The Trinity- Yesterday,. Today and the Future

Transcription

1 Yesterdy, Tody nd Future Robert Lethm Senior Minister Emmnuel Orthodox Presbyterin Church Wilmingt Delwre; Visiting Professor of ology Reformed ologicl Seminry Wshingt DC/Bltimore nd Adjunct Professor of Systemtic ology, Westminster ologicl Seminry Phildelphi I n 1967 Krl Rhner fmously drew ttenti to n widespred neglect of climing tht 'should doctrine of hve to be d ro ppe d s flse, mjor prt of rel ig iou s literture could " remin virtully unchnged'1 Since n rft of works hve ppered, volumes by trucklod, but s fr s I cn this torrent of ctivity hs yet to percolte through to pulpit or pew see it is minly cfined to ologicl tretises nd ecumenicl ventures For vst mjority of Christins, including most ministers nd ologicl students, is still mmticl cundrum full of imposing philosophicl jrg, relegted to n obscure lcove remote from dily life I hve been surprised over yers t cfusi prevlent in most unexpected circles For this res it is necessry to remind ourselves of min ctours of doctrine s it hs been unfolded by church following re words of NicenoCstntlnopolitn creed, probbly dting from Council of Cstntinople (381 AD) which brought to resoluti cvulsis of fourth century: We believe in e God Fr Almighty, mker of heven nd erth nd of ll th ings visible nd invisible; And in e Lord Jesus Christ t he S of God, Onlybegotten, begotten by his Fr before ll ges, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten not mde, csubstntil with Fr, through whom li things cme into existence, who for us men nd for our slvti cme down from hevens nd becme incrnte by Holy Spirit nd Virgin Mry nd becme mn, nd ws cru cified for us under Ptius Pilte nd suffered nd ws buried nd I rose gin third dy in ccordnce with Scriptures nd scended into hevens nd r is seted t right hnd of Fr n d will come gin with glory to judge 1 Rimer, K 7iinily, (New York: Crossrod, 1997), 1011 L 26 melios 28/1 1

2 Yesterdy Tody nd Future living nd ded, nd re will be no end to his kingdom; And in Holy Spirit Lord nd lifegiver, who proceeds from Fr, who is worshipped nd glorified toger with F r nd S, who spoke by prophets; And in e holy, ctholic nd postolic Church; We cfess e bptism for forgiveness of sins; We wit for th e resurrecti of ded nd life of coming ge Amen From this tile followin g emerges, eir directly or in furr development God is e being (essence from esse, to be ), thre e perss or from no t her ngle, three pe rs s, e being Fth e r, 50n nd Holy Spirit re ech fully God whole God is in ech pers, nd ech pers is whole God Ech pers is God inhimself Ech pers possesses entire be ing of God ( e divine essence) nd entire being of God is in ech pers Thus ech pers ind lls ech (perichoresis) three mutully ctin e nor for e oth er being of God is undivided Hover three perss re not identicl to e nor y re eternl nd distinct re re prticulr reltis three perss s u st in to ec h or, tht re il1seprble from ir prticulr identity Fr is Fr of 50n, S is S of Fr Fr begets S S is begotten by Fr This reltio n cnnot be reversed it is eternl nd unchngeble Holy Spirit proceeds from Fr ( West dds 'nd S', filioque cluse dded to Niceno Cstntinopolitn creed), Fr (nd S, ccording to West) spirtes Spirit Agin this is never reversed Fr is neir begotten nor proceeds, S se (perichoresis) Indeed, does not beget nor does he proceed Spirit neir begets nor spirtes reltis exist in ctext of mutul indlling of three Spirit is Spirit of S n d so entiled is Fr s Fr of S So too relti of Fr nd S is in midst of perichoretic reltis of three, nd thus in Holy Spirit Hence, re is distincti beten e hnd of God nd undivided being three s (not divisi) y distinctly nd toger cstitute e t sme time three in ir eternl nd distinct persl reltis Clvin sums this up when he sys of S tht he is God of himself (ex seipso esse) (ex Ptre)2 wheres in terms of his persl subsistence he is from Fr In course of its debtes nd struggles, church ws fo r ce d to use extrbiblicl terms to defend b iblicl lnguge This ws necessry due to heretics' use of Bible to support ir erreous ides Athnsius provides glimpse of wht hppened t Council of Nice 2 (325 AD), when ssembled bishops outld clim of Clvin J Institures of Christin Religi, ed E L Bttles J T McNeill (Phildelphi: Westminster Press, 1960) 1:13:25, ct 1:13: /1 melios 27

3 Yesterdy, Tody nd Future Arius tht S ws not eternl but ws creted by God, who reby becme his Fr Originlly, sttement God' By this It ws ws proposed to Council tht S cme 'from intended to sy tht he ws not from some or source, nor ws he creture Hover, those who sympthised with Arius greed to phrse, since in ir eyes ll to look for cretures cme forth from God Csequently, word tht excluded ll possibility of n Council ws forced Arln interpretti3 Biblicl lnguge could not resolve issue for cflict ws over mening of Biblicl first lnguge in plce This reminds us tht to understnd this or tht hve to csider it in ctext or thn its own, for mening cnnot be de r ive d by repetiti of tht bout which mening is sought A dictiry is n obvious exmple of tool tht explins menings of words in terms of or words nd phrses In dditi to foundtil relisti tht God is e being nd three perss, following terms proved essentil to church doctrine word homoousios sme substnce or being) cme S nd Spirit of identicl being re (of in course of fourth century to stte tht s Fr, nd thus fuliy nd bsolutely (mutul indtling) ws used to ssert tht three perss (ech without reminder) dll in ech or, mutully ctin ech or, God Perichoresis whole God occupying sme 'infinite divine spce' Txis (order) refers to reltis beten perss subject is error more dngerous, or or discovery of truth more profitble'4 Helvellyn, mountin Augustine, in his De Trinitte, writes 'in no or inquiry more lborious, In English Lke District, ctins fmous secti known s Striding Edge At tht point pth to summit leds lg nrrow ridge, ground sloping wy steeply both sides It is esily feeling of height nd fresh ir come to grief s pssble in good r despite ' nuseting both sides' Hover, 'mny creful wlkers hve memorils lg wy will testify's It ' t be recommended c n no to nye frid of heights'6 Explorti of hs similr feel to it, lwys blnced precriously Dngers loom e knifeedge fr more precipitous even thn Striding Edge, both sides nd mny re those who fil to retin ir blnce Estern nd Western churches hve fced different tendencies to imblnce n side or or Erly Est fced dnger of subordintiism, viewing S nd Spirit s somehow derivtive, with ir divine sttus not precisely cler This ws endemic until fourth century ctroversies cceptul tools hd yet to be developed by which wy he is e wy God is three could be expressed without detriment to refter, beginning with focus sometimes tended to see Fr s source three perss, Est hs not ly of persl subsistence Athns;us On Decrees of Synod of Nice, 1921 Augustine, De Trinitte, 1 :3:5, 5 W'NWnlytorsbtinterneLcoukl001/indexlthtml 6 W'NWedilyhikescom/Hikessp?HikesID=4 melios 28/1

4 Yesterdy, Tody nd Future of S nd Spirit but lso of ir deity In this wy, it is not difficult to understnd how S could be vied s little less thn Fr, s possessing his deity by derivti rr thn of himself This hs been tendency, bul best of Estern ology hs voided se dngers Hover, with recent wkening in West of interest in Estern ology, socil model of hs come inlo prominence tht brings inlo focus distinctiveness of three It is noticeble where this is so tht re is often loose, lmost triistic sounding, tendency? West, for its prt, hs fllen more towrds modlism By this is ment blurring or eclipsing of eternl persl distinctis This cn come eir by treting God's selfrevelti s Fr, S, nd Spirit revelti of e unipersl Gqd (s Sbellius did s m erely successive modes of in third century) or, lterntively, by reluctnce to recognise God's revelti in hum n h isto ry s reveling nything bout who he is eternlly Eir wy, re left with no true knowledge of God, for wht he sys of himself in Bible my not reflect who he ctully is Generlly, nd outside se hereticl extremes, Western trinitrinism hs bsed itself priority of e divine essence nd hs hd some difficulty in doing justice to distinctis of pers Since most reders of this rticle re from West, this modlistic problem poses most immedite thret At root my be dominnt impct of Augustine In secd hlf of De Trinitte Augustine introduces some nlogies for, hesitntly nd wre of i r serious IimittisB Hover, se nlogies hve hd gret impct over yers y re bsed primcy of essence of God over three perss, for unity of God is his strting point In nlogies, Augustine found it difficult to do justice to full persl distinctis of three He describes in terms of lover, beloved, nd love tht exists beten m In prticulr, re ppers something of qundry ccerning Holy Spirit Does Augustine reduce Spirit to n ttribute? lov er nd e loved cpble of being understood s distinct perss re derly but love is qulity, not persl entity Lter, Aquins seprted discussi of de ( deo uno ( e God) from de deo trino triune God) In his Summ ctr gentiles he holds bck discussi of until book 4, hving csidered doctrine of God in detil in book 1 In Summ o/ogi he discusses existence nd ttributes of God in Prt One, qq 125, turning to ly in qq 2743 This pttern becme stndrd in ologicl textbooks in Western church In Protestnt circles, C h rl es Hodge spends nerly two hundred nd fifty pges discussing existence nd ttributes of God before he turns 7 Moltmnn, J 7finity nd Kingdom of God, (Ld: SCM, 1991), hs been cited possibly exhibiting this tendency See Wolfhrl Pnnenberg, Systemtic ology 1 :32936, where he rejects this clim Augustine, De Triniite, 815 s B 28/1 melios 29

5 Yesterdy; Tody nd Future " his ttenti to fct tht God is triune Louis Berkhof follod sme procedure9 This tendency ws excerbted by pressures of enlightenment supernturl so nd whole ide of revelti ws problemtic in Kntin frmework As symptom of mlise, Friedrich Schleiermcher restricted his tretment of to n ppendix in his book Christin Fith Even BB Wrfield toys with positi when he suggests but n hppily Tri nity modlist rejects possibility tht certin spects of relti beten Fr nd S in humn history my hve been result of covennt beten perss of nd thus my not represent eternl ntecedent relities in God,IO JI Pcker, in his book Knowing God devotes chpter to, prt of wy through volume, but n ctinues s if nothing hs hppened 1 I In keeping with enlightenment worldview, focus of ttenti from eighteenth century shifted wy from God to this world Alexnder Pope's fmous lines sum it up: 'Know n thyself, presume not God to scn, is mn',12 A btch of new proper study of mnkind cdemic disciplines emerged in nineteenth century devoted to study of mn most prominent mg m being psychology, sociology nd nthropology In turn, re ws striking development of historicl csciousness Biblicl scholrs serched for historicl Jesus Biblicl ology, pres5urised by Kntin world to prescind from restrict nd limit eternity nd tology, tended to reference of biblicl sttements ccerning Fr nd S to historicl dimensi ly, A clssic cse ws Oscr Cullmnn's clim tht NT hs purely fundil Christology \3 problem with this line of thought is tht, if reference of Biblicl sttements is exclusively thisworldly nd restricted to humn history, n God s he hs reveled himself does not necessrily revel God s he is eternlly in himself Evngelicls hve ir own peculir problems Biblicism hs been chrcteristic postreformti slide into strg privtised, individulist religi tht neglects church nd world hs led mny to downply ecumenicl creeds in fvour of ltest insights from biblicl studies, whtever my be motivti behind m 14 Prominent spects of church doctrine of hve often been Hodge, C Systemtirology(Grnd Rpids: Eerdmns, 1 977) 1: Ihe existence nd ttributes of God, ; Berkhof L Systemtic ology, (Ld: Bnner of Truth, 1958), 1981 existence nd ttributes of God 8299, Wrfield, B, ' Biblicl Doctrine of Triniiy', in Biblicl nd ologicl Studies, (Phildelphi: Presbyterin nd Reformed Publishing Compny, 1952) 2259, esp 5455 Pcker, J Knowing God, (Ld: Hodder nd Stought 1973) 6775, out of 314 pp Pope A An Essy Mn, II: 1 Cull mnn 0, Christo logy of New Testment, (ld: SCM 1959) reply of Professor Cullmnn to Romn Ctholic critics, SiT 1S (1962)15:3643, where he qulifies his erlier clims lelrm R, 'Is Evngeliclism Christin?', Evngelir! Qunerly, 671 (1995)333 melios 28/1

6 : derided or n e g lected s Yesterdy, Tod nd Future unbiblicl speculti IS Oppositi to orthodox doctrine hs often tended to come from those who stress Bib le t expense of techings of church16 Wht se people forget is tllt church ws forced to use extrbiblicl lnguge since biblicl l ngug e itself ws open to some interprettis, bout vriety of fithful, ors not We lluded bove to Athnsius' remrks introducti of words ousi nd homoousios t Nice Tod y most Western Christins re prcticl modlists usul wy of refer ri n g to God is 'God' or, prticulrly t populr level, ' Lord' It is worth ctrsting this with Gregory Nzinzen, gret Cppdocin of fourth century, who sp oke of 'my ', sying 'when I sy "God", I men Fr, S, nd Holy Spirit'i7 This prcticl m o d l is m goes in tn d e m with dire lck of understnding of historic doctrine of overll In letter to ed itor of Times (Ld) in June 1992, llknown evngelicl Anglicn, Dvid Prior, remrked how he hd looked for n pproprite illustrti for serm for Tri n ity Sundy He found it cricket televisi, secd Test Mtch beten Englnd nd Pkistn wtching In Slisbury, Englnd le gspi n n e r bowled in q uick successi legbrek, googly,, nd top spinner re, Prior purred, ws il lust rti he needed e pers expressing himself in three different wys! We give full mrks to Prior for spotting importnce of cricket pity bout ology A perceptive correspdent wrote in reply tht letter should be sign lled 'wide' Colin Gunt hs rgued tht this overll tendency towrds modlism, inherited from Augustine, lies t root of ism nd gnosticism tht hs cfrted Western church in wy tht it hs not de in Est Whtever vlidity of his clim, Western trinitrinism hs fo u n d it d iffi cult to brek shckles imposed by Augustine Both Brth nd Rhner, to cite but two exmples, re strgly bised in tht directi In prticulr, Brth's sttement Trin ity s 'God revels hi msel f s Lord' nd his t r id of reveler, revelti, nd reveled ness hs flvour of uniperslity, lthough in firness must recognise tht, s Rhner, he distnces himself from m od lism s such IS For its prt, Est hs seen clerly modlistic tendency of West As e pri m e exmple filioque cluse 19 itself hs, in i r eyes, blurred distincti, beten Fr nd S by regrding m s sh r i n g identiclly in processi of Spirit (Augustine wrote of Spirit proceeding from both 's from single source' 20) According to Est, since Fr is not S, nd S is Reymd, RL, A New Systemtic ology of Christin Fith, (New York: Nels, 199B) Gregory Nzinzen, Orti, 31 :3; Clvin, Institutes, 1: 13:25 Gregory Nzinzen, Orti, 3B:8 Brth, K, CD Ill, 295ft This is Western dditi to NiccenoCstntinopolitn creed: 'nd S' 10 Augustine, De Trinitte, 15:17:27,15:26: Wlioque) 28/1 melios 31

7 Yesterdy, Tody nd Future cll not Fr, how or qulificti? Spirit be sid to proceed from both, without differentiti In Est's eyes, this lck of distincti csts shdow overll doctrine of in West West, in tum, hs been Quick to point out wht it sees s dngers of 5ubordintiism, nd even triism, in Est In my own limited experience mny sterners blk t reference to reltis of perss, this chllenges equlity or nd pper to think tht even eness of three Robert L Reymd cn be criticised here21 In prt, this my be due to lck of ttenti given to mtter in cservtive Protestntism POTENTIAL IMPACT It is my belief tht recovery of t ground level, level of ordinry minister nd believer, will help to revitlise life of church nd, in turn, its witness in world First, let us look t its potentil in worship According to Pul, Christin experience is thoroughly trinitrin, flowing from enggement of ll three perss in plnning nd securing our slvti, recciliti, brought into effect by Christ hs introduced ll in church into Gentile, hve ccess in Pryer, worship nd or communi with holy Wher Jew or by Holy Spirit through Christ to Fr (Eph 2:18) communi with God re by definiti trinitrin As Fr hs milde himself known through S 'for us nd our slvti' in or by Spirit, so re ll cught up in this reverse movement We live, move nd hve our being in pervsively trinitrin tmosphere, We recll too words of Jesus to Smritn womn, tht true worshippers from n in truth (John 4:2124) How often hve would worship Fr in Spirit nd herd this referred to inwrdness in ctrst to externls, to spiritulity rr thn mteril worship, to sincerity s opposed to formlism? Insted, with mny of Greek frs such of Alexndri, Bsil Gret nd Cyril more immedite nd pertinent reference is to Holy Spirit references in John to pneum 11 :33 nd s 13:21) r nd to living embodiment of truth, Jesus Christ truth, nd life, d (ll or to third pers of, br probbly two 14:6, 17, 1:15, 17, 832ft, 16:1215) ( wy, point is tht Christin experience of God in its entirety, in cl u di n g worship, nd pryer is inescpbly trinitrin How often hve you herd tht tught preched, or stressed? importnt point is tht t fundmentl level of Christin experience, correspding to wht Polnyi termed 'tcit dimensi' of scientific knowledge,22 this is comm to ll Christin 21 Reymd, Systemtic ology, 31741; On, P, 'An Exminti of Robert Reymd'; Understnding of nd his Appel to John Clvin', ), 35 (2000), 26281; Lethm R, Review of Robert l Reymd, 'A New Systemtic ology of Christin Fith' WrJ, 62 (2000) Polny', tv1, Tcit Dimensi, (Chicgo: University of Chicgo Press, 1958) 32 melios 28/1 J i i l> jj!

8 Yesterdy, Tody nd Futu re believers n eed is to bridge gp beten this pre rticu l ted level of expe r i en ce nd developed ologicl understnding so tht this is expl icitly, demstr bly nd strtegiclly re l is ed in u n derst n ding of ch u rch nd its members A necessry (o rrective to pro b l e m s I hve mentio ned m ust begi n ri ght here If it beg i n s here mny of mtters below w i l l be enormously i l l u minted, for it is i n worship tht our ology shou l d be rooted Secd, need to rec pture nd refshi trinit rin view of creti Colin cn G u n t hs pro d u ced some excel lent work i n this re How diversityinunity, everywhere evident in w o r ld round us u n i tyi ndiversity, nd in skies bove, be exp lined witho u t recourse to i ts tri n itrin originti? Insted of expending ir energ ies fi g htin g ginst Drwinism, prime need h ere for cservtive Christins is to cstruct positive ologicl pproch to creti, nd thus envirme nt, tht exp ress ly nd explicitly ccounts for both order nd coherence of universe nd distin ctiveness of i ts prts Precisely be cus e it declres g lo ry of its cretor, tripersl God, world is to be preserved nd cultivted i n th n kful stewrdshi p, not exploited s pl yth ing of fte or n ccident of chn ce Third, cler o u tlook Trin ity should deep ly ffect Fr dv nces h is kingdom by mens how tret people of his S, S glorifies Fr, Spirit speks not of himself but o f S,23 Fr glorifies S A l l will cll Jesus ' Lord ' by H oly Spirit to glory of Fr Ech of t h ree delights i n good of ors In Phil ippins 2 : 51 1 Pul urges his red ers to fol l ow exmple of lhe incrnte Christ C h rist did not use his sttus s equl with God s something to be exploited for his own dvntge I nsted he emptied h i m se l f, by tki n g humn nture nd so dding ' form of serv n t ' He ws obedient to th e deth of cross, so our slvti Thus his fol l ors re s to bring bout to sh pe ir lives ccording to his, fith ful, obedient nd selfgivi ng secd Ad m i n co ntrst to g rsping, selfinterested fi rst Adm Hover, P u l 's comments rech bck to Christ's preincrnte stte His ctis in his erthly ministry re in hrmy with his tti tudes beforehnd Being (present p rticip le) i n form of God, Jesus cted l i ke this becuse this is wy S lwys hs been I n fct this i s wy ll t h ree pe rso ns of re to live like this looking to i n terests of ors lwys re We becuse tht is wht C h rist did nd lso since this is wht God is like ctrst is strk whole te nor of fllen mn is pu r s u i t of selfinte rest I nsted, God ctively pursues in terests of or Pn nenberg, w, Systemtic ology, 1 :30827, (G rnd R pids: Eerd mns, ) This is quite different from cse of pers who is persistently bused by nor In tht cse, eir from unwi lli ngness or enforced lck of opportu nity e bused is unble to ctend for his or her own i n terests, let le ctively to pursue interests of or 28/1 melios 33

9 Trin Ity Fou rth, Yesterdy, Tody nd Future fu l ly selfcscious nd developed trinitrin ology is indispensible for future p rog ress of evngelism nd missis We find ou rselves fce to fce with militntly resurgent Islm I fi n d it hrd to see how Islm, or ny in unitry god, c n possibly ccount for humn perslity, or explin unity of systems? 25 If Christin fith is to mke hedwy fte r ll se centu ries, it must begin t roots of Islm with repugnnt historicl diversityin world Is it surprising tht Isl mic res re ssoci ted with molithic nd dicttori l politicl s religi bsed bel ief to Qur'n's dismissl of C h risti nity res d ue, mg or things, to its teching Tri nity 26 For ress, church in E st hegemy For now nd ws future, must defensive in fce of Islmic recover o u r nerve for this is root of do ll Islmic u n bel ief nd lso its most vulnerble point Politicl ly correct plurlists will y cn to stop us In somewht different wy, postmodernism is unble to ccount for dive rsity Islm is militnt nd molithic dive rsity, but postmodernism is Its reject/ of objective unifying princi p l e, with no unityin provisi fo r militnt diversifying principle without bsis for un ity knowledge nd bsolute truth clims leves it with no wy to ccount for order in world Wh eres enlig h tenment rti lism i m posed mde unity, postenlightenment hs spwned By its rejecti of 50 objective knowledge it is unble csistently to support science, nd to mintin fight ginst microorgn isms resistnt bcteri mn fissiprous diversi tywithoutunity (Hs nye told virulent drug n d viruses tht y re simply engged in lnguge gme or in mnipultive bid for por?) Nor eve ntully will it be b le to sustin development of ps our societies will need to defend mselves ginst ggressors who wish to overth row m In politics, ' hve lredy suggested cnecti molithic dicttorship This is no new beten unitry view o f God nd clim, for people like Mol tmnn hve given it good iring A p rope r understnding of triune God, to extent of his revelti nd our cpcity, should led to something quite di ffe rent Since God seeks interests n d l l being of or, wheres in sin bsed society cou ld le chieve i n seek first our own interests, trinitrin very proximte fshi n pproprite blnce beten rights nd respsibiliti es, freedom nd order, pece nd justice Wht of pth to recliming God's triunity s n integrl nd vitl prt of Christi n experience, witn ess nd m issi? How re to void pitflls of both Estern nd Western pproches, while s tying cler of dngers side nd modlism or? How cn of subordinti ism e furr spell out se mny possible outcomes? Unfortu n tely, re is not enough spce to develop se points here! I will e notble democrtic system in dominn tly Islmic country, Turkey, occsied by seculristi of Stte in by Mustf Keml T he Holy Our'n, Surh 4: 1 7 1, Surh 5 : 7 3 melios 28/ 1 ws

10 Yesterd y, Tody n d Future su ggest lines of pproch to se q u estis in forthcoming book, tenttive ly entitled Holy (Presbyterin & Reformed, lte 2003/erly 2004) This wil l include extensive biblic l, historic l, nd ologicl discussio n, nd it will develop r n ge of prctic l r mi fictis I think I hve written e n o ugh to lert you to serious l cune in ctemporry Christin wre ness of tri u n i ty of God At sme time, prize is exceedingly us gret Let f i n ish with Au gusti ne This is sid, due to ner p resence of he resy o n nd co r r upt our dn gerous re of thought n d bel ief, he both sides, for wrg views of God cn twist wors h i p nd m i n istry, l i fe n d witness of ch urch, nd ultim tely pece, hrmy nd llbeing of world round us It is rduous, for re deling in mtters too g ret for us, b efo re which m ust bow in worship, nd recog n ise our utter indequcy Brth's words re l l chosen whe n he writes th t ' correctness belgs exclusively to tht bout which hve thou ght n d spoken, not to wht hve thought nd spoken'27 Hover, it is l s o supremely rewrd ing, for this is our God, who hs truly nd (s Augustine dd e d) to limits of which my be c pble mde h i mself known to us, givi n g h i mse lf to us, nd thus by Spirit g rnting through C h rist S ccess to Fr i n u n ity of his und ivided being This is eternl life, tht my know Fr nd Jesus C h rist whom he hs sent, in por nd by g rce of Holy Spi rit I n his presen ce is life nd j oy for evermore, not simply fo r us but fo r o rs beyd, for those yet to believe nd for those not yet born, for genertis to come 27 nd beyd tht, for eternity Brth, CD, Vl, 432 BIBLIOG RAPHY Athnsiu5, On Decrees of Synod of Nice Au gustine, De Trinitte Brth, Krl Church Dogmtics Berkhof, Louis Systemtic ology, Lo nd: Bnner of Truth, Clv i n, John Institutes of Christin Religi, ed i ted by Ford Lewis Bttles, John T McNei l l, Phi ldel phi: Westm inster Press, C u llmnn, Oscr Christology of New Testment, Ld: SCM, G regory N zinzen Orti H o dg e C h rles Systemtic ology, G rnd Rpids: Eerdmns, , I D Holy Qur'An 28/1 melios 3S

11 Yesterdy, Tody Leth lll, Robert 'Is Ev n gel ic lism Ch ristin?' Evngelicl Ourterly 67, no 1 (1 995): 33 3, ' Review o f Robert L Reymd A New Systemtic ology o f Christin Fith', WTJ 62 (2000): Moitmnn, J O rgen n d Kingdom of God, l d: S C M, On, Pul, 'An Exminti o f Robert Reymd 's Understnding o f nd His Appel to John Clvin', UJ 3 5 Pcker, J 1 Knowing God, (2000): lo nd: Hodder nd S toughto n, Pnnenberg, Wo lfhrt System tic ology, Grnd Rpids: Eerdmns Poinyi, M ichel Tcit Dimensi, C h icgo: University of C hicgo Press, Pope, Alex n der An Essy /vin Rhner Krl, New Yo rk: Crossrod, Reymd, Robert l A New Systemtic ology of Christin F ith, N e w York: Nels, ' Reply of Professor Cull mn n to Romn C tholic C ritics ', 5JT 1 5 ( 1 962): 3643 Wrfield, BB ' Biblicl Doctrine of ', in Biblicl nd logiel Studies Phildelphi: Presbyterin nd Reformed Publish ing C ompny, I 36 melios 28/1