The division of 'Jesus' and 'Christ' into two sections is meant only for a better understanding of the reality of Jesus Christ in accordance with the historical quest of Jesus and theological investigations of Christ engaged in by the Rationalists and Theologians of the 19th century. Martin Koehler in 1892 was the first person to distinguish between the historical Jesus and the Christ whom the Church proclaimed through the Gospels, expressed by the title "The Jesus of History and Christ of Faith". It is essential for us to understand the connection between the historical Jesus and the Christ proclaimed in the New Testament for a genuine picture of Jesus Christ. Ultimately it is a question of his personality and relevance to the world today. The Church always looked at Jesus Christ as a whole who is both historical in virtue of his Incarnation and trans-historical in virtue of his Resurrection from the dead. Our intention in providing the two separate sections is only for a clearer understanding of the issues involved, especially after the controversies of the Enlightenment Period of the past centuries. In this spirit, we shall treat the issues involved under the topics of 'Faith and Reason' and 'The Language Problem' since these are the offshoots emanating from the enlightenment mentality causing a division between 'the historical Jesus' and 'the Christ of faith'. For this purpose we have to go deeper into the question of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, its difference from the raising of the dead by Jesus, experiences of various Gospel personalities who encountered Jesus etc. As for the language problem, a clear analysis of language to bring out the meaning of words, usages, expressions etc.would be attempted. This would be done by means of only a few cases as mere specimens after tackling the larger and irrational assumption that only scientific language is really meaningful in communicating any kind of knowledge. Language of science is useful and meaningful in scientific domain alone and the moment it steps out of its territory and tries to legislate conditions for meaningfulness in general, it has to be shown the way back to its proper field of study by Philosophy.
What we want to investigate at the moment is about the compatibility of faith and reason that may also be applied to religion and science and, in our study, to theology and history. The traditional method of doing it was to adduce reasons for the justification of our faith with the assistance of Philosophy, which did not mean Philosophy or Reason was the foundation of our faith. The foundation was and will always remain in the Word of God heard through its proclamation culminating in the announcement of the Good News that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His Gospel is not something different from himself and is proclaimed as the solid foundation for the solidarity among the humans producing the fruits of divine love, joy and peace.
We shall not question the usefulness of Fundamental Theology that deals with the inter-relation between Reason and Faith, although our own method is different from it. Our method is in trying to understand the Word of God in the Bible as well as in other religious texts analyzing them to see how Faith and Reason can co-exist and be meaningful. By this method we shall, so to say, try to beard the lion in his own den by taking the battle into the enemy's camp. The enemy here, the Rationalists of the post-enlightenment era, who tried to divide the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith, shall be shown to have erred as the two are inseparably united in all available sources. If we bring up the question of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead again and again, it is not without good reasons for the same. The fundamental question that silently provokes the Rationalists and people of the same ilk to cast doubt on the Gospels themselves is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Hence, the same deserves to be studied from all possible angles as we try to do. This should make it easier for everyone to understand the profound problems involved in a simple manner and apply them to one's own life for a true and genuine spiritual life.
What we want to investigate at the moment is about the compatibility of faith and reason that may also be applied to religion and science and, in our study, to theology and history. The traditional method of doing it was to adduce reasons for the justification of our faith with the assistance of Philosophy, which did not mean Philosophy or Reason was the foundation of our faith. The foundation was and will always remain in the Word of God heard through its proclamation culminating in the announcement of the Good News that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His Gospel is not something different from himself and is proclaimed as the solid foundation for the solidarity among the humans producing the fruits of divine love, joy and peace.
We shall not question the usefulness of Fundamental Theology that deals with the inter-relation between Reason and Faith, although our own method is different from it. Our method is in trying to understand the Word of God in the Bible as well as in other religious texts analyzing them to see how Faith and Reason can co-exist and be meaningful. By this method we shall, so to say, try to beard the lion in his own den by taking the battle into the enemy's camp. The enemy here, the Rationalists of the post-enlightenment era, who tried to divide the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith, shall be shown to have erred as the two are inseparably united in all available sources. If we bring up the question of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead again and again, it is not without good reasons for the same. The fundamental question that silently provokes the Rationalists and people of the same ilk to cast doubt on the Gospels themselves is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Hence, the same deserves to be studied from all possible angles as we try to do. This should make it easier for everyone to understand the profound problems involved in a simple manner and apply them to one's own life for a true and genuine spiritual life.
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