Jesus Christ: The Heart of Paul's Gospel

Pauline theology has recently experienced a significant surge in interest within both Protestant and Roman Catholic theology, with scholars proposing different theological concepts that they find to be the heart of Paul's gospel. Yet, none of these proposals regard-ing the heart of Paul's gospel have proved as ecumenically useful as one might hope. This essay proposes a more ecumenically fruitful perspective on Paul's gospel that sees not a "what" but a "who" at the center, namely, the person of Jesus. This proposal is not new, as one can see in the writings of major theologians of three great Christian traditions- Cyril of Alexandria, Martin Chemnitz, and Benedict XVI-which this essay presents before considering the ecumenical utility of such a christocentric approach.