The importance of christology in an evolutionary perspective depends on both how closely theological anthropology is connected with evolution and on the view that nature, in some sense, needs to be redeemed. Many scholars now, however, reject the view that nature is just a neutral backdrop to the human drama of salvation. Theology should now admit that nature participates in both the theologies of creation and redemption. The Garden Earth forebodes the Garden of Gethsemane. Creation is cruciform.
Most scholars now follow a similar approach in discussing christology and evolution.
Barbour , for example, suggests that we reformulate Christology in terms of relationship and history, rather than in terms of substance though keeping in mind the traditional intent of the creeds. In light of evolutionary science, we can understand both the human and the divine aspects of Christ both as continuous with prehuman evolution and yet as something genuinely new in nature. Christ is part of the continuous process of evolution as well as human culture, yet he represents something genuinely new. Christ is also the product of God's immanent activity in all of evolutionary history and yet he is a radically new revelation of God's nature. Turning then to the Incarnation , Peacocke underscores the continuity of Jesus with the rest of humanity and thus with all of nature, and yet his distinctive relation to God is an element of discontinuity.