CHRISTOLOGY IN GLOBAL

PERSPECTIVE
Session 8
Question: Objectives:
• How does our • To understand how
particular “location” in one’s “location” in life
life affect our (social, political,
experience of and psychological, etc.)
witness to Jesus and affects one’s
the Gospel? experience of salvation
and understanding of
who Jesus is.
 LIVING BETWEEN TWO AGES
Old age New Age
Crucifixion/Resurrection
Before JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
God

In
Cross Resurrection

Before
human Creation New Creation
beings
and
VOCATION
creation KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
 CHRIST AS DIVINE AND HUMAN
Christ as human Christ as divine
Crucifixion/Resurrection
Before JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
God

In
Cross Resurrection
SACRAMENT CHRISTUS VICTOR

Before Creation New Creation

human EXAMPLE THEOSIS
beings
and
VOCATION
creation KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
 CHRIST AS ONLY HUMAN?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God
Cross
SACRAMENT

Before Creation
human EXAMPLE
beings
and
creation
 CHRIST AS ONLY DIVINE?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR

Before New Creation

human THEOSIS
beings
and
creation
 CHRIST AS THEOSIS ONLY?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God

Before New Creation

human THEOSIS
beings
and
creation
 CHRIST AS SACRAMENT ONLY?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God

In
Cross
SACRAMENT

Before
human
beings
and
creation
 CHRIST AS EXAMPLE ONLY?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God

Before Creation
human EXAMPLE
beings
and
creation
 CHRISTUS VICTOR ONLY?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God

In
Resurrection
CHRISTUS VICTOR

Before
human
beings
and
creation
 ONLY JUSTIFICATION?
Christ as human Christ as divine
Crucifixion/Resurrection
Before JUSTIFICATION
WORD/SACRAMENT
God

In
Cross Resurrection
SACRAMENT CHRISTUS VICTOR

Before
human
beings
and
creation
 ONLY VOCATION?
Christ as human Christ as divine

Before
God

Before Creation New Creation

human EXAMPLE THEOSIS
beings
and
VOCATION
creation KINGDOM OF GOD
Incarnation
 CHRISTOLOGY IN GLOBAL
PERSPECTIVE
Overview of Session 8
• ELAINE CRAWFORD: • MARCELLA ATHAUS-REID:
WOMANIST “A CRITICAL
CHRISTOLOGY OF HOPE
CHRISTOLOGY
AMONGST LATIN
• OSCAR A. GARCIA- AMERICAN WOMEN”
JOHNSON: THE CROSS • JOSÉ M. DE MESA: ASIAN
IN LATINO/A CHRISTOLOGIES
PERSPECTIVE • VICTOR I. EZIGBO:
AFRICAN CHRISTOLOGIES
 OUR MULTICULTURAL GOD
• “Our multicultural God calls on the church to
communicate the love of God in Christ—in, with,
and under the rich diversity that embraces us all.
Mutuality of experience intermingles with God’s
divine presence; we’re prepared for great
commission work in our diverse nation and the
world.”

ALICIA VARGAS, director of contextual education at

Pacific
OSCAR A. GARCIA-JOHNSON ON THE CROSS IN
LATINO/A PERSPECTIVE
 Where I Stand in
the Story of the Cross
• Put bluntly, the birth of Latin
America is tied to the imperial
program of the proclamation
of the cross of Jesus Christ.
The crucifix was used as God’s
signature, authorizing the
Iberian campaign of invasion,
cultural devastation,
appropriation of the land,
colonization, massacring, and
evangelization of the
Americas during and after the
European Conquest.
 Trends in Latin American
and Latino/a theology
1. Mimicking western methodologies and
transplanting western ideas, models, and
ambitions into a nonwestern environment
2. A counter-western direction or a postwestern
horizon, in the interest of a theology that
acknowledges the rupture between the old
western ways and the new nonwestern ways.
3. Thinking in transwestern ways—that is, working to
foster transcontextual, transcultural, transclassical,
interdisciplinary, and ecumenical conversations.
CHRISTOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN LATIN
AMERICAN AND LATINO/A CONTEXTS
The Conquest—The Cross as the Beginning

Conquest Christology:
1. Suffering is a God-giving
historical reality and
inevitable
2. Christ illustrates and
invites tragedy
3. God blesses the others-
in-power and allows
them to use violence to
accomplish their
mandate.
 The Glorious Christ of Evangelicalism—
Where Is the Cross?

A nondocetic Christ of life

and glory over against
the “other Spanish Christ”
of death
– An exit from historical
tragedy, poverty, and
spiritual emptiness, a
Christ of glory
 The Liberating Christ—
From Inheriting the Cross to Choosing It for Life

Christology of Liberation
• The locus theologicus
shifted from the European
categories of reason, Sola
Scriptura, the church, and
individual subjectivism to a
hermeneutics of communal
suffering, poverty, and
injustice in light of Jesus’
way to the cross.

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel: The Latin American Way of the Cross

 U.S. Latino/a Christology—The Cross in the
Story of a Pilgrim People

• The Latino/a experience of Mestizaje-Mulatez as a hermeneutic

paradigm for understanding Jesus Christ as God among us.

• “We know viscerally what it is like to fully embody the tensions

of disparate realities that may seem incongruent with one
another. In a sense, the incarnation is the ultimate act of
mestisaje and mulatez joining together humanity and divinity
in one act. . . . By using the paradigm of Mestizaje-Mulatez we
assert that Jesus identified with the oppressed and the
marginalized, locating the presence of God in their midst.” (Luis
Pedraja)
ELAINE CRAWFORD ON WOMANIST CHRISTOLOGY
M. L. KING: “I HAVE A DREAM”
 Womanist theology
• When the angel of the Lord found Hagar in the wilderness (Gen 16:8),
the angel asked her a question that is pertinent to the theological
enterprise today. The angel asked Hagar, "Where have you come from
and where are you going?"
• Womanist theology arose out of the need for a theology that would
take seriously the perspectival lens African American women's
experience brings to the theological enterprise. Womanist theology
critiques the multi-dimensional oppression of African American
women's lives, at a minimum, sexism, racism, classism, and
heterosexism. It challenges structures, symbols, and socio-political
realities that foster oppression/domination of black women in
particular, as well as black men, humanity in general, and nature.
 Questions for womanist theology

• "Can a white, male Jesus serve

as a redemptive symbol for
African American women?"

• "Who is Jesus Christ for the

African American woman?"

• "How does Jesus address the

plight of the marginalized and
oppressed of society?"
 The cross and abuse
• Given the historic abuse of black
women's bodies, from Hagar through
today, and the increasing awareness of
domestic violence and child abuse in
American society, how does one
interpret Jesus' death on the cross?
• Does the death on the cross glorify
violence?
• Does the cross sacralize abuse?
• How are the Academy and the Church to
respond to the symbolism of the cross,
juxtaposed with silence around the
issues of abuse and violence in most
churches?
• How does one teach and preach healing
through the life, death, resurrection of
Christ without romanticizing suffering?
 Womanist understandings of God
• The womanist understanding of • It is Jesus who is central
God is based upon God's
and co-sufferer with the
revelation to them, as well as
through the revelation and oppressed. African
witness of scripture in the American women identify
context of their experience. God with Jesus because they
is understood as being on the believe he identifies with
side of the oppressed. God is
liberator, creator, and sustainer.
their struggle. Jesus, who
• God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit is Immanuel, friend,
are understood as the three present help, and
persons of the Trinity and are comforter, is central to
used interchangeably, especially African American women's
in the prayers of the African
American.
theology.
 Womanist understandings of God
• Womanists employ a very "high"
Christology. It is high, not in the
typical western perspective
meaning to emphasize his divinity,
but high in the African American
sense, indicating that Jesus has an
integral place, a real consuming
presence that empowers the life
of the believer.
• To have a "high time" at church, in
the African American vernacular,
means the Spirit was very present,
real, touchable, and tangible. This
is the way African American
women experience Jesus.
 2 Cor 5:21
• As a human (representing both male and
female) dying on the cross, how does Jesus'
death condone violence against women?

• Does this death on the cross also validate the

killing and imprisoning of African American
males?
 2 Cor 5:21
• The Bible says that Jesus • Thus, the cross does not
became sin for us that we sacralize abuse but is an
might experience the
example of it. The cross
righteousness of God (2 Cor
5:21). represents what God was
willing to sacrifice so that
• Though I understand the cross no others would be
as the culmination of human sacrificed. It is not a shrine
evil, I suggest that Jesus to violence that calls for
became abuse, violence, torn flesh and bleeding
dehumanization, and bodies, but an eternal
oppression so that we might statement that humans
experience wholeness, safety,
should not be abused.
full humanity, and agency.
The cross mandates a theology of risk rather
than a theology of sacrifice

• A theology of risk is the God-consciousness

and God-confidence to risk all to fight against
injustice and oppression, even if it means
that one may be called upon to give one's
life. A theology of risk employs a liberating
message of the cross that breaks the cycle of
violence in black women's lives. The message
of the cross is not one of resignation to
violence or demands for revenge, but it is a
passion for justice. It is an awareness of the
Christ-presence in one's life that empowers
one to seize the personal agency to act
against, rather than acquiesce to,
victimization and oppression. A theology of
risk breaks the cycle of violence and counter-
violence by moving one toward a new
humanity that is self-loving, other-affirming,
and community-creating.
JOSÉ M. DE MESA ON ASIAN CHRISTOLOGIES
 THE REALITY OF
JESUS CHRIST
On what an Indian religious
man said to missionaries to
India: “You say that you
bring Jesus and new
humanity to us. But what is
this 'new humanity' you are
proclaiming? We would like
to see it, touch it, taste it,
feel it. Jesus must not be just
a name, but a reality. Jesus
must be illustrated
humanly". Yes! “All human
beings are cultural beings.
Jesus must be culturally
relevant if he is really to be
understood and
appreciated. This is a most
obvious fact unfortunately Supper at Emmaus; He Qi; Art in the Christian Tradition
A TRIPLE DIALOGUE IN
ASIAN THEOLOGIZING

Jesus and . . .
the poor in Asia,
the religions of Asia,
the cultures of Asia.

Oil on Canvas, part of a dyptich of the Dalit Jesus. Collection of

the Missions Prokura sj Nuerenberg.
http://jyotiartashram.blogspot.com
 DALIT THEOLOGY
The dalits (from the root word dal in Marathi
language which means to crack, open and split),
especially the women, are poor and discriminated
in society and in the church. They are forced to
live separately from the common people, they are
barred from using common wells, roads and other
common facilities and dalits converted to
Christianity have separate seats in the church and
separate cemeteries for the dead. Liberation from
the dehumanizing caste system in all aspects has
been and is the deepest longing of the dalits.
Dalit theology provides us with a vivid description
of the marginalization and depredation of the
dalits who are despised and exploited outcasts
within the Hindu caste system. It unveils the
ideology both in the hierarchical and the
ecclesiastical caste system through social analysis,
and articulates the hope and the struggle of the
dalits for liberation.

Jesus the folk healer. Oil on Canvas. Part of a dyptich of the Dalit Jesus. Collection of
the Missions Prokura sj. Nuerenberg.
FILIPINO FOLK
CHRISTOLOGY
In the Philippines this sort of
exchange is taking place
between official and popular
Catholicism. Benigno Beltran,
who looked for elements for
his Christology in the folk
religiosity of scavengers living
and working at a huge dump
site, discovered that the
traditional dogmatic teachings
on Christology have been re-
interpreted according to the
local worldview. As a result
Jesus is mainly the Child Jesus
(Santo Niño) on the one hand,
and the Suffering Christ (the
Black Nazarene) on the other.
However, many of the changes
which the people have
introduced into their Ruben Enaje, right, who has been nailed to the cross for 24 times, grimaces as
Catholicism seem to be closer actors dressed as centurions pound a nail on his feet during yearly religious rituals
to the thinking of the bible in San Pedro Cutud village, San Fernando town, Pampanga province, northern
than to the Western dogmatic Philippines. Filipino devotees re-enacted Jesus Christ's suffering by having
tradition. These elements themselves nailed to the cross in yearly Good Friday rites frowned upon by church
constitute valuable material leaders in Asia's largest predominantly
for the construction of a
Filipino Christology in the
Roman Catholic nation. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila); http://my.opera.com/irczas/archive
 THE ASCENSION
BY BAGONG
KUSSUDIARDJA,
INDONESIA
Jesus said to the disciples:
"When the Holy Spirit comes
upon you, you will be filled
with power, and you will be
witnesses for me in
Jerusalem, in all Judaea and
Samaria,
and to the ends of the
earth."
After saying this, he was
taken up to heaven as they
watched him and a cloud hid
him from their sight. Acts 1:8f

Copyright © 2002, Asian Christian Art Association

permission pending from
http://www.asianchristianart.org/
 K.C.S. PANIKER'S
“SORROW OF CHRIST”
This sculpture expresses the
compassion of Christ, identifying with
the misery of suffering people.

“His nose is distorted. His mouth is

mis-shapen and his eyes pop out.”
When asked what led [the artist] to do
this sculpture, he replied, "I am a
Hindu. We contemplate, and pray and
fast. We meditate on the way of
compassion. I read the Bible at Madras
Christian College where I studied. I
was impressed to find that this man,
Jesus of Nazareth, not only prayed for,
but actually related himself to the
misery of marginalized people, such as
those who suffered from leprosy."

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_eraKUpaqWhU/SaJj2qm14lI/AAAAAAAAAMo/_jgLtcrUEQI/
s320/scan0002.jpg
THE CHRISTOLOGICAL PROCESS IN
THE KHASI CONTEXT (INDIA)
“The cock prefigures and
symbolizes Jesus because for
us Christians He is the only one
who is really UBahok who
brings true life, peace,
harmony, righteousness,
justice, truthfulness, right
relationship with God, fellow
human beings and fellow
creatures. Moreover, Jesus is
much, much more than the
rooster or the cock. He is not
only a sacrificial victim who
mediates with God through
signs and oracles, but he is
himself divine and human. He
is not only the ladder or the
‘umbilical cord’ of heaven, but
in him God and people meet.
Kwai trees in the town / Photo credit: Frontline: He is God-with-us, Emmanuel.”
http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/rains-a-downer-in-worlds-wettest-place
VICTOR I. EZIGBO ON
AFRICAN CHRISTOLOGIES
 AFRICAN
CHRISTOLOGIES
“African Christologies must, in
some intelligible ways, seek to
bridge any gap between an
abstract conception of Jesus and
the pictures of him that are
informed by the experiences of
the African peoples. The socio-
religious issues facing Africa
today are massive. These include
religious pluralism and conflicts,
political structures that
perpetuate poverty and
dehumanize people, and
constant fears of the malevolent
spirits which those who are not
properly informed have simply
JESUS MAFA. Jesus absolves the pentitent sinner, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a
dismissed as empty project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN.
superstitions.”
“The images of Jesus in the
Bible are not divorced
from real life JESUS AND PEOPLE’S
experiences. The New
Testament authors wrote
their testimonies about REAL LIFE EXPERIENCES
Jesus from their personal
experience of him and
their society at large. Like
them, Africans are to
seek to articulate Jesus
Christ not only from the
recorded experiences of
the early Christians that
are recorded in the New
Testament but also from
their own experiences.
The power of Jesus to
liberate people from
their spiritual and
physical poverty (Luke 4),
for instance, needs to be
tested and approved in
African contexts. This is
not to suggest that the
validity of Jesus' power
depends on the
experiences of African
peoples, but rather that
the Christology that is
designed for Africa must
reflect a rigorous The Poor Invited to the Feast
interaction with the daily JESUS MAFA
realities of the peoples Art in the Christian Tradition
of Africa.”
As Laurenti Magesa has
pointed out, “To
consider Jesus as JESUS AS LIBERATOR
Liberator in the African
situation is therefore
much more than just a
metaphor. It is
important to present
the only Jesus that can
be comprehensible and
credible among the
African rural masses,
urban poor and
idealistic youth. In the
long run, it is only Jesus
that can evoke the
admiration of the rich
and powerful in the
land. This is Jesus who
The Mission to the World
actually calls individuals JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
and peoples to freedom
by his word and action.”
 JESUS AS LIBERATOR
An African christological model that represents
Jesus as a liberator should be located deeply
in the daily struggles of Africans. Speaking of
the specific matters for liberation in Africa
and to which Jesus Christ is to be constructed
to address, the theologian must include
diseases, poverty, torture and all forms of
dehumanization
JESUS AS HEALER

The Possessed
JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
#1: WHAT IS THE BIBLICAL WITNESS TO CHRIST?
(CF. “FAITHFULNESS”)

“The biblical representations of the Christ-Event should function as the parameter within which the African
christological discourses can occur. They should provide an elastic circumference for testing the validity of Africans'
representations of Jesus.”
Jesus and Mary and Martha: JESUS MAFA, Art in the Christian Tradition
 #2: WHO IS CHRIST IN AFRICAN TERMS?
(CF. “COHERENCE”)

“While the biblical

portrayals of Jesus
provide us with
the standard to
measure what is
and is not
qualified as the
'Christian
depictions of
Jesus', they do not
limit us from
encountering Jesus Heals the Paralyed Man
newer meanings JESUS MAFA
Art in the Christian Tradition
and terminologies
to express him.”
 #3: HOW DOES CHRIST CONFRONT
THE ISSUES AFFECTING AFRICAN
CHRISTIANS? (CF. “EFFECTIVENESS”)
“Since all interpretations of
Jesus, including the images of
him in the Bible, are not only
culturally laden but also
contextually driven,
constructive African
Christologies must seek
seriously to present Jesus
Christ in the ways that can
allow him to vividly confront
the social injustice, poverty,
genocide, and dehumanization
that stem from international
and local policies, diseases,
Jesus Drives out the Merchants
JESUS MAFA
and the challenge of religious
Art in the Christian Tradition pluralism that African peoples
MARCELLA ALTHAUS-REID ON
“A CRITICAL CHRISTOLOGY OF HOPE
AMONGST LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN”
 CONTEXTUAL
CHRISTOLOGY: LATIN
AMERICAN WOMEN
“To do a contextual
Christology, in this case of
Latin American women,
we must identify the
feminine body as a
privileged place of desire
and its appropriation and
control by the systems of
power. The body of the
poor Latin American
woman, malnourished,
exposed to continuous
pregnancies, violence and
hunger speaks to us of the GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA - DECEMBER 2008: The former home of Catherine Michelle, who
died aged 6 after being savagely raped and stoned to death by her 22 year old neighbour. She who
community which Christ was from a very poor background. Her mother Adriana, 42, had 10 children and a few
grandchildren. The surviving ones live together in this single room, in a slum on the outskirts of
came to save and for Guatemala City. There is no running tap water, and Sharon, who is Adriana's latest granddaughter,
has to bathe in the sink. Currently, less then 1% of femicide cases are solved in Guatemala, where
which he died, tortured 2 women are murdered every day. (Photo by Veronique de Viguerie/Getty Images)

and thirsty.”
 JESUS AND THE
HEMORRHAGING
WOMAN (MARK 5)

“The text in Mark 5 used by

the women does not give by
title the name of its
protagonist but she is
identified by that which the
text gives us to understand is
an excessive menstrual flow.”

Fresco of Christ healing the Woman with

an Issue of Blood. Catacomb of Saints
Pietro e Marcellino, late third century,
Rome.
Art in the Christian Tradition
 #1: THE BODIES OF WOMEN
AS INTERPRETIVE CLUE
(CF. “FAITHFULNESS”)

Francisca Megia with her her son Daniel, left, along with Graciela Megia and her daughter Isabel, center, and Leonila Sanchez Cruz, work at creating women's
clutches, shoulder bags and hip belts out of candy wrappers, potato chip bags and cookie packages the nonprofit Group for the Promotion of Education and
Sustainable Development, or Grupedsac, an organization that since 1987 has helped poor Mexican Indians become self-sufficient through development
projects that also aim to preserve the environment in the town of La Soledad, Mexico on Feb. 15, 2006. The products they make, are now selling on Web sites
and in upscale U.S. boutiques and department stores for up to $200 apiece. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
 #2: A CHRISTOLOGY MUST
BE OPEN AND IN PROCESS
(CF. “COHERENCE”)
“This dialogue between Christ and
real women, that is to say women,
who in this symbolic collocation to
which we have referred previously,
confront the past and in the present
nearly always begin with the
question, 'Who do you say I am?'
The question which Jesus directed to
Peter in the text of Mark 8:29,
however, is the reverse of this; and
now it is the poor women who ask
Jesus, 'Who do you think we are?’”

This is the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's in the public domain because it

dates to the 16th century. This version has been slightly darkened.
Wikipedia Commons
 #3: SALVATION MUST BE
UNDERSTOOD AS A
COMMUNITARIAN
PROCESS (CF.
“EFFECTIVENESS”)
“This praxis is a communitarian
praxis where salvation is an
integral concept which includes the
economical polity and respects the
natural dialogical process of the
communities. We should note how
the Latinas always use biblical
texts as referents of the dialogue.
However the shift which has been
produced in recent years amongst
Latina women doing popular
theology goes well beyond the
traditional dialogue between two
situations (the present of the
community and the text where
Jesus speaks), because it
challenges the static and idealistic
Photo from International Indigenous Women's Symposium DECLARATION FOR HEALTH,
conception of Christ. Christ LIFE AND DEFENSE OF OUR LANDS, RIGHTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS
becomes a communitarian
Messiah, made in the midst of a
historical process and in dialogue
with the people, part of which are
the women he engaged in his
 QUESTIONS FOR YOU
• How do you interpret these diverse
christologies in light of Scripture and the
theological traditions you have been exposed
to so far?
• How do your own cultural assumptions
inform what lies at the heart of your
confession of faith in Jesus Christ?
• How have cultural assumptions influenced
the development of the history of theology?