Before reading this part, where did you think theology should start?

Before reading the text, I thought theology should have Jesus as a foundation; I heard that a theology would crumble without a solid Christology. This means that we must search the Scriptures to see what we believe about Jesus and let that influence what we believe about the faith. I can't say that I demonstrated a good knowledge of how to apply this. However, I find the contrast interesting between the Christ-centered theology, and the gospel-centered theology. Christology says that I view the world a certain way a) because Jesus did, or b) because of what Jesus did. The gospel-centered theology says that I view the world in light of the good news about Jesus and the Kingdom breaking into our world to restore us to Him. These seem similar, and even though God (in Christ) is infinite, I would dare say that the gospel-centered theology is broader than the Christ-founded one. The gospel tells of the coming King and Kingdom, the restoration and redemption of all things, and the grace and salvation given through Jesus. The gospel reveals truth about the triune God; whereas the Christology could get too fixated on one person of the Godhead. This could limit our focus and make our theology too narrow.

S.h.ave wrote:Before reading the text, I thought theology should have Jesus as a foundation; I heard that a theology would crumble without a solid Christology. This means that we must search the Scriptures to see what we believe about Jesus and let that influence what we believe about the faith. I can't say that I demonstrated a good knowledge of how to apply this. However, I find the contrast interesting between the Christ-centered theology, and the gospel-centered theology. Christology says that I view the world a certain way a) because Jesus did, or b) because of what Jesus did. The gospel-centered theology says that I view the world in light of the good news about Jesus and the Kingdom breaking into our world to restore us to Him. These seem similar, and even though God (in Christ) is infinite, I would dare say that the gospel-centered theology is broader than the Christ-founded one. The gospel tells of the coming King and Kingdom, the restoration and redemption of all things, and the grace and salvation given through Jesus. The gospel reveals truth about the triune God; whereas the Christology could get too fixated on one person of the Godhead. This could limit our focus and make our theology too narrow.

I have never thought of this before but it's interesting to think about the difference. I think you're right that focusing solely on Jesus would be too narrow of a focus. We need to have a broader knowledge base of the entire Gospel, not just one part. By having this wider knowledge base, our foundation is stronger. But at the same time, having Jesus as your foundation is not a bad place to start, as long as you know there is more to the Gospel than that.
Outside of your biblical knowledge, it's also good to be aware of culture, tradition, experience, and nature. Without these, theology isn't as relevant and doesn't hold as much weight. We need to know the Gospel and test our theology against the Scriptures, but culture, tradition, experience, and nature also need to support your theology in some way for it to hold value in your life.