Yale University

WLH 116

4:00 PM

A lecture by Prof. Jeremy Wilkins (Boston College)

Free and open to the public.

Lecture Description:

The fundamental problem of Trinitarian faith is that God is both one and three: the All-Sufficient source of being, and a communion of distinct persons. Does God 'become' three by speaking a Word and breathing a Spirit? Can Word and Spirit be truly God if they are derived from another who is before them? Can God be truly the Beginning and yet be from another? Is each divine person All-Sufficient, if they somehow depend on each other? The Christians of the ancient and medieval worlds were intensely preoccupied with these problems. They equated tritheism with atheism--if there are three gods, none of them is truly God. They wanted to know why trinitarian faith was not Tritheism. "Are Christians Tritheists? (And Why Not)" explores these questions, and possibly helpful answers.

Speaker Bio:

Jeremy Wilkins is Associate Professor in the Theology Department at Boston College. He is the author of numerous articles on Thomas Aquinas, the Canadian theologian and philosopher Bernard Lonergan, and various theological and philosophical topics. He is also past director of Lonergan's archives and editor of Lonergan's Incarnate Word and The Redemption. His forthcoming monograph is Before Truth: Lonergan, Aquinas, and the Problem of Christian Wisdom. His current project is a book called Order and Analogy in Trinitarian Theology: The Achievement of Thomas Aquinas.