Trinitarian Theology beyond Participation: Augustine's De Trinitate and Contemporary Theology (T&T Clark Studies In Systematic Theology)

353 Pages·2011·0.93 MB·English

by  Maarten Wisse

T&T Clark Studies in
Systematic Theology
Edited by
John Webster
Ian A. McFarland
Ivor Davidson
Volume 11

Trinitarian Theology beyond
Participation
Augustine’s De Trinitate and
Contemporary Theology
by
Maarten Wisse
Published by T&T Clark International
A Continuum Imprint
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
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information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
© Maarten Wisse, 2011
Maarten Wisse has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to
be identifi ed as the Author of this work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
EISBN: 978-0-567-34045-0
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain
To my parents
For teaching me non-participationist Christianity

You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an
idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in
the waters below. (Exod. 20.3-4, NIV)
In the Christian religion there are two questions above all others which are
diffi cult. The fi rst concerns the unity of the three persons in the one essence in
the Trinity; the other concerns the union of the two natures in the one person
in the incarnation. (Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, ed. James
T. Dennison, Jr (Phillipsburg, NY: P&R Publishing, 1994), II, 13, vi)

Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction 1
1 Theology 17
1.1. Introduction 17
1.2. The Opening Sentences in Recent Scholarship 18
1.3. Augustine’s Programmatic Opening Sentences 21
1.4. Augustine versus the Western Metaphysical Tradition 29
1.5. Today’s Targets of an Augustinian Critique 40
1.6. Conclusion 49
2 Trinity 50
2.1. Introduction 50
2.2. Book 5: I am who I am 50
2.3. Books 6 and 7: Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God 63
2.4. Book 7: Which Three? 70
2.5. Books 5–7 in Recent Scholarship 76
2.6. Change and History 84
2.7. A Specifi c Kind of Negative Theology 88
2.8. Joseph Ratzinger’s Reception of Augustine 93
3 Christology 108
3.1. Introduction 108
3.2. Radical Orthodoxy’s Christology of Manifestation 109
3.3. Augustine’s Christology in Recent Scholarship 114
3.4. Book 1: Forma servi and forma dei 130
3.5. Book 4: The Incarnation 134
3.6. Book 13: The Purpose of the Incarnation 140
3.7. Reshuffl ing the Argument 142
3.8. A Comparison: Milbank versus Augustine 147
4 Anthropology 149
4.1. Introduction 149
4.2. The Second Half among the Philosophers 150