Jesus, Transcendence, and Generosity

Contemporary scholars aiming to articulate a ‘middle way’ between fundamentalism and liberalism regularly draw upon Hans Frei and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, yet they are rarely brought together on this question, if at all. Here, Tim Boniface highlights the promise of reading them together, proposing especially that a discussion of Jesus’ transcendence derived from their responses to modernity is an effective locus for considering their combined contribution to a ‘middle way’ discussion. Having outlined a rationale for a theology of Christological transcendence, this work describes in detail how both Frei and Bonhoeffer point towards a nuanced approach to the transcendence of Jesus—especially in terms of the importance of articulating that transcendence at the level of the ‘unsubstitutable historical particularity’ of Christ in the cultural-linguistic setting of the Christian community (Frei) and the impact of a theologia crucis and a participatory cosmic Christology on such thinking (Bonhoeffer). Offering a unique summary of the key ways in which the two theologians’ works mutually critique and strengthen one another, Boniface then articulates a pneumatological emphasis lacking in both Frei and Bonhoeffer, stressing the supreme generosity of God at the heart of what it means to say that Jesus transcends.

Tim Boniface hosts a fascinating conversation between Frei and Bonhoeffer, showing that Jesus Christ, in all his inexhaustible and unmasterable particularity, stands at the centre of each theologian's thought. For both theologians, this Jesus is the word of God spoken to the world – a word that, precisely because it is spoken in this unsubstitutably particular form, can never adequately be contained within the patterns of thought, speech, and action of those who receive him. Boniface handles the works of both Frei and Bonhoeffer deftly, he asks serious questions of each, and he demonstrates that together they point us to a form of generous orthodoxy that is Christologically centred, pneumatologically animated, and deeply open to the undomesticated transcendence of God. This is a theological vision well worth exploring., Discerning that the Christological labours of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans Frei are congenial and complimentary to one another, Boniface’s engaging study marshals them together in defence of a better account of divine transcendence on the other side of modern critiques. That this can be done not in spite of but rather precisely by way of close Christological reasoning is the wager of the argument. The book makes a most welcome contribution to key debates in contemporary theology., In this carefully argued and wide-ranging study, Tim Boniface skillfully weaves together themes of particularity, transcendence, Christology, and ecclesiology. The volume makes contributions to the study of Christology, to the theological reception of Frei and Bonhoeffer, and to the larger question of how the church can conduct itself with both integrity and generosity., This is a brilliantly fresh and insightful look at two unusual twentieth century theologians. On the basis of a very thorough reading of their work, Tim Boniface shows how Frei and Bonhoeffer open a way beyond the sterile oppositions of liberalism and conservatism in theology, especially in theology about the person of Jesus Christ.  A work of real and timely importance, which deserves a very wide readership.

Tim Boniface earned his PhD at Durham University.