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Chapter 2 The Doctrine of the

1. INTRODUCTION

The aim of this chapter is to describe Moltmann's doctrine of the Trinity, for his pneurnatology can only be clearly grasped through an understanding of the Trinity. Before we begin our investigation, it might be helpful to outline the historical development of the doctrine of the Trinity in Moltmann's theology. In his dissertation, Moltmann was convinced that the economic Trinity should be considered as a sound dogma in the main stream of theology. 1 In the same vein, in Theology of Hope, Moltmann criticized 's understanding of the immanent Trinity in relation to the self- of because it makes the history of Christ a revelation of eternity instead of a revelation of the future.2 With this criticism Moltmann probably in­ tended to take the historical and eschatological character of the eco­ nomic Trinity more seriously, for in Moltmann's theology the trini­ tarian truth of God is the truth of Jesus who awaits his future, of the Spirit which is the power of the resurrection of the dead, and of God who waits to be all in all. Up to The Crucified God, Moltmann was deliberately concerned with the economic Trinity, that is to say the history of Jesus. Since the publication of The Trinity and the Kingdom of God ( 1981 ), however, there has been a great deal of change in his handling of the doctrine of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is indeed true that when he published the third book of his trilogy he already presented some­ what of a new departure in his understanding of the Trinity, because the content of this third volume of the trilogy overlaps with the con­ tent of The Trinity and the Kingdom of God. 3 This is also supported by the fact that his article, 'The Trinitarian History of God, '4 not only affected the doctrine of the Trinity in the third book of the trilogy, but also contained the crucial content of The Trinity and the Kingdom of God. What is changed is that while Moltmann still holds to Karl

I. J. Moltmann, und Perseveranz. Geschichte und Bedeutung der reformierten Lehre "de perseverantia sanctorum ", Neukirchen 1961, 161-162. 2. J. Moltmann, Theology ofHope, London 1967, 50-58. 3. J. Moltmann, The Church in the Power ofthe Spirit, London (1977), 1992, 50-65. 4. J. Moltmann, 'The Trinitarian History of God' in: Theology 78 (1975), 632-646. 42 CHAPTER2

Rahner's dictum that 'the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity, and vice versa,' his emphasis shifts to the phrase 'and vice versa.' This means that for Moltmann, a doctrine of the immanent Trinity seems inevitably to guarantee that the economic Trinity is God as he really is in himself. At the same the immanent Trinity should not be allowed to reduce God's work in history to a dimension of his eternal being. Rather, the history of Jesus Christ has to be perceived from the perspective of the immanent Trinity. In order to make sure of this fact Moltmann indeed avoids the traditional terminology, i.e., the economic Trinity and the immanent Trinity, replacing these terms with the Trinity in the sending and the Trinity in the origin, respec­ tively. In Moltmann's view of the doctrine of the Trinity, the unique characteristic is the point of departure in describing of the doctrine of the Trinity. This is certainly the historical Jesus. It is undertaken in discussion with the views of God as Supreme Substance and of God as Absolute Subject. Thus, I will first investigate Moltmann's discussion of God as Supreme Substance and of God as Absolute Subject. Then I will study Moltmann's understanding of the history of the Son as the point of departure for the Trinity. Third, I will briefly examine Molt­ mann's view on the Fi/ioque controversy. Fourth, I will look at his view on the concept of perichoresis and unity, and finally I will pres­ ent my evaluation.

2. GOD AS SUPREME SUBSTANCE AND GOD AS ABSOLUTE SUBJECT

2. 1 God as Supreme Substance

In the history of Western theology, generally speaking, the question about the reality of God has been answered in two different ways. As Moltmann says, 'one answer was given by Greek antiquity, continued to be given in the Middle Ages, and still counts as valid in the present­ day definitions of the Church: God is the supreme Substance. ' 5 This concept comes out of the cosmological proofs of God which start from the world and presuppose that 'the world is cosmos, not chaos, well ordered by means of eternal laws, and beauti­ ful in its protean forms. '6 The philosophical inference about the nature

5. J. Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God, I 0. 6. J. Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God, 11; W. Pannenberg points out