On The Trinity Chapter 8 Summary

In the Confessions by Saint Augustine, this great philosopher experiences many problems and emotions related to sin and evil. As a boy, he often felt darkness, blindness, and confusion while attempting to find rest in God. Augustine started out in childhood with a restless heart because he had to live in two different worlds. These worlds consisted of his mother’s Christian faith, and the world of everything else. These two worlds confused and disturbed Augustine as a child. Augustine’s father was pagan and his mother was Christian, and they both wanted him to be very successful in the world. As he became confused, he began asking questions that could not be answered such as, “Humans often feel restless, but what is it they need to feel at

You prompt us yourself to find satisfaction in appraising you, since you made us tilted toward you, and our heart is unstable until stabilized in you. Quintessentially, this quote from Confessions symbolizes Augustine’s perilous journey towards Christianity. Although appearing earlier in what is colloquially known as the “first autobiography”, Augustine expounds on this very idea throughout his writings. Whether that includes his attraction and disdain for Manichaeism or his affinity with Neo-Platonism, one could argue this quote acted as the foundation of his inquisitions of these pre-modern dogmatic sects. Augustine, despite his perils with intellectual paradoxes, sought to understand these rigid entities that seemed to have variant

Masaccio’s famous religious painting, “The Holy Trinity”, is known for the engagement of linear perspective to create an image that goes beyond just paint on canvas, (or should I say wall?) by creating the illusion of depth. This painting addresses many religious concepts by setting up different levels and layers in the constructed space. The characters depicted are made up of four groups of human figures, which include the Trinity (God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), the Virgin Mary and Saint John, a pair of donors, and a skeleton on a tomb at the bottom of the picture. There is an apparent point of separation, which is made clear due to each group being on separate levels. Their difference in power is fundamental feature in

Outline the development of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity from the New Testament Church to the Nicene Creed.

At the center of the Christian faith is a mystery. This mystery has everything to do with the identity of God, the nature of Christian community, the salvation history and our understanding of Christology. This is the mystery of the Trinity – how is the Godhead fully three persons, and yet one nature? Theophilus was the first to name the ‘triad’ nature of God in his letter To Autolycus in 170 A.D. Tertullian was the first to offer terminology to describe this mystery in Against Praxeas claiming “the Trinity” involved three ‘persons’ of one substance. This theology emerged from the Biblical witness, even though scripture offers no doctrine of the Trinity itself. Even more so, the development of the doctrine of the Trinity grew from the early church’s worship, witness and corporate experience. When faced with a mystery, heresies can’t help but emerge. Docetism and Arianism, Adoptionism and Monarchianism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism are just a few of the heresies that emerged in attempts to explain away the mystery. And yet, theologians from the second century to the twenty-first century are faced with the challenge of witnessing to this mystery in both the theologia and the oikonomia of the Trinity. The church experiences the economic Trinity as new believers are drawn into Trinitarian community through an ongoing

Bonhoeffer, Dietrick. The Cost of Discipleship, New York,NY 10022: The Macmillan Company, Published 1959. 344 pp. $1.95

The Trinity in Christian culture is a belief that God is represented in three major forms. In various works of art to include more plainly; The Trinity by Agnolo Gaddi. God is shown in his three most popular forms. God the Father, God the Son known to be Jesus Christ, and God the Holy spirit in the form of a white dove. This painting was done between ca. 1390-1396 by has mentioned before Agnolo Gaddi. Gaddi is from Florence, Italy and is the son of Taddeo Gaddi and the grandson of Gaddo Gaddi whom are all famous painters. Agnolo Gaddi died in 1396. Before his death he is said to have done a few popular pieces to include: Virgin Mary in the Prato Cathedral, Madonna Enthroned with Saint and Angels, and Coronation of the Virgin. His final

In conversation with Daniel Migliore give an account of what it means to confess that God is triune. Give care to an explication of “economic and immanent trinity,” and perichoresis.

The essential trinity focuses on the relationship of the Son and Holy Spirit within God Himself. Augustine of Hippo taught the basis of essential trinity using his analysis of love: to love, there must be a lover, a beloved and their sharing a mutual love. On this basis of his psychological analogy, Augustine argues for a threefold understanding of the Godhead, in terms of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (McGrath, pg 195). Augustine states that just as there are three entities of the mind, there can be three persons of God.

Gender can be described as “the social attributes associated with being a woman or a man in a particular society” (Woodward, 2000, pp.47) A person’s gender is then determined by their sex which is “a biological classification”. (Woodward, 2000, pp.47) As gender is a social attribute the identities of people of different genders vary from society to society. For example, in many religions, women do not have place in the rituals of the religion as it is simply only for men to do. (Chryssides and Geaves, 2013, pp.331) As religions were formed in certain cultures this shows a clear divide caused by gender roles based on the cultural origin of the religion but also shows that this has an impact on the identities of the male and female members of the religion. This being that the males feel they have more authority over the females of the religion.

As a result, fellowship, prayer, Bible study, worship, and most importantly salvation in its purest form can be discerned and acted upon correctly. In addition, a further understanding can be thus gained regarding the person of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Finally, heresies and heretical groups or beliefs can lead God’s followers astray from the truth and create an improper understanding, and thus relationship with God. Positions past and present have, and are, attempting to mislead Christians about the Trinity. A skewed view of the Trinity can result in a view of God as either divinely apart from creation or simply a better version of all the best attributes of humans. Some positions even take away from the Divinity of Jesus Christ. All of these views severely diminish who God is and alters a proper and true relationship and worship. It is a necessity that these errant views be exposed as a hindrance to God in order not to mislead God’s followers. Likewise a Biblically sound explanation of the Trinity is needed. As a result, a true and pure knowledge of the concept of the Trinity is crucially needed to understand God and be obedient to the Bible.

The idea of the hero in Greco-Roman culture was integrated into the idea of the saint (in the process of conversion and totalization) by way of Christianity's adoption of and ancestry in the Greco-Roman culture. As Professor Ambrosio indicates, "The need and the search for meaning is shared by all human beings" (Hero or Saint Saul of Tarsus). Thus, it is no surprise to find that a pagan Greco-Roman title is applicable to a Christian whose virtue is viewed as greater than that of ordinary men just as the hero is viewed as greater (in fame, bravery, strength) than ordinary men. The fact that two of early Christianity's most heroic figures (St. Paul and St. Augustine) were Roman makes this integration even less surprising. This paper will discuss the way in which the hero is integrated into the idea of the saint by comparing Saul of Tarsus with Augustine of Hippo two men who underwent a conversion and rose to "heroic" or "saintly" heights in terms of Christian virtue.

Feminist theory and Christian worldview can be integrated but to what extent? Too much emphasis on the abstract, detached mind leads us astray. To be fully human does not require sex or gender but it does require God’s image. That, it seems, does not disappear with gender or sex, for both God and the angels are personal yet without sex or gender. As such, the thin essential properties of humanity, being rooted in God’s creative work, remain forever whereas the human cultural creations of gender and sex do not. In the beginning we are sexed and gendered (Genesis). In the end, we are neither (Galatians), hence the solution to the apparent contradiction of the Christian scriptures on gender.

Women reflect the glory of man and must cover their heads during public worship according to St. Paul.

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, was one of the greatest philosophers of the roman period. He was raised in a religiously divided home, but through time he found his own truth. He was always an excellent student. He fully mastered the Latin language, however, he never did well with Greek. Saint Augustine was also a man who had a way with words. After his teenage rebellious stage, he found an unorthodox religious group that he decided to become involved with for a while. He traveled the area and ended up staying in Milan for a while. This is where he met Bishop Ambrose and began to listen to his teachings. This caused for Augustine think about his life and ultimately converted him to Christianity. After converting, he wrote books such as: Confessions, The City of God, and De Doctrinia (On Christian Doctrine), along with many others. Saint Augustine was and still is a great Christian influence in the world today.