Jesus--God and Man, Second Edition

Patristic-style (true catholic) Christology doesn't get any better than this. It would be a great idea for Benedict XVI to read great stuff of this high quality. It may change his mind regarding the folks that are, not only Roman Catholics, but true catholics. Pannenberg is THE apologist for the Nicene Fathers in our age and time and this is his most important single work on Christ.

The previous reviewer has done an admirable job in presenting why Pannenberg's book is important. I do not wish to traverse ground that has already been walked. I did read the whole review and thought it was admirably done. Thus, just a few observations regarding this outstanding volume. Interestingly, Karl Barth asked Pannenberg not to publish this book, because he knew that Pannenberg was re-visiting 19th century German liberal theology in method, purpose, and content. Pannenberg, like Moltmann, was not the child of peace and promise for which Barth hoped; meaning that Pannenberg was not the heir to Barth's theological gains. However, be that as it may, this book is an outstanding contribution from an historical perspective and theological perspective because Pannenberg orients his theology beautifully with regard to the past. The historical discussion would be worth the price of the book alone. My only other comment is that Pannenberg, for all his brilliance does not quite pull off what he hoped--because his Christology, in the words of the late Colin Gunton, is in the end adoptionistic. See Gunton's book titled: "Yesterday and Today: A Study of Continuities in Christology." Sadly, any Christology that begins at the bottom and strives upwards is bound to fail no matter how brilliant the attempt. Having said that--buy this book, read this book, study this book, learn from this book--I would like to fail in anything as brilliantly as Pannenberg has here. This is one of the rare theological masterpieces of the late 20th century, by one of the few theological geniuses still living.

I have been a reader of Pannenberg for some time now, but it was not until recently that I finished Jesus: God and Man, and I must say that I was left, after finishing this book on a second read-through, simply amazed. Pannenberg is, in my opinion, one of the most profound theologians of the 20th century, though, unfortunately (especially at conservative Bible-colleges like the one I attend) there is a surprising reticence on the one hand, and an unfortunate ignorance on the other, that truncates any viable discussion of Pannenberg. The same could, of course, be said about Moltmann, or Jenson or (as my friend Halden would undoubtedly champion) about von Balthazar's theology (of which I myself am admittedly fairly ignorant). Reviewing a book of this scope always makes me pensively deliberate with myself how I could possible isolate key parts of the text to present a viable synopsis. This book is no different. One of the additional difficulties with Pannenberg is due to his systematic nature: it is hard to "isolate" pieces of his work, say a quote or an idea, without running the enormous risk of completely misrepresenting moments of Pannenberg's systematic flourish. Hence, and this is very important for those of you who stumble across this review: it is probably going to be long. So, without reading the whole thing, here: Buy this book! I wholly and totally recommend it for reading in Christology. It is a classic that should be in every theologians library. No one will agree fully with Pannenberg, but this book will nonetheless stimulate converstation and thought! With that disclaimer then, I begin. As one can easily ascertain from the title, this monograph by Pannenberg is on Christology. Though to speak of this as "Christology proper," would be to overstate what Pannenberg is attempting to do. This is really a book of Christological methodology, rather than material conclusions (though, of course, these are present as well.) Pannenberg is attempting to put forth the program he hinted at in his very first publication Revelation as History, which runs decidedly obverse to the anti-historical leanings of Bultmann's demythologization, and the so called "neo-orthodoxy" of Pannenberg's mentor, Barth. Though the term is frequently misunderstood, especially in reference to Pannenberg's use of it (to which we shall return) one could roughly describe the program as "from below." Whereas in theology "from above," Jesus' divinity and the doctrine of the incarnation stand at the center, Pannenberg's is an attempt to show why the confession of Jesus as divinity is materially legitimated by Jesus' own life and from within the horizon of Jewish apocalyptic expectation. Indeed, one of the repeating themes that resonates throughout this book is a tireless drumbeat evaluating the evolution of Christian belief in Jesus through the history of traditions. If a belief in Jesus (say, Divinity) can be shown to be a foreign addition of Greek metaphysic