One of the most intriguing mysteries of Christianity is the Trinity. I'm not going to go into all the biblical background of it (although, of course, the word trinity is nowhere in scripture). There is a LOT of theological discussion and debate about the subject. So I'll just throw my two cents in...
I personally love the idea of the three persons of the godhead living in some sort of cosmic community. The whole notion that God can only love us and hope for us to love one another is more valid, I think, in the context of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's definitely a mystery, though. How can one God be three persons? Is it three aspects of the same God? Kind of, but not exactly—maybe it's just a matter of semantics. If they are three distinct persons, how are they still the same God?
One of my favorite treatises on the Trinity is from fiction: The Shack by William P. Young. I have read several theological discussions on the Trinity, but nothing has made the impact on me that this depiction has. Young portrays the Trinity as three distinct characters in a somewhat unorthodox manner. In fact, many have termed his treatment of the Trinity as heresy. I'm sorry, but that's a term I use with a great deal of caution. Sometimes what is called heresy is just something we don't fully understand. Or we become so attached to our own accepted interpretations as the only truth.
At any rate, Young depicts the Father as a middle-age African-American woman. It's one of the warmest, most parental images of God I've read. The Son is portrayed as a young west-Asian man—think Sayid from Lost. The Spirit is to me the most interesting of the three. She (yes, another female) is an ethereal, misty shape that is always hard to see. Most of traditional Western Christianity tends to focus, naturally, on Jesus. And the Father is a central figure as well, particularly considering how grounded Christianity generally is in Judaism. But the Spirit is often the "forgotten" member of the Trinity. And there is some precedent for the Spirit as feminine. The words for the spirit of God are, in some languages (Hebrew, Syriac, German), feminine. Of course, there is considerable debate as to whether grammatical gender has anything to do with personal gender.
I can't really speak to that. And I know that in reality, God (by whatever name you call Him/Her/Them/It) really has no gender. We're talking about a spirit or an energy force, here, so gender does not apply. But in thinking about God, in prayer, in meditation—we almost can't help ourselves. If we want to make God at all personal, some notion of gender has to be in the mix to some extent. So I actually do find myself going back to Young's Shack-ian imagery. There's just something so comfortable and inviting about them all to me. I want to spend time with God in these avatars.
And that's kind of the whole point of prayer, isn't it?
I personally love the idea of the three persons of the godhead living in some sort of cosmic community. The whole notion that God can only love us and hope for us to love one another is more valid, I think, in the context of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's definitely a mystery, though. How can one God be three persons? Is it three aspects of the same God? Kind of, but not exactly—maybe it's just a matter of semantics. If they are three distinct persons, how are they still the same God?
One of my favorite treatises on the Trinity is from fiction: The Shack by William P. Young. I have read several theological discussions on the Trinity, but nothing has made the impact on me that this depiction has. Young portrays the Trinity as three distinct characters in a somewhat unorthodox manner. In fact, many have termed his treatment of the Trinity as heresy. I'm sorry, but that's a term I use with a great deal of caution. Sometimes what is called heresy is just something we don't fully understand. Or we become so attached to our own accepted interpretations as the only truth.
At any rate, Young depicts the Father as a middle-age African-American woman. It's one of the warmest, most parental images of God I've read. The Son is portrayed as a young west-Asian man—think Sayid from Lost. The Spirit is to me the most interesting of the three. She (yes, another female) is an ethereal, misty shape that is always hard to see. Most of traditional Western Christianity tends to focus, naturally, on Jesus. And the Father is a central figure as well, particularly considering how grounded Christianity generally is in Judaism. But the Spirit is often the "forgotten" member of the Trinity. And there is some precedent for the Spirit as feminine. The words for the spirit of God are, in some languages (Hebrew, Syriac, German), feminine. Of course, there is considerable debate as to whether grammatical gender has anything to do with personal gender.
I can't really speak to that. And I know that in reality, God (by whatever name you call Him/Her/Them/It) really has no gender. We're talking about a spirit or an energy force, here, so gender does not apply. But in thinking about God, in prayer, in meditation—we almost can't help ourselves. If we want to make God at all personal, some notion of gender has to be in the mix to some extent. So I actually do find myself going back to Young's Shack-ian imagery. There's just something so comfortable and inviting about them all to me. I want to spend time with God in these avatars.
And that's kind of the whole point of prayer, isn't it?
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