Orthodox Faith
Centres round the idea of Jesus as the literal Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind and rose again.

The Gospels
Through the Gospels there are conflicting statements about the things Jesus said and did. Some of them on key areas such as his real position and status:

Luke 9:20

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

but in the gospel of Matthew:

Matthew 16:15-16

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ,the Son of the living God."

Christianity - Introduction

In the last two hundred years there has been a new type of quest amongst the Christian scholars. Just as critical approaches were taken to studying documents of history this approach was extended to the Biblical text also. The mood and shift in emphasis is explained well by Thomas Sheehan in 'The First Coming' where Sheehan explains the new approach as centering around 5 key tasks:

1. Establishing the correct text of the New Testament
2. Isolating the original sources of the Gospels
3. Reconstructing the environments of the first Christian communities.
4. Tracing the development of Christology in the early church.
5. Interpreting the relevance (or irrelevance) of early Christian beliefs for men and women of today.

This type of investigation, that was occuring in multiple places in the early 19th century, is the root of the current upheaval in Christian theology. The results of these studies were virtually in agreement that the Gospels were not neutral historical accounts of the events that occured 2000 years. It became clear that the Jesus of faith and the Jesus of history were separate beings and so began the "quest for the historical Jesus".

To download or view more extracts from Sheehan click here



Introduction | Change or Die | Myth of God Incarnate | Conclusion

Myth of God Incarnate

"Without the incarnation, Christianity would be something else. Yet this assumption is open to great many questions.."