Because I am concerned about the encroachment of religions which honor a monotheistic, one-person god, most especially Islam, Mormonism and the American Civil Religion, I have been reading much about the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. When a friend said he was attending a book fair in California and asked if I were interested in any books, I said, "... on the Trinity!" He brought back this small volume and I dove into it with great interest. I am glad to learn there is much interest in the discussion among the various Protestant denominations but I can't recommend this book. How can you write about the Trinity without mention of liturgy, the Eucharist or the priesthood? You might as well study fish and not mention water. I was glad to see a Catholic theologian among the contributors to this book -- Paul D. Molnar -- but he also fails to mention the sacramental worship of the Catholic Church. His primary sources are Thomas F. Torrance and Karl Barth, two influential Protestant theologians. It's an odd kind of interfaith dialogue that brings no Catholic liturgical practice to the table.
I appreciate Molnar's drawing the distinction between symbolic and signficative thinking. Ours is not a mythological religion; the Fathers of the Church railed against such nonsense. This principle should be taught to every college student who stumbles into a comparative religion class. That unfortunate student might realize there is no comparison between Christian Catholicism and non-Christian religions. Catholics may play with symbols like crosses and scapulars but we work with mysterious signs, especially Baptism and the Eucharist.
Catholics live in the liturgy. That's where we hear the Word of God proclaimed and interpreted. We takes the word home and ponder it in our hearts, just as we carry other treasures from the altar: the sign of the cross; the Our Father; the practice of penance, reconciliation and peace; worship of the Father; invocation of the Spirit; reflection on the Old and New Testaments and sharing food at the the household table. It is not possible to read the scriptures or worship the Father outside the Communion. Gathered by the Holy Spirit to the church and the altar, Catholics give ourselves as one flesh to God the Father, through Jesus Christ. We are one with the High Priest in his suffering and death even as we listen attentively to the presider's reading of the Eucharistic Prayer. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood we enter the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
In his book Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith, which I recommend, the English Evangelical Michael Reeves asks, "Is it too much of a coincidence that the advance of atheism parallels the retreat of the Church on the Trinity?" A mono-personed god may draw millions of people into moral conformity -- witness Islam's success as an empire builder of the middle ages -- but theologically and philosophically that tyrant must finally lose his appeal. Freedom can only worship a Father who speaks the Word in perfectly generous freedom and sends the Holy Spirit of freedom into those who are willing to act in freedom. That God is our Holy Trinity.
Two Views on the Doctrine of the Trinity
discussion
I am glad to learn there is much interest in the discussion among the various Protestant denominations but I can't recommend this book. How can you write about the Trinity without mention of liturgy, the Eucharist or the priesthood? You might as well study fish and not mention water.
I was glad to see a Catholic theologian among the contributors to this book -- Paul D. Molnar -- but he also fails to mention the sacramental worship of the Catholic Church. His primary sources are Thomas F. Torrance and Karl Barth, two influential Protestant theologians. It's an odd kind of interfaith dialogue that brings no Catholic liturgical practice to the table.
I appreciate Molnar's drawing the distinction between symbolic and signficative thinking. Ours is not a mythological religion; the Fathers of the Church railed against such nonsense. This principle should be taught to every college student who stumbles into a comparative religion class. That unfortunate student might realize there is no comparison between Christian Catholicism and non-Christian religions. Catholics may play with symbols like crosses and scapulars but we work with mysterious signs, especially Baptism and the Eucharist.
Catholics live in the liturgy. That's where we hear the Word of God proclaimed and interpreted. We takes the word home and ponder it in our hearts, just as we carry other treasures from the altar: the sign of the cross; the Our Father; the practice of penance, reconciliation and peace; worship of the Father; invocation of the Spirit; reflection on the Old and New Testaments and sharing food at the the household table. It is not possible to read the scriptures or worship the Father outside the Communion.
Gathered by the Holy Spirit to the church and the altar, Catholics give ourselves as one flesh to God the Father, through Jesus Christ. We are one with the High Priest in his suffering and death even as we listen attentively to the presider's reading of the Eucharistic Prayer. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood we enter the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
In his book Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith, which I recommend, the English Evangelical Michael Reeves asks, "Is it too much of a coincidence that the advance of atheism parallels the retreat of the Church on the Trinity?" A mono-personed god may draw millions of people into moral conformity -- witness Islam's success as an empire builder of the middle ages -- but theologically and philosophically that tyrant must finally lose his appeal. Freedom can only worship a Father who speaks the Word in perfectly generous freedom and sends the Holy Spirit of freedom into those who are willing to act in freedom. That God is our Holy Trinity.