Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axioms 15 and 16 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

When speaking of the Trinity, you can say three, but you can't say triple or threefold or triplex. And you certainly shouldn't say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three beings. In these two axioms, Polanus is largely…

Essay / Theology

"A Word Without a Mortgage" (Lossky)

by Fred Sanders on

I like this compact account of Trinitarian terminology in Vladimir Lossky's Dogmatic Theology, 38-40. It's especially good at showing the relation between the words ousia and hypostasis. Watch how Lossky relates the key terms to each other and uses them…

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Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.8 on the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

In trinitarian theology, the word "mission" is a precise and technical term. Though the word itself just means "sending," a trinitarian mission is the external personal operation of one of the Trinity. It presupposes something very important, and that is…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.7 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

I think it's fair to say this will not be one of the easier episodes, because Polanus lays out quite a bit of difficult material here, and it's all interconnected. We are nearly done with the very long Axiom 14.…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.6 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

Tropos hyparxeos! Polanus comes to the point where he is ready to teach about the distinction of the persons from each other, and he invokes Cyril and Aquinas as authorities in affirming that the distinction among the persons ought to…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.5 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

Perichoresis! So hot right now. Actually, so hot all the time. The confession that the persons of the Trinity mutually indwell each other --"I am in the Father and the Father is in me"-- is directly evident from Scripture, has…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.4 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

One of the things you can say about the divine persons is that they are equal with each other. Right between affirming their consubstantiality and their mutual indwelling, Polanus devotes a couple of paragraphs to affirming their equality. "The three…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.3 on the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

In the journey through his long 14th Axiom, Polanus has one last thing to say about how we should speak of a person of the Trinity in relation to the divine essence. What he wants to say is that we…

Best Picture Books Ever!

by Guest Contributor on

by Danielle Hitchen Story books are an integral part of forming a child’s moral imagination, therefore good story books are integral part of forming it well. As a child reads, she has a chance to go on adventures, face dilemmas,…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.2 On the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

In this section --one sub-section of Axiom 14-- Polanus focuses on a difficult task. He intends to show how to speak responsibly about a divine person in relation to the divine essence. What's difficult about that is that a divine…

Essay / Theology

Polanus, Axiom 14.1 on the Trinity

by Fred Sanders on

Polanus' eighteen Axioms on the Trinity are mostly pretty short, but Axiom 14 stands out for its length and comprehensiveness. It's as long as the other seventeen put together (3,000 words out of the total 6,000), and it covers a…