The Many Faces of Jesus

Review: The Many Faces of Jesus

Frequently, I have heard the study of Jesus Christ referred to as a painting. This painting contains a Jesus that makes sense in the minds of men and women in the U.S. and Western Europe. I believe this carries over into the study of Christology. Often times a similar picture is painted regardless of where the communication is taking place. The same colors are used with a similar brushstroke creating the same image, time and time again. When the picture is completed it is placed in a visible manner as the official rendering of Jesus and the study of him. Volker Kuster’s book introduces the reader to a larger global perspective on Jesus Christ and his saving work. Kuster introduces key men and women who are involved in taking the Jesus Christ we are introduced to within the Gospels and translating it to their context and society. These individuals use new language to process Jesus Christ’s role in the world and what it means for the kingdom of God here and now.

Kuster in his introduction makes a statement that is helpful when reading the rest of his book, “Moreover, at the end of the day it is the Christology that decides whether or not for the person concerned, faith in Jesus Christ finds a home in its context or not.” This becomes a pseudo-thesis statement for the next section of his book. In this chapter we are shown the intersection of Christology and the context that the Preacher finds himself in. Kuster in his book introduces the reader to many different contexts, many different “Faces of Jesus”, but I would like to spend time reflecting on two in particular. The face of Jesus in Latin American Theology as well as the Black Messiah of James Cone.

Kuster begins in Latin America within the context of the poor. According to Kuster it is important to understand how these individuals frame Jesus Christ under the terms of suffering and poverty. The major voices in the theology of Latin America are Leonardo Boff and Jon Sobrino. Leonardo Boff is a major voice in this movement and attempts to offer an orthopraxis of Christology within his context of Brazil and this carries over into the larger context of Latin America. Within their understanding of the kingdom of God, it is not sufficient to have only a future view of the work of God. Jesus Christ must have a plan during the here and now, offering a relief to the pain and struggles of today, whether they be political or societal.

This praxis finds itself within the context of relationship, specifically the relationality of Jesus Christ. This relationality can be drawn from the teachings of Jesus, his teaching of the kingdom of God and his focus on the poor is not only an eschatological event but something present. This is affirmed by their reading of the Exodus event, God who was particularly involved with his people, hearing their complaints and creating an alternative. Finally, the Liberation Theology that Boff and Sobrino are putting together is also an incarnational theology. Kuster explains, “The resurrection is an impulse for the hope of liberation; however, often this has only an implicit effect, mediated through the span of the incarnation.” It is important that Christ was as much human as he was divine. Because he experienced the ultimate suffering for his people, that is what becomes real and tangible for these Latin American liberation theologians.

Next, we have the Black Messiah Christology in the context of Racism. About the same time as Boff and Sobrino in their Latin American contexts, in America men name Martin Luther King jr., and Malcolm X were fighting for civil rights. The major theologian of this movement was a man named James Cone. He like Boff was trained in traditional seminaries, but found the content to be lacking to his personal struggle and and situation. He did not see the connection that other european men could have for the, “young black girls and boys coming from the cotton fields of Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi seeking to make a new future for themselves.” Cone asked an important question, in terms of method, for the plight of the African Americans, “What has the gospel of Jesus Christ to do with the black struggle for justice in the United States?”

Through Cone’s growth in the movement and theological growth, he came to one powerful conviction, “the transcendent affirmation that God has not ever, no not ever, left the oppressed alone in struggle.” The overarching conclusion Cone espouses that because Jesus Christ identified with the poor and oppressed, the “blacks” can identify with him.

Volker Kuster ends his book with a discussion titled, “Conversation of models of Christology with focus’ on ecumenical learning”. Here he discusses the differences in how churches and institutions differ from one another. Their dominant literary form is pamphlets, manifestos, meditations, lecture manuscripts and short articles. There is a direct correlation between hermeneutical construction and the current context.

In conclusion, I found this book to be enlightening and helpful when considering a larger context of Christology. It introduces a wide variety of cultures and introduces key individuals that allow for further study. Kuster handles each society with care, weary of the plight and goal of each individual face of Jesus. While reading this book a single theme jumps at the reader, Jesus Christ is immanent among different cultures and emerges in a myriad of ways, but when all is said and done, He desires a relationship from the men and women surrounding.

This book, I believe, would be beneficial to be read within a church, especially an American church, to introduce the different Faces of Jesus to people who all to often operate under a limited perspective. This book is a wonderful reminder of the broader world stage and the perspectives offered give us a more complete view of Jesus Christ and his saving work.