Fullness Received and Returned

Trinity and Participation in Jonathan Edwards

Seng-Kong Tan

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781451469325
• eBook ISBN: 9781451472424
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

Seng-Kong Tan argues that human participation in the divine —a classical theological axiom most notably associated with the Eastern Orthodox tradition—is a central theme in the theology of Jonathan Edwards. This notion, Tan contends, is a defining motif for the entire systematic sweep of Edwards' theology, and it serves to focus and unpack the contours of Edwards' thought. Fullness Received and Returned situates Edwards' theology within the folds of the classical theological tradition, while arguing that Edwards' is a unique and creative form of Reformed theology.

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Appendix 1

Table 1.1 Edwards’s objective idealism

CREATION	CHRIST	CHURCH
Creatio ex nihilo	Unitio personalis / assumptio carnis	Unitio mystica
Communication of being and relations to the creation	Creation and union of human nature to the Word	a. Real union of love—Christ unites Christ’s self to the soul in regeneration
Creatio continua	Unio personalis	Unio mystica
Preservation as reiterative communication of being and relations to the creation	Continual communication of divine power through the human as instrumentum Deitatis Continual communication of divine knowledge and happiness from the Logos to the human nature	b. Vital union—continual sanctification as Christ continually imparts the Spirit to the soul as it responds in continual faith to Christ
Identity in creation	Identity of Jesus Christ	Identity in Christ
1. Divine perspective
God treats entities in seriatim as genidentical	The Father treats the human Jesus as only-begotten Son	c. Relative union and adoption—God treats us as sons and daughters in the Son d. Legal union and justification—God accepts us as without sin and perfectly righteousness in and due to Christ
2. Human perspective
Human minds perceive the identity and continuity of entities	Jesus relates to the Father as would the Logos in a human manner	a. Loving one another   b. Sharing Christ’s Spirit   c. Being related to one another d. Being legally bound to the same Lord, by the same laws

Table 1.2 Emanation and remanation motif

 

LOCUS	EMANATION	REMANATION
A. Immanent Trinity
1. Generation of the Son	Simultaneous with the procession of the Spirit from the Father	Returns with the Spirit to the Father
2. Procession of the Spirit	Love of the Father to the Son	Love of the Son to the Father
B. Economic Trinity	Creation	End of creation / redemption
	Natural image—human mind and will	Spiritual image—divine knowledge and love
C. Christology	Descent of God	Ascent of humanity
1. Virginal conception	Spirit of the Father	Enypostatos—derivation of being
2. Unitio personalis	Spirit of the Son as vinculum	Enhypostaton—derivation of existence and personhood
3. Unio personalis	Spirit of the Son as vehiculum	Instrumentum—theandric operation
D. Pneumatology
1. Unitio mystica—real union of hearts	Regeneration / Spirit’s descent / Christ’s love for us	Faith / Soul’s ascent / Loving response to Christ
2. Unio mystica
a. Relative union / adoption	Related to the Father / made sons and daughters in the Son	Relating to the Father / acting as sons and daughters in the Son
b. Legal union / justification	Accepted and declared righteous by God	Faithful perseverance in Christ
c. Vital union / sanctification	Dying to self / mortification	Rising in Christ / vivification

 

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Appendix 2: The Doctrine of Autotheos in Calvin and the Reformed Tradition

John Calvin introduced the idea that though the Father is the ultimate origin of the subsistences of the Son and Spirit, nonetheless all three persons possess the divine essence of themselves.^[1] What prompted this novel move? He was trying neither to pit Western against Eastern trinitarianism nor to set one Cappadocian father against another, as has been suggested.^[2] He did this to reconcile the apparent tensions within the patr...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Communication of Being Ad Intra
• Communication of Being Ad Extra
• Trinitarian Action and Communication in Redemption and the Incarnation
• Hypostatic Union
• Communication of Properties, Works, and Grace in the Person of Christ as Mediated by the Spirit
• Unio Cum Christo
• Self-Communication of the Holy Spirit as the Church’s Participation in the Divine Nature
• Conclusion of Salvation
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2: The Doctrine of Autotheos in Calvin and the Reformed Tradition
• Appendix 3: Doctrine of Appropriations as Modified by the Reformed-Puritan Tradition
• Appendix 4: The Enhypostaton-Anhypostaton Dialectic
• Appendix 5: Genus Maiestaticum
• Appendix 6: God’s Intrinsic and Declarative Glory in the Reformed-Puritan Tradition
• Appendix 7: Divine Energeia in the Eastern and Western Traditions
• Selected Bibliography
• Index