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1.3 - The One and the Trinity

from I - Concepts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2021

By
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz
Edited by
Alexander J. B. Hampton  and
John Peter Kenney
Alexander J. B. Hampton
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
John Peter Kenney
Affiliation:
Saint Michael's College, Vermont
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Summary

This chapter highlights the formative role of Platonism in the making of Christian doctrine. It argues that Platonism’s greatest substantive influences on Christian Trinitarian theology lay in the area of participation metaphysics, as well as in inspiring the more general theological dictum of divine immateriality and intelligibility. Early Christian authors discussed include: Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria, Marius Victorinus, Augustine, Theodoret, Cyril of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, and Eunomius. The claim that the Christian creator–creature distinction competed with the Platonic intelligible–sensible distinction is examined and rejected.

Keywords

Trinityparticipationdivine immaterialitycreator–creature distinction
Type
Chapter
Information
Christian Platonism
A History
 , pp. 53 - 78
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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