Systematic Theology, Volume 2: The Doctrine of the Holy Trinity: Processions and Persons

by Katherine Sonderegger

Overview

Katherine Sonderegger follows her monumental volume on the doctrine of God with this second entry of her Systematic Theology, which explores the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. Locating her analysis first in the Hebrew Scriptures, Sonderegger examines the thrice-holy God that is proclaimed to Isaiah in the sanctuary and manifested in the sacrifice of the temple. The book of Leviticus, read in conversation with Exodus, unfolds the doctrine of the Trinity under the character of holiness. In the one God, Trinity speaks of the life, movement, and self-offering of God, who is the eternal procession of goodness and light. In Israel's sacrificial covenant, the triune God is perfect self-offering: the eternal descent of the Father of Lights is the offering who is Son, eternally received and hallowed in the one who is Spirit. Anchoring the theology of the Trinity in Israel's Scriptures in this way elevates the processions over the persons, exploring the mystery of the Divine Life as holy, rational, and good. The Divine Persons, named in the New Testament, cannot be defined but may be glimpsed in the notion of perfection, a complete and perfect infinite set. In all these ways, the Holy Trinity may be praised as the deep reality of the life of God.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781451482850
Publisher:	Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
Publication date:	11/03/2020
Pages:	580
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Katherine Sonderegger is the William Meade Professor of Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. She is the author of That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew: Karl Barth's "Doctrine of Israel" (1992). She resides in Alexandria, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xv

§1 Holiness as Triune Mystery 1

§1.1 Holy Trinity and Israel 6

§1.2 Trinity, Christology, Soteriology 27

Excursus: Soteriology in Dogmatics 33

Part 1 Distinction between Theology and Soteriology 33

Part 2 Holy Scripture and Soteriology 66

§1.3 Holy Trinity and Its Justification 93

§2 The Intellectual Legitimacy of the Trinity 121

§2.1 The Regional Alternative: St. Thomas and Karl Barth 123

§2.2 The Common Alternative: Paul Tillich 150

§2.3 The Problem in the Neighborhood 173

§3 Realism as Trace of the Trinity 201

§3.1 Diversity in Creaturely Life 214

§3.2 The Rational Structure of Trinity 230

§4 Holy Scripture as Ground of Trinity 239

§4.1 The Eternal Generation of the Son: A Test Case 255

§4.2 Dogmatic Reading: The Intelligible and the Concrete 268

§4.3 The Intelligible and Concrete in Isaiah 53 286

§4.4 The Canons of Lateran IV as Guide to Dogmatic Reading of the Divine Persons and Processions 320

§5 Leviticus and the Holiness School: Trinity as Holy 355

§5.1 Levitical Sacrifice and Sin 375

§5.2 Sacrifice as Triune Processions 395

§5.3 The Unicity of the Divine Processions 420

§5.4 The Act of Sacrifice as Triune Holiness 459

§6 Holy Trinity as Being Itself 485

§6.1 Trinity as Structured Infinity 490

§7 The Divine Persons 519

Index 569

Editorial Reviews

"Katherine Sonderegger is one of the freshest and most distinctive voices in contemporary systematic theology, bringing together Scripture and trinitarian dogmatics in unpredictable ways. She is learned, robust, lyrical, challenging. Her writing not only stimulates the mind, it also stirs the spirit and touches the heart." —Walter Moberly, Durham University

"Katherine Sonderegger is a wonderful gift to us! She is always deep, fresh, accessible, and provocative. Reading her new meditation on the Holy Trinity is like listening to someone pray. While I enjoyed disagreeing with aspects of it, I learned from it enormously at the same time. In the wake of this monumental achievement, anyone who might hope to do better has a formidable task ahead of them. It will stand as a standard point of reference for years to come." —George Hunsinger, Princeton Theological Seminary

"Katherine Sonderegger continues to believe in and trust the intellectual coherence of Christian doctrine in its deepest claims. Here she continues her daring work of rethinking the mystery of the Trinity and shows us how to go about a fresh articulation of that claim. While she is intimate with Thomas, Barth, and Tillich, she does her own hard work, and invites the reader to join her in that hard work. She upholds the deep claims of that doctrine and shows how they matter to the practice of the church. She refuses both the dumbed-down casualness of domesticated faith and reductionist confessionalism that is easy and safe. Her book is a welcome witness for confident faith that has no interest in accommodation to the whims of the day. Her book will have a durable life in the company of the great thinkers of the church; it will also give courage in a time when the gospel is so urgently required and so easily distorted. Much thanks to her!" —Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary

"Deeply and often surprisingly biblical, perceptively alert to both theological tradition and the contemporary world, marinated in prayer and praise, conceptually exquisite, imaginatively soaring, and daringly original: this is a gripping, wise, and prophetic theology for our century. No other writing on God has moved and challenged me so profoundly since reading Bonaventure and Barth. And the vibrant, fiery style matches its glorious subject, the living God." —David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus, University of Cambridge

"This second volume of Sonderegger's Systematic Theology is a marvel. Refusing the soteriological tethers of much recent trinitarian theology, Sonderegger continues to provide readers a profound schooling in both the piety of thought and the practice of unabashedly metaphysical theology. Her study invites us to contemplate the thrice holy God of Israel anew and aright from a place firmly rooted in the witness of Scripture. The result is a truly incomparable, creative, and contrarian contribution to contemporary trinitarian theology." —Philip G. Ziegler, University of Aberdeen

"In this study of the triune God, Sonderegger speaks a word of hope to we who have lost a sense of wonder: God can be known, and this God is beautiful, holy, and righteous. We must step to the side, Sonderegger insists, and live no longer according to our own certainties or our own confusions. In developing her understanding of the Trinity, Sonderegger draws deeply from the "Scriptures of Israel," arguing that they have a 'double identity'—one for Jews and another for Christians. Sonderegger's 'strange' and unique approach may well be a game-changer for how Christian theologians work with Old Testament texts." —Cynthia Rigby, Austin Theological Seminary

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