22 Ibid., 260.
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3 James M Gustafson, "A Theocentric Interpretation of Life", Christian Century(July 30-August6, 1980), 754-760 24 Browne Barr, "Nametags and the Theocentric Focus", Christian Century(November 26, 1980), 1158-1161 25 William Schweiker, "Theocentric Ethics: God Will Be God”, Christian Century(January 15, 1986), 36-38 26 Vincent Rossi, Christian Ecology: A Theocentric Practice", Epiphany Journal 8(Fall 1987), 8 46 Yusufii Obaje, professor at Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary, addressed the natureof the church Is it Christocentric, Pneumatocentric or Theocentric7 After exploring eachhe concluded, "The Church is the work of one God who is God the Father, the Son andthe Holy Spirit. Therefore ecclesiology seen in its wholeness must remain theocentric Theimplications of this were noted by Obaje, who stated, "the theocentric model of theChurch exposes the African convert to a more comprehensive view of mission TheChurch as a God-centered community derives its view of mission from God's owninvolvement in the world he has created and is caring for as God the Father, the Son andthe Holy Spirit."27 In a subsequent article, Obaje pursued a more relevant doctrine of Christ forAfrican Christians. He explained, "There is a God-centered or God-ward approach here tothe doctrine of Christ. This is in contrast to the man-ward approach which is popularamong many scholars of Christianity today. . Theocentric Christology is a doctrine ofChrist which is centered on God who only is the ultimate revealer of himself to man, theOne who has come as Jesus of Nazareth — fully man and fully God, without anycontradiction because he is God " 28 Theocentric, as used by Obaje, conveys a Trinitarian view of God It stands withinorthodox Christian doctrine to exalt the divine above the human Not everyone employstheocentric, however, in a way that is compatible with evangelical theology Because theterm is in wider circulation, it is essential that the intended definition be understood before 27 Yusufu Ameh Obaje, "Is Ecclesiology Soley Christocentric, Pneumatocentric orTheocentric7", Ogobomoso Journal of Theology 2 (December 1987), 8-9 28 Yusufu Ameh Obaje, "Theocentric Christology as a Basis for a More RelevantDoctrine of Christ for the African Christian", Ogobomoso Journal of Theology 5(December 1990), 4-5 the concept is embraced. The polemic nature of "theocentric" shifts for some modemtheologians from contrasting the anthropocentric to opposing the Christocentric Upon hisretirement from Princeton, Professor J Christiaan Beker was hailed as a theocentrictheologian of hope. In his book, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life andThought, Beker recasts Paul's theology as a theocentric theology of hope rather than theChristocentric-salvation history of Oscar Cullmann 29 Clearly the use of theocentric hashere lost its evangelical sense of being synonymous with Christocentric More drastic still, is the use of theocentric by Knitter He stated, "InclusiveChristologies tend to affirm a theocentric universe, one in which God, with divinerevelation and salvation can be present beyond Jesus Christ, within all world religionsKnitter concluded, "In boldly proclaiming that God has indeed been defined by Jesus,Christians will also humbly admit that God has not been confined to Jesus ”5' This post¬modernist perspective strikes evangelicals as nothing short of blasphemous He espouses apluralism that could be utterly ignored were it not for its misappropriation of the usefulterm, theocentric Carson pointed out that Knitter advocated a deliberate move from aChristocentric to a theocentric perspective Carson continued, "By this he hoped toremove what is unique to Christianity, and thereby open up greater reciprocity anddialogue between Christianity and other world religions A necessary step is to show thatChrist himself put God at the center of his thought If so, then correspondingly it behoovesus to develop a "theocentric Christology" 32 29 Patrick D. Miller "A Theocentric Theologian of Hope". Princeton SeminaryBulletin 16 (1995), 22-35 30 Paul F Knitter, "Theocentric Christology", Theology Today 40 (July 1983), 1 30
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