Christ without Absolutes : A Study of the Christology of Ernst Troeltsch

Can Christians continue to worship Jesus Christ as the full, final, and `absolute' revelation of God in an age of historical relativism, an expanding universe, and the impinging of other world faiths on Western Culture? To the great German liberal theologian Ernst Troeltsch, the answer was no; but so vehemently negative was the `neo-orthodox' reaction to his viewpoint that, until now, no full exposition of his Christology has been available. This bold and penetrating study includes a close analytical account of the nature of Troeltsch's relativism in the light of current debates in the social sciences. It assesses the strength of his case against traditional incarnationalism, and argues that Troeltsch's Christological method, far from marking the `collapse' of liberal theology, opens new possibilities for the future.