A Finger Pointing To The Moon

This week the discussion has been on the concept of the Trinity, a theological term like most, if not all other theological terms, that came into existence as a response to other seemingly untenable beliefs on God and one’s relationship with God.  We have learned that “Christian Theology has always served to clarify and criticize the faith of the churches”.  Put into a layman’s language, Christian Theology has always served to prove how my belief is the truth and yours isn’t, or perhaps more diplomatically “better than yours”.

A review of the doctrine of the Trinity as discussed in Van Harvey’s Handbook of Theological Terms is an excellent example of the mechanics of theology.  It is a term that was developed in conjunction with that of Christology which asks and explores the question, “who was Jesus Christ, what was his relationship to God and what does that mean to us?”  It took over three hundred years to finally crystallize into something that questionably most of the Christian churches could agree to; although, as Harvey points out, “the doctrine has always been alleged to be a mystery”.  In other words it is something we can never prove, but as theologians we will not hesitate to try to clarify it and make it the most believable of the unverifiable theological concepts out there. Although, a flippancy may be heard in this on my part, it is being used to point to something of importance to me and hopefully to you.

It is important to remember that all theological terms are symbolic.  They point to what the user believes to be the Truth.  They are the finger pointing to the moon.  They are not the moon.  When it comes to Christian theological terms such as the Trinity, Christology and Incarnation, they are all symbols used as vehicles to point to and reflect on the unique figure of Jesus of Nazareth, a man who lived over 2000 years ago, who through his life, teachings and death changed the world and continues to do so.  If we are to call ourselves Christians, Metaphysical or otherwise, there is a demand placed on us to struggle with the questions of who and what Jesus was, what his relationship was to God, what we mean when we acknowledge him as the Christ and most importantly of all, what is our relation to this Christ and what in turn does this require of us?

   

These are questions that Charles Fillmore, one of the founders of Unity, struggled with.  In Talks on Truth Fillmore says that Jesus “was more than Jesus of Nazareth, more than any other human who ever lived on the earth.  He was more than human, as we understand the appellation in its everyday use, because there came into his humanness a factor to which most people are strangers.  This factor was the Christ consciousness.  The unfoldment of this consciousness by Jesus made Him God incarnate, because Christ is the mind of God individualized, and whoever so loses his or her personality as to be swallowed up in God becomes Christ Jesus, or God man.” This is Fillmore’s answer to one of the questions asked in class, “was Jesus the exception or the norm?”   What is your answer, and what does that mean to you and therefore to the whole world?