The Trinity and Human Individuality: The Conditions for Relevance*

TLDR: In this paper, the authors discuss the renewal of interest in trinitarian theology amongst systematic theologians in the West which followed their familiarization with the social conceptions of the Orthodox churches.

Abstract: The question which I am ultimately trying to address in this article is: what does the Trinity have to do with human individuality? My question reflects the renewal of interest in trinitarian theology amongst systematic theologians in the West which followed their familiarization with the social conceptions of the Orthodox churches.' But why should the availability of social and relational frames of reference for the Trinity have proved so reinvigorating for systematics in the West? There are two reasons, I think. The first is that the social understanding of the Trinity seems to offer a way of taking conventional Christian doctrine seriously whilst avoiding the obscurity and mystification of metaphysical conceptions. The second is that it provides an immediate and obvious connection with theological anthropology, and hence with practical theology in general and with political theology in particular. For in using social terms to conceptualize the Trinity, one is bound to formulate a conception of