Academic literature on the topic 'Jesus christ, pre-existence'

The deity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been being the object of contemplation for the faithful since the beginning of Christianity. One of the reflected points is the pre-existence of the Son of God. The Church Fathers, especially around the Council of Nicaea, tussled a lot with this issue. They used philosophical terms which were quite complicated in their time. Strangely, long before that, Paul as a radical monotheist, who later became a follower of Christ, seemed to speak about the pre-existence of this Son effortlessly. This fact is interesting to be observed. Therefore, this article is intended to discuss Paul's views regarding the divinity of Jesus Christ.

One of the foundational teaching in the history of Christianity is the existence of Christ. Mostly Christians believed that Christ already exist prior His incarnation. Jesus was with the Father, and Holy Spirit. They are co-exist , no beginning and no end, they are eternal from eternity to eternity. However, Arianism rejected the traditional view of the Christianity regarding Christ existence. The Arianism’s view regarding the pre-existence of Christ admired by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Jehovah’s Witnesses believed that was exist prior to His incarnation but not co-exist with the Father. Christ is only begotten son of the Father as the first creation and Father endowed Christ the divinity.

The richness of the writings of the New Testament lies both is their unity as well as in their diversity. This article endeavors to “befriend” the theologies of both John and Paul. Despite many obvious differences, there are a number of points of convergence in John’s and Paul’s Christology, Ecclesiology and Soteriology. At least three aspects manifest profound similarities in their Christologies: (1) Their foundational experience of Jesus Christ; (2) their relationship with Jesus Christ founded in the experience of love and (3) the radical affirmation of the pre-existence and divinity of Jesus. Their Ecclesiologies converge: (1) In the concept of “new creation in Christ,” applied to the believers and to the Church as a whole; (2) the image of the “Total Christ” as the preferred representation of the Church; and lastly, (3) John and Paul’s particular relationship with the recognized authorities in the primitive Church. Soteriologically, both converge in presenting that faith that Christ is the Messiah is necessary for salvation.

Great Commission that should be the responsibility of believers becomes irrelevant in the midst of the challenges of post-modern era where everything is relative. The mission paradigm in this era began to shift, which all were motivated by post-modern culture. In this relative era, digital acceleration can directly make Christians facing global culture of the world that focuses on the universal view which state that Jesus is not the only way to salvation but one of the ways to salvation. This is because the post-modern paradigm of thinking concerning religion is no longer talking about truth but about what does someone want. Of course this is contrary to Christianity which states that Jesus is the final and the only way of salvation. This study uses a qualitative research with a descriptive approach to find out the truth in Paul’s writings in the Colossian Song which describe the pre-existence of Christ. In Paul’s writings especially in Colossians 1:15-20, is a quote from the early church confession that Paul took and used it to show about Christ who is the only God.

This article aims to provide the comprehensive and systematic review of the doctrine of Photinus of Sirmium († 376), based on the work of Hilary of Poitiers De Trinitate composed between 358 and 360. Photinus error is primarily Christological. The first part of the article deals with Hilary’s interpretation of Photinus’understanding of the subject of the Incarnation according to which God the Word/the Word of God was comprehended as a part or one of God’s powers, a mere word, the expression of thought, which does not re­ally differ from God, having no subsistence or existence, so that God is ultimately considered solitary. It is a strict Monarchianism. The second part focuses on Photinus’understanding (based on De Trinita-te) of what was “assumed” of the humanity by the Word of God for the pur-pose of Incarnation, and in which way. Two interpretations referring to Pho-tinus’understanding of the conception of Jesus Christ in Mary, attribute it super­natural causes (the Virginal conception by the non-subsistent Word) and presu­mably quite natural causes. For the purpose of the Incarnation, the Word of God “assumes” (“takes on”) the entire man, conceived in Mary. The “Incarnation”, as such, is accomplished by the extension of the non-subsisting Word and its in/ dwelling in that man. Based on De Trinitate, the third part deals with the effects of “the Incarnation” as it was understood by Photinus. Hilary concludes that it results in two subjects: on the one hand, it is solus communis generis homo who was born of Mary, and on the other hand, the non-subsistent Word of God that dwelt in that man. The union of the man born of Mary and the Word of God – a part of God’s powers – is reduced, by Photinus and in Hilary’s interpretation, to habitatio, temporary and accidental in/dwelling of the Word of God in the man in a manner the Spirit dwelt in prophets. The effect of the in/dwelling of the Word in a man born of Mary (or the dwelling itself) can be taken as prophetal inspiration, animation, consisting of mere external strengthening of the man and empowering him for his and Divine activity, never­theless, man’s vital and, and as it seems operative, principle is his soul. Based on De Trinitate, Divine Sonship or filiation and “deification” of man born of Mary, according to Photinus, seems to be due to the fact that the non-subsisting Word of God – a part of God’s powers – dwells in him, inspiring or animating him by strengthening him and empowering him for divine activity. According to Hilary, Photinus denies pre-existence of the Word, that is, the Son, Christ so he cannot even be the co-Creator of the world. He becomes existent, that is, subsistent only through the Incarnation and birth of Mary. For Hilary, Photinus’ adoptionist position is clear: the man is assumed into the Son and into the God. According to Hilary, in Photinus’ doctrine there is no place for the real Incarnation of the true Son of God. Hilary’s interpretation of Photinus’ under­standing of Jesus Christ, the Son, is that he is not the Word made flesh, nor he is one and the same both God and Man. For Hilary Jesus Christ or Son of God as Photinus understands him is just someone like a prophet (a man) inspired, that is empowered by a Word of God dwelling in him – by a part of God’s powers – for divine activity; ultimately, Hilary reduces him to a mere man, to a creature. The fourth part points out that opinions expressed in the scholarship – based exclusively on the Book Ten of Hilary’s De Trinitate – according to which Photinus, motivated by soteriology, insisted on the wholeness of Jesus’ humanity that is on the fact that Jesus Christ had a human soul, should be taken relatively. To conclude, on the basis of Book Ten of De Trinitate Photinus insisted on the wholeness of the humanity of Jesus Christ, that is, on his possessing of the human soul, just to the extent which he held that he was a mere man (in whom the non-subsistent Word of God dwelt as a Spirit in prophets).

Using Bach's »Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ« in NYMPHOMANIAC as an example and drawing on metaphor theory, the paper shows that pre-existing music in film comprises simultaneously a cinematic recontextualization of music and its musical editing for the film. Following this, the idea of an »inexistent pre-existence« is presented as a corrective antithesis to the conventional designations of this phenomenon such as »pre-composed music«, »pre-existing music« or »musical quotations«. The concept of »inexistent pre-existence« intends to correct the approach whereby pre-existing film music is reduced to its extra-filmic text (musical scores or extant musical records). Instead, the paper argues for understanding and focusing on the differences between textual variants as a productive music-analytical challenge.

This social scientific study of the Biblical jubilee focuses primarily on the jubilee as a metaphor within the framework of engaged hermeneutics. The jubilee was a symbol of transformation and emancipation. The article shows the significance of the jubilee in the New Testament as interpreted within the context of the reign of God and salvation in Jesus Christ. The liberation from enslavement pertains to all levels of human existence, including socio-economic and political interrelationships. The study demonstrates conflicting perceptions of land tenancy in an ancient economy that resulted in the exploitation and enslavement of peasants and their families. The constructs of the advanced agrarian society and the pre-industrial city are used as heuristic models for the interpretation of data.

They are like the grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth and groweth up; In the evening it is cut down and withereth... . So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom. -- Psalms 90:5-6, 12 Funeral service workers in New Zealand have watched with interest the changes in our communities' approach to the experiences surrounding death and dying. Working closely with families, friends and communities and observing the human reaction to loss at a very close and often personal level allows Funeral Directors a unique view of the changes in religious, philosophical and cultural approaches to these events. The first observation must be that the end of life in the physical sense never indicates the finality the term 'end' seems to carry with it. More, the end of physical life would in almost all circumstances carry more connotations of beginning than of the finite. Religion has always endeavoured to put a framework around dying and death as a foundation for new beginnings either on the journey toward a higher plane or by suggesting that another form of life follows. The Christian viewpoint allows the dying human the experience of the natural fear of death and dissolution while still being able to state with conviction "Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit" (Luke 23:46). Christianity, in common with Judaism, Buddhism and others, sees the end of physical life as the beginning of existence "secure, calm and happy, unaging, deathless, emancipated". Hinduism, through the Bhagavad Gita, teaches: "the wise do not grieve for the dead or the living. Never was there a time when I was not, nor when you were not... . Never will there be a time hereafter when we shall not be. As in this body, there are for the soul, childhood, youth and old age, even so there is the taking on of another body after death. The wise are not confused by this." As the influence of mainstream religion in New Zealand has diminished Funeral Service has observed the confusion that fills the gap left in the community where once belief, doctrine, philosophy and ritual provided an ordered and understandable approach to aging, dying and death in our communities. The strength of those beliefs did not prevent the natural human fear of death but provided support on the journey and a hope for the future once the death journey was complete. The nature of rituals for the dying and the ritual farewelling of the dead reinforced people's beliefs and provided that much-needed framework of support. Nor has it mattered much that the theological interpretation of the need for Funeral rite and the understanding of the general populace of that need have often been some distance apart. There appear to be few people who have adopted an "end" view which involves final dissolution of the organised being as being the end absolute. Amongst those who have no firm belief in an after life in the religious sense it is more common to observe an approach which looks to the resonance of the individual journey as providing a form of after-life. This resonance being through ongoing influence, be that in the major impact of their life or work upon future communities (e.g. Shakespeare) or in the somewhat less resonant journeys (of the masses) where the influence may be seen in contribution to the family, the community, the gene pool or by (as once heard at a Funeral as the celebrant struggled to find an appropriate phrase :-) "adding just a little to the advancement of the vastness of humanity". During the last millennial period, medieval man, driven by millennial movements that predicted the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ, or perhaps influenced by the harshness of life in times of plague, seemed to have a preoccupation with the state of preparedness of their own souls. Their fear of death being fuelled by fear of punishment, purgatory or hell. Funeral rites of the time reflected and reinforced this view. In Black robes the priest would offer prayers of intervention which beseeched God to have mercy on the souls of sinners. Mourners were warned that death required accountability. As the end of this millennium hovers we have not seen a real revival of Millennial second coming movements; the Y2K Bug being the closest thing we have to plague fear. It is understandable then that our personal states of preparedness are more about the laying in of bottled water and the preservation of the integrity of our electronically recorded fiscal assets than about the integrity of our personal ethics or the preparedness of our soul. Nothing profound in all of this, we live in a life-reinforcing, death-denying culture that tends to marginalise the experience of dying. In this culture of the individual dying, death and its aftermath is left to the individual. Society now provides only the choice of frameworks of support and any individual is free to choose from these. A religious death, a secular dying, a traditional funeral, a civil celebration, a direct disposal or, as is more common now, a postmodern borrowing, adaptation and short-term adoption of selected philosophies and partly recalled rituals. Whichever choice is made however, as much now as it ever was life's end remains less about 'end' and more about beginning. Where once we emphasised the mourning of the loss of one from amongst us, we now emphasise recovery and reconnection, the management of our grief following the loss. The 'after life' is ours not theirs. End, as dying, death and dissolution, has always been personal, the experience of the aftermath has always been personal and continues to be able only to be experienced in the personal. Our end like everything else around us has changed. We have discarded some, perhaps much of the societal, cultural and religious frameworks that surrounded our end in the previous millennium. We have yet to build a replacement framework. Presently we allow the individual to choose their support system for their end experiences and this includes the right to choose a pre-built framework, a custom-made framework or the choice of no framework at all. Should we build on this further? Perhaps it is enough, in a state that champions managerialism above all, that we each remain responsible for managing our own support systems right to the end. The end. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Michael C. Wolffram. "Ends and Beginnings: Observations on Changing the Approach to Our End." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.8 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php>. Chicago style: Michael C. Wolffram, "Ends and Beginnings: Observations on Changing the Approach to Our End," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 8 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Michael C. Wolffram. (1999) Ends and beginnings: observations on changing the approach to our end. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(8). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9912/approach.php> ([your date of access]).

The aim of this thesis is to explicate Barth's doctrine of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ in the Church Dogmatics. The concept of pre-existence in general has been widely misunderstood in recent times, and has led to misunderstanding and prejudice against Barth's concept of pre-existence in particular. My aim is twofold: a) To investigate comprehensively the doctrine of the pre-existence of Jesus Christ, also referred to by Barth as the eternal Logos ensarkos, or the humanity of God; b) To demonstrate how the doctrine variously functions in Barth's Church Dogmatics. I have brought in Pannenberg as a dialogue partner to show how their different theologies have given rise to different concepts of pre-existence. I have explored the concept of pre-existence in relation to Barth's understanding of the doctrines of a) revelation, b) election, c) time and eternity, and d) reconciliation. In each of these categories I have shown how the concept of pre-existence functions, bringing in Pannenberg by way of contrast. It is my contention that Barth's concept of pre-existence refers to: a) a self-constitution of God in the second mode of God's being, as the eternal Logos ensarkos; and b) that Jesus Christ is really, actually (as opposed to ideally) spiritually present to those who lived prior to the historical instantiation of Jesus Christ. In Barth's theology the concept of pre-existence serves to: a) emphasise God's love of humanity, and the degree of which God regards humanity; b) stress that the covenant between God and humanity is an eternal convenant; c) emphasise that Jesus Christ is the electing God, as well as the elected man; d) function as a political corrective: it stresses the dignity and sanctity of human life; e) function as a theological corrective against natural theology, and theological dualism.

Commenting on a royal wedding song in his Expositions of the Psalms, St Augustine of Hippo recognized beauty at every stage in the story of Jesus Christ—from his pre-existence ‘in heaven’, through the incarnation, childhood, public ministry of preaching the kingdom and working miracles, passion, crucifixion, entombment, resurrection, ascension, and glorious life ‘in heaven’. By dwelling on the passion, Augustine showed that he knew the difficulty involved in acknowledging that Jesus was beautiful ‘under the scourges’ and beautiful ‘on the cross’. Augustine never filled out his laconic summary. This book breaks new ground by using Augustine’s summary and illustrating the beauty of Christ in every ‘mystery’ of his story. It adds to Augustine’s list by exploring the beauty of Christ revealed in his so-called ‘hidden life’, the transfiguration, and post-resurrection sending of the Holy Spirit.

Augustine named God as ‘the Beauty of all things beautiful’. The Old Testament speaks not only of the beauty of God but even more of overlapping realities: light, glory, wisdom, and word. The radiant light and glory of God, celebrated frequently in the Psalms and other biblical books, manifest the divine beauty. God’s creative and self-revealing activity is personified in beautiful Lady Wisdom. By being identified with divine Wisdom, Christ justifies Augustine in calling him beautiful in his pre-existence ‘in heaven’. Identified also with Word, another personification of God’s active power and self-manifestation, Christ can also be declared beautiful before his incarnation. By ‘becoming flesh’ the Word (or Wisdom) of God brought into the world the beautiful glory and light of God.

The call to trust in the exalted Christ may be the earliest form of the call to trust in Jesus Christ. It is, though, striking (and, in its time, unusual) how strongly New Testament writings insist on the continuity of Christ’s identity and work in his earthly life, death, resurrection, exalted life, and sometimes pre-existence. One key basis for trust in the exalted Christ is belief in the resurrection, but resurrection belief is complex, involving resurrection experiences, preaching, the interpretation of scripture, and the coherence of all these with people’s existing commitment to the God of Israel or willingness to trust in God. Though Christ-confessors undoubtedly believed that the resurrection had occurred, therefore, their affirmation also has aspects of propositional trust. Among exalted persons of the early principate, Christ is unusually active on behalf of the faithful, doing battle with hostile powers, mediating between the faithful and God, laying the foundations of communities, and directing the activities of apostles. The faithful are often said to be ‘in Christ’s hands’, emphasizing both Christ’s authority over them and his care for them. The faithful, for their part, seek to remain faithful, to become more faithful, and to imitate the exalted Christ in living for God until the end time. The ongoing relationship between the faithful and the exalted Christ in the present turbulent and uncertain time is another aspect of divine‒human trust that mitigates its risk.