Contemporary Trinitarian Thought

Contemporary Trinitarian Thought Spring Term, 2015, 9-12 a.m. SAH Board Room TH 6/780 Instructor: The Rev. Dr. Richard Topping Principal and Professor of Studies in the Reformed Tradition Vancouver School of Theology Office: St Andrew's Hall, 3rd Floor Office Phone: 604-822-9808 Email: richardt@vst.edu Office Hours and Availability: Please send me an email to make an appointment. Feel free to drop by; but if you need more than a few minutes, please email or phone me so that we can plan for the appropriate time. If you can't reach me, please contact Kelly Lee (klee@vst.edu) who will arrange an appointment. General Introduction and Purpose: This course offers an in-depth exploration of the Christian doctrine of God, with particular attention to recent contributions to and developments in Trinitarian theology by Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox thinkers. While we make reference to the origins of the doctrine (teaching) of the Trinity in the biblical and early Church period, the primary focus of the course is on the meaning and significance of this central Christian teaching for the contemporary life of the church and the world. We will be especially interested in the implications of Trinitarian theology for scripture interpretation, liturgy and ecclesia, anthropology and sexuality, the meeting of religions, politics, economics - justice and ecology. The purpose of the course is to immerse students in the robust and delightful resources of contemporary ecumenical Trinitarian theology, which in turn draws students deeper into knowing, loving, and worshipping God. Competence Objectives: In completing this course a student will be able to: (1) Demonstrate competent understanding of important contemporary Trinitarian texts and their historical pedigree. (2) Critically assess the contemporary renaissance in Trinitarian theology, its sources, limitations and expressions. (3) Deploy Trinitarian theology to interpret, construct, challenge and reform. Students will acquire fluency in contemporary Trinitarian thought with a view to interpreting (reimagining, deliberately misreading the world) by means of it. Format: This class meets once a week for three hours for eleven classes. The primary format will be lecture followed by a discussion of questions raised on the basis of the students close reading of the required texts. This discussion will take place in small groups as well as in the group as a whole. Some meetings of the class will be conducted in seminar format with ThM students

leading the discussion. We will go on a field trip to The Church of the Holy Resurrection (Orthodox) on January 27, 9 a.m. where Archbishop Lazar Puhalowill speaks to us about how Orthodox liturgy is shaped by Trinitarian theology and sensibility. Expectations/Evaluation: (1) Class attendance and preparation of all required reading before class. Not every reading will be the topic of class discussion but the assumption is that students can contribute meaningfully to discussion because they have been funded by the readings. (2) Oral presentation to the class of a book report (15 minutes) on an important contemporary monograph on the Trinity (see bibliography). It should be a book other than the course text book. A paper copy of the book report (10-12 pages) should be handed in at the end of the class presentation. ThM students will be required to make a presentation of 20 minutes and to interact with at least five critical reviews of the book in their written and oral presentation. The paper copy of their presentation should be 12-14 pages and handed in at the end of the class presentation. (3) A final paper (10 pages) which deploys the resources of Trinitarian Theology to re-imagine a contemporary problem, struggle, issue for the church and/or the world. I will give more background on this assignment in class. You should look at Placher, The Triune God, pp. 101-108 for significant help with this assignment. The assignment requires students to interpret the world through the lens of some aspect of Trinitarian theology. The whole course is essentially an exercise in the same interpretative approach. Due Date: April 17, 2015 for graduating students other basic degree students, April 24. ThM students will do the same final assignment to a length of 15 pages. Due Date: April 17, 2015 if you are graduating otherwise, June 27, 2015. Deadlines: All assignments in this course are due on the dates indicated. Failure to submit assignments on time may affect the final grade for the course. A late assignment, without legitimate excuse, will result in the reduction of a letter grade. Required Text: William Placher, The Triune God: An Essay in Postliberal Theology (Westminster/John Knox, 2007). Other Required Readings: Other readings of chapters and articles can be found on moodle. Working Bibliography for Contemporary Trinitarian Thought Overview/Introductions Paul M. Collins, The Trinity: A Guide to the Perplexed (London: T&T Clark, 2008). Stanley J. Grenz, Rediscovering the Triune God: The Trinity in Contemporary Theology (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2004).

Colin Gunton, The Promise of Trinitarian Theology (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990). Matthew Levering and Gilles Emery O.P., eds., The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity (Oxford: OUP, 2011). Declan Marmion and Rik van Nieuwenhove, An Introduction to the Trinity (Cambridge: CUP, 2010). Mark A. McIntosh, 'The New Encounter with God: The Mystery of the Trinity,' chp. 2, Mysteries of Faith: The New Church's Teaching Series 8 (Plymouth: Crowley, 2000)., 'Divine Life: Trinity, Incarnation and the Breathing of the Spirit,' chp. 6, Divine Teaching: An Introduction to Christian Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Peter C. Phan, ed. The Cambridge Companion to The Trinity (Cambridge: CUP, 2011). William Placher, ed. Essentials of Christian Theology, chp. 2 - 'What Do We Mean by God?', John Cobb Jr., 'Does it Make Sense to Talk about God' and David S. Cunningham, 'But we Do Speak' (Louisville: Westminster JK, 2003)., The Triune God: An Essay in Postliberal Theology (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 2007). Dirkie Smit, 'Trinity in the Reformed Tradition,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 57-76. John Thompson, Modern Trinitarian Perspectives (Oxford: OUP, 1994). Miroslav Volf and Michael Walker, eds. God s Life in Trinity (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress, 2006). Scripture Interpretation George Lindbeck, 'The Story-Shaped Church: Critical Exegesis and Theological Interpretation, in Garrett Green, Scriptural Authority and Narrative Interpretation, 161-178 (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1989). Angus Paddison, Scripture: A Very Theological Proposal (London: T&T Clark, 2009). Alan Padgett, 'The Canonical Sense of Scripture: Trinitarian or Christocentric?' Dialogue 45:1 (2006), 36-43. Christoph Schwobel, 'The Trinity: Between Athens and Jerusalem' Journal of Reformed Theology 2 (2009), 22-41. Scott R. Swain. Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction to the Bible and its Interpretation (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2011). Retrieval of Sources Lewis Ayres, Augustine and the Trinity (Cambridge: CUP, 2010)., Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: OUP, 2004). Sarah Coakley, 'Rethinking Gregory of Nyssa: Introduction,' Modern Theology 18 (2002), 431-43.

Patricia Fox, God as Communion: John Zizioulas, Elizabeth Johnson, and the Retrieval of the Symbol of the Triune God (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2001). David Bentley Hart, 'The Mirror of the Infinite: Gregory of Nyssa on the Vistigia Trinitatus,' Modern Theology (2002), 241-261. Robert Letham, 'Trinity between East and West,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 42-56. Matthew Levering, Scripture and Metaphysics: Aquinas and the Renewal of Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). Peter C. Phan, Cambridge Companion to The Trinity, Part II - Retrieving the Sources (Cambridge: CUP, 2011), 33-86. Francis Watson, 'Trinity and Community: A Reading of John 17,' International Journal of Systematic Theology, 1:2 (1999), 168-184). Maarten Wisse, Trinitarian Thought beyond participation: Augustine's De Trinitate and Contemporary Theology (London: T&T Clark, 2011). John D. Zizioulas, 'The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity: The Significance of the Cappadocian Contribution," in Schobel, ed. Trinitarian Theology Today. 20th Century Renaissance Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics I.1: The Doctrine of the Word of God (London: T&T Clark), 2004. Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Cambridge: James Clark & Co., Ltd, 1957; reprint, Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1976). Jürgen Moltmann, History and the Triune God: Contributions to Trinitarian Theology (New York: Crossroad, 1992)., The Trinity and the Kingdom: The Doctrine of God, trans. Margaret Kohl (New York: Harper and Row, 1981). Karl Rahner, The Trinity (New York: Crossroad, 1997). Alan Torrance, Persons in Communion (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996). Thomas F. Torrance, The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons (Edinburgh: Y&T Clark, 1996). Constructive and Systematic Treatments Ronald J. Feenstra and Cornelius Plantinga Jr., eds., Trinity, Incarnation and Atonement (Notre Dame: NDP, 1989). Robert W. Jenson, The Triune Identity: God According to the Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1982)., Systematic Theology, Volume 1: The Triune God (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Eberhard Jüngel, The Doctrine of the Trinity: God s Being is in Becoming, trans. John Webster (Eerdmans, 2001).

Nicholas Lash, Believing Three Ways In God: A Reading of the Apostles Creed (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992). Christoph Schwöbel, ed., Trinitarian Theology Today: Essays on Divine Being and Act (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1995). Dumitru Staniloae, The Holy Trinity: Structure of Supreme Love, in Theology and the Church, trans. Robert Barringer (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1980), 73-108. Hans Urs von Balthasar, Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory, selections from volumes I, Prolegomena, and III, Dramatis Personae: Persons in Christ (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1990, 1993). Rowan Williams, On Christian Theology, Challenges in Contemporary Theology (Oxford and Cambridge, Mass.: Basil Blackwell, 2000). Community and Liturgy Leonardo Boff, Holy Trinity, Perfect Community (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000)., Trinity and Society, trans. Paul Burns (Tunbridge Wells: Burns and Oates; Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1988). James J. Buckley and David Yeago, eds., Knowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit in the Practices of the Church (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2001). David S. Cunningham, These Three Are One: The Practice of Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1998). Ruth C. Duck and Patricia Wilson-Kastner, Praising God: The Trinity in Christian Worship (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1999). Paul S. Fiddes, Participating in God: A Pastoral Theology of the Trinity (Louisville, KY: Westminster John/Knox Press, 2001). Stanley J. Grenz, The Social God and the Relational Self. A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001). Peter Holmes, Trinity in Human Community: Exploring Congregational Life in the Image of the Social Trinity (Keynes: Paternoster, 2006). Elizabeth A. Johnson, She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse (New York: Crossroad, 1992). Catherine Mowry LaCugna, God For Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (San Francisco: Harper/Collins, 1991). Aristotle Papanikolaou, 'Sophia, apophasis, and communion: the Trinity in contemporary Orthodox theology,' in The Cambridge Campanion to The Trinity, ed. Peter C. Phan (Cambridge: CUP, 2011)., Being with God: Trinity, Apophaticism, and Divine-Human Communion (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006). Ted Peters, GOD as Trinity: Relationality and Temporality in Divine Life (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993).

Andrew Shepherd, The Gift of the Other: Levinas, Derrida, and a Theology of Hospitality (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2014). Jason E. Vickers, Invocation and Assent: The Making and Remaking of Trinitarian Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008). Miroslav Volf, After Our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998)., 'The Trinity is our Social Program:' The Doctrine of the Trinity and the Shape of Social Engagement,' Modern Theology 14 (1998), 403-23. John D. Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1985). Humanity and Desire Sarah Coakley, God, Sexuality and the Self: An Essay 'On the Trinity' (Cambridge: CUP, 2013)., ''Persons" in the "Social" Doctrine of the Trinity: Critique of Current Analytic Discussion', in Davis et. al. eds. The Trinity, 123-144., 'The Trinity and Gender Reconsidered,' in God's Life in Trinity, 133-142 eds., Volf and Welker (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006). Janice Martin Soskice, 'The Trinity and the Feminine Other,' in Janice Martin Soskice, The Kindness of God (Oxford: OUP, 2007). Kathryn Tanner, Christ the Key (Cambridge: CUP, 2010)., Jesus, Humanity, And The Trinity: A Brief Systematic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006). Religions Paul S. Chung, 'The Asian Pursuit of Trinitarian Theology in a Multireligious Context,' Reformed Journal of Theology 3 (2009), 144-156. Roger Corless and Paul F. Knitter, eds. Buddhist Emptiness and Christian Trinity: Essays and Explorations (New York: Paulist Press, 1990). Gavin D'Costa, The Meeting of Religions and the Trinity (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2005). Larry Hurtado, One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism, 2nd ed. (London: T&T Clark, 1998). Michael Ipgrave, Trinity and Interfaith Dialogue: Plenitude and Plurality. Religions and Discourse Series14 (New York: Peter Lang, 2003). Risto Jukko, Trinitarian Theology in Christian-Muslim Encounters: Theological Foundations of the Work of the French Roman Catholic Church's Secretariat for Relations with Islam (Helsinki: Luther-Agricola-Society, 2001). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, Trinity and Religious Pluralism: The Doctrine of the Trinity in Christian Theology of Religions (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004).

Daniel Migliore, 'The Trinity and the Theology of Religions,' in Volf and Welker, eds. God's Life in Trinity (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006). Thomas, W. Ricks, Early Arabic Christian Contributions to Trinitarian Theology: The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity in an Islamic Milieu (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2013. Christoph Schwöbel, 'The Trinity between Athens and Jerusalem,' Journal of Reformed Theology 2 (2009), 22-41. Miroslav Volf, Allah: A Christian Response (New York: Harper Collins, 2011). Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed., The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997). Politics, Economy and Justice D. Stephen Long, Divine Economy: Theology and the Market, Radical Orthodoxy series (London and New York: Routledge, 2000). M. Douglas Meeks, 'The Social Trinity and Property,' 13-21 in God's Life in Trinity, eds. Volf and Welker, eds. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006)., God the Economist: The Doctrine of God and Political Economy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1989). Kathryn Tanner, Economy of Grace (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005). Miroslav Volf, 'Being As God is Trinity and Generosity,' 2-12, God's Life in Trinity, Volf and Welker, eds. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006). Nicholas Wolterstorff, 'Is there Justice in the Trinity?' 177-190, God's Life in Trinity, Volf and Welker, eds. (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006). Modernity and Global Perspectives Leopoldo Cervantes-Ortiz, 'God, The Trinity, and Latin America Today,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 157-173. Paul S. Chung, 'The Asian Pursuit of Trinitarian Theology in a Multireligious Context,' Reformed Journal of Theology 3 (2009), 144-156. Colin Gunton, The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen, The Trinity: Global Perspectives (Louisville: Westminster/JK, 2007)., 'The Trajectories of the Contemporary 'Trinitarian Renaissance' in Different Contexts,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 7-21. James Henry Owino Kombo, The Doctrine of God in African Christian Thought: The Holy Trinity, Theological Hermeneutics, and the African Intellectual Culture, Studies in Reformed Theology, Vol. 14, (Brill: Leiden 2007)., 'The Trinity in Africa,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 125-143. Peter J. Leithart, Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, and Hope in Western Literature

(Moscow, ID: Canon, 2006). Kevin J. Vanhoozer, ed., The Trinity in a Pluralistic Age: Theological Essays on Culture and Religion (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997). Kung Lap Yan, 'The Trinity and China's Harmonious Society: A Doctrinal-Ethical Consideration,' Studies in World Christianity 17: 3 (2011), 237-257. Ecology Scott A. Dunham, The Trinity and Creation in Augustine: An Ecological Analysis (New York: State University of New York, 2004). Denis Edwards, Partaking of God: Trinity, Evolution, and Ecology (Michael Glazier, 2014). Sallie McFague, Blessed are the Consumers: Climate Change and the Practice of Restraint (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2013). Multidisciplinary Reflection Sarah Coakley, God, Sexuality and the Self: An Essay 'On the Trinity' (Cambridge: CUP, 2013). Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall and Gerald O'Collins, eds. The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity (Oxford: UOP, 1999). Stanley J. Grenz, The Named God and the Question of Being: A Trinitarian Theo- Ontology. The Matrix of Christian Theology (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2005). Karen Kilby, 'Is an Apophatic Trinitarianism Possible?', International Journal of Systematic Theology 11 (2010), 65-77. Seung Goo Lee, 'The Relationship between the Ontological Trinity and the Economic Trinity,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 90-107. Thomas McCall and M.C. Rea, eds. Philosophical and Theological Essays on the Trinity, (Oxford: OUP, 2010). Thomas McCall, Which Trinity? Whose Monotheism? Philosophical and Systematic Theologians on the Metaphysics of Trinitarian Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010). John Milbank, selected articles: The Second Difference: For a Trinitarianism Without Reserve, Modern Theology 2, no. 3 (April 1986): 213-234; Postmodern Critical Augustinianism : A Short Summa in Forty Two Responses to Unasked Questions, Modern Theology 7, no. 3 (April 1991): 225-237; Can a Gift Be Given? Prolegomena to a Future Trinitarian Metaphysic, Modern Theology 11, no. 1 (January 1995): 119-161; The Force of Identity (1997), in The Word Made Strange: Theology, Language, Culture (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1997), 194-216. John Polkinghorne, ed. The Trinity And An Entangled World: Relationality in Physical Science and Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010).

Kirk Wegter-McNelly, The Entangled God: Divine Relationality and Quantum Physics (Routledge, 2011). Social-Communal-Relational Trinitarianism - Critical Material John L. Gresham, Jr. 'The Social Model of the Trinity and its Critics,' Scottish Journal of Theology 46 (1993), 325-343. Stephen Holmes, 'Three vs. One? Some problems with Social Trinitarianism,' Journal of Reformed Theology 3 (2009), 77-89. Karen Kilby, 'Is an Apophatic Trinitarianism Possible?', International Journal of Systematic Theology 11 (2010), 65-77., 'Perichoresis and Projection: Problems with Social Doctrines of the Trinity,' New Blackfriars 81 (2000), 432-45. Carl Mosser, 'Fully Social Trinitarianism,' 131-150, Philosophical and Theological Essays on the Trinity, eds. T.M. McCall and M.C. Rea (Oxford: OUP, 2010). Gijsbert Van Den Brink, Social Trinitarianism: A Discussion of Some Recent Theological Criticisms,' International Journal of Systematic Theology 16:3 (July, 2014), 331-350. Maarten Wisse, Trinitarian Thought beyond participation: Augustine's De Trinitate and Contemporary Theology (London: T&T Clark, 2011).