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"We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and folly to Gentiles". In so writing, St. Paul stated in its briefest form the scandal of the Christian faith. To human reason it is nonsense to suppose that a man who grew up and lived like other men, and who ultimately died on a cross, could at the same time be the Son of God, equal to God, eternal like God, and Creator of the world with Him. Contrary to the painfully-evolved and carefully formulated conclusion reached by philosophers, that God is one, and diametrically opposed to the monotheistic divine revelation given to Israel, the belief that Jesus was Son of God and equal to His Father seemed; when it was first postulated, to imply some kind of flaw in the indivisibility of God. Men were being asked to believe that they could see God incarnate, that is, in a being of flesh and blood. Yet all our faith hovers around this precise point.

The Intention of this thesis is to develop a Process christology which is valid and coherent with respect to the principles of Whitehead's Process philosophy and adequate with respect to Christian faith. As indicated by the title, the study moves from Whitehead's vision to the christological adventure. Although this necessitates that the criteria are essentially philosophical, it is stressed that the discussion finds its inspiration in faith. For that reason the second chapter describes the Process christologies of Norman Pittenger. John Cobb, Schubert Ogden and David Griffin. That discussion isolates the major questions and issues which arise. Chapter three is an examination of the philosophical principles of Whitehead's vision. A central thesis of the work is that the theory of "initial aims" is inadequate to account for the idea of a Divine purpose relevant to human beings. I illustrate why this is so and, after presenting a Process theory of the "self", describe how the notion of purpose mediated in history is Intelligible. Chapter four is a synthesis between the issues raised in the second chapter and the philosophical themes of chapter three. This chapter presents the christology which is valid with respect to Whitehead's vision. The following chapter observes that the Church is an essential aspect of Process christology, and then evaluates Christ and the Church with respect to some of' the themes of Biblical and traditional christology. The intention is to justify its status as an appropriate expression of faith, although it is accepted that the essential subjectivity of faith renders an objective evaluation impossible. The final chapter offers some concluding remarks, noting particularly how Process christology is a theology of liberation : freedom and responsibility.

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This thesis centers on the doctrine of Christ in the theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon through the lens of Spurgeon's highly developed metaphor, that of Jesus Christ, the “Prince of pilgrims.” That no scholarly work has thus analyzed or surveyed Spurgeon's ontological, functional, and exegetical Christologies warrants continued contribution to the field of scholarship. Though not a systematician, Spurgeon stood in direct theological continuity with his Nonconformist Puritan predecessors and transmitted a highly developed Christology that was Chalcedonian in creed and Alexandrian in style. This thesis positions Spurgeon's Christology against the backdrop of a complex Victorian religious context that, through the use of scientific enquiry, sought to recover the full humanity of Christ. Though reacting against modern conclusions concerning the person, natures, and work of Christ, Spurgeon also sought to recover Christ's humanity, though his theological presuppositions stood in marked contradistinction to the spirit of the age. Particular attention is given to Spurgeon's utilization of an allegorical hermeneutic to the end that his vernacular, at times, potentially deviates from traditional, orthodox Christological teachings. The scope of this research is a survey of Spurgeon's Christology by way of his sermons, published writings, lectures, and letters. The purpose of this study is to analyze Spurgeon's doctrine of Christ in the context of the wider theological tradition through an investigation of his allegorical and innovative rhetoric.