The Subordination of the Holy Spirit: A Johannine Category

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this article is to set out Origen’s understanding of ‘subordinationism’ in his Trinitarian theology, focusing particularly on the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit, and to illustrate how this conceptual framework is designed to preserve key features of Johannine logic and language. First, I illustrate the role and functions of the Holy Spirit in Origen’s Trinity by means of the Johannine framework that runs his Trinitarian theology. By pointing out the Johannine ‘debt’ of Origen, I argue that his exegesis of the fourth Gospel is pivotal both in understanding the intra‐Trinitarian relation between hypostases and their respective role in the salvation of the spiritual world. Secondly, using the concept of ‘subordinationism of priority/superiority’, I establish the methodological boundaries of Origen’s investigation of the Trinity, showing that the Johannine framework provides the means to think an ontological subordinationism which neither entails an ontological loss of substance between the hypostases of the Trinity, nor is intended in an anti‐Nicene and proto‐Arian fashion. Overall, the article proposes a new Johannine and methodological framework for understanding Origen’s pneumatology.