New Aspects in the Theological Understanding of Person
New Aspects in the Theological Understanding of Person

Summary/Abstract: The whole structure of theology depends on understanding the personʹs reality. The author of this study provides a perspective on this issue starting from patristic theology, going through Western approaches to the person and providing an indication of the current significance of the person in contemporary theology. Under the influence of classical philosophy, Augustine emphasized in his Trinitarian doctrine the unity of God, statically thought, independent of the incarnation and the order of salvation. This way of thinking has been the cause of many unfortunate misunderstandings in scholastic theology. Here the unity of the Trinity precedes the Trinitarian Persons, so the divine essence was in a way the cause of the Persons. In this context, the person is considered only as a relationship within the Trinity, a concept that changes the entire system of theology. Although some modern Western theologians attempted to correct Augustinian Trinitarian doctrine in the manner of Eastern Trinitarian theology, they could not overcome Augustineʹs own substantialist way of thinking. That is why their Trinitarian doctrine cannot be received in the theology and cultic life of the Church.

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