The Person of Christ (Contours of Christian Theology)

by Donald Macleod

Publisher:

IVP

, 1998

Overview

Throughout the history of the church the doctrine of the person of Christ has been a centerpiece of theological reflection. In The Person of Christ Donald Macleod rearticulates this multifaceted doctrine. He begins with the New Testament and recent attempts to understand its Christology. Macleod then turns his attention to Christ in the history of Christian theology, examining the principal issues extending from Arianism in the fourth century to kenotic Christology in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to the current debate over the uniqueness of Christ. The Person of Christ is a valuable point of entrance and a biblical assessment of the full panorama of issues that have shaped orthodox confessions of Christ through the centuries. The pathway of Christian revelation and tradition is clearly charted, with hazards new and old carefully marked.

Contents

Top Highlights

“The following conclusions, then, seem safe. First, monogenēs says nothing about origins because the Son is unoriginated. Secondly, it emphasizes the uniqueness of Jesus’ sonship. Thirdly, this uniqueness consists in four things: he is an object of special love, he is the Father’s equal, he is the Father’s likeness and he is an eternal, not an adopted, Son.” (Page 74)

“Docetism rested on two fundamental principles: matter is evil, and the divine can experience neither change nor suffering.” (Page 157)

“Thirdly, without the virgin birth, the incarnation becomes a matter of mere human initiative.” (Page 38)

“It is a virtual commonplace of modern Christology that we must begin with the humanity, not the divinity, of Jesus” (Page 21)

“The term ‘hypostatic union’ encapsulates three truths: that Christ is one person; that the union between his two natures arises from the fact that they both belong to one and the same person; and that this one person, the son of God, is the Agent behind all of the Lord’s actions, the Speaker of all his utterances and the Subject of all his experiences.” (Page 189)

Product Details

• Title: The Person of Christ
• Author: Donald Macleod
• Series: Contours of Christian Theology
• Publisher: IVP
• Print Publication Date: 1998
• Logos Release Date: 2017
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Jesus Christ › Person and offices
• ISBNs: 9780830815371, 0830815376
• Resource ID: LLS:PRSNCHRSTMCLD
• Resource Type: Systematic Theology
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-24T16:37:35Z

About Donald Macleod

Donald Macleod (MA, University of Glasgow; DD, Westminster Theological Seminary), now retired, served as professor and chair of systematic theology at the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh and also as the school's principal. He pastored Kilmallie Free Church for six years and also served at Patrick Highland Free Church, a bi-lingual congregation in Glasgow, Scotland. He is well known as a previous editor of The Monthly Record of the Free Church and as a columnist in the West Highland Free Press and The Observer newspaper.