A Semiotic Christology

“Drawing on the semiotics of Charles S. Peirce and working in the tradition of such luminaries as Bernard Lonergan and Donald L. Gelpi, Cyril Orji develops a distinctive and detailed Christology. By turns subtle and insightful, he avoids the twin pitfalls of Kantian transcendentalism and faculty psychology in ways the interested reader is sure to find rich and rewarding.”

—Richard Kenneth Atkins, Boston College



“A thoroughly researched, down-to-earth explication of ordinarily difficult theological concepts; without a doubt, Orji’s seminal approach breaks new ground towards explication of christological controversies and advances a semiotic approach to theology. A Semiotic Christology weaves together contemporary theological thoughts on the divine relations and establishes theology as a science in a whole new way, a must-read for scholars and students.”

—Joseph Ogbonnaya, author of African Perspectives on Culture and World Christianity



“Professor Orji’s conviction is that traditional philosophical categories are inadequate to the task of formulating a Christology for the twenty-first century. Instead, in a wide-ranging study, he offers a Christology based on the semiotics (theory of signs) of C. S. Peirce. Central to his argument is the singularity of the resurrection as a semiotic event. Orji’s contribution to transposing Christian theology into a semiotic key is most welcome.”

—A. J. N. Robinson, University of Exeter



“In this highly important and groundbreaking work, Orji adroitly analyzes the fundamental crisis not only in contemporary Christology but—especially from a Roman Catholic perspective—in all systematic theology rooted in transcendental Thomism and other modern and postmodern foundational theories. Orji offers an insightful and compelling new model for Christology, integrating traditional accounts of foundational theology with his own semiotic model consistent with an evolutionary worldview of contemporary science. Furthermore, Orji writes about very complex issues in a refreshingly clear and coherent manner that will be accessible to students and professors alike.”

—John Markey, Oblate School of Theology