Perichoretic Themes in Pastoral Life (in Draft)

[John Alchin]

Graham Buxton in The Trinity, Creation and Pastoral Ministry: Imaging the Perichoret... (2005, Paternoster), seeks to expose the perichoretic interconnectedness, in both the theological and scientific senses, between the nature of the Trinity, creation, pastoral care and ecclessial life.

Providing much of his theoretical framework in the first half of the book, Buxton begins to develop some themes for pastoral life, and the book begins to turn to the practical outworkings. Having stated that it is much easier to endorse a practical theology of the Trinity than it is to articulate one, he attempts to provide us with some insights from his work.

Dr. Buxton describes the "pastoral" in Christian ministry as the outward orientation (ekstasis) of God's triune life to all people

Buxton argues that "the church is identified as such not only in its catholicity,... but also in its witness to the triune God as it lives out his life in the arena of the world." (2005, p.143), and he affirms James Buckley's assertion that "continuing conversion to God's triune communio is the central condition for continual reform of our own churches" (2001, p.223).

Perichoretic Themes in Pastoral Life


1. Community Formation - Difference and Diversity.

A "vision of the church that is more communion than hierarchy, more service than power, more circular than pyramidal, more loving embrace than bending knee before authority." (Boff, 1988, p.154).

2. Community Realisation - Love.

3. Community Operation - Worship.

4. Community Operation - Mission.
A mission orientation predicated on welcome of the stranger and availability to all people.

5. Community Operation - Compassion.

In Summary
"This analogous correspondence between divine and human perichoretic life in the practice of ecclesial life in its worship, mission and pastoral care parallels similar insights with regard to the formation and realisation of the community of faith, demonstrating the robustness of the perichoresis construct in the pastoral life of the church." (Buxton, 2005, p.193).

References
Buckley, J.J. (2001) 'The Wounded Body: The Spirit's Ecumenical Work on Divisions among Christians', in Buckley, J.J. and Yeago, D.S. (eds), Knowing the Triune God: The Work of the Spirit in the Practices of the Church, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI.
Buxton, G. (2005). The Trinity, Creation and Pastoral Ministry: Imaging the Perichoretic God. Paternoster, UK.

[Christopher Rushlau]

I misquoted my source up above. The quotation begins "Communicatio idiomatum...In Christian theology..." and it was my own authority for the claim that "what can be said of one member of the trinity can be said of the others", although I credit Karl Rahner for the idea, who did say that it applied to the relationship within the Trinity.

[Christopher Rushlau]

I certainly enjoy reading paragraphs that support each other using terms that are defined and then consistently used.
But I wonder if "perichoresis" (the disease?) is the Latin communicatio idiomati: "what can be said of one member of the trinity can be said of the others Communicatio idiomatum...In Christian theology communicatio idiomatum is a term from the theology of the Incarnation, attempting to define the relationship between two natures in one person. The theory is that the properties of the Divine Word can be ascribed to the man Jesus, and that the properties of the man Jesus Christ can predicated of the Divine Word - a "Communication of Idioms" or mutual interchange of attributes.
The assumption behind the theory, based on Scripture and the Church Fathers, is that God the Father and the Holy Spirit have the same rights and interest in all things created except in the human nature of Jesus Christ. His person is a result of the personal union between the two natures, God and man; in other words the human being has divine attributes and the divine being is the subject of human properties. It is this theory which makes it possible for Christians to say "Christ is God" or "God is man" — two otherwise mutually exclusive concepts have been united through the mutual exchange between the two natures."
http://www.experiencefestival.com/a/Communicatio_idiomatum/id/450804
The difference between communicatio idiomait (home-made Latin) and perichoresis is that the latter seems to dismiss the very idea of identifying attributes, never mind exchanging them. But I think this is on the right track. It is the tendency of mysticism of all traditions, and the subject of that most trenchant Hindu idea, tat tvam asi, "thou art that", "dependent origination"--the attempt to explain implicates the explainer in a web of self-justification.
Have you read "The End of Religion" by Dom Aelred Graham? It would be splendid to see a meeting of minds among Hindus, Buddhists, monotheists generally, and Christians in particular on the topic of knowledge--before you can have authority you have to have knowledge as some sort of Ding an sich--but is there anything there? "McCavity, McCavity, McCavity was not there." The trinity is the starting point for this discussion, once we lay out the assumptions about existence, generation/procession, "spirit", and so on. I mean, we Christians could host this summit conference, saying, "Does any of this ring any bells with anybody, good, bad, or ugly?" We know what the Qor'an says about God having a son. Brrrr.

[John Alchin]

G'day Graham, I'm re-reading Dancing in the Dark at the moment. I have Celebrating Life also, but have only skimmed through it. I was given it by my mate Michael Pailthorpe, who tells me he has been in email contact with you. I am personally very pleased to make your acquaintance having enjoy your written work.

[Graham Buxton]

Thank you for your reference to my text on the Trinity, creation and pastoral ministry. You might be interested in the way I expand some of these trinitarian themes in the context of nine theses that I nail to the doors of dualism - see my latest book Celebrating Life (Paternoster, 2007), which seeks to demolish the sacred-secular divide implicitly - if not explicitly - prevalent in much contemporary pastoral ministry. In that book I outline these theses:

1. God is not a static deity, defined primarily by such adjectives as sovereign and holy – he is essentially a loving, dynamic and relational Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit.
2. God, in his triune glory, has opened up his life to all that he has created, human and non-human – he is immanently and intimately involved in all that he has created.
3. The Kingdom of God is a present reality that is not confined to the metaphysical domain – it is the dynamic rule of God that invades the material realm as well as the spiritual realm.
4. The incarnation of Jesus Christ expresses the truth that God has chosen to make himself known as a human being in human culture and in the midst of the structures of society.
5. Created in God’s image, human beings are invited to participate in God’s inner-trinitarian life, dancing with him in the world that he ever seeks to reconcile to himself.
6. Christians are likewise summoned to contextualise the gospel message – yet they necessarily call people beyond their personal and cultural horizons to participate in the culture of the Kingdom of God.
7. God is an inclusive God of grace, whose Spirit is at work throughout human life, and in mysterious ways throughout all creation, seeking to reconcile all things to himself.
8. The gospel calls the church to be not just relevant, learning to speak the language of the surrounding culture, but prophetic in its redemptive presence and action in the world.
9. Christians live in an eschatological tension between the ‘now’ and the ‘not-yet’ of the Kingdom of God – as they live in the world, they also look forward to the promised goal of the new creation.

The first three theses have to do with the Trinity and creation, the next three with contextual incarnation, and the last three with the nature of redemptive grace.

Underlying these theses is myconviction that it is only when we begin to understand how much God loves his creation, and how much he is therefore totally involved in what he has made, that we will really understand our involvement with him in all that he is doing in the world. All pastoral ministry is therefore a participation in the ministry of God in the world. Entry into the life of the Trinity means entry into the life of a God who is involved in every part of creation, a God who invites us to celebrate the joy of life and seek renewal in all the areas of brokenness around us. In fact, we could go further, and insist that salvation is not just about being caught up into a glorious new life in God – though it certainly is that! … it also means that we are called to participate in rich and fulfilling ways in all of creation, sharing in the life of God’s universe.

The gospel is not a question of God giving you and me a new life, as if that life existed apart from him, parcelled and distributed to those who respond to him in faith. That is not the gospel at all: that view presents us with a deistic perspective – God out there giving something to us so that we can now live a new life. That way, our life becomes something separate from God. The gospel is not so much about God giving us a new life, but of us being caught up into the very life of God himself, so that humanity and Trinity – and creation – are bound together forever. To have our eyes opened by the Spirit to this truth is to experience for ourselves the real meaning of salvation. God has not created us to praise and honour him as if he, in his triune being, lacked something. Rather, he has created us that we might live in the fullness of his ‘spilled-over’ life in the creation that is bound up within his triune life.