A Spirit Christology Recovering the Biblical Paradigm of Christian Faith - Paperback

by Paul W. Newman (Author)

This book notes the challenges to traditional Christian faith from the knowledge explosion in the modern world. It proposes a shift in paradigm from the ontological thinking in which Jesus is thought to be of equal substance with God to a more biblically based relational thinking in which Jesus is seen to be related to God in the Spirit in the same way as other people are related to God. Jesus is seen as the pioneer and perfecter of faith.His uniqueness is in his continuing vocation as Messiah. A biblical and contemporary theology of Spirit is developed to explore the presence of the Spirit in Jesus and the logic of salvation is worked out. Finally, this interpersonal Christology is compared in detail to the intrapersonal Christology of traditional Christianity,

Author Biography

Dr. Newman received a B.A. with Honours in Philosophy and English from Victoria College, University of Toronto, in 1957. This was followed by a B.D. from Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, in 1961 and ordination as a minister in The United Church of Canada. He completed a PhD in 1964 at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland with a Dissertation titled: The Ontological in the Theology of Paul Tillich. He served as Minister of Arden Pastoral Charge in Ontario and then between 1967-75 he was Head of the Theology Division (now The Divinity School) in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Between 1975-88 he held the position of McDougald Professor of Systematic Theology in St. Andrew's College, University of Saskatchewan, and was named Professor Emeritus in 1995. In 1991 he was honoured with a D.D. (Honoris Causa) Victoria University, The University of Toronto. He left academia to serve as National Secretary for Interfaith Dialogue with The United Church of Canada between 1991-94 and followed this up as Minister in Kamloops United Church. He is now retired in Sooke, B.C., Canada. He has written many sermons, lectures, and articles and has published two books.