This book is a fresh and exciting exercise in historical theology. McGowan examines the gradual development, over centuries, of the church's understanding of the person and work of Jesus Christ, assessed in the light of what the Scriptures have to say on the subject. The book highlights the developing understanding, together with the mistakes and heresies that forced the church into defining the truth about Christ more clearly. The great debates are examined with unique insight and sensitivity, and the debate is brought right up to the present day with application for the contemporary church.