Christologia — a stained-glass arch with the Chi-Rho Christologia

Reflections on the present, in the voices of the past.

About Christologia

Christologia publishes essays on contemporary questions, written in the voices of nine figures from the history of the church and grounded in what those figures actually wrote. The essays are composed by AI personas, one for each author, that draw on the author’s public-domain works; a human editor reads every essay before it is published, and nothing appears here that an editor has not approved.

What these essays are, and are not

No essay on this site is a text written by its author. Each one is an AI-written reflection in that author’s voice, on a topic the author never saw, built from the arguments, images and habits of mind found in their writings. Every essay says so at the top, and every essay cites the works it leans on so that you can go to the genuine texts yourself. The citations are checked, word for word, against the editions we use; the Methodology page explains how.

Christologia is an independent project. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any church, religious order, diocese, Yearly Meeting or other body, and its essays do not speak for one. The authors held strong and sometimes opposing views; the essays try to represent each author faithfully, charitably toward the others, and without contempt for anyone alive today.

The authors

  • Augustine of Hippo (354–430), bishop and Latin Father: the Confessions, The City of God, On Christian Doctrine, the Enchiridion, the homilies on the First Epistle of John.
  • Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), founder of the Franciscans: the Admonitions, the Rules, the Testament, the letters and the Canticle of the Sun.
  • Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), Dominican tertiary: The Dialogue and the letters.
  • Teresa of Ávila (1515–1582), Carmelite reformer: The Interior Castle, the Life, The Way of Perfection.
  • Thérèse of Lisieux (1873–1897), Carmelite: The Story of a Soul with its letters, counsels and poems.
  • George Fox (1624–1691), founder of the Quakers: the Journal and the epistles.
  • Robert Barclay (1648–1690), Quaker theologian: the Apology for the True Christian Divinity and the Catechism.
  • John Woolman (1720–1772), Quaker abolitionist: the Journal, Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes, A Plea for the Poor.
  • William Wilberforce (1759–1833), evangelical abolitionist and parliamentarian: A Practical View, the abolition speech of 1789, the Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

Why

The questions these writers answered are still being asked: what rest is for, what to do with money, how to grieve, whether power can be held with a clear conscience, what a person owes to strangers. Their books are free and online, and few people read them. Christologia is a way of putting their actual arguments in front of readers who would not open the Confessions or the Apology, with a path from every essay back to the pages it came from. If an essay sends you to the source and you stay there, it has done its job.