ECUMENICAL TRINITARIAN REFLECTIONS AND THE 'DE RÉGNON PARADIGM': A PROBE INTO RECOVERING THE SOCIAL-TRINITARIAN EMPHASES OF THE CAPPADOCIAN FATHERS (original) (raw)
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Introduction: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Faith and Global Theology
Journal of Reformed Theology, 2009
During the fi nal decades, there has hardly been a doctrinal topic that aroused so much theological refl ection and discussion as the doctrine of the Trinity. Numerous articles, books, and collections of essays have been published by theologians from all major Christian denominations in which the continuing meaning and relevance of this doctrine is explored and substantiated. Since in the 20th century Karl Barth and Karl Rahner put the theme on top of the theological agenda after ages of trinitarian oblivion, we seem to have collectively moved towards an era of what has come to be known as the 'trinitarian renaissance.' Th is renaissance-or revival, as it is also sometimes called-is not restricted to the doctrine of the Trinity as such, but tends to aff ect the overall scheme of how Christian theology is being done. When the doctrine of the Trinity is what binds most Christians together, then how should it infl uence Christian faith and theology as a whole? How should it infl uence, for example, the way in which we conceive of the church, or our anthropology, or even our understanding of the sacraments? Such questions are far from idiosyncratic by now. All in all, the rebirth of trinitarian theology is generally seen as "one of the most far-reaching theological developments of the [20th] century" (Stanley J. Grenz).
Greek vs. Latin Trinitarianism? Barnes and Hennessy on an Unneccesary Dichotomy (MA class paper)
Quite commonplace among twentieth-century theologians was the idea that the Western, Latin, Augustinian view of the Trinity is virtually at odds with the Greek, Cappadocian view. The “Latin” view, it has been maintained, begins with the unity of the divine essence, and beginning with such a foundation, fleshes out the divine relations within that essence which grounds them, epitomized by the so-called “psychological model” of Augustine. The “Greek” view, on the other hand, purportedly begins with the divinely revealed reality of the three existing distinct divine persons, and from what is revealed about them, infers and derives their underlying unity or consubstantiality (heavily emphasizing the Nicene term and concept of homoousios). In this paper, I wish to critique or at least qualify this “paradigm” by looking at such apparently broad trends in trinitarian thought, e.g., Augustinian and Cappadocian, through the lens of the contemporary works of Michel Barnes and Kristen Hennessy, 1 who in turn argue for the (often unnoticed or unacknowledged) thought and influence—and misreading and misapplication—of the work of the 19 th century Jesuit Theodore de Régnon within this paradigm. In doing so, following Barnes and Hennessy, I wish to argue that the above characterization of the East vs. West trinitarian paradigms risks being an over-stated generalization that turns some particular, complementary, and (in fact) overlapping trinitarian approaches into an unnatural and unnecessarily dichotomous paradigm which misrepresents the important authors in questions (de Régnon, Greek and Latin church fathers including Augustine and the Cappadocian fathers, and their relation to scholastic writers), and, simultaneously does a disservice to Christian theology by implicitly denying the multifaceted nature of a supernatural theological mystery. This paper will proceed in two stages: first, it will summarize and synthesize key points that Barnes and Hennessy have argued for; and second, it will illustrate the larger thrust of their arguments with a few specific examples of features or traces of trinitarian thought in Augustine and two of the Cappadocian fathers.
Rethinking the Trinity: On Being Orthodox and Au Courant
Abstract: There is a renaissance of interest in the doctrine of the Trinity. Keith Ward's book, *Christ and the Cosmos: A Reformulation of the Trinitarian Doctrine*, is a recent and important work that attempts to reimagine the doctrine of the Trinity in a contemporary context. The following symposium engages with this important work and offers profitable discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity today. It includes an opening essay in which Professor Ward delineates his views, nine essays by leading philosophers and theologians responding to his work, and his replies to the respondents. This essay provides some background to the discussion.
ASEAN Journal of Religion, Education, and Society, 2023
The Trinity doctrine was created as a kind of mystery that humans are unable to fully comprehend. The individuals of this Trinity cooperate in all things as a perfect, indivisible, and unbreakable union. It is extremely deceptive to claim that the Christian concept of God is unique to the Trinity. The idea of the Trinity is founded on three scriptural truths: that there is only one God, that God exists in three separate people, and that each of those persons is completely God. This is something that can be seen by thoughtfully and carefully studying the Scriptures. The teaching of the Trinity has been attacked by numerous heresies, but it has been firmly established in Scripture. According to Augustine, each person in Trinity's activities should be considered in isolation from one another. The Trinity doctrine's historical roots appear to be in the Greek Patristic and Biblical traditions, according to Augustine. The Cappadocian school taught that three coequal, coeternal, and coessential people make up the one Godhead, and this is an unfathomable mystery. Although the Cappadocians recognized the coequality of the divine persons, they did not entirely distance themselves from the subordinationist notions that remained from the trinitarian movement of the third century. It was concluded that We are persuaded by Augustine's argument that he does not break from Cappadocian theology other than to the extent that he expands on it and raises pertinent issues for someone who has comprehended its main idea.
The Cappadocians and their Trinitarian conceptions of God
Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosphie, 2012
In their Trinitarian conceptions of God, the Cappadocians ground the divine unity in the hypostasis of the Father who is the cause of the Son and the Holy Spirit. According to Meijering, following Harnack and Holl, there is a tension between the causal priority of the Father as source of the godhead and the co-equality of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The background of the Trinitarian conceptions of the Cappadocians allegedly is Origen's hierarchical conception of God. For that reason their conceptions are seen as a regression in comparison with the Trinitarian conception of Athanasius. This article gives a reconstruction of the Trinitarian conceptions of the Cappadocians in terms of a unique constellation of fronts. Their conceptions hold the middle position between tritheistic conceptions on the one hand, and, on the other hand, modalistic conceptions of God. Moreover, the Cappadocians take a distance from Origen's conception of God with its hierarchical subordination of three hypostases. The background of their Trinitarian conceptions is the concept of the "unmingled unity". Within this unity the Father has no superiority because he is not the source of the godhead. As cause, the Father has only logical priority. In conclusion, the Cappadocians stand nearer to Athanasius in their Trinitarian conceptions than to Origen, in spite of the genetic priority of the Father in the Trinitarian conception of Athanasius. Zusammenfassung: In ihren trinitarischen Gotteskonzeptionen gründen die Kappadozier die göttliche Einheit auf die hypostasis des Vaters, der die Ursache des Sohnes und des heiligen Geistes ist. Nach Meijering, in Anlehnung an Harnack und Holl, gibt es eine Spannung zwischen der kausalen Priorität des Vaters als Quelle der Gottheit und dem gleichen Wesen des Vaters, des Sohnes und des heiligen Geistes. Der Hintergrund der trinitarischen Konzeptionen der Kappadozier ist scheinbar die hierarchische Gotteskonzeption des Origenes. Aus diesem Grund werden ihre Konzeptionen als ein Rückschritt gesehen im Vergleich zu der trinitarischen Konzeption des Athanasius. Dieser Artikel gibt eine Rekonstruktion der trinitarischen Konzeptionen der Kappadozier hinsichtlich einer einzigartigen Konstellation von Fronten. Ihre Konzeptionen halten die Mitte zwischen tritheistischen Konzeptionen auf der einen Seite und modalistischen Gotteskonzeptionen auf der anderen Seite. Außerdem weisen die Kappadozier die Gotteskonzeption des Origenes mit seiner hierarchischen Unterordnung der drei hypostases zurück. Der Hintergrund ihrer trinitarischen Konzeptionen liegt
The unfinished business of Trinitarian theorizing
Religious studies, 2003
In recent years, many resourceful thinkers have brought a new clarity to the issues surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity. Two incompatible families of Trinitarian doctrine have been clearly distinguished : Social Trinitarianism and Latin Trinitarianism. I argue here that no theory in either camp has yet evaded the triune pitfalls of inconsistency, unintelligibility, and poor fit with the Bible. These two main approaches appear to be hopeless, and I argue that appeals to 'mystery' are no way to avoid the difficulties at hand. Thus, the Trinitarian project is as yet unfinished.
Historical development of trinitarian doctrine in Roman Catholicism
Verbum et Ecclesia, 2022
The Trinity both as a Christian concept and doctrine is a complex whole or better still a “mystery.” Even the great bishop of Hippo, St Augustine at the end of his monumental opus, De Trinitate, prayed God the Trinity to pardon him if he had written anything that was untrue about the Trinity. The Catholic Church, to say the least, is a trinitarian church in the sense that the belief in the Trinity is one of the cornerstones of its constitution and belief system. The church baptises and receives people with the Trinitarian formula. It begins and ends prayers in ‘the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. Catholic Theological discourse accepts as given, the existence of Three Persons in One God, and only afterwards, proceeds to investigate and elaborate upon the ‘how’ of the Trinity. This article takes a historical excursus into the historical evolution of Catholic trinitarian thought. It will argue that while there is a diversity of theological opinions on the subject, there remains in the final analysis, a unanimity in the belief that the Christian understanding and experience of God are unreservedly and indisputably trinitarian
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 2008
Abstract: Often as part of the so-called ‘revival’ in trinitarian theology, the Cappadocian Fathers are ressourced to justify a ‘social’ and ‘relational’ way of thinking about God's triuneness. The goal of this article is to explore this social trinitarian ressourcement of the Cappadocian Fathers by comparing the Cappadocians’ theology to that of Catherine Mowry LaCugna, who claims the Cappadocians articulated a more fully trinitarian theology by emphasizing the plurality of the divine ‘persons’ as ‘relations’. My conclusion is that the ontological and epistemological differences between LaCugna and the Cappadocians, coupled with the opposing purposes of their respective trinitarian theologies, create a discontinuity between the two projects that is too great for LaCugna to ressource the Cappadocians in any positive manner in her own trinitarian theology.
De Medio Aevo, 2013
Gregory of Nazianzus, the Theologian, is one of the most important fathers and saints of the Christianity, because of his theological thought and his intense poetical style in his work. He is thought as a writer of a unique beauty and brilliance in his writings. In his era, the teachings of Eunomius and Macedonius were a great threat for the Church. The apprehension of the divine nature, being pure spirit, is impossible for a materially based consciousness, and the only hope for human beings to have knowledge of God, therefore, is founded upon their ability to transcend material limitation, when the soul is invited back by God to its true spiritual nature and destiny (τέλος) in communion with God. This economy of salvation, described as a purification and ascent, determines from the outset the radically 'economic' nature of theology for Gregory. Gregory insists on explaining how the Holy Spirit exists, underlining that the way of the existence of every person of the Holy Trinity is unique for each of Them. The word ἴδιον (idion: specific) is used to show the relationship between the persons of the Triune God, and not their common nature. For this reason the names Father, Son and Holy Spirit are referred to their relationship, and not to οὐσία (ousia: essence). Also these names (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) do not show the actions of the Holy Persons, because they are common. Otherwise there would be the danger to the Son of not being God. He would be only a creature. For the first time, Gregory uses the unity of the persons of the Holy Trinity as a pattern of the unity of the two natures of incarnated Word, Christ. He uses this type of pattern, because Gregory saw the danger of the heretical teaching of Apollinarius. The latter supports that the human nature of Christ is absorbed by the divine one. Also, there is another heretical danger in thinking the recruitment of human nature by the divine one as superficial, false, not real. So the Christ would not be real Human and God and He could not save the human race. It is clear that Gregory's trinitarian doctrine originates in a primary and profound soteriological imperative.