Speaking Like Luther

Within three centuries of his resurrection, Jesus of Nazarethwas presented to the world as incarnation of the SecondPerson of a triune Godhead. The great debate at Nicaeasought to resolve the issue of how the death of Christ could be effectivefor the sins of the whole world. The Alexandrians and Romans infusedChrist with the qualities of a Greek deity, and argued that Christ hadliterally come down from his heavenly throne and appeared amongmortals as a man, yet died as a deity for mankind. The pragmaticAsians, however, believed Christs existence began only with his birth,and believed that Jesus Christ was a man sent by God to reflect thenature of God perfectly to others. The debate-winning Alexandrians explained salvation using Greekmetaphysical notions about the relationship between physical andspiritual worlds. Speaking Like Luther enters the fray by tackling thesame questions while rejecting metaphysical arguments. In a way, itgives a voice back to the early Asian bishops. It asks the 21st centuryChristian to challenge what Nicaea and the Church Fathers firstbelieved to be the truth, and to reconsider how it was that Jesus couldsave his own nation and offer a universal salvation to all mankind, ifhe was something less than a deity.