Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology with Book [Paperback]

I first encountered this book at a Roman Catholic Seminary. All of us very much enjoyed it and it was commonly agreed it was one of the best books we had to buy. After several years out of seminary, it is one volume that comes in handy and also for spiritual reading.

Students of theology will recall Hans Urs von Balthasar's call for a generation of "kneeling theologians" to arise. These would be women and men who brought not only their erudition to the task of theology but also their faith. Fr. Roch A. Kereszty, O.Cist., a man of exquisitely detailed and vast learning, is one of the leading kneeling theologians of our time, in my opinion. The phrase "kneeling theologian" stirs up questions regarding objectivity versus subjectivity, historiography versus theology, or rationalism versus a more comprehensive engagement of the subject matter. These issues, some of them epistemological concerns, are raised by Fr. Keresty.

For the student of Christology what is most satisfying is Fr. Kereszty's steady-handed and theologically balanced tour through the history of Christian theology -- from the Apostles to the Fathers to the Schoolmen and on into the Reformation/Renaissance, Enlightenment, and modern period. His gifts of compression and clarity make this book a must: one walks away with an expert education in the landmarks of Christology. Expert level? Yes, for Fr. Kereszty's other gift is his ability to select from his own storehouse of learning exactly those things that the student must know if he or she is to advance on to the guild of theologians. Prudence and selectivity alone recommend this book.

Perhaps Fr. Kereszty's greatest gift, though, is the beauty of holiness evident in his faith. In thirty-five years of reading secondary literature on Christian topics, I can say that this text is densely set with shocks of illumination comparable to no other book I have read. I have given it to bishops, religious sisters, deacons, monks, priests, and other scholars. Many of them tell me they use it for reflective spiritual reading. Several of my grad students -- women and men who have ready many, many other theology books and articles -- have written me to say that this book was a life-changing experience for them. As the Eternal Word is the source and organizing principle for all life, I countenance this landmark work on Jesus Christ to be one of the most important books of our era.

It is used as the basic text for Christology in schools as theologically diverse as Andover Newton Seminary, Bethel University, Lourdes College, Pittsburgy Theological Seminary, Sacred Heart Seminary, St. Joseph's College of Maine, St. Mary's University, Seton Hall University, Trinity Western University, University of Dallas, and the University of Notre Dame.

Father Kereszty is one of the sought-after writers who publishes in the journal Communio.

I wish to add, as an afterword, that I do not know Fr. Kereszty, nor does he know me. Frankly, when I visited Amazon this morning to pick up another copy for a friend (a Franciscan religious sister serving in Haiti), I was surprised (and discouraged) to see how little appreciated this important work is.

If you are looking for a Christology text, this is the best one on the market.