St 102 Final Exam

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Abelard's view of God

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1. God was a finite power
2. Holy Spirit was the soul of the world
3. Christ's death was just a demonstration of God's love - for moral encouragement
4. We should respond with obedience.

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Adoptionism

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Viewed Jesus as merely a virtuous human being chosen by God to be elevated to divine Sonship, through being anointed with his Spirit and resurrected as Lord of the Church - DEEMED HERETICAL

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The Apostle's Creed

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Western statement of faith based on a 2nd century Roman Creed ascribed to the 12. Today it is nearly universal - foundational and unifying Christian belief. Echoed in Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

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Arianism

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Taught that Jesus was the highest of all created beings. Similar, but not equal in nature to God the Father. Thus, the Son is considered a god, but not the same as the Father. DEEMED HERETICAL

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Athanasius

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Bishop of Alexandria during Arian controversy. Exiled several times for stance against Arianism. Staunchly defended Nicaea and the Trinity.

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Cappadocian Fathers

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4th Century Eastern Theologians
1. Basil the Great
2. Gregory of Nazianzus
3. Gregory of Nyssa
They influenced the full adoption of Nicene Trinitarian orthodoxy, defeat of Arianism, and introduced what some call the Social Model of the Trinity.

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Council of Nicaea

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325 - the first ecumenical council, set for the definitive standard of the Trinitarian faith. Proclaimed CONSUBSTANTIALITY - HOMOOUSIOS; the Son and Father are of the same essence. Anathematized Arianism.

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Council of Chalcedon

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451 - 4th ecumenical council. Affirmed by both East and West, says that in Christ there are 2 natures united in a single person (hypostasis), thus in hypostatic union. This is orthodox, and stands between Nestorianism and Eutychianism.

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Deism

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Synonymous with theism until the 17th century. Affirms a supreme being, but no direct involvement in creation. Knowledge of God comes through natural reason, no revelation. Obligation to worship comes from coming final jugement.

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Divine Energies - whose idea is this?

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Gregory of Palamas

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Divine Energies - what is this?

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Different than essence (unknowable), uncreated energies are also God himself and permeate all things. They can be directly experienced by man in the form of deifying grace. We can enjoy wonderful fellowship with the Godhead. This is different theology than we have known in the West.

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Divine Essence - what is this?

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God's essence includes those attributes that only God retains, such as immutability and transcendence above creation.
Gregory of Palamas

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What is divinization?

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Also called deification, this thought developed especially in the East. Believers are to:
1. 'participate in the divine nature' (2 Pet 1:4)
2. infused by the divine presence, hence becoming godlike, indeed gods and God by grace.
Later Eastern fathers ascribed this to the penetration of divine energies.

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Docetism

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Christianized form of gnosticism. The divine Jesus only appeared to have a human form, because the physical world is evil. DEEMED HERETICAL

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Ebionism

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2nd century Jewish sect that viewed Jesus as an exceptional prophet, but only human, not divine. They adhered to strict Jewish law and rejected Paul's writings.

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Economic Trinity

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View of the Trinity focused on the functional acts (economies) of the Godhead in the creation and salvation of the world. Distinguished from the 'immanent Trinity' - the Godhead in itself, transcendent, and outside all created reality.

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Filioque

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Latin for "and from the Son".
Added by the West to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed at Toledo (589). Expresses the double procession of the HS from the Father and from the Son. The East didn't like this, felt it diminished the HS's deity, let to the schism of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism.

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Homoousios vs Homoiousios

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Homoousios: "of one and the same substance or being"

Homoiousios: "of a similar substance or being"

As applied to the Son's divine nature in relation to that of the Father.

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Modalism

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A form of Monarchianism in which God diversely manifests himself as Father, Son or Holy Spirit, thus denying the eternal existence of 3 persons within the Godhead. God is single personned, manifested in different modes.

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Monarchianism

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Emphasizes the one principle (arche) or monarchy of god such that it denies the personal distinctiveness of the divine Son and the Holy Spirit in relation to God the Father. DEEMED HERETICAL

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Montanism

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Montanus was a converted priest from a frenetic sect in Asia Minor. He claimed special anointing by the HS through prophecy. He challenged the church with these rigid moral standards and claimed they superceded the old. He also claimed that the New Jerusalem would be instituted in his home town of Phrygia.

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Describe the nature of personhood

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def: a center of self-consciousness existing in relationship to others. It entails:
1. Full self-consciousness ("I am")
2. The I-Thou reality of self distinct from other persons ("the Word was with God")
3. The capacity of perichoresis ("I am in the Father and the Father is in me")

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Ontological Trinity

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Same as Immanent Trinity.
The view that centers on the Trinity in and of itself, as present (immanent) only to itself. It focuses on the internal relationships between the Father, Son and Spirit.

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Origen

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(c. 185-253)
Prolific teacher of a platonized Christian faith in Alexandria, with emphasis on allegorical, moral and spiritual meanings of the Bible (especially OT).
His great contribution to Christology is the phrase "eternal generation" of the Son.

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Psychological Model of the Trinity

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Articulated by Augustine.
Suggests that since we were created in God's image and He is Trinity, then human nature (expressed in activity) will reflect a threefoldness - ie: in mind, knowledge, love of self, etc.

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Richard of St. Victor

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(d. 1173)
He employed logic to argue that if God is supremely good and love, then there is necessary self-giving relationship in the Trinity: the love of the Father cannot remain alone - it must flow to a person of equal dignity, the Son. The Father and Son, then, have a third person, the Holy Spirit, as the object of their love.

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Sabellianism

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3rd century form of modalism.
Denied 3 distinct persons of the Trinity and said there were 3 successive modes of divine manifestation:
Father of the OT
Son of the Gospels
Holy Spirit of Acts and present age.
DEEMED HERETICAL

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Social Model of the Trinity

How does the Eastern view see things?

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Loosely attributed to the Cappadocians, but also expressed by Augustine.
It explains the Trinity in terms of human relationships.
Basil: Adam, Eve, Seth
Augustine: Lover, Beloved, Love itself
Eastern Orthodoxy:
1. Prioritizes the 3 persons (hypostases) over singularity
2. Affirms that each person shares the same attributes
3. Locates divine unity in perichoresis
4. Often attributes ontological priority to the Father as the eternal source (fons divinitatis) of the full eternal deity of hte Son and Spirit.

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Tertullian

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(c.155-c.220)
Lawyer who wrote "Against Praxeas" - he articulated the Christian Trinity against Modalism and Patripassianism (the Father died on the cross = no personal distinction between Father/Son)
He seems to be the first to use the terms "TRINITAS" and "PERSONAE" in the formula "one substance, three persons".

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Thomas Aquinas

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(1225-1274)
He wanted to move Christian theology from using Neo-Platonic philosophy towards the philosophy of Aristotle.
He starts his examination of the Godhead with the essence of God and then moves towards the 3 persons of the Trinity.
He used Aristotle's cosmological argument for God to prove there must be a 'Prime Mover'.

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Who are the leading Trinitarian theologians of recent history?

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1. Barth
2. Lossky
3. Rahner
4. Moltmann
5. Boff
6. Torrance
7. Bunton
8. LaCugna
9. Volf
10. Grenz
11. Letham

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What does "eternal generation" speak of?

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The Father begetting the Son.

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What is the difference between begetting and making?

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Begetting - you beget something of the same kind as yourself.

Make - you make something that is different than yourself.

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What does "procession" speak of?

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The Holy Spirit and where He comes from. Filioque would say He procedes from both the Father and Son. Eastern church denies this.

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What is the debate surrounding eternal generation and procession?

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They can be debated in terms of exegetical accuracy. Even so, the greater flow of Trinitarian scriptures surely suggests complementary roles of the divine persons in the immanent Trinity. The Eastern church split from Roman over filioque.

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Does the tripersonaity of God have implications for who I am and how I am made to be fulfilled as imago dei?

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YES.
Christ is the model of marriage, but the Godhead is as well.
We can understand how husband/wife/children relate to one another.
Centrality of the Father, delight in submission of the Son and the Spirit
1 Cor 11:1-3; Eph 5.
It seems that there should be some sort of order in the home. We also realize that this gets manifested differently in various cultures and times and even within different couples.
The closest analogy of perichoresis in humanity would be the sexual act. This is why sexuality is sacred. It is designed for covenant. That experience outside of covenant breaks down what God wants reflected by it.

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Does the order of the Godhead imply complementarianism or egalitarianism?
Debates between K. Giles/M. Erickson and W. Grudem/B. Ware

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Complementarianism. There is order in the Godhead that should be reflected in human relationships. This would be true in marriage, in the church, in all human relationships. This view is taken from the taxis within the Godhead. (Ware)
1 Cor 11:5-10
1 Tim 2:12-15

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What does understanding deeper realities of the Holy Trinity imply for worship?

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Our worship should be reflect the Triune God.
Def: "the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son's communion with the Father."
Father: compassionate, sacrificial, and personal Father who draws near.
Son: Priest and Mediator
Holy Spirit: Magnify the Father and Son (in the power of the Spirit)

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What are the 3 approaches to Trinitarian worship?

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1. Cataphatic - by way of instruction
2. Apophatic - recognizing mystery
3. Pietistic (devotional/experiential)

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Does the nature of the self-giving Triune God have implications for how God's people are to function in community?

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YES.
The local church could reflect the divine image with these directives:
1. Mutuality. Just as each member of the Trinity is equally God, so each believer is a child of God.
2. Order. Just as there is an economic order in the Trinity, so the NT defines a necessary order in the local church.
3. Deep Friendships. If God exists as community, then real community is to be reflected in all the life of the church.
4. Biblical Ecumenicity. The same mutual caring should not be limited to only our local congregation, but to all believers.

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Jehovah's Witness view of God

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Explicitly Arian. God (Jehovah) is one essence and one person who created the Son and the Spirit as his divine agents.

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Mormon view of God

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The Trinity is actually 3 distinct Gods, although they are unified in the attributes of perfection. They also believe in an infinite number of gods.

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Jesus Only Pentecostalism view of God

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Rejects the Trinity. If God is the Father, and if Jesus is God, then it logically follows that Jesus is the Father.
TD Jakes

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What are the primary issues in contemporary Trinitarianism?

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1. Rehabilitation of Trinitarian studies
2. Overcoming the old division of Christology from Trinitarianism
3. The place of the Spirit recovered.
4. Unity and personal diversity of God.
5. Filioque
6. Trinity and gender-inclusivism
7. Trinity and interreligious dialogue
8. Trinity and atheism
9. Is the economic the immanent Trinity?
10. How does God act as 3 persons?
11. Nature of person
12. Method and approach

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Pantheism's view of God

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God is everything, everything is God. All is an illusion, no ultimate morality.
Hinduism, Eastern thought, New Age

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Polytheism's view of God

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Various gods, no absolute. No structure for ultimate meaning.
Tribal animism, Mormonism.

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Atheism's view of God

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Denies any God, no absolute. Humanity forms it's own meaning.
Modernism, Humanism, Marxism, Existentialism, Postmodernism

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Monotheism's view of God

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Imago dei
Human ontology is grounded in a personal God.
A moral God governs an ultimately moral universe.
Judaism, Christianity, Islam.