I normally agree with ViaCrucis, but I think he’s overstating the amount of agreement on the Trinity.
First, the primary standard is the Nicene Creed. It states that the Father and the Son are “of one substance.” However the word is a bit ambiguous. It can be understood as meaning that they are exactly the same kind of thing or exactly one thing. The histories I’ve read suggest that the term was actually understood both ways by different participants in Nicea.
Historically the West has tended to see God as one, and to find enough distinction within that One to speak of a Trinity. Augustine, and many following him, saw the key as being the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They saw God basically as one entity, with however enough complexity to experience the relationship of love within himself.
The East has tended to start with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and show how they are so tightly integrated as to form one real thing.
Modern theology often does not use the classical concepts of hypostasis and ousia.
I think we’re committed to something like the Trinity by the Christian idea that Christ is the Word made flesh. But I’m not so convinced that there’s a single, well-defined concept of what God is like in himself, and in fact there’s solid Christian tradition that we can’t know.
First, the primary standard is the Nicene Creed. It states that the Father and the Son are “of one substance.” However the word is a bit ambiguous. It can be understood as meaning that they are exactly the same kind of thing or exactly one thing. The histories I’ve read suggest that the term was actually understood both ways by different participants in Nicea.
Historically the West has tended to see God as one, and to find enough distinction within that One to speak of a Trinity. Augustine, and many following him, saw the key as being the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They saw God basically as one entity, with however enough complexity to experience the relationship of love within himself.
The East has tended to start with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and show how they are so tightly integrated as to form one real thing.
Modern theology often does not use the classical concepts of hypostasis and ousia.
I think we’re committed to something like the Trinity by the Christian idea that Christ is the Word made flesh. But I’m not so convinced that there’s a single, well-defined concept of what God is like in himself, and in fact there’s solid Christian tradition that we can’t know.
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