Theology and the Social Consciousness: A Study of the Relations of the Social Consciousness to Theology (2nd ed.)King, Henry Churchill
Religion
Theology and the Social Consciousness: A Study of the Relations of the Social Consciousness to Theology (2nd ed.)
King, Henry Churchill
Christian sociology; Theology, Doctrinal -- History -- 20th century
The biblical Trinity is, in truth, what it has sometimes been called,
the trinity of redemption; and, for me, directly emphasizes the great
facts of redemption. Here there are three great facts: First, the
Fatherhood of God, that God is in his very being Father, Love,
self-manifesting as light, self-giving as life, self-communicating,
pouring himself out into the life of his children, wishing to share
his highest life with them, every one. Second, the concrete,
unmistakable revelation of the Father in Christ, revealed in full
ethical perfection, as an actual fact to be known and experienced; no
longer an unknown, hidden, or only partially and imperfectly revealed
God, but a real, living God of character, counting as a real,
appreciable, but fully spiritual fact in the real world. And, third,
the Father revealing himself by his Spirit in every _individual_ heart
that opens itself to him, in a constant, intimate, divine association,
which yet is never obtrusive, but reverent of the man's personality,
making possible to every man the ideal conditions of the richest life.
What metaphysical theory we put under that confession of our full
Christian faith, does not seem to me to be of prime importance. Men
may count it of great importance; but it can hardly be of first
importance, since, at the very most, only the beginnings of such a
theory can be found in the great New Testament confession of Christ.
5. _Preëminent Reverence for Personality, Characterizing all God's
Relations with Men._--But the very heart of the conviction, on the
part of the social consciousness, of the value and sacredness of the
person, is its _reverence for personality_; and this thought has much
significance for theology, for, if this judgment of the social
consciousness is justified, it must be regarded as preëminently
characterizing God in all his relations with men.
(1) _Reflected in Christ._--When, in the first place, we turn to
Christ as the supreme revelation of God, we cannot fail to see that
this reverence for the personal marks every step he takes. It begins,
of course, in the priceless value which Christ gives to each person,
as a child of the living, loving Father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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