8/4/2019 Colin Gunton

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Colin Guntons THE PROMISE OF TRINITARIAN THEOLOGY(London: T & T Clark, 1991)

Preface:

Gunton explains that the book is a series of essays united around a common theme, which is a quest

for Trinitarian ontology.

Question: - What promise does Trinitarian theology hold?

Guntons Answer: - It is only through an understanding of the kind of being that God is that we can

come to learn what kind of being we are and what kind of world we inhabit. (vii)

Chapter one: Trinitarian Theology Today

1. Where We Stand: the Situation of Trinitarian theology Two opposite reactions:a) Renewed interest. Three major treaties which have helped in different ways in to

renew interest in the Trinity, particularly among their traditions are: Karl Barth

(1932), Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner (1967) and orthodox Lossky (1944).

Others are, Kasper and Hill (Roman Catholic), Zizioulas (Orthodox), Lutheran

(Jenson), Reformed (Moltmann) and Anglican (Brown)Despite their wide-ranging

and differing emphasis, Gunton derives and discussed two major theses: a) There is

much to be said for the claim that the way in which Augustine formulated the

doctrine of the trinity bequeath problems to the West, and that in solving them

some help is to be sought from the Cappadocian Fathers; b) Gunton also sought todiscuss the promise of the Trinitarian doctrine of God in relation to the problem of

Christianity and culture, or church and society. In essence he want to explore the

praxiological ramifications of the doctrine of the trinity, or Christian living in society:

What is the relation of Christian faith and its embodiment in institutions to the

world about it, particularly in a time when common Christian culture of our

civilization can on long be taken for granted? (2)

b) Hostility, dismissal, indifference. Gunton notes how it is sometimes pointed thatmodern reading of the Bible does not permit of a Trinitarian understanding of God.

Hence, the doctrine of the trinity is nothing but a distortion. Most popular,

however, is the claim that the doctrine of the trinity is an inherited dogma that is of

no interest or relevance to the modern world as most famously advocated by

Bishop Robinson. Gunton deduces that Overall, there is a suspicion that the whole

thing is a bore, a matter of mathematical conundrums and illogical attempts to

square a circle (2). Such claims should not be dismissed lightly: there is no smoke

without fire.

But why the indifferenceo Kantian metaphysics:o The trinity often presented as a dogma to believe rather than the living

focus of life and thought.

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