Augustine’s Use of Principium in De trinitate 1-7

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Ephrem Reese
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Religious Polemic ◽  
The One

AbstractIn his trinitarian theology, Augustine’s use of the term principium undergoes a change which has implications for his political theology. In De trinitate 1-7, the application of this concept to the Father first reflects an earlier usage, which follows a Neoplatonic idea of the divine ἀρχή of the One. However, reflection on scripture and religious polemic force a development, and he gradually abandons the term. While he does not abandon the theological idea of the Father’s special principium, the relations among the divine persons demand a consideration of the principium of the Son in common with the Father, an idea familiar to the debates on filioque. This Augustinian development is like what Erik Peterson identifies in the Cappadocians: a trinitarian theological development which threatens the monarchical political theology that would otherwise appeal to Christian Neoplatonist thinking.

scholarly journals The Trinity: Prototype of Real Existence or Danger to Political Wellbeing? Tanner, Volf, and Yannaras in Conversation

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 998
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cole
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Eastern Orthodox ◽  
Primary Concern ◽  
Real Existence ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
Miroslav Volf ◽  
The One ◽  
Social Trinitarianism ◽  
The Trinity

Kathryn Tanner maintains that political theologies based on the Trinity are not only unsound, but potentially dangerous. Her primary concern is that the Trinity, by definition, cannot serve as a “model” for human socio-political organization. Miroslav Volf, while sharing Tanner’s sense that Trinitarian political theologies are fraught, nevertheless, maintains that the Trinity can serve as a “vision” for human socio-political relations, albeit not as a “program”. This article brings Tanner and Volf into conversation with Eastern Orthodox philosopher-theologian Christos Yannaras, whose Trinitarian political theology regards the Trinity as the “prototype” or “archetype” of a mode of existence in which humans can participate by transcending their natures, with the aim of realizing truth. This article argues that Yannaras offers a novel way of conceptualizing Trinitarian political theology which escapes Tanner and Volf’s criticisms, on the one hand, and offers Social Trinitarianism a fresh and fertile perspective that could advance its discourse.

Genres and Motives

2015 ◽  
pp. 13-63
Author(s):  
Ram Ben-Shalom
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Unified Approach ◽  
Historical Events ◽  
Southern France ◽  
Jewish Historiography ◽  
Religious Polemic ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Christian Discourse

This chapter examines the genres and motives behind Jewish chronology during the Middle Ages. Jewish historiography focused on correlating Jewish chronology, general chronology, and Christian chronology. This was a similar approach to Christian writers. The chapter shows that this correlation of Jewish chronology with Christian and general chronology was one of the many components of medieval Jewish–Christian discourse. On the one hand, this suggests that Jews had a unified approach to history, in which they saw themselves as full participants. On the other, the timing and meaning of historical events were part of the religious polemic with Christianity. Religious polemic and apocalypticism were important reasons why Jewish scholars in Spain and southern France engaged in historiography. Other motives included the moral lessons that could be found in history and intellectual curiosity.

Stasiology (Rothaug, Peterson, Schmitt, Gregory of Nazianzus)

2021 ◽  
pp. 280-300
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Bennington
Keyword(s):  
Political Theology ◽  
The Self ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Doctrine Of The Trinity ◽  
The One ◽  
The Trinity

Beginning with a curious invocation of our line from Homer by one of the defendants at the so-called “Justices Trial” at Nuremberg, the chapter analyses the famous exchange over “political theology” between Carl Schmitt and Erik Peterson. The inconsistencies of Peterson’s argument are brought out, and attention is drawn to the importance of the use he makes in establishing the supposed impossiblity of a Christian political theology of a quotation about the Trinity from Gregory of Nazianzus. Schmitt’s own claim as to a “stasiology” at the heart of the doctrine of the Trinity, that would support the thought of a political theology of Christianity, is shown to rely on an egregious misreading of Gregory’s text, but doubt is nonetheless cast on the ability of that doctrine successfully to solve the problems associated with the self-destructive properties of the One, as more clearly brought out by Derrida.

Hilary of Poitiers’ De Trinitate and the Name(s) of God

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 456-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarmo Toom
Keyword(s):  
Christian Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Hilary Of Poitiers

Abstract“Hilary of Poitiers’ De Trinitate and the Name(s) of God” investigates the implications of the ancient nomos/physis debate to Trinitarian theology. While the Cappadocians, countering Heteroousians, eventually demonstrated that naturalist understanding of naming did not work for Christian theology, Hilary still assumed that it did. Hilary is usually grouped with naturalists who held that names were not arbitrary and conventional impositions, but that they corresponded to the nature of what they designated. Yet, there are several complications with such a grouping, because not all naturalists (e.g., Cratylus, Stoics, Origen, Eunomius) say the same thing, focus on same issues, have theological interest in names, or agree with Hilary. Accordingly, this paper will argue that Hilary can be called a “naturalist” only in a qualified sense.

scholarly journals Prawoznawstwo — polityczność nauki czy nauka polityczności?

2017 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 41-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Zajadło
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Personal Choice ◽  
Philosophy Of Law ◽  
Nazi Regime ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
The Chairs

JURISPRUDENCE — THE POLITICAL OF SCIENCE OR SCIENCE OF THE POLITICAL?Considering the main subject of XXII Congress of the Chairs of Theory and Philosophy of Law the author tries to answer the following question: “Jurisprudence — the political of science or science of the political?”. His answer is clear — we need the latter and not the former. In the article the concepts of „politics”, „political” and „politization” are treated synonymously.The problem is presented on the background of Carl Schmitt’s political philosophy. In the author’s opinion after 1933 Schmitt has balanced between these two attitudes the political of science or science of the political because of his methodology political theology on the one hand, and of his personal choice support for Nazi regime on the other.In the last part of the article are formulated some conclusions — learned from Schmitt’s lesson and concerning the constitutional crisis in Poland.

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 Idea of a Political Theology, I.

Worldview ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-7
Author(s):  
J. Bryan Hehir
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Contemporary Culture ◽  
Modem World ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

There is a dimension of Catholic thought rooted in the Vatican Council that extends beyond it in a way that could have significant implications for the Church's role in the political order. The basis for a political theology lies in the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modem World; the purpose of this document was to reformulate the perspective in which the Church understood and evaluated contemporary culture and defined her rote in it. Many observers have singled out this document as the one with the greatest potential for shaping the long-range development of the Catholic Church.

Trump and Political Theology: Unmaking Truth and Democracy

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-300
Author(s):  
Jack David Eller
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

For millennia, a fundamental question of culture and law has been the relationship between religion and ruler, or more recently between church and state. Although the term “political theology” was not always known, the question remained and was answered in various ways: theocracy, the divine right of kings, the mandate of heaven, the rule of jurists, and so forth. Almost a century ago, Carl Schmitt revived political theology and reshaped it into a less theological and more political subject with his famous notions of sovereignty and the exception. Schmitt highlighted the eternal struggle between power or authority on the one hand and positive law and political institutions on the other, arguing that law can never entirely legitimize or constrain power or authority and that the real site and source of law is the moment of exception and of “the decision.” Trump and Political Theology applies this Schmittian lens to Donald Trump, an exceptional president who seems to use his executive and decision-making power to flaunt law and truth, to cripple and discredit institutions, and to bend reality to his will. The book considers first whether Trump is an aspiring Schmittian sovereign and therefore a threat to democracy. But it goes beyond Trump and Trumpism to critique and rethink political theology in the light of contemporary, especially populist and authoritarian, politics. Finally, it compels us to critique and rethink theology itself as a tool for understanding and organizing politics and society, restoring the relevance of myth and ritual and of pre-Christian and non-Christian characters like the shaman and the trickster for modern politics and social theory.

The Hymn to the One in Augustine’s De Trinitate IV

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Bochet ◽  
Keyword(s):  
De Trinitate ◽  
The One
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document