Doing Christology : the re-appropriation of a tradition / Jose M. De Mesa, Lode L. Wostyn.

Text in English and Tagalog.

There is no doubt regarding the crucial centrality of the man from Nazareth for the worldwide Church.But his universal significance only becomes real when it is culturally intelligible and situationallyrelevant. Authors, de Mesa and Wostyn, cognizant of the difficulty of many Christians to see the meaningfulness of the classical Christological formulas for our times, attempt in this work to re-appropriate the Tradition within the Filipino culture and situation. In this effort they are clearly guided by the "mental journey" of the disciples in recognizing Jesus as "the Christ." It is within this perspective the de Mesa and Wostyn revisit the fundamental questions and processes related to "doing Christology." After stating their hermeneutical presuppositions on revelation and human experience, de Mesa and Wostyn tackle the primary issue of salvation in the light of the Filipino culture and situation. Then they show in a very illustrative manner how our understanding of salvation gives rise to particular images of Jesus, and how the memory of Jesus embedded in our Tradition affects in different ways our perception not only of salvation but of the person of Jesus himself as well. Throughout the entire work these systematic theologians demonstrate the indispensability of a mutual interaction between the witness of the Judaeo-Christian Tradition and a careful reading of the Filipino context in order to do Christology. (Claretian Pub.)