Relative Identity and the Doctrine of the Trinity

2020 ◽  
pp. 185-200
Author(s):  
Michael C. Rea
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Relative Identity ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity maintains that there are exactly three divine Persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) but only one God. The philosophical problem raised by this doctrine is well known. On the one hand, the doctrine seems clearly to imply that the divine Persons are numerically distinct. How else could they be ‘three’ rather than one? On the other hand, it seems to imply that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are identical. If each Person is divine, how else could there be exactly ‘one’ God? But the divine Persons can’t be both distinct and identical. Thus, the doctrine appears to be incoherent. Some try to solve this problem by appeal to the view that identity is sortal-relative. This chapter argues that this strategy is unsuccessful as a stand-alone solution to the problem of the Trinity.

The Trinity

2020 ◽  
pp. 141-169
Author(s):  
Michael C. Rea
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Material Constitution ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
Greek Tradition ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity poses a serious philosophical problem. On the one hand, it seems to imply that there is exactly one divine being; on the other hand, it seems to imply that there are three. There is another well-known philosophical problem that presents us with a similar sort of tension: the problem of material constitution. After an examination of two classificatory schemes (the Latin tradition which traces its historical roots through the western church. and the Greek tradition which traces its roots through the eastern church) this chapter argues that a relatively neglected solution to the problem of material constitution can be developed into a novel solution to the problem of the Trinity.

Material Constitution and the Trinity [with Jeffrey Brower]

2020 ◽  
pp. 201-222
Author(s):  
Michael C. Rea
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Material Constitution ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity poses a serious philosophical problem. On the one hand, it seems to imply that there is exactly one divine being. On the other hand, it seems to imply that there are three divine beings. There is another well-known philosophical problem that presents us with a similar sort of tension: the problem of material constitution. This chapter argues that a relatively neglected solution to the problem of material constitution—an appeal to the Aristotelian doctrine of numerical sameness without identity—can be developed into a novel solution to the problem of the Trinity.

Official Ceremonies Aesthetics in Moscow Russia

2021 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 89-96
Author(s):  
Galina V. Talina
Keyword(s):  
17Th Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Royal Court ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Concept Of Beauty ◽  
The Trinity

On the basis of the 17th century documents the author of the article reveals th concept of “beauty” through the prism of the ideas shaped in Moscow Russia on the whole and in the period of the reign of the first Romanovs, in particular. The concepts of “measure” and “order” characterized the beautiful, on the one hand, and on the other hand, – the necessity to build any action in compliance with the previously formulated sample objectified in the text. The most vivid manifestations of those instructions were the official ceremonies of Moscow royal court, among which especially stood out such ceremonies as coronation, announcement to the subjects of the heir to the throne, cross processions. Special attention in the article is paid to the innovations to the ceremonial sphere, the author shows the continuity in ceremony organization with enough creative freedom for the organizers. Moscow ceremony is shown as the trinity of action, word and symbolism.

Trinity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Howard-Snyder
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity

The doctrine of the Trinity is central to Christian theology. The part of the doctrine that concerns us here may be stated in these words: although the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are different persons, each is the same God as the other; they are not three Gods, but exactly one God. These words arguably imply a contradiction. For example, if the Father is not the same person as the Son, then the Father is not identical with the Son; thus, if each is a God, there are at least two Gods, which contradicts the claim that there is exactly one God. Analytic theologians have responded to this line of argument and others related to it. Each response aims to model a consistent doctrine of the Trinity, one that provides the resources to reject such arguments while retaining Trinitarian orthodoxy. We can classify these attempts by distinguishing those according to which there is no numerical sameness without identity from those according to which there is numerical sameness without identity. Attempts in the first group tend to raise worries about consistency with orthodoxy. Attempts in the second group tend to raise worries about intelligibility.

Christology—a Jewish view

1971 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-200
Author(s):  
Steven Katz
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Old Testament ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The World ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Trinity

In this paper I would like to discuss what the Old Testament has to say about the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. I take it as agreed that this task is both important and necessary for a real understanding of the New Testament, which by itself, is neither complete, meaningful nor self-authenticating. I do not make any claims to completeness on this crucial topic, but wish only to suggest what I feel are some important points for consideration. I want to discuss the three persons of the Trinity separately, beginning with the Father, then proceeding to the Holy Spirit and then to the Son. My remarks about the Father will be brief. I only wish to make the point that the Old Testament as well as the new Testament is fully aware of God's Fatherhood and alive to the reality that God loves mankind. It is clear that Israel has a special place as indicated by such passages as Exod. 4.22 where God addresses Israel saying: ‘Israel is my first born son.’ Yet at the same time it is basic to an understanding of Old Testament thought that God is the Father of the other nations of the world, though they are not the ‘first born’. This is a cardinal position of Old Testament theology and is based on the belief, given expression in Genesis, that all belongs to and was created by God.

The Trinity

2020 ◽  
pp. 464-483
Author(s):  
Rik Van Nieuwenhove ◽  
William Crozier
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
The Other ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Mystical Theology ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

This chapter considers mystical theology as a resource for theology of the Trinity today. It consists of two parts. The first part draws mainly on the Trinitarian theology of St Bonaventure to demonstrate that participation in the life of the Trinity is essential to begin to engage in theology of the Trinity: vision implies participation. The second part provides an example of how the writings of mystical theological authors, such as Hadewijch or Ruusbroec, can assist us in solving systematic theological problems. More particularly, we argue that Ruusbroec’s notion of regyratio (i.e. the Holy Spirit as the principle of the return of the divine Person into their shared unity) can circumvent the problem of ‘Trinitarian inversion’ (which refers to the problematic tension between accounts of the immanent processions, on the one hand, and the sequence of historical missions of the Son and Holy Spirit in the economic Trinity, on the other).

The Spirit

2019 ◽  
pp. 293-308
Author(s):  
Wolf Krötke
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Karl Barth ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
Bear Witness ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

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.

Trinity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter van Inwagen
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
De Doctrina Christiana ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a central and essential element of Christian theology. The part of the doctrine that is of special concern in the present entry may be stated in these words: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each God; they are distinct from one another; and yet (in the words of the Athanasian Creed), ‘they are not three Gods, but there is one God’. This is not to be explained by saying that ‘the Father’, ‘the Son’ and ‘the Holy Spirit’ are three names that are applied to the one God in various circumstances; nor is it to be explained by saying that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are parts or aspects of God (like the leaves of a shamrock or the faces of a cube). In the words of St Augustine: Thus there are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and each is God and at the same time all are one God; and each of them is a full substance, and at the same time all are one substance. The Father is neither the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son. But the Father is the Father uniquely; the Son is the Son uniquely; and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit uniquely. (De doctrina christiana I, 5, 5) The doctrine of the Trinity seems on the face of it to be logically incoherent. It seems to imply that identity is not transitive – for the Father is identical with God, the Son is identical with God, and the Father is not identical with the Son. There have been two recent attempts by philosophers to defend the logical coherency of the doctrine. Richard Swinburne has suggested that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be thought of as numerically distinct Gods, and he has argued that, properly understood, this suggestion is consistent with historical orthodoxy. Peter Geach and various others have suggested that a coherent statement of the doctrine is possible on the assumption that identity is ‘always relative to a sortal term’. Swinburne’s formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity is certainly free from logical incoherency, but it is debatable whether it is consistent with historical orthodoxy. As to ‘relative identity’ formulations of the doctrine, not all philosophers would agree that the idea that identity is always relative to a sortal term is even intelligible.

scholarly journals A critical analysis on African Traditional Religion and the Trinity

2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jele S. Manganyi ◽  
Johan Buitendag
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
African Culture ◽  
The Holy Spirit ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
African Traditional Religion ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Supreme Being

To what extent do the resources of African Traditional Religion (ATR) contribute towards Christian theological discourse and benefit the African church? ATR is accommodated in the African Initiated Churches (AICs). The members of these churches aim to be Christian without losing their African identity. ATR is a religion that was practised throughout Africa before the arrival of the Western missionaries. The core premise of ATR is the maintenance of African culture and its main feature is loyalty to the ancestors and the accompanying rituals that express this loyalty. This study addresses the appropriateness of ATR’s resources in terms of their contribution to the doctrine of the Trinity. When the early church worshipped God the Father and God the Son (Jesus) in the presence of the Holy Spirit, a tension developed. The questions of monotheism versus polytheism and the nature and position of Jesus within the Trinity were put forward and addressed. The doctrine of the Trinity is uniquely Christian and includes the belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who alone mediates between God and men. There is, on the other hand, an understanding that Africans worship one Supreme Being and venerate ancestors as intermediaries to the one Supreme Being, without clear roles being ascribed to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This article enquires whether the process of Africanisation and contextualisation consciously or unconsciously downgraded Jesus Christ as Mediator who came to reveal who God is and to reconcile humankind to him.

The Plight of the Relative Trinitarian

1988 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Bartel
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The Law ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity ◽  
Traditional Doctrine

According to the Law of Non–Contradiction, no statement and its negation are jointly true. According to many critics, Christians cannot serve both the orthodox faith and the Law of Non–Contradiction: if they hold to the one they must despise the other. And according to an impressive number of these critics, Christians who cling to the traditional doctrine of the Trinity must despise the Law of Non–Contradiction. Augustine's statement of this doctrine poses the problem as poignantly as any.

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