Charity, Contemplation, and Participation in the Trinity

2021 ◽  
pp. 126-146
Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Trinity

Whereas the contemplative act consists essentially in the operation of the intellect, the will and charity are also involved insofar as charity moves us to contemplation, and delight naturally accompanies it. Insofar as love moves us towards contemplation, which then ensues in delight when the intellect apprehends truth, a trinitarian dimension is implied in contemplation, that is, a participation in the generation of the Word and the procession of the Holy Spirit as Love. The chapter also considers how charity redirects our entire affectivity towards God, thereby creating a radical theocentric disposition of gratuity, which is key to the leisurely nature of contemplation.

Augustine on the Will

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-luen Kantzer Komline
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Biblical Story ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Will ◽  
A Chain ◽  
Universal Definition ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
The Trinity

By analyzing a variety of texts from across Augustine’s career, the book traces the development of Augustine’s thinking on the human will. Augustine’s most creative contributions to the notion of the human will do not derive from articulating a monolithic, universal definition. He identifies four types of human will: the created will, which he describes as a hinge; the fallen will, a link in a chain binding human beings to sin; the redeemed will, which is a root of love; and the fully free will, to be enjoyed in the next life, when perfection is made complete. His mature view is theologically differentiated, consisting of four distinct types of human will, which vary according to these diverse theological scenarios. His innovation consists in distinguishing these types with a detail and clarity unprecedented by any thinker before him. Augustine’s mature view of the will is constructed in intensive dialogue with other Christian thinkers and, most of all, with the Christian scriptures. Its basic features shape, and are shaped by, his doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit, as well as creation and grace, making it impossible to abstract his views on willing from his account of the central Christian doctrines of Christology, Pneumatology, and the Trinity. The multiple facets of Augustine’s conception of will have been cut to fit the shape of his theology and the biblical story it seeks to describe. From Augustine we inherit a theological account of the will.

scholarly journals Wiara jako akt poznawczy. Analiza "Quaestiones" Ambrozjastra

Vox Patrum ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 387-397
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Babiarz
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Cognitive Model ◽  
Son Of God ◽  
Absolute Certainty ◽  
The Gift ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Will ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

Ambrosiaster uses two forms for the definition of the concept of faith. The first one – in the sense of a noun: fides; the second one – from the perspective of the knowing subject: credere. Abraham’s act of faith, whose object is God, is shown as a cognitive model. The acceptance of God’s authority leads to recogniz­ing in Christ the Son of God. Believers receive in Baptism the gift the Holy Spirit and knowing the will of God. By participating in the fullness of His life, they are given access to the Eucharist. Knowability is one of God’s characteristics. Accepting this fact and submit­ting oneself to God’s guidance results in knowing the Trinity. Christ’s confidence in the Father is the basic principle of knowing through faith, and this translates into absolute certainty of the truthfulness of the conclusions. It is a duty of believ­ers to explore the truth. The Gospel, interpreted by the authority of the Church, remains the main source of revelation. The intensity of cognition influences the entirety of one’s life, manifests itself in the acceptance of all the truths of the faith and in creating harmony between faith and the virtues of love and hope.

Yahweh, Women, and the Trinity

1975 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-242
Author(s):  
Jay G. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
New Age ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Third Person ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

“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?”

Pentecostal Understanding of Sanctification from a Pentecostal Perspective

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-110
Author(s):  
Hollis Gause
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Divine Revelation ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
Social Nature ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Birth ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Fruit Of The Spirit ◽  
The Trinity

AbstractThe doctrine of the Holy Trinity is the product of divine revelation, and is a doctrine of divine worship. The expressions of this doctrine come out of worshipful response to divine revelation demonstrating the social nature of the Trinity and God's incorporating the human creature in His own sociality and personal pluralism. The perfect social union between God and the man and woman that he had created was disrupted by human sin. God redeemed the fallen creature, and at the heart of this redemptive experience lies the doctrine of Holy Trinity, with the Holy Spirit as the communing agent of all the experiences of salvation. The Spirit is especially active in the provision and fulfillment of sanctification, which is presented here as the continuum of 'holiness-unity-love'. He produces the graces of the Holy Spirit – the fruit of the Spirit. He implants the Seed of the new birth which is the word of God. He purifies by the blood of Jesus. He establishes union and communion among believers and with God through His Son Jesus. This is holiness.

Aesthetics

2021 ◽  
pp. 295-308
Author(s):  
William Dyrness ◽  
Christi Wells
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Ongoing Work ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Physical Beauty ◽  
Will Of God

Edwards’s aesthetics grounded in the ongoing work of God communicated in creation, not only lies at the centre of his thought but is increasingly recognized as one of his most original contributions to theology. Edwards’s reflection on God’s beauty emerged in the context of his work as a pastor, which allowed him to frame God’s dynamic presence in dramatic and multi-sensory categories. For Edwards Beauty glimpsed in the form of images formed in the mind reflects a consent of being; the visual beauty of symmetry and proportion is meant to move the heart to consent to the will of God reflected in creation—what Edwards calls respectively secondary and primary beauty. All creatures are types and shadows of spiritual realities; beauty and morality are linked, though only the Holy Spirit allows believers to consent to God’s self-disclosure in creation. Edwards’s neo-platonic framework allowed his reflections on the revivals to affirm physical beauty while subordinating its meaning to the spiritual, enhancing its role as revelation but diminishing its value as an end in itself.

From Seeker to Finder: A Study in Seventeenth-Century English Spiritualism Before The Quakers

1948 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Arthur Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
British History ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Third Person ◽  
The Third Person ◽  
The Trinity

The period of the Civil Wars and Commonwealth in England was one of the most momentous epochs in British history. For small groups of people the decade of the 1640's inaugurated a New Age—an age in which the Holy Spirit reigned triumphant. Such believers reached the zenith of Puritan “spiritualism,” or that movement which placed the greatest emphasis upon the Third Person of the Trinity.

Eugene IV and the First Dissolution of the Council of Basle

1967 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loy Bilderback
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Other ◽  
Essential Singularity ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Prime Determinant ◽  
The Will ◽  
Great Schism ◽  
The Church ◽  
Will Of God ◽  
Divine Guidance

The Council of Basle was officially charged with three basic concerns: the reform of the Church in head and members; the extirpation of heresy, particularly Bohemian Hussitism; and the attainment of peace among Christian Princes. Yet, the Council was most absorbed by, and is most remembered for, a fourth, unscheduled concern. From its outset, the prime determinant of the actions and decisions of the Council proved to be the problem of living and working with the Papacy. In retrospect it is easy to see that this problem was insoluble. One could not expect the efficient functioning of the Church if there was doubt or confusion about the will of God, and the presence of such doubt and confusion was certain so long as even two agencies could gain support for their contentions that they were directly recipient to the Holy Spirit. Singularity of headship was absolutely necessary to the orderly processes of the Church. Yet the contradiction of this essential singularity was implicit at Constance in the accommodation, by one another of the curialists, the protagonists of an absolute, papal monarchy, and the conciliarists, who sought divine guidance through periodic General Councils. This accommodation, in turn, was necessary if the doubt and confusion engendered by the Great Schism was to be resolved. At Basle, this contradiction was wrought into a conflict which attracted a variety of opportunists who could further their ancillary or extraneous ends through a posture of service to one side or the other, and in so doing they obfuscated the issues and prolonged the struggle.

Could there Be More than One Almighty?

1993 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Bartel
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Literal Sense ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity

If proof is required that yesterday's scandal can become today's fashion, we need look no further than recent discussions of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Just a generation ago, Trinitarians typically insisted that the members of the Godhead are not distinct persons in any literal sense. But during the past few years, more and more philosophically sophisticated Christians have unblushingly maintained that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not just different persons, but different individuals – that the Trinity consists of three divine beings.

scholarly journals Knowing the Father

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David. T. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Charismatic Movement ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
The World ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity

The emergence of the Charismatic movement has generated a new awareness and interest in the Person and work of the Holy Spirit, but has also brought a realisation that there is a still-neglected Person of the Trinity, the Father. Part of the reason for this lies in the historical development in the doctrine of the Trinity, which led to a belief that external actions of God are not differentiated between the Persons, and also in the fact that the Father only generally acts in the world by Son and Spirit, so has no clear role. It seems natural to attribute creation to the Father, but even here, the Bible sees the Son as the actual creator. Nevertheless, the Father can be seen as the source of the concepts and means behind the material; interestingly there are hints of this in classical Greek thought and other faiths. This is ongoing, perhaps particularly in the evolutionary process of the world. Thus, paralleling the incarnation, the Father is present in the material universe, as its ethos. He can also be seen to be affected by creation, sharing in its nature in his kenōsis, and in its suffering. Creation then inspires a sense of wonder not only from its existence, extent and nature, but from its interactions and underlying concepts; this is worship of the Father. Sin is then when this is overlooked, or when actions disrupt it; these are an offence to the Father.

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