The Anonymous Christ Lee E Smark

Faith in Jesus as Saviour is no more secure than one’s own historical knowledge about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

In principle, no scientific method or model or conclusion is closed to challenge and possible revision. In the same way Christology cannot be a closed subject. Jesus as Saviour needs to be interpreted as compatible with modern biblical scholarship.
Because Jesus had been raised from the dead, one could ask, “Who is this person? Where did he come from? What is the source of his authority? Who or what can account for his power?
Jesus never told his own story. It is a story which does not tell itself; therefore every account of the Jesus story is also an interpretation, a retelling. Jesus is never seen in isolation. From life to death Jesus is seen in relationships. Even when he prays, he does not pray to himself. After he was risen, he appeared to some one. A saviour alone is no Saviour.
Salvation relates to human hopes and longings. The essence of human beings is their destiny. One is deprived of essential humanity if one does not know its destiny. To know the end for which we are destined is to be saved from lostness and hopelessness. In Jesus life and destiny we find our basis for hope.
It is only in human form that the saving power of God can break through to human beings. Humans need to be saved from destructive modes of thoughts and actions.
Jesus is the human channel through whom the ever present God beamed his saving power to us. Jesus distinctiveness and uniqueness is his distinct and unique relationship with the one he calls “father”.
Jesus liberated his followers to achieve what the law fails to accomplish; the genuine well-being of all people.
Jesus announces a fundamental equality. All are worthy of love. All are children of the same Father and because of this brothers and sisters.
We should approach the divinity of Jesus from the view of his unsurpassable humanity. What is striking about Jesus is NOT that Jesus is divine in some self-evident way, but that he is so utterly human. “Only God could be as human as Jesus” (Boft)
Individualism: Today people are extremely conscious of themselves as individuals. This was not always so for roughly around the eighth century B.C. there was a significant break in the earlier forms of awareness. History began at the axial period. Individuals now stood as responsible selves with greater freedom and greater risk, and as the mythical world dissolved, people realised a great gap between themselves and the transcendence or the Holy. A new historical consciousness arose along side of the self’s own individual consciousness. Ritual was no longer an assured means of salvation. Man’s consciousness was dualistic – i.e. historical and individual.
Everyone is on a Quest for personal destiny. We realise our destiny has been fulfilled by the historical event of Jesus. Our destiny has been revealed in Jesus exaltation. Conscious human existence now has hope beyond death.