Ethics and Christology - Rediscovering Jesus in Evolutionary History

Abstract

Ethics and Christology - Rediscovering Jesus in Evolutionary History

The rather perplexing issue of whether and how Christology should relate to Ethics can, for me at least, only be resolved by first asking how exactly, in the case of Jesus, God’s revelation is located not just in history, but specifically in evolutionary history itself. The evolutionary history of our species, as well as those characteristics that we normally see as defining the distinctiveness of Homo sapiens (consciousness, imagination, moral awareness, religious propensities, etc.) should not only directly impact notions of our own embodied personhood, but also what it would mean to understand Jesus’ embodied mind, his consciousness and self-awareness, as defining his personhood. In this sense a focus on the identity of Jesus will shape the ethical relevance of who He was, what He did, what He said, and why we today might feel compelled to follow that example.