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Christian Understandings of the Trinity: The Historical Trajectory
In this creative approach to the doctrine of the Trinity, author Veli-Matti Karkkainen focuses on keeping a dynamic balance between the intellectual-doctrinal and spiritual-charismatic approaches as parallel avenues towards theological understanding. His narrative approach draws on direct quotations from key historical theologians to increase appreciation of their theological wisdom and to encourage students to “dig further into this rich spiritual wellspring.” Throughout the two-thousand year span of Christian history, believers in Jesus have sought to articulate their faith and their understanding of how God works in the world. How do we, as we examine the vast and varied output of those who came before us, understand the unity and the diversity of their thinking? How do we make sense of our own thought in light of theirs? The Christian Understandings series is an exciting new series that seeks to illuminate precisely these questions. The short, concise volumes in the Christian Understandings series orient and ‘fill in the gaps' for readers as they dive into the exciting and stimulating story of Christian thought.
- GenresTheologySpirituality
249 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 15, 2017
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16 people want to read
About the author
Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen
58 books28 followersVeli-Matti Käkkäinen is professor of systematic theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He has published numerous articles in international journals of theology.
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December 17, 2021
If I had read Christian Understandings of the Trinity: The Historical Trajectory back when I was having trouble staying awake in Church History (for my basic pastoral degree), I think I would have been much more alert and learned much more. This is an introductory book in the discipline of Historical Theology that is not intended to supplement the classical, medieval, Reformation, and modern readings but to offer a road map through them. Between yawns in my church history course, I couldn’t keep one Gregory (Nazianzus) separate from others (of Nyssas and of Palmas) or one John (of Damascus) from another, John Scotus Erigena. So, purchasing this volume of what appears to be an excellent series (I assure you that I shall find out) was a second (or third, or fourth) chance to grapple with how the modern church came to value this difficult mystery we call “The Trinity.”
Veli-Matti Karkkainen teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as the University of Helsinki, with the former as a professor of systematic theology and the latter as professor of ecumenics. I can understand his expertise in both as I worked my way through this concise but thorough examination of the major trends and side-paths throughout the history of the church. Along the way , Karkkainen explains why Monarchianism (where the Father is the “boss” of the Trinity, pp. 42-43) as commonly understood and processionism (the idea of the Father being prior to Son and Spirit and leading, usually to subordinationism where the Son and Holy Spirit are slightly inferior to the Father—pp. 33, 36) leads to a breakdown in the distinctive components of the Trinity.
To cover ideas about the Trinity, Karkainnen uses lively examples from the early church fathers, particularly the Apologists, where the sun and its rays or the myriad of distinct fires lit from a source fire could reflect the Trinity (p. 36). Yet, those metaphors tend to reduce the status of Son and Spirit. Karkainnen cites Irenaeus’ illustration of the Trinity cooperating in creation with the Son and Spirit as the two hands of God (pp. 37-38). Yet, logic tells one that as one can live (albeit less conveniently) without hands, the Trinity is not the Trinity without Son and Spirit.
Even Tertullian dances on the brink of undercutting the doctrine of the Trinity when he claims that the three persons are distinctions rather than separations (p. 44) but he circles back to the idea of the three persons being “of the same substance” with the understanding being that substance represented the fundamental reality while person was strictly “economic” in the sense of being “operative independence” (p. 44). And, while Origen is associated with the rise of Arianism (that is, Jesus was not divine), he technically avoided the heresy’s claims when he wrote that there was no time that the Logos was not (p. 45). Yet, he muddied the waters when he proclaimed only the Father to be autotheos (self-subsistent and without origin) alone such that he undermined that strong idea and set himself up to, at least, support subordinationism/processionism (p. 47). From there, the Arians created a distinction between the divine Father and the human Son (p. 48). Origen eventually, however, expresses an important principle of orthodoxy in that he recognized that regeneration or the sanctification of the believer (unfortunately sometimes referred to as “deification”) could not be accomplished without the full cooperation of Father, Son, and Spirit, establishing the necessity of the full equality of the three (p. 113).
Beyond the well-known doctrines and heresies (though the discussion in this book was quite clarifying on both), I particularly appreciated Karkainnen’s caution with regard to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: “…there seems to be a biblical precedent according to which the Holy Spirit never draws attention to herself but, rather, turns our attention to the Son and through the Son to the Father.” (p. 97) This is followed by an interesting thesis that it was Pentecostal excesses that may have reduced the emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the early church (pp. 97-98) if not in the church at large today. He notes a shift in emphasis on spiritual things in the Pastoral Epistles (p. 99) and Clement’s criticisms of excesses in the (you guessed it) Corinthian church (pp. 99-100). Still, the early church clearly carved out a minimum of three roles for the Holy Spirit: 1) guarantee of the Scriptures as “holy utterances,” 2) the leader and guide of the church (as per Ignatius of Antioch), and 3) inspiration of prophetic and mystical experiences within the congregation (p. 101). So, the early church didn’t dispel all charismatic experiences.
In the Eastern Church, there was a clear-cut recognition of the necessity for the Holy Spirit to be fully divine. “The Spirit’s status had to be fully divine in order for us to be able to be linked with the life of the triune God.” (p. 122) In the later Latin Fathers, matters become more clear on the basis of biblical references indicating that the Spirit is eternal, is (like the Father and Son) love, and that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) (pp. 123-125).
The book’s medieval section features Gregory of Palmas’ important distinction between the “eastern” concept of “deification” [really, with his distinction, more of sanctification] and “pantheism” (p. 144). It features a profound prayer from John Scotus Erigena (p. 144) and an intriguing division of human history into three periods, consigned to Father, Son, and Spirit by 12th century monk Joachim of Fiore (p. 145). I particularly liked the summary of the debate on the filioque (“and the Son”) clause in many creeds and a better wording (“through the Son” – p. 147).
I was unaware of the work by Richard of St. Victor, De Trinitate (“Of the Trinity”), and its comparison of the Trinity with marriage. His rationale was: “[P]erfect love is always directed toward what is distinct from and in some sense outside the self. Self-love is imperfect love. God’s love must be perfect and not in any way dependent upon the creation. Thus, God’s love must be other-directed within God himself.” (p. 157) Yet, as Karkkainen observes, if this is an argument for God’s self-differentiation within the Trinity, why stop at three? (p. 157) Yet, Richard’s work did, indeed, set the stage for a more sophisticated social trinitarianism where God is defined by “communion.”
In the modern Orthodox tradition, John Zizioulas (nee Timothy Ware who wrote a very good history of the Orthodox Church published by Penguin in 1963) has developed a “communion theology” to explain not only the trinitarian fellowship, but its amplification within the church (pp. 195-196). This is similar to my favorite modern theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg, who wrote that Jesus’ self-distinction (not differentiation) allowed the Son to show us the Father and, via his obedient lifestyle allowed the Father to demonstrate His Sonship. Simultaneously, the Spirit is revealed through involvement in Jesus’ life as the Presence of the Father in the work of Jesus and in mediating between the Son and the Father (p. 197). He further clarifies this to indicate that in the Son’s self-humbling obedience, “…the Father hands over the kingdom to the Son, and at the end the Son hands it back to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24), thus making room for the eternal lordship of the Father.” (p. 197)
As a result, Karkkainen concludes that the kind of church that takes seriously some type of communion/fellowship theology takes seriously the message of John 17:20 and establishes a relationship between believers that mirrors the relationship between the members of the Godhead (p. 204). So, you see that Christian Understandings of the Trinity: The Historical Trajectory is that best kind of theology book. It is one that forces a believer to think through a myriad of possibilities and come to a tentative conclusion, only tentative because the book points to more reading and more considerations to ponder.
Veli-Matti Karkkainen teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary, as well as the University of Helsinki, with the former as a professor of systematic theology and the latter as professor of ecumenics. I can understand his expertise in both as I worked my way through this concise but thorough examination of the major trends and side-paths throughout the history of the church. Along the way , Karkkainen explains why Monarchianism (where the Father is the “boss” of the Trinity, pp. 42-43) as commonly understood and processionism (the idea of the Father being prior to Son and Spirit and leading, usually to subordinationism where the Son and Holy Spirit are slightly inferior to the Father—pp. 33, 36) leads to a breakdown in the distinctive components of the Trinity.
To cover ideas about the Trinity, Karkainnen uses lively examples from the early church fathers, particularly the Apologists, where the sun and its rays or the myriad of distinct fires lit from a source fire could reflect the Trinity (p. 36). Yet, those metaphors tend to reduce the status of Son and Spirit. Karkainnen cites Irenaeus’ illustration of the Trinity cooperating in creation with the Son and Spirit as the two hands of God (pp. 37-38). Yet, logic tells one that as one can live (albeit less conveniently) without hands, the Trinity is not the Trinity without Son and Spirit.
Even Tertullian dances on the brink of undercutting the doctrine of the Trinity when he claims that the three persons are distinctions rather than separations (p. 44) but he circles back to the idea of the three persons being “of the same substance” with the understanding being that substance represented the fundamental reality while person was strictly “economic” in the sense of being “operative independence” (p. 44). And, while Origen is associated with the rise of Arianism (that is, Jesus was not divine), he technically avoided the heresy’s claims when he wrote that there was no time that the Logos was not (p. 45). Yet, he muddied the waters when he proclaimed only the Father to be autotheos (self-subsistent and without origin) alone such that he undermined that strong idea and set himself up to, at least, support subordinationism/processionism (p. 47). From there, the Arians created a distinction between the divine Father and the human Son (p. 48). Origen eventually, however, expresses an important principle of orthodoxy in that he recognized that regeneration or the sanctification of the believer (unfortunately sometimes referred to as “deification”) could not be accomplished without the full cooperation of Father, Son, and Spirit, establishing the necessity of the full equality of the three (p. 113).
Beyond the well-known doctrines and heresies (though the discussion in this book was quite clarifying on both), I particularly appreciated Karkainnen’s caution with regard to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: “…there seems to be a biblical precedent according to which the Holy Spirit never draws attention to herself but, rather, turns our attention to the Son and through the Son to the Father.” (p. 97) This is followed by an interesting thesis that it was Pentecostal excesses that may have reduced the emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the early church (pp. 97-98) if not in the church at large today. He notes a shift in emphasis on spiritual things in the Pastoral Epistles (p. 99) and Clement’s criticisms of excesses in the (you guessed it) Corinthian church (pp. 99-100). Still, the early church clearly carved out a minimum of three roles for the Holy Spirit: 1) guarantee of the Scriptures as “holy utterances,” 2) the leader and guide of the church (as per Ignatius of Antioch), and 3) inspiration of prophetic and mystical experiences within the congregation (p. 101). So, the early church didn’t dispel all charismatic experiences.
In the Eastern Church, there was a clear-cut recognition of the necessity for the Holy Spirit to be fully divine. “The Spirit’s status had to be fully divine in order for us to be able to be linked with the life of the triune God.” (p. 122) In the later Latin Fathers, matters become more clear on the basis of biblical references indicating that the Spirit is eternal, is (like the Father and Son) love, and that “God is Spirit” (John 4:24) (pp. 123-125).
The book’s medieval section features Gregory of Palmas’ important distinction between the “eastern” concept of “deification” [really, with his distinction, more of sanctification] and “pantheism” (p. 144). It features a profound prayer from John Scotus Erigena (p. 144) and an intriguing division of human history into three periods, consigned to Father, Son, and Spirit by 12th century monk Joachim of Fiore (p. 145). I particularly liked the summary of the debate on the filioque (“and the Son”) clause in many creeds and a better wording (“through the Son” – p. 147).
I was unaware of the work by Richard of St. Victor, De Trinitate (“Of the Trinity”), and its comparison of the Trinity with marriage. His rationale was: “[P]erfect love is always directed toward what is distinct from and in some sense outside the self. Self-love is imperfect love. God’s love must be perfect and not in any way dependent upon the creation. Thus, God’s love must be other-directed within God himself.” (p. 157) Yet, as Karkkainen observes, if this is an argument for God’s self-differentiation within the Trinity, why stop at three? (p. 157) Yet, Richard’s work did, indeed, set the stage for a more sophisticated social trinitarianism where God is defined by “communion.”
In the modern Orthodox tradition, John Zizioulas (nee Timothy Ware who wrote a very good history of the Orthodox Church published by Penguin in 1963) has developed a “communion theology” to explain not only the trinitarian fellowship, but its amplification within the church (pp. 195-196). This is similar to my favorite modern theologian, Wolfhart Pannenberg, who wrote that Jesus’ self-distinction (not differentiation) allowed the Son to show us the Father and, via his obedient lifestyle allowed the Father to demonstrate His Sonship. Simultaneously, the Spirit is revealed through involvement in Jesus’ life as the Presence of the Father in the work of Jesus and in mediating between the Son and the Father (p. 197). He further clarifies this to indicate that in the Son’s self-humbling obedience, “…the Father hands over the kingdom to the Son, and at the end the Son hands it back to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24), thus making room for the eternal lordship of the Father.” (p. 197)
As a result, Karkkainen concludes that the kind of church that takes seriously some type of communion/fellowship theology takes seriously the message of John 17:20 and establishes a relationship between believers that mirrors the relationship between the members of the Godhead (p. 204). So, you see that Christian Understandings of the Trinity: The Historical Trajectory is that best kind of theology book. It is one that forces a believer to think through a myriad of possibilities and come to a tentative conclusion, only tentative because the book points to more reading and more considerations to ponder.
January 24, 2025
Definitely worth the read, Kärkkäinen sets up a clear historical understanding of how the doctrine of the Trinity has progressed throughout history. It has made me want to read and learn more on this topic. I feel that it is an important doctrine in Christian theology.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews