Post-Reformation
Reformed Dogmatics

The Rise and Development of Reformed
Orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725

Volume 4

The Triunity of God

Richard A. Muller

© 2003 by Richard A. Muller

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Muller, Richard A. (Richard Alfred), 1948–

Post-Reformation reformed dogmatics: the rise and development of reformed orthodoxy, ca. 1520 to ca. 1725 / Richard A. Muller—(2 ed.).

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Contents: v. 1. Prolegomena to theology—v. 2. Holy Scripture—v. 3. The divine essence and attributes—v. 4. The triunity of God.

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2617-2 (v. 1: cloth)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2617-1 (v.: cloth)

ISBN 10:0-8010-2616-4 (v. 2: cloth)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2616-4 (v. 2:cloth)

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2294-0 (v. 3: cloth)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2294-4 (v.3: cloth)

ISBN 10: 0-8010-2295-9 (v.4: cloth)

ISBN 978-0-8010-2295-1 (v. 4: cloth)

1. Reformed Church—Doctrines—History—16 century. 2. Reformed Church—Doctrines—History—17 century. 3. Reformed Church—Doctrines—History—18 century. 4. Protestant Scholasticism. I. Title.

BX9422.3.M85 2002

230’.42’.09—dc21 2002026165

Contents

Preface

PART 1. INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1. The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Christian Tradition: The Medieval Background

1.1 The Doctrine of the Trinity in the West

A. Premises and Issues for Charting Its Development from the Twelfth through the Seventeenth Century

1. The trajectory of trinitarian doctrine in relation to issues of continuity and discontinuity in the development of Protestant thought

2. Drawing out the Protestant orthodox trinitarian trajectory in relation to its antecedents

3. Issues of Scripture and tradition: patristic study, philosophical issues, and the question of norms

B. Scholarly Approaches: A Preliminary Survey of Historiography

1. The historiographical problem and the general histories of doctrine

2. Monographic literature and shorter studies relevant to the later development of the doctrine of the Trinity

1.2 Early Scholastic Examination of the Doctrine of the Trinity: From Anselm to the Fourth Lateran Council (1215)

A. Early Scholastic Developments: From Anselm to Abelard

1. Roscellin and Anselm on the Trinity: the Synod of Soissons (1092)

2. Anselm and the Greeks: the Council of Bari (1098)

3. Abelard and the “conceptualist” model of the Trinity: the Synods of Soissons (1121) and Sens (1141)

4. Gilbert de la Porrée and the Synod of Rheims (1148)

B. Speculative Development and Conciliar Conclusions, ca. 1150 to 1215

1. The trinitarianism of Richard of St. Victor: Augustinianism, mysticism, and ...