Christ the man is usually an object of faith. Regarded as the fully incarnated Son of God who took on the sins of humanity, he is seen as a bridge between the divine and the human, the Redeemer who has come to deliver us from our bondage to wickedness. He is the font of salvation.

This is the exoteric Christ, the Christ of the outer circle. Whatever we choose to make of this figure, there is also the Christ of the inner circle. This Christ is not the man Jesus, but the “I,” or Logos, that lies at the center of each of us.

The story of his life, his sufferings, his death and glorification is the story of this Logos in us. This is the esoteric Christ, the Christ who is not an object of faith but of knowledge. We come to know him or it not only by poring over Scripture but by cultivating the life of the spirit in ourselves.