Mystery of God

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course covers some of the major figures in the history of (Trinitarian) theology. Figures to be discussed from the patristic and medieval periods include Augustine, Dionysius, Richard of St. Victor, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Eckhart, Tauler, Ruusbroec; figures from the modern period include Elizabeth of the Trinity, Bulgakov, Rahner, Balthasar, Yves Congar, Chiara Lubich, Klaus Hemmerle, and Thomas Weinandy. Corresponding topics include the development of Trinitarian doctrine, differences between the various schools and their models of the Trinity, the relationship between Trinitarian and apophatic theology, the rise of kenotic theology, and theological responses to modern challenges. The goal is to ensure a sufficient basis in the tradition in order to be able to discuss such perennial issues as the much-disputed Filioque, and to show, most importantly, how the doctrine of the Trinity is not just one doctrine among others, but the central doctrine of the Christian faith, which informs not only every other doctrine, but the entirety of the Christian life as a mysterious participation in the primordial reality of the God who is Life from Life and Light from Light.