The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God

by OP White

Overview

The Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith. What can we say about the divine nature, and what does it mean to say that God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three persons who are one in being? In this book, best selling author Thomas Joseph White, OP, examines the development of early Christian reflection on the Trinity, arguing that essential contributions of Patristic theology are preserved and expanded in the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

By focusing on Aquinas’ theology of the divine nature as well as his treatment of divine personhood, White explores in depth the mystery of Trinitarian monotheism. The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God also engages with influential proposals of modern theologians on major topics such as Trinitarian creation, Incarnation and crucifixion, and presents creative engagements with these topics. Ultimately any theology of the cross is also a theology of the Trinity, and this book seeks to illustrate how the human life, death, and resurrection of Jesus reveal the inner life of God as Trinity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813234830
Publisher:	Catholic University of America Press
Publication date:	03/11/2022
Series:	Thomistic Ressourcement Series
Pages:	632
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Thomas Joseph White, OP, is rector of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas in Rome (Angelicum) and the author of The Light of Christ: An Introduction to Catholicism and The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi

Preface xiii

Abbreviations xv

Introduction 1

Part 1 Principles and Disputations: On the Development of Trinitarian Doctrine

1 The Mystery of God: Religious and Philosophical Origins 21

2 The Problem of God in Modernity 32

3 The Revelation of the One God in Israel 50

4 Foundations for Trinitarian Faith in the Life of Jesus Christ 65

5 Pauline Trinitarian Theology 85

6 Johannine Trinitarian Theology 96

7 Nicene Trinitarian Theology 110

8 The Advent of Orthodoxy: Cappadocian Trinitarian Theology 138

9 Augustine's Trinitarian Theology 154

10 Trinitarian Analogy: Dionysius the Areopagite and the Fourth Lateran Council 171

Part 2 On the Mystery of the Divine Nature: St. Thomas Aquinas's de deo uno Treatise

11 Analogia Entis within Analogia Fidei: Arguments for God's Existence 185

12 Naming God Analogically 217

13 Divine Simplicity 239

14 Divine Perfection and Goodness 261

15 Divine Infinity and Omnipresence 279

16 Divine Immutability and Impassibility 292

17 Divine Eternity and Unity 308

18 Divine Knowledge and Love 321

19 Divine Omnipotence 341

20 Knowledge of the Triune God 351

Part 3 The Immanent Communion of Persons: St. Thomas Aquinas's de deo Trino Treatise

21 A Prologue to Thomistic Trinitarian Theology 373

22 Immanent Processions in God 409

23 Trinitarian Relations and Notional Names of Persons 425

24 The Divine Persons 442

25 God the Father 456

26 God the Son 471

27 God the Holy Spirit 481

28 Perichoresis and Trinitarian Communion 505

29 Appropriation, Creation, and the Unity of Divine Action 520

30 The Divine Missions 534

Part 4 Trinitarian Economy: Creation and Christology

31 Is There Such a Thing as an Economic Trinity? On the Trinitarian Activity of Divine Revelation 547

32 The Trinity and Creation 588

33 The Trinity in the Incarnation and Life of Christ 606

34 The Revelation of the Trinity in the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ 633

Conclusion: On Being Trinitarian 667

Selected Bibliography 691

Index 709