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Document Details :

Title: Jezus, een buitengewoon gewone mens
Subtitle: Op zoek naar een oudtestamentische toon in de christologie
Author(s): LOGISTER, Wiel
Journal: Tijdschrift voor Theologie
Volume: 48    Issue: 4   Date: 2008   
Pages: 356-366
DOI: 10.2143/TVT.48.4.3203505

Abstract :
Views on how Jesus became human swing back and forth between denying there was anything special about Him at all to elevating Him to a superhuman figure. This article attempts to avoid both extremes by applying the technique that (according to Auerbach) the Old Testament uses to reconcile humilitas and sublimitas. When we look at Jesus in line with the figure of Abraham, Psalm 1 and Deutero-Isaiah, it is striking how close He is to normal life, neither denying nor being overwhelmed by His human contingency. He experiences it in a relaxed manner and has a sharp eye for its positive and negative aspects. His experience of God as space that encompasses and challenges the earth and its inhabitants plays a major role in this context. From and because of his relationship with God, Jesus focuses on the living person, even when this commitment brings death threats. Initially His death left His followers with many questions; however, they quickly became convinced that Jesus had God’s blessing and that He continued to live among them as this man of God. In joyful praise Jesus is given numerous titles and names that express His relationship to God and God’s to Him. It is doubtful whether J. Ratzinger and others, citing John’s gospel, are right in placing titles and names for Jesus too swiftly within a Greek context. The question arises whether the Fourth Gospel can and should not also be read through an Old Testament lens. Jesus then appears as the one who, in God’s name, is surprisingly and penetratingly involved in a very earthly life, and as this person is involved in the circumstances of His and other people’s lives. John’s high christology articulates the sublimitas of Jesus’ humilitas. The two may not be disjoined.

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