Talbot鈥檚 new MA 鈥� Classical Theology is offering a summer seminar course on Christology. What better way to spend some summer hours?

Jesus Christ, our great God and Savior, is the glory of the Christian faith. The Gospel accounts tell of his appearing among us, fulfilling the prophetic testimony of the Old Testament and evoking the apostolic testimony of the New Testament. It took the church centuries of deep and prayerful discernment of Scripture鈥檚 teaching, often in the cut and thrust of controversy, to find an adequate confession of who the Son of Man is.

Over the seven weeks of this course, we鈥檒l trace that path of discernment through a series of decisive texts:

  1. The great Egyptian defender of Nicene orthodoxy Athanasius (c. 296-373) will survey the exegetical case  1.1, 1.35-51, 2.2-3, 2.18-82.
  2. North African bishop Augustine of Hippo (354-430),  1-3, and Egyptian patriarch Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444), , Book 1, will walk us through the prologue to John鈥檚 Gospel.
  3. We鈥檒l return to Cyril of Alexandria, whose brilliant insight into  is that the Logos himself actually experiences fully human life as Jesus.
  4. Syrian-born, Greek-and-Arabic speaking John of Damascus (c. 675-749), , Book 3, sums up and systematizes Greek patristic Christology.
  5. The Italian Dominican mastermind Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274),  1, 3-5, 16, 18.1, 19.1, 21, explains Christ鈥檚 natures, person, knowledge and will, action, and prayer with breathtaking analytic rigor.
  6. Lutheran orthodox giant Johann Gerhard (1582-1637) will press us to consider the controversial genus maiestaticum in , Chapter 12.
  7. My dear 鈥渦ncle鈥� Karl Barth (1886-1968) gathers up and restates this classical christological tradition in 鈥淭he Exaltation of the Son of Man,鈥� , 搂64.2.II.

We鈥檒l also be reading the of Pope Leo I (c. 400-461), the "" (451), a few other short texts including David Yeago鈥檚 mini-masterpiece, 鈥淭he New Testament and The Nicene Dogma鈥� (1994), and finally Welsh theologian and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams (1950-), "" (2018).

We鈥檒l read, and we鈥檒l talk.

But what about Gregory Nazianzen? Anselm? Calvin? Schleiermacher? Indeed. Lots we can鈥檛 fit into a short summer course. They鈥檒l have to wait for the full-semester course in spring 2021!

Applications to the MA 鈥� Classical Theology are open. Would you consider joining us?