Cookies

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By continuing to browse this repository, you give consent for essential cookies to be used. You can read more about our Privacy and Cookie Policy.


Durham e-Theses
You are in:

Jesus, Transcendence and Generosity: Reading the Christologies of Hans Frei and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Together

BONIFACE, TIMOTHY,ROGER (2016) Jesus, Transcendence and Generosity: Reading the Christologies of Hans Frei and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Together. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

[img]
Preview
PDF (Tim Boniface, PhD Thesis) - Accepted Version
7Mb

Abstract

In contemporary scholarship, both Hans Frei (1922–1988) and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906–1945) are drawn upon by various scholars seeking to articulate a way between extremes such as fundamentalism, exclusivism or conservatism on one hand, and secularism, pluralism or liberalism on the other. This thesis argues that reading the Christologies of both theologians together towards a theology of the transcendence of Jesus points towards a robust answer to this question of a ‘middle way’ on which they are both put to use. Focussing on their remarkably similar Christological responses to what William Placher calls the domestication of transcendence, this thesis argues that Frei and Bonhoeffer complement and supplement one another’s work towards a theology of the transcendence of Jesus that is grounded in his unsubstitutable history-like identity as the crucified and risen one; and that this kind of theology is at the heart of what makes for what Frei calls a ‘generous orthodoxy’—i.e. a way between the various extremes mentioned above. After reading Frei and Bonhoeffer towards this end, the conclusion also suggests that such a theology derived from their Christologies should be supplemented with a more particular pneumatology, by virtue of which one is able to fully emphasise the broad generosity of God at the heart of a theology of Jesus’ transcendence.

Item Type:Thesis (Doctoral)
Award:Doctor of Philosophy
Keywords:Christology, Jesus, Transcendence, Frei, Bonhoeffer, Pneumatology
Faculty and Department:Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Theology and Religion, Department of
Thesis Date:2016
Copyright:Copyright of this thesis is held by the author
Deposited On:15 Jul 2016 10:42

Social bookmarking: del.icio.usConnoteaBibSonomyCiteULikeFacebookTwitter