Natural And Cosmic Theodicy And The Call For A Trinitarian...

2. The Significnace of Natural/Cosmic Theodicy and the Call for a Trinitarian Panentheism According to Veli-Matti Kà ¤rkkà ¤inen, â€Å"A lacuna in Christian theology is the forgetfulness of the cosmic dimensions.† That is, â€Å"In the biblical and patristic traditions, ‘cosmic’ Christologies and pneumatologies are present,† and the retrieval of tradition is â€Å"important both for the sake of interfaith hospitality and improving Christianity’s self-understanding† in interdisciplinary dialogue. Kà ¤rkkà ¤inen points out that the cosmic Christology of the NT (John 1:1-14; Col. 1:15-19; Heb. 1:2-4) points to â€Å"the integral link between Christ’s role in creation and in reconciliation.† This universal Christology resonates with patristic theologies, but â€Å"unfortunately was by and large lost by the time of modern Classical Liberalism and its highly reductionist conception of Jesus merely as a ‘spiritual’ teacher of personal piety.† In the same vein, Christopher Knight also points out that for the patristic fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, the Cappadocians, Maximos the Confessor, and many others, â€Å"The Logos in His kenosis, His self-emptying, is hidden everywhere, and the types of His reality, whether in the forms of persons or teachings, will not be the same outside the Christian world as they are within it.† This anthropocentric Christology and doctrine of salvation are inseparably connected to the loss of the cosmic pneumatology found in Scripture and the patristic