Iconic Christology

Reimagining Scientific Theology

Abstract

To call theology a “science” is to call to mind a very specific constellation of aims, methods, and characteristics that have come to define modern science. Often, these traits seem to immediately disqualify theology from its ambit. It will be my contention, however, that theology can rightly be considered a science: the study of God in and through Jesus Christ, the Word enfleshed and Icon of the Father. Crucially, for my argument, this should not be understood in the regnant Newtonian sense of science—which not only casts theology in a pseudo-scientific light—but also consists in a posture anti-thetical to divine revelation. I will begin, therefore, by sketching an alternative portrait of modern science, as embodied by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. From Goethe I proceed to Hans Urs von Balthasar, who—deeply formed by the Goethean vision—transposed Goethe’s contemplative science onto the theological plane. For Balthasar, the Crucified Christ is the centre of this revelation, in whom the God of Israel shows forth the majesty of His divine love in a wholly unexpected way. And in the face of His glory, the theologian must fall on his knees and pray. This “Iconic Christology,” as Robert Barron coined it, is precisely the sort of posture that must be taken in a properly scientific theology.