A friend sent along this short review of a book on African Christologies. The author, who teachesat Daystar Universityin Nairobi,organizes the Christologies under four headings: Jesus as life-giver(especially healer), Jesus as mediator (particularly as ancestor), Jesus asloved one (family and friendship), and Jesus as leader (king/chief andliberator).
Reading this made me wonder what a book about AmericanChristologies would look like. What arethe images of Jesus that particularly resonate in our culture? What are their strengths? What are theirweaknesses? Im not talking aboutdogmatic Christology so much as the images of Christ that emerge in localpreaching and catechesis.
Over the last few years, Ive had the opportunity to sharereflections on the scriptures with men at a local county jail. Over time, Ive identified certain images ofJesus that seem to speak to them. One iswhat might be calledfollowing Jurgen MoltmannJesus as the suffering God,the God who enters into solidarity with human suffering. Another is what might be called Jesus ascompanion, someone who walks with us in our human journey, encouraging us,picking us up when we have fallen, and so on.
These are somewhat modern images, but the men also gravitateto some traditional images. You might besurprised to learn how many prisoners embrace something close to a stricttheory of substitutional atonement. Manycarry grave sins on their conscience and find forgiving themselves or acceptingforgiveness difficult. A belief that thedebt for these sins has been paid can open up new possibilities for forgivenessand reconciliation.
Im aware of some of the dangers here, of the Gospel beingreduced to a kind of therapy, to the mantra of holiness is wholeness. A passing acquaintance with the lives of someof the saints should make us skeptical of that idea. But the two ideas are not entirelyunrelated. The example of Jesus ownministry among the sick and outcast suggests that the healing andtransformation of individuals can be a powerful sign of the presence of theKingdom among us.
But back to the question: what images of Christ resonate inour culture? What are their strengths? What are their weaknesses? Anyone want to share?
