The One God

A Critically Developed Evangelical Doctrine of Trinitarian Unity

Michael L. Chiavone

• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9781606081525
  9781498252195
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630876821
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

In what sense is God one? How can those who worship Jesus Christ, his Father, and the Holy Spirit claim to be monotheists? These questions were answered by the early church, and their answering analogies, models, and language have come down to the church today. However, theology is not stagnant, and the twentieth century has seen several new models of the Trinity emerge. Many of these models have focused on the three persons without adequately considering the consequences for the unity of God. The One God seeks to develop an understanding of the unity of the Triune God by examining the positions put forward by Karl Rahner, Millard Erickson, John Zizioulas, and Wolfhart Pannenberg. After carefully presenting and critically examining each of these positions, this book offers a synthesis: an understanding of the unity of God that is historically informed, theologically adequate, internally coherent, and able to explain Christian monotheism in a new century. By affirming both the singular divine essence of God and the genuine, eternal interdependence of distinct divine persons in God, The One God affirms the personal and the natural levels of ontology, both crucial for understanding God, humanity, and the world.

1

Introduction to the Doctrine of Trinitarian Unity

The doctrine of the Trinity, the belief that there is one God who is in some sense three, is perhaps the most distinctive doctrine of Christianity. This belief quickly found doxological expression in the worship of the early church and theological expression in the summary that God was one essence (ousia/substantia/natura/essentia) and three persons (hypostaseis/persona), a formula which grounded both the unity and diversity of God throughout the Middle Ages.1 While interest in the doctrine of the Trinity waned during the Enlightenment, recent theology, beginning with the work of Karl Barth, has experienced renewed interest in this doctrine, as several authors have noted.2

This renewed interest has caused numerous authors to criticize the classical form of the doctrine, in large part because the Christian metaphysical consensus which gave support to the ancient trinitarian formula no longer exists.3 This leads to a difficulty for contemporary Christians which Millard Erickson characterizes aptly:

The formula was worked out quite definitely in the fourth century. God is one substance or essence, existing in three persons. The difficulty is that we do not know exactly what these terms mean. We know that the doctrine states that God is three in some respect and one in some other respect, but we do not know precisely what those two different respects are.4

Recent theologians have therefore attempted to gain an understanding of the respects in which God is one and three.

Such efforts have two related sides. They must develop an understanding of what is three about God to provide a meaning, or an alternative, for the term “person” in trinitarian discourse, and must also do the same thing for what is one about God and the term “essence.” This text will examine the work of four selected theologians in regard to the latter task, that of defining the unity of the trinitarian God, and will attempt to draw from them elements for a successful evangelical doctrine of trinitarian unity.5 Then, it will offer a proposal for how evangelical Christians ought to understand the Triune God to be one.

Each of the four theologians selected, Karl Rahner, Millard Erickson, John Zizioulas, and Wolfhart Pannenberg, represents a distinct tradition within contemporary Christendom and has contributed to the doctrine of the Trinity.6 Rahner’s rule for contemplating the Trinity, “The ‘economic’ Trinity is the ‘immanent’ Trinity and the ‘immanent’ Trinity is the ‘economic’ Trinity,”7 has influenced the discussion of the Trinity since its publication. Gregory Havrilak notes Rahner’s contribution to Roman Catholic theology in general and the doctrine of the Trinity in particular, stating “Karl Rahner is without question one of the most important and influential Roman Catholic theologians of the twentieth century. . . . Following Barth, Rahner’s classic work The Trinity appeared as the most innovative contribution to trinitarian theology until the advent of Moltmann.”8

Erickson, a former student of Pannenberg’s, has written extensively about theology proper and the doctrine of the Trinity from the evangelical perspective. In addition to a well-used text on systematic theology, Erickson has recently written three volumes presenting contemporary interpretations of the Trinity, Christology, and the divine attributes.9

Zizioulas is concerned in his writings primarily with ecclesiology. However, he sees the basis for ecclesiology, and indeed all of Christian life, in the Trinity. As he puts it, “Orthodoxy concerning the being of God is not a luxury for the Church and for man: it is an existential necessity.”10 As a Greek Orthodox, he seeks to draw heavily from the Eastern tradition, and his work on the Trinity is seen by some to epitomize the contemporary form of that tradition.11

Pannenberg has sought to restore a strong metaphysical basis for theology, and has both criticized the classical metaphysics of the Fathers and developed one of his own.12 He interacts critically with a wide variety of theologians, both ancient and contemporary. He makes a unique contribution to the doctrine of the Trinity by drawing on modern physics and the concept of a field in discussing the one essence of the Triune God.13

There is much to be commended in the work of these authors, and indeed, in the work of the many authors who have furthered trinitarian studies in the recent past. However, these four authors, along with all of the scholarship they represent, present a problem to the Christian believer, because they show considerable disagreement as to how the God of the Bible, while Triune, is, in fact, one. This text attempts to help settle that disagreement by determining which, if any, of the four positions presented within are acceptable and, if none are, what positive elements can be taken from them to help construct an evangelical doctrine of the Trinity.

The position of each of these theologians will be examined in two stages. First, each author’s understanding of divine unity will be presented. Where it is relevant, information regarding methodology and presuppositions will also be include...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction to the Doctrine of Trinitarian Unity
• Chapter 2: Karl Rahner and Trinitarian Unity
• Chapter 3: Millard Erickson and Trinitarian Unity
• Chapter 4: John Zizioulas and Trinitarian Unity
• Chapter 5: Wolfhart Pannenberg and Trinitarian Unity
• Chapter 6: A Successful Evangelical Understanding of Trinitarian Unity
• Bibliography