Who is God? A Reflection from the Mainline Protestant Tradition

Our creeds agree; if it’s not Trinitarian, it’s not Christian, which is odd when you consider that we Christians pretty much ignore the Trinity. Why? Frankly, the doctrine doesn’t make sense, which is probably good because you can’t make arrogant theological claims if you don’t comprehend God, which is probably why we ignore it. (Just guessing.)

To “understand” Trinity we need to examine its’ roots. Christianity was derived from Judaism when various social forces sought a more universal expression of their beautiful and imaginative, monotheistic faith. (With those roots, how can we possibly lay claim to an exclusive grasp on truth?)

That said, the early Christians experienced God in 3 ways. Taken together, their scriptures described God as “Father,” the one from whom all things proceed, and as “Son,” the incarnate expression of God, and as “Holy Spirit, “in whom we live and move and have our being.”(1)

But, and this is key, because Christianity derived from monotheistic Judaism, we did not posit three gods. Instead, we paradoxically believe that each distinct “person,” is the whole of God. Whatever is said about one “person,” must also be said of all three.(2)

Taking the three persons together we get an image of one God in an imaginative, generative dance, moving into union. This is God’s nature and it is expressed in God’s engagement with creation. God desires union with us precisely because God is God.

Trinitarian belief offers three “access points” into divine life, which is great because some are drawn to one and not to others. Each of those access points leads into the whole of God.(3)

Christianity has tended to emphasize an “I-Thou” relationship to the incarnate “Son.” But when that entry point does not also lead into the whole of God we become disconnected from God’s generative power, and separated from all that is.

Modernity challenges the voracity of myth and so this 2nd person relation to “the Son” is called (un-neccessarily), into question. That’s why mainline churches are emptying.

In view of that, many Christians are seeking union with the “first person,” the one from whom all things proceed. We are rediscovering the contemplative streams of our tradition. But when that entry point does not also lead into the whole of God, we become disconnected from one another; faith becomes other worldly, without basis for ethics.

The final entry point seems to me most apt for the modern mind. When we study the cosmos, contemplating its’ enormity, complexity and beauty, until it almost shimmers with the life of God, we are engaging Holy Spirit, the one in whom we live and move and have our being. But when this entry point does not lead us into the whole of God, when we do not enter into relationship with it, or unite with the generative power that creates it, then we become entirely focused on this world and lose any sense of purpose.

Well there it is, the Trinity. If your head is spinning, you’ve got it.

1. Acts 17:28

2. The Nicene Creed is a classical expression of the The Doctrine of the Trinity. http://www.crcna.org/pages/nicene_creed.cfm

3. This is a distinctive, but not necessarily unique perspective of Christianity.

The Trinity and the 3 Faces of Spirit(1)

The Doctrine of the Trinity is the essential Christian doctrine; it intends to describe both the nature of God and God’s connection with all creation. Strangely, outside the Christian academy, it is virtually ignored. I’m looking to engage the doctrine within an “integral frame” hoping we can once again ground it in our lived experience, and from there enter into an evolving interfaith practice and conversation around human development undertaken in the presence of God. That will require some understanding of the concepts involved.

I leave others to describe Integral Theory in detail.(2) For our purpose let us say it offers a map of creation’s evolutionary unfolding and uses as its’ structure our 3 grammatical perspectives – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person.

Applied to our understanding of the Divine, it describes “3 Faces of Spirit.”(3)  We speak of the Divine as “I” when we awaken to find ourselves inseparable from Spirit. We speak of the Divine as “you,” and enter into an “I – Thou” relationship, thus communicating with Spirit. We speak of the Divine as “it,” as we contemplate creation recognizing Spirit within, and inseparable from it. If I understand correctly, the “3 faces” function as 3 entry points into the whole of Spirit’s presence.

Early Christians found they experienced God in 3 ways as well. Their scriptures revealed an engagement with God as “Father,” the one from whom all things proceed, and as “Son,” the incarnate expression of God, and as “Holy Spirit,” in whom we live and move and have our being.”(4) But, and this is key, each distinct “person,” is the whole of God.  Therefore, whatever is said about one, must be said of all three.(5, 6)

Can we identify these 3 persons with the 3 faces of Spirit? I think the Holy Spirit, in whom we live and move and have our being, can be identified with the 3rd face of Spirit, inseparable from all that is.

2nd face of Spirit is harder. Jesus enters into an I – Thou relationship with the “Father” in the Gospel stories, so Wilber and Keating are inclined to identify the “Father” with the 2nd face of Spirit.(7) I’d rather identify it with the “Son,” because within the doctrine’s frame, it is the “Father” that establishes an I – Thou relationship with humankind, through the incarnate “Son.” The point being, God makes the first move. Identifying the “Son” with the 2nd face preserves this distinctive Christian emphasis.

“I and the Father are one, . . . I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you,”(8) says Jesus, and calls us into that same relation. I think this identifies the “Father” with the 1st Face of Spirit.

I hope that engaging the 3 faces of Spirit within the Trinity will enrich our efforts to develop, or dare I say become sanctified, in the presence and creative love of God. I plan to unwrap each in the course of the next 3 posts.

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[1] Offered as a distinct, but not exclusive or uniquely Christian perspective, in hopes of enriching the conversation.

2 http://integrallife.com/learn/overview/essential-introduction-integral-approach

3 http://www.integralheart.com/articles/three-faces-spirit and http://www.vimeo.com/5882951 and Ken Wilber, Integral Spirituality

4 Acts 17:28

5 Nicene Creed, http://index.pcusa.org/NXT/gateway.dll/Constitution/BOC-30/title00000.htm?f=templates&fn=default.htm This foundational Christian creed written, as was the doctrine itself, from within a mythic worldview, constitutes the “definition” of Trinity.

6 So as to avoid using masculine language for God when talking about the Trinity, I do generally refer to the First, Second and Third person of the Trinity rather than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in this post it would be too easily confused with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd face of Spirit.

7 Dialogue between Father Thomas Keating and Ken Wilber on www.ilife.com (Membership may be required.)

8 John 10:20; 14:20

A Basis for Inter-Religious Theological Discourse in an Integral Frame

January 25, 2010

We live in dangerous times – one of those rare moments in history when humanity will need to evolve or die. Given that, I am convinced that a pathetically weak amalgamation of religions, based on the lowest common denominator – some sort of vague “spirituality” that requires no submission, and holding no one accountable for development – is not going to cut it. No, the future, if we are to have one, will be found in the deep, integrally engaged – as of yet uncharted – waters of each tradition.

Lest my colleagues think I have left the Presbyterian reservation, I offer a passage from the Confession of 1967, (one of the formal statements of faith which are normative for our theological discourse). C67 distinguishes between the Christian religion – its faith constructs, traditions, governance, etc. – and the “reconciling word of the Gospel.” Thus not having fully apprehended the creative truth at the heart of our faith, we also affirm that “repeatedly, God has used the insight of non-Christians to challenge the church to renewal,” (C67 9.41-42). Apparently God is revealing God’s self through other religious traditions.

I have found this to be true. I attended the Integral Spiritual Experience at Assilomar – 500 people from 33 countries. I worshipped and received insight in the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian traditions. This had the profound effect of deepening my decidedly Christian faith.

Just as that experience called me to renewal, might I be so bold as to suggest that Christian insights might challenge “non-Christians” to renewal within their own faith tradition? Might Christian insights call others to delve into the as yet uncharted waters of their tradition? It is in that spirit that I will offer these reflections.

Secondly, I offer them to Christians who are disillusioned with a mythic formulation of their tradition, left dry by the albeit necessary modernist deconstruction of myth, and who feel adrift in a post-modern frame. I want to begin a conversation that will develop an intelligible faith.

One caveat: I am a preacher, not an academic theologian.

In the process of facilitating the conversation between text and congregation which constitutes our work, preachers often “translate” the more careful, though somewhat impenetrable, discourse of the academy. To my great dismay, I haven’t yet found Christian academic theologians who are working in an integral frame.

It is clear to me that any distinctively Christian contribution will need to reinterpret the doctrine of the Trinity. No other doctrine so defines our faith. Of course that doctrine was formulated in a mythic frame. Desirous of transcending and including the myth, I’m interested in exploring the truth towards which the doctrine points. (Yeah, I like a challenge.) Recognizing that some integral work has been done on the Trinity, my next post seeks to continue that exploration. How does the doctrine of the Trinity interact with the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd face of God being discussed in the Integral Spiritual community?

Grace and peace,

Sam Alexander

Feel free to pass this along. If you would like to dropped from this list, feel free to drop me an e-mail: sam@gracecomesfirst.net. Questions and comments welcome as well. These reflections will also be posted on my blog: www.gracecomesfirst.net