Trinitarian Theology- In Practical Terms

Sorry for the large hiatus in my academic blogging, I have actually spent the last few weeks in Italy with my wonderful boyfriend seeing a lot of what I've studied in my classes up close and personal! I got back to the states this past Sunday, only to dive head first into classes again. This semester I am taking Ecclesiastical Latin II (independent study) and a class called God and the Human Experience, which I want to write a little about right now.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the class- I had heard that it was kind of like Christology (the study of Christ, his nature, etc.) but about God. "Isn't that what theology means though, the 'study of God'?" you might ask yourself. I thought this as well, but realized with my first class yesterday that is more about the study of God as he presents himself in the Trinity. To me, the trinity has always been a huge mystery (which of course it is), but so illusive that I never even wanted to try to explain it or delve into it. The way the professor started talking about it last night, though, really enlightened me and left me pondering. Here are a few morsels of wisdom I gleaned from the discussion....

Humans started off having a harmony with God, nature, each other and themselves (their inner beings) in the Garden of Eden. It wasn't until the fall that this harmony was severely disrupted. The professor talked about how in human relationships, when we fall out of harmony with each other (through a fight or a break-up), we need to go back to the table, dig into the wound, and inflict a little bit of suffering for the healing process to begin. This is all done out of love, and in efforts to restore the harmony. Since Adam and Eve hid, they were ignoring the wound that was caused by their "fight" with God-- how often do we, when we get in fights with loved ones, co-workers, friends, etc. go off into hiding, even making attempts at avoiding the person that we just fought with because it is "awkward" or "uncomfortable"? I know that I do that all of the time. But it is easier to go into hiding than acknowledge that healing takes some pain, and that denial isn't often the best remedy for wounded relationships.

Another thing that I learned about the trinity is that this communion of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is a model for how our communions are as humans- our interactions should be constant expressions of love that refuel and energize us with the different unique qualities that the other has to offer. The trinity model presents a rhythm of 3 distinct entities, yet they are one- as Christians, our lives should follow this rhythm and become a part of the rhythm. It reminds me of a kind of dance :-). It is also interesting to note that the three "persons" of the trinity have unique gifts, which is a blessing for us because each of us has different gifts, and if we are told to be like God then at least we are not sacrificing our uniqueness to model him- since he has different types of gifts in the three-part Trinity! Sorry if I'm not explaining this very clearly, I was scribbling furiously as my prof was explaining these concepts yesterday.

A final thought- I believe that faith should be paired with reason when it comes to studying, and thinking in general. My prof said something pretty profound about theologians: we study God because we love him and want to know more about him. Pretty basic, but it was nice to be reminded of my basic purpose as a theologian 0:-)