The Triune God Divine Identity & the Power of Gift (THEO 3002) Course Organiser : Prof. John McDowell Semester 1 What is ‘God’ all about? What is God, and how can we speak of God? Where did the doctrine of God as Trinity come from, and how did it develop in the churches? In fact, who declared it to be a ‘doctrine’ in the first place? Were there any other conceptions of God in the earliest churches? What does the doctrine of the Trinity have to do with other Christian beliefs, and Christian life and practice? These are a few of the many questions that this course will ask, as it traces the complex development of the Christian doctrine of God through the past 2000 or so years. We will pay attention to what the doctrine does as well as what it ‘means’, especially its significance for the interrelation of Christian identity and practice. We will also pay attention to some challenges of believing in the Triune God today. Week 1 Who is this ‘God’? Week 2 What is Gospel about the Trinity? Week 3 The 2-Stages of God: C2nd Trinitarianism and the Platonisms Week 4 Making Doctrine: The Cappadocians and the C4th Councils Week 5 The Trinity and the Self: Augustine Week 6 Unspeaking Our Idols: Pseudo-Dionysius’ Apophatic Silence Week 7 One Cause, One Life, One Goal, One Vision: Counting the Fate of ‘God’ in Modernity Week 8 Theology’s Trinitarian Revival: Karl Barth and Karl Rahner Week 9 The Sociality of God: Jürgen Moltmann and Social Trinitarianism Week 10 Conversations about Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue Week 11 Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Kenotic Gospel Week 12 Liberation Theology and the Praxis of Christian Performance Recommended Reading Philip Butin, Trinity Franz Dünzl, A History of the Doctrine of the Trinity in the Early Church Timothy George, God the Holy Trinity Stanley J. Grenz, Rediscovering the Triune God Colin Gunton, The Promise of Trinitarian Theology Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, The Doctrine of God Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, The Trinity: Global Perspectives Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Trinity and Religious Pluralism J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines Catherine LaCugna, God for Us Jürgen Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God Roger Olsen and Christopher Hall, The Trinity William Placher, The Triune God Basil Studer, Trinity and Incarnation John Thompson, Modern Trinitarian Perspectives T.F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God Miroslav Volf and Michael Welker (eds.), God’s Life in Trinity Week Date Lecture Topic & Assessment due dates 1 3/03/2009 Introduction & Overview – Who is this God? 2 10/03/2009 What is Gospel about the Trinity? 3 17/03/2009 The 2-Stages of God: C2nd Trinitarianism and the Platonisms 4 24/03/2009 Making Doctrine: The Cappadocians and the C4th Councils 5 31/03/2009 The Trinity and the Self: Augustine 6 7/04/2009 Unspeaking Our Idols: Pseudo-Dionysius’ Apophatic Silence Semester break 7 21/04/2009 One Cause, One Life, One Goal, One Vision: Counting the Fate of ‘God’ in Modernity Essay 1 due by 5pm 8 28/04/2009 Theology’s Trinitarian Revival: Karl Barth and Karl Rahner 9 5/05/2009 The Sociality of God: Jürgen Moltmann and Social Trinitarianism 10 12/05/2009 Conversations about Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue 11 19/05/2009 Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Kenotic Gospel 12 26/05/2009 Liberation Theology and the Praxis of Christian Performance Essay 2 due by 5pm 13 2/06/2009 Summing up, Student Presentations and Course Evaluation Examination period: Tuesday 9 June to Friday 26 June 2008 Weekly Tutorial Reading 1 3/03/2009 Who is this God? Nicholas Lash, ‘Considering the Trinity’, Modern Theology 2 (1986), 183-196. Ralph Del Colle, ‘The Triune God’, in The Cambridge Companion to Christian Doctrine , ed. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, 121-140. 2 10/03/2009 What is Gospel about the Trinity? 3 17/03/2009 The 2-Stages of God: C2nd Trinitarianism and the Platonisms Origen, On First Principles , Bk. I. Origen, in The Early Christian Fathers , ed. Henry Bettenson (OUP, 1956), 230-243. 4 24/03/2009 Making Doctrine: The Cappadocians and the C4th Councils Ellen Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), ch. 4 Gregory of Nazianzus’ 5 Theological Orations ( Orations 27-30, 32). – available in • Frederick W. Norris, Faith Gives Fullness to Reasoning: The Five Theological Orations of Gregory of Nazianzen (Leiden, New York, København, Koln: E.J. Brill, 1991). • OR Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , Series II, Vol. VII • OR www.ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-07/TOC.htm 5 31/03/2009 The Trinity and the Self: Augustine Augustine, De Trinitate Ellen Charry, By the Renewing of Your Minds (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), ch. 6. 6 7/04/2009 Unspeaking Our Idols: Pseudo-Dionysius’ Apophatic Silence Pseudo-Dionysius, The Divine Names . 7 21/04/2009 One Cause, One Life, One Goal, One Vision: Counting the Fate of ‘God’ in Modernity William C. Placher, The Domestication of Transcendence: How Modern Thinking About God Went Wrong (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1996), 1-17, and ch. 10. 8 28/04/2009 Theology’s Trinitarian Revival: Karl Barth and Karl Rahner Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I.1 , ch. 2, Pt. 1. Alan Torrance, ‘The Trinity’, in John Webster (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Karl Barth (Cambridge: CUP, 2000), 72-91. 9 5/05/2009 The Sociality of God: Jürgen Moltmann and Social Trinitarianism Jürgen Moltmann, Philip Clayton, ‘Kenotic Trinitarian Panentheism’, Dialog 44.3 (Fall 2005 ), 250-255. Miroslav Volf, ‘“The Trinity is Our Social Programme”: The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Shape of Social Engagement’, Modern Theology 14.3 (1998), 403-423. 10 12/05/2009 Conversations about Pluralism and Interfaith Dialogue John Hick, ‘Jesus and the World Religions’, in John Hick (ed.), The Myth of God Incarnate , 167-185. John Hick, ‘The Non-Absoluteness of Christianity’, in John Hick and Paul F. Knitter (eds.), The Myth of Christian Uniqueness , 16-35. Leslie Newbiggin, ‘Religion for the Marketplace’, in Gavin D’Costa (ed.), Christian Uniqueness Reconsidered: The Myth of a Pluralistic Theology of Religions , ch. 10. 11 19/05/2009 Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Kenotic Gospel Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale: The Mystery of Easter , 11-14, 23-36, 48-56, 66-71, 79-83, 89 100, 136-140. Rowan Williams, ‘Balthasar and the Trinity’, in The Cambridge Companion to von Balthasar , ch. 4. 12 26/05/2009 Liberation Theology and the Praxis of Christian Performance Gustavo Gutierrez, in The Cambridge Companion to Liberation Theology , ch. 1. Further Reading von Balthasar, Hans Urs, Mysterium Paschale Barnes, Michael René, ‘Augustine in Contemporary Trinitarian Theology’, Theological Studies 56.2 (1995), 237-250. Barth, Karl, Church Dogmatics, vol. I/1 , trans. G.W. Bromiley (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975). Bobrinsky, B., The Mystery of the Trinity , trans., A. Gythiel (Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Press, 1999). Boff, Leonardo, Holy Trinity, Perfect Community , trans. Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000). Boff, Leonardo, Trinity and Society , trans. P. Burns (London: Burns and Oates, 1988). Boughton, L.C., ‘More than Metaphors: Masculine-Gendered Names and the Knowability of God’, The Thomist 58/2 (April 1994), 283-316. Coffey, D., Deus Trinitas. The Doctrine of the Triune God (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). Cunningham, David, These Three are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Blackwells, 1998). Davis, Stephen T., Kendall, David, and O’Collins, Gerald (eds.), The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity (New York: OUP, 2000). Edwards D., The God of Evolution. A Trinitarian Theology (New York: Paulist, 1999). Fiddes, Paul S., Participating in God Fox, P ., God as Communion. John Zizioulas, Elizabeth Johnson and the Retrieval of the Symbol of the Triune God (Collegeville: Liturgical, 2001). Gunton, Colin, The One, the Three, and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Gunton, Colin, The Promise of Trinitarian Theology , 2nd ed. (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1997). Hill, E., The Mystery of the Trinity (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1985). Hill, W., The Three Personed God. The Trinity as a Mystery of Salvation (Washington: Catholic University Press, 1982). Hunt, Anne, The Trinity and the Paschal Mystery (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1997). Hunt, Anne, ‘Pyschological Analogy and the Paschal Mystery in Trinitarian Theology’, Theological Studies 59 (1998), 197-218. Hunt, Anne, What Are They Saying About the Trinity? (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1998). Jenson, Robert, Systematic Theology, vol. 1, The Triune God (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997). Jenson, Robert, The Triune God (N. Y.: Oxford University Press, 1997). Johnson, Elizabeth A., She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Discourse (New York: Crossroad, 1992). Jüngel, Eberhard, God as Mystery of the World. On The Foundation of the Theology of the Crucified One in the dispute between Theism and Atheism , trans., D. Guder (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983). Kasper, Walter, The God of Jesus Christ , trans., M. J. O'Connell (London: SCM, 1984). Kelly, A.J., Trinity of Love. A Theology of the Christian God (Wilmington, Del.: Michael Glazier, 1989). Kimmel, A., (ed.), Speaking the Christian God. The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992). La Cugna, Catherine Mowry, God For Us. The Trinity and Christian Life (New York: Harper San Francisco, 1991). LaCugna, Catherine Mowry, ‘The Trinitarian Mystery of God’, in Francis Schüssler Fiorenza and John P. Galvin (eds.), Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives Volume 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, ), 151-191. Nicholas Lash, ‘Considering the Trinity’, Modern Theology 2 (1986), 183-196. McFague, Sally, Metaphorical Theology. Models of God in Religious Language (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982). Moltmann, Jürgen, The Trinity and the Kingdom of God: The Doctrine of God , trans.