The Faith of Jesus: The Jesus of History and the Stages of Faith

Combining the faith-development theory of James Fowler with the psychodynamics of Viktor Frankl and utilizing many of the insights of contemporary biblical scholarship the author has here proposed a unique and provocative interpretation of the life of Jesus as described in the Epistle to the Hebrews as the leader and perfector of faith. No doubt many will find this approach to a life of Christ to be novel even disturbingly unorthodox. Yet it has been written in the conviction that the faith of most Christians for the most part has fallen into the heresy of monophysitism if not in theory at least in practice amounting to a denial of Jesus as a human being and as a result a person of faith. In addition in his Christological Postscript the author has sketched out the beginnings of a new more evolutionary approach to understanding how Jesus might be understood to be divine even while remaining the fully human character depicted in this book. Richard W. Kropf holds doctorates in theology from the University of Ottawa and Universite St-Paul Ottawa Canada. His previously published books include Teilhard Scripture and Revelation (Fairleigh Dickenson University/ Associated University Press 1980) Evil & Evolution: A Theodicy (Fairleigh Dickinson University/Associated University Press 1984; 2nd. Edition Wipf and Stock Publishers 2004) and Faith: Security & Risk: The Dynamics of Spiritual Growth (Paulist Press 1990; republished by Wipf and Stock in 2003). A former parish priest college chaplain and instructor in philosophy psychology religious studies and theology he now resides in northern lower Michigan.