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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Kimbanguism: Its Present Christian Doctrine and the Problems Raised by it

Exchange ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon Nguapitshi Kayongo
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The World ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Participant Observer ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Trinity

AbstractAlthough the present publication does completely meet the requirements for an academic article, we have decided to publish it because of the insights it provides into the latest developments within the Kimbanguist Church in Congo. The author is a theologian who was Dean of the Kimbanguist Faculty of Theology in Lutendele near Kinshasa until mid 2003. He was deeply involved in the problems that arose in the beginning of the 21st century. He is also a person who is able to explain diligently the views of the different parties in the Kimbanguist Church. However, due to his own involvement in these developments the article has rather the character of a document written by a well-educated participant observer, who is very familiar with his subject, than that of a publication authored by a scholar who does his utmost to remain neutral.The document explains the theological, religious and contextual backdrops of the doctrine of the Trinity developed in the Kimbanguist Church, for in this church the persons of the Trinity are narrowly connected with the founder of the church and his family. Since 2001 these connections were even made more intense. Interestingly there are some Biblical reasons for it as well, but nonetheless the church seems to loose doctrinal familiarity with the other churches in the world through these new evolutions.

scholarly journals The Whole Nature Of God In The Predestination Dilemma

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 14-31
Author(s):  
Pangeran Manurung
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
The Core ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Attributes Of God ◽  
The One

The problem in this paper lies in the polemic that arises in the understanding of double predestination, especially regarding the theological dilemmas in it. On the one hand, God is described as a cruel and inhuman God when only choosing some people to be saved, and on the other hand Christian doctrine recognizes that God does indeed choose some people to love. The purpose of writing this essay is to prove that a comprehensive approach can reduce theological dilemmas and conflicts when discussing the formulation of predestination. The research method used is literature study, by describing the core of Calvin's double predestination and reviewing it by involving the interrelated attributes of God. The results of this study prove that when the concept of predestination is reviewed by involving the attributes of God as a whole, it appears that God cannot be called an arrogant God when choosing humans in the project of salvation.

scholarly journals The Synaxarion Redaction of the Life of St. Alexander Svirsky: A Reconstruction of the Early Stages of the Text History

Slovene ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-183
Author(s):  
Alexandra E. Soboleva
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
The Other ◽  
Holy Trinity ◽  
The Third ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

The paper addresses the problems of the attribution and the geographical and chronological origins of the synaxarion redaction of the Life of St. Alexander Svirsky; it relies on textological, codicological, and palaeographic analysis of the surviving manuscripts. The author draws some conclusions about the formation of the regional variants of this medieval hagiographic text. Alexander Svirsky was the only Christian saint who was honored by receiving a manifestation of the Holy Trinity; this occurred in 1508. He founded the monastery of the Holy Trinity and was its archpriest until his dormition in 1533. The Life of Alexander Svirsky was written in 1545 by Herodion Kochnev, one of the saint’s acolytes, at the directive of Metropolitan Macarius for the Great Menaion Reader. The Life of St. Alexander Svirsky survives in a large number of copies— about 200—from the 16th and 17th centuries. Only nine of these copies show the text variant that the author of this study calls “the synaxarion variant”; they appear in synaxaria from the second half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries. Word-by-word text comparison allows one to conclude that these nine copies fall into three different redactions, each reflecting Herodion’s text. All three redactions originate from different areas, and they differ in subject matter and in the methods of elaboration of the Menaion text. On the one hand, this confirms that obviously there was a great need for this kind of text; on the other hand, it acknowledges the absence of a norm by means of which such texts might be compiled. The first, earliest, synaxarion redaction survives in seven copies, including one of the earliest copies of the Life, which dates back to 1549, according to a note by the scribe. It might have been created soon after Herodion’s text for the Great Menaion Reader to coincide with Alexander’s canonization in 1547. Despite the small number of surviving copies, this redaction was rather widespread and was known in Pskov and Novgorod, in the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, and probably in Romanov. The other two redactions were found in late, isolated copies. The second synaxarion redaction is known from the Vologda Synaxarion, and the third one—from the Synaxarion delivered from Moscow to Mozhaysk.

scholarly journals Mysterious Bodies: Aristotelian Animal Generation and the Early Christian Doctrine of Bodily Resurrection

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-169
Author(s):  
Anne Siebels Peterson ◽  
Brandon Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Bodily Resurrection ◽  
The One ◽  
Spiritual Body ◽  
The Relationship

In the fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul makes a number of philosophically mysterious claims about the relationship between the ‘earthly’ body and the resurrected or ‘spiritual’ body. To what extent do these claims reflect themes present in Aristotle’s own views on the relationship between matter and organism? We will argue that Aristotle’s understanding of the relationship between matter and organism already reflects a commitment to the two central claims that Paul takes to be definitive of the relationship between earthly and spiritual body. On the one hand, Paul insists that the earthly body is not itself the resurrected or spiritual body, but only a seed that is sown for the latter. Further separating the earthly from the spiritual body, he compares their distinction to the distinction between the bodies of different animals. On the other hand, the chapter ends with language of continuity between the earthly and the spiritual body. Precisely this seeming conflict is present in Aristotle’s analysis of animal generation. Whereas many interpretations of Aristotle’s analysis privilege one side of the conflict over the other, I will argue that both must be equally privileged, yielding a parallel between the cases of animal generation in Aristotle and bodily resurrection in early Christianity.

scholarly journals Pozycja człowieka w przyrodzie – osobliwe zwierzę

2011 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 23-50
Author(s):  
Zdzisław Kieliszek
Keyword(s):  
Philosophical Problem ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
Living Nature ◽  
The One

The question: who is the man? seems to be the very important philosophical problem. This question focuses many different problems of the philosophy. Recently we have another form of this question: is the man only an animal? The development and results of the biology lead us to the statement – the man is the only one of many elements of the nature, wholly connected with the world. The analysis of the human way of being presents us, that the man is really the part of the nature, but he has the special status in the world. On the one hand he has many features with dead and living nature, especially with the apes. On the other hand the man has the certain attributes and abilities, which have no equivalent in the world of plants and animals. We can say the man belongs to the nature and he steps over it. He is a very peculiar species because he can control his animal nature.

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