Progressive Theology: Trinitarianism and Egalitarian Community

  About two years ago the vision for the Institute for Progressive Christianity (IPC) took root in the world.  Recently over the last nine months the IPC has been gaining momentum. We have produced two full length academic papers, several shorter papers, and more are in the works.  We has issued several press releases and commentary on current events and we have hosted two symposiums featuring progressive theology.    As the IPC has entered into the public conversation regarding the intersection of Christianity and politics, one of the consistent themes has been the significance of the belief in the normative unity of character between the Creator and the creation, that is, the behavior of God aught to be reflected in the behavior of human beings who are made in the image of God.    One of the ways the IPC has been articulating this belief in “normative unity of character” has been in the context of the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity.  That doctrine posits that God is a community of three persons united by one nature.  Therefore, there is both diversity and unity within God.  Christianity’s one God is a community.  In God, each member of the Divine community is equal in goodness, power, authority, timelessness, knowledge and all other divine attributes.  In this Divine Community, each member is fully respected as distinct from the whole yet the members are interdependent.  It is a community that is order by harmony rather than hierarchy. It is a community where love is the motivation for interaction.  It is a community where radical respect and vulnerability is offered to the other. The Trinity is an egalitarian community.   If there is a “normative unity of character” between God and God’s creation which was made in God’s image, that is, if the way that God behaves is an authoritative model for what humanity should embody, then humanity is meant to live as an egalitarian community reflecting the Trinitarian Community of God.  This imperative has most recently been explored in the context of the IPC’s recently released paper The Kingdom of God and the Witness of Gay Marriage.  However, it has wide ranging applications, because social hierarchy and its maintenance is one of the chief justifications for oppression in the world.  When social hierarchy is eliminated as a legitimate way of organizing people and distributing economic and spiritual resources, the human community will more closely resemble that of the Community of God: the Holy Trinity.   May it be as John Wesley said, “Blest be the Tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.”   Otis Gaddis III, Esq. IPC Co Director of Academic Review.   This post is the second in a series on the IPC paper The Kingdom of God and the Witness of Gay Marriage.  The series seeks to apply the insights of the paper to the larger Progressive Christian context.    Previous Posts in the Series: Holy Irrepressibility: A lesson from the Black Gay Rights Movement