*The Paradox of Jesus in the Gospels

Plot

Using one of the well-known phenomena within the Gospels--paradox--as a method for interpreting Jesus and his teaching, Professor Smith shows how this paradox produces an essential tension in the stories of the man behind the "Christ-figure." Only out of this paradoxical tension, he believes, does Christology, it its fuller theological sense, become possible. Taking key examples from the Gospels, he presents to the reader this paradoxical picture of Jesus: man/Christ; Jesus familiar to the disciples/Jesus the object of awe; Jesus of Christian faith/Christ of Christian faith; the baptized/never the baptizer; Jesus the merciful/Christ the judge; Jesus Son of God/Christ ruler over demonic powers and exalted in the highest; Jesus King of the Jews/Christ Light to the Gentiles; provincial preacher/universal Savior; Jesus who comes to Jerusalem as King and Lord/Christ unrecognized pilgrim ignored and treated as a disturber; Jesus who could not save himself, crucified as a resistance leader/Christ who would not save himself, dying to bring eternal salvation to all. Christology is throughout dependent upon free acceptance and full commitment. The authority of Jesus' acts and teaching never compelled belief but left men free always to decide the question about who it was with whom they were confronted. Elements of Jesus in the Gospels are relevant to the paradoxical world in which we live and suggest ways for more realistic preaching about Jesus. -Publisher