Abstract:
Wilhelm Bousset poses in his epoch-making work Kyrios Christos: Geschichte des Christusglaubens von den Anftingen des Christentums bis Irenaeus' the question of the context and reference of the title Kyrios Christos. He concludes that this title reflects the Luke-Acts image of Jesus, originating from a pagan Hellenistic background. This paper follows the argument of Bousset concerning the titles Christos and Kyrios and examines corrections given on his views. From this evaluation the conclusion is drawn that the Christology of Luke-Acts should be viewed as originating in the Antiochian Christian community, and thus against a Israelite-Hellenistic background. Jesus is represented as the risen Lord, the Messiah ruling his church. However, this conclusion doesn't account for Luke-Acts as a narrative, nor does it reflect an intensive study of the social and cultural world of the text. Therefore the possibilities of using a social-scientific as well a narratological approach in dealing with the title Kyrios Christos will be explored.
