The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity, Volume One
Overview
Few things are so vital to Christian life yet so mired in controversy as the language we use to name the mystery of the Trinity. By drawing on new developments in biblical studies, Soulen offers a fresh map of Trinitarian language that is simple, yet profound in its implications for theology and practice. He proposes that sacred Scripture gifts us with three patterns of naming the persons of the Trinity: a theo-logical pattern, a christo-logical pattern, and a pneumato-logical pattern. These patterns relate in a Trinitarian way: they are distinct, interconnected, and, above all, equally important. The significance of this thesis resides in its power to map the terrain of Trinitarian discourse in a way that is faithful to scripture, critically respectful of tradition, and fruitfully relevant to a broad range of contemporary concerns.
Key Features
- Explores the doctrine of the Trinity through an analysis of names
- Proposes the restoring the divine name to its proper place in the infinite economy of trinitarian names
- Examines the historical and theological developments of Trinitarian theology
Contents
Part One A Threefold Cord: The Name of the Trinity in Christian Tradition
- The Name of the Trinity in Early Christian Creeds: The Emergence of a Threefold Cord
- The Name of the Trinity in Fourth-Century Theology: A Threefold Cord under Stress
- The Dionysian Tradition and the Transformation of Gentile Wisdom: The Eclipse and Rediscovery of the Tetragrammaton
- The Reformation Tradition and the Transformation of Jewish Wisdom: The Rediscovery and Eclipse of the Tetragrammaton
- Traditions in Conflict: The Trinitarian Revival and the Inclusive-Language Deba
- “Well, What IS the Name, Then?”
Part Two Distinguishing the Voices: The Name of the Trinity in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments
- Declaring the Name of Lord in the Old Testament I: Divine Uniqueness, Presence, and Blessing in the Book of Exodus
- Declaring the Name of Lord in the Old Testament II: Divine Uniqueness, Presence, and Blessing Elsewhere in the Old Testament
- Declaring the Name of the Trinity in the New Testament I: The Differentiation of Divine Voices
- Declaring the Name of the Trinity in the New Testament II: Three Voices in Triple Repetition
- Hallowed Be Your Name! Jesus the Manifestation of Divine Uniqueness and the Name of the Trinity in a Theological Key
- Our Father in Heaven! Jesus the Enactment of Divine Presence and the Name of the Trinity in a Christological Key
- “Your Kingdom Come!” Jesus the Bestowal of Divine Blessing and the Name of the Trinity in a Pneumatological Key
- Conclusion: The Most Appropriate Name of the Trinity
Top Highlights
“In the 1930s, the Swiss theologian Karl Barth denounced the venerable practice of seeking nonscriptural analogies of the Trinity in culture and common experience as a betrayal of the faith, expressly identifying Augustine himself as a chief source of the error.” (Page 17)
“Ordinary and awesome at once, the name of God is something like an audible sacrament. In the name, the bearer of the name is present. ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ (Ps. 118:26; Matt. 21:9).” (Page 3)
“The sacramental analogy is helpful, too, because it clarifies what divine names are not” (Page 3)
“the ordinary grammatical role of a proper name is not to describe but simply to point: this one and not another” (Page 3)
“Christians strive to the point of death to avoid calling God Zeus or naming him in any other language” (Page 2)
Product Details
- Title: The Divine Name(s) and the Holy Trinity, Volume One: Distinguishing the Voices
- Author: R. Kendall Soulen
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Publication Date: 2011
- Pages: 312
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Trinity