Bonaventure on The Trinity and Creation + the rest of my review of The Becoming of G-d by Ian Mobsby

So I've got a thing for the Trinity these days - which is appropriate given that I'm giving the pastoral reflection on Trinity Sunday @ the church where I serve as a youth minister.  I ran across this wonderful little tidbit from Bonaventure in Denys Turner's book, The Darkness of God:

...the creation of the world is a kind of book in which the Trinity, the world's maker, shines forth, is represented and read in three modes of expression, namely the modes of vestige, image and likeness: thus the meaning of vestige is found in all creatures, of image in intellectual or rational spirits only, of likeness in those alone who are godlike; and from these human understanding is destined to ascend step by step to the highest Principle, God, as if up a kind of ladder.

In my little "love affair" with Trinitarian theology, I've been drawn also to apophatic or negative theology, process / panentheistic thought (in Philip Clayton and Paul Fiddes), and mysticism.  I'm beginning to think that Western Christianity needs a good dose of each of these (although I'm still not always sure what to make of the more heady "Whiteheadean" process stuff).



That being said, expect a clearer focus in the coming days on each of these subjects - especially in my next post where I will continue my reflections / thoughts on Ian Mobsby's book, The Becoming of G-d.



Grace & peace,



A.T.