Abstract
Orthodox and Catholic views on the Trinity are nearly identical, but there is an important point over which the two perspectives disagree: the Filioque. This short phrase meaning “and from the Son” was added to the Nicene Creed by Western Christianity and eventually adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, and it is one of the most important reasons for the Great Schism. The Filioque gives Jesus a power of origination over the Spirit, which implies that any revelation outside of that from Christ could be considered incomplete. This places limits on the power of the Holy Spirit to be independently revelatory in other religions, which is a concept briefly discussed in Vatican II. If the Holy Spirit must proceed from Jesus, then all revelation from the Spirit must also come from Jesus; therefore, Christ is still the sole source of any truth to be found in non-Christian religions (perceived or not). However, if the Holy Spirit does not necessarily always proceed from Christ, but instead can proceed from the Father separately (as told in the original Nicene Creed), then the source of the Holy Spirit’s revelation would be directly from the Father, irrespective of Christ’s role. This general openness toward the Spirit’s power could make interreligious dialogue and future discussions on religious diversity more fruitful, as the insistence on the necessity of Christ’s presence in other religions can be unflattering to their adherents. Therefore, the implications of the Filioque are worth revisiting for World Christianity in an increasingly diverse society.
Presenters
Cory GloecknerAssistant Professor, Physics, Theology, John Carroll University, Ohio, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Commonalities and Differences
KEYWORDS
Religious Diversity, Interreligious Dialogue, Revelation, Filioque, Nicene Creed
