Purpose: In this essay a limited and specific selection of Swedish pastoral letters, has been used in order to describe and analyze various depictions (images) of Christ. Furthermore, the similarities as well as the differences between the depictions, will be noted. The theoretical perspective used in the analysis is one of high versus low Christology i.e. whether the emphasis is focused on Christ as divine, or Christ as human, and the possible tension between the two. Also, the ontological and functional aspect of the images will be elucidated. Method: The used method is hermeneutic. The analysis is text oriented and initially a descriptive analysis is used to describe the various depictions. References will be made to Jesus – God and Man, by Prof. Wolfhart Pannenberg, and the article “Christology” by Prof. Ola Sigurdson. In the analysis that follows a comparative method will be used to form a normative analysis with constructive summaries of each depiction of Christ.   Results and conclusions: The result of this study shows that a various number of depictions of Christ is to be found within the selected pastoral letters. In some the image of Christ is described in a substantial and obvious way, like the Compass or a Fellow human being. In contrast, there are depictions of Jesus as the Brother and the Guide. In others a symbolic image is to be found, like the Star, the Sign or Logos. There are also more traditional dogmatic depictions as the Savior. In all of them an ontological and a functional aspect can be found. The depictions of Christ also have in common that the emphasis is mainly on the humanity of Christ. In many of them a tension between the divinity and the humanity of Christ is obvious. The images are mediating openness and diversity, showing Jesus Christ as an inspiration, a beacon and someone to follow. They are all providing answers to the question of the title of this essay: Who do they say I am?

Genom en innehållslig idéanalys av Gustaf Auléns bok ‘Den kristna försoningstanken’ och Agne Nordlanders bok ‘Korsets mysterium’ med C. Baxter Krugers teologiska ståndpunkt i hans bok ‘Jesus and the Undoing of Adam’ som den vetenskapliga utgångspunkten för min analys ger jag mig i kast med ett tidlöst ämne som ställer mig i en mångtusenårig tradition. Jag hoppas kunna göra en teologisk analys och bedömning av vad litteraturvalet har att säga om begreppet Guds vrede och därigenom ge exempel på hur försoningslära kan förankras i patristisk teologi. / Through a thematic analysis of Gustaf Aulén's book 'Den kristna försoningstanken' and Agne Nordlander's book 'Korsets mysterium', using C. Baxter Kruger's theological standpoint in his book 'Jesus and the Undoing of Adam' as the scholarly foundation for my analysis, I delve into a timeless subject that places me within a tradition spanning millennia. I aim to conduct a theological analysis and assessment of what the choice of literature has to say about the concept of ‘the wrath of God’, thereby providing examples of how atonement theology can be anchored in patristic theology.

Christ can be understood as a mirror, connecting humanity and God in his image into a hybrid entity, without eliminating the difference. The complex reality is mirrored through Christ transcending the border between subjectivity and objectivity, human and God, ourselves and others. This study is a form of constructive theology that aims to construct a transformative christological conceptual model, which can contribute to theology as a power critical epistemological deconstruction. It does this through the method of critical and comparative text analysis.  The study consists of two main sections, analysis and the discussion. The analysis section seeks to develop a theoretical frame, in which to generate a conversation between critical theorists Theodor Adorno and Gloria Anzaldúa on their view on epistemological oppression and liberation. The result is the development of an analytical concept called dialectics of the borders that exposes epistemological oppression as understood through the critical terms of oppression of objectivism and the suppressed gap. As an answer to the dialectics of border the analysis section develops the phrase dialectics of the gap, as an expression of epistemological liberation, which relies on such concepts as the shape of the gap, epistemological deconstruction, the hybrid entity, and transformative hybridity. The discussion section applies this theoretical frame to various christological concepts in order to create a new useful conceptual model. The constructed conceptual model is called incarnational epistemology and expresses an empowering critical epistemological reconstruction in Christ. The cross is understood as the explicit border between God and humanity, which is expressed by man's colonialization of dialectics. In Christ God transcends these epistemological borders and embodies the gap, as an expression for dialectics of the gap. For example it is demonstrated with the understanding of the body of Christ as the hybridization between subjectivity and objectivity and the sanctification as a reversed incarnation by the collective reconstruction of Christ in the border between subjectivity and objectivity. Hence, humanity as the body of Christ through sanctification can be understood as the mirrored image of Christ incarnating this epistemological reconstruction.