It used to be thought, in western Christendom, at least, that belief in a triune God was a unique feature of Christian theology. The doctrine of the Trinity was thought to distinguish Christianity from the strict ‘monotheism’ of Judaism and Islam (which deny a plurality of ‘persons’ in the Godhead), on the one hand, and from the ‘polytheism’ or ‘pantheism’ of Greek and Indian religions, on the other. Needless to say, this traditional view reflected an unfair bias toward Christianity and a distorted view of the other religions, especially the ‘pagan’ ones of Greece and India. Since the eighteenth century, however, considerable historical and cultural research has been done on non-Christian religions, and, in our own time, the impact of its results is finally beginning to be felt in the church as a whole. Far from being unique, the doctrine of the Trinity now seems to have been influenced by Stoic and neo-Platonic speculation about God and the world and even to have parallels in the ‘theologies’ of Hinduism and Buddhism. All of a sudden, ‘trinities’ are appearing everywhere in the history of religions as if they were the fulfilment of a universal ‘archetype’ or realisations of a ‘perfect number’, reflecting the subconscious of man more than the objective reality of God. It seems that we must either launch out into a sea of pan-trinitarianism, or else retreat to the safer shores of strict ‘monotheism’ (but, then, the idea of strict ‘oneness’ is probably an archetype of some sort, as well!).

The world of the fine arts provides paradigms for explaining the role of the imagination in the development of new theologies and the communication of the Christ-event. Although there is but one definite script for a play or an opera, plays and operas admit of widely diverse representations because the script and its characters are imagined differently. For example: Amanda Wingfield, the mother in The Glass Menagerie, has been represented as a rather high-strung woman in one production, and as a serene and gracious lady in another. The script had remained the same in both productions; however, the spirit of Amanda Wingfield had changed because the directors of these productions had not imagined her in the same way. The written script is static, definite, one; the enacted representations, on the other hand, allow for the dynamics of change, diversity, and imagination.1

The relation of the Gospel to historical inquiry is one of the most important and difficult problems confronting modern theology—and, indeed, the Christian faith. Both terms need closer definition, and this must now be given.

At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your people. There is going to be a time of great distress, unparalleled since the nations first came into existence.