George,
You are quite correct, of course, to note that my one-sentence reference to
the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity was historically less than
adequate. My point was simply to remind Dave that this doctrine was
constructed from portions of the biblical text in a particular
ecclesiastical and political context, and that it drew from more than text
alone. (It certainly drew from the philosophical heritage of the Roman
world.) As you noted,
Various philosophical, literary &c tools are used in the development of a
"doctrine of the Trinity" which is based on revelation, & thus the way the
church expresses belief in the Trinity will be to a certain extent
culture-dependent.
..... Sola scriptura can't mean that we use only the Bible to develop our
theology: We wouldn't even know how to read the Bible in its original
languages if we did that. It's clear today that the ways in which we
express some doctrines, such as those concerning creation & original sin
should take into account scientific developments that the biblical writers
weren't aware of.
Nonetheless, it is probably the case that I am more inclined than most on
this list to incorporate extra-biblical considerations in constructing a
personal theology.
Howard
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