Over the weekend, dialogue has resumed in one of the older AF threads—The Trinity and the Development of Doctrine Late Friday evening, Andries van Niekerk from Stellenbosch, South Africa posted his first comment here at AF.
Following my response, Andries—in his second comment—provided a link (here) to a lecture by R. P. C. Hanson that was delivered back in 1981, that I did not remember reading. He found the lecture published online at a blog named, DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY (link), which he republished at his website with the following introduction:
I post it here in order to preserve it for public use. I corrected spelling errors, added headings, bolded main thoughts and divided the text into more readable paragraphs, but I did not alter the text in any way.
The lecture itself, begins with:
WHEN we read the Creed of Constantinople of the year 381, which is generally called the Nicene Creed, we gain the unmistakable impression that we have travelled a long way from the opening verses of St. Mark’s Gospel. This paper will consist of an attempt to answer the question, Was this journey really necessary?
Some online research revealed that this lecture was first published in the Scottish Journal of Theology – Volume 36, Issue 1, Feb. 1983, pp. 41-57, under the title, “The Doctrine of the Trinity Achieved in 381” (link).
Now, R. P. C. Hanson is one of my favorite patristic scholars of all time. I have read his massive tome, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God (link) twice now; and have quoted him at least a dozen times here at AF (see this label under his name).
Two years after the release of the book, Hanson’s paper, "The achievement of orthodoxy in the fourth century", was published in, The Making of Orthodoxy – Essays In Honour of Henry Chadwick, pp. 142-156. (link). Interestingly enough, the note at the end of the paper informs the reader that, "This paper was written before the publication of R. P. C. Hanson, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God, Edinburgh 1988".
For those folk interested in the development of the doctrine of God prior to 381 A.D who have yet to read Hanson’s book, and/or paper referenced above, his 1981 lecture is a must read.
Grace and peace,
David
