Samuel Escobar’s Missiological Christ: Dialogue with An African Pentecostal Theologian

Samuel Escobar’s missiology was fundamentally a theology of rediscovery, which he
viewed as foundational for reimagining the church in the twenty-first century.
believed that the church had lost the life-giving spirituality inherent in key theological
concepts as they were conceived in the Biblical tradition. The notion of rediscovery is
both an epistemological and ontological process of reclaiming, reinterpreting, and
revitalizing spirituality of life and liberation power inherent in the key tenets of
Christian doctrines such as Christ, the Holy Spirit, the church, and so on that have
become obscured, forgotten, or distorted over time or simply sidelined as outdated.
In the context of theology or missiology, rediscovery is not merely about a nostalgic
return to past doctrines or practices but involves a dynamic re-engagement with
these principles in ways that speak meaningfully to present realities of existence.

Samuel Escobar’s Missiological Christ

Escobar argues, “Christianity itself as the locus from which the Christ of the Bible
might better be known” (Escobar, 33).  It is the church that has nourished and
preserved the missiological memory of Christ. If Christ were to be removed from the
context of the church, the resulting understanding of Him might fail to resonate
adequately with the historical and theological depth embedded in Scripture. In other
words, Christ cannot be fully comprehended apart from the distinctiveness of the
resurrected memory that is not only preserved but also actively embodied in the
church as the Body of Christ. The church is the living and active embodiment of the
resurrected memory of Christ. It represents a living, active, transformative and
anticipatory memory sustained and empowered by the Holy Spirit. For Escobar,
therefore, the Christ found in Scripture encountered individuals and the world not
merely for the sake of existential engagement but for transformative renewal. This
transformative action is aimed at restoring relational harmony, healing existential
wounds, and enabling the world to recognize itself in its covenantal relationship with
God—not as an isolated entity. Such transformation is characterized by an organic,
genuine metamorphosis, rather than a manipulative or imposed alteration of human
existence. Furthermore, it transcends the abstract and theoretical realm, manifesting
as a concrete and measurable change in the lives of individuals and communities.
Escobar’s provocative question, “How should we understand mission as
transformation?” (Escobar, 322), inviting a deeper theological exploration of the
implications of mission as a vehicle for holistic transformation.

The Church as the Resurrected Memory of Christ

In Escobar’s theological framework, the church is understood as the resurrected and
dangerous memory of the earthly life of Christ. It serves as the body of Christ—the
missionary embodiment of this potent and transformative memory. The gospel
serves as the foundational basis for understanding and interpreting the person, life,
and mission of Christ (Escobar, 292). Within this missiological thinking, Christ himself
epitomizes the mission of God, through which humanity and the cosmos can
rediscover their original state of glory, which is often obscured by sin. Jesus Christ is
the embodied gospel, representing the good news, the mission, the content, the
model, the goal, and the reflective mirror through which humanity not only
rediscovers its true identity but also acknowledges its sinfulness. Humanity is
incapable of meeting the divine standards of what it means to be authentically human, as epitomized by the sinless humanity of Christ (Escobar, 297).
Consequently, it is imperative to rediscover Jesus Christ in his tangible and historical
concreteness as articulated in the gospel (Escobar, 293).

Christ’s Two-Natures as Paradigm for Discipleship

In the narrative of the gospel, Jesus Christ clearly functions as both divine and
human. In this duality, Christ did not merely come to reveal the nature of God to the
world; he also came to unveil authentic humanity to humanity itself. This concrete
revelation serves as the foundation for contemporary discipleship, shaping the way
believers engage with the world around them. Therefore, Escobar calls for a
balanced biblical approach that maintains a delicate equilibrium between the divine
and human aspects of Christ. This balanced approach helps to avoid both hyper-
supernaturalism—which risks alienating the human experience—and reductionist
humanism, which may diminish the transcendent nature of the divine. These
theological dimensions critique and enrich one another: it is only through the lens of
Christ’s divinity that humanity can rediscover its true and authentic essence, and it is
for the sake of humanity that divine revelation is manifested in the world. The divine
narrative exegetes humanity while humanity simultaneously interprets the divine as
the embodiment of life itself.

Redemptive Tension of the Humanity in Christ

Thus, we require a balanced soteriology that emphasizes the grace of salvation,
reminding us that our deliverance compels us towards a lifestyle of redemptive
engagement with the world. For Escobar (327), “Jesus’ death and resurrection
constitute an integral part of the gospel itself.” The crucifixion represents a hallmark
of this redemptive lifestyle , serving as the site of exchange between dead
humanity—marked by sin—and the living humanity that is fully realized in Christ.
Consequently, Paul proclaims, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I
who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20). The cross thus becomes a profound
site of self-discovery—a radical site of embracing death to sin—while the
resurrection serves as the locus for rediscovering the fullness of life found in Christ.
There can be no appropriation of this living humanity without first surrendering the
dead humanity at the cross, where the old self must cease to exist in order for the
living humanity in Christ to flourish.

In this understanding, we acknowledge our death through Christ, recognizing that the
resurrected one, Christ, now dwells within us. We died to sin and are resurrected to
a fullness of life that is anchored in Christ. Thus, mission embodies the power of
resurrection (Escobar, 328)—an active engagement in the transformative work of the
Spirit of resurrection and life (Escobar, 331, see also Jurgen Moltmann). This Spirit
of life nourishes “hope” for transformation amid human suffering, injustice, endemic
poverty, and death. To be in Christ is to embody resurrection hope in the face of all
forms of death—both literal and symbolic. As Escobar stresses, “Christians carry
with them the mark of the transforming power of the resurrection and already live in
the new era inaugurated by Christ’s triumph” (Escobar, 334).
This assertion implies that believers share in the tension of the present, yet with the
empowering force of hope (Escobar, 334). If the Spirit of God resides within us,
transforming and filling us, we are called to be light in darkness, life in death, and
hope in hopelessness (Escobar, 336). Hope is not merely an abstraction; it involves

living in the tension of a spirituality that remains open to future possibilities while
already embodying the future that has been historicized in the incarnate Christ.
Christ opens to us all possibilities and the fullness of life—an existence that is yet to
come but has already been inaugurated through him (Escobar, 336). In this context,
the mission of the church becomes an expression of the resurrection’s transformative
power, manifesting as a beacon of hope and healing in a world yearning for
restoration.

The missional hope shrinks suffering to insignificant even when it appears no
perceivable transformation is taking place in our struggle to actualise a life of dignity
and flourishing for all. It helps “the sent” to live in prophetic creative tension between
what is and what ought to be. It energies “expectation” because the fullness of life
has been historicised by the power of the spirit through the resurection of Jesus.

Implications for Pentecostalism

Rediscovery entails the recognition that core aspects of belief—whether in
Christology, Pneumatology, or ecclesiology—may have become disconnected from
their original spiritual and transformative potency. As a process, it demands a critical
and reflective assessment of historical trajectories, wherein the believer or
community does not simply retrieve what was, but reconstructs a theological vision
capable of renewing life in contemporary contexts.

This act of rediscovery is both an intellectual and spiritual endeavor. On one hand, it
involves theological reexamination, whereby past insights are re-appropriated
through fresh hermeneutical lenses. On the other, it is an existential return to the
vibrancy of foundational truths, an attempt to reinfuse theological concepts with their
transformative potential, enabling the church to encounter them anew.
Ultimately, rediscovery is not a passive act of recovering lost truths; it is an active
process of recontextualizing those truths so that they speak meaningfully to the
needs, struggles, and hopes of the current generation. It is as much a creative act of
reinterpretation as it is an exercise in theological memory.