How to Think About the Trinity

A Guide for the Perplexed

Christians are distinctive among Abrahamic theists and among classical theists more generally for their doctrine of the Trinity, that there is one God in essence (Grk: ousia) that is three distinct hypostases or “persons” (more on this language in a moment), the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But arguably no Christian doctrine is more poorly understood than this one, or more poorly communicated to rank-and-file laity and clerics (often enough by clerics). In a nutshell, average communication about the Trinity in catechesis, homiletics, or apologetics tends to make the same basic litany of errors in talking about the matter: overconfidence in the scriptural and early patristic witness to the doctrine; the confusion of hypostasis for persona; and a misunderstanding of ousia as an abstract nature rather God’s irreducible act of Being as the experienced hypostases of Father, Son, and Spirit. Getting these wrong compromises Christian theology at its foundation both for Christians and their non-Christian dialogue partners.