Title

God from God: the essential dependence model of eternal generation

Publication Date

9-10-2018

Abstract

According to the doctrine of eternal generation, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father. Although the doctrine is enshrined in the Creed of Nicaea and has been affirmed by Christians for nearly 1,700 years, many Protestants have recently rejected the doctrine. Eternal generation, its detractors contend, is both philosophically and theologically suspect. In this article, I propose a model of eternal generation and demonstrate how it avoids standard philosophical and theological objections. Eternal generation, I argue, can be understood as a form of essential dependence. To say that the Son is begotten of the Father is just to say that the Son essentially depends on the Father. The essence of the Son involves the Father, but not vice versa.

Keywords

Trinity; Dependence; Essence; Grounding

Publication Title

Religious Studies

Volume

54

Issue

3

First Page

377

Last Page

394

DOI of Published Version

10.1017/S0034412518000197

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