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Agustin Hubert
TH113 Spring 2017
Theological Writing Assignment 5
February 24, 2017

For Theological Writing Assignment on the doctrine of the Trinity, I will be

comparing and contrasting Kathryn Tanner Christ the Key and Miroslav Volfs After Our

Likeness. Whilst the authors do not necessarily contradict one another in their writings,

they do emphasize different aspects of the trinity, finding the largest overlap and

sameness on the Trinitys explicit effects at the ecclesial level.

Kathryn Tanners main focus regarding the Trinity on Christ the Key is around the

explanation of the different persons of the Trinity, while emphasizing their oneness in

essence. Tanner spends most of her time in explaining the unity of the Son and the

Spirit in carrying out the mission of the Fatherby working distinctively as Son or

Spirit in and through what the other does.1 This does not mean Tanner downplays the

Father, for she continually argues for the equivalence of power and value among the

three2, but finds the best way to develop her Trinitarian theology is in describing at

length the Son and the Spirit functions as they relate to the father and with one another.

The first point that Tanner argues obviously stated in the title of her book is

that Christ is the key to understanding the Trinity. Tanner writes, the complexity of the

1 Kathryn Tanner, Christ the Key (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 169.
2 Ibid., 150.
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story of Jesus life and death holds the key to a theology of the trinity that does justice to

both Eastern and Western theological concerns about how the persons of the trinity are

related to one another.3 In other words, though equal in power and substance, in

Christ, as the Word incarnate, is centered the mission of the Spirit and the Father. Thus,

it is only through the Son that one learns how the persons of the trinity relate to one

another, to us, and equally as important, how we are to relate to them. To this point,

Tanner concludes, there is from the Father one grace which is fulfilled through the Son

in the Holy Spirit and each one works together as the very same one God.4

Furthermore, Tanner expands her Trinitarian theology around the empowerment

and unity brought forth by the Spirit. According to Tanner, if Christ is the key to

understanding and relating to the Triune God, the Spirit becomes the power that

enables us to accomplish it. Tanner explains, the Spirit, not just in history but eternally,

is the power the loving inclination and impulse, one might say behind the Fathers

begetting of the Son.5 It is the Spirit that comes forth from the Father to eternally beget

the Son. It is the Spirit that empowers the Son to the perfect obedience and display of

the Father. It is the Spirit who unites us to Christ and therefore with the Father. It is the

Spirit who enables us to be sent out in mission. It is the by the power of the Spirit that

3 Ibid., 147.
4 Ibid., 152.
5 Ibid., 175.
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we are able to be united and belong to one another as the Church; this will be further

explored in the comparing part where Volf and Tanner find the largest consensus.

Shifting over to Volfs explanation of the Trinity, at least in After Our Likeness,

one can quickly see that Volfs main purpose is not to explain the relationships of the

persons of the Trinity with one another and towards us as Tanner did but rather

how the proper Trinitarian theology will lead the Church towards unity and oneness.

Volfs affirmation that to think consistently in Trinitarian terms means to escape this

dichotomy between universalization and pluralization...[seeing] God as the ground of

both unity and multiplicity6 For Volf, this means that just like the Father, Son, and

Holy Spirit constitute one God, the Spirit leads believers simultaneously into both

Trinitarian and ecclesial communion.7 This means that now, though remaining

separate persons, Christians belong to one another, becoming one body in Christ, one

people belonging to God, by the power of the Spirit living in them. Thus, Volf

concludes, as Christians, human beings cannot live apart from fellowship with one

another8. Moreover, although Tanner would not affirm this as strongly as Volf does,

she does imply that if one can assume that there are three persons in the one substance

of the trinity who are perfectly equal and indivisible from one another9, then the same

6 Miroslav Volf, After Our Likness (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998) 193.
7 Ibid., 195.
8 Ibid., 206.
9 Kathryn Tanner, Christ the Key (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 158.
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should apply to the Church for the Spirit is what joins us together and animates the

body of Christ...We are the body of Christ only with his Spirit.10

In conclusion, Tanner and Volf, while both holding Biblical and Classical views

of the Trinity, find different ways to explain it and in which they are expressed in our

world today. Tanner focuses more on the differentiation of the persons of the Godhead,

emphasizing how they relate to one another, to us, and us towards them. For Volf, on

the other hand, the centrality of the Trinity and Trinitarian thinking, will result in

ecclesial unity and oneness, and while Tanner would not necessarily disagree, her

stance is significantly weaker than Volfs.

10 Kathryn Tanner, Christ the Key (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 169.