In this passage, Augustine describes a relationship among love, knowledge, and mind that knows and loves itself and uses that relationship to explain the Trinity. Just like there are “the mind, its love, and its knowledge – which are one, and when perfect they are equal”, there is God that is one and triune at the same time. Augustine was the first one to introduce a concept of mutual love that was later often used in explanations of the Trinity. Augustine says that God is one “essence”, but three “mutually related persons”, which corresponds to our classroom notes as Professor Skinner said that those terms are crucial for a good explanation of the Trinity.
Augustine’s analogy is very helpful in understanding the paradox of threeness-in-oneness,
Augustine’s analogy is very helpful in understanding the paradox of threeness-in-oneness,