Antidocetic Christology in the Gospel of John: An Investigation of the Place of the Fourth Gospel in the Johannine School [Hardcover]

Udo Schnelle (Author), Linda M. Maloney (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: German

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Fortress Pr; Text is Free of Markings edition (August 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800625927
• ISBN-13: 978-0800625924
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,028,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars God likes matter, he made it and entered into it., August 3, 2008

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matt (the reading room) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antidocetic Christology in the Gospel of John: An Investigation of the Place of the Fourth Gospel in the Johannine School (Hardcover)

While writing that this book is not high on amazon's sell list is an understatement, the theme is very important for Christians and worth a read if you are wondering why or if Jesus is God and/or man and/or really physical. This may sound dumb or non-important, but, like today, in the early church there was quite a stir about who and what Jesus really was/is. Some said he was just appearing to be a man, but was something more akin to a ghost that looked like a man. There are various philosophical reasons for the denial of Jesus' real body, but they come down to two main points: One, matter is bad, spirit is good, so God wouldn't take on matter by taking upon himself real flesh or, two, God is too transcendent and "Other" to be limited to a real body. Gnostics were the main perpetuators of this myth back in the day, and Muslims believe the second point even still, sadly limiting God to transcendence and not allowing God to be literally "caught dead" in flesh. So, you see, this is not a dead issue. (And you can see why Christians who encountered the first Muslims thought of them as Christian heretics, not a new religion, since they used the same words (God, Mary, Jesus, Abraham) but twisted their meanings entirely.)

So the point of the book is that one of the sub-themes of the Gospel of St John is a refutation of this idea of "docetism", which comes from the Greek word, dokeo, "to appear". It's very technical at times, reading like a PhD thesis, and may be more than the average lay reader would want or need to know about the subject, but it is still worth pondering the significance of a religion that hinges upon the Creator entering into creation to die at the hands of His creatures. This is not some safe theology of "love me love you let's hold hands". This is the truth of a God who loves us and goes the distance to be one with His beloved, the Bride of Christ, the Church.

And lastly, this is why Mary matters so much. If she is the Mother of God, then we are safeguarding the Christological belief about her conception, pregnancy and birth-giving. If she is not the Mother of God, and if the person of her woman is not divine, then we are back to the sad times of disunion from God. You see, Christianity is ontological, things really happen and events really matter. It's what the center of history hinges upon.

Other book stat tie into this theme in a more user-friendly, less daunting way, are:

Incarnation Myth or Fact (Concordia Scholarship Today), The Orthodox Way,The Cruelty of Heresy: An Affirmation of Christian Orthodoxy, God's Human Face: The Christ Icon and Mary: The Untrodden Portal of God - Expanded and Revised Edition with a General Index. Enjoy!