The contemporary retrieval and revival of the Christian doctrine of God has been characterized by various theological attempts to underscore the relation between the life of God and the life of God for us, and between trinitarian theory and trinitarian praxis. Leading these attempts in Roman Catholic circles is the work of Karl Rahner. In his groundbreaking and thought provoking trinitarian reflections, Rahner laments the marginalization of the Christian doctrine of God. He underscores that contemporary Christianity finds itself in a state of trinitarian timidity leading to the tragic conclusion that “should the doctrine of the trinity have to be dropped as false, the major part of religious literature could well remain virtually unchanged.” Rahner proposes the axiom “the economic Trinity is the immanent Trinity” (and vice versa), as a way to overcome the marginalization of trinitarian theology and re-establish its utterly soteriological foundation.

In proposing this axiom, Rahner opens the door to reflections on God’s mystery “from below.” In particular, Rahner’s emphasis on the humanity of Christ as a symbol of God’s life, signals an important anthropological turn in contemporary reflections on the mystery of God. Following this anthropological turn, and drawing upon various human experiences, theologians have proposed various ways to re-conceive the Christian doctrine of God. Their reflections suggest that if we are to construct more historically meaningful and practical approaches to the mystery of God, consideration must be given to the manifold human experiences that mediate God’s self-disclosure.

Pablo Gargallo

The Prophet (1933)

Washington, DC

Some twenty-five years ago, Monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero’s daily living was cut short at the age of sixty-three, as he celebrated a memorial Mass in the chapel of the Divine Providence cancer hospital in San Salvador. Last year, the twenty-fifth anniversary of Romero’s death (March 24) fell on Holy Thursday, a significant moment in a sacred week during which Christians recall and retell the narratives that ground the foundations of our faith. His eerily prescient words also remind us, that like the Jesus he followed to his death, Romero’s prophetic ministry—the legacy we remember and try to live today—was only three years in the making. Romero once observed, “As a Christian, I don’t believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in the Salvadoran people…” In addressing the prophetic legacy of Monseñor Oscar Romero I propose four images for consideration.