The Hermeneutics of the Trinitarian Koinonia as a Fundamental Component of Contemporary Christian Praxis
Loading...
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
This paper is a research aimed at proving my major thesis that the Trinitarian koinonia is
an essential and indispensable element of contemporary Christian praxis. In trying to prove my
thesis I will draw from Augustine’s De Trinitate whose prominent statement, “If you see charity,
you see the Trinity”
1
will be important in delving into the mystery of the Trinity and its
relationship with contemporary Christian living. It is on this foundation that Pope Benedict XVI
helps us to see the call of living in love through koinonia as having its foundation in the mystery
of the Holy Trinity.
2
The fact of living together in the spirit of fellowship by sharing what we
have as humanity is a mirror of the Trinity made alive in us. Karl Rahner’s definition of person
brings out this relational character of man more clearly. He says: “To be a person is to possess
oneself as a subject in conscious, free relation to reality as a whole and its infinite ground and
source, God.”
3
In other words, to be person is to be relational.
Rahner further explains that “the Greek New Testament term κοινωνία (communion),
connotes fellowship in faith…it is the union of a number of personal beings who are joined in
society by certain relationships, personal communication, juridical bonds, proximate in time and space or transcendental relations”.
4
It is therefore true that whenever human beings eliminate
their capacity to relate with God and neighbor, they are deemed to experience a crisis of
alienation as seen in the world today. Hence, the Trinity can be defined as “the name of the
fundamental mystery of Christianity, that of the one Nature and the three Persons (Father, Son
and Holy Spirit) in God….”
5
Given this situation therefore, this thesis seeks to explore how the
problem of selfishness has contributed to human misery and show the necessity of employing
new hermeneutics that will improve the understanding of the Trinitarian fellowship as paramount
in restoring human fulfillment in contemporary times. For this life of fellowship with one
another springs from the Trinity and finds its strength in God like the way a tree survives from its
roots that are responsible for supplying it with water, which is necessary for its life.
Description
Keywords
Hermeneutics, Trinitarian, Koinonia, Contemporary Christian Praxis, Fundamental Component