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In the same way, it would no longer be possible to assume, as I have assumed all along, that my answer to the question of the fundamentum fidei is substantially convergent with Marxsen's, according to (my interpretation of) which, the fundamentum fidei essentiale aut substantiale is "the twofold reality of God as the One who becomes event through Jesus, and of Jesus as the one through whom God becomes event," even as the fundamentum fidei dogmaticum seu doctrinale is "the twofold assertion, in some concepts and terms or other, that Jesus is the one through whom God becomes event, and that God is the One who becomes event through Jesus" (Doing Theology Today: 252, 250). And, of course, the rationale for my interpretation of the distinction between "theocentric" and "christocentric" (Is There Only One True Religion . . .?:84) would be undercut.

Wiki MarkupThe evidence seems clear that, up to now, I may have overlooked the incoherence of my formulations because of my distinction between "the constitutive christological assertion" itself, on the one hand, and "its \ [strictly\] theological implication" on the other. In any case, this distinction clearly will not do; for if it were appropriate, one could not appropriately say, as I have said all along, that "\[f\]aith in God of a certain kind is not merely an element in Christian faith along with several others; it simply _is_ Christian faith, the heart of the matter itself" (_The Reality of God_: 14). It would also be quite impossible to do justice to the orthodox distinction between "constitutive" (or "constituting") articles, on the one hand, and "conservative" (or "conserving") articles, on the other; for there is no question that orthodoxy is entirely justified in reckoning the constitutive (or constituting) articles to include strictly theological as well as properly christological ones, even if it is mistaken in too simply identifying these articles with certain classical doctrinal formulations, such as the tri-unity of God or the one person-two natures of Jesus Christ.

Incidentally, what fidelity to the insights of the Reformation requires is that the "moral" aspect of the existential question and of the Christian answer thereto -- as well as, naturally, the moral (and political) implications of this answer -- be given their full due -- by recognizing that the assertion, in some concepts and terms or other, that we are justified by grace alone through faith alone is just as "constitutive" (or "constituting") as either the properly christological assertion or the strictly theological assertion.

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