The Mystery of Christ: Life in Death – John Behr’s Systematic Hermeneutics by Bradley Jersak

Students of Fr. John Behr learn to frown at any systematic theology that begins with “God” or “Revelation” (as so many do) without reference or logically prior to the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and his Passion. He’s taught us to always begin with the Lamb crucified and risen, for the One enthroned on the Cross IS the image of the invisible God and the Alpha and Omega of divine revelation.

Further, Fr. John teaches students to beware of imposing anachronistic categories back into the Patristic era as we try to make sense of their work. That is, we stumble when we ask, “What did Irenaeus or Athanasius say about ______________? Why? Because we tend to fill in that blank with some theological container that only came to be later. Instead, we need to practice the discipline of simply asking, “What did they say?” Then we read what is there, on their terms, without retroactively cramming their words into subsequent doctrinal cubbyholes.   

That said, it does not follow that Fr. John’s body of work omits a systematic approach. And for those who read him or study with him, it’s helpful to know how his contribution is ordered or organized. Specifically, his ‘systematic’ is hermeneutical … or perhaps apocalyptic (in the sense of ‘unveiling’). I confess that I would not have inferred his system without his help, but I’m grateful to convey it to others. It is all there in his beautiful little book, The Mystery of Christ, which ensures that our theology begins where it ought—at the Cross.

Each chapter title in that book corresponds to a guiding question, which is his hermeneutic:

1. “Through the Cross” – What we're talking about?
2. “Search the Scriptures” – How we're talking about it?
3. “For this were we created” – Who is the 'we' who is talking?
4. “The Virgin Mother (Virgin Church)” – In what context are we talking?
5. “Glorify God in Your Body” – To what end are we talking?

I commend readers to review The Mystery of Christ to discover Fr. John’s response to each of those questions. Suffice it to say, his systematic hermeneutics revolve around an unveiling of the Cross of Christ, the axis mundi of our theology, our worship, and indeed, of the cosmos.