Tradition & the Trinity (AQA GCSE Religious Studies B): Revision Note

St Augustine and Catherine LaCugna

• Throughout Christian history, many theologians have attempted to explain the idea of the Trinity, including St Augustine and Catherine LaCugna

St Augustine

• St Augustine (354–430 CE) was the Bishop of Hippo in North Africa

• He is one of the most influential theologians in Catholic Church history

• St Augustine wrote On the Trinity to explain the relationship between God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit

• He said that the starting point for understanding their relationship is the Bible’s statement that “God is love” (1 John 4:16)

• For love to exist, there must be three parts

  • The person who loves (the lover)

  • The person who is loved (the beloved)

  • The love that unites them

• Love cannot exist on its own: There must be someone to give and someone to receive it

• This makes sense of the Trinity; it is three persons united in love

  • The Father loves the Son

  • The Son is beloved (and loves the Father)

  • The Holy Spirit is the love that unites them

• God contains all three parts, and so, God is love

• St Augustine was concerned with the relationship between Father, Son and Holy Spirit because he wanted to understand the nature of God as fully as possible

  • However, he taught that the same love pours out into the lives of believers, and so, Christians can share in this gift of God’s love

_{Attribution: Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne, Public domain}

Catherine LaCugna

• Catherine LaCugna (1952–1997) was an American theologian who examined the Trinity for the modern age

• She moved away from St Augustine’s focus on how the Trinity worked internally and the relationship among the Father, Son and Spirit

  • This is known as immanent theology

• Instead, LaCugna focused on the Trinity’s outward effects: how it can be seen and understood in the world today

• LaCugna said that everything we know about God comes from God’s self-revelation: how he has acted in people’s lives

  • God the Father can be seen in the creation of the world

  • God the Son can be seen in Jesus’s teachings and actions recorded in the Gospels

  • God the Holy Spirit, can be seen in the love and kindness that unite people on earth

• LaCugna also taught that the whole revelation of God as Trinity to humans is an attempt to redeem them

  • God sent the Son to earth to bring redemption and restore people’s relationship with the Father

  • God also sent the Holy Spirit to guide and strengthen believers and bring them ever closer to God, completing the work of redemption

  • Once redemption is complete, through the work of God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, all things will ultimately be brought back to God

Similarities and differences between St Augustine and LaCugna

• Both St Augustine and LaCugna believe in the importance of love in the life of the Trinity

• They both recognise the Catholic Church teaching that the persons are three-in-one and are eternal

• They differ in their emphasis

  • St Augustine focuses on the relationship of love between the persons of the Trinity (immanent theology)

  • Lacugna focuses on the Trinity’s outward actions and how they affect humankind (relational)