God the Trinity (CT3745Z)

Content

This unit examines the contemporary retrieval of trinitarian theology and praxis. It will emphasise the practical and participatory nature of the doctrine. The unit will cover the biblical origins of trinitarian reflection, its evolving historic and credal expressions of the fourth and fifth centuries, medieval, mystical, and reformation developments, and finally contemporary discourse around a breadth of ecclesial, ecumenical, ecological, social, and relational applications.

Learning outcomes

Unit sequence

This unit is an elective unit within undergraduate courses.

Pedagogy

UCLT uses primary and secondary sources considered through different lenses to identify and explore the challenges of the unit material for the contemporary world. Students are engaged in a range of comparative, analytical and reflective practices to identify the original meanings of the texts in their contexts and to interpret them hermeneutically.

Indicative Bibliography

• Anatolios, Khaled. Retrieving Nicaea: The Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.
• Coakley, Sarah. God, Sexuality and the Self: An Essay 'On the Trinity'. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
• Edwards, Denis. The Natural World and God: Theological Explorations. Scholars Collection. Hindmarsh, S. Aust.: ATF Press, 2017.
• Fox, Patricia. God As Communion: John Zizioulas, Elizabeth Johnson, and the Retrieval of the Symbol of the Triune God. A Michael Glazier Book. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2001.
• Green, Gene L, Stephen T Pardue, and Khiok-Khng Yeo, eds. The Trinity among the Nations: The Doctrine of God in the Majority World. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015.
• Johnson, Elizabeth. SHE WHO IS: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. New York: Crossroad, 1992.
• Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. The Trinity: Global Perspectives. Louisville: WJKP, 2007.
• La Cugna, Catherine Mowry. God for Us: The Trinity & Christian Life. New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1991.
• Moltmann, Jurgen. The Trinity and the Kingdom of God: The Doctrine of God. London, UK: SCM Press, 1981.
• Phan, Peter C., ed. The Cambridge Companion to the Trinity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
• Powell, Lisa. The Disabled God Revisited: Trinity, Christology, and Liberation. London: T&T Clark, 2023.
• Vaai, Upolu Luma. ‘Faaaloalo: A Theological Reinterpretation of the Doctrine of the Trinity from a Samoan Perspective.’ Unpublished PhD thesis, Griffith University. 2006.
• Volf, Miroslav. After our Likeness: The Church as the Image of the Trinity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1998.
• Zizioulas, John. Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1993.

Assessment