Thoughts on the Trinity
This quote is from an interview by Krista Tippets (Speaking of Faith) with Karen Armstrong. It seemed to relate to my Divine Investiture post, so I wanted to capture it.
Gregory of Nyssa.. is 4th century, a wonderful mystic. And he… formulated the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of Trinity. And he said, first of all, this doctrine can only be understood in a ritual context and in the context of prayer and contemplation. It’s not something like an equation that you can just follow rational. But he said, “When I think of the three I think of the one. When I think of the one I think of the three. And then my eyes feel with tears and I lose all sense of where I am.” And that’s a theological formulation of the Trinity should do to us.
Adam Greenwood
February 16, 2010
That is sound.
Bruce Nielson
February 16, 2010
It’s beautiful, really. I just have nothing to disagree with Gregory’s quote over. I’m always amazed just how much of a Trinitarian I am.
Adam Greenwood
February 17, 2010
BN,
yes. Actually, the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is really a negative doctrine. Its an assertion that we do not believe in more than one God and an assertion that we do not believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the same person. Nearly every positive statement that is made about the Trinity by conventional Christians is either illogical, incomprehensible, or modalist, so they should probably just stick with Gregory of Nyssa.