A Compelling Trinitarian Taxonomy: Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theology of the Trinitarian Inversion and Reversion

In trinitarian theology, the problematic place of the Holy Spirit in the taxonomy of the immanent Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) does not seem to correspond to what is revealed in the economy (Father, Holy Spirit and Son). Because of this pneumatological problem, some theologians have abandoned the traditional trinitarian taxonomy. This approach, however, does not provide a finally convincing answer that is consistent with both the biblical witness and the theological tradition. In this article, I argue that Hans Urs von Balthasar's theology of the trinitarian inversion and reversion does provide a convincing answer to the trinitarian taxonomy problem. After supporting my thesis by first referencing the traditional trinitarian taxonomy offered in Augustine's de Trinitate and then examining the possibility of abandoning the taxonomy given by Jürgen Moltmann and Leonardo Boff, I will offer von Balthasar's solution as the most compelling trinitarian taxonomy, especially in light of the ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.     

Leashing God with Levinas: Tracing a Trinity with Levinas

Levinas' ethical metaphysics opens up a nexus of relationships, in the midst of which God becomes accessible as the counterpart of the justice I render to others. Although Levinas refuses a theorising theology which does violence to God, we attempt in this article nonetheless to glimpse the possibility of a divine threesome (leash) which can be articulated in the language of ethical metaphysics. We seek to trace a Trinity, not in Levinas, but with Levinas. We seek to 'leash God with Levinas.'
Thus, we argue the liturgical nature of God . God is utterly 'for-the-other.' The Father, as utterly self-diffusive, is 'for-the-Son', and the Son, as utterly responsive, is 'for-the-Father.' The divine nature ( ousia ) is the ethical reality of 'for-the-other.' Secondly, this one nature ( ousia ) has three distinct hypostases , which need to be understood ethically. The relationship between Father and Son is not the same as the relationship between the Son and the Father. The Father and the Son are the same in that they are essentially 'for-the-other,' bound by a bond or a Spirit of responsibility . Yet, the Son's relation to the Father is responsive, whereas the Father's relation to the Son is initiative or originary. Thus, there is both an identity yet a non-identification of Father and Son. Again, since responsibility is the ethical hypostasis of 'the-other-person-in me,' we might say that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father (cf. John 14:10,11), in a non-identical way, and that it is precisely this perichoresis of the one in the Other which constitutes the hypostasis of each.     

‘Word without Measure’: The (Ir)reducible History of Jesus Christ in John Webster

John Webster's Christology bears a twofold character. First, Webster attends to the particular identity of the Son of God who is and acts in and as Jesus Christ. Second, Webster articulates, in increasing measure, the rootedness of the Word's assumption of the flesh in the Son's eternal relation to Father and the Holy Spirit. Both features of Jesus' history – namely its irreducible particularity and architectural traceability – establish God's self-correspondence: the concrete history of God with us corresponds to God's eternal being and act. Webster's later work accords material priority to the Son's antecedent existence as the second person of the Holy Trinity. I locate the impetus for this shift in Webster's theological construal of history which serves, in turn, to inform and revise the dogmatic task of unfolding Jesus' history. No longer inhibited by a predominately modern view of human history, Webster more readily traces the history of Jesus Christ to the eternal procession of the Son of God.     

'One Commixture of Light': Rethinking some Modern Uses and Critiques of Gregory of Nazianzus on the Unity and Equality of the Divine Persons

Gregory of Nazianzus' doctrine of the Trinity is both a constructive source and an object of critique for Leonardo Boff's account of the Trinity. I argue that Gregory's account of the unity of the Trinity in the monarchy of the Father does not entail the ontological subordination of Son and Spirit nor otherwise obviate the equality of the divine persons. On Gregory's account, the unity and equality of the divine persons is bound up with that of their distinct identities in the very particular modes in which they relate to one another: a unity transcending all human commonality. By contrast, Boff's theology of the Trinity seems to elide the real distinction between God and creatures and erode the differences between the divine persons, so subverting the social programme he derives from his doctrine.     

Sabellianism reconsidered

Sabellianism, the doctrine that the Persons of the Trinity are roles that a single divine being plays either simultaneously or successively, is commonly thought to entail that the Father is the Son. I argue that there is at least one version of Sabellianism that does not have this result and meets the requirements for a minimally decent doctrine of the Trinity insofar as it affirms that each Person of the Trinity is God and that the Trinity of Persons is God while maintaining monotheism without undermining the distinctness of Persons. I am grateful for comments by participants at the Society of Christian Philosophers 2000 meeting and University of San Diego Philosophy colloquium at which earlier versions of this paper were read, and by anonymous referees for this journal.     

God by Any Other Name?

"Father, Son and Holy Spirit" is not a name for God, but a doxological convenience; a mode of reference to the transcendent mystery that is condensed in Jesus' person and work. It therefore ought to be possible to refer to God differently without referring to a different God, to use other "names" for God that are just as true to the triadically structured mystery revealed in the economy of God's salvation. Those who argue that this breaks the semantic link with the narrative of God's incarnation in Jesus Christ neglect the subjective and pneumatological aspect of our address to God.     

The Hidden and Triune God

Luther rightly perceived that God is hidden in his presence. The challenge systematically is to integrate discourse about God's hiddenness with a serious trinitarianism. The attempts by Gregory Palamas and Karl Barth to do just this are judged inadequate. A constructive proposal begins by recognizing that God's hiddenness is an impenetrability of his moral agency in his history with us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, rather than a correlate of God's ontological uniqueness or our creaturely epistemic limitations. God's hiddenness must be thought of in terms of the sheer factuality of God the Father, which limits theodicy; the suffering of the Son, and thus the rejection of idolatry; and the freedom of the Spirit.     

‘From the time he took on the form of a servant’: The Christ's Pilgrimage of Faith

Addressing the pistis christou debate in New Testament studies, this article argues that in the eternal life of the perfect God, the divine Son pleases the Father in the Spirit and, therefore, the divine Son trusts the Father by the Spirit's power during his earthly pilgrimage. It roots soteriology in Christology and shows that the christological account flows forth from the eternal relations of the Trinity. The article concludes by noting implications for dogmatics and exegesis.     

Person and Being: Conversation with T.F. Torrance about the Monarchy of God

In whom is the unified rule of God centred? Does ultimate determination and authority reside with God the Father or is supreme power shared equally by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit? T.F. Torrance's conception of a triune Monarchy, with its differentiated senses of God's Fatherhood, is here expounded and contrasted with Karl Barth's account of command and obedience as integral to God's eternal Being. A brief exegetical study in the Fourth Gospel is also undertaken to seek clarification. The main strengths of Torrance's view are reckoned the unqualified divinity of the Son and Spirit, and their full participation together with the Father in all God's ways and works. A weakness is identified, however, in an under‐determination of the Father's fatherliness. Resolution is then pursued in terms of Person and Being. Although Torrance makes wide‐ranging use of these terms, he does not appear to employ them sufficiently regarding the Monarchy. It is subsequently argued that with respect to Person God the Father is Monarch, while with respect to Being the Three share the Monarchy of God equally and eternally.     

How Revolutionary is the Holy Spirit?

Most theologians agree that the early church neglected the Holy Spirit in formulations of the Trinity, and in recent years, many books have been written to redress this deficiency. Pentecostal theologians are especially invested in recovering a fuller doctrine of the Holy Spirit. These two monographs, one by an established scholar (Steve Studebaker) and the other by a relative newcomer (Andrew Gabriel), are among the best on this topic. Both are unafraid to be critical of Pentecostal theology and both are valuable for their specificity. Gabriel revises the divine attributes of classical theism while Studebaker goes even further by arguing that the Holy Spirit constitutes the Trinity. Neither author is sympathetic to Social Trinitarianism, and Studebaker in particular is critical of Richard of Saint Victor, who is often credited as an early progenitor of the social model. This first complete translation of Richard's treatise on the Trinity, by Ruben Angelici, reveals a radical view of the Holy Spirit and thus needs to be taken seriously by all future discussions of this topic. Richard not only gives the Holy Spirit its own personal identity but also ties the Spirit to God's power of listening, just as the Son is God's Word.     

Trinity,Filioque and Semantic Ascent

It is difficult to reconcile claims about the Father's role as the progenitor of Trinitarian Persons with commitment to the equality of the persons, a problem that is especially acute for Social Trinitarians. I propose a metatheological account of the doctrine of the Trinity that facilitates the reconciliation of these two claims. On the proposed account, ‘Father’ is systematically ambiguous. Within economic contexts, those which characterize God's relation to the world, ‘Father’ refers to the First Person of the Trinity; within theological contexts, which purport to describe intra-Trinitarian relations, it refers to the Trinity in toto-thus in holding that the Son and Holy Spirit proceed from the Father we affirm that the Trinity is the source and unifying principle of Trinitarian Persons. While this account is solves a nagging problem for Social Trinitarians it is theologically minimalist to the extent that it is compatible with both Social Trinitarianism and Latin Trinitarianism, and with heterodox Modalist and Tri-theist doctrines as well. Its only theological cost is incompatibility with the Filioque Clause, the doctrine that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son—and arguably that may be a benefit.

A Cry of Dereliction? Reconsidering a Recent Theological Commonplace

Abstract: The ‘cry of dereliction’ (‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’) has often been understood in recent theology as pointing to a genuine abandonment of the Son by the Father in the event of the cross. Hans Urs von Balthasar's account of this is explored, and exegetical and theological reasons are offered for preferring a more traditional account in which the unity of the Trinity remains unbroken by human sin.     

Christ as Culture 3: Christ as Drama

Abstract: Personal identity cannot exist without narrative coherence – without, that is to say, drama. Two sets of narratives make up the identity of Christ: a narrative of a human being among other human beings; and a narrative of the Son with the Father and the Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity insists that these narratives are the same. A culture is necessarily dramatic: a story of persons and their relationships. Thus Christ may be understood as drama and as culture. This identification has implications for the liturgy of the church.     

Triune Grace

Grace is the favor of God, both the giver and the gift at the same time. In trinitarian understandings of grace, the Father is the ungifted giver; the Son and the Spirit are in different ways the gift. The Son is the external act of grace in humanity; and the Spirit is the internal gift. Both are infused. Although this is essential to Lutheran theology, it is here offered as ecumenical theology.     

God’s Faithfulness and Dementia: Christian Theology in Context

Christian theology concerns the practical, contextual realities of life in the church and the world. What does this mean for a person with dementia? While much dementia care focuses on deficits, this article promotes a different starting point: God’s faithfulness rather than our forgetfulness. Using case studies from residential aged care, opportunities for meaningful pastoral care are explored, inviting us to see in the person with dementia a deep connection with ourselves. Drawn from a theological understanding of God as three persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—“person-centered care” invites us into relationships of mutuality and reciprocity not dependent on words. Pastoral care of families is manifest through personal relationships where all aspects of dementia, including death and dying, can be discussed openly. Grounded in God’s faithfulness, the first and final word is love. Hope lies in the belief that we have already been found. We are blessed by the grace of God, called into community where the insightful and the forgetful flourish together.     

Christ's Love as the Basis of the Church's Faith Witness to Muslims

According to the Christian view, the essence of the triune God is revealed in the relational event between God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible says of this God, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). By way of example, the article explores “God's love” to show that the Qur'an's conception of God is incompatible with key tenets of the New Testament. Thus, when keeping both conceptions of God in view, we cannot speak of one and the same God. Now what does this mean for the pursuit of conciliatory relations between Christians and Muslims? Which relational paradigms need to be kept in mind? After reflecting on the concepts of neighbourliness, companionship, and hospitality, the article goes on to trace the conceptual outlines of Christian mission as a mission of God's love (missio amoris Dei). Its hypothesis is that a characteristically Christian conception of God can supply useful motifs for appreciative and conciliatory actions by Christians toward Muslims. Finally, the author proposes a theology of interreligious relations (which he has elaborated upon elsewhere) as an alternative approach to conventional theologies of religion.     

Integrating Job, Jesus’ Passion, and Buddhist Metta to Bring Meaning to the Suffering and Recovery from Breast Cancer

Coming face-to-face with death was a spiritual crisis. My family and I suffered individually and collectively during my treatment and recovery for locally advanced breast cancer. Like Job, I learned that it takes tremendous energy to ruminate about the causes of suffering and to protest innocence with little gains in wisdom. Wisdom came as I deeply experienced a passion narrative based on the life of Jesus with reference to the psychological benefits as extolled by Wilkes. The grueling experience of treatment for locally advanced breast cancer broke my body and forced me to experience Easter Saturday as I retreated to heal in the tomb. My physical and emotional healing of Easter Saturday included the Buddhist meditation of Metta and guided imagery that involved spiritual healing focussed on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. My reflection on the story of Job, passion journaling and Buddhist meditation enabled me to physically, emotionally, and spiritually heal, even in the midst of chaos.     

Holy Scripture under the Auspices of the Holy Trinity: On John Webster’s Trinitarian Doctrine of Scripture

As he approached the monumental task of writing his own systematic theology, John Webster gave strategic attention to constructing a doctrine of Scripture that was adequate to support such a project. In contrast to some well‐respected modern systematic theologies that got by with less robust bibliologies (those of Pannenberg and Jenson), Webster saw the need to establish from the outset a more fully elaborated doctrine of Holy Scripture. He framed that doctrine of Scripture by appealing above all to his central dogmatic commitment, the doctrine of the Trinity. The trinitarian contours of Webster’s doctrine of Scripture are most conspicuous in his treatment of the missions of the Son and the Spirit. Webster understands the entire Bible as the self‐testimony of the risen Christ (mission of the Son), and explains its cognitive effectiveness in terms of the full range of the work of the Holy Spirit in inspiration and illumination (mission of the Spirit). The trinitarian grounding of his doctrine of Scripture enabled Webster to retrieve the Protestant orthodox doctrine of Scripture’s inspiration.