Theology, Philosophy and Science

This is part three of a blog related to the Logical Problem of the Trinity: part one and two avaliable here  https://theologyphilosophyscience.blogspot.com/2020/06/modalism-tritheism-and-co-inherence-as.html   https://theologyphilosophyscience.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-logical-problem-of-trinity-and.html The Twofoldness of Divine Truth Having assessed the most popular models of the Trinity intended to solve the logical problem of the Trinity and found them at best unpersuasive and at worst opening the possibility to heresy, I will now present an alternative approach. Modalism and tritheism are two extremes, taking an unbalanced approach to the truth revealed in the Bible. Modalism takes God being one and pushes it to a heretical extreme and tritheism takes God being three and pushes it to a heretical extreme. The twofoldness of divine truth avoids the extremes and Kangas notes it allows one to “maintain a testimony faithful to the whole truth of God’s revelation in th...

This is part two of a blog related to the Logical Problem of the Trinity part one available  here: https://theologyphilosophyscience.blogspot.com/2020/06/modalism-tritheism-and-co-inherence-as.html The Logical problem of the Trinity Having outlined the extremes of modalism and tritheism and laid out co-inherence as the way to avoid these extremes I will now turn to the logical problem of the Trinity. Within the Athanasian Creed, the following three theological theses on God as Trinity can be found: “1- We worship God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity... Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.’ 2- So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. 3- And yet they are not three Gods, but one God” (Molto, 2017). The logical problem that arises from this can be characterized in the following way: “1 Each person of the Trinity is distinct from each of the others. 2 Each person of the Trinity is God. 3 There is exactly one God” (Craig...

This is the first part of a blog related to the Logical Problem of the Trinity Modalism Modalism holds that the three of the Trinity Father, Son and Spirit are purely adjectival being “three successive manifestations of God, or three temporary modes of his activity” (Chadwick, 1968). This denies that God in his own inner being is triune. Rather, it claims that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are either temporary or successive roles adopted by God in carrying out the divine plan of redemption and that they in no way correspond to anything in the ultimate nature of the Godhead (Chadwick, 1968). Modalism does not recognize Christ’s independent personality but sees his incarnation as a mode of the existence or manifestation of the Father (Bethune-Baker, 1929) (Kangas,1976). Modalists hold the “Father, Son and Spirit only refer to the way in which God reveals himself but bear no relation to his inner being” (Bruce, 1953). Sabellius (fl. ca. 215) was, by far, the most original, profo...