Christology: A Global Introduction

Rating:
Summary: Good overview
Review: Karkkainen's book has very pertinant material in it, but this book is clearly not for everyone...I really wouldn't recommend this book as an introduction to Christianity - it would be far too confusing. However, for someone who's interested in discovering how Jesus/the Christ is viewed around the world, this book is perfect.

The title is clear enough: this book contains ideas from around the world and across the theological spectrum looking at that ever important question: what was Christ's purpose? This book is designed as a survey, and therefore does not cover every little detail of every little belief about who and what Christ was. However, it does serve as an excellent introduction to these issues.

The book is broken into four different sections: Christ in the Bible, Christ in History, Christ in Contemporary World: Western Christologies, and Christ in the Contemporary World: Contextual Christologies. Some of the theologians/theologies that are looked at include but are not limted to: Karl Barth - Dialectical Christology; Rudolf Bultmann - Mythological Christology; Paul Tillich - Existentialist Christology; Jurgen Moltmann - Messianic Christology; John Hick - Universalist Christology; Jon Sobrino - Christ as Liberator; and Benezet Bujo - Christ as Ancestor.