Augustine’s Move from a Johannine to a Pauline Trinitarian Theology (original) (raw)

2017, The Bible and Early Trinitarian Theology, ed. Christopher Beeley and Mark Weedman (Washington D.C.: Catholic University of American Press

My purpose in this essay is to explore the effects of Augustine's turn to Paul on his Trinitarian theology. I argue that when Augustine turned to Paul, he did so in ways that shaped his Trinitarian theology to such a degree that this might be a way of tracing the development of his Trinitarian theology as a whole. In particular, I will show that by turning to Paul, Augustine abandons a Trinitarian model that emphasizes the role of the Logos as revealer, whose appearance restores humanity's ability to see God. This is an idea that figured prominently in early Trinitarian theology, and it derived heavily from a reading of John's Gospel, especially the prologue. By the time he wrote De Trinitate, however, Augustine had come to a Trinitarian model that emphasized the Son as the mediator of human redemption and resurrection. This move, I will argue, corresponds with (or reflects) Augustine's turn to Paul. I should be clear at this point that my question is not whether Augustine used exegesis of Paul (or John) to formulate his Trinitarian theology. He used both Pauline and Johannine texts early in his writing career, and he continued to do so in his more mature writings. The question for this essay is whose scheme, or whose account of what the Trinitarian event means for human-divine relations, Augustine employs. By sorting out how Augustine used the perspectives of the two biblical texts, what I am calling the Pauline and Johannine perspec-224 M. E. Weedman Augustine's Move Beeley first pages.indd 224 7/5/17 10:44 AM

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