‘Another Puzzle is . . . the Holy Spirit’:De Trinitateas Augustine's Pneumatology

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Najeeb Awad

AbstractIn their study of Augustine'sDe Trinitate, scholars read the fifteen books which comprise this text as a monolithically written discourse on the doctrine of the Trinity. This article is an attempt to examine if it is possible to argue on tenable bases that pneumatology, rather than any other doctrine, is the subject of Augustine's text by showing that the interpretation of the identity and consubstantiality of the Spirit occupies inDe Trinitatea more foundational and central place than just being part of Augustine's discussion on the doctrine of the Trinity. It ultimately suggests that freeing Augustine's text from diachronic prejudices means also wondering if he really wanted to write an additional version of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity which he already followed, or whether he wanted to contribute something new about a relatively neglected doctrine in the faith of the church.

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 278-290
Author(s):  
Adam McIntosh

Although Karl Barth is widely recognised as the initiator of the renewal of trinitarian theology in the twentieth century, his theology of the Church Dogmatics has been strongly criticised for its inadequate account of the work of the Holy Spirit. This author argues that the putative weakness of Barth's pneumatology should be reconsidered in light of his doctrine of appropriation. Barth employs the doctrine of appropriation as a hermeneutical procedure, within his doctrine of the Trinity, for bringing to speech the persons of the Trinity in their inseparable distinctiveness. It is argued that the doctrine of appropriation provides a sound interpretative framework for his pneumatology of the Church Dogmatics.


1954 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 353-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mcintyre

The subject of this paper abounds in historical problems of an extremely intricate nature—some of which arise through the theologically close association of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity; but others of which are rooted in a number of more particular controversies in which the Greek Fathers were involved concerning the Holy Spirit. Among the latter are to be found such questions as the precise identification of the persons against whom many of the Greek writings were directed, for example, who the ‘Tropici’ were, with whom Athanasius deals in the Letters to Serapion, whether ‘Pneumatomachi’ was a generic term used to describe a variety of different heretics, or a proper name referring to an identifiable group existing in one particular place, whether Macedonius was a Macedonian, and so on. Included in the intricate historical problems raised in our period, there is that of accounting for the revival towards the middle of the fourth century of an interest in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit— whether it was due to the developing influence of asceticism, or simply a reaction to a latter-day Arianism working itself out belatedly in heresy concerning the Holy Spirit, or more subtly, whether it was due to a necessity felt by the Church to give substance to the Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, now that the doctrine of the Trinity had replaced the doctrine of the Logos as her central and dominant doctrine.


1917 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 73-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert Henry Newman

The intellectual, social, and religious upheaval of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries of which the Renaissance and the Protestant Revolution were phases, along with the decidedly skeptical tendency of the Scotist philosophy which undermined the arguments by which the great mysteries of the Christian faith had commonly been supported while accepting unconditionally the dogmas of the Church—together with the influence of Neoplatonizing mysticism which aimed and claimed to raise its subjects into such direct and complete union and communion with the Infinite as to make any kind of objective authority superfluous:—all these influences conspired to lead many of the most conscientious and profoundly religious thinkers of the sixteenth century to reject simultaneously the baptism of infants and the traditional doctrine of the Trinity. Infant baptism they regarded as being without scriptural warrant, subversive of an ordinance of Christ, and inconsistent with regenerate church membership. Likewise the doctrine of the tripersonality of God, as set forth in the so-called Nicene and Athanasian creeds, involving the co-eternity, co-equality and consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and the personality of the Holy Spirit, they subjected to searching and fundamental criticism.


Author(s):  
Wolf Krötke

This chapter presents Barth’s understanding of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Jesus Christ. It demonstrates the way in which Barth’s pneumatology is anchored in his doctrine of the Trinity: the Holy Spirit is understood as the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, the One whose essence is love. But Barth can also speak of the Holy Spirit in such a way that it seems as if the Holy Spirit is identical to the work of the risen Jesus Christ and his ‘prophetic’ work. The reception of the pneumatology of Karl Barth thus confronts the task of relating these dimensions of Barth’s understanding of the Holy Spirit so that the Spirit’s distinct work is preserved. For Barth, this work consists in enabling human beings to respond in faith, with their human possibilities and their freedom, to God’s reconciliation in Jesus Christ. In this faith, the Holy Spirit incorporates human beings into the community of Jesus Christ—the community participates in the reconciling work of God in order to bear witness to God’s work to human beings, all of whom have been elected to ‘partnership’ with God. Barth also understood the ‘solidarity’ of the community with, and the advocacy of the community for, the non-believing world to be a nota ecclesiae (mark of the church). Further, to live from the Holy Spirit, according to Barth, is only possible in praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit.


1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-274
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Albinus Glenthøj

The Development of Grundtvig ’s Theology until about the Time of the Composition of .The Land of the Living. About the Eschatological Tension in the Understanding of the Kingdom of GodBy Elisabeth Albinus GlenthøjIn order to characterize briefly Grundtvig’s ideas about the Kingdom of God, the following statements are crucial: The Kingdom of God will break through visibly at the Second Coming of Christ. Until then the Kingdom is present to Faith and Hope through the Holy Spirit.The tension between the eschatological, visible Kingdom of God and the presence of the Kingdom now is a common theme in Grundtvig’s hymns. This study seeks to trace the development of Grundtvig’s theology towards his fully developed view of the Kingdom of God. The subject of the study is the great hymn, .The Land of the Living., from 1824, which contains beginnings of Grundtvig’s more elaborated view. The basic texts of the study are sermons by Grundtvig from 1821 to 1824, the period in which the eschatological tension emerges.Sections I to II.A. bring a chronological outline of the development of Grundtvig’s theology during the period until and including the year 1824. Section II.B. examines »The Land of the Living«  in the light of this outline. Throughout the study the emphasis is on the emergence of the eschatological tension.From his parents Grundtvig inherits a belief in a Kingdom of God hereafter, but as Grundtvig experiences the presence of the Lord through the Holy Spirit - in his own life and in the Church - the theology develops towards an understanding of the Kingdom of God as already present to Faith and Hope through the Holy Spirit. The future visible Kingdom illuminates the life of the Church already. Thus the eschatological tension emerges.The continuity between the future and the present Kingdom of God is found in the union with Christ through the Holy Spirit. This union is granted in Baptism and is nourished first and foremost through the Eucharist, and, next, through prayer and words of praise. Grundtvig’s experience of Pentecost underlies »The Land of the Living«: The Holy Spirit builds up the heart of man to become a temple for the Father and Son (stanza 12). Stanzas 7 to 11 elaborate the content of this unity with the Trinity. From here originates the life of the Church in the love of God and of one’s neighbour, a life which, through the Holy Spirit, takes man closer to the likeness to Christ; the goal is reached in Eternity. Wherever the love of God prevails, the Kingdom of God is present (stanza 13); that is where men are »co-operating witnesses to the divine struggle of the Spirit against the flesh«, against everything »which seeks to ... wipe out His image, destroy His temple within us« (Eighth Sunday after Trinity, 1824).


1977 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 313-318
Author(s):  
Ronald Kydd

This paper focuses attention upon the twenty-ninth chapter 1 of De Trinitate, a third-century theological treatise. Its author, Novatian, was a prominent member of the Roman College of Presbyters. However, his position did not engender feelings of loyalty sufficient to prevent his taking a surprising course of action when Cornelius became the Bishop of Rome in A.D. 251: he had himself consecrated to the same position. This step was a major factor in his being excommunicated in the same year. Subsequently, his personal status among the orthodox declined sharply, and very soon thereafter the records fall silent about him. However, in spite of this he continues to have a place among the theologians of the Church—a place which has been won for him almost single-handedly by De Trinitate. The book appeared in the A.D. 240s, being in fact the first major theological work to be written in Latin in Rome. Novatian produced it while still an eminent, well-respected member of the Roman church. As the title suggests, De Trinitate is about the Trinity, but Novatian by no means devotes equal space to all three members. His discussion of the Holy Spirit seems rather truncated when compared to the treatment afforded to the Father and Son, with virtually everything which is said about the Spirit appearing in chapter 29. Yet it is this chapter which will occupy our attention in this paper, because it appears to contain material which may provide hints about the religious experience of the Roman church in the mid-third century.


Author(s):  
Hendri Mulyana Sendjaja

The intellectual struggles and adventures of Christian thinkers in Alexandria in the first centuries produced an overarching effect to the doctrines of Christian faith, which survived to the present day. One of those doctrines is the doctrine of the Trinity. The study of the thought of Athanasius of Alexandria in regards of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, through his works such as Contra Gentes-De Incarnatione, Contra Arianos I-III, and Epistola ad Serapionem, speaks for itself the contribution he made to solidify the doctrine of the Trinity. For him, the doctrine expresses the eternal communion among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which in effect brings benefi t to us. The construction of the doctrine is inseparable from the Church tradition which owed to the ecclesiastical biblical exegesis, and the construction of the theological methods, and the soteriological perspective.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene Fortein

The revival of the patristic doctrine of perichōrēsis in relation to the Trinitarian framework has received overwhelming support in modern theological discourse. From Anagorous to John of Damascus, and from reformation to the 21st century theological scholarship, the doctrine of perichōrēsis has been viewed by many as a palatable approach and a suitable paradigm in addressing various challenges affecting the church and society globally, because it is out of this patristic doctrine that the entire doctrine of the Trinity is sustained. If it was not for perichōrēsis neither nature, personal, or salvific doctrine of Trinity would have no value. If not for perichōrēsis, Arianism, encompassing all aspects of modalism with various assorted gods within Christianity, would be a global phenomenon. This article presents perichōrēsis as the paradigm in advancing a national unity agenda within the Church and State in conjunction with a case study of the Public Affairs Committee in Malawi, which is a representation of the voice of the faith community in addressing the national unity agenda and other governance issues. The main argument in the paper is that adoption and emulation of the immanent Trinitarian perichoretic life experienced within the Trinitarian community of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is the best way forward in bringing meaningful unity in society today. This is because perichōrēsis, which flows within the Trinitarian framework, is the model and an example of what humans and society must emulate to enhance unity and togetherness.


1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-242
Author(s):  
Jay G. Williams

“Might it not be possible, just at this moment when the fortunes of the church seem to be at low ebb, that we may be entering a new age, an age in which the Holy Spirit will become far more central to the faith, an age when the third person of the Trinity will reveal to us more fully who she is?”


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