Christ in Focus

Christ in Focus demonstrates why the figure of Christ is so central for Christian faith and thought. It starts by asking what constitutes the focus or centre of Christian theology? In opposition to the way in which the trinity is being reasserted as the lynchpin of Christianity, this book argues that Christianity loses its soul when it is not Christocentric. Part One examines the way in which Christian theology works methodologically. Christology may not be the starting point of a systematic Christian theology, but this book argues that it must be the focus. The dangers in seeking to maintain a Christocentric focus are drawn out as a catalogue of distortions of Christocentricism. Part Two turns attention to the kind of Christology needed to sustain such a radical Christocentricism. In a series of critical dialogues, with the work of Schleiermacher, Rauschenbusch and Brock respectively, the author develops a corporate Christology adequate for today. It is argued that talk of 'dependence upon Christ' has, to date, turned Christians inward, or found them appealing to a past, isolated male saviour figure. In critiquing such an approach, an understanding of the contemporary Christ is developed; Christ as an empowering presence, for the many communal settings in which people live their lives today.