Peter J. Leithart

It’s a common complaint that patristic Trinitarian theology obscured the gospel by relying on the premises and categories of Greek thought. Though rarely as extreme as Adolf von Harnack, who claimed that the Nicene Creed was a symptom of an “acute Hellenization” of the Church, theologians today can put off a recognizably Harnackian scent… . Continue Reading »

Jenson notoriously denies the logos asarkos , insisting that the pre-existent one is none other than Jesus Christ. It’s a confusing notion, but in his discussion in Systematic Theology: Volume 1: The Triune God (140-1), it’s a fairly straightforward implication drawn from a Barthian . . . . Continue Reading »

In books 6-7 of The Trinity , Augustine teases out the meaning of 1 Corinthians 1:24, which identifies Christ as the Wisdom and Power of God. Is, Augustine asks, Christ the Son the Wisdom by which the Father is wise, or the Power by which the Father is powerful? He muses and ponders, but ultimately . . . . Continue Reading »

Jenson ( Systematic Theology: Volume 1: The Triune God , 108-9) refers to Thomas’s definition of persona as “a relation in the mode of substance” ( ST 1, 29, 4) and asks, “How does this work within the narrated reality itself?” His answer is a tightly-packed little . . . . Continue Reading »

Augustine’s The Trinity unfolds in such large sweeps that it is easy to lose the flow of argument. As Books 3-4 weaves through discussions of theophanies and numerological musings on the proportion of 1 and 2, and the perfections of the number 6, it’s easy to forget what the question . . . . Continue Reading »

Jenson notoriously claims that God is not only identified by the events of Exodus and Resurrection but identified with them ( Systematic Theology: Volume 1: The Triune God , 59). This has led some to question whether he really believes in the Creator-creature distinction, something that he has . . . . Continue Reading »

Modernity rests on a distinction between Us moderns and Them primitives. Them primitive might be dead and gone; they might be somewhere south of Us, in warmer, wetter climates and with darker skin. But Them is primitive, even if they are contemporaries. The problem is, modernity spawns a continuous . . . . Continue Reading »

We think that humility means minimizing achievement and talent. “It’s nothing. I’m nothing” sounds humble to our ears. It’s not. Better to be thorough Pauline. Paul doesn’t exactly maximize achievement, but he comes close: “I speak in tongues more than . . . . Continue Reading »

According to Ayres’ analysis ( Augustine and the Trinity , 70), Augustine’s early explorations of the notion of the “inseparable action” of the Father, Son, and Spirit are expositions of what is standard Nicene orthodoxy: “First, Augustine sees Father, Son and Spirit . . . . Continue Reading »

Colin Gunton and others criticize Augustine’s treatment of Old Testament theophanies, where Augustine concludes that it is impossible to determine which person appears in the theophany. For Gunton, the Son is the appearing-one in the Old Testament, and Augustine’s hesitation smacks of a . . . . Continue Reading »