Metaphysics and the Tri-personal God

This is the first full-length study of the doctrine of the Trinity from the standpoint of analytic philosophical theology. William Hasker reviews the evidence concerning fourth-century pro-Nicene trinitarianism in the light of recent developments in the scholarship on this period, arguing for particular interpretations of crucial concepts. He then reviews and criticizes recent work on the issue of the divine three-in-oneness, including systematic theologians such as Barth, Rahner, Moltmann, and Zizioulas, and analytic philosophers of religion such as Leftow, van Inwagen, Craig, and Swinburne. In the final part of the book he develops a carefully articulated social doctrine of the Trinity which is coherent, intelligible, and faithful to scripture and tradition.Introduction ; PART ONE: TRINITARIAN FOUNDATIONS ; 1. Prelude: Where are the Foundations? ; 2. The 'New' Fourth Century ; 3. The Divine Three: What is a 'Person'? ; 4. Gregory of Nyssa and the Divine Persons ; 5. Augustine and the Divine Persons ; 6. The Divine Oneness: What is a 'Nature'? ; 7. Interlude: Simplicity and Identity ; 8. The Pro-Nicenes and the Divine Nature ; 9. The Fathers, the Trinity, and Scripture ; 10. Postlude: Are the Foundations Stable? ; PART TWO: TRINITARIAN OPTIONS ; 11. Surveying the Options ; 12. Barth and Rahner: Persons as Modes of Being ; 13. Moltmann and Zizioulas: Perichoresis and Communion ; 14. Leftow: God Living Three Life-Streams ; 15. Van Inwagen: The Trinity and Relative Identity ; 16. B rower and Rea: Sameness in Number Without Identity ; 17. Craig: A Soul with Multiple Sets of Faculties ; 18. Swinburne: Created Divine Persons ; 19. Yandell: The Trinity as a Complex Bearer of Properties ; 20. What Have We Learned? ; PART THREE: TRINITARIAN CONSTRUCTION ; 21. Constructing the Doctrine of the Trinity ; 22. Monotheism and Christology ; 23. Each of the Persons is God ; 24. The Divine Persons are Persons ; 25. The Communion of the Persons ; 26. The Relations of Origin ; 27. The One Divine Nature ; 28. Constitution and the Trinity ; 29. The Grammar of the Trinity ; 30. The Metaphysics of the Trinity