Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/657

 THEOLOGY

597

THEOLOGY

AND Ehrle, Archiv fSr LUfratur- u. Kirchengeschichte (7 vols., Berlin and Freiburg, 1SS5-1900): Bacmker and von Hertuno, Beitrdge zitr Philosophic des Mittelalters (Munster, 1891 — ). On mysticism cf. Preoer, Gesfhichlc der dcnlschen Mystik im Miltelalter (3 vols., Leipzig. 1874-9.1); Langenberg, Quclten u. Forschungcti zur Geschiehtc der deutschf:n Mystik (Leipzig, 1904); RiBET, La Myslique divine (4 vols., Paris, 1895—) : Delacroix, Etudes d'hisloire et de psychologic du Mysticisme (Paris, 1908). On modern times cf. Gillow, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath.; Feret, La FacuUe de Thiologie de Paris et ses Docteurs les plus celibres: II. Epoque moderne (3 vols., Paris, 1900-04) ; Laemmer, Vortri- dentinische Theologen des ReformalionszeitaUers (Berlin, 1858); Werner, Franz Suarcz u. die Scholastik der letzten Jahrhunderte (2 vols., Ratisbon, 1860); Idem, Geschichte der Theologie in Deutschland seit dem Trienter Konzil his zur Gegenicnrt (2nd ed., Ratisbon. 1889) ; for the time of " Enlightenment" in particular, cf. RoscH, Das religiSse Lebcn in HohenzoUcrn unter dem Einfiuss des Wessenbergianismus (Freiburg. 190S); Idem, Ein neuer Hisloriker der Auf kUrung (Preibmg. 1910); against him, Merkle, Die katholisc-he Heurteihtng des Au/kMrungszeilalters (Wurzburg, 1909); Idem. Die kirchliche Aufkldrung im kalholischen Deutsch- land (Wurzburg, 1910) ; Sagmuller, Wissenschaft «. Glaube in der kirchlichen Aufkldrung (Tubingen, 1910) ; Idem, Unwissenschaft- lichkeit u. Ungltiube in der kirchlichen Aufkldrung (Tubingen, 1911); Hettinger, Thomas von Aquin u, die europSische Citfili- sation (Wurzburg. 1880); Wehofer. Die geistige Bewegung im Anschluss an die Thomas-Enzyklika Leo's XIII (1897) ; de Groot, Leo XIII u. der hi. Thomas (1897); Bellamy, La theologie calho- lique du XIX' siede (Paris, 1904).

J. POHLE.

I. a. Christology. — Christology is that part of theology which deals with Our Lord Jesus Christ. In its full extent it eompri.ses the doctrines concerning both the person of Clirist and. His works; but in the present article we shall hmit ourselves to a considera- tion of the person of Christ. Here again we shall not infringe on the domain of the historian and Old-Testament theologian, who present their respec- tive contributions under the headings Jesus Christ, and Messias; hence the theology of the Person of Jesus Chri.st, con.sidered in thehghtof the New Testa- ment or from the Christian point of view, is the proper subject of the present article.

The person of Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, the Son or the Word of the Father, Who "was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man." These mys- teries, though foretold in the Old Testament, were fully revealed in the Xew, and clearly developed in Christian Tradition and theologj'. Hence we shall have to study our subject under the triple aspect of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and Chris- tian Tradition.

(A) Old Teslamenl. — From what has been said we understand that the Old Testament is not considered here from the viewpoint of the Jewish scribe, but of the Christian theologian. Jesus Chri.st Himself was the first to use it in this way by His repeated appeal to the Messianic passages of the prophetic writings. The Apostles saw in these prophecies many arguments in favour of the claims and the teachings of Je.sus Christ ; the Evangeli.sts, too, are famihar with them, though they appeal less frequently to them than the patristic writers do. Even the Fathers either state the prophetic argument only in general terms or they ([uote single prophecies; but they thus prepare the way for the deeper insight into the historical perspective of the Messianic pre- dictions which began to prevail in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Leaving the statement of the historical development of the Messianic prophe- cies to the writer of the article Mf.ssias, we shall briefly call attention to the prophetic predictions of the genealogy of Christ, of His birth, His infancy, His names, Hig offices, His pubhc Ufe, His sufferings, and His glory.

(1) References to the human genealogT,- of the Messias are quite numerous in the Old Testament: He is represented as the seed of the woman, the son of Sem, the .son of Abraham, Lsaac, and Jacob, the son of David, the i)rince of pastors, the offspring of the marrow of the high cedar (Gen., iii, 1-19; ix, 18-27; xii, 1-9; xvii, 1-9; xviii, 17-19; xxii, 16-18;

xxvi, 1-5; xxvii, 1-1.5; Num., xxiv, 15-19; II Kings, vii, 1-16; 1 Par., xvii, 1-17; Jer., xxiii, 1-8; xx.\iii, 14-26; Ezech., xvii). The Royal Psalmist extols the Divine genealogy of the future Messias in the words: "The Lord hath said to me: Thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee" (Ps. ii, 7).

(2) The Prophets frequently speak of the birth of the ex-pected Christ. They locate its place in Beth- lehem of Juda (Mich., V, 2-14), they determine its time by the passing of the sceptre from Juda (Gen., xlix, 8-12), by the .seventj' weeks of Daniel (ix, 22- 27), and by the "little while" mentioned in the Book of Aggeus (ii, 1-10). The Old-Testament seers know also that the Messias will be born of a Virgin Mother (Is., vii, 1-17), and that His appear- ance, at least His public appearance, will be preceded by a precursor (Is., xl, 1-11; Mai., iv, ,5-(5).

(3) Certain events connected with the infancy of the Messias have been deemed important enough to be the subject of prophetic prediction. Among these are the adoration of the Magi (Ps. Ixxxi, 1-17), the slaughter of the innocents (Jer., xxxi, 15-26), and the flight into Egypt (t).see, xi, 1-7). It is true that in the case of these pro|ihecies, as it happens in the case of many others, their fulfilment is their clearest commentary; but this does not undo the fact that the events were really predicted.

(4) Perhaps there is less need of insisting on the predictions of the better known Messianic names and titles, seeing that they involve less obscurity. Thus in the prophecies of Zacharias the Me.ssias is called the Orient, or, according to the Hebrew text, the "bud" (iii; vi, 9-15), in the Book of Daniel He is the Son of Man (vii), in the Prophecy of Malachias He is the Angel of the Testament (ii, 17; iii, 6), in the writings of Lsaias He is the Saviour (Ii, 1; Iii, 12; Ixii), the Servant of the Lord (xlix, 1), the Emmanuel (viii, 1-10), the Prince of peace (ix, 1-7).

(5) The Messianic offices are considered in a gen- eral way in the latter part of I.«aias (Ixi); in particu- lar, the Messias is considered as jjrophet in the Book of Deuteronomy (x\iii, 9-22); as king in the Canticle of Anna (I Kings, ii, 1-10) and in the royal song of the Psalmist (xliv); as priest in the sacerdotal t>^)e Melchisedech (Gen., xiv, 14-20) and in the Psalmist's words "a priest forever" (cix) ; as Goel, or Avenger, in the second part of lsaias (Ixiii, 1-6) ; as mediator of the New Testament, under the form of a covenant of the people (Is., xlii, 1; xliii, 13), and of the fight of the Gentiles (Is., xlix).

(6) As to the public Ufe of the Messias, lsaias gives us a general idea of the fulness of the Spirit inve.sting the Anointed (xi, 1-16), and of the Messianic work (Iv). The Psalmist presents a picture of the Good Shepherd (xxii) ; lsaias summarizes the Messianic miracles (XXXV); Zacharias exclaims, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion", thus predicting Christ's solemn entrance into Jerusalem; the Psalmist refers to this same event when he mentions the praise out of the mouth of infants (viii). To return once more to the Book of lsaias, the prophet foretells the rejection of the Messias through a league with death (xxvii); the Psalmist alludes to the same mystery where he speaks of the stone which the builders rejected (cxvii).

(7) Need we say that the sufferings of the Messias were fully predicted by the prophets of the Old Testa- ment? The general idea of the Messianic victim is presented in the context of the words "sacrifice and oblation thou wouklst not" (Ps. xxxix); in the pass- age beginning with the resolve "Let us put wood on his bread" (Jer., xi), and in the sacrifice described by the prophet Malachias (i). Besides, the series of the particular events which con.stitute the history of Christ's Passion has been described by the prophets with a remarkable minuteness: the Psalmist refers to His betrayal in the words "the man of my peace . . . supplanted me" (xl), and Zacharias knows of the