Gilles Emery, O.P., and Matthew Levering, eds. The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. xvi + 632 pp. £95.00/$150.00 (original) (raw)
Related papers
This paper will be an examination of the development of the concept of the trinity in Christian theology from the early Church, the Church Fathers and modern theologians. This will be a brief survey of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity and how the doctrine developed over time.
Reviews in Religion and Theology
Recent years have seen an outpouring of books on the Trinity. Many of these have lamented the neglect of the doctrine, emphasizing its centrality and arguing for the need for retrieval and reinstatement. This phase in trinitarian theology, however, is perhaps now past. Books currently coming out no longer need to make the lament, and no longer need to argue so emphatically for the Trinity's importance, which is now, for better or worse, taken for granted. Instead of writing with the aim of rescuing the doctrine, then, theologians with a commitment to its centrality are beginning to take up a variety of other questions and make the Trinity central to their answers. Thus in Trinity and Truth Bruce Marshall aims to offer a theological account of truth and the justification of belief and to put the doctrine of the Trinity at the heart of this account. The Christian community ought, he insists, work out its own conception of truth and justified belief, rather than submitting its claims to externally determined standards. The doctrine of the Trinity is central to Christianity-it is what primarily distinguishes the Christian Church from other religions and non-religious communities. (Marshall's effort to establish this 'empirically' is reminiscent of, and about as non-theological as, Schleiermacher's attempt to define the Christian Church in the introduction to The Christian Faith.) Therefore, he argues, the doctrine of the Trinity ought to have 'unrestricted epistemic primacy': the church does not (should not) consider its belief in the Trinity to be in need of justification, but
This book explores how first- and second-century Christians read the Old Testament in order to differentiate the one God as multiple persons. The earliest Christians felt they could metaphorically “overhear” divine conversations between the Father, Son, and Spirit when reading the Old Testament. When these snatches of dialogue are connected and joined, they form a narrative about the unfolding interior divine life as understood by the nascent church. What emerges is not a static portrait of the triune God, but a developing story of divine persons enacting mutual esteem, voiced praise, collaborative strategy, and self-sacrificial love. This conversational divine story is explored as it ebbs and flows across the cosmos and through time. The result is a Trinitarian biblical and early Christian theology. While tracing this story, it is simultaneously argued that a new historical model is required for the New Testament and other early sources to explain how the doctrine of the Trinity first emerged—a model rooted in a little-known person-based ancient reading technique called prosopological exegesis. It is shown that prosopological exegesis is present throughout the earliest strata of Christian literature. This calls into question proposals that suggest Christology developed over time in the earliest church from low—Jesus as merely a messianic claimant—to high—Jesus as the preexistent Son of God. To the contrary, in agreement with Richard Bauckham’s Christology of Divine Identity (but simultaneously taking a different approach), it is argued that the earliest Christology was the highest. Keywords: Trinity, Christology, Christology of Divine Identity, prosopological exegesis, person, dialogue, Son of God, New Testament, Old Testament, early Christian
The Trinity: A Guide for the Perplexed–By Paul M. Collins
Religious Studies Review, 2011
· VOLUME 37 · NUMBER 4 · DECEMBER 2011 requires the formation and equipping of the church through its practices. She explores how these practices heal the suffering caused by the sins of others, but one would have liked for her to explore how sin affects the practice of these practices and the realization of happiness here and now. To what extent does a doctrine of sin challenge the "practical task" of a doctrine of happiness? This aside, Charry's book is a rewarding read that helpfully elucidates a Christian notion of flourishing that is both creational and eschatological. This should be of interest to theologians, Christian philosophers, and educated pastors.
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).
www.bokmaskinen.se, 2003
This book is a study of the doctrine of the trinity, explores the false of this doctrine, in the Greek philosophers, arguments for the Trinityand its eistence of gods are a part of natural theology which is distinguished from and held to be superior to mythic and civic theology.