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The Development of Johannine Motifs in Hilary's Doctrine of the Trinity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Christopher Kaiser
Affiliation:
15 Ocean Highlands, Magnolia, Mass., U.S.A.

Extract

In an earlier paper, I attempted to analyse the primitive apostolic discernment of triunity on the basis of a phenomenological model of religious discernment (Otto, Eliade, Ramsey) and a recent biblical study of the prayer life of Jesus (Jeremias). At the close of that paper, I suggested that Hilary's doctrine of the Trinity might be especially meaningful in the terms of such an analysis, thus providing a possible connexion between the empirical life of Jesus and the high doctrine of the fourth-century fathers. In the present study, I wish to examine Hilary's approach in more detail in order to see how the basic discernment motifs found in the gospels (especially John) unfold into the complex set of propositions that has long since become the hallmark of orthodox trinitarianism.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1976

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References

page 237 note 1 Kaiser, C., ‘The Discernment of Trinity’, Scottish Journal of Theology, XXVIII (1975), 449460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 237 note 2 Hilary's de Trinitate (or de Fide) was written during the late 350's A.D. English translation: ‘On the Trinity’, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. IX (Oxford: James Parker, 1894Google Scholar; reprinted Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963).

page 238 note 1 Athanasius's Letters to Serapion (against the ‘tropici’) were written in 359–60; Basil's On the Holy Spirit (against the Macedonians) in 375.

page 238 note 2 Eliade, M., Patterns in Comparative Religion (London: Sheed and Ward, 1958), pp. 12f, 26, 29.Google Scholar

page 239 note 1 Lac. cit.

page 239 note 2 Cf. Athanasius, , Orations against the Arians, III. 30f.Google Scholar

page 239 note 3 Cf. Jeremias, J., The Prayers of Jesus (London: S.C.M. Press, 1967), pp. 4365Google Scholar; Cullmann, O., The Christology of the New Testament (London: S.C.M. Press, 2nd edn. 1963), pp. 282303Google Scholar; and C. Kaiser, loc. cit.

page 239 note 4 J. Jeremias, op. cit., pp. 45–52; O. Cullmann, op. cit., pp. 286ff.

page 240 note 1 In Michael Polanyi's terms, the Son is ‘relied upon’ and ‘tacitly known’ in the apprehension of the Father. See his Personal Knowledge (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958), pp. 5559Google Scholar, and Knowing and Being (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969), pp. 127f, 140–9, passim.

page 242 note 1 Cf. Athanasius, , Letters to Serapion, 1.21, 23ff.Google Scholar

page 245 note 1 Cf. Torrance, T. F., Theology in Reconstruction (London: S.C.M. Press, 1965), pp. 30f.Google Scholar

page 245 note 2 ‘Perfect birth’ is a good example of the juxtaposition of ‘model’ and ‘qualifier’ discussed by Ramsey, I. T., Religious Language (London: S.C.M. Press, 1957), ch. 2.Google Scholar