Asian Christology (De-Routing the Classical and Re-Rooting the Contextual)

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About the Book Christianity is a journey of faith and not a destination. It is a journey of knowing Jesus Christ, who is the very substance and core of Christian faith, in a most knowable and coherent way possible. In this context, the Bible provides the basis for this knowledge in the form of facts and guidelines which together form the doctrine of Christ, also called as Christology.

The author here attempts to formulate an Asian Christology in line with the thoughts of Fr. Tissa Balasuriya. Late Fr. Tissa Balasuriya was a leading and also one of the earliest interpreters of Christ from an Asian perspective. Balasuriya was critical to the western, traditional, classical interpretations of Christ that were indifferent and ignorant to the contextual realities of Asia.

This scholarly research provides a lucid picture of how Asians respond and interpret Christ in terms of their context. The author takes Balasuriya's model of interpretation to provide what could be the basic thrust of Asian Christology. In the Asian context, Jesus Christ is divine because he is human and he is human because he is divine. Hence, to make it brief, Christology from below must start with Jesus Christ who is very much from the people and for the people. Indeed, this makes God's incarnation in Christ more meaningful and beautiful. Accordingly, Jesus is not only the son of God, but also had the human face.

The author concludes by saying Asian Christology the 21st century is a Christology 'from below', and that Jesus of Nazareth was at the same time a Historic person, Liberator and Cosmic Christ.

About the Author Rev. Dr. Jacob Mathew hailing from Kerala holds a PhD in Theology from the Senate of Serampore College (University). He has been serving the Lord in various capacities as Pastor and Teacher in different parts of India, mostly being in the Northern one. He has been teaching both at Graduate and Post Graduate levels under Senate of Serampore and ATA since 1999. He has also served in different positions like the Director of Academics, Dean of Post Graduate Studies at New Theological College, Dehradun.

Dr. Jacob is presently a missionary in Silvassa (an Indian Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and pioneering a ministry called 'Adarsh', a Christian Mission of Counselling & Social Outreach. He was also the Principal of Fellowship Ashram Theological College, Silvassa.

He has authored a number of articles and book reviews in different Journals and Magazines of national and international repute. His area of interests includes Asian/Indian Christian theology, Ecumenical theology, Studies on Pentecostal theology in Asian theological discussions, etc.

Dr. Jacob is married to Bency and they are blessed with three children, Jannie, Jemy and Joash. The author can be reached at [email protected].

Introduction Christianity is neither a religion nor a tradition or even a culture or civilization, but an affirmation of faith in the Person and Work of Jesus, the Christ. The Christian faith affirmation is that the God of the universe came down to this earth in the form of human in Jesus of Nazareth (the Incarnation of God, John 1:1, 14). He lived on earth a life that was full of love and sacrifice for the people whom He loved (Jn. 3:16), which is believed to have been later led to the Cross (the Crucifixion), and also the victory that ultimately Jesus won when God the Heavenly Father raised him from the dead (the Resurrection). This is the doctrine of Christ or Christology of the Bible in nutshell.

**Contents and Sample Pages**