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The God of Jesus Christ
Walter Cardinal Kasper describes this book as a strong plea to make the God-question once again the fundamental theological question. It is intended primarily for students of theology, but Kasper also addresses "all who have a deeper interest in the theological questions connected with the faith."
- GenresTheology
404 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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115 people want to read
About the author
Walter Kasper
211 books20 followersWalter Kasper (born 5 March 1933) is a German Roman Catholic Cardinal and theologian. He is President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, having served as its president from 2001 to 2010.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews
July 3, 2021
I just finished "The God of Jesus Christ, " by Walter Kasper. Kasper was/is a Roman Cardinal and theologian/scholar at Tubingen (you know, with the .. over the U; I dont German well).
Just a rough breezing this work seems like a deep doctrine of God from a Roman perspective. It does get into LOGOS and Kenotic Christologies and the trinity. I hope he is a good writer and the translator is half as good as Moltmanns and better than Bonhoeffers.
Ok, I'll be blunt: because Kasper spent 130 pp (over 1/3 of the book) laying out his philosophical presuppositions, going through 2500 years of philosophers, from Plato to Whitehead and Wittgenstein, I am not going to really say much about this book.
He begins with a Paterology, a Christology and a Pneumatology before he does a deep dive into Trinitarianism. It was good (except the first 130 pp) but quite deep. I have a brand new loathing for the Thomists and their fascination with Aristotle. It was already real due to watching Sproul talk about Asiety with a gleam in his eye. Now it is profound.
Just a rough breezing this work seems like a deep doctrine of God from a Roman perspective. It does get into LOGOS and Kenotic Christologies and the trinity. I hope he is a good writer and the translator is half as good as Moltmanns and better than Bonhoeffers.
Ok, I'll be blunt: because Kasper spent 130 pp (over 1/3 of the book) laying out his philosophical presuppositions, going through 2500 years of philosophers, from Plato to Whitehead and Wittgenstein, I am not going to really say much about this book.
He begins with a Paterology, a Christology and a Pneumatology before he does a deep dive into Trinitarianism. It was good (except the first 130 pp) but quite deep. I have a brand new loathing for the Thomists and their fascination with Aristotle. It was already real due to watching Sproul talk about Asiety with a gleam in his eye. Now it is profound.
September 11, 2016
Although in the 4-th and 5-th chapters there is an ambiguity of thoughts, this is I believe a misunderstanding regarding maybe the publisher's understanding, I it is a good book for the most of the Christians which are trying to understand their faith. I recommend that the publisher should review the original manuscript of Walter Kasper, to adequate his thoughts with the ideas put on the paper.
August 9, 2011
Walter Kasper's overly dense but well-researched continuation of his "Jesus the Christ" merits its deserved status as a modern "classic" in discussions of both the issue of God when considered against contemporary atheism and the particularly Christian articulation of God as Trinity in the face of circumstances built up over the past millennium which have marginalized that doctrine's effects in Christian life.
It is however, for all that, severely limited because it tries to do too much and tends to gloss over differing perspectives on key points of historical and contemporary theological development.
The effort to confront the crisis of atheism marks the first part of the book, and marks Kasper's efforts to ground a meaningful understanding of God in dialogue with a modern perspective that values human freedom. Of course, Kasper, as a Catholic professor at Tubingen and now a cardinal of the Catholic Church, approaches all the issues in this book from that perspective, but always in a context of ecumenical conversation as well as in an effort to respond to the various crises confronting the Christian tradition in the modern world. He deals with these issues head on with the intellectual respect they deserve, a welcome departure from many of his cardinal-colleagues and others who give these movements only cursory attention or simply brandish the 'sword of truth' at them in the hopes that *this time* they will finally be discredited. He does not so much seek to "refute" atheism as he seeks to "respond" to it, intelligently, in an authentically Catholic way.
The second and third parts of the book seek to articulate an understanding of God as Triune based on a systematic reading of the Scriptures, the patristic writers, the medieval scholastics, and contemoporary theologians and philosophers, while always offering measured criticism when it is due and articulating his own perspectives. Ultimately, Kasper believes that a contemporary understanding of the Trinity and of God must be related to the doctrine of soteriology - the economy of salvation - a theme that has become important in contemporary Trinitarian thought.
Kasper is a master synthesizer and the copious footnotes allow readers to study individual issues he raises in greather depth. However, such a reader better have a deft reading knowledge of German, since Kasper rarely incorporates non-German sources in his reflections - a definite deficiency in the effort he has undertaken here. His writing bears the imprint of influence from Hans Urs Von Balthazar, and Kasper has, at times, incorporated the former's nearly incomprehensible writing style. It is also not entirely clear that, in the end, his arguments are not somewhat circular - since the exegesis and hermeneutical approach he employs invariably leads to conclusions about atheism and the Trinity that coincide exactly with Catholic doctrines and dogam. Even a systematic theologian such as myself - with only a cursory background in exegeis - can see that Kasper tends to gloss over issues in both the scriptures and tradition that do not cohere with official Catholic doctrine. All this makes the whole work less effective and its final effort - to articulate an intellectually robust perspective on the Trinity as an anthropologically-based and theologically grounded response (not refutation) of atheism - ultimately unsatisfying.
It is however, for all that, severely limited because it tries to do too much and tends to gloss over differing perspectives on key points of historical and contemporary theological development.
The effort to confront the crisis of atheism marks the first part of the book, and marks Kasper's efforts to ground a meaningful understanding of God in dialogue with a modern perspective that values human freedom. Of course, Kasper, as a Catholic professor at Tubingen and now a cardinal of the Catholic Church, approaches all the issues in this book from that perspective, but always in a context of ecumenical conversation as well as in an effort to respond to the various crises confronting the Christian tradition in the modern world. He deals with these issues head on with the intellectual respect they deserve, a welcome departure from many of his cardinal-colleagues and others who give these movements only cursory attention or simply brandish the 'sword of truth' at them in the hopes that *this time* they will finally be discredited. He does not so much seek to "refute" atheism as he seeks to "respond" to it, intelligently, in an authentically Catholic way.
The second and third parts of the book seek to articulate an understanding of God as Triune based on a systematic reading of the Scriptures, the patristic writers, the medieval scholastics, and contemoporary theologians and philosophers, while always offering measured criticism when it is due and articulating his own perspectives. Ultimately, Kasper believes that a contemporary understanding of the Trinity and of God must be related to the doctrine of soteriology - the economy of salvation - a theme that has become important in contemporary Trinitarian thought.
Kasper is a master synthesizer and the copious footnotes allow readers to study individual issues he raises in greather depth. However, such a reader better have a deft reading knowledge of German, since Kasper rarely incorporates non-German sources in his reflections - a definite deficiency in the effort he has undertaken here. His writing bears the imprint of influence from Hans Urs Von Balthazar, and Kasper has, at times, incorporated the former's nearly incomprehensible writing style. It is also not entirely clear that, in the end, his arguments are not somewhat circular - since the exegesis and hermeneutical approach he employs invariably leads to conclusions about atheism and the Trinity that coincide exactly with Catholic doctrines and dogam. Even a systematic theologian such as myself - with only a cursory background in exegeis - can see that Kasper tends to gloss over issues in both the scriptures and tradition that do not cohere with official Catholic doctrine. All this makes the whole work less effective and its final effort - to articulate an intellectually robust perspective on the Trinity as an anthropologically-based and theologically grounded response (not refutation) of atheism - ultimately unsatisfying.
Currently reading
October 31, 2009Kardinal Walter Kasper invite us to enter in dialogue with modern atheisme by putting the question of God as a base point of argumentation. If God is a problem,he will not be a same problem as we know. He is a problem, because he is mistery. And if he is mistery, he will be an aswer to the problem of humanity.
November 16, 2007
A lucid, thorough treatment of the orthodox Catholic doctrine of God from a primarily Western academic theological perspective. Well worth the time it takes to read it.
Currently reading
December 15, 2009Just starting the journey between its covers.
June 8, 2010
"The meaning of being is therefore to be found not in substance that exists in itself, but in self-communicating love."
Displaying 1 - 8 of 9 reviews