John B. Cobb, Jr. (born February 9, 1925) is an American United Methodist theologian who played a crucial role in the development of process theology. He integrated Alfred North Whitehead's metaphysics into Christianity, and applied it to issues of social justice.

Biography
Cobb came to identify his theological journey as being divided into three trajectories. In the first trajectory, he tried to reconstruct a vision of Christianity applying Whitehead's cosmology. He sought to reconcile the particularity of the Christian faith with the need for pluralism and openness, establishing a christology which demanded tolerance and open-mindedness. He did this by understanding Christ as a "creative transformation", more a process than a person. This creative transformation demanded not just tolerance, but open discourse with other faiths, with the goal of transforming both participants.
The second trajectory, initiated by his son, Cliff, confronted ecological issues from a Whiteheadian perspective. In this trajectory, the two of them collaborated with Herman Daly in writing For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future (1989), which constituted Cobb's contribution to economics.
The third trajectory advocated "theology in the service of the church". Here he emphasized the central importance of Christ as the hope of the world, and the church's central importance in proclaiming Christ. He spoke to ethical and communitarian issues regarding the church.

The three trajectories
Cobb advocated a theology that managed to be both christocentric and pluralistic in its approach to other faiths. He proclaimed that christocentrism is rooted in Sophia, or divine wisdom, which is the essence of God who is embodied in Christ. He asserted that it requires a Christian to reject arrogance, exclusivism, and dogmatism as obstacles to the christological creative transformation. In this understanding, other religions could approach Christ's essence without actually believing in Christ per se. Cobb saw Jesus as the center of history, but not the whole of history. He saw the need to expand this history to include those of other faiths. Even if the christological creative process leads one to displace Christ's central position in that history with something else, he says, that displacement itself is faithful and true to Christ.