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What is Christology?

Have you ever read about the famed Jesus Christ? Have you ever gone to church and listened to a preacher talk about Jesus? Maybe you come from a different religious back ground, still, chances are you've heard about this guy Christians are so crazy about called Jesus. Each person who comes into contact with the idea of Jesus creates a perception around who he might be. For some, that perception comes from the interactions with followers of "Jesus." For others it's a perception told to them by a authority figure: parent, preacher, teacher, or otherwise. Others would claim that their perception comes purely from the Bible. Even if those people had never experienced another person affecting how they view Christ directly, their perception of Christ is informed by their personal world view. To some degree, all of our perceptions of Christ are based on our preconceived notions about the world.

So what does that mean? 

Well, this creates a large variety of Christ figures.  Those Christ figures will varying depending on who you talk to and how they feel about the culture, the society, and the world they are apart of. Christology is the study surrounding these different perceptions and understandings of Jesus the Christ. While no person's specific Jesus will reflect another perception exactly, overarching themes arise, allowing for the categorization of Christ figures. Popular Christologies are Christ as liberator, Christ as lover, Christ of Empire, Historical Christ, American Christ, and Black Christ. Many new Christologies challenge perception of Christ that have been so popularized by the European Christianity, such as White Christ and Christ of Empire, because for many people these viewpoints of Christ were oppressive and marginalizing.

What about the historical Jesus?

Some might say they follow the Historical Christ, you know the Jesus who lived in Nazareth, the one the Gospels talk about. That's fine, but it is still a Christology and there is nothing wrong with that. Even the writers of the Gospels had perceptions of Christ they were pushing onto their readers. For example, Matthew wrote Jesus in the perception as the Jewish Messiah, constantly referring to his fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Even still, the Gospels four different accounts of Jesus were all written after he died. This is all an issue when it comes to people's claims of the true historical Jesus. Truthfully, they do not know the "true historical Jesus" because, as with many things, we were never there to see the actions of that Jesus unfold. For all we know, Jesus's story could be completely fictional. 

So what do we conclude?

This by no means should make your belief in Jesus any less important to you, if you believe in him at all. Though what it should do is help you understand the way you see and perceive Jesus will differ from the person next to you at church on Sunday. However, that shouldn't be a problem. One of the amazing things about Christology is to understand that while seeing many different perceptions of how Christ is, it can still all be considered the same Christ. So do not be alarmed when you see or hear about a version of Christ you have never considered before, nor feel defensive of your understanding of Christ. For your Christology is yours and if you want to alter that understanding feel free to do so. In the same way that Jesus asked his discipled "Who do you say that I am?" we must ask ourselves the same question. 

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