Towards a living sacrifice of praise: A critical evaluation of Colin Gunton's Trinitarian theology of culture

Colin Gunton is a trinitarian theologian who is known for his engagement with, and theological analysis of, Western culture. His celebrated work, The One, the Three and the Many, provides a sustained analysis of the discarnate and abstractive ailments that plague western culture and proffers theological remedies that arise from his account of trinitarian theology. Recent developments in trinitarian theology now question Gunton’s analysis of culture and history as well as some of his trinitarian proposals, particularly his analogical connections between divine and human being. Whilst these critiques raise important questions regarding the veracity of some of Gunton’s claims, I maintain that Gunton’s quest for a more concrete trinitarianism remains defensible. Moreover, I argue that there is a Hauptbriefe in Gunton reception which assumes Gunton’s main writings are The One, the Three and the Many and the first edition of The Promise of Trinitarian Theology. This often results in a failure to adequately engage with his later writings and observe the progressions in his thought. In this thesis, I give particular prominence to Gunton’s later writings, which are centred in his trinitarian theology of mediation and his exploration of divine action in the economy. It is through his trinitarian theology of mediation that Gunton develops his biblical and theological account of human culture. A close reading of Gunton’s later writings presents an account of the Son and the Spirit as the Father’s two hands who mediate the Father’s purposes in creation. In part two of this thesis, I examine the mediation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in creation to redeem and perfect that which was created very good in the beginning. Human culture is best understood in relation to the doctrine of creation and the action of the Son and the Spirit to redeem and perfect the project of creation. For Gunton, the Son and the Spirit enable faithful human culture to contribute to God’s purposes for creation and anticipate creation’s eschatological perfection. Gunton ascribes theological meaning and value to human culture because the triune God calls and enables humanity to participate as sub-agents in the divine redemption and perfection of the project of creation. Human delight in the goodness of creation and createdness is a form of embodied worship; a living sacrifice of praise which is offered to the Father through Christ and in the Spirit. The Spirit is at work in all creation, enabling humanity to contribute to God’s creation project. Whilst the Spirit’s work is universal, it is concentrated in the body of Christ. God elects the Church to be a community of redemption whose concrete life in communion is enabled by the Spirit to anticipate the redemption of all things. The Church’s election draws attention to the Church’s sociality, polity and ethics as a form of redeemed human culture that invites reflection on the Church’s life in community. The Spirit enables the Church, from time to time, to anticipate in its common life the right human habitation of creation and offer its concrete life in communion through Christ as a living sacrifice of praise. The Church’s life together is a form of worship; a living sacrifice of praise to God that embody God’s wise purposes for creation. This worship culminates at the Church’s celebration of the Lord’s Supper where the Spirit enables the Church’s sacrifice of praise to be offered to God through Christ’s perfect sacrifice. In chapter six, I argue that Gunton’s trinitarian theology of culture remains fruitful and his examination of the Lord’s Supper at Corinth can be further enriched by an exploration of the politics of belonging in community. If the Church’s body politic and culture is to be a living sacrifice of praise it must give witness to the power of Christ’s cross to dismantle privilege and domination, such as the hegemony of ableism, that are often sedimented in the church’s common life together. Gunton provides, therefore, not only a penetrating theological analysis of culture, but also a rich trinitarian theology of culture that remains fruitful for contemporary conversations in theology and culture