“Since my 1988 book, I’ve urged that if “monotheism” is used at all it has to be informed by the specifics of the beliefs and practices of those to whom we apply the term, and I’ve also contended that there are varieties of “monotheism”.  So, e.g., I proposed that the chronological data require us to see the eruption of a remarkable Jesus-devotion originating as a religious innovation within Roman-era Jewish tradition, producing a novel “mutation” in ancient Jewish monotheism in which two distinguishable figures (God and Jesus) are programmatically treated as unique recipients of devotion.”

Worth a read. If nothing else, it is useful to see that our assumptions about Monotheism are conditioned by Christian tradition and may not reflect the reality of the first century.

With the caveats above, Dr. Roberts’s summary of the state of the question regarding early Christology is good and worth a read.

A minor fisking, and a good list of articles. Here’s the link.

Happily, there has been a series of articles posted on this issue and its translation in the new NIV. There’s the Introduction by Collin Hansen, and answers from:

• Craig Blomberg, distinguished professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary
• Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison professor of New Testament interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
• Michael Bird, formerly lecturer in New Testament at the Highland Theological College in Scotland and currently lecturer in theology and New Testament at Crossway College in Brisbane, Australia.
• Darrell L. Bock, research professor of New Testament studies and professor of spiritual development and culture at Dallas Theological Seminary.

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period.

This is from C S Lewis’ introduction to ‘On the Incarnation’. Read the whole introduction, which is well worth thinking through.

There is an assumption – often unchallenged – that we stand at the bleeding edge of knowledge, and that our values and morals are better than those of previous generations.  Why?

Larry Hurtado has a well deserved reputation for his excellent work on the origins on Christian worship. As such, he has also made a welcome contribution to the debates over Christology in the earliest church. Happily, thanks to St John’s Nottingham, he can speak for himself.

A good example of current work on the Historical Jesus can be found at the Thoughts on Antiquity site, and in particular the short, ongoing series on Q by Chris Zeichmann.

I mention this as it is interesting to see the thought processes and methods behind this strand of New Testament work, regardless of your confidence in attempts to reconstruct a Christ who does not reflect current sensibilities!

Go find out more by looking here and here.

You can find out more about the Jesus Seminar on their site and there is a site dedicated to the output of N T Wright called, unsurprisingly, the N T Wright Page. For more on Marcus Borg visit A Portrait of Jesus.

The ‘morphing’ Jesus is here.

• Two ‘Schools’: Alexandria and Antioch
• The Christological Controversy Area
• Athanasius: on the incarnation

It seems to me that Wordle is one of the net tools which could be useful in worship. If you were to use the image above for meditation you would become suffused with the Statement of Chalcedon on the definition of Christ.