Preamble
Over the past few decades there has been much written, from both Catholic and Protestant perspectives, on the doctrine of the Trinity . The consensus among these various writings has been that, although the doctrine is important and central to the Christian faith and theology, it has been neglected and made obscure, and has become a complex and theological technical term . This obscurity renders the doctrine of the Trinity impossible to understand or apply to ordinary life.
Karl Rahner in his observations insists that modern Christians are ‘almost mere “monotheists”’, only paying lip service to the doctrine of Trinity but lacking in the actual practices . Rahner’s observation has been widely acknowledged with the desire being to make a change .
The need to place the doctrine of the Trinity at the heart of Christianity would be considered the epistemological and methodological safe ground upon which other doctrines are based. Since Júrgen Moltmann’s book The Trinity and the Kingdom of God was published in 1980, the propagation of a social understanding of God has gained propulsion. Kilby says that such an understanding has become the new
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In this dialogue, I will be reflecting on the pastoral reflective book, Holy Trinity, Perfect Community by Boff, his previous Book Trinity and Society and Church: Chrism and Power. As well as the work of Miroslav Volf in his book After Our Likeness – The Church as the Image of the Trinity and his essay ‘The Trinity is our Social Programme’ .
2.1 The Trinity as a Model for Humans: Boff and Volf’s Theological
Finally, his call to know and experience God in a “vitally Trinitarian” way by the Spirit captures the very essence of Paul’s ministry and encapsulates the entire thesis of the book.
Over the centuries, Christianity has organised its beliefs into a systematic theology that draws from its sacred writing and tradition. While the main beliefs of Christianity are shared by all Christian variants, there are degrees of different in the interpretation of these beliefs and how they are lived out in everyday life. This can be seen in the important of sacred text, principle belief of the concept of salvation in John 3:16, principle belief of divine and humanity in ‘John 1:14’, principle belief of resurrection in ‘Mark 16:1-8’, principle belief of revelation in ‘1 corinthians14:6’, and beliefs through the Trinity in ‘2 Corinthians 13:14’. This essay will explain the important of the sacred text and the principal beliefs of Christianity.
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
Henry, M. (2003). I am the truth: toward a philosophy of Christianity. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press.
The Christian worldview, also categorized under theism, is highly recognized and held by many. This is the belief that there is a single, personal, and relational God who is the creator of all things, this includes a belief in morality and the afterlife. This paper will discuss important aspects and key characters in the Christian worldview, including God and His plan for His children, humanity and the Fall, and Jesus’ role in restoration.
Saint Augustine, one of the best scholars of the early church, portrayed the Trinity as practically identical to the three sections of an individual: personality, soul, and will. They are three unmistakable viewpoints, yet they are conjoined and together constitute one bound together individual. The purpose of this research paper is to further emphasize, highlight, and defend St. Augustine’s conclusion that the Holy Trinity is one God existing in three persons according to the meeting at the Council of Nicea 325.
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.
Stephen Seamands proffers a Trinitarian description of Christian Ministry as the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Son, to the Father, through the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the church and the world. The author seems to presume that many in the Christian faith have not adequately observed or applied the doctrine of the Trinity significantly in the vocation of ministry. It is with this perception that he postulates a Trinitarian approach of ministry that emphasizes communion with God shaping our language about God to shape our heart so we might share in the life of God. In arriving at his conclusions, Seamands uses well-grounded Scriptural foundations, along with a descriptive of the Icon of the Holy Trinity painted in 1425 by a Russian Monk, Andrei Rublev, including the historical significance that is traced back to the Enlightenment, and the findings of renowned theologians beginning with Karl Barth. The preponderance of evidence provided supports the author’s contention that the grammar of the Christian faith and life is rooted in the doctrine of the Trinity having created the current Trinitarian renaissance.
The Trinity consists of God, the Father, Jesus, the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. The Christian faith recognizes there is one God and He is one with His Son, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The purpose of this essay is to describe the interrelationship of the three persons of the Trinity. This will include the concepts of the economic trinity, the essential trinity and the social trinity.
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.
“Christians, for all their orthodox profession of faith in the Trinity, are almost just monotheist in their actual religious experience. One might almost dare to affirm that if the doctrine of the Trinity were to be erased as false, most religious literature could be preserved almost unchanged throughout the process.”
The Trinity is a doctrine that has and will continue to bring much controversy to the Christian faith. Yet it is important to understand that a practical approach to this topic can be very important. Having a full understanding of the Trinity is vital to the life of a Christian. The distinct, yet interwoven aspects of God’s character will affect every aspect of a believer’s life.
Mary Ann Fatula’s The Triune God of Christian Faith provides for the reader the inner life of God as well as insight into the human reality. Fatula’s writing draws the devotional discussion of the Trinity as the present-day effect of the Trinitarian faith is called to support attempts to articulate and live the Trinitarian mystery. The Trinity in a human’s life is the content of our definition of our human meaning and for an infinite gift: love. Each of us has a desire for achieving meaning, for love, and for wholeness. Fatula in her book develops the study of the divine ‘persons’ and states the importance of understanding what it is to be truly a ‘person’ of both human and divine potential.
The first fundamental claims of the Catholic intellectual tradition tackles and answers this question of what is our relationship with God. It mentions that all human beings exist in a relation to a triune God which is also known as the Trinity. This Trinity is known as one God in three