Resources

The Trinitarian DNA of Christian Worship: Perennial Themes in Recent Theological Literature
John D. Witvliet

Summary: Overview of developments in Trinitarian theology and how worship is affected by an understanding of God as Trinity.

Key Points: The five themes are gathered together in the conclusion through this definition of Trinitarian.

1. a communitarian approach to ordering human relationships in the church and in society as a mirror or icon of divine life
2. a formulation of the divine-human relationship that stresses that divine revelation as well as human faith, prayer, and worship are actions of divine agents, and as such are gifts of divine grace
3. a theological system based on reflection on the historical actions of Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy Spirit as recorded in Scripture
4. a self-conciously comprehensive, unified, and synthetic approach to theology
5. a doctrine of God that insists that God is a transcendently and immanently personal, acting, relational, and self-giving Being

Full Text (www.yale.edu)

Introduction
One of the remarkable features of Christian theology in recent years is the resurgence of interest in the doctrine of the Trinity. One of the persistent features of this literature is the observation that Trinitarian theology has considerable implications for Christian worship—an observation that is often made, but less often developed. On the assumption that doctrine and liturgy are inextricably intertwined, my interest is to isolate and clarify the links between the doctrine of the Trinity and the theology and practice of worship, and thereby to explore the basic "grammar" or "DNA" of Trinitarian worship.

Read the rest of this paper (www.yale.edu)

Key Quotes
• "In a public, concrete way, Christian worship is an icon of our union with Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit ... an icon of the web of relationships that make up the Christian church."
• "The challenge here is enacting these elements of liturgy in ways that bring the mediation of Son and Spirit into the conciousness of ordinary worshipers—who may otherwise live with the implicit feeling that the success of a worship service depends either on the prowess of the local preacher or musician or on their own mental efforts to make worship work."
• "In constrast with a deistic world in which praise is rooted in timeless attributes of pristine divine perfection, Trinitarian worship identifies God in terms of God's action in history."
• "The doctrine of the Trinity is a doctrine that calls for presenting the themes of the gospel and the teaching of the church in balanced and integrated ways."
• "Any lasting cease-fire in these worship wars is not likely to emerge from a resolution of the so-called culture wars which feed them, or from large-scale conversions of taste, or from carefully buttressed historical arguments about ancient liturgical precedents. Finally, such a cease-fire can only issue from the depth and mystery of the gospel which Christians proclaim."

Questions for Learning and Discussion
• If a friend visited your church, how would he or she notice the Trinity in worship? Is the Trinity's action inherently understood or blatantly celebrated?
• Is there a point where worship is too relational? How does the divine-human relationship play out in the human-human relationships of the congregation?
• How important is narrative to your worship services? Do you include the history of your own church into the narrative of God's works in history?
• Taking a look at the last few services that you participated in, where are the Trinitarian "hot-spots"?

Back to Top