Sharing the mind of Christ: preliminary thoughts on dementia and the Cross

The increasing prevalence of forms of dementia poses some profound challenges, not least to our Christology and soteriology. In particular, it exposes the degree to which faith, grace and salvation are all still linked to the concept of the self-conscious individual, and how this approach limits the range of possible theological responses to dementia. In this paper, the author argues that a theological response in depth requires us to consider the possibility of saying that Christ ‘demented’ on the Cross. Some implications of making such an assertion are explored, both for Christology in general and for the ways Christ may be spoken of as ‘present to’ those with dementia.