Webster's Response to Alyssa Lyra Pitstick, Light in Darkness

2009 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Webster
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Contemporary Christian ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Hypostatic Union ◽  
Divine Perfection ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Many ◽  
Acts Of God ◽  
The Trinity

Though rarely addressed in a direct way, the theology of God's perfection is a central point at issue in contemporary Christian dogmatics. A good many debates of the moment turn on how the perfection of God's life is to be conceived: debates about the relation of the so-called immanent and economic Trinity; about the propriety of explicating the person and work of Christ through the metaphysics of divine and human natures; about the applicability of kenosis to account for the relation of the divine Word to the human career of Jesus; about the constitutive significance of temporality for the being of God; and much else besides. Recent disagreements amongst Barth scholars about the issue of the relation of the doctrine of divine election and the doctrine of the Trinity are in some measure animated by differing conceptions of the perfection of God, and one of the many ways of profiting from Dr Pitstick's book is to read it as, in part at least, an essay in defence of a certain construal of divine perfection. Indeed, one of my hopes for the book is that, once the noise of battle has subsided and the wounded have been dressed and taken to shelter, we may be able to engage peaceably and constructively with some of the material dogmatic issues to which it has drawn our attention. I do not propose to comment in detail on Dr Pitstick's evaluation of Balthasar; any judgements I might reach would be those of a mere amateur, one of those Protestants who in the 1970s discovered in Balthasar something which kept us reading Roman Catholic theology after Lonergan had wearied us and before we had been pointed to the treasures of ressourcement theology. Instead, I want to draw out from the book three doctrinal topics of capital importance: the ‘finished’ character of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross; the relation between theology and economy in the doctrine of the Trinity; and the doctrine of the hypostatic union – in all of which topics, of course, we are pressed to attend to the perfection of God and the acts of God.

Martin Luther and the Trinity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schwöbel
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Justification By Faith ◽  
The Status ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Catholic Tradition ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

Luther’s theology of the Trinity is firmly rooted in the catholic tradition of the church. In scholarly debate, it has therefore not received the same attention as the doctrines usually associated with the distinctive profile of the teaching of the Reformation, like the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The intrinsic connection between Luther’s catholic theology of the Trinity and the distinctive emphases of Reformation theology has consequently often been overlooked. Luther was reasonably well acquainted with the medieval debate and could occasionally, as in the late disputations, directly comment upon them, if the distinctions served to clarify his view of the place of Trinitarian teaching in the church. The most interesting question with regard to Luther’s doctrine of the Trinity is not which influences can be traced in his Trinitarian thought but how he developed the status of Trinitarian discourse in Christian faith and how he applied it in his treatment of other theological issues. If we survey Luther’s engagement with the doctrine of the Trinity, ranging from the early glosses on Lombard’s Sentences and Augustine’s De Trinitate to the very last disputation, we can see that in all the different genres in which he develops his theology, Trinitarian reflection plays an integral role. Luther’s own attempts at giving expression to the Trinitarian faith are developed within the boundaries of creedal orthodoxy. He does not modify the doctrinal tradition of the conciliar Creeds but employs it in such a way that its basis in the witness of Scripture becomes apparent and that the task of Trinitarian language in relating the different articles of Christian faith to their foundation and so can be understood by others.

Barth and Roman Catholic Theology

2019 ◽  
pp. 669-686
Author(s):  
Paul D. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Theological Reflection ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Analogy Of Being ◽  
Hans Urs Von Balthasar ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Analogia Entis ◽  
The Trinity

Taking Barth’s doctrines of revelation and the Trinity as a starting point, this chapter places Barth’s thought primarily in conversation with Walter Kasper. It considers Kasper’s work as an attempt to integrate insights drawn from Barth and Karl Rahner, while placing their views within the wider context of post-Vatican II Roman Catholic theology, as well as the thinking of Hans Urs von Balthasar. By focusing on the different attitudes of Barth and Kasper to the analogia entis (analogy of being), the chapter proposes that the primary issue related to ecumenical unity that emerges concerns whether, and to what extent, contemporary theologians are willing to allow Jesus Christ himself to stand as the first and the final Word in all theological reflection.

The Trinity as Transforming Symbol: Exploring the Trinitarian Theology of Two Roman Catholic Feminist Theologians

1994 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-294
Author(s):  
Patricia Fox
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
First Century ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Christian Tradition ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

The article explores the Trinity as a transforming symbol for the twenty—first century. It focuses on the recent work of Catherine Mowy LaCugna and Elizabeth Johnson who offer analyses for the “defeat” of the doctrine of the Trinity and also seek to retrieve core understandings of the mystery from Scripture and Christian tradition. The article suggests that the Church today is being challenged to reform itself in the image of the trinitarian God, to become a community for the world.

God's Self-Communication in Christ: A Comparison of Thomas F. Torrance and Karl Rahner

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 288-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Molnar
Keyword(s):  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Karl Rahner ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Triune God ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
Evangelical Theology ◽  
The Church

Karl Rahner and Thomas F. Torrance have made enormous contributions to 20th century theology. Torrance is quick to point out that Rahner's approach to Trinitarian theology which begins with God's saving revelation (the economic Trinity) and pivots ‘upon God's concrete and effective self-communication in the Incarnation’ does indeed have the effect that Rahner intended. First, it reunites the treatisesOn the One GodandOn the Triune God. This opens the door to rapprochement between systematic and biblical theology and binds the NT view of Jesus closer to the Church's worship and proclamation of the Triune God. Second, it opens the door to rapprochement between East and West by shifting from a more abstractive scholastic framework to one bound up with piety, worship and experience within the Church. Third, it opens the door to rapprochement between Roman Catholic theology and Evangelical theology ‘especially as represented by the teaching of Karl Barth in his emphasis upon the self-revelation and self-giving of God as the root of the doctrine of the Trinity …’

Erasmus’s Biblical Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-635
Author(s):  
Henk Nellen ◽  
Jan Bloemendal
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Greek Text ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Immediate Response

The history of the immediate response on and later reception of Erasmus’s ‘New Testament Project’ is an eventful one. The Project consisted of three innovations in biblical scholarship: the first printed edition of the Greek text of the New Testament, a revised version of the Latin Vulgate, and a philological commentary that accounted for the many textual changes the translator had made. The article discusses the polemics Erasmus’s edition provoked immediately after publication in 1516, and sheds light on the influence his Project exerted in later centuries. Special attention is given to biblical passages that played an important role in the discussions on the doctrine of the Trinity, such as Rom. 9,5; 1 Joh. 5,7–8 (the famous Comma Johanneum), and 1 Tim. 3,16. In questioning these passages as convincing, irrefutable proof-texts of Christ’s divinity, Erasmus made himself vulnerable to accusations of reviving Arianism, an old anti-Trinitarian heresy.

TOWARD A VALUE-ORIENTED METAPHYSICS OF NATURE

2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 80-92
Author(s):  
Joseph Bracken
Keyword(s):  
Western World ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Relational Ontology ◽  
A Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Trinity

AbstractThe English philosopher/theologian Colin Gunton argues that many of the problems besetting the contemporary Western world, including those dealing with the environment, are traceable to a mistaken understanding of the relationship between the One and the Many in practical life. A solution, however, is available in retrieval of the doctrine of the Trinity promoted by the early Greek Fathers, in particular the notion of perichoresis as the dynamic bond of unity among the divine persons. While agreeing with Gunton on this point, the author believes that perichoresis can only be applied to the world of creation in terms of a metaphysics of universal intersubjectivity such as he developed in a recent book. After laying out the basic contours of this new 'relational ontology', the author concludes by calling attention to the work of another process-oriented thinker, Douglas Sturm, with the latter's work on the 'politics of relationality' and an ethic of solidarity.

scholarly journals The Increasing Social Relevance of the Catholic Liturgical and Theological Reform Regarding Judaism (Nostra aetate 4): an Orthodox Point of View

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-269
Author(s):  
Alexandru Ioniţă
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Ecumenical Dialogue ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Many

Abstract One of the smallest and most influential documents of Vatican II is the Nostra aetate (declaration. The dynamic of the discussions as it was formulated and the subsequent arduous process of and reception application on local church level proved that the reconsideration of the attitude of the Roman-Catholic Church towards Judaism was concealing unforeseen consequences at the moment of the promulgation. Not only that Nostra aetate has been a turning point for the relationships between Catholicism and Judaism, but it has opened and encouraged – of course, along other documents of the council – a whole new perception of one another and of the ecumenical dialogue. The Jewish response to the 50 years Jubilee of Vatican II confirms the ultimately social relevance of the possible collaboration between Christians and Jews in ethical issues. This paper puts at the fore the Nostra aetate as example for the Orthodox Church as well, and draws attention to the many benefits that may follow such responses.

The Reception of Athanasius within Contemporary Roman Catholic Theology

2010 ◽  
Vol 90 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 311-337
Author(s):  
Arwin van Wilgenburg
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Roman Catholic ◽  
Roman Catholicism ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Salvation History ◽  
The Trinity

This article gives a brief overview of the reception of Athanasius in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Roman Catholic theology. Besides papal documents, mainly German theologians are discussed. First, Johann Adam Möhler’s Athanasius der Grosse (1827) is analyzed. Möhler was convinced that Athanasius was of great importance for modern society. However, Möhler’s attempt to give Athanasius a prominent position in contemporary theology seemed to fail. Although Athanasius is not absent in nineteenth-century dogmatic compendia, nor in papal documents of the last two centuries and many dogmatics of the twentieth century, his quantitative reception is rather poor, especially in comparison to Augustine. The dogmatic compendia and Neo-Thomistic theology did not have an interest in a historical interpretation of Athanasius and Thomas, himself, hardly referred to Athanasius. Moreover, the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas were not really contested. This changed in twentieth-century theology, because of a new understanding of historical development and the rise of phenomenology and existentialism. The doctrines of the Trinity and Christology were reinterpreted from the perspective of salvation history (Heilsgeschichte). Many theologians wanted to correct the anti-Arian tendency, stressing that Christ was truly God and truly man. Athanasius overlooked Christ’s humanity and the Alexandrian Logos-Sarx-Christology needed the complementation of the Antiochene Logos-Antropos-Christology. Nevertheless, Athanasius’s has received great formal authority within Roman Catholicism. He is a Saint and honored as doctor ecclesiae, because of his impact on Christian doctrine and the development of monasticism.

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