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corpus-paul - Re: [Corpus-Paul] Scholars [like Yoder] who [sort of] deny a Pauline divine-Christology

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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Scholars [like Yoder] who [sort of] deny a Pauline divine-Christology
  • Date: Wed, 8 Jun 2005 04:58:46 -0700 (PDT)

[Chris]

>At the moment I am working through the works
>of the following:

>1) of course, James Dunn
>2) Maurice Casey
>3) Marinus de Jonge and
>4) Anthony Harvey

Chris,

You may wish to consider going through the works of
John Howard Yoder in addition to the above. While
Yoder never claimed (precisely, as far as I am aware)
that for Paul Christ wasn't divine, he had little use
for most ideas associated with this. His "Preface to
Theology" offers some interesting arguments, not all
convincing, but which certainly merit attention. The
book focuses on the NT in general, but I'll stick to
what Yoder says about Paul.

Yoder speaks about Paul's "logic of solidarity",
meaning that what is said about Christ must in some
sense be true of believers in community. If people
doubt the resurrection of humanity (I Cor 15), then
they in effect doubt the resurrection of Christ.
Christ emptied himself in humility (Philip 2) so that
believers can likewise be more subject to one another
in humility. Paul's theology is less about Christ's
divinity than it is about Christ being a role model.
(Yoder would thus have probably prefered "faith of
Christ" over "faith in Christ", though I don't know
that he commented about the issue anywhere.)

Aside from an overarching "logic of solidarity", there
is no one identifiable Christology in Paul, according
to Yoder. Rom 1 says he was the Son of God, because
that fits with what comes next in Romans. Gal 4
emphasizes that he was the son of a woman (fully
human), because that fits with what comes next in
Galatians (pp 110-111). The formula that "Christ died
for our sins" not stated very often, and atonement
doctrine is presented in only a very rudimentary form
(p 97).

Consider Yoder's take on Philip 2, which has been
discussed in this thread. That Jesus gave up his
equality with God has traditionally meant either (1)
that Jesus was omniscient/ominipotent but chose not to
use these powers; or (2) that Jesus was
omniscient/ominipotent but was unable to use these
powers as a human being (by definition) and thus
taking on human form involved, by necessity, the
emptying. Yoder offers a third possibility, (3) that
Jesus was not yet omniscient/ominipotent and -- in
contrast to Adam -- refused to seize these powers.
Christ's humiliation is not a metaphysical
humiliation, but rather a moral humility of staying in
his place and doing what Adam did not do, that is,
"accepting his position of creatureliness" (see pp
83-84). While (1) and (2) portray a divine being who
gives up divinity to become a man, Yoder's (3)
portrays a man in the image/form of God (like Adam)
who chooses not to rise to deity, but rather accepts
the humiliation of his human form.

Yoder's position may not be entirely convincing, but
it has the strength of tying Philip 2 with statements
like those found in Rom 5 regarding Paul's "Adam
Christology", as well as with statements found
elsewhere, like Acts: "God has made him both Lord and
Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." "Thus," says
Yoder, "Lordship is a position of honor to which Jesus
has come by virtue of what happened in death and
resurrection." (p 73)

Again, I do not see Yoder going so far as Dunn, De
Jonge, and Co. in denying that Paul thought Jesus
divine. But his sympathies with the position are
clear, in denying any pre-existence to Christ's deity
(against those like Bauckham), and in emphasizing that
Christ as a model or exemplar is far more central to
Paul's thought than "rudimentary" notions that Christ
be worshipped.

More food for thought.

Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com



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