“Christian theology begins, continues and ends with the inexhaustible mystery of God (Migliore, 2014 p. 66).” As said by McGrath (2011, pg. 234), “the Doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most difficult aspects of Christian Theology” to understand. It is a common experience in modern church life to hear God referred to as God, one in nature, comprised of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Anatolios, Khaled, 2011). For many modern Christian’s, despite being deeply written into Jesus’ commands and promises, The Trinity is often disregarded or not engaged with, due to the challenges in understanding it in all of its complexity. Yet the Trinity remains an immensely important doctrine of the Christian Faith (McGrath, 2011). Understanding …show more content…
In seeking further understanding of God, it is important that we acknowledge that our vocabulary and language cannot do justice to the Creator. “Can the human mind ever hope to comprehend something which must ultimately lie beyond its ability to enfold? (McGrath, 2011 p. 234).” Exactly how God intended for humanity to understand the relationship between Father, Son and Spirit continue to be a topic of debate. In this paper, the Doctrine of the Trinity, how it was understood in the early church and how it is applied and relevant to modern church life will be explored in an attempt to further seek understanding of the nature of the …show more content…
The group of men consisted of Basil the Great (330-379), who was the bishop of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa (335-395), who was Basil’s younger brother and the bishop of Nyssa and their close friend, Gregory of Nazianzus (329-389), who was the Patriarch of Constantinople (Beagon, 1995). The Cappadocian Father’s made way in revealing Christ to a culture that had been shaped by the ideas of Plato and Aristotle (Greek Philosophers). The Fathers played a significant role in the contributions to the Trinity, the discussions that took place at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 (Beagon,
This essay will examine the effect of the early Christian heresies, Gnosticism and Arianism, on the construction of the orthodox Christian position on the nature of Jesus. Firstly, it will discuss the merits of each heresy, why they were popular in their respective time periods, and their weaknesses. Secondly, it will examine the similarities and differences between each heresy and the orthodox position. Lastly, it will evaluate how each heresy contributed to the development of the orthodox Christian position, that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human.
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...
In order to substantiate Orthodox triadology, there was an emergent necessity for St. Basil to develop a clear and understandable terminology. The most plausible of historical and philosophical sources that the saint used in the doctrine of differentiating between “essence” and “hypostases” by the so-called generic principle, is the “Introduction” of Porphyry of Tyre, who was a Neoplatonic philosopher, and “Categories” of Aristotle. In the understanding of “essence” (as opposed to the terms Aristotle used, while this term was used by Gregory of Nyssa), there is a place for orthodox stoic character. St. Basil characterized God’s essence using the ideas of community, identity, unity and simplicity, and yet God’s essence is still not comprehensible. The prelate says that the Father’s “hypostasis” has a distinctive characteristic—“fatherhood,” Son—“sonship,” and Holy Spirit—“...
The Bible never makes of the specific reference of the trinity, the Bible does talk about the divine existence of each of the three members of the Trinity, God (The Father), The Son (Jesus Christ), and the Spirit (The Holy Spirit). It is still a complex idea for me to understand fully but scripture does indeed tell of the work and existence of the trinity.
However, the latter is the integral way toward humanity’s flourishing in God. In mythology, we ought to understand the different steps of the theogonical process in the light of the increasing truth of the symbols of God. In revealed religion, the concern is not so much around our images of God as in a sense they cannot be improved. Rather, we must care about how much these images are interiorized. In mythology the images of the divine become more and more spiritual as we better imagine God, where in revealed religion to do the same does not bring new images but rather deepen our relationship with them. In other words, Christians do not ever get to move past the image of God as the Holy Trinity, but can develop an ever better communion with the transcendent by deepening their understanding of this symbol of the divine. In other words, they can always re-imagine the Trinity, this way developing the metaphorical bridge between the symbol and God and renewing the life of their relationship with
The trinity is perhaps one of the more complicated, and possibly confusing, doctrines found in Scripture concerning Deity (the Godhead). It is a doctrine that is fully embraced by some who claim to be Christians, while others deny it whole heartedly. Islam, which claims to worship Yahweh (they do not), vehemently denies the idea of the trinity; they claim that to believe such is to embrace polytheism (the belief in multiple gods). With much confusion in the religious world regarding this matter, it is important to look to the Bible, which is the source of truth (John 17:17), to find what the truth is regarding the trinity.
When Cyril was born in 376 AD, he would not be the first member of his family to become a significant leader in the early church. His own uncle, Theophilus, was the Pope of Alexandria at the time, predecessor to Cyril. Cyril finally did take over leadership, despite the opinions of some area politicians (Litfin, 2007), at a turbulent time in Christianity, both in Alexandria and around the Christian world. Growing dissention and violence were rearing their heads between Christian and pagan leaders, and amongst different groups within the church itself. In a sad blemish on his legacy, Cyril did not end this tradition. Soon after coming to power, he proceeded to drive out the Jewish population from Alexandria. Not much later, his followers murdered a popular Neo-Platonist philosopher named Hypatia, stirring up intense controversy between opposing religious sects of the city (Butler, 2003). These controversies would sev...
For Christians it is impossible to comprehend all of God’s mysteries, all of God’s plans, all of God’s desires, abilities, mercies, and blessings. It’s impossible to comprehend all of God. This is the price they pay for serving a divine God of infinitive complexity. Even when he spells it out for them, as he did with creating the bible, the human mind is incapable of understanding how God works. Since people are simple minded and selfish beings, debates over what God is trying to tell them in scripture can be formed, and can get to the point where these debates spilt the Christian churches. The question of whether or not the gifts of the holy spirit still has an active role in the modern day churches is one that has been greatly argued among the believers. Although many ideas have been presented on the matter, three major viewpoints have been formed; Cessationism, Continuationism, and an open but cautious view. Whether or not the gifts of the spirit are still part of the Christian chu...
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
Around the time after Jesus’ resurrection, Christians were confused and they needed answers. Jesus was just arisen from the dead. The Church now had Jesus and God to look to, but who was the leader of it all? Who were they to worship? Where does the Spirit fit into all of this? After many questions, they looked to Scripture. Christians have had the belief of Monotheism and that there is One God. Yet, it wasn’t until the Church looked to Scripture that they pieced together what is now known as the Holy Trinity.
Three equals one. Out of all of the statements made by the Christian faith, perhaps none is more confusing. The Doctrine of the Trinity has been questioned for decades and many Christians do not even understand it. Colin E. Gunton argues that this does not have to be so. Instead, he calls the Western Church to learn from Eastern Orthodoxy and allow Trinitarian thinking to permeate every aspect of the church. It is when the Western Church embarrasses “The Forgotten Trinity” (the name of the chapter) in thinking and in worship, that we not only learn the nature of God, but how we should live in light of it.
“We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God. For us and for our salvation He came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became truly human. Being fully God and perfect man He performed miracles and lived a sinless life.” (GCU, Doctorial Statement) This paper will discuss how God and Jesus Christ is the essential core of all Christian worldviews despite the many differing internal worldviews they have.
The doctrine of the Trinity, as seen in the Christian bible, is primary to the Christian faith. The word “Trinity” does not actually appear in the bible; it is a theological label meant to summarize certain teachings of certain passages of scripture, and is crucial to properly understand what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we relate to Him. It may also raise many difficult questions including what does it mean that God is a Trinity? While it is difficult for us to fully understand everything about the trinity, it is quite possible to answer questions like this one and come to a solid grasp of what it means for God to be three in one.
The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This concept is what many Catholics believe in, but other worldwide religions believe in other beliefs. Out of all the three Divine Persons, “Jesus is the most qualified to bring the renewal of creation because it was through him that creation came into being” (Pohle February 7th). We as humans will have to face the consequences for actions that we have done in the past, present and future. Jesus has come into the world as a human to show his dignity and save us from sin; he was the world and of all creation. As we come to read more about Jesus we get to know Jesus more, we learn about what he did, how he did it and why he had to do these saving actions.