TRIUNE GOD

Catalog description

Christians believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In confessing faith in the God who names himself as “I am,” Christians affirm the unity and simplicity of God who is sheer Act and thereby radically transcends the finite and participated being of creatures. This course explores the mystery of divine unity and of the attributes of God in his unity, including his goodness, knowledge, and will. Throughout the course, we will study how human language, drawn from finite creatures, is able to name God b y analogy, even while it is impossible for us to know God in his essence. We know God without exhaustively comprehending him. Analogy balances careful affirmations with equally precise negations. The one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We will therefore trace the theological development of the concepts of procession, relation, and person that enable Christians to affirm, without contradiction, both divine Trinity and divine unity. After detailed analysis of the distinct relations in God and the persona l properties of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we will examine such topics as the doctrine of appropriation, the relationship of the divine processions to the divine creative act, and the relationship of the eternal processions to the temporal missions. In studying the Trinity as Creator and Redeemer, we will explore the mystery of our relation to God and to the distinct divine Persons.