The Trinity as a Model for Society
Expressions such as "the dogma of the Trinity has nothing to do with life" and "if the Trinity were eliminated from books of theology, nothing would have to change in the thinking and living of Christians" (I. Kant and K. Rahner respectively) have become famous. Some have spoken of the paradox that "the greatest mystery of salvation has become the most complicated mystery in logic"(M. Gonzalez)[1]. And yet the situation has been changing in recent years. It is now commonly accepted that the Trinity is the model for human society at all levels, including economics, politics and culture. This article by an Argentinian theologian aims to look at what all of this might mean concretely.
Enrique Cambon
It is commonly held within the various Christian traditions and in the dialogues between them that the intimate life of God is the supreme model of unity. The magisterium of the Catholic Church puts forward this theme at both universal and local levels. It is clearly present in the Second Vatican Council.[2] John Paul II mentioned it in the encyclicals on the Holy Spirit[3] and on woman,[4] as well as in the Exhortation on the Family[5] and in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, n. 40. The recent Ecumenical Directory sees it as the foundation and goal of that unity to which all Christians are called (n. 13). The Bishops of Latin America dedicated paragraphs of rare vigour and social insight to the subject in the concluding Puebla Document (ns. 211-219). The Italian Bishops for their part have named it as one of the foundation to their pastoral programme for the 90s.
These documents, however, proclaim the reality of the Trinity as the model for society at a general level of principle, without any drawing of the consequences. In this article we would like to look at the following question: what would be the concrete characteristics of relationships and of social structures if modelled on the life of the Trinity?
Initiative, Welcome and Reciprocal Openness
1. The image of God is to be found in our human nature above all in that every man or woman is a reflection of the God the Father. Just as in the trinitarian life the Father is pure source, that is, the principle without principle, the unoriginated origin of Love, so also every man or woman is called to be a source of love in history. The human being is made to love and called to give love gratuitously. Here is the root of the truth that authentic Christians want to live for others and always are ready to take the initiative in seeking the good of others without self-interest and without seeking any return.
The Love of God is Creator and every human being is called to be "co-creator", that is, one who continues creation and perfects creation not only in relation to nature but also by means of social relationships. "God saw all he had made and it was very good"(Gen 1: 31). If our love is authentic, it knows how to discover the positive in each person and appreciate it. In a certain sense, when our view is purified and our attitude is positive, it "creates" in that it makes others "exist" and gives rise to new resources of life. When we are able to love people as they need to be loved, we help their growth and facilitate the development of possibilities in them which would otherwise remain dormant. Love makes the other realize that it is beautiful that he or she should exist. "To love is to say to the other, you will not die"(G. Marcel). "It is love that makes one exist"(M. Blondel).
2. Secondly, just as the Son is pure receptivity, so too human beings live in the image of the Trinity in virtue of their capacity to receive love. The Son reveals himself as divine not only in loving but also in letting himself be loved, not only by giving but also by receiving. One also loves, indeed one often loves more, in letting oneself be loved. The poverty which receives is a condition of love and so also of being. However, while in the Son receptivity is absolutely pure, in human beings it may become possessiveness and selfishness, the very destruction of love. This is why it is of radical importance to let oneself be loved, and not to want to always and only be a "protagonist" of love, someone who always gives without receiving.
3. Finally, in their reciprocal realization of this original vocation of love, human beings manifest the presence of the Holy Spirit. Just as in the Trinity the Spirit is the eternal bond of unity between the Lover and the Beloved, so also the Spirit is the foundation of social unity. It is in reciprocity that the human person is fully realized.
In the Trinity, the Spirit is the basis for the infinite openness of the mutual loving between the the divine Persons. As is well known, the East and the West have developed two theological traditions with their own particular and yet complementary characteristics. While Latin theology has underlined the fact that the Spirit is the Love between the Father and the Son, theology in the Eastern tradition stresses that this Love of God, by the very fact of being such, cannot remain "closed" in on itself, but rather overflows and pours out into creation and history. In this perspective the Spirit is the ecstasy (the "exit") of God towards the creature, the communication "towards the outside" of the very life of God, "the opening of divine communion towards that which is not divine" (C. Duquoc).
If our interpersonal love is to have a trinitarian "quality", it cannot be closed in on itself in an egotistical fashion. The Holy Spirit leads people to move beyond any exclusivity between a lover and a beloved which imprisons them in order to open out to others. This does not mean that love does not involve relationships of varying exclusivity. But even the most authentically exclusive relationship, that obtaining between husband and wife, is always inclusive of others. In the words of Saint-Exupery, to love is not to look into each other's eyes but to look together in the same direction. Here we are face to face with a law of life which is only apparently paradoxical (that is, trinitarian): an "open" reciprocity is both the protection and salvation of the love which exists between two people.
Father—Son—Spirit
Now if all of this is valid for each person and for interpersonal relationships, it is also valid in relation to the whole area of social relations. Humankind itself is, of its very nature, an expression of God the Father. This is true in the sense that a human group cannot be a mere togetherness of persons who are individually fountainheads of love, but rather it is as a community that a group of persons can be a source of love and thus a fountain of life and love for the other sectors of society. Any human group which does not respect the dignity of each unique member does not reflect God the Father. Equally, any group in which the various different unique elements forming it do not coalesce into a communion to become a still higher fountainhead of love for society, fails to reflect the Father.
Furthermore, no society can achieve full realisation if it is marked by a logic of domination and dispute involving authoritarian and oppressive forms. Faith in the Trinity means that the affirmation of the One God as absolute and omnipotent cannot be used, as has sometimes happened in society, to legitimise ideologically a domination over others.
The human community also mirrors the Son by becoming a place of welcome and it is this by being a communion of different "receptivities" in love. What is meant here is something deeper than a simple sum of the individual "receptivities" making up the community. A community is authentically human and is reflective of the Son of God in the measure to which it welcomes the least, the poor, the victims of society, and rejects courageously every discrimination arising from power, wealth, race, sex and culture.
Society reflects the action of the Spirit in so far as it is a communion in reciprocity and in the permanent thrust towards freedom, not only within society's various groups themselves but also between the various social sectors. This communion needs to be expressed through setting up social projects which should be continually renewed and monitored in the light of the trinitarian mystery. This means that no social order can be made absolute. Every project is subject to the humility of the transitory nature of existence and the need for evaluation.
Every social programme and every concrete initiative must be measured against the trinitarian paradigm which acts, at one and the same time, as stimulus and measure, critical "reserve" and proposal, impulse towards liberation "from" everything that dehumanizes, and liberation "for" greater communion and participation.
What kind of Society?
Up to this point we have referred to European authors and their thought. If we take a look at Latin-American authors we will see that, while they employ a similar method, they speak of the Trinity in relation to society with other tones and accents on account of the dramtic social scenario in which they live.
They say, for example, that the poor as subjects of rights, of organization and of active participation in social changes, discover in God the Father the one whom the Bible shows forth as the Liberator of the oppressed, the Defender of the orphan and widow. He is seen as the one who gathers a people in freedom and joins them as brothers and sisters. They discover Jesus, the Son as the one who initiates a Kingdom of God made concrete in history through overthrowing convictions and structures in favour of the poor, the abandoned and the least; in that way he is the sign of contradiction who goes to his death on the Cross in order to be faithful to his cause right to the end. They discover the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth, as the judgement of God which is in contrast with a human judgement of things, as the Spirit of light and fortitude which bears witness joyfully in the midst of adversity, tragic social situations and persecution.[6]
Here is an example of one voice from Latin America summarizing the meaning of the trinitarian paradigm for social co-existence. "Many inspiring ideas concerning liberation of the human person, society, Church, and the poor derive from the communion of the three divine Persons. This stimulus has both a critical and a constructive dimension. The human person is called to overcome all mechanisms of selfishness and to live a calling to communion. Society offends against the Trinity when it is organized on a basis of inequality; it honours the Trinity in the measure to which it promotes the participation and communion of all, as well as generating justice and equality among all. The Church is more and more the sacrament of trinitarian communion the more she removes inequalities among Christians and among the different services, and in the measure to which she understands and lives unity as co-existence in diversity. The poor are enabled to rid themselves of their poverty in so far as it is a sin against the communion of the Trinity"[7].
"In the image of the Trinity"
A well-known German theologian of the Reformed Tradition who for a long time has researched the link between trinitarian theology and its social consequences, provides an indication in support of the view just mentioned. "Only a humankind which is one, unique and unifying without domination of class and without dictatorial oppression mirrors the trinitarian God. This would be a world in which people are characterized by means of their social relations and not by means of their power or of their possessions. This would be a world in which human beings hold all things in common and share all things, exceptions appearing only by means of their personal characteristics"[8].
It is because men and women have been created "in the image of God" that they are capable of living the very dynamic of the life of the Trinity (Gen 1:26). Is there any human being in whom this is found in a model form? It has been said of Mary that she is "an explanation of God,....the creature who most resembles God and manifests him most to us"[9]. Elsewhere, as a significant ecumenical document acknowledges, a shared element in the various Christian traditions with regard to Mary is imitation of Mary[10].
Now, in the perspective we have been outlining it is today recognized that there is a very deep and unique relationship between Mary and the Trinity. Here we are face to face with a new and rich vein of contemporary Mariology. She was the source of love who permitted the Incarnation of the Word through a complete receptivity (which listens, welcomes, consents) with regard to the will of God. All of this makes her "the first disciple of her Son"[12] and "the woman experienced in the descents of the Holy Spirit"[13].
The Trinity: In what sense is it a social Programme?
Mary's openness to the Word gave a trinitarian imprint and dynamic to her life to the point where she may be seen as a created icon (model) of the Trinity, a model of openness to the infinite love of God who communicates himself to humankind. As such she is the paradigm of that feminine genius which consists in a love which is personal, in being concrete and in being welcome, response, silence of love, and closeness to life — all of which characteristics are "trinitarian virtues" since they make trinitarian relationships possible. This is the feminine dimension which is necessary both for men and women to be themselves.
"The Blessed Trinity is our social programme". This sentence (which originated in the last century among theologians of the Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran Churches, but which seems to have already been said by St. Sergius, the great Russian Orthodox monk of the fourteenth century[14]) is among the most frequently quoted today by those authors who speak of the link between human social co-existence and the Trinity.
When we hear this expression, however, two things should be kept in mind. The first is that what uni-trinitarian Love offers by way of a "programme" is obviously not technical and preconceived recipes, but a frame of reference. It provides a scale of values, of ideals, as well as a style and quality of life, and indeed a utopia (in the positive sense of how we should be, of an ideal goal towards which to aim), which is so perfectly human that these values, ideals etc. can be shared in their practical consequences with people of others faiths and conviction. The second thing to be kept in mind is that we should not fall into a kind of integralism, that is, into a naïve notion of claiming to incarnate the Gospel and trinitarian living into society without historical translations and mediations. It is not enough to live Gospel love at a personal level or in micro-initiatives. It has to enter into society and be translated into structures and social projects. Otherwise there is a danger of remaining at a "spiritual" level, or at an interpersonal level, or in the realm of works of charity, all valid and necessary things in themselves, but insufficient to transform society in a trinitarian sense.
It is clear that here we are concentrating only on indications of a basic and general nature. The experts and workers in the various fields of politics, economics, justice, education, health, art and so forth have the arduous but fascinating task of incarnating the trinitarian dynamic into concrete deeds.
The Trinity: Inspiration and Criterion of History
"The Trinity, the unheard-of version of the Absolute for all non-Christian religious faiths, struggles with humankind like the angel with Jacob. It struggles in order to be received by humankind with a view to receiving humankind into the Triune life itself. The Trinity presses on thought and on all interpersonal relationships in order to imprint itself on them to the point where our categories are transformed into triune categories through the transformation of our own life into the triune life. Since time immemorial, by means of purification and expansion, the Trinity has been transforming the understanding of God which had been elaborated by humankind. Today, we can expect a new way of living and thinking to explode forth from the depths of modern culture. It will be a life which is already now trinity. It will involve the setting up of institutions and structures which can incarnate these realities as far as possible in the praxis of everyday living. It will be necessary to expand these trinitarian realities and bring them into every expression of human life[15]."
This then is the great challenge to humankind today - to think about our whole social nature and the structures in which our lives are organized in trinitarian terms. Christians belive that in the Trinity we find is a grammar and key to interpret and to plan life practically. And this is their responsibility - to contribute by both deeds and thought to making this life, with all its immense possibilities, explicit within history[16].
It should be clear, however, that this is not a "denominational" question. Every human being who is concerned with solidarity, service, participation, respect and regard for every legitimate diversity, is moved by the Spirit of God and acts according to the trinitarian programme inscribed in humanity's "genetic code".
Is it, then, merely a case of a psycho-sociological reality? No. The trinitarian life has been revealed to us in its fullness by Christ and in order to enable us to live it he manifested and sent us to his Spirit. Theologically one should say that our every trinitarian expression has, consciouly or unconsciously, a christological and pneumatological foundation. Otherwise there would be a double risk. Those who say they have no faith could take the trinitarian paradigm as an attractive key which is socially functional for various reasons, but has no foundation in God. Christians for their part could see the trinitarian life as a model to be copied only externally. While there might be positive aspects to these attitudes, they would be incomplete and would therefore diminish the dimension to which human social co-existence is called.
This is the case since our lives move not only according to the model of the trinitarian life but also within the interiority of the trinitarian life. The uni-trinitarian life of God is not only the "seal" but also the source of our life. "Revelaion is given to us not in order to satisfy our curiosity, but to make us better"(J.H. Newman), by transforming and divinizing our lives. God has not only revealed himself. Much more shocking is the fact that God-Trinity has communicated himself and we have been made participants of this very life.
As the distinguished Orthodox theologian, G. Larentzakis, has noted, the frequently quoted passage from the Gospel of John (17:21) "may they all be one" is a point where we often stop, forgetting what follows which is much more important, "as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, may they be one in us'. This sentence certainly refers to the profound communion which exists among Christians, but it also refers to the communion which exists between God and human beings.
And even if there is mutual implication between love of God and love of neighbour, our experience has taught us the importance of finding the right balance in things: it is our union with God which is the root of our social love. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, "Christ's faithful can achieve depth and ease in strengthening mutual brotherhood to the degree that they enjoy profound communion with the Father, the Word, and the Spirit"[17].
In another article we would like to mention other typical characteristics of the trinitarian dynamic that is lived socially in the realm of a multi-decade experience of a charism that is typical of our times.
[1] The first part of this article will follow the thought of Bruno Forte's works, "Trinità cristiana e realtà sociale" Asprenas 2 (1986), pp. 360-364 and The Trinity as History (New York, 1989), pp. 169-195.
[2] See Gaudium et Spes, 24, 40, 21; Unitatis redintegratio, 2; Lumen Gentium, 4, 47; Perfectae Caritatis, 1.
[3] Dominum et Vivificantem, 59.
[4] Mulieris dignitatem, 70.
[5] Familiaris consortio, 11.
[6] For an introduction to the theme of the vision of God in liberation theology see R. Muñoz, J. Comblin, and L. Boff in I. Ellacuria and J. Sobrino (eds.), Mysterium Liberationis. I concetti fondamentali della teologia della liberazione (Rome, 1992). See also G. Gutiérrez, On Job: God Talk and the Suffering of the Innocent (Maryknoll, NY, 1987); The God of Life (Maryknoll, NY, 1991).
[7] L. Boff, Trinity and Society (London, 1988).
[8] This is a text written by J. Moltmann and found in M.D'Auria (ed.), Sulla Trinità (Naples, 1982, p. 36.
[9] C. Lubich cited in M. Cerini, God-Love in the experience and thought of Chiara Lubich (London, 1992).
[10] Taken from an ecumenical document on Marian devotion (Saragozza, 9 October 1979), n.2. in Il Regno/Documenti 19 (1979), p. 473. This was a document signed by scholars from the Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Baptist Churches.
[11] See B. Forte, Maria, la donna icona del Mistero (Milan, 1989).
[12] This is highlighted by Paul VI in Marialis Cultus and John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater.
[13] C. Lubich cited in L.M. Salierno, Maria negli scritti di Chiara Lubich (Rome, 1993), p. 71.
[14] See G.M. Zanghì, Dio che è Amore. Trinità e vita in Cristo (Rome, 1992), p. 143.
[15] Idem, Il problema ateismo (Rome, 1986), pp. 222ff.
[16] See P. Coda, Dio Uno e Trino (Milan, 1992), pp. 262ff.
[17] "To live with the Trinity within us prepares the soul to live then with Jesus in one's brothers and sisters" (C. Lubich, Detti Gen (Rome, 1969), p. 38.