What does "Tres Personae" mean in Tertullian's "Una Substantia Tres Personae"?
Upvote:2
The Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity provides a brief overview of the evolution of the Latin term persona (plural personae), which Tertullian is famous for introducing into discussions on the threeness of God. It begins with the secular meaning, and then moves to Tertullian's use of the word:
In addition to the classical meanings of the term persona (role, person and individuality), Latin theology from the very beginning knew of a technical meaning. [...] Borrowing from secular exegesis that distinguished persona grammatically and aesthetically (dignity or personal character), and under the influence of the legal tradition, [Tertullian] applied a realist meaning to the term (persona = res). (3:153)
Res is the Latin word for "thing" or "entity," which while pointing us in the right direction, perhaps still feels insufficiently specific. We can turn to J. N. D. Kelly, who writes in Early Christian Doctrines:
The primary sense of persona was 'mask', from which the transition was easy to the actor who wore it and the character he played. In legal usage it could stand for the holder of the title to a property, but as employed by Tertullian it connoted the concrete presentation of an individual as such. (115, emphasis added)
So we might say then that the personae of Tertullian are "persons" in the sense of "individuals" or "entities." But Kelly warns us against anachronistically reading modern understandings of "person" onto Tertullian:
In neither case, it should be noted, was the idea of self-consciousness nowadays associated with 'person' and 'personal' at all prominent. (115)
More post
- 📝 What is a Pacifist interpretation of the Cleansing of the Temple?
- 📝 What Doctrine Supports The Christian Gun Culture?
- 📝 How could Jesus get followers so easily?
- 📝 What was Calvin's view of capital punishment?
- 📝 When did small bite-sized portions become the norm for Communion?
- 📝 Where in the Pentateuch does it indicate that it's better to sin against God than against your spiritual director?
- 📝 When Saint Rita was born, how old was her mother?
- 📝 Longevity of biblical manuscripts
- 📝 From a Roman Catholic view, after God creates a soul, does He let the soul to choose if they want to enter a body? Can a soul refuse to be embodied?
- 📝 Why is our righteousness as filthy rags?
- 📝 What is the basis for the Roman Catholic teaching regarding the Sin of Presumption?
- 📝 In Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Lutheranism, what are the main explanations on the matter of why Jesus Christ needed to be baptized?
- 📝 How was the gift of the word of knowledge defined by the pioneers of the pentecostal healing revival?
- 📝 How does Catholic Church explain the reference to Christ at 1 Cor. 10?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, when Jesus speaks, is he is speaking as a Man or God or both?
- 📝 Have witches ever been executed by the Eastern Orthodox Church?
- 📝 Is Judas Iscariot ever depicted in religious art with one of those silver or gold coloured Halos?
- 📝 Who is a Christian according to the Russian Orthodox Church
- 📝 Anglican Minor Orders?
- 📝 Does Matthew 22:43-45 imply the pre-existence of Jesus (from a non Trinitarian Perspective)
- 📝 How do Roman Catholics reconcile the apocalyptic sayings of Jesus with his not having returned?
- 📝 Eastern Orthodoxy: What is the 'nous' and how is it distinguished from your mind and the rest of your spirit?
- 📝 How is the claim that the doctrine of Papal Infallibility has always existed within the Church substantiated?
- 📝 Was Martin Luther a Protestant or a Traditionalist Catholic?
- 📝 Can Requiem Masses be said for the souls of the unbaptized?
- 📝 What, historically, was the age of accountability for Latter-Day-Saints before D&C 68:27?
- 📝 Did Melchizedek worship the same God as Abram?
- 📝 In RC doctrine, when is pop culture, like Bernstein's Mass, appropriate to tell sacred messages?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the assignment of patron saints?
- 📝 Can God Change his mind?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What does "Tres Personae" mean in Tertullian's "Una Substantia Tres Personae"?
- 📝 What does it mean that Satan is "god of this world"?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus fulfilled the law but did not abolish it?
- 📝 What does Jesus mean by saying, "Why do you call me good?"
- 📝 What exactly does it mean that Jesus Christ is the son of God?
- 📝 What does "scripture" mean in NT writing?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus was the "second Adam"?
- 📝 What does it mean to "Bless the LORD"?
- 📝 What does CS Lewis mean by True Myth?
- 📝 What does it mean to interpret the Bible literally?
- 📝 In Catholicism, what does it mean for a priest to bless an object or person?
- 📝 What does it mean to "be saved"
- 📝 What does Jesus mean by "this generation" and "all these things" in Mark 13:30
- 📝 What does Paul mean by "Love believes all things?"
- 📝 What does "gates of hell" mean in Matthew 16:18?
- 📝 What does it mean to comment on scripture with scripture?
- 📝 What does it mean to be "weak in faith"?
- 📝 What does being lukewarm mean in contrast with being hot or cold for the church of Laodicea?
- 📝 What does it mean to "worship God" to Christians in general?
- 📝 What does the abbreviation "RNIO" mean in a painting of the Virgin and Child?
- 📝 What does it mean that someone managed to live beyond 120 years?
- 📝 What does it mean to say "Jesus died for our sins"?
- 📝 What does it mean to be an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ?
- 📝 What does 'first estate' mean in Jude 1:6 (KJV)?
- 📝 What does it mean that all scripture is God-Breathed?
- 📝 What does the Catholic Church mean when it calls humans co-creators with God?
- 📝 What does St. Augustine mean by predestination?
- 📝 What does it mean that "the two natures of Christ cannot be separated"?
- 📝 What does it mean to be "poor in spirit"?
- 📝 What does it mean that Jesus, Father, and Holy Spirit are of the same nature but different personas?