Trinitarian doctrine, then, is not merely an abstract metaphysics forcibly imposed from above upon the more spontaneous and vital experiences of the Church (though it most certainly requires and gives shape to a number of profound metaphysical conclusions); it is first and foremost a "phenomenology of salvation," a theoretical articulation of the Church's experience of being made one in Christ with God Himself. It would not be too much to say, in fact, that this is the central and guiding maxim of all Christian dogmatics, which in the twentieth century was enunciated with admirable clarity by Karl Rahner: The "economic" Trinity (that is, God in the history of salvation) is the "immanent" Trinity (that is, God in Himself) and the "immanent" Trinity is the "economic" Trinity. In witnessing the drama of redemption, we are seeing nothing less than the triune God's revelation of His eternal life within time; and so in that drama we may discern (within the limits of our created intellects) who God is.
It caught my eye because, you might recall, I asked for last year to change texts in the Christian Formation class I teach at my parish. The text I used covers the "economic" Trinity and the "immanent" Trinity on pp. 41-42. The other text? It was probably shorter than Hart's article.
Last year only six of the mandatory classes were actual classroom instruction, which seemed to me far from enough. This year there are three, which is probably below the "why do I bother" level. Tuition is $100 for parish members, $200 for non-members, even if their parish belongs to our cluster. There are, altogether, eight mandatory classes for students and one other presentation parents must attend. For $200, that's over $10 an hour.
We've signed up for next year's spring parish mission to Guatemala. There's also a summer mission, and maybe a fall mission to Peru. The number of mission trips and who can go depends on parishioner interest. In Peru, we'd be teaching kids English; it's tempting.
No comments:
Post a Comment