{"id":5870,"date":"2020-11-12T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T22:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2020-11-13T17:06:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T00:06:58","slug":"does-jesus-influence-us-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/does-jesus-influence-us-now","title":{"rendered":"Does Jesus Influence Today?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his ground-breaking book, Divine Self-Investment: An Open and Relational Constructive Christology<\/em>, Tripp Fuller offers exciting proposals for making sense of Jesus in the 21st Century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I previously offered an overview <\/a>of Fuller’s key ideas. That essay and this are part of my response to Fuller’s book at the upcoming Christ Among the Disciplines<\/a> online conference. For this essay, I ask two related questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Jesus influence us today?<\/em> If so, how should we understand his influence?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus Mediates God?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

To explore answers, I might turn to explore the verbs in Fuller\u2019s book that speak of Jesus\u2019 causal influence. In Divine Self-Investment<\/em>, we read that Jesus \u201creveals God,\u201d \u201cinitiates faith,\u201d \u201cfunctions as a representative of God,\u201d \u201cproclaims the kin-dom,\u201d \u201csymbolizes God,\u201d \u201cbecomes the Christ,\u201d \u201creveals a higher order of subjectivity,\u201d \u201cembodies the fruit of a tradition,\u201d \u201cmodels salvation,\u201d and \u201creveals the nature of God.\u201d Most of these verbs are Fuller\u2019s own but some come from his interlocutors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The verb I choose to highlight is \u201cmediate.\u201d Fuller says \u201cJesus Christ mediated the presence and salvation of God,\u201d and \u201cJesus Christ mediates the existential encounter with God.\u201d To explore what it might mean for Jesus to influence today, we might ask what it means to say, \u201cJesus mediates God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturalistic Jesus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

One way to handle \u201cmediate\u201d and the other verbs is to say they apply only to Jesus\u2019 actions roughly 2,000 years ago. This way might say Jesus acted long ago but it does not influence us today. Let\u2019s call this the \u201cNaturalistic Jesus\u201d view of how Jesus mediates God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This view doesn\u2019t address many of our metaphysical questions about God, except perhaps how God acted 2,000 years ago. It does not address how Jesus\u2019 mediating might occur today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get the impression from Fuller that he wants to affirm something about how Jesus\u2019 mediates God in the present. He talks, for instance, about Jesus \u201cmediating an existential encounter with God.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps I\u2019m wrong, but Fuller seems to believe Jesus is causally influential in our time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chasm <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In my Evangelical youth, the word \u201cmediate\u201d was used to by my religious teachers to portray Jesus as the \u201cgo-between.\u201d Jesus mediates a God \u201cup there\u201d who cannot associate with rotten sinners down here. We need Jesus to bridge this gap. Let\u2019s call this second way the \u201cChasm\u201d view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuller\u2019s open and relational vision dismisses the idea Jesus is the bridge across a chasm separating a distant and holy God from isolated and sinful creation. He believes we and all creation always already experience God directly. Our alleged sin doesn\u2019t keep God at arm\u2019s length. If only I had heard Fuller\u2019s message in Sunday school! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, Fuller\u2019s view that Jesus mediates God doesn\u2019t fit the Chasm view of mediation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bible Stories Mediate Jesus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll call the third possibility for understanding Jesus as mediator the \u201cBible Stories\u201d view. It says stories of Jesus in the Bible may (or may not) inspire us today to think about, understand, or encounter God. These biblical texts aren\u2019t themselves causal agents. They are literary resources of information and inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scripture mediates Jesus so we can witness Jesus as mediating God. Without the Bible, says this view, Jesus\u2019 mediating revelation would be lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuller\u2019s Christological work can incorporate the Bible Stories view of Jesus as mediator. But I think he wants to say more. Scripture is important. But I suspect Fuller believes Jesus mediates God, even if the Scriptures had not been written. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bible Stories view falls short of a robust view of Jesus mediating God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Butterfly Effect<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A fourth way to understand Jesus\u2019 mediating builds from the open and relational ontology Fuller embraces. It says Jesus\u2019 action thousands of years ago launched a community who remembered and lived out Jesus\u2019 vision. This community continues today, thanks to messages and practices passed along by generations of Jesus followers through formal means (e.g., apostolic succession) or informal ones (e.g., house churches). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s call this the \u201cButterfly Effect\u201d view of Jesus as mediator in honor of the chaos theory notion that actions far away and in the past can through a causal chain affect the present right here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fuller\u2019s ontology can incorporate the Butterfly Effect view. In fact, a relational vision says ideas and practices in the past can be consciously carried to the present. It also says such causal influence can be carried forward through unconscious, pre-linguistic, and nonsensory causation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An open and relational ontology supports a host of claims theologians often make about the transmission of ideas, rituals, and ways of being launched by Jesus. They claim God plays a key role in this mediation, but it is neither all divine action nor all creaturely causation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But can Fuller say more? Does it make sense to say Jesus acts today mediating God through direct causal influence on you and me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heavenly Jesus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A fifth way builds from Jesus\u2019 resurrection and continued subjective experience beyond the tomb. I\u2019ll call this view the \u201cHeavenly Jesus\u201d perspective. It says life after death is possible for humans and perhaps all creatures. Those who continue living beyond bodily death have causal capacities that can influence the living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this view of the afterlife is true, the risen Jesus could influence us now and mediate God. Fuller doesn\u2019t address this Heavenly Jesus possibility, but a Whiteheadian metaphysic allows for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my view, the Heavenly Jesus theory has a problem. This problem emerges when we consider the scope of Jesus\u2019 post-mortem influence. I and most theologians don\u2019t think a life after death experience would involve creatures becoming omnipresent. Wherever we \u201cgo\u201d or \u201care\u201d in the afterlife, we remain localized, not ubiquitous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the risen Jesus directly mediates God now, he could only affect a few of us. Jesus might be our brother alongside others in great cloud of witnesses or the ghost-like \u201cstranger on a bus trying to make his way home.\u201d But the risen Jesus is not an omnipresent Spirit influencing all creation, all at once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The influence of the localized Heavenly Jesus would, to use the Whiteheadian language, be negatively prehended by the majority of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus = God?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Upon hearing these five possibilities for how Jesus mediates God, the reader might wonder why I have not addressed the possibility Jesus directly mediates God in the present because Jesus is God. Let\u2019s call this sixth option the \u201cJesus = God\u201d <\/strong>view. It says an omnipresent God influences all creation in the present, and therefore Jesus — being divine — influences all in the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it is popular in some circles, there are many reasons to reject the Jesus = God view. It\u2019s not a view Fuller adopts. Jesus did not exhibit the attributes most theologians think essential to God: omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, necessary existence, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides, if we say Jesus = God, then saying, \u201cJesus mediates God\u201d also means, \u201cGod mediates God\u2019 and \u201cJesus mediates Jesus.\u201d What Fuller seems to mean by \u201cJesus mediates God\u201d slips into circularity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Confusion abounds!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Mediates Jesus?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let me mention a final possibility. This view says God prehends all creaturely activity, including Jesus\u2019 past and (if a Heavenly being) current actions. Upon prehending these actions, God offers Jesus\u2019 causal influence to us now. God presents Jesus to us in each moment in various ways, using various means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuller\u2019s open and relational metaphysics readily accepts this view. It\u2019s part of his open and relational vision. But I don\u2019t list it as a seventh model, because it sounds more like God mediates Jesus than Jesus mediates God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuller seems to have something else in mind when he says \u201cJesus mediates God\u201d or \u201cJesus Christ mediates the existential encounter with God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Ways?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Among the six options for understanding what it means for Jesus to mediate God, I find option four most helpful. But I don’t rule out options three and five. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps there are other ways of understanding what it means for Jesus to mediate God. I\u2019d love to hear which option or options Fuller finds most helpful and if he can imagine others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have other options to propose, let me know!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
To join the online conversation of Tripp Fuller’s book, register for the Christ Among the Nations conference: https:\/\/www.christamongthedisciplines.com\/?fbclid=IwAR3DHo_hMfilBQWz1erG18hSG5N3txY5C7_y-g9Y4xIUyDXDwnXlHqnD43Y<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nI previously gave an overview of Tripp Fuller's book, Divine Self-Investment. In this essay, I ask two related questions: Does Jesus influence us today? If so, how should we understand this influence? <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n

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In his ground-breaking book, Divine Self-Investment: An Open and Relational Constructive Christology, Tripp Fuller offers exciting proposals for making sense of Jesus in the 21st Century. I previously offered an overview of Fuller’s key ideas. That essay and this are part of my response to Fuller’s book at the upcoming Christ Among the Disciplines online […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7063,7064,7066],"yst_prominent_words":[1224],"class_list":["post-5870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open_and_relational_theology","tag-tripp-fuller","tag-jesus-mediates-god","tag-jesus-mediator"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5870\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5870"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}