Jesus Christ: Past, Present and Future

In this year-long theology programme we take a sustained look at Jesus, and what Christians believe about him. Jesus belongs to a particular place and time, within human history. So how did the first century Palestinian peasant known as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ became the ‘Jesus Christ’ of Christianity, the ‘eternally begotten Son of the Father’, the ‘Word made Flesh’? What does it mean to claim that Jesus—a human—was God? What sense can we make of the idea that the crucifixion—a horrifying form of public torture and execution—was part of God’s plan for Jesus, and for all of humanity? How can it be that something so obviously bad could also become the source of ‘good news’? And how should Christians understand the thought that the Church—with all its conflicts, flaws and failings—is the ‘body’ of Christ? We will examine these and other issues, looking at the past, present and future of Jesus Christ.

Participants will gain a better understanding of some of the most important Christian ideas, and emerge with a deeper, richer understanding of their own tradition.

Study days

The programme will run across six study days at London Jesuit Centre, on Saturdays from September 2023 to July 2024; each study day will explore a different topic. Readings and audio talks will be available prior to the study days, which will be led by experienced LJC tutors with relevant expertise in Scripture, theology, philosophy and ethics. 

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During the study days, participants will also have opportunity to pause, pray and converse with others, so as to reflect on how what they are learning might be stimulating, stretching and shaping their own relationship with Jesus. 

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Tuition

Alongside the study days, participants will have access to individual meetings with LJC tutors, so as to engage in a programme of directed reading through the year. Participants will have access to The Heythrop Library, one of the biggest specialist theology libraries in the country.

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Cost 

The programme costs £180, and can be paid in instalments.  This represents a discount of £120 compared with the cost of taking the equivalent LJC stand-alone courses, and includes membership of The Heythrop Library for the year (usually £65).

1. Jesus in history, Sat. 14th October, 10am-4pm
   This first study day explores the historical, cultural and experiential context in which Jesus lived, and in which the first followers of Jesus shaped the oral traditions that preserved his memory. What was the Jewish context in which Jesus lived? What did the first followers of Jesus believe about him? What shaped the shift from oral traditions to written works?                    

2. Jesus in the Gospels (Sat. 25th November 10am,-4pm)
   Here we begin to examine the four gospels, which are the portrayals of Jesus that have had the most influence through history. We examine them as literary expressions that witness to and interpret the early Christian community’s convictions about Jesus. Each gospel has its own distinct identity, and we explore how the concerns of the gospels writers shaped their accounts.

3. Creeds and Christology (Saturday 13^th Jan, 10am – 4pm)
   Each week, millions of Christians recite the Nicene Creed, which contains phrases like ‘consubstantial with the Father’, and ‘through him all things were made’. In this study day, we explore the theology that lies behind phrases like this - the ‘Christology’ that developed in the first few centuries of the Church’s history, as successive generations of Christians wrestled with big philosophical questions about the person of Jesus Christ.

4. Christ and the Cross (Saturday 9^th March, 10am-4pm)
   At the centre of Christianity lies the belief that ‘Christ died for sins according to the Scriptures’.  But how can one man’s death be ‘for’ anyone else, let alone all humanity – what does this little word ‘for’ mean? We explore some of the different ways in which Christian theologians have understood the meaning of the cross. 

5. The Body of Christ; the People of God (Saturday 11^th May, 10am-4pm)
   What is the Church, exactly? It has certainly been talked about in lots of different ways: as both the ‘body’ of Christ and the ‘bride of Christ’; as a ‘perfect society’ and as the ‘pilgrim people of God’. This study day introduces ‘ecclesiology’—the theology of Church—and explores what it has to do with the teaching and person of Jesus, and with life as a follower of Jesus.

6. The Future of Jesus Christ (Saturday 29^th June, 10am-4pm)
   Finally, we explore what the Creed calls ‘the life of the world to come’. One of the most striking things about the story of Jesus is the way that it is left unfinished, and open-ended: Jesus ascends into heaven, and his followers await the time when he will ‘come again in glory… and his kingdom will have no end.’ How should we understand this hope? And what is the future of Jesus Christ?

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