Christ the Key

Current Issues in Theology

by Kathryn Tanner

Through the intensely intimate relationship that arises between God and humans in the incarnation of the Word in Christ, God gives us the gift of God's own life. This simple claim provides the basis for Kathryn Tanner's powerful study of the centrality of Jesus Christ for all Christian thought and if the divine and the human are united in Christ, then Jesus can be seen as key to the pattern that organizes the whole, even while God's ways remain beyond our grasp. Drawing on the history of Christian thought to develop an innovative Christ-centered theology, this book sheds fresh light on major theological issues such as the imago dei, the relationship between nature and grace, the Trinity's implications for human community, and the Spirit's manner of working in human lives. Originally delivered as Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary, it offers a creative and compelling contribution to contemporary theology.

Genres: Theology, Religion, Nonfiction

322 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2009

About the author

Professor Tanner joined the Yale Divinity School faculty in 2010 after teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School for sixteen years and in Yale’s Department of Religious Studies for ten. Her research relates the history of Christian thought to contemporary issues of theological concern using social, cultural, and feminist theory. She is the author of God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment? (Blackwell, 1988); The Politics of God: Christian Theologies and Social Justice (Fortress, 1992); Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology (Fortress, 1997); Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity: A Brief Systematic Theology (Fortress, 2001); Economy of Grace (Fortress, 2005); Christ the Key (Cambridge, 2010); and scores of scholarly articles and chapters in books that include The Oxford Handbook of Systematic Theology, which she edited with John Webster and Iain Torrance. She serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, International Journal of Systematic Theology, and Scottish Journal of Theology, and is a former coeditor of the Journal of Religion. Active in many professional societies, Professor Tanner is a past president of the American Theological Society, the oldest theological society in the United States. For eight years she has been a member of the Theology Committee that advises the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. In the academic year 2010–11, she had a Luce Fellowship to research financial markets and the critical perspectives that Christian theology can bring to bear on them. In 2015–16, she will deliver the Gifford Lectures at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Reviews

[Andrew McNeely · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. As a theologian, Kathryn Tanner is a traditional maverick (oxymoron intended). She takes what the life of Christianity has generated throughout its history and tinkers with it–bends and turns it. For Tanner, the tradition is not just a church history class, frozen in its past, but a type of language or discourse Christians inhabit as a way to “creatively redeploy” in the present (à la Wittgenstein’s theory of projection/extension). Underlying her central thesis–that Christ is the key to all that God is doing everywhere–there is a mingling of old and new.

Tanner’s strategy and the countless moves she makes are so numerous that a review would jeopardize the hidden subtleties of her many explorations. Although I wasn’t convinced at every turn, I think Tanner is one of the greatest living theologians working in the English language. And when she teaches, I listen.

[Michaela Farrell]

Really thorough and well-researched/defended (even if I only grasped 40% max). I'm way too theologically conservative to get on board with a number of her conclusions (or premises), but still a truly excellent work that has been key to modern Christological study.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tanner is a top-tier theologian who rights clearly and precisely. She also is deeply entrenched in the writings of the Fathers. Virtually every chapter is filled with insight, e.g., she argues for a nuanced approach to the filioque, she argues against social trinitarianisms and their application to sociopolitical realities, and offers an intriguing account of how we as humans participate in Christ. This is her sequel to her Jesus, Humanity and the Trinity and so the reader would benefit from reading Christ the Key after reading this earlier work. In Christ the Key, she helpfully fills out reasons why she rejected penal substitutionary atonement in her earlier book by presenting a positive account of the incarnation as atoning. Must read for anyone interested in systematic theology.

[Sooho Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

NEW REVIEW (05.13.17)
This is my second time reading it all the way through.

And I still cannot stress this enough: this is a theological masterpiece.

What fresh insights can be poured over when Christ is the key to theology? What happens to tired theological debates and topics when Christ is the key? These are the challenges Kathryn Tanner uptakes throughout the book. Carefully balancing heated arguments, on the one hand, and meticulous, painstaking articulation of the Christian tradition, on the other, Tanner puts forth convincingly (I think), time and time again, Christ-centered solutions. Each chapter, save the first, seem to have clear dialogue partners: (chs. 2-3) Catholics and Protestants, (ch. 4) East and West, (ch. 5) social trinitarianists, (ch. 6) various atonement theories and their critics, and (ch. 7) those claim unmediated religious authority. At the end of each chapter, Tanner seems to suggest (though she does not explicitly): "Why wouldn't you want to believe this?" Tanner wants to stake that Christian theology revolves around the claim that "God wants to give us the fullness of God's own life through the closest possible relationship with us as that comes to completion in Christ" (vii). In other words, God wants us to be with him. And, yes. I do want to believe this -- but, oh God, help me in my unbelief.

OLD REVIEW (07.20.16)
Current Issues in Theology strives to exhibit cutting-edge and thorough theologies by the finest minds in the league. Kathryn Tanner easily tops the list. Her academic credentials, superb; her writing, sublime; and her theological clarity and import, magnificent. Yet these were discovered not by a third-party voice but in her work in Christ the Key. I cannot stress this enough: this is one of the best theological reads I have ever read. Ever. Although not the most accessible reads--hard work and full concentration are needed--the fruits of one's tireless efforts profit richly. Tanner's insistence on Christocentric theology (hence, her tagline: "Christ the key") is refreshing and high valuation of humanity is astounding. Mysteriously wonderful is the God-Man Jesus who took on flesh to heal and elevate humanity to participate in the life of the Triune God. Hallelujah. Amen.

cf. www.sooholee.wordpress.com

[Tynan Brooks]

Thought it was really good. Sometimes I think Tanner goes too far in ruling out certain readings - while her atonement idea is compelling, I don't think it overrules other ones - but I love her emphasis on our relation to God through Christ.

[Ethan Shearer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more important pieces of modern Theology

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was far too intellectual for my liking. I had a hard time connecting on a spiritual or emotional level.

[Alfred Ingmår · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ett halsbrytande teologiskt verk som ändå åstadkommer mycket, däribland mycket gott tycker jag

[Huw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Kathryn for solving all of our theological problems! #Legend

[Abigail Matheny]

I love Tanner. Her work is rich, responsive and redeeming. Can't wait to re-read this one again when I'm not drowning in seminary.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this constructive work, Tanner attempts to bridge the gap between Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrines of salvation. Her constructive proposal ends up in neither camp, but looks more close to Eastern Orthodox than anything else. An interesting and thought-provoking work.

[Timothy Dougherty Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great work in which Tanner establishes her theological anthropology as two senses of imago dei: the weak sense and strong sense. In so doing, she breaks down social trinitarianism by tearing down the patrological ideal of the Trinity and establishes a social Christology, which Christology shows that Christ's relationship to the world is the proper model of human relations rather than any hierarchical model found within trinitarian theology.