Who was Christ to people of other cultures? How does their historical frame of reference change their understanding, and what can we learn from it?
Consider your understanding of the divine and the holy in juxtaposition with those of alternative understandings of Christ, and deepen your own faith in the process. 

This elective unit surveys Christologies developed in languages perhaps not familiar to the Western cultural and historical frame of reference.

Explore the vast array of ways that Jesus is seen in cultures across the world; from images of Jesus Christ developed through such language as ‘Bodhisattva’, ‘Avatara’, ‘guru’, ‘prophet’, or ‘ancestor’,  to Asian treatments of the ‘cosmic’ Christ. Consider the possibility of a ‘hyphenated Jesus’ or of M. M. Thomas’ ‘Christ-centered Syncretism’ in relation to Hinduism, liberation Christologies within Latin America, and Jesus as the power against the demonic within Africa.

This unit will have you questioning why and how you learned about your current understanding of Jesus, and pondering what it would look like if we understood Jesus through a more global lens. What could we learn from other cultures, and what could it teach us about our own personal view of Christ?

A number of issues present themselves through this discussion: the question of theological tradition and method, the use of local sacred sources, the social and political implications of thinking of Jesus Christ through a range of lenses, the question of ‘voice’ (the dominance of female voices in these Christological developments) and the issues of contextualization.

Course code CT/DM 2070P/9070P
Instructor J Flett
Mode of Delivery
Internal – Face to face
and External – Online
Synchronous
Semester 2 Tuesday, 9.30 am to 12.30pm

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