갑바도기아 교부들의 삼위일체적 하나님 언어 이해: 은유(Metaphor)에서 관계(Relation)로 (The Cappadocian Father’s Understanding of the Trinitarian God-Language: From Metaphor to Relation)

In recent times the doctrine of the Trinity has provoked a flood of literature from contemporary theologians. Waves of information concerning relationality, community and identity have washed up on the shores of Christian bookshops. The deluge has had a great deal of success in bringing the doctrine to a high tide of interest and relevance within the daily flow of Christian life. In fact, the Trinity can be said to soak the academic mindset of systematic theologians and to water the congregations they serve.
The today’s world, however, seeks out the voices of the hitherto unnoticed and suppressed. One of the voices is the feminist challenge. Some feminist theologians have decided that the problems handed down from the beginning of the Christian tradition produced in the patriarchal culture are insoluble. Their premise is that the traditional explication of the Trinity and the Trinitarian God-language has promoted a biased and false linguistic perception of a masculine and, by implication, male Divinity. So, they have concluded that, without change, Christianity is no more compatible with the religious needs and aspirations of women. This strategy is based on the claim that God-languages in Scripture are metaphorical. Therefore, for those for whom it is an unhelpful way of describing God, feminists insist that other more helpful metaphors for today should be used in worship and liturgy.
There is another way of understanding the language used for God in Scripture. Rather than seeing God-language as a tool which we choose to make sense of God, we understand it as God’s gift to us through which God reveals who he is. This means that God-language, particularly theological metaphor in this discussion, is related to God’s use of the language in the Word of God through the power of Holy Spirit rather than to our own use of the language in human experience. Language is limited to what is revealed by the particular object to which it refers. This approach to God-language, taken by the Cappadocian Fathers, can be called a ‘theological realist’ way.
If theology matters, Christian worship, liturgy and life also matter. Theology must contribute to make Christian practice a ‘theologically-based’ action and confession. This aspect is important for the practical theology. In order to be Christian worship, liturgy and life, it must refer to God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our prayers, praises, and baptism as it is written in Scripture. Moreover, it should be argued for the faith and life of the church in this thesis that God is neither male nor female and, simultaneously, that God-language is not gender-originated or gender-specific language. Instead, God is the personal and relational being who is made known to us as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in a way which is beyond gender. This relational God is not only for us but also with us, so that only by participation in His life are we able to share his glorious life without discrimination between male and female and to love one another as He is in himself.

In recent times the doctrine of the Trinity has provoked a flood of literature from contemporary theologians. Waves of information concerning relationality, community and identity have washed up on the shores of Christian bookshops. The deluge has had a great deal of success in bringing the doctrine to a high tide of interest and relevance within the daily flow of Christian life. In fact, the Trinity can be said to soak the academic mindset of systematic theologians and to water the congregations they serve.
The today’s world, however, seeks out the voices of the hitherto unnoticed and suppressed. One of the voices is the feminist challenge. Some feminist theologians have decided that the problems handed down from the beginning of the Christian tradition produced in the patriarchal culture are insoluble. Their premise is that the traditional explication of the Trinity and the Trinitarian God-language has promoted a biased and false linguistic perception of a masculine and, by implication, male Divinity. So, they have concluded that, without change, Christianity is no more compatible with the religious needs and aspirations of women. This strategy is based on the claim that God-languages in Scripture are metaphorical. Therefore, for those for whom it is an unhelpful way of describing God, feminists insist that other more helpful metaphors for today should be used in worship and liturgy.
There is another way of understanding the language used for God in Scripture. Rather than seeing God-language as a tool which we choose to make sense of God, we understand it as God’s gift to us through which God reveals who he is. This means that God-language, particularly theological metaphor in this discussion, is related to God’s use of the language in the Word of God through the power of Holy Spirit rather than to our own use of the language in human experience. Language is limited to what is revealed by the particular object to which it refers. This approach to God-language, taken by the Cappadocian Fathers, can be called a ‘theological realist’ way.
If theology matters, Christian worship, liturgy and life also matter. Theology must contribute to make Christian practice a ‘theologically-based’ action and confession. This aspect is important for the practical theology. In order to be Christian worship, liturgy and life, it must refer to God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our prayers, praises, and baptism as it is written in Scripture. Moreover, it should be argued for the faith and life of the church in this thesis that God is neither male nor female and, simultaneously, that God-language is not gender-originated or gender-specific language. Instead, God is the personal and relational being who is made known to us as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in a way which is beyond gender. This relational God is not only for us but also with us, so that only by participation in His life are we able to share his glorious life without discrimination between male and female and to love one another as He is in himself.