Participating in God: A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity

by Paul S. Fiddes

In Participating in God , Paul Fiddes seeks to develop an image of God that is both appropriate to the demands of pastoral care and firmly grounded in the revelation of God. He explores the way in which pastoral care shapes our doctrine of God and how faith in the triune God in turn shapes the practice of pastoral care. Fiddes elaborates on the Trinitarian context for the pastoral acts of intercessory prayer, suffering, granting forgiveness, the facing of death, the exercising of spiritual gifts, and the sacraments.

Genres: Theology

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Paul S. Fiddes is an English Baptist theologian and novelist. Fiddes is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology in the University of Oxford, Principal Emeritus and Senior Research Fellow of Regent's Park College, Oxford and a former Chairman of the Oxford Faculty of Theology. He holds a DPhil in Theology from Oxford (1975) and was awarded a DD from Oxford (2004). He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest, and a Fellow of the British Academy (2020).

Reviews

[Steve Irby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quarantine-Book #10:

I just finished "Participating in God: A Pastoral Doctrine of the Trinity," by Paul S. Fiddes. #PaulFiddes

It sounds like Fiddes is, rather than define person (which people refuse to do until Fiddes: distinct identity) is reclassifying as procession and spiration. Forget the noun and get some verb; perceive God according to His economy.

He wants to shift out perspective from observation to participation. Since God makes His self known to man via the revelation of the Word and Spirit we should know Him rather than by the same Word and Spirit.

Fiddes coverage of perichoresis and how it leads to theosis was good. Also he offered criticism of this model based on perceived subordinationalism. The reason for this is that this being a pastoral theology we have to notice that we live out our theology. Subordinationalism in our model of the Godhead affirms subordinationalism in any area of life. His trinitarian theology is viewed through the concept of perichoresis and this is the framework all the other topics are view through for a pastoral approach.

Fiddes section on prayer was beautiful. His picture is God in time on a mission with man working towards a mutual goal. He also denies any form of theological determinism. And in the end he pulls from a bit of process theology to construct his prayer model, leaving out the whole "God constrained" part of PT.

He moves into theodicy dealing with practical and then technical theodicies. His theodicy of protest is good reflecting a liberation theology stance.

Probably the best part in this book is the chapter dealing with death.

[Viktoriaf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Fiddes develops an understanding of Trinity as "relations" into which we are drawn like into a ring-dance - choreia. Participating in this dance and engaging with the relations of God pours out applications and understandings of pastoral role and functions.

I found the applications of prayer, suffering, forgiveness, death and spiritual gifts lived out in a sacramental Body-ly communion intense and deep. Challenging the concept of gifting and contribution of pastoral task to the relations within God.

[Jackson Roderick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting perspective on the ‘relations’ of the Trinity and how it ought to shape pastoral theology into Theology of participation in God.

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

St Augustine said that anyone who denied the Trinity risked losing their salvation and anyone who sought to understand the Trinity risked losing their mind. Fiddes' thorough and readable book on the Trinity underlines the essential problem of speaking about the unspeakable. Any reader will end up feeling tied in knots as they contemplate a God who, through engaging with the world, is changed by the world.

Fiddes' thesis, as per the title, is that we are invited into the heart of the God of love through the concept of perichoresis (which is a word unrelated to the Greek word for dance although the divine dance is the metaphor frequently used for it). Fiddes takes issue with the Greek idea of an abstract unchanging God that can neither suffer nor experience change or loss. This of course brings with it a whole host of other questions, not least the question about whether God is incomplete without creation, and can an incomplete God be a god in any sense at all?

Fiddes is influenced, whilst not buying in wholesale, by process theology and the sense that God and creation evolve together until the complete consummation of love. It's fair to say that this isn't an idea that has found a great deal of support in mainstream theology. Theilhard de Chardin is also quoted with approval in the final chapter - a mystical theologian who is on the edge of Orthodoxy (whether or not you think that's a good idea).

The idea that when discussing the Trinity we focus on the substance of the relationships rather than the persons seems to me to be eminently sensible and does offer a useful way in understanding how humanity can participate in God. For me it is the incarnation that gives us the framework to speak about God suffering and experiencing death. Fiddes doesn't like the idea that God suffers in the Son but remains impassable in his essence, and there are problems with that. Even so, I felt that it was only at the end, and in an argument against pantheism (although not panentheism) that he really brought the incarnation centre stage.

[Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Been slowly plugging through this one for a while.

I have read five of his books so far, and I think Fiddes is one of the best constructive systematic theologians writing today. He displays an interdisciplinary mastery of theology, biblical studies, literary studies, philosophy, and pop culture that is simply remarkable. Moreover, while many theologians grow lazy invoking their favorite theologian as proof of an assertion (whether the theologian is Aquinas, Barth, or whoever), Fiddes works through statements and arguments with an analytic precision, considering voices and arguments from all over the theological spectrum, unafraid to draw from church fathers as much as process theologians and feminists, yet equally unafraid to state their arguments don't work also.

Here Fiddes offers his sustained reflections on the nature of the Trinity as relationships, then applying aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity to notions of authority, community, prayer, death, suffering, forgiveness, spiritual gifts, the sacraments, etc.

I chuckle at the notion that this is a "pastoral" doctrine of the Trinity because Fiddes writes with a academic rigor that few pastors could stomach. Like I said, this is more like applications of his very sophisticated doctrine of the Trinity to certain theological and ethical topics. These applications are a bit disconnected as each chapter more or less stands on its own. However, each chapter strikes gold, offering interesting and rigorous insight on whatever Fiddes is thinking through.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first became aware of Paul Fiddes several years ago. I was doing a class in Baptist theology and doctrine and Fiddes's Tracks and Traces was one of the texts. While I ultimately didn't land in the Baptist camp, I appreciated that Fiddes approach was more sacramental then most other Baptist theologians we read. Fiddes is a British Baptist at Regent's Park College at Oxford.

Participating in God grounds ministry practice in the Trinity. Fiddes unfolds the implications that at the center of Christian belief is God in relationship--Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For Christians, our way of naming God thus describes the relationship with in the Godhead. The mutuality and distinctions within God has implications for pastoral ministry (as pastors strive to remain open to relationship within appropriate bounds). Fiddes shows how our doctrine of the Trinity underpins our community practice and our understanding of authority.

Fiddes brings Trinitarian doctrine to bear on Intercessory Prayer, theodicy, the practice of forgiveness, the threat of death, the practice of spiritual gifts, and living sacramentally.

I don't agree with Fiddes everywhere. I think he moves to close, for my comfort, to process theology, but he is a good dialogue partner and he interacts well with Barth, Zizioulas, Gunton, Moltmann.

[Ray Wilkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on a pastoral theology of the Trinity from a self-professed Panentheist. While a disagree with his open theistic propositions, I found his chapter on forgiveness and the journey of forgiveness that both the forgiver and the offender travel to be quite helpful.

[Milton Brasher-Cunningham · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heart of this book is that the heart of the Trinity lies in relations, in the energy created within God--a picture of a relationship that invites us to participate in God as well. It is fascinating and inspiring.

[Nathan Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, if somewhat unconventional, take on Trinitarian theology.

[Stacey Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really spoke to me. I took lots of notes. It deals with theological issues such as prayer, theodicy and death. Very interesting.