The Return of the Holy Spirit to the Father: A Puzzle for Trinitarian Theology

Many theologians have claimed that, within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father to Son, and then back to the Father. This idea raises some challenging questions. If the Holy Spirit returns to the Father, does the Father receive the Spirit? And if the Father receives the Spirit, how coul...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lombardo, Nicholas E. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Peeters 2021
In: Louvain studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 44, Issue: 2, Pages: 114-130
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Holy Spirit / God Father / Trinity
IxTheo Classification:NBC Doctrine of God
NBG Pneumatology; Holy Spirit
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Summary:Many theologians have claimed that, within the Trinity, the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father to Son, and then back to the Father. This idea raises some challenging questions. If the Holy Spirit returns to the Father, does the Father receive the Spirit? And if the Father receives the Spirit, how could the Father remain the principle without principle, and the font and origin of all divinity, as held by the ancient traditions of both East and West? This article discusses these questions and proposes some answers. By appealing to the medieval Trinitarian principle that the divine persons are in reality the same as their respective personal acts, it argues that the idea of the Holy Spirit returning to the Father, or the Father receiving the Holy Spirit, need not imply that the Father receives any aspect of his identity from either the Son or the Spirit.
ISSN:1783-161X
Contains:Enthalten in: Louvain studies
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2143/LS.44.2.3289492