The Evolution of Hilary of Poitiers’s Trinitarian Use of Nativitas

Abstract

Hilary’s Trinitarian theology undergoes an abrupt shift in the four years between the De Trinitate and the Tractatus super Psalmos. In particular, in the Tractatus super Psalmos, Hilary distances himself from what is lauded as his great Trinitarian contribution: an emphasis on the Son’s aeterna nativitas (his eternal birth) as the guarantee of his perfect sharing of the Father’s nature. This paper argues that Hilary rejects the terminology of nativitas and a Trinitarian theology centered on the Son’s birth from the Father in the Tractatus super Psalmos as a result of his newfound awareness of Eunomian argumentation.