Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T13:11:24.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social Doctrine of the Trinity and Communion Ecclesiology in Leonardo Boff and Gisbert Greshake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 March 2013

Brian M. Doyle
Brian M. Doyle
Affiliation:
Marymount University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This essay examines the methodological relationship of social doctrines of the Trinity and ecclesiologies of communion. The Theologies of Gisbert Greshake and Leonardo Boff represent theologians arguing that ecclesiology must be based on a doctrine of God which they present from a social (or psychological) perspective. The goal of the essay is to expose some of the methodological assumptions made by ecclesiologists and the value of social approach to the Trinity can have in an ecclesiology of communion.

Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , Fall 2006 , pp. 239 - 255
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Cf. Lumen Gentium 13, 50; Gaudium et spes 12, 32; Unitatis redintegratio 2, 15, in Vatican Council II, Volume One: The Conciliar and Post-Conciliar Documents, ed. and trans. Flannery, Austin, rev. ed. (New York: Costello, 1998).Google Scholar Biblical uses of the term include the common greeting of St. Paul's letters (e.g., 1 Cor 1:9). Other instances include 1 John 1:3–7; 2 Cor 13:13; Acts 2:42.

2 E.g., Balthasar, Hans Urs von, Theo-Drama: Theological Dramatic Theory vols. 1–5, trans. Harrison, Graham (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1980–1998)Google Scholar; Gelpi, Donald, The Divine Mother: A Trinitarian Theology of the Holy Spirit (New York: University Press of America, 1984).Google Scholar

3 Doyle, Dennis M., Communion Ecclesiology: Vision and Versions (New York: Orbis, 2000), 19–20.Google Scholar

4 Hunt, Anne, “Psychological Analogy and Paschal Mystery in Trinitarian Theology,” Theological Studies 59 (1998): 197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Leftow, Brian, “Anti-Social Trinitarianism,” in The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity, ed. Davis, Stephen, Kendall, David, O'Collins, Gerald (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 203–49.Google Scholar

6 LaCugna, Catherine Mowry, “The Trinitarian Mystery of God,” in Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives, vol. 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 170.Google Scholar

7 Ibid., 171.

8 LaCugna, Catherine Mowry, God For Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1991), 152–54.Google Scholar

9 O'Collins, Gerald, The Tripersonal God (New York: Paulist, 1999), 131–2.Google Scholar

10 LaCugna, , God For Us, 60.Google Scholar

11 Not all concur with this interpretation of the theology of the Cappadocian Fathers, but this Eastern theology certainly provides encouragement to a social Trinity. Cf. Coakley, Sarah, “‘Persons’ in the ‘Social’ Doctrine of the Trinity: A Critique of Current Analytic Discussion,” in The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium, 123–44.Google Scholar

12 Bok, Nico den, Communicating the Most High: A Systematic Study of Person and Trinity in the Theology of Richard of St. Victor (Paris: Brepols, 1996), 75–78.Google Scholar Cf. Hill, William, The Three-Personed God: The Trinity as a Mystery of Salvation (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1982), 79.Google Scholar

13 Boff, Leonardo, Trinity and Society, trans. Burns, Paul (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), 134.Google Scholar

14 Richard of St. Victor, The Twelve Patriarchs, The Mystical Ark, Book Three of the Trinity, trans. Zinn, Grover (New York: Paulist, 1979), 381 (III, VIII, 17).Google Scholar For the complete text, see Richard of St. Victor, De Trinitate: text critique avec introduction, notes, et tables, ed. Ribaillier, Jean (Paris: J. Vrin, 1958).Google Scholar

15 Greshake, Gisbert, Der dreieine Gott: Eine trinitarische Theologie (Freiburg: Herder, 1997), 198Google Scholar (my translation). Greshake cites Aquinas, Thomas, Summa theologiae Ia, 39, 2.Google Scholar

16 Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 182.Google Scholar

17 Greshake uses the Latin term communio instead of the German Gemeinschaft to communicate a dynamic quality which he believes the German term lacks. See ibid., 177.

18 Greshake, Gisbert, An den drei-einen Gott glauben: Ein Schlüssel zum Verstehen (Freiburg: Herder, 1998), 16.Google Scholar

19 Greshake, Gisbert, “Der drei-eine Gott der Christen,” in Fragen nach Gott ed. Strocka, Volker, (Frankfurt: Josef Knecht, 1996), 138.Google Scholar

20 Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 185.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., 180.

22 Ibid., 153–55. Reference is to Buber, Martin, I and Thou, trans. Kaufmann, Walter, (New York: Scribner Press, 1970).Google Scholar

23 Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 178.Google Scholar

24 Boff, , Trinity and Society, 120.Google Scholar

25 Ibid., 9.

26 Ibid., 98.

27 Ibid., 11. See also Boff, Leonardo, Holy Trinity, Perfect Community trans. Berryman, Phillip (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000).Google Scholar

28 Boff, , Trinity and Society, 120.Google Scholar

29 Ibid., 123. Cf. Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 443.Google Scholar

30 Rahner, Karl, The Trinity, trans. Donceel, Joseph (New York: Herder and Herder, 1970), 22.Google Scholar

31 Boff, , Trinity and Society, 145.Google Scholar

32 Greshake argues this same point; see Der dreieine Gott, 21–22; 378–379.

33 Ibid., 136.

34 Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 94.Google Scholar

35 Boff, , Trinity and Society, 129.Google Scholar

36 Congregation for the Clergy, General Directory for Catechesis (Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1997), no. 100.Google Scholar

37 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana/New York: Paulist, 1994), no. 1702.

38 Wiederkehr, Dietrich, review of Der dreieine Gott: Eine trinitarische Theologie, Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie 45 (1998): 332.Google Scholar Cf. Siebenrock, Roman, “Urgrund der Heilsgeschichte: Trinitätstheologie,” in Der Denkweg Karl Rahners: Quellen—Enwicklungen—Perspektiven, ed. Batlogg, A. et al. , (Mainz: Matthias Grünewald, 2003), 218–20Google Scholar; Stubenrauch, Bertram, Dreifaltigkeit (Regensburg: Friderich Pustet, 2002), 11–14.Google Scholar

39 Wiederkehr, , review of Der dreieine Gott, 332.Google Scholar

40 Stubenrauch, , Dreifaltigkeit, 13.Google Scholar

41 Ibid.

42 Vorgrimler, Herbert, Gott: Vater, Sohn, und Heiliger Geist (Münster: Aschendorff, 2003), 121–22.Google Scholar

43 Haight, Roger, “Critical Witness: The Question of Method,” in Faithful Witness, ed. O'Donovan, Leo and Sanks, Thomas (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 187–192.Google Scholar

44 The quotation is from Cyprian, , De Orat. Dom. 23.Google Scholar

45 Komonchak, Joseph, “Concepts of Communion: Past and Present,” Cristianesimo nella storia 16 (1995): 321.Google Scholar

46 Doyle argues that a communion ecclesiology based on the documents of Vatican II must show the church to be divine, mystical, sacramental, historical and social. See Communion Ecclesiology, 175–77.

47 Extraordinary Synod of 1985 “The Church, in the Word of God, Celebrates the Mysteries of Christ for Salvation of the World,” Origins 15 (19 December 1985): 448.Google Scholar

48 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church on Some Aspects of the Church understood as Communion,” L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, 17 June 1992, 1.Google Scholar

49 Komonchak, , “Concepts of Communion,” 334.Google Scholar

50 Doyle, , Communion Ecclesiology, 12.Google Scholar

51 Komonchak, , “Concepts of Communion,” 336.Google Scholar Cf. Dulles, Avery, “The Church as Communion,” in New Perspectives on Historical Theology: Essays in Memory of John Meyendorff ed. Nassif, Bradley (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Press, 1996).Google Scholar

52 Cf. Doyle, , Communion Ecclesiology, v–vii.Google Scholar

53 Boff, Leonardo, Church: Charism and Power, Liberation Theology and the Institutional Church, trans. Burns, Paul (New York: Crossroad, 1985).Google Scholar The original edition of this book prompted the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith to issue its “Notification to Father Leonardo Boff,” Origins 14 (April 4, 1985): 683–87.

54 Boff, Leonardo, Ecclesiogenesis: The Base Communities Reinvent the Church, trans. Barr, Robert R. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1986).Google Scholar

55 Ibid., 15–22.

56 Lakeland, Paul, The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church (New York: Continuum, 2003), 221.Google Scholar

57 Tillard, J.-M. R., Church of Churches: The Ecclesiology of Communion trans. Peaux, R.C. De (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1992), 43–5.Google Scholar

58 Boff, , Trinity and Society, 207–12.Google Scholar

59 Boff, , Holy Trinity, Perfect Community, 67Google Scholar (emphasis original).

60 Peterson, Erik, Eis Theos: Epigraphische, Formgeschichtliche und Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, 1926).Google Scholar

61 Greshake, , Der dreieine Gott, 177.Google Scholar

62 Ibid., 28.

63 Greshake, Gisbert, “Zentralismus oder Communio der Kirchen?” in Öffnung zum Heute, ed. Struppe, Ursla and Weismayer, Josef (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 1991), 31–53.Google Scholar

64 Greshake, Gisbert, “Communio—Schlüsselbegriff der Dogmatik,” in Gemeinsam Kirche sein, ed. Biemer, Günter, Casper, Bernhard, and Müller, Joseph (Freiburg: Herder, 1992), 90–121.Google Scholar

65 Ibid., 104.

66 Greshake, , An den drei-einen Gott glauben, 97.Google Scholar

67 Greshake, Gisbert, “‘Zwischeninstanzen’ zwischen Papst und Ortsbischöfen Notwendige Voraussetzung für die Verwirklichung der Kirche als ‘communio ecclesiarum,’” in Die Bischofskonferenz, ed. Müller, Hubert and Pottmeyer, Hermann, (Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1989), 88–115.Google Scholar

68 Greshake, , An den drei-einen Gott glauben, 67–69Google Scholar; 74–77.

69 Lakeland, , The Liberation of the Laity, 221.Google Scholar

70 Luzbetak, Louis, The Church and Culture: New Perspectives in Missiological Anthropology (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1988), 337.Google Scholar Similar criticisms can be found in Fuellenbach, John, Church: Community for the Kingdom (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002).Google Scholar

71 Zizioulas, John, Being as Communion (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1985).Google Scholar Greshake comments on Zizioulas', arguments in Der dreieine Gott, 86–90.Google Scholar

72 Greshake, , An den drei-einen Gott glauben, 89.Google Scholar