The Point of Christology by Schubert Ogden (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Wallace admits that his study leaves many questions unanswered. His treatment may not be exhaustive from this point of view, and yet the volume is worth every penny of its price. It really is a fascinating book. The reader goes from surprise to surprise, following a rigorous exposition of facts and principles that leads to conclusions themselves inescapable . The volume will prove of value to scientists, historians, philosophers, and all scholars interested in the complex ramifications of the Italian Renaissance. To bring this review to conclusion we propose the following question. Does Wallace prove his thesis'I Does the new science of motion stand in essential continuity with the ideals laid out in Aristotle's Posterior .Analytics ? We believe that it does, but this is bound to be the subject of future controversy, as Wallace himself foresees (p. 347). Whether the thesis is demonstrated or not, however, the book stands on its own merits. Wallace's research is so interesting, so well documented, so well written, so appealing, and so original that we recommend the book unreservedly to everyone. Graduate Theological Union Berkeley, California ANTONIO MORENO, O.P. The Point of Christology. By SCHUBERT OGDEN. New York: Harper & Row, 1982. Pp. 191. $14.50. Schubert Ogden is recognized as a leading American theologian. Two of his works, Christ without Myth and The Reality of God, have had substantial impact on contemporary theological thought. This present work, The Point of Christology, contains Ogden's Sarum Lectures given at Oxford in 1980-81. A. .Authenticating Our Existence As the title indicates, Ogden is not interested solely in determining the content of Christology, although he does that, but rather in making " a critical inquiry into the point of all such doctrinal formulations" (p. xi). In other words, before Ogden takes up the question of who Jesus Christ is he explores the underlying question why one would formulate a Christology or be concerned with Jesus in the first place. Ogden is asking what might be termed the meta-Christological question. Ogden sees the need for such a study because he believes that both traditional and present revisionary Christology contain inherent weaknesses that can only be eliminated if such a prior question is addressed and answered. Besides rejecting a mythological world view inherited BOOK REVIEWS 293 from the New Testament and a metaphysical system which can no longer be maintained, Ogden believes that traditional Christo!ogy is concerned too exclusively with the question of " Who is Jesus " in himself (cf. pp. 6-14). He also believes that contemporary revisionary Christology takes as its own this same presupposition that Christology is primarily concerned with Jesus in himself (cf. pp. 15-19). In examining the question of the point of Christology, Ogden asserts that Christology should deal not only with who Jesus is in himself, but also with J esus's meaning for us and who God is in relation to us (cf. pp. 23-28). These latter two concerns are fundamental to any true Christology (cf. p. 29). Ogden proceeds to argue that the question underlying any Christology deals with our authentic existence as related to and sanctioned by ultimate reality, i.e. God (cf. pp. 30, 34, 38-40, 64-65). Christology is "fundamentally a question about the ultimate meaning of our own existence " (p 64). Whatever one states about Jesus must be seen from this point of departure. Christology must be what Ogden calls "existential-historical ", that is, it must be a statement about Jesus (historical) that is primarily concerned with our authentic existence (existential) in relation to ultimate reality (God). Ogden states: " The Christological assertion must be an assertion about both the ultimate reality and ourselves, in that it asserts conversely both that the ultimate reality which authorizes the authentic understanding of our existence is the God who is decisively revraled through Jesus and that the authentic self-understanding that is implicitly authorized by ultimate reality is the faith in God of which Jesus is the explicit authorizing source" (p. 42). Christology thus deals with God's authentication of our lives revealed through Jesus and our faith self-understanding as being affirmed by God also revealed through Jesus. Jesus (and thus the...