Indeed, one of Johnson's great gifts as a theologian is her crisp, clean writing style. Her work is a model of clarity.
I always appreciate Johnson's ability to work on the boundaries of contemporary issues (e.g., religous plurality, theodicy, sexism, political and economic injustice, environmental abuse) with full and rich recourse to the wealth of Christian tradition. She's just good at it!
For a readable, introductory text on the doctrine of Christ during the past half-century, you cannot improve on Johnson's book.
She presents a clear explanation of the meaning and implications of both: Ascending Christology and Descending Christology.
There is also a clear trace of the developments in Christology from the 50's up to the present time with Liberation and Feminist theology.
Johnson writes in the end, "Out of our own experience of salvation, our own telling of the story, our own praxis and prayer, we must name Jesus Christ again and claim him again for our own people, so that a living christology will be handed on to the next generation into the twenty-first century." I found these words to be encouragement for the reader to apply the story of Jesus of Nazareth to our everyday lives.
This is a MUST reading for any student of theology.