Conclusion

Summary

What has this book accomplished? Final judgment, of course, resides with the reader; but I hope two things.

First, I hope that this study has made a case that the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo offer a compelling and underutilized resource for contemporary christology. My method – evident in the final shape of my argument, if not in its discursive presentation – has been to work backward from what I take to be the heart of Augustine’s christology: If Jesus Christ is the Word of God who can cry out in godforsakenness on the Cross as a result of his union with sinful humanity; if he is the one who can ask Saul truly why Saul is persecuting him, and to teach his disciples that whatsoever they have done to the least of them, they have done to him – then what must be true of his person and work? Pursuing this line of questioning has pushed us to examine what may otherwise have seemed like many diverse emphases of Augustine’s expansive theological reflection, showing in so doing how Christ stands as their center and meeting point.