“For God to be good, God can be one.
For God to be loving, God has to be
two because love is always a relationship.
For God to be supreme joy and happiness, God has to be
three.”
~Richard of Victor
 |
| Celtic Triquetra (Trinity) Symbol, image in public domain |
The doctrine of the Trinity is the human attempt to explain the unfathomable mystery of God. It can never be "explained," it can only be explored. One God in
three persons, three persons in One God ... Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
in the traditional sense of who God is. The deep mystery of the
Trinity invites us to look beyond the words to the love relationship
within the Godhead. You won't find the word "trinity" in the bible but as the early church fathers (Council of Nicea, 325 CE) were trying to establish a rule of faith for Christians to live by and to discredit false teachings, they searched the scriptures to find God. The fruit of their labor was the The Nicene Creed. However, there is no indications there were any church mothers in the room! As Rosemary Radford Ruether would say, what emerged was "theology primarily written by men for men." Where does that leave us today?
In Isaiah 6:1-8, we find this vision of the heavenly realm ...
In Isaiah 6:1-8, we find this vision of the heavenly realm ...
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the sovereign master seated on a high, elevated throne. The hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs stood over him; each one had six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and they used the remaining two to fly. They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord who commands armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” The sound of their voices shook the door frames, and the temple was filled with smoke. I said, “Too bad for me! I am destroyed, for my lips are contaminated by sin, and I live among people whose lips are contaminated by sin. My eyes have seen the king, the Lord who commands armies.” But then one of the seraphs flew toward me. In his hand was a hot coal he had taken from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this coal has touched your lips. Your evil is removed; your sin is forgiven.” I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, “Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?” I answered, “Here I am, send me!” (NET)
Michael H. Floyd says of Isaiah's vision, "The mythic image of the heavenly council is the antecedent of trinitarian thinking. By holding the concept of the Trinity accountable to its roots, Christians are reminded that such a notion of God points not to an intellectual conundrum, but to a mysterious divine-human encounter with sociopolitical consequences." (Feasting on the Word YB/V3)
I am invited by the words, "sociopolitical consequences" to consider the impact of this doctrine in the context of the world we live in today, a world that is vastly different than the world of the early church fathers. The doctrine itself arose in a time of intense controversy in the 4th century between 2 men (Arius and Athanasius) battling over the explanation of the Trinity.
As we consider the Trinity in the context of the 21st century, what have we learned over all of these years? What battles are we fighting today that can be impacted by a fresh look at a very old doctrine, especially one that is not specifically addressed in the scriptural text? What lenses are we wearing as we read?
I do not believe that scripture can be read and interpreted in a vacuum. There is always always always context. We deceive ourselves if we think we can read anything, much less the bible, through any lens other than the one we've been wearing over our own lifetime, living in our own context. Our lenses are blurred by our history, our traditions, our gender, our social location, our language, our education, our religion, our vocation, and yes o yes, our sexual orientation ... and many, many more!
We deceive ourselves if we think we do not "interpret" the instant we start reading, especially a document that has been translated from almost obscure languages, some through more than one language. If it was that easy, there would be only one translation but today there are a plethora of bibles all seeking to be true to the original languages. The people doing the translating are still viewing the original language through their own lenses.
I admit that I have a lot of lenses through which I view the world, the bible and God. Considering that I am a heterosexual white woman of "privilege" there really is only one direction I can go with with this exploration. The only place I am even the slightest bit less privileged is through my gender. I can only speak as a woman. So I'll follow Ruether, the wonderful feminist theologian, as a woman doing theology for women with a little help from Richard Rohr. Rohr says of the Trinity, "The Holy Spirit is the shared love of the Father and the Son, and shared love is always happiness and joy. The Holy Spirit is whatever the Father and the Son are excited about; She is that excitement—about everything in creation!"
SHE IS! She is that excitement that sends us forth into the world, "Here I am, send me!"
I wrote a post in 2013 called Trinity: A Reflection on Holy Wisdom, the Feminine Face of God which lays out my own rationale for referring to the third person of the Trinity by Her Name, "Sophia [which] is the Greek word for wisdom, translated from the Hebrew word Chokmah."
Over the 2 years since I wrote that piece, I have come to believe that being able to see the Holy Spirit as the female person in the Trinity is a gift to me, but also to society and to the world. This is not just an "intellectual conundrum" as Floyd says. Being able to embrace God as Mother as well as Father does indeed have sociopolitical implications.
I am invited by the words, "sociopolitical consequences" to consider the impact of this doctrine in the context of the world we live in today, a world that is vastly different than the world of the early church fathers. The doctrine itself arose in a time of intense controversy in the 4th century between 2 men (Arius and Athanasius) battling over the explanation of the Trinity.
As we consider the Trinity in the context of the 21st century, what have we learned over all of these years? What battles are we fighting today that can be impacted by a fresh look at a very old doctrine, especially one that is not specifically addressed in the scriptural text? What lenses are we wearing as we read?
I do not believe that scripture can be read and interpreted in a vacuum. There is always always always context. We deceive ourselves if we think we can read anything, much less the bible, through any lens other than the one we've been wearing over our own lifetime, living in our own context. Our lenses are blurred by our history, our traditions, our gender, our social location, our language, our education, our religion, our vocation, and yes o yes, our sexual orientation ... and many, many more!
We deceive ourselves if we think we do not "interpret" the instant we start reading, especially a document that has been translated from almost obscure languages, some through more than one language. If it was that easy, there would be only one translation but today there are a plethora of bibles all seeking to be true to the original languages. The people doing the translating are still viewing the original language through their own lenses.
I admit that I have a lot of lenses through which I view the world, the bible and God. Considering that I am a heterosexual white woman of "privilege" there really is only one direction I can go with with this exploration. The only place I am even the slightest bit less privileged is through my gender. I can only speak as a woman. So I'll follow Ruether, the wonderful feminist theologian, as a woman doing theology for women with a little help from Richard Rohr. Rohr says of the Trinity, "The Holy Spirit is the shared love of the Father and the Son, and shared love is always happiness and joy. The Holy Spirit is whatever the Father and the Son are excited about; She is that excitement—about everything in creation!"
SHE IS! She is that excitement that sends us forth into the world, "Here I am, send me!"
I wrote a post in 2013 called Trinity: A Reflection on Holy Wisdom, the Feminine Face of God which lays out my own rationale for referring to the third person of the Trinity by Her Name, "Sophia [which] is the Greek word for wisdom, translated from the Hebrew word Chokmah."
Over the 2 years since I wrote that piece, I have come to believe that being able to see the Holy Spirit as the female person in the Trinity is a gift to me, but also to society and to the world. This is not just an "intellectual conundrum" as Floyd says. Being able to embrace God as Mother as well as Father does indeed have sociopolitical implications.
"God created humanity in God’s own image,in the divine image God created them,male and female God created them"Genesis 1:27
This is one of the most important verses in the bible, for me, when it comes to gender equality. If human beings, male and female, were created in the image of God, then why is it so hard to believe there is a female person in the love relationship called the Trinity? Oh right, because that would challenge the superiority of the male power structure. If there was a female presence in the Godhead, we might actually have to admit that women have the same value as men. We might have to read the bible through a new lens!
This is in effect what Jesus did each time he said, "You have heard it said, but I tell you," as he re-interpreted scripture for the context of the world he lived in. He put on a new lens and invited others to look through it with him. This lens is created when we see this Love Relationship, between God the Father, Christ the Son, and Mother Spirit. It is so radical that it is like a large stone dropped in a small pond. The lens that we look through when we look with the eyes of the Love Relationship called the Trinity is value!
God is Spirit (John 4:24) and even more so, God is pure Mystery. We cannot truly understand who God is. We use images to try and understand God on our level. All I ask (and it is really more like begging) is that we neutralize the effect of using exclusively masculine language for God because it distorts the image of God in an abusive direction and it appears that no matter how "evolved" we become, the patriarchal power structure will not acknowledge this. And if it does, it still finds a way to oppress women ... and by extension anyone who is not "like them." Please note that I am not talking about individual people, I am talking about systems, unjust systems.
Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children. Let me come back to Ruether, for whom patriarchy “means not only the subordination of females to males, but the whole structure of Father-ruled society: aristocracy over serfs, masters over slaves, kings over subjects, radical overlords over colonized people.” (Sexism and God Talk)
Ruether invites me to see the wider implications of the love relationship that exists in the Trinity. When we see, as Jesus saw, through the lens of value, we should acknowledge the value of each and every person created as they have been created.
A Prayer for Today's World:
Father God, Christ the Son, and Mother Spirit,
Help us see the beauty in people who are not like us.
Help us see that, yes, black lives matter! And work to make it so!
Help us see that, yes, LBGT persons have a human right to be in a legally committed relationship with the person they love. And work to make it so!
Help us to change the world with the same love that manifests in your love for one another in the Holy Trinity.
Here I am, send me!
So be it. Amen!
This is in effect what Jesus did each time he said, "You have heard it said, but I tell you," as he re-interpreted scripture for the context of the world he lived in. He put on a new lens and invited others to look through it with him. This lens is created when we see this Love Relationship, between God the Father, Christ the Son, and Mother Spirit. It is so radical that it is like a large stone dropped in a small pond. The lens that we look through when we look with the eyes of the Love Relationship called the Trinity is value!
God is Spirit (John 4:24) and even more so, God is pure Mystery. We cannot truly understand who God is. We use images to try and understand God on our level. All I ask (and it is really more like begging) is that we neutralize the effect of using exclusively masculine language for God because it distorts the image of God in an abusive direction and it appears that no matter how "evolved" we become, the patriarchal power structure will not acknowledge this. And if it does, it still finds a way to oppress women ... and by extension anyone who is not "like them." Please note that I am not talking about individual people, I am talking about systems, unjust systems.
Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property; in the domain of the family, fathers or father-figures hold authority over women and children. Let me come back to Ruether, for whom patriarchy “means not only the subordination of females to males, but the whole structure of Father-ruled society: aristocracy over serfs, masters over slaves, kings over subjects, radical overlords over colonized people.” (Sexism and God Talk)
Ruether invites me to see the wider implications of the love relationship that exists in the Trinity. When we see, as Jesus saw, through the lens of value, we should acknowledge the value of each and every person created as they have been created.
A Prayer for Today's World:
Father God, Christ the Son, and Mother Spirit,
Help us see the beauty in people who are not like us.
Help us see that, yes, black lives matter! And work to make it so!
Help us see that, yes, LBGT persons have a human right to be in a legally committed relationship with the person they love. And work to make it so!
Help us to change the world with the same love that manifests in your love for one another in the Holy Trinity.
Here I am, send me!
So be it. Amen!
