podcast 187 – Dr. Paul W. Newman’s Spirit Christology – Part 1

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Canadian theologian Dr. Paul W. Newman views God’s spirit as active at all times and places, even outside the realms of Judaism and Christianity. Studying the Bible in conversation with many recent biblical scholars, he came to view the idea of spirit as the key to understanding Jesus. The result is his book A Spirit Christology: Recovering the Biblical Paradigm of Christian Faith (1st ed. 1987, 2nd. ed. 2014).

In this first part of our conversation our topics include:

• his concern for the true humanity of Jesus
• reactions to the book
• traditional approaches to atonement and how these relate to traditional catholic approaches to christology
• God’s activity outside the Christian sphere
• the uniqueness of Jesus
• why he does not accept a theory of religious pluralism
• the idea of “inclusivism” about salvation
• Jesus’s teachings about repentance and forgiveness

Thanks to Dr. Newman for a stimulating conversation and a very interesting book!

•   Links for this episode:
  A Spirit Christology: Recovering the Biblical Paradigm of Christian Faith
• Dr. Newman’s home page
  • writings
  • “Atonement in the Life and Death of Jesus“
• The United Church of Canada
• ruach
• Luke 4:1; John 3:16;  Matthew 15:21-28; Luke 22:20; Matthew 7:2; Matthew 3:9; Luke 15:11-32
• Theories of Religious Diversity
• podcast 95 – Dr. Winfried Corduan: Are all religions the same?
• podcast 91 – Dr. Joshua Thurow on theories of the atonement
• World Religions
• podcast 86 – Kermit Zarley on distinguishing Jesus and God
• Restitutio podcast episode 88: Restorationist Manifesto
• What is the Trinity? (More info and buying options here.)
• Today’s thinking music is “A Dark Blue Arc Instrumental” by Pipe Choir. (Here’s their version with vocals.)