Dostoevsky’ Idiot and Holbein’s Christ (2) – Brad Jersak

The theologia crucis of George Grant, John Oman and Dostoevsky by Brad Jersak

George Grant on Oman’s theologia crucis

George P. Grant’s PhD dissertation focused on John Oman. And Grant’s theology of the
Cross actually bears many of the marks of Oman’s theologia crucis. Both men held the
Cross as central to all Christian theology, that faith (not reason) is essential to one’s
knowledge of God’s love and forgiveness, and that God’s providence must ultimately
remain a mystery. Both believed redemption was accomplished—consummated¹—in
Gethsemane and Golgotha. They believed that Christ is risen, but that Easter Sunday did
not reverse a Good Friday defeat. The Resurrection was not a fulfillment, but a
consequence of the Cross.² Sheila illustrates Oman’s lingering impact on Grant by
comparing an analogy common to each.

Oman: “The theologia gloriae sees on the cross ‘the King in rags, who will soon
tear off his disguise and show himself in triumph.”

Grant (1976 lectures at McMasters): “There is a ghastly way of speaking about
the Resurrection in the modern world which I call the fairy-tale way. A prince is
dressed in rags, and everybody scorns him. Suddenly the clothes are pulled off
and he appears in his prince’s costume, and everybody treats him well.”³

But Grant also critiques Oman’s theology as insufficient—too simple, triumphant, and
voluntaristic for moderns whose faith is shattered by despair. Oman’s vision is beautiful
as far as it goes: Grant acknowledges Oman’s Cross as a prophetic revelation of the
Father’s love, the Son’s forgiveness, and the call to “find joy in the world by the
knowledge that all can be redeemed.”⁴ It also reveals God’s call to an ethic of
forgiveness: “Oman’s faith is that Our Lord on the Cross reveals the Father as Love, Who
demands from men that they take up their crosses in forgiveness. The Father’s Love and
man’s freedom to partake of it are the essence of Christianity.”⁵ But something is
missing. By resisting Oman, Grant tells us his own story—how this simplicity is marred
by the reality of doubt and despair that comes with extreme affliction.