"Why be concerned with the Trinity? What does it mean to say, "I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit?" In this accessible work Leonardo Boff takes up the ancient doctrine of the Trinity showing its meaning and relevance for Christian faith today." "In a series of short chapters Boff unpacks the mysteries of the Trinity, spelling out the difference it makes to believe that God is communion rather than solitude. Instead of an image of God as solitary ruler standing aloof above a static universe, belief in the Trinity means that at the root of everything there is movement, there is an eternal process of life, of outward movement, and love." "While comprehensive in his treatment of the theological and anthropological dimensions of the Trinity, Boff is especially interested in the social implications. In the Trinity we find a program of liberation to the infinite degree: "difference and distinction, equality and perfect communion." The Holy Trinity is, among other things, the image of the perfect community. At the same time, in the Trinity we find the best image of the church: not a hierarchy of power, but a community of diverse gifts and functions. Thus comprehension of the Trinity, in which God comes out to meet us in the full realization of our yearnings, empowers our efforts for a better world and a more faithful church. Book jacket."--Jacket.

In this book, Brazilian Leonardo Boff, Franciscan priest and professor of theology, joins other contemporary theologians in defending both the truth and the practical value of the doctrine of the Trinity. For Boff, the community of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is not only the truth about God; it is also the prototype of human community dreamed of by those who wish to improve society, the model for any just, egalitarian (while respecting differences) social organization. Frequently expressing agreement with Moltmann's 'The Trinity and the Kingdom', Boff argues that true and relevant Trinitarian faith must begin not with the oneness, but with the threeness of God; not with theistic speculation about God as the solitary One, but with openness to the self-revelation of God as a community or society of divine persons, who are what they are in their co-existence, co-relatedness, and self-surrender to each other. Boff also suggests how a social doctrine of the Trinity enables us to overcome the conflict between individualistic capitalism and collectivistic socialism, oppressor and oppressed, male and female, church authorities and church members.

The following dissertation concerning the Trinity, as the reader ought to be informed, has been written in order to guard against the sophistries of those who disdain to begin with faith, and are deceived by a crude and perverse love of reason. Now one class of such men endeavor to transfer to things incorporeal and spiritual the ideas they have formed, whether through experience of the bodily senses, or by natural human wit and diligent quickness, or by the aid of art, from things corporeal; so as to seek to measure and conceive of the former by the latter. Aeterna Press

An extraordinary work that revitalizes theology and Christian life by recovering the early roots of Trinitarian doctrine and exploring the enduringly practical dimensions of faith in God as a community of persons.

In this creative approach to the doctrine of the Trinity, author Veli-Matti Karkkainen focuses on keeping a dynamic balance between the intellectual-doctrinal and spiritual-charismatic approaches as parallel avenues towards theological understanding. His narrative approach draws on direct quotations from key historical theologians to increase appreciation of their theological wisdom and to encourage students to “dig further into this rich spiritual wellspring.” Throughout the two-thousand year span of Christian history, believers in Jesus have sought to articulate their faith and their understanding of how God works in the world. How do we, as we examine the vast and varied output of those who came before us, understand the unity and the diversity of their thinking? How do we make sense of our own thought in light of theirs? The Christian Understandings series is an exciting new series that seeks to illuminate precisely these questions. The short, concise volumes in the Christian Understandings series orient and ‘fill in the gaps’ for readers as they dive into the exciting and stimulating story of Christian thought.

Dancing With God is an exploration of the divine gifts of courage and grace in the face of evil. Moreover, it is a doctrine of God as the source of that courage. Baker-Fletcher presents an understanding of the work of the Trinity with regard to the problem of crucifixion, a metaphor she uses for unnecessary violence. She develops a process of relational, womanist theology that considers the empathetic omnipresence of God in the midst of unnecessary suffering and the healing power of God in movement of the Holy Spirit. She engages the contributions of a diversity of theologians like Paul Tillich, Karl Barth, Gordon Kaufman, John Cobb, Jr., Majorie Suchocki, Charles Hartshorne, Andrew Sung Park, and Katie Cannon in her discussion of the dance of the Trinity in creation, and the problem of sin, evil, and suffering. Through creative works like that of Alice Walker's The Color Purple and journalist Joyce King's account of the James Byrd, Jr. murder in Jasper County, Texas, Baker-Fletcher reveals the healing, encouraging power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of survivors of unnecessary violence.