In popular Christian writing, as well as in theology, I’m constantly seeing the word “godhead” being used to mean something like “the three members of the Trinity, considered as a group”. An example context would be discussion “the eternal fellowship of the Godhead”.
Historically, this usage puzzles me. You never see this usage in ancient, medieval, [...]
I recently received a friendly note from Daniel Eaton, head moderator at Theologica: a bible, theology, politics, news, networking, and discussion site. It seems they’ve set up a whole section devoted to Trinity discussions, here. Check it out.
Daniel sort of asks me a few questions:
…it would make an interesting discussion as to whether or not [...]
What I call positive mysterianism about the Trinity is the view that the doctrine, as best we can formulate it, is apparently contradictory. Now many Christian philosophers resort to this in the end, but only after one or more elaborate attempts to spell the doctrine out in a coherent way. On the other hand, some [...]
STAGE 2. In this stage, Richard tries to show that perfect charity must be directed at another person. Here’s the quotation:
‘no one is properly said to have charity on the basis of his own private love of himself. And so it is necessary for love to be directed toward another for it to be charity’.
Barak Hussein Obama, as I write this, enjoys untold legions of fans. Some of them identify him with Jesus, or with Abe Lincoln, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, or Moses.
What I just said is true. But what it mean? It sure does not mean that a lot of people think B.H.O. is one and the same [...]
A prominent Christian scholar is criticizing some of his peers for their discussions of Jesus-era Jewish monotheism:
[these blokes work] with only two possibilities: monotheism could either have remained intact or been broken. Commendably, [one of the blokes] pictures developments stretching or even distending Jewish monotheism, but he too seems not to consider the possibility of [...]
I have tendencies. Put me near a Subway restaurant, where I can smell the fresh bread, and I’ll get hungry, my mouth watering. Force me to watch reality TV shows, and I’ll become fatally bored. I have a tendency to smile in the presence of cute little kids.
Doctrines do not have tendencies. They don’t do [...]
A Trinitarian group, from a old Trinitarian show. Clearly, John represents the Father.
<sarcasm>Wheeeeee! Everything is “Trinitarian” now.
Not only is our theology Trinitarian, but salvation, Christian experience, the story of Christ, the whole Bible, ethics, human history, marriage, society, government, and religions other than Christianity are all Trinitarian.
Because God’s the creator of the cosmos, everything whatever [...]
Respected Catholic philosopher Alfred J. Freddoso corrects some pervasive baloney about persons which theologians are still repeating, these 22 years later! The asterisk marks his footnote – this whole passage is an aside in a very rich paper of his. Out of politeness, I omit the author of the wrongheaded passage, and I’ve added some [...]
The site was down for a solid week, thanks to the havoc wrought by some lamers who hikacked the site to send spam. I think we’ve fixed the security holes.
As a result, I had to break the old Polls pages, but I’ve left those posts up because of the comments and links therein. Future polls [...]
“Oops… Sorry. Forgot that my name is too holy to be said, or even written. Boy, is my face red!”
As reported in Christianity Today, and in other places, the Catholic hierarchy is forbidding the liturgical use of “Yahweh” (YHWH, Yahveh, Jehovah). Why? Because Jews consider it improper, and we ought not offend needlessly.
On the face [...]
“This is some writing about that which nothing can be written about. Pretty cool, huh?”
I’ve been reading Gregory of Nazianzus lately, his famous Theological Orations (c. 380 CE), wherein he expounds and defends what scholars call the pro-Nicene consensus about the Trinity – a viewpoint which developed in the latter half of the 4th c. [...]
“trinitarians”… Fer it… or agin’ it?
Following up on the previous post – the word “trinitarian” may be an adjective or a noun. The Oxford English Dictionary lists four adjective meanings: (here’s my editing of relevant parts of their entry, emphasis added)
2. Theol. Relating to the Trinity; holding the doctrine of the Trinity (opp. to Unitarian). [...]
Who’s up for a little trinitarian comedy?
Thanks to reader Mike K. for this hilarious link. They beat me to the punch – I’ve been sitting on a post for some time on this exact theme. (Stay tuned.)
I posted a comment asking about this bit:
It’s interesting to note that the English term “Trinitarian” was first used, [...]
Your average theologian’s response to recent Rational Reinterpretations.
Let me take four recent books off my shelf by current theologians. Now I’ll search through them to see if they have any reference at all to some of the more important Rational Reconstructions in the last 25 years or so, namely:
Tom Morris’s (1986, 1989) or Richard Swinburne’s [...]
Don’t you dare do what dastardly Donald does.
Our friend Alan Rhoda, the mighty Alanyzer, has some interesting thoughts on what he calls the “Theologian’s Fallacy”, or “Trumping”.
I see his point, though I don’t like the names
Mmmm… baby soup – the delicious end to any traditional baptism.
“Father, Son, Holy Spirit”? Or “Creator, Redeemer, Sanctifier”? The editors of the flagship magazine of American evangelicalism weigh in here: Blessed Be the Name of the Lord | Christianity Today
While I share the editors’ irritation with politically correct revision of liturgical and theological language, I [...]
Hi Everybody?
Trinity? Suuuure – I know all about those things!
I’ve always been interested in not only what intellectuals think about the Trinity, but also about what ordinary Christians think. Thus, this is an interesting find – five helpful wikites step in to wiki-answer the following important questions:
WikiAnswers – What is the trinity and could you [...]
Can’t make this stuff up: The Brick Testament: Holy Trinity
Natch, a Trinity of comments:
The Father looks kind of mad.
The Holy Ghost seems to have been designed by someone who was a little too literal-minded! Reminds me of one of Charlie Brown’s friends, out trick-or-treating.
$30 + $3 shipping = total ripoff
Technorati Tags: Trinity art, lego [...]
Who’s next? Anyone? Anyone? (sound of crickets chirping)
So far, the Survey of Trinitarian Belief (background) has been a failure. We simply have not been able to get enough people to take it.
We chose as a target population seminarians, hoping that enough theology profs would want to participate with their classes in the survey (profs get [...]
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