jesus Christ in particular. The debate revolved around whether, if Jesus was in any part divine, he could be human. One argument was that, basically, if Jesus was God then he couldn't be truly and fully human. And if Christ was not truly human, then he didn't really die on the Cross. Now, students of theology will recognize this immediately as docetism, which was, of course, determined to be a heresy, and I mentioned this fact to the students. One of them expressed surprise and delight that the questions that she had were in fact serious questions from the history of the Church; I think there was a sense of connection to the broader "theological mind" of the Church.
We ran short of time, and I made a decision not to immediately go to the standard Scriptural refutations of docetism (i.e. John 1:1;14 and 1 John 4:2-3). I also didn't want to start a discussion of the Incarnation and how it would be different if Jesus wasn't also human. The discussion was lively and spirited, and I'm very happy with the results. Of course, I tend towards a more orthodox Christology, but that's not the point. The point was that the class was engaged in theological discussion and reflection around key issues in the Church.
And for those of us in seminary, or who are preachers and teachers, we need to be aware that just because the Creed was written to combat heresies doesn't mean that people in the pews have their doctrine all worked out. We have a teaching job to do, and it simply isn't enough to stand up and recite the Creed once a week.
Comments
Indeed, the creed is something we learn and recite, but it is crucial to take it apart and truly examine it and its implications. The humanity of Christ has historically been a difficult concept for many, and it is in working thorugh the complexities of that concept that we can come to a greater understanding of both God and the human condition. Such conversations as you describe having with your class are crucial in a faith community and yet often lacking, as I know from my own faith tradition.
Posted by: Jennifer | November 8, 2006 2:07 PM