and... i'm a dork.

i heart theology. i heart trinitarian theology.

i am a dork.

spent almost a century in dialogue with the what is the divine essence of God and the relationship of the trinity? the cappadociansarians about this whole mess. and it is a mess. is God the same substance as Jesus? as the Spirit? does Jesus have an origin? is God substance or person? is relationship inherent to the divine essence?

if your head wants to explode, it is ok. fun though, right?

reading Catherine Mowry LaCugna's discussion on the Trinity ("God in Communion with Us" in Freeing Theology: The Essentials of Theology in Feminist Perspective) got my ministerial juices flowing. she lays out the history of the doctrine of the trinity--because of course, all our doctrines have a history remember. the exciting part... as the cappadocians explain the trinity--and they won--the trinity is egalitarian and relational. sounds like there were feminists in the early church. if indeed the three in one are in equal relationship, the hierarchical understanding of the self, of society and of our relationship with God that so much of our social lives are based on is invalid. relationality is in the nature of God, relationality is in the nature of ourselves. if we understand God as equally in relationship to Jesus and the Spirit, then there is no subject/object dichotomy. all are subjects and objects. if we believe in that God, women are equal to men. there should be no social hierarchy based on gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, etc. this is a freeing theology, because the three persons of the trinity dance in relationship to the others.

"Trinitarian monotheism preserved the principle of shared rule and banished once and for all--at least theoretically--the idea that any person can be subordinate to another."

building ministry on the basis of Trinitarian monotheism would radically change the way we do church. i want to give it a shot.

Amen.