Jesus Christ: a differentiated prism or the reductionist Logos/Rhema of God's salvation

Abstract

The introduction of this dissertation presents a brief summation of what other sources have ushered with regard to the question of who Jesus is. The problem we seek to resolve; the justification of this dissertation; the definition of some terminology and the main source materials employed, are presented in this chapter. Since the problem statement is crucial for a good dissertation, chapter two will identify this problem from the grass roots level and will show us the turbulent tides it has encountered through the early centuries of the Christian church. The Aftermath of the early Christian church was a string of one Word Symbols, or tides for Jesus. The problem of embracing only one Word title for Jesus is also explained in chapter three. In contrast to the One-sided Word Christologies described in chapter four, an example of some symbols of the Word that inclusively describe in part, who Jesus really is, is presented. Since this dissertation has a holistic approach, it is paramount for the investigation to consider a religious figure that embraces or represents a Christology that denotes holism. This is covered in chapter five. It is in chapter five, where the writer, out of necessity, is prompted to devote a number of pages exploring White's Chiistological conviction. In this chapter the writer uncovers White's perception of the great conflict between good and evil. Retrospectively, the writer absoibs White's assumption and perception of the person of Christ. This chapter also looks at how Christ's role and function is perceived by White. During this research, the way she used the various Word symbols of Christ, who is the over-arching prism of the Almighty God, was found to be of particular interest. White also provides practical, theoretical knowledge of how Christ occupies the believer's life, the world and God's universe. As in chapter five, chapter six presents the exposition of the Christology of John Calvin. In chapter seven the Christology of White is compared to that of John Calvin. A table of data that illustrates how many different types of Word symbols and how many times those Word symbols are mentioned by both White and Calvin are presented. Chapter eight will present the conclusion of this dissertation.