Goals of the Course
Since our object is the God revealed to us by Jesus Christ:
1. We need to transcend and break out of that mindset described by Karl
Rahner: “…despite their orthodox confession of the Trinity, Christians are, in their
practical life, almost mere ‘monotheists’” (The Trinity, 10).
For many Christians, their understanding of the incarnation might be
more “modalistic.” (Modalism is the heresy that "Father," "Son" and
"Holy Spirit" are not really distinct Persons, but only "modes" by which
the one Essence revealed itself in history. So, for example, the "Son"
revealed in the NT is none other than the "God" revealed in the OT; God
simply "put on a different 'face'," so to speak.)
Therefore, if we want to form the mind of the people we serve in the
proper understanding of the faith, we will need to begin with ourselves.
This means our faith will need to be more Trinitarian rather than merely
monotheistic.
Christians are "Trinitarian monotheists."
2. We need to rediscover the roots and meaning of our belief in the
Trinity in the biblical narratives.
The doctrine of the Trinity begins with a concrete history (“salvation
history”) and with a particular face = Jesus of Nazareth. David
Cunningham says: “Despite its reputation for being a highly abstract
teaching, the doctrine of the Trinity arose from a concrete historical
problem.”
That "problem" is Jesus: Who is he? What are we to make of him?
During his public ministry, people were already asking this, so much so
that Jesus asked his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" Three
centuries later, in the 300s AD, Arius asked the same question: Who is
this "logos"?
We cannot answer this question without recourse to the Bible. Belief
in the Trinity arose from the personal history of Jesus. At the same time,
we see that the story of Jesus can be told only as the story of the Trinity:
the Father and the Holy Spirit inseparable from Jesus.
Former LST professor, Danny Huang SJ, says: “The doctrine of the
Trinity is the grammar by which we can tell the story of Jesus correctly.”
3. We need to rediscover the Trinity as a saving and re-creating
mystery.
Theology distinguishes between the Trinity in se (“immanent”) and
the Trinity pro nobis (“economic”). Note: This distinction is only
conceptual because, of course, there is only one Trinity.
But while the distinction is theologically useful, it can lead (or has led)
to a greater emphasis on God’s inner life (e.g., how to understand
“begetting” or “spirating”).
These questions are important: They emerged in Christian history out
of a real desire to understand God. 1 Pet 3:15, “Always be prepared to
make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is
in you….” However, there is a real danger of (as Leonardo Boff puts it)
reducing the mysterium salutis to a mere mysterium logicum. (We
sacrifice the "mystery of salvation" -- which is what the Trinity ultimately
is -- to merely a "mystery of logic.")
4. We need to learn to “speak rightly” of God/the Trinity.
Faced with various early heresies, Christian tradition gradually and
painstakingly developed an understanding of and language for the
Triune God. It developed an arsenal of orthodox teaching that is
conceptually and terminologically precise. For example: How different
are “God in three persons” and “God with three persons”?
True, we acknowledge the “great poverty from which our language
suffers” (St. Augustine) with regards to speaking of the Trinity. Yet we
must strive for “accountable speech of God” (Walter Kasper) so we can
teach others rightly about God, and so we can pray rightly to God (lex
credendi, lex orandi).
5. We want to “pray rightly” to God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Although this is not a course on Christian spirituality or prayer,
theology about the Trinity should not be separated (at the risk of reaping
disastrous results) from prayer to the Trinity. Rightly did John Paul II
observe that, all too often, theologians today speak much about God but
hardly to God.
An ancient Christian writer, probably Evagrius, wrote: “If you are a
theologian, you will truly pray; and if you truly pray, you are a
theologian.” (On Prayer, PG 79, 1180)
St. Gregory Nazianzen (4th century bishop, Church Father, one of the
"Cappadocian Fathers") in his Dogmatic Poems 31, gives a beautiful
example of the happy marriage of theology and prayer:
Glory to God the Father, and to the Son, King of the
universe.
Glory to the Spirit, worthy of praise and all holy.
The Trinity is one God who created and filled all things:
the heavens with heavenly beings, the earth with
creatures of earth,
the sea, the rivers and springs with creatures of the
waters,
giving life to all things by his Spirit,
that all creatures might sing the praises of their wise
Creator,
who alone gives life and sustains all life in being.
Above all others, let the creature who reasons celebrate
him always
as the great King and good Father.
