Participation as a Trinitarian Virtue: Challenging the Current “Relational” Consensus

Cunningham, David

doi:10.3138/tjt.14.1.7

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The perennial problems of autocracy, of discrimination and of inequality are seemingly solved by reference to the Triune God, as we find here true mutuality, respect and recognition. The debate was not whether the Trinity has political implications but whether one approaches this via the notion of 'model' or of 'participation'; do Christians 'echo' the God they worship or do they participate in the divine life and consequently live different lives (see Cunningham 1998)? It was precisely this expansive heuristic employment of the Trinity that elicited a severe reaction from many theologians.…”

Section: Exploring the Practical Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking stock of the Trinitarian renaissance: What have we learnt?

Venter

2019

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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Section: Exploring the Practical Possibilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Taking stock of the Trinitarian renaissance: What have we learnt?

Venter

2019

HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies

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“…This helps to explain the popularity of the tag-line 'persons in communion,' which (I suspect) is most frequently read as implying that, first, there are (relatively independent) persons, who (then) come into communion (as contrasted with persons who are not in communion). 55 This is not quite right, since Moltmann, Volf and others prefer to speak of the Persons and relations as 'equiprimal' 56 or as 'genetically connected' or 'two sides of the same thing'. 57 But if there is any truth to it, as I believe may be demonstrated, it shows the fallacy of lodging a charge against the revisionists that they conceive the Persons as nothing but relations.…”

Section: IIImentioning

confidence: 99%

Divine Persons and Their ‘Reduction’ to Relations: A Plea for Conceptual Clarity

Hill¹

2011

Int J Systematic Theology

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Contemporary trinitarian ‘revisionist’ theologians frequently accuse ‘classical’ or ‘Western’ (e.g. Augustinian, Thomistic) trinitarian theologies of ‘reducing’ the divine Persons to their relations with and to one another. In response, many defenders of the Western tradition of trinitarian theology suggest that the alternative accounts of contemporary revisionists, likewise, ‘reduce’ the Persons to relations. Thus, the same charge (the reduction of Persons to relations) is employed in two opposing viewpoints as a way of critiquing the other. This article aims to note this (apparently hitherto unremarked) phenomenon and to explore the theological rationale for its development. In conclusion, the article suggests how a new conceptual clarity may be achieved in light of this semantic confusion and points toward the possibility of a renewed dialogue between classical forms of trinitarian theology and their contemporary critics.

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“…In response, I suggest plotting a path between the two extremes of, on one hand, dismissing the Trinity as a viable guide to human flourishing and, on the other hand, over-realising a correspondence between divine and human life (Volf, 1998b). This middle ground offers a means to establish principles, while avoiding the risk of collapsing distinctions between God and creation over which Cunningham (1998a) andPeters (1993), for example, expressed concern. A perceived risk associated with attempting to establish a correspondence between God and human life is that it may appear to lean towards a form of pantheism that regards the earth as a form a manifestation of God.…”

Section: Breadth Of Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Persons, divine and human, and therapy: A critical correlation between a trinitarian analogy of persons and narrative therapy

McMillan¹

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Concern has been raised over the last few decades about the ways counselling therapies are often used without due regard for the views of human wellbeing that they implicitly represent. A key example of this is the way counselling theory and practice takes for granted various Enlightenment epistemologies, such as rational thought and empirical science. One effect of this reliance has been to downplay the therapeutic merit of engaging with people's hopes and values, and related histories and traditions. Recent practical and anthropological innovations in narrative therapy and trinitarian theology provide resources with which to engage these concerns. But work remains to be done on understanding how professional counselling might profitably interact with relational ethics such as those associated with trinitarian thinking.With these issues in mind, this study addresses: (1) the extent to which the key philosophies and theories of practice associated with narrative therapy are capable of representing the social trinitarian analogy of persons, and (2) what contributions narrative therapy might make to communities engaged in the trinitarian social project. In responding to these questions, critical correlation methodology is employed to construct a public theology. Trinitarian relational ethicssuch as mutuality, offering forgiveness, and working for justice and reconciliation-are utilised as a lens for engagement with narrative therapists, and as the lens for Christian consideration of the broad questions about human existence.The method involves four steps.Step-one is the identification and articulation of six aspects of narrative therapy's philosophy and theory of practice. The six aspects are: the aims of narrative therapy, the social and linguistic formation of knowledge and identity, therapy and ethics, narrativity, metanarrative, interpretation and reality, and the person in narrative therapy.Step-two is concerned with the formulation of relevant theological principles.Step-three involves critically analysing the six aspects of narrative therapy in the light of relevant theological principles, and step-four develops reformulations as a result of the analysis.My research findings centre on three main arguments. The first is that while narrative therapy helpfully engages people in ethical reflection and decision making, it fails to represent a specific vision of wellbeing. The second is that rather than denying absolutes, experiences of narrative therapeutic conversation can lead to knowing things differently. The third group of findings suggest that while narrative therapy effectively addresses the linguistic and narrative construction of identity, the trinitarian invitation is to also engage the interpersonal and embodied dimensions of human life.ii

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Participation as a Trinitarian Virtue: Challenging the Current “Relational” Consensus

Cited by 7 publications

References 0 publications

Taking stock of the Trinitarian renaissance: What have we learnt?

Taking stock of the Trinitarian renaissance: What have we learnt?

Divine Persons and Their ‘Reduction’ to Relations: A Plea for Conceptual Clarity

Persons, divine and human, and therapy: A critical correlation between a trinitarian analogy of persons and narrative therapy

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