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An Analytic Theological Defense of the Filioque

Sometimes, Evangelicals struggle with the divine processions for various exegetical or metaphysical reasons. I argue that the Filioque clause of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381) is theologically necessary for safeguarding the identities of all three Trinitarian Persons, and not just the Holy Spirit’s, as it renders all of their eternal relations as unique, identity-making relations. First, I shall motivate the problem of identity that the Filioque was meant to solve, namely the fear of modalism where the three Persons collapse into one Person due to sharing all divine properties alike. Second, I shall briefly explore the general metaphysics of internal relations, demonstrating how these kinds of relations enter into the beings of objects and contribute to their essences and identities. Third, I shall explain how the Filioque, in addition to eternal begottenness and eternal procession, provides each Person with a unique personal essence or identity, unshared with the others, and thus averting Trinitarian collapse. I conclude with a hypothesis of how Evangelicals can foster respectful dialogue with Eastern Orthodox believers who may have an aversion to the Filioque.

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Recent Publications

The Spirit and Renewal (Part 1): Definitive & Progressive Sanctification - Sherif Fahim

'New Creation' in Paul - Sherif Fahim

Justification, Sanctification, and Union with Christ: Fresh Insights from Calvin, Westminster, and Walter Marshall - Sherif Fahim

Death in Second-Century Christian Thought The Meaning of Death in Earliest Christianity - Jeremiah Mutie

The Quest for Early Church Historiography From Ferdinand C. Baur to Bart D. Ehrman and Beyond - Jeremiah Mutie

The Book of the Twelve - David Fuller

Early Witnesses to the Syriac Text of Acts 15 with an Investigation into the Text of Acts 15 in the Didascalia Apostolorum and with and Appendix on the Western/Jacobite Peshitta Manuscript Tradition for Acts - Daniel McConaughy

The Star and the Magi in Jacob of Serugh and the Early Syriac Tradition - Daniel McConaughy

Saved by Grace through Faith or Saved by Decree? A Biblical and Theological Critique of Calvinist Soteriology - Geoffrey Robinson

The Rhetoric of Matthean “Small Faith” - Christopher Seglenieks

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