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Christ in Christian Tradition: From the Apostolic Age to Chalcedon (451) Christ in Christian Tradition) volume 1

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I would refer to this work repeatedly during my doctoral studies. Finally I decided to buy it. Grillmeier's first volume is one of the most thorough introductions to Christology that I know of and his scope is impressive. He begins with Ignatius of Antioch's understanding/theology of Christ treating it in great detail and slowly moves through the centuries addressing the fathers' theology of Christ and ending with the fourth ecumenical council of Chalcedon. You might feel more comfortable reading the work if theology is not completely new to you, but a degree in theology is by no means necessary.

"The pendulum has now swung in the opposite direction, whereas the slogan used to be 'the pure Jesus of history, is now 'the pure Christ of faith.'" Aloys Grillmeier

"In order to make the confession "God was in Christ" intelligible, it must be made clear what is being claimed about the identity of Jesus Christ and his relation to God." George Stroup, III

Patristic Christology:

The late eminent Roman Catholic Christologist re-established a biblical legitimacy for Patristic thought about the person and nature of Jesus by showing its roots in the New testament writings, the Evangelium. Grillmeier made an acknowledgement to A. von Harnak's narrative argument on 'how a living faith was laid away inside stiff ecclesiastical formulae.' He takes the reader back from Dr. Schweitzer Quest, of the historical Jesus, to Martin Kahler's Biblicasl Christ, starting the new Christological move which brought to German Protestant theology even deeper recognition!

Basic Christology Text:

This basic Christological text book, the first volume in the most elaborate study on the history of Christology and Soteriology, an expansion of his essay on the Council of Chalcedon. Fr. Grillmeier presented Christological developments as a history of faith in Christ, as proclaimed by the New Testament writers and how those were reflected by the church fathers from Origen to the schismatic Council of Chalcedon.

He took as his core task to expound in a systematic account the dynamic progress in patristic thought, and how those kept evolving from corresponding biblical themes, in different philosophical languages that dominated the two great centers of Christianity, Alexandria and Antioch. Since according to Henry Chadwick, Latin christianity before the last quarter of the fourth century was far behind the mature development of the Greek churches (the Early Church, pp.213)

Chalcedon Revisited:

Under this title, when at Princeton, George W. Stroup, III, Professor of Theology, Columbia Theological Seminary wrote a compelling essay, which I quoted for those not completely satisfied with the terminal chapters of the book. "Christologies have been characterized by a methodological distinction between those that begin "from below" with the events and historical reality of the man Jesus and those that begin "from above" with claims about the reality of the incarnation. Although the distinction has been helpful in sorting out important theological differences, in several respects it also has muddied the waters and made reconstruction in Christology more difficult. The problem is that the dichotomy between "below" and "above" may be, at best, artificial. Although Chalcedon consistently insisted on the oneness of Jesus Christ, it may be that different interpretations of his narrative history are necessary for a proper interpretation of his true identity. In other words, the reader may need both Mark and John in order to understand fully the identity of Jesus Christ.

Secondly, if the language of Chalcedon is no longer acceptable because it presupposes a model of "person" unintelligible to us, then the claims of Scripture and the intentions of Chalcedon must be reinterpreted by means of another model of personal identity. Unless one is willing to argue that "person" means something unique when applied to Jesus of Nazareth, theological confessions about his true identity must be made in the language of contemporary philosophy and its understanding of what is meant by "person" and "personal identity." Karl Barth has argued that God alone "is the person" and that we can know what "person" means only in reference to God. But if that unique notion of "person" is applied to Jesus Christ, it leads inexorably to the problems outlined above. Jesus Christ becomes either some third type of creature, a God-man, or a deity walking the earth in the guise of human being."

A Qualifying Review:

"What Grillmeier sees as the recurrent theme - Christ is God and man and is one - was at fitrst only sounded, but gradually became the dominant note, which came to a triumph in the 'balanced' phrases of the Chaledonian formula." Robert Wilken

Aloys Grillmeier,SJ:

The late Fr. Grillmeier was born in Bavaria in 1910, joining the Jesuits at the age of nineteen, and became cardinal in 1994. He was professor of dagma (1950-78) at St. Georgen theological Seminary, Frankfurt am Main. He was an expert theologian at the Vatican II Council (1962-65) He was a theological consultant to the ecumenical Pro Oriente.