"The Church as the Image of the Trinity"

A Critical Evaluation of Miroslav Volf’s Ecclesial Model

Kevin J. Bidwell

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781610973731
  9781498260374
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621892748
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

A resurgence of Trinitarian interest gained momentum in the twentieth century and it is showing little sign of abating in the twenty-first century. This research endeavors to critically evaluate Miroslav Volf's ecclesial model for "the church as the image of the Trinity," one that he presents with the English title, After Our Likeness. Volf proposes a social doctrine of the Trinity, one that is heavily influenced by the theological writings of Jurgen Moltmann, and he puts forward that this nonhierarchical Trinity should be reflected in the structures and theology of the church. If Volf is correct, then a radical reshaping is needed for the church to conform to an egalitarian pattern, one that is "after the likeness" (Gen 1:26) of an egalitarian God. In this critical examination, Kevin J. Bidwell begins by stating the theological influences that are pertinent to Volf's thesis in After Our Likeness and the assumptions that undergird and inform his whole theological paradigm. An important theological excursus is offered to assess the theology of John Smyth, the first English Baptist, who is Volf's representative figure for the location of his own ecclesiology, the Free Church. A critical analysis follows of Volf's engagement with his two chosen dialogue partners who represent both Western and Eastern theological traditions: Joseph Ratzinger and John D. Zizioulas. Volf presents five theses for "the church as the image of the Trinity," which could be labeled as Volf's Free Church in the image of Volf's revised doctrine of the Trinity. This monograph offers extensive insight into the contemporary debate on the doctrine of the Trinity, but it also assesses many aspects of ecclesiology from both Eastern and Western perspectives.

1

Introduction

A Resurgence of Interest in the Doctrine of the Trinity

Perhaps no area of Christian theology has received such intense and fruitful work in the last century as our understanding of the Trinity,”1 according to Miroslav Volf and Michael Welker. Indeed, the latter half of the twentieth century has experienced a significant theological renaissance concerning the doctrine of the Trinity and Karl Barth (1886–1968) is credited by many as having being influential upon this resurgence of Trinitarian interest.2 R. W. Jenson believes that it is “from Barth that twentieth-century theology has learned that the doctrine of the Trinity has explanatory and interpretative use for the whole of theology; it is by him that the current vigorous revival of Trinitarian reflection was enabled.”3 In 1967, Karl Rahner mournfully remarked that “should the doctrine of the Trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain virtually unchanged.”4 Almost all Christian theological traditions have since joined this chorus of support for a renewed emphasis upon the Trinity.

One of the features of this development has been an understanding that the doctrine of God is the doctrine of the Trinity and vice versa. An excellent example of this is Thomas F. Torrance in The Christian Doctrine of God: One Being Three Persons, and he introduces his work by stating:

This monograph is devoted to clarifying understanding of the most profound article of the Christian Faith, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. This exposition takes place within the frame of the biblical and Nicene tradition of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is heavily influenced by Greek Patristic and Reformed theology with particular acknowledgments of debt to Athanasius the Great . . . and Karl Barth.5

There is a noticeable recovery of patristic studies within contemporary Trinitarian theologies, and this often leads to a fresh marriage of both Eastern and Western schools of thought. Additionally, studies have widened their theological horizons to allow the doctrine of the Trinity to inform their whole frame of theological understanding.

Colin E. Gunton exemplifies these new thought patterns by incorporating Eastern Trinitarian theologies into his research and writings. The key influences for him are most notably the Cappadocian fathers (Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nyssa), John of Damascus, and Gunton’s contemporary, John D. Zizioulas. This leads Gunton to explore the differences between Eastern and Western Trinities and to critically analyze what he perceives to be deficiencies within Western theological thought, a supposed result of Augustine of Hippo’s work on the Holy Trinity.6

Perhaps one of the most significant ecumenical links that is commonly made between the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of the church is the theme of koinōnia, or more simply, communion. Zizioulas makes a significant contribution in Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church to the development of a Trinitarian ecclesiology, and both he and Gunton reach the same conclusion in answer to the enquiry as to what the church, as part of God’s creation, should reflect; the answer is apparently found in the word koinōnia.7 Together they believe that this word is best translated as “community or perhaps sociality.”8 Zizioulas sets out to demonstrate that the “church is the image of the Triune God” and “not simply an institution, but a mode of existence, a way of being.”9 Thus the being of God is clearly understood to be bound up with ecclesiology, while his view on ecclesial personhood sees humans created as imago Trinitatis.10

New lines of fruitful enquiry have also begun to emerge, and this has led to new questions for theological reflection concerning the practical outworking of this fresh appreciation of the Triune God. The notion that the church is the image of the Trinity is gathering momentum in the evangelical and Western world and is no longer a concept embraced solely by the Eastern Orthodox Church. Velli-Matti Kärkkäinen recognizes the growing significance of koinōnia for many ecclesiologists; Volf wholeheartedly endorses a Trinitarian motif; Robert Letham, Donald Macleod, and Torrance likewise echo the need for Reformed churches to be reenvisioned with a perspective rooted in the triune life of God.11

Volf specifically catches sight of the potential for the recovery of the doctrine of the Trinity to enrich and inform all aspects of ecclesiology. With this in mind, he has developed a dynamic thesis that grasps this theological challenge, proverbially speaking, with both hands. His proposal After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (AOL) attempts to ensure that a Trinitarian framework informs the relationship between persons and community for Christian theology. It is this thesis that is to be the prime focus of this theological research, which also includes a critical appreciation and evaluation of all aspects of his proposal.

In reflecting on these large-scale theological advances, though, there is little room for complacency, because, as Letham points out, “in the West, the Trinity has in practice been relegated to such an extent that most Christians are little more than practical modalists.”12 He further adds that many people regard an appreciation of the Trinity to be “of no real consequence for daily living.”13 Could a fresh focus on the Trinity reinvigorate our theology and ecclesiology? Volf seems to think so, as he writes:

It is obvious but not trite to state that the Triune God stands at the beginning and at the end of the Christian pilgrimage and, therefore, at the centre of Christian faith. Christians are born as they come out of the baptismal waters into which t...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: The Influence of Jürgen Moltmann upon Volf’s Theological Paradigm in After Our Likeness
• Chapter 3: Other Theological Influences upon Volf in Relation to After Our Likeness
• Chapter 4: Volf’s Trinitarian and Ecclesial Paradigm
• Chapter 5: Free Church Ecclesiology: John Smyth as Volf’s Chosen Ecclesial Representative
• Chapter 6: Volf’s Dialogue with Joseph Ratzinger
• Chapter 7: A Critical Evaluation of Volf’s Dialogue with Ratzinger
• Chapter 8: Volf’s Dialogue with John Zizioluas
• Chapter 9: A Critical Evaluation of Volf’s Dialogue with Zizioulas
• Chapter 10: A Critical Evaluation of “The Ecclesiality of the Church”
• Chapter 11: A Critical Evaluation of “Faith, Person, and Church”
• Chapter 12: A Critical Evaluation of “Trinity and Church”
• Chapter 13: A Critical Evaluation of “Structures of the Church”
• Chapter 14: A Critical Evaluation of “The Catholicity of the Church”
• Chapter 15: Conclusion
• Appendix
• Bibliography