Saturday, June 24, 2006

Parent-Apparent-Transparent?

Those easily offended should ignore this link. Pontificator has started a huge list of suggestions for trinitarian alternatives - a light-hearted response to moves within some US churches to 'supplement' the 'traditional' language about Father-Son-Holy Spirit with alternatives (e.g. Mother-Child-Womb).

UPDATE: Having been rightly rebuked by Joshua over at Theologoumenon for mocking without having read, here is the document from PCUSA in question. Read and appreciate its strengths, and consider with Joshua the different functions of language. But then keep enjoying the exercise...

6 comments:

John P. said...

you will find an interesting response to the recent statements on the Trinity from someone within those traditions at:

www.blog.joshuaralston.com (Theologoumenon)

Looney said...

Since we are poking fun at those who think this can be done seriously:

burger - fries - soda

For the fossil fuels folk:

oil - coal - natural gas

For the kiddies:

paper - rock - scissors

For the fundies:

Executive Branch - Legislative Branch - Judicial Branch

For Southern Californians:

Disneyland - Universal Studios - 6 Flags / Magic Mountain

byron smith said...

Thanks John - I just found that site and have started writing a reply post, feeling more than a little rebuked for not having actually read the report.

And thanks Looney - I particularly liked Executive-Legislative-Judicial.

byron smith said...

I've now added an update with links to Joshua's post and the document in question from PCUSA.

Anonymous said...

Allan Bevere has a nice post on this.

http://arbevere.blogspot.com/2006/06/trinity-by-any-other-name.html

He rightly observes that "Modern trinitarian inclusiveness has centered the discussion on the function of each member of the godhead apart from the person of the godhead." This is a general trend I've seen a lot on the net recently and been moaning about as well.

byron smith said...

Yes, T. F. Torrance has a good discussion of the important priority of 'Father' over 'Creator' (which applies mutatis mutandis to Son and Spirit as well) in The Trinitarian Faith.