Christian Trinity Research Articles

God in Tibetan: On the Use of an Impersonal Concept as a Translation for “God”

The word for God used in many Bible translations in Tibetan-related languages is dkon mchog, a Tibetan Buddhist concept originally designating the so-called “Buddhist Trinity”: Buddha, dharma (the teachings), and sangha (the community of disciples). The expression was first used by Jesuit missionaries in the eighteenth century, and a review of their argumentation shows that its use is due to more than simply its superficial resemblance to the Christian Trinity. Expressions used in translation for unknown concepts undergo over time a semantic shift, by which the concept is reinterpreted and filled with new content corresponding to the biblical understanding. This shift can take place via metonymic or metaphoric extension, and the change is relatively unconstrained. The metonymic shift required in order for the concept dkon mchog to convey the biblical meaning is not likely to result in polysemy and may therefore give less cause for misunderstanding than the polysemous expressions (God/god) used in most other Bible translations.

The Christian Trinity in the Writings of Quranic Exegetes: A Comparison with Islamic Polemicists

Objectives: This paper compares the perspectives of sixteen Quranic exegetes with those of Islamic polemicists specialised in Christian studies, particularly in their treatment of the Christian concept of the Trinity. Methodology: The paper employs an inductive approach to uncover the views of various Quranic interpreters and Islamic polemicists regarding the Trinity. Besides, it utilises a comparative method to discuss and contrast their opinions on the subject matter. Findings: Comparing the polemicists’ views with those of the exegetes reveals the precision and consistency of the former in conveying the Christian understanding of the Trinity. In contrast, the exegetes' interpretations vary, with some describing it as three hypostases, others as three gods, and occasionally an exegete may mention both interpretations. There is also a distinction in addressing the third entity of the Trinity. While the polemicists identify it as the Holy Spirit, some exegetes alternatively mention Mary, and others refer to both views. Originality: The paper underscores the importance of cautiously conveying Christian beliefs about the Trinity based on certain exegetes, highlighting the specialisation of polemicists in religious studies.

Christian Monotheism and Its Challengers

The Christian Trinity is a diversified form of monotheistic faith, since the apostolic faith is rooted in the Old Testament confession, to which Jesus adhered: “the Lord our God, the Lord is one”. Christianity never renounced monotheism, but build on that basis. Recently theologians (including Jürgen Moltmann) have been critical of Christian monotheism which has overshadowed trinitarianism from Thomas Aquinas onwards. It means that today many Christian believers are practical monotheists and the Trinity has little place in spirituality. But this is not the main challenge to Christian monotheism in the global world context of today

Sacramental Engines: The Trinitarian Ontology of Computers in Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine

Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine can be recollected as a fossilized image of the first digital computer. It is essentially distinguished from all prior and analog computers by the transcription of the ‘mechanical notation’, the separation of the mnemonic ‘store’ from the cybernetic ‘mill’, and the infinite miniaturization of its component parts. This substitution of finite space for an accelerating singularity of time creates the essential rupture of the digital, in which a singular calculation of mechanical force stands opposed to the universal totality of space. Babbage’s criticism of Christian doctrine to preserve the mathematical consistency of mechanics and computing would result in the collapse of the Christian Trinity into a digital theology. This Arian subordinate difference of the Son to the Father would then be infinitely transcribed in a technical contradiction that would threaten to annul the metaphysical ground of any machine. Against digital and postdigital theologies alike, this rupture can only be repaired by a dialectical analysis of the digital into a hyperdigital grammar, which is created by Christ the Logos in a trinitarian ontology of computers. Digital computers can thus be vindicated from theological suspicion as incarnationally accelerated calculators of the sacraments, or ‘sacramental engines’ of the digital age.

The Gift of Life: The Non-Subsistence of Thomist Esse Commune in its Trinitarian Context

This paper investigates in what way the Christian Trinity is the ‘causa et ratio’ of creation, as Thomas Aquinas states it in the prologue of his Commentary to the Sentences of Peter Lombard. Of particular importance for this project is a better understanding of the Thomist esse commune as a completum et simplex, sed non subsistens (De Potentia 1.1 c). In dialogue with the Neoplatonic tradition is shown how Aquinas absorbs all Neoplatonic intermediary principles into the esse commune and opens up the understanding of creation as a structured act of love: Creation is the giving of being (esse), by which the Creator makes himself present to his creatures, in order to grant them their subsistence. It is shown how the non-subsisting esse commune is an analogue to the divine essence which only subsists in the divine persons, starting with the Father. This explains the thoroughly personal character of metaphysics.

Античная метафизика и христианская теология в «Гимнах о Троице» Мария Викторина

The article deals with the reception of ancient metaphysics in the “Hymns of Trinity” of Marius Victorinus. In the first part, the author investigates a hypothetical time of writing and the literary, artistic, and compositional features of the hymns, which, in all likelihood, were written ca. 363, in the mature period of Victorinus’ literary activity, and represent a summary of his entire philosophical and theological system, which makes the hymns extremely important for understanding the evolution of his thought. In the second section of the article, the author analyzes the basic doctrinal issues where the links between ancient metaphysics and Christian theology are evident. First to be mentioned is the doctrine of the three Ones and three Beings, based on the dialectic of the One and many in Plato’s Parmenides and on the philosophical system of Plotinus. According to Victorinus, the first, or absolute, One, deprived of any multiplicity, corresponds to God the Father; the second One, born from the first One, is the One-Being, which corresponds to the Son-Logos; the third One, which is generated by the Logos, is the world as a whole, which includes all intelligible and material beings, forming a single “chain of being”. At the same time, it is noted that Victorinus also considers the third One and the “third Being” as the Holy Spirit, which is the “Power of the One”, binding all things together and making them one. Further, three metaphysical triads are considered: substance – form – cognition, being – life – intellect, and remaining – procession – reversion, by means of which Victorinus describes Christian Trinity. Finally, the author examines the doctrine of the Logos as the “Seed of Being” and the source of life for all beings, and of the Holy Spirit as the source of true knowledge and the way a human soul returns to God. It is pointed out that the concept of the Logos as the “Seed of Being” in Victorinus was influenced by the Stoic concept of pneuma as the seed of all things and a related doctrine of the “spermatic logoi”, as well as the Platonic concept of the world Soul. The return of souls to God as their prime cause is viewed as the result of a long process of their enlightenment and spiritualization, which is accomplished by the action of the Holy Spirit as the Wisdom of God and the “hidden Christ”. The first Russian translation of the first “Hymn on Trinity”, along with detailed historical and philosophical commentaries, is attached.

A Pneumatological Kālī-logy and Imago Dei: Contribution of the Yoginī Tantra and Hindu Goddess Traditions to Reconceptualizing the Christian Trinity

A Pneumatological Kālī-logy and Imago Dei: Contribution of the Yoginī Tantra and Hindu Goddess Traditions to Reconceptualizing the Christian Trinity

개화기 강증산(姜甑山) 전승에 나타난 서교(西敎)의 삼위적 체제수용과 특성 - 성자(聖子)의 의미와 역할을 중심으로 -

이글은 강증산의 세상의 문제에 대한 구원의 과정이 그의 사상 안에서 어떻게 표출(表出)되었는가를 찾아보기 위한 목적으로 서교의 삼위일체론과 대응해서 강 증산 전승에서의 성자(聖子)의 의미와 역할에 주목하여 고찰한 것이다. 당대 유교 의 혁신과 함께 기존 서교를 비판적으로 수용하여 새 질서를 세우고자 한 강증산 의 서교 수용의 면은 다음과 같이 나타난다. 첫째, 강증산이 삼위적 체제를 수용하 여 구원의 행적이 성부, 성자, 성신(聖身)이라는 체계 속에서 이루어지고 한문 문구 를 더 추가하여 성자의 역할을 정한 것은 자신과 계승자의 관계 속에서 특히 계승 자가 행할 역할을 명료하게 보인 것이다. 무엇보다 구별되는 것은 강증산 전승에 는 서교에서와 같이 성부와 성신에는 아무런 언급이 없는데 성자(聖子) 다음에는 강증산이 추가로 ‘元亨利貞 奉天地 道術藥局 在全州銅谷 生死辦斷’이라는 글을 더적어놓았다. 이는 성자의 정체성과 역할이 무엇인가를 찾는 단서가 되는데 삼위적 관점을 수용하면서도 다르게 강증산이 자신을 이을 인물로서의 성자가 할 역할을 더 기록하여, 변용적으로 자신의 사상을 전개한 것이 된다. 둘째, 성자(聖子)는 강 증산이 세운 ‘동곡약방(銅谷藥房)’ 약장의 ‘단주가 명을 받는다’는 상고 역사 속 요 (堯)의 맏아들 단주와 상관성을 갖는다. 이는 강증산 사상에서 세상 문제의 결정적 요인이 단주의 원한에 있으므로 단주수명은 단주의 원한을 풀어주는 동인(動因)으 로 연맥 되며 구조적으로 삼위론과 대응된다. 셋째, 성부와 연계된 성자의 역할은 ‘천하의 병(病)’과 관련된다. ‘천하개병(天下皆病)’이라는 말처럼 천하가 모두 병든 상황 하에서 세상의 병을 고치는 것이 필요하고 무병(無病)세상을 위해 강증산이 ‘동곡약방’을 설치한 것이기에 다음 대(代) 성자의 역할과 연계된다. 이는 상징과 암시를 갖고 현실적 세계를 초월한 도술적 의미로까지 이야기 되어 ‘도술(道術)약 국’의 의미는 초월적(超越的) 세계의 논리까지 불러온 무병(無病)세계에 대한 동경 (憧憬)과 숙원(宿願)이다. 넷째, 성부의 의미는 세상의 무병(無病)을 위해 ‘만국의원 (萬國醫院)’을 목적으로 약방을 만든 존재로 약방의 약장 글귀로 표현되어 개념화 된 성자(聖子)를 표상화한 존재이다. 이에 서교 수용과 관련해서 강증산 전승의 삼 위적 성격을 갖는 구절에서 성부는 강증산과 관련된다. 이는 천지공사에서 약방을 설치한 이가 강증산이고 약방에 있는 약장의 글을 기록하여 성자를 위상(位相) 지 은 이가 또한 강증산이기 때문이다. 17세기 이후 도(道)의 근원이 단절되어 신계와 인계 모두 진멸할 지경에 이르게 되어 강증산이 구원주(救援主)로 강세(降世)했다 는 것은 강증산이 어떠한 권능을 소유한 위격에 있음을 말해준다. 이에 강증산은 구천에 있었던 구천상제로서의 위격에서 인간으로 탄강하여 천지공사를 통해 구 원의 행적을 하게 되는데 이것이 성부로서의 일을 한 것이 되며, 이후 성부의 일은 성자에게 이어져 계속 전개된다. 다섯째, ‘성신(聖身)’은 강증산 전승의 자료 속에 서 구천(九天)에 거(居)하던 존재가 몸으로 현신(現身)해서 천지공사(天地公事)라 는 구원의 행적을 한 강증산의 생애와 관계된다. 구천에 신(神)의 상태로 있었던 강증산이 구천으로부터 하강(下降)하여 천하를 대순(大巡)하며 한반도에 그쳐 영 (靈)의 상태로 전북 금산사 미륵불에 머물렀고, 이어 인간의 몸으로 현신하여 종국 적으로 천지공사를 통해 구원의 일을 이룬 뒤에 다시 구천으로 회귀하였다. 이러한 일련의 대순의 과정들이 포함되며, 구원주로서 강증산이 인간의 몸으로 태어나 준 가르침들이 모든 구원의 행적과 사상들이고 이는 ‘성신(聖身)’으로 표상화되었 다. 나아가 성신의 의미는 강증산이 후일 이상세계가 되면 13자의 신선화된 ‘몸’으 로 온다는 예시(豫示)를 선언한데서 성신의 극대화된 궁극성을 볼 수 있다. 또 성 자도 몸으로 완전한 구원의 일을 이룬 강증산의 ‘포교 50년 공부종필’의 예시된 과 정 하에 지상에서 인간 몸 상태의 성부로 상징화된 강증산의 구상과 의도를 따라 공부를 수행하였다. 나아가 이는 전인적 존재인 도통군자의 인세(人世) 출현 속에 인존(人尊)이라는 새로운 이상세계의 원리로 지상에 천국(天國)이 이루어진다는 오만년 선경(仙境) 인존(人尊)세상의 개명(開明)과 동궤(同軌)를 그리고 있다. 이는 13자의 몸으로의 출세와 함께 대순(大巡)의 과정에서 구원주로서 강증산이 인간 몸으로 태어나 가르침들을 주었기에 ‘성신(聖身)’으로 표상화되어 초월계는 물론 인간계까지 함께 아우르는 완성된 구원의 면을 갖고 있다.

Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age

Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age

An analysis of the trinity and principle beliefs within the Bektashi Alavi order

The Bektashi Order is from amongst those orders whose teachings are based upon Shia thought, but whose practices have drastically transformed because of the influence placed upon it by the Christians and Sunnis in the Balkans and Anatolia. Their ontological view is centered on the concept of Imamate and according to them all the grace that is seen in the world is because of the Infallibles as they are the channel of Divine Grace. So in addition to having a legislative role, the Imam has an influence on the system of natural law as well. This research, which relies upon the sacred scriptures of the Bektashi Alavi Order, aims to show that their fundamental beliefs were based upon Shia thought and that they have faith in the pillars and subsidiaries of religion; even though they may differ from the Shia in certain practices and apparent rituals, there is no difference between them regarding the pillars and fundamentals of religion. Furthermore, the attempts of certain Sunni scholars to try and separate this Order from its Shia roots and introduce it as a Sunni order in the form of academic articles will be shown to be incorrect and invalid. Furthermore, the attribution of a Christian trinity like concept to this order is a baseless and unfair claim and essentially flawed. In this paper, light will be thrown on certain important discrepancies regarding the beliefs of the Bektashi Alavi Order that were previously overlooked and the unity of their belief system with that of the Shia's will be attempted to be proven by means of content analysis of the main sacred scriptures of the Alavis such as the Buyruks, Husniyyah and the Divan of the Seven Poets, as these texts act as interpreters for their beliefs.

Pensare Dio. Spunti di riflessione in dialogo con Anca Vasiliu

Abstract The following work features elements to ponder and an in-depth explanation taken on the Anca Vasiliu’s study about the possibilities and ways of thinking of God by a rational entity, such as the human being. This is an ever relevant topic that, however, takes place in relation to Platonic authors and texts, especially in Late Antiquity. The common thread is that the human being is a God’s creature who resembles him and who is image of. Nevertheless, this also applies within the Christian Trinity according to which, not without problems, the Son is the image of the Father. Lastly, also the relationship of the Spirit with the Father and the Son, always within the Trinity, can be considered as a relationship of similarity, but again not without critical issues between the similarity of attributes, on the one hand, and the identity of nature, on the other.

Метафизика Божественного мышления у Мария Викторина и ее философские источники

The article deals with the doctrine of Marius Victorinus (ca. 281/291‒382/386) on the Divine thinking or intellection, and provides a reconstruction of its possible philosophical sources. In the beginning the author after a breaf mentioning of Aristotle’s noetic theory in his “Metaphysica” emphasizes an important role of the neoplatonic doctrine of the “intelligible triad” in the Trinitarian doctrine of Victorinus, in which God is seen as the unity of the three Divine attributes, potencies or acts: being, life and thought, which correspond to the persons of the Christian Trinity. It is noted that the relationship between these Divine acts has a dynamic character, based on the logic of the eternal process of self-determination of God as the pure Being (Father), which defines himself as the Life (Son) and returns to himself as the Intellect (Holy Spirit), by which the fullness of Divine self-knowledge is achieved. This process Victorinus also connects with the idea of God as an absolute Spirit –a Substance that exists, lives and thinks of itself. Further the author consideres Victorinus’ concept of two actions and movements in God: one is internal, characterizing God the Father, the other is external, characterizing the Son-Logos. It has been argued that this doctrine goes back to the similar doctrine of Plotinus, which he applies to the One and the Intellect. It is noted that Victorinus in the light of the Neo-Platonic dialectics of the One and the Intellect reconsidered an Aristotelian theory of Divine intellect, which thinks of itself. He not only applies it to the Son-Logos, but also joins to it a Plotinian-Porphyrian conception of the “super-thinking” of the One, as a result of which Divine thinking according to Victorinus has two different forms: an internal, potential, hidden and unmanifest thinking (or “super-thinking”) of God the Father, and an external, actual and manifested thinking (or “self-thinking”) of the Son-Logos; the latter initially dwells in the internal thinking of the Father, and then was genereted from it as a Divine thinking that thinks both of the Father and of itself, becoming self-knowledge or self-thinking.

Uma peregrinação advaita ao encontro do outro: o diálogo inter-religioso na obra de Raimon Panikkar

Raimon Panikkar (1918-2010), teólogo e filósofo, nascido em Barcelona, de família cristã-hindu, foi um dos principais expoentes do diálogo inter-religioso. Destaca-se, neste contexto, sua expressão que se tornou célebre: parti cristão, me descobri hindu e retornei budista, sem jamais ter deixado de ser cristão. Em meu retorno, me descobri um melhor cristão. Para entendê-la, compreendemos ser fundamental adentrar o sentido de advaita (adualidade). A forma como a perspectiva védica do advaita está inserida em sua obra e constitui em recurso para a sua concepção do diálogo inter-religioso é o tema principal desta pesquisa. O autor desenvolveu importantes conceitos ao longo de sua obra e podemos identificar não só uma influência, mas uma referência clara à tradição hindu e, mais propriamente, à perspectiva advaita, tantas vezes mencionada por ele e que identificamos como uma espécie de fio condutor ou de fator explicativo para muitas de suas teorias. Esta pesquisa procura investigar de que forma o advaita se constitui em caminho de construção do diálogo inter-religioso nas obras de Panikkar. Para tal, contextualizamos a perspectiva advaita nas origens do Hinduísmo e a sua utilização por parte do autor, a partir de uma análise crítica do pensamento filosófico ocidental, em sua experiência mística, também definida por ele como experiência da Vida. Analisamos suas teorias da visão trinitária e cosmoteândrica, baseadas na Trindade cristã, o seu conceito de cristologia nomeado de cristofania e o desenvolvimento de uma atitude pluralista, que servirá como base para o diálogo inter-religioso em sua obra, a partir do paradigma pluralista da Teologia do Pluralismo Religioso. E identificamos o advaita na construção do que ele entende por diálogo intra-religioso, o encontro do outro em si mesmo, através do que denomina amor advaita. Uma peregrinação que acontece na interioridade do ser humano, paralelamente ao diálogo inter-religioso. Trata-se de uma pesquisa teórica, através de uma perspectiva metodológica crítico-analítica, tendo em vista a sua aplicação no diálogo inter-religioso, embasadas na bibliografia de Panikkar, mas também na de alguns autores que dialogam, criticam e/ou servem como referência para ele.

Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s Trinitarian Formulation in the Islamic Milieu

ABSTRACTThis article examines a theological treatise of Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh Ibn al-Ṭayyib, a savant of the Assyrian Church of the East. The treatise discusses the Attributes of Deity demonstrating a thematic correspondence with the dominant polemical arguments occasioned by the Christian view of the Trinity and Christology. These include the relation of the hypostases to the attributes of essence, specifically the unity of the divine essence in contrast to the plurality of the hypostases. Ibn al-Ṭayyib also borrows concepts from the Muslim milieu to commend his Christian formulation. Most notable among these is the Ashʿarī concept of the divine attributes (ṣifāt) and their categorization. The Ashʿarīs had limited the attributes of essence to seven. Ibn al-Ṭayyib limits them to three: paternity, filiation and procession. The article considers Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s Christian intellectual forebears, demonstrating that he used and amended their formulations. Finally, two Muslim polemicists are considered to establish that Ibn al-Ṭayyib was engaging with specific objections concerning the Christian Trinity. This thematic correspondence warrants a reconsideration of Ibn al-Ṭayyib’s contribution to the Muslim–Christian interface. Although never an explicitly polemic theologian, the savant-priest developed an implicit apologetic through his theological treatises that provided intellectual fortification for his Christian community.

Greening God? Christian Ecotheology, Environmental Justice, and Socio-Ecological Flourishing

This article provides a broad mapping of some ways in which a group of thinkers, many of whom identify as ecotheologians, argue for the importance of seeing God (understood as the first person of the Christian Trinity), Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit in a green manner at this time in our planetary history. It simultaneously ties that mapping into issues that are relevant to green, socio-ecological action. Important to the reflections that constitute the field of ecotheology has been a framing of “responding to the ecological crisis.” The present article begins by briefly introducing that feature of the field before offering an alternative, which is informed by principles of environmental justice. That alternative, namely a socio-ecological framing, is shown to be helpful in moving beyond a crisis-response dynamic. The accompanying discussion will be of interest for those who seek explicitly Christian theological bases for incarnating an environmental justice praxis that supports socio-ecological flourishing.

COSMOTHEANDRIC: HUBUNGAN ANTAR AGAMA MENURUT RAIMON PANIKKAR DAN RELEVANSINYA TERHADAP HUBUNGAN ANTAR AGAMA DI INDONESIA

Indonesia serves as a countr y with variety of cultures, traditions and religions. Religion, as one of the assets, becomes the problem in interfaith encounter when it faces the truth claim and ag gressive mission. As the consequence, the unexpected conflict happens that resulted in abundant victim and material loss. Two queries include Raimon Panikkar’s cosmotheandric concept in interfaith relation and its relevance on inter-religious relation in Indonesia. This article uses library research applying Peter L. Ber ger’s social construction theor y to analyze the construction of Panikkar’s concept and its relevance on inter-religious relation in Indonesia. Cosmotheandric, in this context, is a reality connected theos, anthropic and cosmos dimension. Panikkar’s Cosmotheandric has been constructed from Christian Trinity, Hinduism Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism Pratityasamut. Religion, in cosmotheandric structure, is situated in the antropical dimension. As the result, Panikar views religions as a part of reality that constructed Cosmotheandric reality. In this regard, religions bore the interconnected entity that constructed Cosmotheandric reality. The application of idea in Indonesian context is done by altering the Cosmotheandric language into local expressions that has sound meaning with theos, antropos and cosmos.

»Abrahamitische Religionen«? Monotheismus und Trinität im Dialog von Judentum, Christentum und Islam

AbstractThe term ›Abrahamitic religions‹ is often heard within the dialog of the three religions, which seems to indicate that Abraham is an identification figure for all of them. In fact, Abraham has entirely different, and unrelated, roles to play in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. What really connects the three religions is that they are monotheistic. In spite of the fact that Jews and Muslims have a critical view of the Christian trinity, monotheism is the true connecting element between them. One should therefore no longer speak of ›Abrahamitic religions‹ but rather of the three ›monotheistic religions‹.

A Guglielmite Trinity?

In the Abbey of Viboldone, in suburban Milan, there is a medieval Trinitarian sinopia that never before has received an in-depth analysis. This paper proposes that the sinopia is related to a group known as the Guglielmites, prosecuted in this region of Milan in 1300. The Guglielmites believed that a woman named Guglielma was the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Christian Trinity, come to earth incarnate in female form. The sinopia appears to portray a female Holy Spirit, and the history of the Abbey in which it is located suggests some intriguing relationships with this heretical group.

Philo's Threefold Divine Vision and the Christian Trinity

Philo's Threefold Divine Vision and the Christian Trinity

Śrī and Viṣṇu: One God in Two Persons

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity arose from the need to reconcile the divinity of Jesus with monotheism. Srivaisnava theologians faced a similar problem with their belief in the Goddess Sri or Laksmi and her husband Visnu or Narayana as two distinct deities in one godhead. The article examines the ways in which the divinity of Sri and her oneness with Visnu are upheld, using Ramanuja's Saranagati-gadya, Vedanta Desika's Rahasyatrayasara, and Lokacarya Pillai's Mumuksupadi. It then presents some of the scriptural sources and philosophical concepts with which the theologians support their position. In conclusion, the doctrine is briefly compared with the Christian Trinity and the Saiva ardhanarisvara.