Christology in Indian Traditional Approach
Unknown Christ
Raymond
Panikkar (1918-2010) well-known book ‘The unknown Christ of Hinduism’ presents absolute mystery and for
Christianity faith is commitment to Christ who belongs to all not another
Christ, and yet it is not the same Christ Christians knows. It is unknown to
them and known to the Hindus under other names, aspects and dimensions of that
Mystery for which the Christian has no other name than Christ. He is not saying
that the hidden Christ is the same as the Christian Christ. He is defending
that mystery, which the Christian cannot but call Christ, has aspects
manifestations, attributes and what not, unknown to the Christian, that other
people, believe are revealed to them and for which they give different names.
Panikkar
theology of religion is based on his vision of cosmotheandric- a diagonal
relation of cosmos, God and human. For Panikkar Christ belongs to God and not
to Christianity alone. He replaces Christ with expression as theandric fact and
cosmotheandric principle. This theandric fact is present effective and
acknowledge in different religions of the world. In this sense Jesus is one of
the names of the cosmotheandric principle. Religion becomes the integration of
the human with the divine in the cosmos
Pneumatic Christology
Spirit Christology is variously defined. It is a Spirit-centred
Christology; it is a Christology according to the Holy Spirit. It is a
Christology seen from the perspective of the Holy Spirit; it is the study of
the role of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation, baptism and in the paschal
mystery. It indicates the "pneumatological dimension of the Christ event.
Upädyaya's interpretation of Christ as Cit (in Sat-Chit-Ananda)firmly
establishes Christ's ontological status. He is the image of the transcendent
God, the eternal intelligence. He is the infinite being. Christ's divinity is
stated very clearly but his humanity does not find an adequate emphasis. Indian
interpretations of Logos Christology focus on the eternal status of Christ at
the expense of Jesus' humanity. In India, we need a Christology that is free
from the heresies of sub-ordinationism, docetism, dualism, elitism and
reductionism, and that is also relevant and meaningful to various religious
traditions.
Chenchiah says "The `Holy Spirit'- the doctrine and personality - if my
instincts are sound, will play a decisive role in Indian theology. They may
receive new interpretation and become the corner-stone of Indian Christian
theology. "
Therefore,
in an Indian context the understanding of the Holy Spirit as indweller and
inspirer is a relevant theme to explore. Further, Christology in India must
relate not only to the religio-cultural elements and deeper spiritual
aspirations of the people of India but also to the debilitating poverty,
dehumanizing caste and sexual discriminations. Hence, the presumption here is
that the Spirit Christology would be helpful in meeting the religious quests of
the people and the contemporary challenges of Indian society.
.jpg)
