God-talk and the question of being human

Abstract

The doctrine of the Trinity has, for centuries, dominated God-talk and the view of humanity within the framework of sin and salvation. This article investigated how God-talk, specifically the doctrine of the Trinity in Christian theology, speaks about both the nature of the Godhead and who we are as human beings. The article followed the outlines of our understanding of God’s transcendence, immanence and presence in experienced reality. It then proposed a new metaphor to describe the Trinity and how this affects the human quest for identity in a complex universe.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This article investigated the question of being human, using the Christian doctrine of the Trinity as a backdrop. This discussion entailed theology, anthropology and the dialogue between science and religion. The implication of this article is a more integrated perspective on the Trinity and anthropology in the science and religion discourse.

Θεός, Father and the ‘Holy Trinity’ in the New Testament

“…This way of reasoning has caused scholars -in line with these Creeds and Statements, read together with decisions taken by specifically the Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (Council of Constantinople 381) -to allow themselves the freedom to bring about their own 'metaphors' about the Holy Trinity, implying that these are in line with the Bible (cf.Marmion & Van Nieuwenhove 2011:16-17, 244). A prime example of this is the metaphor given byBentley (2023):So how do we bring this (transcendence, immanence and experienced reality) together in a metaphor that is true to the doctrine of God as Trinity and our belief that we are beings who are in the image of God? Let me suggest the following metaphor…In this metaphor, I would like to suggest that the first person of the Trinity is represented by the reflection on the pane of glass [inside the projector].…”