Thursday, October 23, 2008

a question of orthodoxy in trinitarian discussion

So, I have been thinking recently upon the issue of what we believe happens when God acts.  As someone who professes to be orthodox, I want to use language that at least attempts to communicate that which is creedal, and that which helps the Church practically to be faith to our God in service in this life and the next.  But something that has troubled me in discussion of trinitarian views of ancient church fathers and also contemporary theologians is the role of God in any action in salvation history.  Fundamentally, there is no action of God that is not partaken of by all three persons of the Trinity.  I believe postmodern tendencies to view God as "Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer," focusing upon the perceived actions of each person of the Trinity in historical significance can border upon modalism or tritheism.  Each person of the trinity is involved in the acts of creation and sustainment of the universe.  No orthodox person would deny this in my current estimation.  But when we get to the redemption of that creation, including humanity, our theories do not seem to involve all members of the trinity at every point.  For example, in the theory of the atonement, we have room for the Father and the Son obviously in evangelicalism.  But do we have a place for the Spirit?  Currently, I find no theory that does have an adequate response to the Spirit's involvement.  This is a problem that seems to stem from the backseat that Pneumatology gets to others areas of systematics.  We should strive to have a more robust theology that seeks to discuss in appropriate language the wonderful acts on our behalf of all members of the trinity.  And we should strive to be trinitarian in every aspect of our theology if indeed we take the doctrine of the trinity seriously.

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