ECT Our triune God

TFTn5280

New member
Why the double standard? Why would you not consider Barth or Torrance "Joseph Smith"?

And why the Relativism/Pluralism of presuming there isn't one truth and/or that we can't know it? That's also Futilistic, with hints of other modern "isms".

Your edits are noted. The reason I do not consider Barth and Torrance to be JS's is because they so closely mirror the pre-Augustinian, orthodox Patristics, Athanasius and Gregary Nazianzen in particular. They are but reformers in that regard.

I do presume there to be one truth. I rather doubt that you are the first to discover it.

Originally Posted by Nang
If Barth had not so often expressed inconsistent and contradictory double-mindedness, his works would have been far less verbose, voluminous, and suspect.
This has been my perception overall, and I hate the thought of reading an entire 14-volume set to glean any clearer representation of him (or ANY writings of men).

If you would read Barth, you would soon discover that he spends much time (hundreds of pages sometimes) meticulously outlining the position of his opposition, with great integrity so as to not misrepresent the other view/s, before presenting his case. Many, many, many misrepresentations of Barth have been set forth in quoting sections where he is NOT setting forth his belief but comparing/contrasting that of his opponents. Yes, Barth is a dialectic theologian and not a systematic theologian. In that regard, he was more wordy than systematic theologians. (Now let's see how quickly you can bastardize his dialectics).
 
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PneumaPsucheSoma

TOL Subscriber
Your edits are noted. The reason I do not consider Barth and Torrance to be JS's is because they so closely mirror the pre-Augustinian, orthodox Patristics, Athanasius and Gregary Naziansen in particular. They are but reformers in that regard.

Okay, that makes sense as I continue to plumb the depths of your perspectives on such things.

You don't realize how meticulously I've spent years accessing the Patristics while divesting bias of my own and all modernity. And without the Patristics, I wouldn't have been able to cataphatically and apophatically know what to regard and disregard while looking for the ONE thing they missed that spurred my 17 years of reconciliatory (not adversarial) efforts.

This included maintaining every tenet and sub-tenet they ever addressed, avoiding every anathema, and arduously adhering to definitions and usage of words while having the foundations of my heart and mind shaped by their annointed and inspired contributions on their own level as Fathers of the Faith.

The only distinction is Uni-Hypostaticism (and the necessary accompanying ancillaries) that reconciles every paradox and prematurely-declared mystery so that we may know Him, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent.

I do presume there to be one truth. I rather doubt that you are the first to discover it.

Of course not, though there's always a qualitative "more"ness. The Easterns have known it in a very high-context and ontological manner for the duration of the Church's existence, even though the true constitution of God was mistaken for three hypostases because ALL historical "competing" formulaics (including the anathemas) began post-procession/post-creation while presuming to account for procession/s and creation.

I've just prayerfully represented it in a Western-type exegetical and apologetics format that bypasses (and reconciles) all the Latin deviations and Neoplatonist influences going forward into Protestantism while the Reformers were concerned with issues of faith versus works, etc. rather than a Theology Proper that DID have a correct Christological formulaic. (And the two-fold hypostatic qualitative Logos/Pneuma procession and co-processed inherent hypostasis LOOK and FUNCTION like three perichoretic hypostases in sempiternity, so there was no immediately-apparent need to address such a thing that would invite undoing the entirety of the Ecumenical Councils to start over with no continuity.)

As long as someone understands that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do not have eternal individuated sentient centers of volitional consciousness relative to the alleged three hypostases, then I don't fuss about much. The problem is that a huge majority of moderns, gradually through the centuries, have adopted a vague and presumptuous concept of a multi-souled Trinity that indicates functional Tritheism in what I can only describe as Triadism; wherein the alleged hypostases are much more discrete than merely distinct. (And I think your HS-perichoretic innovation is directly aimed at that very anomaly in modern thought to provide missing interpenetration of true unity.)

No such adaptations are necessary with the Uni-Hypostatic Trinity, which also accounts for the omitted creation of heavenly sempiternity while resolving all paradoxes and unveiling assumed mystery that is just the precipice of doctrine-bound understanding. I stand on the shoulders of the Patristics rather than kicking them in the shins or teeth. Without their early work, we wouldn't have much; as they were the vessels for establishing the depth and truth of the Gospel.

And having just perused a handful of recent titles on modern Trinity doctrine developments (while looking to order Barth's 14-volume set for $149.99), I'd say there are still the same ongoing problems that have historically plagued the Orthodox formulaic (especially the Latin/Western corruptions) and unfortunate conceptualizations of it that are potentially dangerously non-salvific (I was lost for 28 years for this very reason, which has been the impetus for my search and study since my belated salvation).

If you would read Barth, you would soon discover that he spends much time (hundreds of pages sometimes) meticulously setting forth the position of his opposition, with great integrity so as to not misrepresent the other view/s, before presenting his case.

Fair enough, though I've never indicated otherwise.

Many, many, many misrepresentations of Barth have been set forth in quoting sections where he is NOT setting forth his belief but that of his opponent. Yes, Barth is a dialectic theologian and not a systematic theologian. In that regard, he was more wordy than systematic theologians.

Again, fair enough for the first sentence. But such theological dialecticism is easily influenced by Hermeticistic subtleties, so I'll await reading further while remaining neutral with appropriate healthy skepticism. Though in the end, no multi-hypostatic formulaic (and the inevitable unaccounted-for economy of a created heavenly sempiternity) will convince me of foundational truth. I've never read anything from which I didn't glean truth and be sharpened.

(Now let's see how quickly you can bastardize his dialectics).

Not a necessary statement, but I suppose you feel it's justified.

I just don't know how much time I can justify for reading such a voluminous work, even when it arrives and is on the shelf. Is there not a concise representational summary of his work that isn't a bastardization? I could at least read such a summary first to determine my pace in reading the Dogmatics. (I can cover some other very valid theological ground with 7000 pages of reading, ya know?)
 
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TFTn5280

New member
Not a necessary statement, but I suppose you feel it's justified.

My apologizes for even making it. In truth it was directed more at Nang than you, as she is much more a drive-by shooter. But regardless, it wasn't a necessary comment.

I just don't know how much time I can justify for reading such a voluminous work, even when it arrives and is on the shelf. Is there not a concise representational summary of his work that isn't a bastardization? I could at least read such a summary first to determine my pace in reading the Dogmatics.

Yes, anything by Torrance, Hunsinger, and Busch can be considered representative of Barth.

(I can cover some other very valid theological ground with 7000 pages of reading, ya know?)

I am very confident that you would not regret reading Volume I, Parts 1 & 2 of Church Dogmatics ~ his doctrines of God, Christ, and Proclamation, around a thousand pages. Having done so you will have been immersed in his thought well enough and long enough to understand his dialect and appreciate his integrity as a scholar and fellow Christian. If you will invest yourself in this regard, I assure you, contrary to Nang's uninformed criticism, you will recognize in Barth a great consistency in thought, perhaps unlike anyone you have ever encountered.

Note: Trevor Hart's "Regarding Barth: Toward a Reading of His Theology" is a less detailed but still noteworthy presentation of Barth as well.
 
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Nang

TOL Subscriber
Has anyone ever read all of Barth?

Was it more valuable time spent, than giving devotion of one's time to the Holy Scriptures?
 

Nang

TOL Subscriber
My apologizes for even making it. In truth it was directed more at Nang than you, as she is much more a drive-by shooter. But regardless, it wasn't a necessary comment.

:down:

This is not your call to make.

If the OP of this thread so considers my posts to be unqualified, he can make that call.

He has known me longer than you . . .
 
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PneumaPsucheSoma

TOL Subscriber
Has anyone ever read all of Barth?

I think I remember TFT saying he had done so over a period of years. Another poster had indicating he studied Barth for a decade, so you'd think he would have gotten through all 14 volumes in that timespan.

Was it more valuable time spent, than giving devotion of one's time to the Holy Scriptures?

Though I've ordered the Dogmatics set and some synopses writings of others that are said to be representational, I just can't image any man's work being that significant beyond the time that could be spent in scripture and lexicography.

I had a hard enough time choking my way through the Institutes a few years back, though the Patristics were more joyous reading.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
Has anyone ever read all of Barth?

Was it more valuable time spent, than giving devotion of one's time to the Holy Scriptures?
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message, has read the Dogmatics 10 times, at last count, four or five years ago.

Update: Blackaby's book, Experiencing God, is heavily influenced by Barth's thinking, as are thousands of pages of present day commentaries. In fact, the modern day American Christian movement sees Romans in the way it does, because of Barth. Before this man (1900 ff), the European world, at least, was existential and very liberal in the classic sense of that word. Barth's "Romans" commentary, changed all that. He termed his thinking, "Biblical Theology," and, was once asked to summarize this Dogmatics (1936 - 1967) in this wise: when asked for a summary of his Dogmatics, by a young man at Princeton, Barth said - "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so."

His Dogmatics are nearly 9,000 pages in length with some 10 million words, but, again, it was his Romans commentary that changed the world. If you went out and bought that book, after reading it, you would say, "This is no big deal." You would say that, because virtually everything you believe about Romans, grace, the power of the gospel, the dialectic that is the mind and flesh of man, and on and on, were the "revolutionary" themes of Barth's 1919 publication. Today, his thinking permeates all of the Christian scene when it comes to Romans. Commentaries before the turn of the 20th century (1900 and before) would not be popular or recognizable to the modern day Christian. Again, Barth changed that. He is credited with almost single handily defeating the classic liberalism of his day. He mentored Bonhoeffer, drawing him away from his liberal roots, and setting that man on a path to martyrdom at the end of WW !!.

Google "Barth on Romans," and sooner or later, you will read of the revolution he began with his Romans commentary.

He is or was German/Swiss and dialectic as to the nature of his intellectual sense, and very difficult to read, for those reasons.
He lived and died in the liturgical church, and is often credited with being one the 5 most influential Christian thinkers since Paul.
 
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Nang

TOL Subscriber
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message, has read the Dogmatics 10 times, at last count, four or five years ago.

Update: Blackaby's book, Experiencing God, is heavily influenced by Barth's thinking, as are thousands of pages of present day commentaries. In fact, the modern day American Christian movement sees Romans in the way it does, because of Barth. Before this man (1900 ff), the European world, at least, was existential and very liberal in the classic sense of that word. Barth's "Romans" commentary, changed all that. He termed his thinking, "Biblical Theology," and, was once asked to summarize this Dogmatics (1936 - 1967) in this wise: when asked for a summary of his Dogmatics, by a young man at Princeton, Barth said - "Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so."

His Dogmatics are nearly 9,000 pages in length with some 10 million words, but, again, it was his Romans commentary that changed the world. If you went out and bought that book, after reading it, you would say, "This is no big deal." You would say that, because virtually everything you believe about Romans, grace, the power of the gospel, the dialectic that is the mind and flesh of man, and on and on, were the "revolutionary" themes of Barth's 1919 publication. Today, his thinking permeates all of the Christian scene when it comes to Romans. Commentaries before the turn of the 20th century (1900 and before) would not be popular or recognizable to the modern day Christian. Again, Barth changed that. He is credited with almost single handily defeating the classic liberalism of his day. He mentored Bonhoeffer, drawing him away from his liberal roots, and setting that man on a path to martyrdom at the end of WW !!.

Google "Barth on Romans," and sooner or later, you will read of the revolution he began with his Romans commentary.

He is or was German/Swiss and dialectic as to the nature of his intellectual sense, and very difficult to read, for those reasons.
He lived and died in the liturgical church, and is often credited with being one the 5 most influential Christian thinkers since Paul.

You are naively swallowing a lot of empty propaganda . . .
 

jsjohnnt

New member
You are naively swallowing a lot of empty propaganda . . .
Comments from someone who OBVIOUSLY is grossly uninformed (as opposed to being "misinformed"). But I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. What, specifically, are your objections to what I wrote?

Also, know this: nothing I wrote is "swallowed propaganda." A second question, then, is this: why do you imagine that I am someone who is driven by the ideas and claims of others? In fact, if you cannot answer my questions, I would argue that you are the conoscere. of propaganda. Prove me wrong.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
what's up the red letters? Also, I get the yellow highlights, but I do not appreciate that addition to my already-posted comments. Please refrain from doing such, in the future. It represents highlighted comments I did not make. Thanks.

Well, now that I have made this comment, the red is gone as are the yellow highlights in my posted comments. Whatever.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
I believe that God exists as Father and as Son. I believe the Spirit extends from each of the two, and has "personality" for that reason, only. There is a host of scripture for this and, in my opinion, the conclusions I have drawn are more than obvious. Sooooo, why is this even an issue here on TOL?

Now, THAT is what I believe and it is based on my biblical studies. While TFTn5280 and others are aware of the historical arguments of all this, and what the Church deemed as heresy, I am not.

Having said this, please avoid telling me that I am a "gnostic" or under Hellenist influence or . . . . . . well, I know so little about the grand apostasies and early church debates (before 500 AD), I can't even make a list. My point: if I don't know church history, I certainly am not a victim of the apostates. While I might be wrong, I am not part of a heretical movement of some sort. If I am wrong, it is all on me.

So, again, please explain why some of you have a fit when "trinity" comes into the discussion . . . . . without all the historical junk.

Also, there is a second question: If I am wrong, is there no place in the christian fellowship for me, assuming that my "error " is honest. Are the saved those who have the intellectual ability to figure things out? Is it a fact that there are no "stupid" people in the redeemded?
 
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PneumaPsucheSoma

TOL Subscriber
I believe that God exists as Father and as Son. I believe the Spirit extends from each of the two, and has "personality" for that reason, only. There is a host of scripture for this and, in my opinion, the conclusions I have drawn are more than obvious. Sooooo, why is this even an issue here on TOL?

Now, THAT is what I believe and it is based on my biblical studies. While TFTn5280 and others are aware of the historical arguments of all this, and what the Church deemed as heresy, I am not.

Having said this, please avoid telling me that I am a "gnostic" or under Hellenist influence or . . . . . . well, I know so little about the grand apostasies and early church debates (before 500 AD), I can't even make a list. My point: if I don't know church history, I certainly am not a victim of the apostates. While I might be wrong, I am not part of a heretical movement of some sort. If I am wrong, it is all on me.

So, again, please explain why some of you have a fit when "trinity" comes into the discussion . . . . . without all the historical junk.

Also, there is a second question: If I am wrong, is there no place in the christian fellowship for me, assuming that my "error " is honest. Are the saved those who have the intellectual ability to figure things out? Is it a fact that there are not "stupid" people in the redeemded?

You're wrong, but much closer than many others will give you credit for; and you're no Gnostic or wholesale heretic according to orthodox anathemas.

You're a Semi-Binitarian of sorts; or some distilled variant as a Trinitarian. It defies easy description, but is well within the range of salvific faith. It's just a differing formulaic.

And no, intellectual and doctrinal acumen and accuracy are not the final arbitrage for salvation. I like where you're headed in certain ways, because the Holy Spirit isn't an individuated hypostasis snd doesn't have an indivudated prosopon.

Your heart knows Him, even if your head hasn't sorted everything out beyond a certain point.
 

Nang

TOL Subscriber
You're wrong, but much closer than many others will give you credit for; and you're no Gnostic or wholesale heretic according to orthodox anathemas.

You're a Semi-Binitarian of sorts; or some distilled variant as a Trinitarian. It defies easy description, but is well within the range of salvific faith. It's just a differing formulaic.

And no, intellectual and doctrinal acumen and accuracy are not the final arbitrage for salvation. I like where you're headed in certain ways, because the Holy Spirit isn't an individuated hypostasis snd doesn't have an indivudated prosopon.

Your heart knows Him, even if your head hasn't sorted everything out beyond a certain point.

How does this accord with John 16:7-11?
 

Jedidiah

New member
...If I am wrong, is there no place in the christian fellowship for me, assuming that my "error " is honest...
Yeah, just not teaching anybody. If we can't agree on what to teach new believers, then we can't agree on anything and should just raise the white flag and throw in the towel. We should teach new believers Cat Lick and Westminster Calvinist Trinity. Even if it's "wrong," it's traceable through history and is therefore the right default.
...Are the saved those who have the intellectual ability to figure things out?...
Of course not.
...Is it a fact that there are not "stupid" people in the redeemded?
The flesh is as dumb as a bag of rocks.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
You're wrong, but much closer than many others will give you credit for; and you're no Gnostic or wholesale heretic according to orthodox anathemas.

You're a Semi-Binitarian of sorts; or some distilled variant as a Trinitarian. It defies easy description, but is well within the range of salvific faith. It's just a differing formulaic.

And no, intellectual and doctrinal acumen and accuracy are not the final arbitrage for salvation. I like where you're headed in certain ways, because the Holy Spirit isn't an individuated hypostasis snd doesn't have an indivudated prosopon.

Your heart knows Him, even if your head hasn't sorted everything out beyond a certain point.
I believe in a spirit indwelling without being able to fully explain it, AND, I believe God is my life source - the life source for all living things, btw. As to the "trinity," it really is a "family affair," in my book with the Spirit as the [perichoretic] that which ontologically ties the father/son together as one God, and unites us with that God. For me, "Spirit" is synonymous with "Presence" as in "God's presence."

All in all, I appreciate your answer.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
Yeah, just not teaching anybody. If we can't agree on what to teach new believers, then we can't agree on anything and should just raise the white flag and throw in the towel. We should teach new believers Cat Lick and Westminster Calvinist Trinity. Even if it's "wrong," it's traceable through history and is therefore the right default.
Of course not.
The flesh is as dumb as a bag of rocks.
So why should I not teach. I am thinking you don't agree with me, and since I can't be wrong, you should sit on the sidelines.
 

jsjohnnt

New member
You're wrong, but much closer than many others will give you credit for; and you're no Gnostic or wholesale heretic according to orthodox anathemas.

You're a Semi-Binitarian of sorts; or some distilled variant as a Trinitarian. It defies easy description, but is well within the range of salvific faith. It's just a differing formulaic.

And no, intellectual and doctrinal acumen and accuracy are not the final arbitrage for salvation. I like where you're headed in certain ways, because the Holy Spirit isn't an individuated hypostasis snd doesn't have an indivudated prosopon.

Your heart knows Him, even if your head hasn't sorted everything out beyond a certain point.
Again, too much historical comparisons for me, but, still, a positive comment. Thanks for that.

I would like a simple definition for both "hypostasis" and "prosopon." If the former is the "holy union" of the god-head, whether you believe in such or not, then hypostasis and Spirit (i.e. "presense" or "life force") are the same, to me. If "prosopon" is "divine being," then we are still talking about "the holy spirit."
 
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