The practice of community in social trinitarianism: A theological evaluation with reference to Dumitru Staniloae and Juergen Moltmann

Two distinctive characteristics mark the contemporary renewal in Trinitarian theology: the prevalence of a social understanding of the Trinity, and a passionate concern with the practicality of the Trinitarian doctrine. This dissertation constitutes an attempt to evaluate theologically the use of the Trinitarian doctrine as foundation for the understanding of human community in Social Trinitarianism.; The first two chapters focus on historical developments. The first chapter underscores that during the Patristic period the doctrine of the Trinity was not expressed in terms explicitly "social," in the sense used in Social Trinitarianism. Rather, explicitly Social Trinitarian thinking can be identified for the first time in the Medieval period.; Chapter two explores developments in Social Trinitarian thinking during the nineteenth-and twentieth-centuries. Marking the importance of Karl Barth's contribution in the Trinitarian debate, this chapter divides this period logically, rather than strictly chronologically, in pre- and post-Barthian Social Trinitarianism. This chapter exposes diversity in the Social Trinitarian camp not only regarding the applicability of Social Trinitarian concepts to the concept of human society, but also in the formulation of Social Trinitarianism itself.; Chapters three and four are a more in-depth analysis of contemporary Social Trinitarianism through a detailed exploration of the theologies of the Romanian Orthodox theologian Dumitru Staniloae (chapter three) and the German Protestant theologian Jurgen Moltmann (chapter four). Both theologies are approached similarly, starting with an attempt to understand how each theologian's life experience might have influenced his thinking about God, followed by an analysis of the logic and shape of the Trinitarian doctrine in their thinking.; Chapter five uses the groundwork in the previous chapters to isolate and analyze three critical issues in Social Trinitarianism: the use of Scripture, the relationship between God and the world, and the concept of person.; The study closes with a postscript that proposes four ways in which Social Trinitarian doctrine and practice can be improved: through a better grounding of doctrine in the Scripture, through a better relationship of Social Trinitarianism to the thinking of the Church Fathers, through improvements regarding its internal consistency and coherence, and through a clearer methodology of linking doctrine and practice together.