Benoy JosephTrinity as an All-embracing Reality

Zum Inhalt

This book is an attempt to present Raimon Panikkar’s Trinitarian understanding. The Christian doctrine of the Trinity is seen as an underlying structure of all reality. The author tries to find the Trinitarian roots in the Cosmotheandric vision of Raimon Panikkar. The exposition shows how Panikkar retains the core of the truth of the Trinity and tries to reinterpret this truth in a relevant and intelligible manner to his eastern audience. In doing so Panikkar finds that western terminologies are insufficient to make Christianity and its doctrines intelligible to the eastern mind. Thus he makes use of eastern terminologies to interpret the core of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Just as Greek philosophy helped Christian doctrine to develop and mature in Europe, the intuitions of Hinduism and Buddhism may help one to understand the Trinitarian mystery in India better. Thus the study also highlights Panikkar’s attempt to integrate Hindu as well as Buddhist religious experience and their philosophies towards an understanding of the Trinity and of Christology. The doctrine of the Trinity is an inspiring reality to the Church, to other religions and a challenge to the human society as a whole. Therefore the author propounds that the Trinitarian understanding of Panikkar would meet the requirements and challenges of a cross-cultural and multi-religious society, namely, those of religious pluralism, inter-religious dialogue and the encounter of world-spiritualities.

This book offers each reader an opportunity to expand his imagination, to sharpen his critical faculties and to intensify the awareness of what the fundamental issues are today and how they may be approached. The mystery of the triune Godhead, offers man the ultimate model, because in it he can find both unity and diversity. This work is a paradigm to bring about unity between religions and cultures.