This article is the second part examining William HaskerAmerican philosopher of religion known for work on open theism, mind-body dualism, and social Trinitarianism.'s view on the Trinity.

• PART 1: PERSON, NATURE, CONSTITUTION
• PART 2: PROCESSIONS, FATHER, SON, SPIRIT (you're here)
• PART 3: GOD, TRINITY

William Hasker on the Trinity (Part 2/3)

In the previous part on William Hasker's model of the Trinity, we examined what he meant by the terms "person," "nature," and his understanding of "constitution." Now I want to push further and look at how his model can affirm the doctrine of divine processions.[1][2]

Growing up in church, reciting the Nicene Creed, I remember reading the phrase "begotten from the Father before all ages" many times, but I didn't understand fully what this idea meant until recently. The doctrine of processions, or the divine relations of origin, is called "part and parcel" of Nicene Christianity and is present throughout the early church.[3] Later in the article, we will examine the biblical and historical warrant of the doctrine. But first, let's look at how Hasker describes the idea:

Processions / Eternal Origins of Relation: God the Father eternally communicates the totality of the one undivided divine nature to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, and in doing so brings about the existence of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The doctrine of processions is not simply that the Son has his source in the Father in the incarnation, but the Son has his source in the Father from eternity past. The Spirit likewise receives the totality of the one divine nature and, thereby, his existence from the Father. This is not the concept that the Son and Spirit are merely created beings or ontologically inferior to the Father. The Father, Son, and Spirit are all equally partakers in the one divine nature. The claim is that the Father is the source of the Godhead, not as an act of creation that took place in time, but as an eternal act.

Hasker argues that due to its historical pedigree and biblical warrant, the idea should be accommodated by models of the Trinity. Other social-trinitarian views reject processions (William Lane Craig, R. T. MullinsPhilosopher of religion known for work on divine temporality, the Trinity, and critiques of classical theism.); however, Hasker's view affirms it.[4] Because of this, the fundamental way in which the persons of the Trinity are distinguished is in terms of relations of origin.

The Father: The divine person who is the source of the Trinitarian communion.

The Son: The divine person who is eternally generated or begotten of the Father.

Nicene Christianity affirms that God the Son is eternally generated by the Father, meaning that the Father eternally caused the Son to exist. The critical term here is "eternal." It is not that the Father created the Son at some distant time in the past; this would be Arianism. In this view, there is both (1) an affirmation that the Son is eternal, like the Father, and (2) there is a one-directional relation of origin between the Father and Son.

Because the terms "causation" and "creation" sometimes imply a temporal origin, it is better to use the theological language that the Son is eternally generated or begotten when referencing the Son or eternally spirited when referencing the Spirit. Alternatively, we can use the more modern philosophical categories of grounding, which is analogous to causation but is like the theological language, atemporal.

The Spirit: The divine person who eternally proceeds from the Father through the Son.

That the eternal Spirit proceeds from the Father is essentially the same concept as far as I can tell; however, some in the early church insist that they are distinct. I enjoy Gregory of Nazianzus4th-century bishop from Cappadocia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). One of the three Cappadocian Fathers, along with Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. He briefly presided over the Council of Constantinople.' statement on this predicament:

"What, then, is 'proceeding' (ekporeusis)? You explain the ingeneracy of the Father and I will give you a biological account of the Son's begetting and the Spirit's proceeding—and let us go mad the pair of us for prying into God's secrets"[5]

For those who want a tighter philosophical understanding, I think "generation" and "procession" can be taken as meaning the same thing. Those who are more sensitive to tradition may want to heed John of Damascus8th-century monk and theologian from Damascus (modern-day Syria) who lived under the Islamic Caliphate. He defended the veneration of icons during the Byzantine iconoclast controversy.' statement that "we have learned that there is a difference between generation and process," but the nature of it we simply do not know.[6]

Hasker argues that the doctrine of processions guarantees divine equality and unity. The processions ensure that the Trinity shares a single, common source regarding the totality of the divine essence. Hasker argues that alternative models of the Trinity, which exclude processions, suppose three independent, ultimate sources of being, dangerously leaning towards polytheism.

Scripture, Creeds, Church History

In this next section we'll examine Scripture and the witness of the early church on the doctrine of processions.

Scripturally, the strongest biblical support for the doctrine of processions according to William Hasker is John 5:26, which states, "For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself." To have life in oneself implies a sort of independence or self-existence. D. A. Carson calls the connection between this passage and eternal generation to be "unobjectionable."[7] However, there is some tension with the idea of being given self-existence. If self-existence is given, then it's not exactly self-existence, is it?

Furthermore, passages speaking of the procession of the Spirit are employed to support the doctrine, such as John 15:26. However, it seems difficult to be confident that this isn't just speaking of the proceeding of the Spirit to Christians, rather than some generation of eternity past.

Many passages that describe the relationships between the divine persons as Father and Son are used to argue an eternal relationship of procession. In John 1:18 the Son is called the "God the only Son" (monogenes theos), implying a relational distinction. The author of Hebrews also speaks of the idea in the context of preexistence, which implies that the generation relationship may not be simply speaking of the incarnation (see Heb 1:2-3, 5; Psa 2:7). The Son being called the "reflection" or "radiance" of God's glory may also imply an ontological dependence, since a radiance depends on its light source (Heb 1:3).

Regardless of how much evidence of the doctrine can be gleaned from Scripture, it is certainly required for those interested in affirming the Nicene Creed. The doctrine is asserted seven times in the creed. For example, notice the phrases "begotten ... before all ages" and "God from God:"

"...And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father."

For the Nicene Christians, the generation of the son was an eternal act. And similarly, the Council of Constantinople (381), which formed the Niceno-Constantinopolitan creed, similarly affirmed the eternal procession of the Spirit:

"And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets..."

There is a historical debate concerning the procession of the Holy Spirit and whether it should include the phrase "and the son." This is the filioque. The phrase "through the Son," which is included in the definition of the Holy Spirit above, stands as a compromise between Eastern Christianity, which finds the filioque clause inaccurate, and those of Western Christianity, who insist on it.[8]

Within the Ante-Nicene period (1st-3rd century), there is development in language regarding the doctrine of procession. Christians in this period emphasize the language "from the Father," "radiance," and "proceeding," though not in the fully developed language affirmed at the ecumenical councils. Significantly, Origen of Alexandria3rd-century Alexandrian Christian thinker from Alexandria, Egypt, who moved to Caesarea in Palestine to establish a Christian university and library. stated:

"For it is an eternal and ceaseless begetting, just as radiance is generated from light. The Son is the Radiance of the eternal light, the perfect Mirror of God's activity, and the Image of His goodness."[9]

With theological disputes regarding the divinity of Christ and the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of processions received much more attention. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, who opposed Arius and who held a foundational role in the Council of Nicaea, stated that "There is always God, thus always a Son, since the Son is from God himself."[10] The famous Athanasius the Great, the successor to the episcopate following Alexander, stated:

"God the Father, who is over all, has this as the special mark of His person: He alone is Father. That is, He does not derive His person from any cause outside Himself."[11]

"Whatever you think about the kind of being the Father is, you will think the same about the Son and the Holy Spirit... The Holy Spirit... proceeds as from a Cause. So the mark of the Spirit's particular personal identity is this: He is known after the Son and with the Son and receives His way of existing from the Father."[12]

The Cappadocian Fathers, Basil of Caesarea4th-century bishop from Cappadocia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), also known as Basil the Great. One of the three Cappadocian Fathers, along with Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa. He was influential in refining the Orthodox Trinitarian formula of one essence and three persons., his younger brother Gregory of Nyssa4th-century bishop from Cappadocia in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). One of the three Cappadocian Fathers, along with his older brother Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus, and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus are essential in interpreting the trajectory of Nicene theology, which brought the second ecumenical council, the Council of Constantinople, in 381. All affirmed the eternal generation of the Son and the procession of the Spirit and the Father as the source of the Godhead. Gregory of Nazianzus stated:

"The Father is father and without principle (anarchos), because he does not come from anyone. The Son is son and he is not without principle, because he comes from the Father .... The Holy Spirit is truly the Spirit coming forth from the Father, not by filiation, because it is not by generation, but by procession (ekporeutos)."[13]

Basil of Caesarea stated:

"The way to divine knowledge ascends from one Spirit through the one Son to the one Father. Likewise, natural goodness, inherent holiness and royal dignity reaches from the Father through the Only-Begotten to the Spirit."[14]

Gregory of Nyssa stated the following:

"The principle of causality distinguishes, then, the Persons of the Holy Trinity. It affirms that the one is uncaused, while the other depends on the cause."[15]

Philosophical Implications: Aseity & Simplicity

A criticism regarding the doctrine of procession has been brought forward by R. T. Mullins, which concerns the concept that the Father alone is ungrounded or fundamental, while the Son and Spirit receive their existence as an eternal act of the Father. This would imply that the Son and Spirit are not self-existent or a se. Essentially, Mullins argues that aseity, or self-existence, is a property of divinity. If the Son and Spirit are not self-existent, then they are simply not divine.[16]

Joshua SijuwadeContemporary philosopher of religion known for work on the arguments for God's existence and a conciliar Trinitarianism., following the theology of the Cappadocian Fathers, responds by stating that the property of being "unbegotten" or "begotten" is not intrinsic to the divine essence but is rather a relational property of the persons. Since the attribute is extrinsic, it is not required for divinity. Critics of the doctrine of procession regard this move as one with a high price tag, as self-existence is almost universally agreed to be a great-making property, a property greater to have than to lack.[17]

Another philosophical implication of processions, which is argued to be a positive, is that of simplicity. Joshua Sijuwade points out that the doctrine of divine processions allows Christian theism to better compete with naturalistic worldviews, which argue that their conception of the foundation of reality is simpler than the Christian one. The naturalist philosopher Graham Oppy argues that naturalism can posit "one simple entity" at the foundation of existence, such as the natural universe itself. On the other hand, it is alleged that the Christian proposes a very complex entity composed of three distinct divine persons. All else being equal, simpler theories are more probably true. So, it is argued, naturalism posits a much simpler entity at its foundation than the Trinity.[18]

The doctrine of divine processions, however, states that there is only one "fundamental" and "ungrounded" being, the Father. Because the Son and Spirit are grounded in the Father, he is the only entity in existence that does not depend on anything else for his reality. Therefore, Christian theism at its foundation posits one simple entity: the Father.