Trinitarian Perspectives in the Franciscan Theological Tradition

Introduction: The Scriptural Revelation and Trinitarian Theology

13 Introduction: The Scriptural Revelation and Trinitarian Theology In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11). When Thou wast baptized in the Jordan, the worship of the Trinity was made manifest. For the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee, calling Thee His beloved Son. And the Spirit, in the form of a dove, confirmed the truthfulness of His word. Oh Christ our God, who hast revealed thyself and enlightened the world, glory to Thee (Troparion of Theophany).14 14 In the Eastern Orthodox Church and in the Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church, a troparion is the hymn for the feast day that is sung in the liturgy. Rather than the word Epiphany, Theophany is the Orthodox Church’s name for the Feast of the Lord’s Baptism, because at that event God as a Trinity of Persons was made manifest. The Epiphany is the name used in the Western Churches. 14 All four of the Gospels present the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River as the only time God is made manifest as three Persons.15 This was fitting because Jesus’ baptism may be viewed as the inauguration of Jesus’ public ministry in which he proclaimed the reign of God. Jesus’ revelation was of a God who is boundlessly loving and intensely personal, and who therefore is ever-seeking communion with us. His contemporaries experienced this very God in Jesus of Nazareth; they knew God, felt God, sensed God, encountered God, were forgiven and transformed by God in Jesus, and thereby proclaimed that Jesus is Lord. Yet, this same Jesus related to God as Father and as “other.” Jesus spoke about the Father, taught about the Father, loved the Father, and prayed to the Father. In short, he revealed the Father as “another Person.” Similarly Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit as “other;” he was conceived by the Spirit, anointed by the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, led and driven by the Spirit. Finally, after his resurrection Jesus sent and shared the Spirit. In his exemplary life and teachings, Jesus revealed that God is tripersonal because God is essentially relational. God is relationality itself because God is love. From its earliest beginnings in Galilee and throughout the centuries, the Christian experience of God has been an experience through a relationship with Christ and in the Spirit. This has been the primordial, perhaps unconscious, experience of God. How are Christians to articulate this experience? How are we to formulate this understanding of who God is in a teaching about God? Trinitarian theology is an attempt to speak as fully as we are able about our relationship with Christ through whom we experience God’s love, mercy, community, and salvation; and to speak of our relationship with the Spirit who sustains us, unifies us, inspires us to pray and seek God ever more. Yet, trinitarian 15 Cf. Matt 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:29-34. 15 theology is also an attempt to articulate an understanding of God “in Godself,” that is, to formulate a doctrine about God’s nature apart from us. It endeavors to give a reasonable account of how the One God of Israel is also the three Persons of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This latter effort has tended to dominate trinitarian theology, especially in the wellknown trinitarian models of Augustine (d. 430) and Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) in the Western Church, and of the Cappadocian Fathers16 in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The purpose of this volume in the Franciscan Heritage Series is to present distinctly Franciscan perspectives on the doctrine of the Trinity in writings of Bonaventure (d. 1274) and Francis (d. 1226), and to demonstrate what this tradition has to offer to the Christian Church. The Franciscan understanding about the Trinity is that it is first, foremost, thoroughly and ultimately a revelation about the infinitely overflowing love of God who is a communion of persons in self-giving relationship. Rather than beginning chronologically with Francis, it would be more fruitful to look at Bonaventure first, because his theology...