The Center Is Jesus Christ Himself: Essays on Revelation, Salvation, and Evangelization in Honor of Robert P. Imbelli
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
The polarization in the Church today can be traced back to a more fundamental crisis in theology, one which has failed to connect our mundane experiences and the mysteries of the Christian faith with the person of Jesus Christ. Ecclesial discourse on the so-called ‘hot- button issues’ of the day too often takes place without considering the foundation and goal of the Church. And this is unfortunately due to a similar tendency in the academic theology that informs that ecclesial discourse. In short, much of post-conciliar Catholic theology is adrift, floating aimlessly away from the center of the Christian faith, who is Christ.
The Center is Jesus Christ Himself is a collection of essays which anchor theological reflection in Jesus Christ. These diverse essays share a unified focal point, but engage with a variety of theological subdisciplines (e.g., dogmatic, moral, Biblical, etc.), areas (e.g., Christology, Pneumatology, missiology, etc.), and periods (e.g., patristic, medieval, and modern). Given the different combinations of sub-disciplines, areas, and periods, theology is susceptible to fragmentation when it is not held together by some principle of unity. A theology in which the person of Jesus Christ serves as that principle of unity is a Christocentric theology. Together, the essays illustrate not only what Christocentric theology looks like, but also what the consequences are when Christ is dislodged from the center, whether by a conspicuous silence on, or by a relativization of, his unique salvific mission.
The volume is published in honor of Emeritus Professor of Systematic Theology at Boston College, Rev. Dr. Robert P. Imbelli, who dedicated his teaching and writing to bringing Christ back to the center of Catholic theological discourse.
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- Offers a collection of essays which anchor theological reflection in Jesus Christ
- Exhibits how Christocentric theology anchors theological subdisciplines
- Tightens the theological coherence between various avenues of theological inquiry, such as Trinitarian theology, Christology, pneumatology, and missiology
- Christocentrism in Theology and Evangelization in the Thought of Robert P. Imbelli - Andrew Meszaros
Part I. The Center of Revelation
- Joseph Ratzinger Warming the Christic Imagination, October 1962 - Jared Wicks, SJ
- Salvation and the Holy Trinity: Interpersonal Relations with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit - Frederick Lawrence
- Faith, Reason, and Incarnation in Irenaeus of Lyon - Khaled Anatolios
- Analogy and the Analogatum Princeps at Vatican II - Thomas G. Guarino
Part 2. The Center of the Economy of Salvation
- Was Christ "Beautiful in Laying Down His Life" on the Cross? - Gerald O'Collins, SJ
- Trinitarian Christology in the Gospel of Matthew - Matthew Levering
- The Trinitarian Shape of the Mystical Body of Christ in the Theology of Isaac of Stella - Nathaniel Peters
Part 3. The Center of the Christian Life
- Deus adorans, Homo adorans: Joseph Ratzinger's Liturgical Christology and Anthropology - Christopher Ruddy
- The Incarnate Word in Catholic Moral Theology: The Christocentric Visions of Pope John Paul II and Robert Imbelli - Ryan Connors
- "To weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice": Signature Divine Affectivity Humanly Expressed in Hugh of St. Victor - Boyd Taylor Coolman
Part 4. The Center of Evangelization
- Augustine the Preacher: Practicing the Rhetoric of Love - Brian E. Daley, SJ
- Spirit of Christ, Spirit of the Kingdom: Christocentrism and a Pneumatology for Mission - Andrew Salzmann
- The Mission and Person of Christ and the Christian in Hans Urs von Balthasar - Angela Franks
- The Creed of the Council of Chalcedon and the New Evangelization - Thomas Weinandy, OFM, CAP
"Remarkable for the scope of influential theologians who have willingingly contributed to this volume. Will be of interest to anyone interested in Fr. Imbellli's work and should be read by anyone seeking a degree in systematic theology.
Gill Goulding, SJ, Regis College, University of Toronto
This volume reflects the man it honors: thoughtful, disciplined, and driven by a love for the subject matter. Just as Christ is like a light that refracts in a thousand ways, so, too, these essays offer a wide spectrum of evocative answers to the central questions: who is Christ and how does he deliver us from death to life? Fr. Imbelli has long reminded us that in the tumult of the present moment, re-rooting ourselves in the mystery of Christ is essential. This book is a valuable step in that direction.
Holly Taylor Coolman, Providence College
To encounter Christ as the genuine center is hardly a commonplace or a static midpoint between two abstractly opposed extremes. Fr. Robert Imbelli grasps Christocentrism as a transformative experience of having one’s imagination illuminated by the glory of the transfigured crucified. From Josiah Royce he discerned a pneumatological clue to linking this meeting in person of a wounded savior to a vision of the whole of faith and of life. This renewable and reforming path from the Paschal Mystery to everyday existence is captured in these captivating, learned, and elegant essays by eminent friends, scholars, and bishops. These contributions not only bring to light the legacy of a remarkably humble, irenic, and underappreciated theologian. They hearken to being centered on the transfiguring Christ as a basso continuo in the Catholic tradition and thereby bring it to life for a new generation.
Peter Casarella, Duke Divinity School