De Trinitate Research Articles

Fragments of the Liturgical-Musical Codex from the Archdiocesan Archive of Gniezno (Poland): Source Analysis and Provenance Hypotheses

This paper discusses hitherto unidentified loose folios of a parchment liturgical and musical book held in the Archdiocesan Archive of Gniezno (Poland), containing the offertory and communion antiphons for the feasts De Trinitate and Corpus Christi. The author provides the codicological description of the leaves (analyzing Latin script, musical notation, ornamentation); identifies the time of their creation (15th century); indicates the type of the liturgical book to which they belong (graduale); seeks a melodic model for them and puts forward provenance hypotheses. He states that the melodics of the antiphons, although closest to the Cistercian tradition, are nevertheless variantly different from the melodic line preserved in foreign and Polish codices. It is possible to narrow down the dating of the leaves thanks to the type of Latin script, the calligraphic ornamentation of the initials and the spelling of certain letters.

A Trinitarian Ascent: How Augustine’s Sermons on the Psalms of Ascent Transform the Ascent Tradition

Augustine’s sermons on the Psalms of Ascent, part of the Enarrationes in Psalmos, are a unique entry in the venerable tradition of those writings that aim to help us ascend to a higher reality. These sermons transform the ascent genre by giving, in the place of the Platonic account of ascent, a Christian ascent narrative with a Trinitarian structure. Not just the individual ascends, but the community that is the church, the body of Christ, also ascends. The ascent is up to God, the Idipsum or the Selfsame, the ultimate reality, confessed by the church as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Through the grace of the Incarnation, God the Son enables us to ascend, making himself the way of ascent from the humility we must imitate at the beginning of the ascent all the way up to Heaven, where he retains his identity as Idipsum. Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit works in the ascending church to convert our hearts to the love of God and neighbor. I review the Platonic ascent tradition in Plato’s Republic and Plotinus’ Enneads; overview ascent in some of Augustine’s earlier writings; introduce the narrative setting of the sermons on the Psalms of Ascent; and analyze the Trinitarian structure of their ascent narrative. I close with some reflections on the difference between a preached Trinitarianism that encourages ascent and a more academic effort to understand God such as we find in Augustine’s de Trinitate.

Thomas Aquinas on Non-Theological Faith

Abstract The majority of studies on ‘faith’ (fides) in the thought of Thomas Aquinas consider it in a religious or theological context: fides as the theological virtue by which one assents to the truths of divine revelation. The focus on theological faith is appropriate, given its central importance as a theological virtue, but this is not the only sense of fides that Thomas identifies. The present study investigates two non-theological senses formulated in his commentary on the De Trinitate of Boethius: first, fides as the proximate cause of assenting to principles within a given science (‘epistemic faith’) and, second, fides as an indispensable element of society (‘societal faith’). These senses have been largely overlooked in secondary literature but, I argue, might help to dispel mischaracterizations of faith as fundamentally unreasonable.

Augustine's concept of Person in Martin Buber’s personalism

The question about man appears again in contemporary philosophy no longer as an eidetic, but as an existential question (if it ever ceased to be so). Martin Buber, Austrian-Jewish thinker (1878-1965), seeks with his thought to recover the value of man, adding to the existentialist influences of Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, and to the phenomenological influence of Husserl, the dialogic principle; that is, the necessity of the other as a Thou for the becoming of the I as a person. This last concept, person, has its origin in the philosophical discourse in the Trinitarian and Christological Theology of the Fathers of the Church, among them, Augustine of Hippo. In this article we want to make explicit the presence of this Augustinian conception of person in the personalism of Martin Buber. To do so, we will identify the most important characteristics of the person for the bishop of Hippo, which are explained in detail in his work De Trinitate, and then we will link these characteristics with those that are central to Buber's thought. Our hypothesis is that we can find in Buber's anthropology traces of Augustine's thought, influenced especially through existentialism and phenomenology.

Augustine’s Enchiridion: An Anti-Pelagian Interpretation of the Creed

At first glance, Augustine did not combine his soteriology and his Trinitarian doctrine in his anti-Pelagian oeuvre. Therefore, this article pursues the more hidden and implicit connections between these topics. The starting point of this endeavour is an analysis of the Enchiridion, a catechetical work in which Augustine interpreted the Roman—later so-called Apostle’s—Creed. Simultaneously, Augustine directed his attention in the Enchiridion to questions and arguments which originate from the Pelagian controversy such as original sin, grace, baptism, remission of sin(s) and the theory of predestination. Thus, this article ponders the question of how Augustine reflected his Trinitarian doctrine within this anti-Pelagian soteriology. While Augustine seldom referred to his Trinitarian doctrine explicitly in the Enchiridion (and his anti-Pelagian oeuvre), he presented in these works a conception of how the triune God operates as creator and saviour. This anti-Pelagian concept of God seizes several aspects which also appear in Augustine’s De trinitate. Moreover, by emphasising the unity of God’s operation as creator and saviour against the Pelagians, Augustine argued in favour of a specific Trinitarian doctrine: opera trinitatis ad extra inseparabilia. Thus, this article finally tries to analyse how Augustine amalgamated his anti-Pelagian Christocentric soteriology with his Trinitarian doctrine.

The Place of De magistro in Augustine’s Theology of Words and the Word

This article investigates the place of De magistro within Augustine’s developing theology of words and the Word through a reverse chronological reading. This is necessary because, despite its emphasis on words, De magistro never refers to Christ as the “Word.” It would be easy, therefore, to see it as unrelated to the theological emphasis on that title in later works such as De trinitate. A reverse chronological reading, however, establishes Augustine’s developing understanding of the relationship between words and the Word in a way that moves us from a full-throated theology of divine and human speech backward into more exploratory engagements with nascent ideas. When this reverse trail is traced, we can begin to see De magistro as one key starting point for it by providing warrant for seeing the inner Christ as necessarily the Word of God, even if not explicitly named as such. Such a reading adds deeper theological significance to a text often read only in terms of its contribution to semiotics and epistemology. In this reading, De magistro is an essential text for understanding Augustine’s fuller theology of language not only because of its early sign theory but because it sets the soteriological stage for our growth into the likeness of Christ the Word.

The Composition of De consensu euangelistarum 1 and the Development of Augustine’s Arguments on Paganism

A recent study has argued from theological and classicizing parallels that the first, anti-pagan book of Augustine’s De consensu euangelistarum belongs between 406 and 412 CE. This article defends the traditional dating ca. 400–405 CE, implied by Retractationes. Uncertainty over the dating of parallels in De trinitate 1–4 cautions against reliance on theological peculiarities (a variant of John 5:19 and the phrase unitas personae, both otherwise paralleled in the 410s CE or later), while a close review of the patterns of classical citation proves resemblance to De ciuitate dei to be superficial. Not only does Augustine demonstrably cite the same classical texts on widely separated occasions, De consensu euangelistarum 1 evinces little of Augustine’s later knowledge of Porphyry and Varro. The crowning proof comes, however, in a brief rebuttal to pagan complaints over contemporary misfortunes. Although he focuses on Rome’s religious history, Augustine omits any hint of Alaric’s sack (410 CE), the religious-political instability of 408–409 CE, or Radagaisus’ invasion of Italy (405–406 CE), all of key importance for later works. The book’s method, scope, and tenor place it neatly within the span 400–405 CE, as our first testimony to the interreligious milieu for which De ciuitate dei would later be aimed.

¿Dios Creador o Dios Juez? Diferencias entre las tres versiones de la carta de Arrio a Alejandro

The letter from Arius to Alexander of Alexandria, also known as «Arius’ profession of faith», has been transmitted in its original language, Greek, by Athanasius (De Synodis) and Epiphanius (Panarion). Also, Hilary of Poitiers quotes a Latin translation of the letter twice (De Trinitate IV and VI). The comparative study of the two Greek versions and the Latin translation reveals small textual variants, which points to the independence of the three testimonies. The textual variant (κτιστὴν, instead of κριτὴν) is the most interesting; it comes from a Greek version that has not been preserved. However, our work has been able to reconstruct this lost textual variant using an ancient and forgotten conjecture of Erich Klostermann.

Historical development of trinitarian doctrine in Roman Catholicism

The Trinity both as a Christian concept and doctrine is a complex whole or better still a “mystery.” Even the great bishop of Hippo, St Augustine at the end of his monumental opus, De Trinitate, prayed God the Trinity to pardon him if he had written anything that was untrue about the Trinity. The Catholic Church, to say the least, is a trinitarian church in the sense that the belief in the Trinity is one of the cornerstones of its constitution and belief system. The church baptises and receives people with the Trinitarian formula. It begins and ends prayers in ‘the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. Catholic Theological discourse accepts as given, the existence of Three Persons in One God, and only afterwards, proceeds to investigate and elaborate upon the ‘how’ of the Trinity. This article takes a historical excursus into the historical evolution of Catholic trinitarian thought. It will argue that while there is a diversity of theological opinions on the subject, there remains in the final analysis, a unanimity in the belief that the Christian understanding and experience of God are unreservedly and indisputably trinitarian.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article draws insights from a wide range of related areas of theological disciplines like patristics, church history, systematic theology and ecumenism. As a study that cuts across theological and historical boundaries, its content and conclusion are couched within the context of multiple theological and ecclesiastical disciplines. By means of an interdisciplinary perspective as applied to a complex subject such as the Trinity herein, a broader perspective is obtained about this core Christian belief and notion of God who is One in substance and Three in persons. This is most notably by locating trinitarian discourse within the liturgical and theological traditions of the Western and Eastern churches.

Augustine on Memory by Kevin G. Grove

Reviewed by: Augustine on Memory by Kevin G. Grove Veronica Roberts Ogle Kevin G. Grove Augustine on Memory Oxford Studies in Historical Theology Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021 Pp. xi + 265. $99.00. In Augustine on Memory, Fr. Kevin Grove joins the list of scholars wishing to probe Augustine's larger corpus with a view to shedding new light on well-trodden themes in his thought. While, at first glance, much seems to have been written on the Augustinian conception of memory, Grove argues that the focus on Confessiones and De Trinitate has distorted our grasp of his thought on the subject, and he ably makes the case that we must turn to his preaching, particularly his Ennarationes in psalmos, if we are to see that Augustinian memory is actually "Christic memory," at work in the whole Christ (138). In this way, Grove provides more evidence that the Augustinian turn towards the self, so famously described by Charles Taylor (Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, [Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992]), is something of a mischaracterization. Setting out his argument chronologically, Grove begins by looking at Augustine's famous meditation on memory in book 10 of Confessiones. There, he argues that Augustine's failure to find God in his memory is indicative of his growing realization that the self cannot find God by itself. Instead, using terminology to which he returns throughout the book, Grove describes Augustine's failure in book 10 as a failing "into a salvific mediator who succeeds" (49). Pointing out that book 10 ends with an invocation of Christ as the true mediator, Grove makes the case that even though Augustine's understanding of Christ remains less developed at this stage, he already has a sense that, somehow, Christ "drives Augustine not out to be with himself in solitude so as to gain self-mastery but into a communion of broken and impoverished people being fed together in the action of the Eucharist" (52–53). In Chapters Two through Six, Grove turns to Augustine's Ennarationes in psalmos as the locus of his discovery of what this intimation means. Arguing that Augustine's encounter with the Psalms, beginning with Psalm 21, turned him into a preacher of the whole Christ, Grove traces the development of Augustine's sense that Christ's mediation amounts to an ongoing transfiguration of the members of his body. Linking this idea to Christ's appropriation of Adam's voice in the Psalms, Grove argues that "Christ transfigures not only the cry of Adam from the fall in Eden but the cry of every person after him" by making their cries his own (80). Important for Grove's argument is that this transfiguration takes place through the work of memory, particularly in its acts of remembering and forgetting. Yet, building on his earlier claims about the limitations of individual memory, Grove again depicts authentic Augustinian memory as "shifting the self into the whole Christ" (116). Moving, then, from his discussion of the beginning of memory to the work of memory in Chapter Three (the beginning of Part Two), Grove zeroes in on three Psalms involving Idithun, an obscure character that Augustine takes as a [End Page 650] historical figure but also uses as a trope for the body of Christ, leaping upwards towards God. This section on leaping is arguably the heart of the book, as it lays out Grove's reasons as to why the "inward-upward" model of Augustinian ascent needs to be revised. For Grove, "the work of memory is not as simple as a flight into a removed interior space"; rather it is the "ongoing reconciliation of interior and exterior realities in Christ" in the communal act of leaping (107). This claim is corroborated by his textual analysis of sermons, which suggest that remembering in Christ moves us to care for the marginalized members of his body, thanks to a greater awareness that we are becoming Christ together with them. Delving more deeply into the work of memory in Chapters Four, Five, and Six, Grove makes the case that "Augustine preaches with memory language because memory enables and structures existence in the totus Christus...

Le De Trinitate du Pseudo-Didyme et le culte des archanges : un élément méconnu de datation

Abstract Pseudo-Didymus’ De Trinitate mentions many sanctuaries of the archangels Michael and Gabriel, finely adorned, some of which were quite famous to attract people from very far in the hope of a miracle. Although this testimony was usually considered as an ancient evidence because of its purported attribution to Didymus the Blind, it does not actually reflect the state of the archangels’ cult in the fourth century. However, it proves to be an important element for the dating of the De Trinitate itself, since it refers to a time when the cult of the archangels was developed in the East. The documentary and literary evidence shows that the churches dedicated to them, especially to Saint Michael, significantly multiply in the sixth century, and that their cult is being established under the reign of Justinian (527-565). It is from this period that the composition of Pseudo-Didymus’ De Trinitate is likely to date.

거룩한 가르침(Sacra Doctrina)과 철학의 역할

It is well known that Thomas Aquinas sees the relationship between reason and faith in harmonious terms. How then can we account for the case where anything is found in the claims of the philosophers which is contrary to the Christian belief? In order to examine his answer to this question, we should focus on Thomas’ Commentary on the De Trinitate of Boethius, q. 2, a. 3., in which he deals with the question whether it is permissible to use philosophical arguments and authorities in the sacra doctrina whose object is God. Thomas’ contemporary, Bonaventure refutes the theologian’s usage of philosophical argument in his theologizing since philosophy should not be mixed with theology lest the former should be changed into the latter. On the contrary, Thomas claims that philosophy is changed into theology, just as Jesus changed water to wine at the marriage feast in Cana. This claim leads us to the conclusion that Thomas who justifies the theologian’s usage of philosophical argument in his theologizing, is on the opposite side of Bonaventure.

Love Embraces Diversity: The Divine Person in the Trinity according to Richard of Saint Victor

The word “person” is generally used to refer to the existence of both humans and God. For humans, being a person means being able to think logically, have self-awareness, make free choices, and therefore be recognized morally and legally. The Christian faith believes in God as a Divine Person. The Dogma of the Trinity teaches faith in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Three Persons of one nature. Christological dogma teaches that Jesus is a Person who has both divine and human natures. However, what is a person? Specifically, what is the Divine Person? The answer to those questions is found not in the Bible but in the philosophical and theological tracts. This article presents Richard of Saint Victor’s argument on the Divine Person. In his De Trinitate, he sees that the definition of the Divine Person can explain the mystery of the Trinity. Richard borrows this existing understanding, especially from that of Boethius. However, he also offers novelty, which is still relevant today, namely the Trinitarian God as a Divine Person with summa caritas, perfect co-love that is unselfish, non-exclusive, and embraces diversity.

Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation by Rik Van Nieuwenhove, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021, pp. viii + 220, £65.00, hbk

Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation by Rik Van Nieuwenhove, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2021, pp. viii + 220, £65.00, hbk

Richard of St. Victor’s Argument from Love and Contemporary Analytic Theology of the Trinity

In his De Trinitate (c.1170) Richard of St Victor gives one of the more intriguing examples of trinitarian philosophical theology. Beginning with our common beliefs about and experiences of love, he argues for the existence of three, and only three, divine persons (call this The Argument). This essay explores several points of interaction between The Argument and current discussions in analytic theology of the Trinity. In part one I briefly survey Richard’s views on three topics of interest to philosophical trinitarians, namely, the distinction of divine persons, his model of the Trinity, and intra-trinitarian love. In part two I look at some work in these areas by analytic thinkers. My intention here is to apply some elements of The Argument and to show how its appeal may go beyond that of social trinitarians. I propose that Richard’s argument cannot receive unqualified adoption by social trinitarians and, alternatively, is more appealing to non-social trinitarians than has thus far been recognized. 

The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture by R. W. L. Moberly

Reviewed by: The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture by R. W. L. Moberly Catherine Petrany r. w. l. moberly, The God of the Old Testament: Encountering the Divine in Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020). Pp. xiv + 333. $34.99. This book comprises extended versions of the Hulsean Lectures that R. W. L. Moberly delivered at Cambridge University in the 2019–2020 academic year. Those familiar with M.'s rich body of work will recognize here the hallmarks of his theological approach, developed in previous books such as Old Testament Theology: Reading the Hebrew Bible as Christian Scripture (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013). As in that volume, M. here eschews any claims to a systematic biblical theology in favor of localized interpretations of "significant and representative" texts attached to broader theological themes (p. 2). Overall, M.'s approach straddles the boundary between theological ambition and interpretive restraint. His introduction begins with the statement that "[t]his is a book about God," but he qualifies this intention by clarifying his aim to draw out "aspects" of a "grammar" of God (p. 1). In other words, M. wants to articulate what it means for contemporary Christians to respond in word and practice to the sacred texts of ancient Israel, guided by the imperative of Ps 100:3, namely, to "Know that the Lord is God." Hermeneutically astute, M. presents his claims as text-based and partial, set within living contexts that constantly change. As in his other works, M. here shows a particular sensitivity to Jewish–Christian dialogue, evident in his rich interactions with Jewish scholars as well as in his claim that his exegesis is not "the way" but "a way" (p. 3; emphasis original). In all this, one can sense M. deftly, but perhaps also guardedly, tiptoeing around the well-established potholes of any "biblical theology" project, while also affirming his commitment to make qualified claims about the theological implications of these texts as Christian Scripture. The six chapters of the book are arranged neither chronologically nor canonically, but rather in a sequence that seems personally intuitive to M. The topics are as follows: (1) "The Wise God" (Proverbs 8); (2) "The Mysterious God" (Exodus 3); (3) "The Just God" (Psalm 82); (4) "The Inscrutable God" (Genesis 4); (5) "The Only God" (2 Kings 5); and (6) "The Trustworthy God" (Psalm 46; Jeremiah 7; Micah 3). Each chapter begins with a captivating and thematically relevant scene, drawn from contexts as varied as the Parisian storm that transformed Blaise Pascal's life (chap. 2) to the contemporary television show Homeland (chap. 3). A close reading of the selected text follows and is variously supplemented with traditional Jewish and Christian interpretations, modern readings of the text or theological issue at stake, and hermeneutical reflections. M. thus weaves together disparate strands of history and interpretive tradition, with contemporary voices both religious and secular, to [End Page 117] create illuminating readings of these texts, some well loved (e.g., Exodus 3) and others perhaps less familiar to nonspecialists (e.g., Psalm 46). This does lead to chapters that, at times, seem a bit uneven. M.'s approach is highly selective not only in his choice of texts but also in his engagement with past and present voices. For example, in his reading of the history of interpretation of Exod 3:14, M. briefly looks at its iterations in the LXX, the NT, and Hilary of Poitiers's De Trinitate. In his reading of Psalm 82, his historical interlocutors include John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Robert Bellarmine. While M. acknowledges this selectivity, it is not always clear why this or that voice is heard except that M. himself finds it compelling. Perhaps this is reason enough! Certain omissions, however, such as the lack of any sustained interaction with feminist interpreters, might be a barrier for some readers. Two standout and loosely connected chapters engage the related themes of divine justice (chap. 3) and divine "inscrutability" (chap. 4). M.'s choice of the enigmatic Psalm 82 over more obvious prophetic or legal texts to raise questions of divine justice elevates his discussion. M. sees in the psalm...

Un paradosso agostiniano nella concezione del Dio-amore? Il rifiuto della similitudine familiare in De Trinitate XII

In De Trinitate XII Augustine refuses the idea that a family could be the image of God. This is curious, because the theologian that in De Trinitate elaborates a “communitarian model” of the Trinity – the Lover, the Beloved and the Love – at the same time does not see the image of God in the first natural community, the family. The purpose of this paper is to show the deeper reasons for this refutation. After the exposition of Augustine’s argument, the paper identifies Augustine’s polemical reference to a part of the Eastern Tradition, which used the example of the first family (Adam, Eve and Abel/Seth) in order to express the mystery of the Trinity. It examines also how the example of the first family was used by Gregory of Nazianzus in his fifth theological discourse (which some scholars identify as the possible source of the idea of the family as the image of God for Augustine) in a trinitarian way. This study then considers two aspects of Augustine’s argument: that his refutation is not justified by the association of the Holy Spirit with the mother and the bride; that the real reason for it is exegetical, and dependent upon Augustine’s reading of Gn. 1:26. Finally the paper shows that the view of gender differences as merely corporeal is what prevents the Doctor of Grace from reading Gn. 1:27 in a relational-dialogical way to express the intimate communion of the Trinity.

Augustine’s Use of Ps.-Athanasius on John 5:19 and the Chronology of De Consensu Euangelistarum

Augustine uses an unusual scriptural variant for the ending of John 5:19 twelve times. Ten occur in several Trinitarian writings produced around 418–420 CE. There is sufficient evidence to argue that Augustine’s use of Jerome’s translation of Didymus the Blind’s De spiritu sancto accounts for the presence of the variant in these writings. Augustine’s two earlier uses are more difficult to explain. The variant appears once in a sermon delivered at the end of 411 CE and once in De consensu euangelistarum, Book One, which is generally dated to 403–404 CE. The following article argues that Augustine’s use of ps.-Athanasius’s De trinitate, Book XI likely accounts for these two early uses.

Traces de l’influence de Cyrille d’Alexandrie sur le De Trinitate du Pseudo-Didyme

This article further examines the literary relationship between the De Trinitate falsely attributed to Didymus the Blind and the works of Cyril of Alexandria, aside from their common philosophical citations. The highlighted similarities of these two authors cannot be explained by a common source; on the contrary, they indicate a direct dependence of one author upon the other. Their analysis shows that words, turns of phrase and ideas which are typical of Cyril and often occur in his writings are each used only once by Pseudo-Didymus. This evidence weighs heavily in favour of Cyril’s antecedence. In fact, the anonymous author of the De Trinitate has been influenced, in addition to fourth-century doctrinal treatises, by Cyril’s De sancta Trinitate dialogi, an anti-Arian work dating from the 420s. He also assimilated several other Cyrillian features, and was even inspired by Cyril’s anti-Arian Christology in his doctrine on the Holy Spirit. Cyril of Alexandria, therefore, has priority over Pseudo-Didymus, both chronologically and theologically.

Breuis instructio de natura et quomodo credere debeamus e De Trinitate (CPG 2296) attribuita ad Atanasio di Alessandria: una sintesi dogmatica

The short profession of faith entitled De Trinitate (CPG 2296) and wrongly attributed to Athanasius of Alexandria, but probably written later, appears even from a superficial analysis to be a passage extrapolated from a larger work. The explicit, in fact, clearly reveals that the short composition is part of a larger whole, divided into several sections. The codex Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1630 transmits an anonymous dogmatic synthesis entitled Breuis instructio de natura et fide, which incorporates, in the central part, Trin., which in turn turns out to be a fragment extrapolated and placed within the dogmatic anthology that transmits it (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 2745). Although Breuis instructio was already published in the 17th century by Étienne Le Moyne, it seems useful to us to offer a new critical edition of the text, which also takes into account the convergence of the two manuscripts in the central part of this short composition. We also provide an Italian translation of the text and an attempt to place the work among the unpublished works of John Damascene, or more probably as a recension of a text of a scholastic nature depending on his writings.