Jesus Symbol of God

by Roger Haight

Already hailed as a landmark in contemporary Catholic theology, Jesus Symbol of God surveys scriptural data, the key moments in the development of doctrine, and the distinctive horizons of our contemporary world to develop a comprehensive and systematic christology for our time. The task of christology is to explain what it means to say that Jesus is the bearer and revealer of God in the Christian community, the decisive mediation of God's salvation -- or, in other words, the symbol of God.

Genres: Theology

536 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Roger Haight was an American Jesuit theologian and president of the Catholic Theological Society of America. His experiences with censorship led to widespread debate over how to handle controversial ideas in the Catholic church today.

Reviews

[Brigid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Heads up! This book is heretical!

From The Vatican: "Notification on the book 'Jesus Symbol of God' by Father Roger Haight S.J.":

"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, after careful study, has judged that the book Jesus Symbol of God (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1999), by Father Roger Haight S.J., contains serious doctrinal errors regarding certain fundamental truths of faith. It was therefore decided to publish this Notification in its regard, which concludes the relevant procedure for doctrinal examination..."

You can read more about this here: https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/co...

Basically Fr. Haight is in error about several things, the Divinity of Christ being one of them! So be careful.

[mahatmanto · Rating 5 out of 5]

saya tahu buku ini kena sensor vatikan. dan pimpinan lembaga penyensornya adalah ratzinger, atau paus emeritus benedictus xvi. tapi membacanya sejauh ini tidak terasa di bagian mana ajaran haight yang dinilai telah melanggar ajaran resmi gereja katolik.
nanti saya sambung lagi ngetiknya...

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me several months, but reading and thinking about Haight's postmodern christology was well worth the time investment. It truly is a mind-clearing book, applying his method (explained in "Dynamics of Theology") to the central matter of Christianity: the identity of Jesus of Nazareth, the doctrinal development of the matter over the centuries, the problems of historicity and epistemology that we have with it, and finally his theology using the concept of symbol.

He is, I think, faithful to the tradition, and to scholarship across disciplines since the Enlightenment. For me, this theology is a fruitful way forward, especially as it relates Jesus to other great religious traditions and to how we are to live honestly in this world.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a Jesuit with the style and difficulty of Aquinas, it's a lugubrious and challenging read. Haight was silenced by the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger and is not allowed to teach Catholic Theology at a Roman Catholic institution. He attempts to reconcile orthadox theology and post-modernism. If I could sum it his thesis and explain it crisply and clearly I'd be a Jesuit. It's going to be awhile before I fully get this.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for providing a systematic approach that covers a broad historical spectrum of interpretation. The issue I have is that in attempting to synthesize a postmodern christology, Haight's view ends up falling into many of the modern traps that postmodernism wants to avoid. He does not fairly and adequately cover Process Christology or allow postmodern theory to deconstruct some of the binaries he still clings to as a way of framing his approach and conclusions.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really did not read this book. The title put me off. Jesus is not just symbol but the reality of God. And I hope that Roger Haight said that somewhere in the book. But when Bishop Quinn, Michael Buckley, Fran Smith, Paul Crowley could not finish it, why should I?

I am told that the biblical references were misused. The book is a work of ideological erudition, I think, aimed at modern diversity by changing the place of Jesus...

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thick detailed book that I read most of a number of years back.