In the Council of Chalcedon. the identity of Jesus Christ came to be understood as consisting of two natures, human and divine, in a unity of one person. After 1,564 years, we continue to explore the best way to express the language of Chalcedon in today's terms. This is what it means for a faith that seeks understanding.
Catholic theologians of the 1950s (Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Piet Schoonenberg, Bernhard Welte, and Bernard Lonergan) have pointed out the limits of Greek and classical scholastic philosophy (e.g. the meaning of "person"). These theologians instead preferred to use existential philosophy (or transcendental theology) to make dogma meaningful.
For a synthesis of this, read the essay of Elizabeth Johnson, "The Humanity of Jesus," in Consider Jesus (1991), pp. 19-34; also in the FileBox.
Some points to consider are the following:
1. Human Nature. What are the three kinds of experiences of the human being that may give us an answer to the question about human nature?
2. Divine Nature. Using the language of existentialism, "person" can be thought of as "self-being" or "self-subsistence." In this sense, what is divine nature then? Karl Rahner has suggested three ways of talking about this (p. 27).
3. One Person. Given these renewed way of understanding human and divine natures, how then can we explain the meaning of "one person" in Jesus? (pp. 27-31).
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About Me
- Fr. Randolf C. Flores, SVD
- Fr. Randy is the current Parish Priest and Rector of the Sacred Heart Parish Shrine in Quezon City, Philippines. He is also the Director of the Biblical Apostolate of the Diocese of Cubao and the coordinator for the Biblical Apostolate of the SVD Philippine Central Province. He teaches Biblical courses at the Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City. He holds a doctorate from the Ateneo de Manila University (PhD, 2015) and from the Loyola School of Theology (STD, 2014); Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (SSL, 1999) from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome); an M.A. in Pastoral Ministry from the Divine Word Seminary (1995). He served as president of the Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP), chairperson of the Tagaytay Religious Association (TRA), Dean of Studies (Divine Word Seminary), and editor of the academic journal Diwa: Studies in Philosophy and Theology. He founded the Certificate in Theological Studies (CTS) at the Divine Word Seminary and the SVD Tagaytay Alternative Learning System (SVD-ALS), an educational program for the out-of-school youth. Visit also his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/biblicalapostolateph
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