Broad Church Theology (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos or missing text. Not indexed. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1919. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V THE TRINITARIAN CONCEPTION AND PSYCHOLOGY 7"E have considered in the previous chapter V V how the faith in the Trinity historically arose. We are now to consider what is the theological and speculative justification of this conception of the Deity. As a preliminary let us remember that to ascribe Personality to the Infinite is the most stupendous dogma that can be conceived. Admit that the Infinite mystery is personal and you have admitted a dogma in comparison with which all other dogmas sink into relative insignificance. No proposition can be offered to your acceptance so stupendous as this. It is incomparably harder to believe that dogma than to believe the dogma of the Trinity. For whether the personality of God is single or threefold is a further problem which only rises on the basis of the dogma that He is personal. Both the Unitarian and the Trinitarian conceptions are interpretations of Divine Personality. Both alike assume the dogma of His Personality. Whatever difficulties a man may find in the Trinitarian explanation of Personality, let him never forget that he has already in spite of all its difficulties assented to the most stupendous dogma of all, namely, that God is personal. The reminder of our human limits is just. Only let it be consistently observed. It is consistent to affirm that we can know nothing whatever of God as He is in Himself, and therefore cannot know if He is personal: but it is not consistent to affirm that we can know Him to be personal and yet to deny that 'we can know Him to be Trinitarian. We must take our choice. We may affirm the Philosophic Absolute of which nothing can be predicated except that it exists: or we may affirm the Personal Deity of Religion. But we cannot, consistently, affirm God's personalit...