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Agustin Hubert
TH113 Spring 2017
Theological Writing Assignment 5
February 24, 2017
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
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
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
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
10 Kathryn Tanner, Christ the Key (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) 169.