Christology, the bedrock of Christianity, is a topic of profound significance. Consequently, every culture has its portrait of Christology. Likewise, each generation must engage in the doctrine of Christ. Speaking of cultural reality in today’s digital age, how does digital technology affect our Christological portraits in a world where digitality permeates cultural reality? Does an avatar, social media memes, and virtual reality Jesus represent a theologically sound and biblically faithful Christ?
In making sense of this complex cultural challenge and laying out the intricate background, the first part of the paper delves into the formation of Docetism, Monothelitism, and the iconography controversy. How did the early Christians depict Christ? This part takes three pathways to study the portraits of Christ—Docetism, Monothelitism, and Iconography, specifically the Nicaea II in AD 787. Along these paths, there is a nexus where the Docetic or Gnostic claim was condemned in church history, including the Monothelitism heresy, and meets the possibility of utilizing Christ’s image for teaching, prayer, and doxology.
In a contemporary context, the next part offers a survey of digital depictions of Christ on laying out digital reality, virtuality, and the cyber realm with several digital theologians like—but not limited to—Heidi Campbel, Craig Detweiler, and Katherine Schmidt. The final part offers several responses to the question of whether Christ can be depicted faithfully in the realm of digital spaces. This paper aims to highlight the pitfall of idolatry in digital theology and offer an orthodox Evangelical Christology. The argument is called Pixelated Christology.