Along with the death of Jesus, the resurrection forms the core of the Gospel proclamation from the earliest days of the Church. This post explores the contours of the Christian claim about Jesus’ resurrection and conquering of death—as well as its implications for the rest of creation—while affirming the limits of our capacity to provide a detailed positive description of resurrection life.

The most universally recognized sign of the Christian faith—the cross—has also been, since its inception, one of the greatest sources of scandal. However, the centrality of the cross and the scandal it generates is unavoidable, emblematic of the scandal of Grace, of a perfectly just God unwilling to abandon God’s creation. Through the cross, God both takes on the penalty of all of humanity’s turning away from God all while condemning those humans who will wield the forces of Death to oppress and harm.

Affirmation of Jesus as the Messiah or anointed one of Israel was central to the faith of early Christians, but the rendering of this title using the Greek word Christ or christos (rather than a translation) may prevent modern Christians from seeing how all pervasive that ascription was. This installment in commentary on the 1979 Catechism offers background and insight in the significance of understanding Jesus as the Messiah.

Turning from the problem of Sin, the Catechism begins to look at the solution of redemption. This next reflection and explanation of the Catechism looks at why the term “redemption” may have been chosen and why it may need some filling out in order to reflect the larger set of images for God’s help to us in the New Testament and in other parts of the Book of Common Prayer.