Revelation, Redemption, and Response Calvin's Trinitarian Understanding of the Divine-Human Relationship

by Butin, Philip Walker

• ISBN13: 9780195086003
• ISBN10: 0195086007
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1995-02-23
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

How does John Calvin understand and depict the relationship of God with humanity? Until this study, the most influential readings of Calvin have tended to assume a dialectical divine-human opposition as fundamental to his thought. In this fresh consideration of Calvin's Christian vision his consistent and pervasive appeal to the Trinity in understanding the divine-human relationship is delineated and imaginatively rendered. Tracing the trinitarian theme in its many dimensions throughout the reformer's work, Philip Butin offers a revised look at the vital role of the Trinity in Calvin's thought, in the process recovering Calvin as a significant historical source for contemporary trinitarian theological reflection.

Author Biography

Philip W. Butin is Pastor of the Shepherd at Valley Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque, NM.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 3
The Trinity: Calvin's Theological Paradigm for God's Economic Relationship With Humanity
Reassessing Calvin's Understanding of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 11
The Relationship of God and Humanity in Theological Context	p. 12
Calvin's View: Dialectical or Trinitarian?	p. 15
The Redemptive Context of Calvin's Trinitarian Paradigm for Understanding the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 22
The Impact of Calvin's Trinitarian Controversies upon the Economic-Trinitarian Emphasis of His Theology	p. 26
The 1536 Institutes: The Trinitarian Pattern of the Economy of Redemption	p. 27
Calvin's Trinitarian Controversies: The Economy of Redemption as the Focus of Calvin's Doctrine of the Trinity	p. 29
Biblical and Catholic Priorities in Calvin's Trinitarian Paradigm for the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 39
The Role of Calvin's Exegetical Priorities in His Broadening of Traditional Western Approaches to Trinitarian Doctrine	p. 40
Nicene Trinitarian Doctrine within Biblical Limits	p. 45
Calvin, the Trinity, and Nicene Orthodoxy	p. 46
Calvin, the Divine Economy of Redemption, and Trinitarian Catholicity	p. 48
The Trinitarian Basis, Pattern, and Dynamic of the Divine-Human Relationship
Revelation: the Trinity as the Basis of God's Relationship with Humanity	p. 55
The Father as Source and "Subject" in Divine Revelation	p. 55
Trinitarian Divine Self-Disclosure as the Basis of the Knowledge of God	p. 56
Trinitarian Revelation via Word and Spirit as the Means to Knowledge of God	p. 58
God's Trinitarian Self-Revelation, the Knowledge of God, and the Basis of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 61
Redemption: the Trinity as the Pattern of God's Relationship with Humanity	p. 62
The Son as the Mediator of Divine Redemption	p. 62
The Trinitarian Pattern of God's Redemptive Restoration of the Divine Image in Christ	p. 67
Trinitarian Redemption as the Pattern of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 74
Human Response: the Trinity as the Dynamic of God's Relationship with Humanity	p. 76
The Trinity and the Relationship of Divine and Human Action	p. 76
The Spirit as the Divine Dynamic of Human Response in Christ	p. 79
The Triune God as the Dynamic of Faithful Human Response	p. 85
Renewed Human Response: the Trinity as the Dynamic of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 92
The Trinity and the Visibility of Grace: Contextuality, Comprehensiveness, and Coherence in Calvin's Trinitarian Vision
Church, Trinity, and Contextuality	p. 97
The Church as Corporeal Matrix of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 98
Election, the Trinity, and the Church's Contextuality	p. 99
The Visible Church as the Worshiping Church	p. 101
The Visibility of Grace: Trinity, Church, and Sacrament	p. 104
Baptism, Trinity, and Comprehensiveness	p. 107
The Trinity and Christian Baptism	p. 107
Trinitarian Baptism and the Visibility of Grace	p. 108
Baptism, Catechesis, and the Christian Life	p. 110
Trinitarian Baptism as a Reflection of the Comprehensiveness of Divine Grace in Christian Belief, Worship, and Practice	p. 112
Eucharist, Trinity, and Coherence	p. 114
Trinitarian Communion with Christ as the Focus of the Eucharist	p. 114
The Visibility and Communication of Trinitarian Grace in the Eucharist	p. 115
Trinitarian Communion with Christ as the Coherence of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 116
Eucharistic Communion as a Reflection of the Trinitarian Coherence of the Divine-Human Relationship	p. 120
Conclusion	p. 123
Importance for Calvin Studies	p. 123
Importance for the Historical Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity	p. 128
Importance for the Ongoing Constructive Task of Christian Theology	p. 131
Notes	p. 133
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 223
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