Search results for: “trinity”

We recently finished our series of conversations on seventeenth-century theologian Amandus Polanus’ 18 Axioms on the Trinity. Now Ryan Hurd and I are going to have a few conversations with people who know a thing or two about Polanus, Protestant Scholasticism, trinitarian theology, and related issues. Partly this is just our idea of fun and…

Thomas Aquinas’ treatise on the Trinity in the first part of his Summa Theologiae runs from question 27 to 43. It’s a vast discussion, all but comprehensive in its coverage of the most important elements of Trinitarian theology. So sweeping an account could start from any number of principles or points of view, but Thomas…

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 to draw out how they function in Trinitarian doctrine: The great problem of the fourth…

Four hundred years ago, one of Protestantism’s most accomplished theologians published a series of eighteen guidelines (“axiomata”) for understanding the Trinity. They’re great. They have never been translated into English. Nobody talks about them. Until now! [cue movie trailer] When I stumbled upon Amandus Polanus’ eighteen Axiomata buried deep in the trinitarian section of his…

On at least two occasions, John Webster reviewed combative books with which he largely agreed, but slipped in some gentle reprimands along the way. I think of these reviews often, as instructive instances of how a theologian can be constructive and peaceable even while entering into a charged debate; even, in fact, taking sides. Even,…

Jesus calls out from the cross: “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34). Strong words of weakness. The very first hearers misunderstood them: “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” But he wasn’t calling on Elijah, of course, though the words sound similar: he was calling on…

Imagine studying the doctrinal theology of Thomas Aquinas and then turning it, in considerable detail, into praise.That’s what sixteenth-century Jesuit Francis Borgia did. He wrote a book which is basically key sections of the Summa Theologia cast into the form of prayers. Litanies, to be precise: sequences of requests, for liturgical recitation with a set…