Systematic Theology, Volume 1: The Doctrine of God

566 Pages·2015·3.539 MB·English

by  Katherine Sonderegger

DOGMATICS FOR A NEW MILLENNIUM S
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This systematic theology begins from the treatise De Deo Uno and develops D
the dogma of the Trinity as an expression of divine unicity, on which will de- E
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pend creation, Christology, and ecclesiology. The Invisible God must be seen
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and known in the visible. In this way, God and God’s relation to creation are G
distinguished—but not separated—from Christology, the doctrine of perfections G
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from redemption. In the end, the transcendent beauty who is God can be known R
only in worship and praise.
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY FROM THE PREFACE
“Who is God? And what is God? (Qui
Praise for Systematic Theology, Volume 1
VOLUME 1, THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
sit et quid sit Deus). These are the
“Astonishing in scope and breadth, beautiful in language, profound in spiritual perception,
this is a monumental work, comparable to Rowan Williams and T. F. Torrance at their best. I questions of an entire lifetime. Noth-
expect it to be a standard point of reference in Christian theology for years to come.” ing reaches so deep into the purpose
George Hunsinger | Princeton Theological Seminary
of human life, nor demands the full
“This first volume of Professor Sonderegger’s Systematic Theology presents one of the most scope of the human intellect as do
distinguished treatments of the Christian doctrine of God in recent decades. It is a reflective V S these two brief queries. They stand
expansion of a single, utterly arresting thought that oneness is the fundamental divine per- O Y
L at the head of Thomas Aquinas’s
fection by which all talk of the attributes of God is to be governed. As it follows the prompt- U S
Katherine Sonderegger is the William
ing of Holy Scripture, its exposition of the divine nature, and of God’s omnipresence, om- M T majestic Summa Theologica, and by
Meade Professor of Theology at Virginia nipotence, omniscience, and love is at times cross-grained, uneasy with some elements of E E
right they belong to the capital and

contemporary Trinitarianism and with the christological inflation of some modern dogmatics. 1 M
Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Vir- But, above all, it offers a deeply impressive commendation of the first and greatest matter , T the footing of any systematic theol-
A
ginia. She is the author of That Jesus of Christian faith. The study unites delicacy of judgment with purposiveness and originality H ogy. This book offers one answer to
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Christ Was Born a Jew: Karl Barth’s of mind, and communicates that appetite for divine things without which wholesome theo- D I these haunting and demanding ques-
logical work is not possible. This is theology of enduring intellectual and spiritual substance.” O C
“Doctrine of Israel” (1992). C tions in the doctrine of God.”
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John Webster | St. Mary’s College, University of St. Andrews T
R H
“The first volume of Katherine Sonderegger’s systematic theology starts with the heart IN E
of the matter: the doctrine of God. She opens new vistas on the doctrine by doing what E O

almost no one (with the possible exception of Barth) has done so well: making ‘the per- O L
F O
fections of God’ exciting. Over and above the theology itself, Sonderegger’s book moves
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with personal energy through Scripture and tradition and contemporary theologians and O
philosophers—an energy that will make readers enthusiastically seek the next volume of D Y
her remarkable project.”
James J. Buckley | Loyola University Maryland
RELIGION / SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Systematic Theology

Systematic Theology
Volume 1, The Doctrine of God
Katherine Sonderegger
Fortress Press
Minneapolis
SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Volume 1, The Doctrine of God
Copyright © 2015 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations
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Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright
(c) 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the
Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Cover image: Margaret Adams Parker, “Fiat Lux,” Woodcut Print, 2003.
Cover design: Laurie Ingram
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-4514-9665-9
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Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Publication Credits ix
Preface xi
Part I. The One God
§ 1. The Perfect Oneness of God 3
§1a. The Divine Oneness in Holy Scripture 10
§ 2. The Divine Oneness as Foundational Perfection 23
§2a. The Divine Oneness in Scholastic Theology 30
§2b. The Divine Oneness in the Kantian Tradition 36
Part II. The Omnipresent One
§3. The Perfection of the One LORD’s Hiddenness: His Omnipresence 49
§3a. Divine Hiddenness and Atheism 52
§3b. Divine Hiddenness and Holy Scripture 66
§3c. An Excursus on Theological Compatibilism and Epistemology 77
§3d. Divine Invisibility in the New Testament 31
Part III. The Omnipotent One
§4. The Perfection of the One LORD’s Holy Humility: His Omnipotence 151
Section I: Divine Omnipotence A Se 153
§4a. The Question of Divine Power 153
§4b. Divine Omnipotence in the Tradition 174
§4c. Divine Omnipotence in Positive, Scriptural Idiom 185
§4d. Divine Omnipotence as Subject and Object 192
§4e. Divine Omnipotence and Creaturely Suffering: 223
the Prophet Jeremiah
Section II: Divine Omnipotence Ad Extra 246
§4f. Divine Omnipotence as Personal Relation 246
§4g. The Book of Numbers 271
§4h. The Mutable Immutability of the Omnipotent One 294
§4i. The Book of Genesis 300
Part IV. The Omniscient One
§5. The Perfection of the One LORD’s Spiritual
Nature: His Eternal Omniscience 335
§5a. The Omniscient One’s Perfect Knowledge 346
§5b. The Divine Knowledge of Evil 362
§6. Methodological and Transcendental Questions in Divine Omniscience 383
§6a. The Problem of Grounding 386
§6b. The Problem of Representation 389
§6c. The Representative 395
§7. The Doctrine of Illumination 415
§7a. Compatibilism in the Doctrine of Omniscience 428
§7b. The Transcendental Relation 443
Part V. Final Things
§8. The Perfection of Divine Love 469
§9. The Divine Perfections and the Exegesis of Holy Scripture 505
Index 531
Acknowledgments
Theology awakens a grateful heart. As I ready this first volume of
my Systematics, I am keenly aware of the deep debts of gratitude
I owe, joyfully owe, over many seasons of my life. The life of
faith begins and is sustained by the quiet doctors of the Church:
Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders, deacons in every walk
of life. I remember with special gratitude my first teachers, my
mother, Marion, and my Sunday school teacher, Miriam Hilton,
who lives with a particular joy and sanctity the faith once delivered
to the saints. I have been privileged to live out my own priestly
ministry in the Episcopal dioceses of Vermont and Virginia, and
several congregations –St Stephen’s, Middlebury, St Clement’s,
Alexandria, and St Mary’s, Arlington –who have formed me as priest
and teacher.
Theology is also an academic discipline, and I am grateful to
the schools and societies that have sustained me in this work. The
Religion Department at Middlebury College first heard the ideas
articulated in this first volume, and my dear colleagues at Virginia
Theological Seminary have read pages of draft, asked the questions
I needed to hear, and urged me on. Several learned societies have
supported this work, deepened and sharpened it, and showed by
example how dogmatic theology is done for the Church today.
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SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Grateful thanks to the American Theological Society, the Duodecim
Society, the Washington-New Haven Theological Group, the Yale-
Princeton Group, the Princeton-Kampen Working Group, and the
Center for Theological Inquiry. I could not have completed this
volume without generous sabbatical support –thank you, Trustees
and Deans! –or without the eagle-eyed bibliographic work of
Charles Gillespie, graduate student at the University of Virginia,
theologian, and research assistant, extraordinaire. Theology, despite
all protests, is not such a lonely affair, after all!
Theology depends upon our life together. I have been blessed
by dear friends who have turned each day and season to golden
joy. Karen King has shared my intellectual and spiritual goals since
graduate school days; conversation with her is a seminar unmatched
by any school. My friend Peggy Parker, a print maker and sculptor,
has taught me by word and example a life of Christian faith that
consoles a broken world. Her artwork graces this cover; more can
be found on her web site, www.margaretadamsparker.com. Since
Middlebury college days my life has been graced and sustained by
friendshipwithLynneBaker,aphilosopher ofgreatdistinction, who
has taught me the joy of clarity and depth in intellectual work; but
more, she has shown me what a loving heart is, the greatest gift and
the virtue that when all else is ashes, will abide.
These are gifts from God, fresh each morning, and I am grateful.
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Publication Credits
The following publishers are acknowledged for the permission to
reproduce material in this book.
From Foundations of Christian Faith by Karl Rahner, copyright
© 1978 Crossroad Publishing Company. Used by license from the
Copyright Clearance Center.
From © Karl Barth, 1994, Church Dogmatics T&T Clark, an
imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
From Systematic Theology by Robert Jenson, copyright © 1997
Oxford University Press. Used by license from the Copyright
Clearance Center.
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