The Trinitarian Vision of Jonathan Edwards and David Coffey By S ...

Chapter 1

The Augustinian Mutual Love Tradition

Locating Jonathan Edwards and David Coffey’s trinitarian theology within the historical trinitarian traditions is central to the ecumenical and constructive goal of this project. Although contemporary theologians often see the Augustinian trinitarian tradition as the source of an overbearing emphasis on divine unity, the loss of a relational God, and the marginalization of pneumatology, Edwards and Coffey mine it to develop a thoroughly trinitarian vision of God and redemption in which pneumatology plays a central role. In order to situate Edwards and Coffey within the Augustinian tradition, this chapter establishes its historical characteristics.

The mutual love model of the Trinity has a long history in Western theology. Historians of the Christian traditions have identified its origin with Augustine of Hippo (354–430), whom they also credited with the popularization of the more well-known psychological, or procession, model. Although the mutual love model has been overshadowed by the