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Christology as Critique: On the Relation between Christ, Creation, and Epistemology
Knut Alfsvåg
Pickwick (2018). 262 pp.
At the outset of Christology as Critique, Knut Alfsvåg, professor of Systematic Theology at VIT Specialized University, Stavanger, Norway states his intent: “to explore the christologically and creation-based critique of modernity both in its critical and constructive potential” (p. 8), by marshalling the arguments developed by seminal Christian thinkers in conversation with the prevailing philosophies of their respective centuries. “How,” he asks, “did these thinkers understand the relation between the human and the world as informed by the relation both entities have to God, and what is the potential of these approaches for solving the problems with which contemporary and scientifically informed worldviews find themselves confronted?” (p. 9). With these parameters laid out, Alfsvåg begins in the fifteenth century with Nicholas of Cusa, and then proceeds chronologically with Martin Luther, Johan Georg Hamann, and Soren Kierkegaard and their respective philosophical interlocuters along the way. At the core of Alfsvåg’s project lies the conviction, shared by his four subjects, that “the only adequate beginning is the one that liberates humans from the obligation of having to define reason with reference to themselves only; one should rather start from the supposition of divine creation” (p. 200). Although to the modern reader, this supposition as an epistemological starting place for legitimate intellectual dialogue outside the confines of the church might seem naïve or hopelessly outdated, it is precisely here where the power of this critique is found. It is his contention that only a full-throated representation of the two-natures Christology formally confessed by the church universal since the Council of Nicaea can sufficiently ground epistemological reflection on human existence so as to avoid the pitfalls of both modern and post-modern projects that “share a belief in human reason as the absolute standard for rationality” (p. 199). When this belief is unchallenged, argues Alfsvåg, then “one is unceremoniously returned to the unsolvable problem of having to start one’s argument in the void of nothingness and remain there even after having begun formulating one’s thoughts” (p. 199). On the other hand, an epistemology grounded in Christology, where the “knowable” finite, i.e., the human, is limited in scope by an awareness of the “unknowable,” the infinite, i.e, God, then, “the particular relevance of the human perspective is grounded in the biblical story of God creating humans in his own image and choosing to make himself known within the context of the created world through the union with a particular human being” (p. 30). Thus, argues Alfsvåg, establishing the epistemological lynchpin whereby humans can begin properly to reflect on the relationship between creation, existence, and the possibility of God.
Although this book deals primarily with critiques of modernism, it is all the more relevant in our postmodern context because the epistemological vacuum left by the failure of the modern projects has been filled by all manner of anti-modern epistemologies and philosophies that, despite the variety, share a humility that allows for the question of “the eternal,” i.e., God (however conceived) even if they also share a growing hopeless skepticism towards all meta-narratives by which the world could be ordered. By digesting books like this one, a pastor theologian will be further equipped to both diagnose and address the growing malaise of postmodern skepticism and nihilism with the hard-wrought wisdom and thought of these seminal Christian thinkers. Many who pick up this book may be somewhat familiar with Luther or Kierkegaard, but the intellectual thread that unites them to Cusa and Hamann is illuminating and instructive. For the uninitiated, Alfsvåg’s adept treatment of the relationship between Kant and Hamman is worth the price of the book; however, more important is to see how a consistent application of the historic Christian creed withstands the pressures of the prevailing intellectual climate in any generation. And, perhaps, this is the most important aspect of this remarkable book, that although it is often difficult and arduous work, a thoughtful and consistent application of that which God has revealed in Christ about him, us, and the world, can provide a “world [that] is not a world in immediate danger of collapsing on itself ” (p. 27), like all other worlds brought under the critical light of the revelation of God in Christ for the sake of the world.
John D. Koch (PhD University of Humboldt) is the Associate Rector at Christ Church Anglican in Mount Pleasant, SC. In addition to various articles and lectures, he is the author of The Distinction Between Law and Gospel as the Basis and Boundary of Theological Reflection (Mohr/Siebeck, 2016) which explores the interrelationship between the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the preaching and teaching ministry of the church. He is a member of the St. Augustine Fellowship of the Center for Pastor Theologians.
