Rationalists will never be able to affirm orthodox Trinitarian theology, because they have presupposed that those things which are necessary to be believed can be comprehended by man’s processes of reason and intellect. For example, in my discussions with Muslims, Islam’s rejection of Trinitarian theology is largely based on this presupposition and idolization of reason and rationality. If something fails to be understood through these means, it loses its believability and plausibility. However, the problem with this approach is that, ultimately, it reduces God to something that can be contained within the human intellect. This not only deifies man (in the negative sense of the word), but it also fundamentally humanizes God by denying the Creator/creature distinction. Furthermore, a rational approach to theology also denies the historic Christian approach which emphasized mystery and sacrament.
Throughout Christian history, a sacramental worldview was front and center, with sacrament and mystery being nearly synonymous realities. The presupposition of the ancient fathers was that God is ultimately a mystery beyond human comprehension and knowledge. Thus, knowing him can only come through sacramental means as he reveals Himself to us. For example, one can point to the existence of the cosmos as a fundamentally sacramental means by which we come to know our participation in God’s existence (Romans 1). However, more personally, one can look at the ten commandments given to Israel at Sinai. These commandments (or words) are the physical representation of the invisible attributes of Yahweh’s character. In other words, God is unknowable apart from his revealing of himself through sacramental means. Most explicitly in the Old Testament would be the temple. The temple is simply a physical representation of God’s presence. However, it goes beyond simply being a sign of presence, it becomes the very means through which the invisible reality it signifies is revealed and participated in. These sacramental signs take what is unknown to man and make them known and apart from these sacraments, God is left as a mystery to mankind. In fact, I would go so far as to say that sacraments are what make us theists instead of deists; with the existence of the cosmos being itself a fundamental denial of deism.
All of that being said, it is important to recognize that all of these sacramental realities, both past, present, and future, find their sacramental telos in Jesus Christ. In the incarnation, the invisible God (mystery) was made known (sacrament). Jesus Christ is therefore the sacrament through which God is known by man. Dr. Hans Boersma puts it like this:
“Christ himself, we could say, is the great sacrament, the mystery par excellence. In him, the eternal Word enters into the temporal succession of events, thus allowing time to participate sacramentally in eternity” (127).
This sacramental participation in the eternity of God comes only via God’s sacramental union with the world through the Person of Christ. All other sacramental realities (cosmos, ten commandments, temple, etc) are rooted in the eternal Word of God: the great sacrament. It is therefore misguided for us to assume that we can know God by reason or rationality alone. God is known only through sacramental participation because God—as Trinity—is only known through the Person of Jesus Christ. Thus, Trinitarian theology is not fundamentally about understanding, it is about participation in that which God has sacramentally revealed to his creatures. This leads to only two options. Either 1) the human creature will recognize his rational limitation (the Creator/creature divide) and believe by faith in God as Trinity as revealed and participated in sacramentally, or 2) the human creature will become puffed up, leaning on his own understanding, forsaking belief in Trinity altogether for a god that he can experience apart from sacramental mysterium. The second case is where things like Arianism, Islam, Judaism, and other religions of similar nature land. The first option enables one to accept the limitation of human rationality and reason, instead embracing a sacramental worldview, whereas the second prioritizes rationality and reason at the expense of a sacramental worldview.
Now in saying these things, I do not want to insinuate that belief in the Trinity lacks rationality. It is an extremely rational position because it is how God has revealed himself to man. The denigration of rationalism, therefore, is only to say that the Trinity cannot be comprehended through rational or logical means of human reasoning alone. The Trinity can only be understood sacramentally, which is fundamentally rooted in a participatory view of God and an embracing of mystery. Remember, Trinitarian theology is an article of faith not an article of human reasoning.
In conclusion, for those who would reject the Trinity on the grounds of its denial of human rational understanding, be reminded and warned by the words of the Athanasian Creed:
“[On the Trinity]: This is the Catholic Faith, which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved” (Book of Common Prayer, 771).
Kyrie Eleison.
Kyrie Eleison.
Kyrie Eleison.
Works Cited:
Boersma, Hans. Heavenly Participation: The Weaving of a Sacramental Tapestry. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2011.
The Book of Common Prayer. Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019.