Sárospataki Füzetek 16. (2012)

2012 / 1. szám - TANULMÁNYOK - Brinkman, Martien E.: Is There a Reciprocal Relation Between Anthropology and Christology?

Brinkman, Martién E.

Is There a Reciprocal

RELATION BETWEEN

Anthropology and

CHRISTOLOGY?'

An Anthropological Approach to Christo logy (Raymond Panikkar)

The Christology of most of the Indian theologians can be called a cosmic Christol- ogy.1 2 Strongly inspired by the prologue of the Gospel of John, they preferably speak about Christ as the divine light that permeates whole the earth and every individual human person. In this Christological approach Christ as the Logos of God is seen not only as the logos of every individual person but also as the logos of the whole universe.3 Of this Christology Raymond Panikkar is an excellent example.

I am inclined to label his approach as an anthropological one.4 That is a quite unusual qualification. Often only a Christological approach ‘from below’ is qualified as ‘anthropological’. Meant is then an approach of the meaning of Christ based on the concrete life of the human person Jesus of Nazareth. The way he was fulfilled by the Holy Spirit shows his nearness to God and is an indication of his divine sonship. So, this approach begins with Jesus earthly life. Hence, it is called a Christology ‘from below’.5 This Christology has the benefit that it can fully account for the meaning of Jesus’ earthly existence. Its drawback is, however, that can create the impression that Jesus’ divine sonship is dependent upon his earthly existence. That existence is indispensable and decisive for the way Jesus reveals God (see further on), but I would hesitate to make his divine sonship fully dependent upon it. His divine sonship is God’s, not Jesus’ decision. In this contribution on the relation of anthropology and Christology I do not focus on a Christology ‘from below’ because it is too obvious that anthropological categories play here a huge role.

1 This article contains the text of a lecture delivered on Friday, November 18, 2011 at the Reformed

Theological Seminary of Sárospatak.

2 J.P. Schouten, Jesus as Guru: The Image of Christ among Hindus and Christians in India (Currents of Encounter 36) (Amsterdam-New York: Rodopi, 2008), 264-265 and 277-279. Cf. also M. Amaladoss,

“Jesus Christ in the Midst of Religions: An Indian Perspective” in T. Merrigan and J. Haers (eds), The Myriad Christ: Plurality and the Questfor Unity in Contemporary Christology (Leuven: Peeters, 2000), 219-233.

3 Cf. J. Pelikan, Jesus Christ Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture (New Haven — London: Yale University Press, 1985 (repr. 1999), 57-70 (“The Cosmic Christ’).

4 M.E.Brinkman, The Non-Western Jesus: Jesus as Bodhisattva, Avatara, Guru,Prophet, Ancestor or Healer?

(London: Equinox, 2009), 261-262 and 149-154.

5 A good example of this approach is the Christology developed in H. Berkhof, Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 2005).

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