In the De Trinitate, Augustine applies himself to “giving an account” of belief in the Trinity as it had been defined at Nicaea: the three divine persons are one essence and equal to each other,while being distinct, and their undivided action in the world as one being does not call into question their distinct manifestations in theophnaies and divine “missions”. The work begins by presenting the scriptural basis of trinitarian doctrine and shows how the language of the Scriptures can be interpreted without giving a handle to the Arian thesis of the Son’s and Holy Spirit’s subordination to the Father. Augustine then has recourse to Aristotle’s categories in order to explain the canonical formula “one essence, three persons”. Finally, an analogical approach, based on the assertion that humans were created in God’s image, looks for images of the Trinity in the human mind and its faculties. The articles collected in this book explore the De Trinitate under its three aspects, exegetic, logical, and noetic.
EAA 192: Paris, Institut d’études augustiniennes, 2012
ISBN: 978-2-85121-250-4
372 p., 165 x 250 mm
33 € TTC