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.

Divine Perfection and Human Potentiality

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarred A. Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Divine Perfection ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
Actual Contribution ◽  
Hilary Of Poitiers ◽  
Human Potentiality

No figure of fourth-century Christianity seems to be both so well known and clouded in mystery as Hilary of Poitiers. His invaluable position historically is unquestioned, but the coherence and significance of his own thought is less certain. While scholars have worked to renew Hilary’s place within his historical and polemical context, much remains to be said concerning his actual contribution within these revised contextual parameters, and the overall shape of his thought remains obscure. This book provides a new paradigm for understanding Hilary’s De Trinitate. It contends that in all of Hilary’s polemical and constructive argumentation, which is essentially trinitarian, he is inherently developing an anthropology. This work therefore reinterprets Hilary’s overall theological project in terms of the continual, and for him necessary, anthropological corollary of trinitarian theology—to reframe it in terms of a “trinitarian anthropology.” The coherence of Hilary’s work depends upon this framework, and without it his thought will continue to elude his readers. The book demonstrates this by following Hilary’s main lines of trinitarian argument, out of which flows his anthropological vision. These main lines of argument, divided into the book’s chapters, unfold into a progressive picture of humanity from potentiality to perfection. This work will also aid those seeking a more precise picture of fourth-century polemical controversy through trenchant examination of the theologies involved and the philosophical and historical influences acting upon them. The book also places the controversy in the context of its theological heritage, providing a helpful guide to previous Christian thought.

Including Multiculturalism, Social Justice, and Peace within the Integration of Psychology and Theology: Barriers and a Call to Action

2020 ◽  
pp. 009164712097498
Author(s):  
John M. McConnell ◽  
Vincent Bacote ◽  
Edward B. Davis ◽  
Eric M. Brown ◽  
Christin J. Fort ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Clinical Work ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Research Education ◽  
Education Training

Multiculturalism, social justice, and peace are important aspects of the Christian faith. However, scholars in the literature seeking to integrate psychology and Christian theology have underrepresented them. In this present article, we review barriers to including them in our psychology–theology integration literature. Thereafter, we provide a trinitarian theology of multiculturalism, social justice, and peace with a hope that theological knowledge will help Christian psychologists begin to overcome barriers and to move this body of literature forward. We also offer implications for scholarship/research, education/training, and clinical work.

The Anti-Arian Campaigns of Hilary of Poitiers and the “Liber Contra Auxentium”

1992 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel H. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Early Christianity ◽  
Asia Minor ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
The West ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Hilary Of Poitiers ◽  
Constantius Ii

Few historians of early Christianity would dissent from the view that Hilary of Poitiers was the west's most able and articulate anti-Arian apologist of the 360s. In the course of this bishop's exile in Asia Minor (356–360) and return to the west, there is evidence of a substantial literary activity, most of which was circulated soon after his death and survives to the present day. Works such as his letters to the emperor Constantius II, expecially the so-called In Constantium, his collected dossier against Valens and Ursacius, and his theological treatises De synodis and De trinitate, attained for this once obscure bishop from Gaul a position of preeminence in the minds of the next generation of anti-Arians.

A theological reading of Hilary's ‘autobiographical’ narrative in De Trinitate I.1–19

2006 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 249-262
Author(s):  
Carl Beckwith
Keyword(s):  
Christian Faith ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Hilary Of Poitiers ◽  
Mystery Of God ◽  
Autobiographical Narrative

Hilary of Poitiers begins his treatise De Trinitate with what appears to be an autobiographical narration of his journey to the Christian faith. Scholars, though taking different approaches to explain this narration, have overlooked its significance for Hilary's treatise. In the following essay, I argue that Book I is a reflection on sources of knowledge about God, the role of faith and reason in theological inquiry, the proper approach to scripture, and the soteriological context of any discussion on the mystery of God. These methodological reflections guide the reader through Hilary's treatise and make Book I crucial to understanding his purpose in De Trinitate.

Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Tarmo Toom
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
John 1 ◽  
De Trinitate ◽  
Hilary Of Poitiers

AbstractThis article studies the role of theological preunderstanding in interpreting the text of Scripture in the middle of the fourth century CE. It investigates Hilary of Poitier’s use of Scripture in Trinitarian controversies, his hermeneutical approach in his

The Divine Ideas Tradition in Christianity

2021 ◽  
pp. 12-40
Author(s):  
Mark A. McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Multiple Roles ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Trinitarian Theology ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Christian Thought

We can understand the multiple roles that the divine ideas tradition played in the history of Christian thought by beginning with an analogy: as a great author draws upon her own consciousness and self-understanding to give life to all the realities within the world of her novels, in an analogous way, the divine ideas teaching holds, God’s eternal and infinite knowing and loving of Godself is the creative exemplar or archetype for the existence of every creature in time, and also the intelligible form or idea by which the truth of every creature may be known. Intensifying the transformation of Plato’s forms by the Middle Platonists, Augustine grounds the divine ideas firmly within Trinitarian theology. We can trace the role of the divine ideas across the full range of Christian doctrines as well as in its influence upon the mystical or contemplative dimension of Christian theology.

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