What is the central doctrine of Christianity?
Is it the Incarnation? Do we consider the Resurrection as a doctrine separate from the Incarnation event, the Christ-event as it were, and as such a separate choice as the central doctrine of Christianity? If so, are they equal or is one more important than the other? Is either of these more important than the doctrine that God created the world? Is the doctrine of Creation even really a valid choice here, given that it is hardly specific to Christianity?
I am tempted to say, if we take Christian-specific doctrines as the standard, that the central doctrine of Christianity would have to be the Incarnation of Christ. I'm still working on that, though; I haven't looked at much material on what the central doctrine is.
If I were worried merely about being funny and not about my orthodoxy I might even venture to say that the central doctrine of Christianity is "God wins." Thoughts?
3 comments:
My thoughts are that the central doctrine always has to revolve around Christ: the nature of His incarnation, the doctrine of His death and then His resurrection. Without these things, a person is hardly Christian. A lot of things believe that "God wins." However, I don't think it implies anything for us unless we take it to the next step and add Christ to the equation.
Is it important to identify a central doctrine, I guess?
The one main thing Christ professed that I think separates us from every other religion morally is forgiveness.... I don't know if that qualifies as 'doctrine,' but Christ was forgiveness...
Post a Comment
Feel free to join the conversation!
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.