Archive: Trinitarian Language

By Geoffrey Wainwright

In the matter of sexism, I have no wish to support the oppression of any group of Christians, or indeed any human being at all, by any other. But sympathy for some aspects of a cause, as with the position of women in society and in the church, is no reason for acquiescence in other tendencies of a movement that are dangerous, or even erroneous, but are not necessarily intrinsic to the cause. Proposals for linguistic change that threaten Trinitarian worship and doctrine are to be resisted.

It seems to me that the Trinitarian name of God is given to us with Jesus’ address to ‘Abba, Father,” his self-understanding and career as “the Son,” and his promise of the Holy Spirit. Christian reflection upon the divine self-revelation and the experience of salvation it brought led to the conclusion of an eternal divine Tri-unity. And [classical Christian worship] has normatively employed the given name of the one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—whenever the Trinity has been solemnly invoked. Thus, the historic identity of the Christian faith is at stake if that structure is obscured or the best name we have is abandoned. It is vital that the structure and the name be maintained. … So fundamental is the pattern that it is natural for it to pervade all Christian worship. It is important that it continue to mark new compositions and extemporaneous prayer. Otherwise, the older examples would risk being treated as fossils.

The Trinitarian name and doctrine is precisely not an abstract formula. It belongs to a living context. It must be kept firmly attached to the historical revelation through the telling and retelling of the story recounted in Scripture.

Geoffrey Wainwright is Professor of Systematic Theology at Duke University. This is excerpted from a lecture that first appeared in written form in The New Mercersburg Review, Autumn 1986, pp. 3-11.

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