Conciliar Trinitarianism: A Philosophical Analysis

Abstract This article aims to elucidate Conciliar Trinitarianism, the teaching that, in the Trinity, there exists one God, the Father, and two relationally distinct divine persons: the Son and the Spirit, who are homoousios with (i.e. of same substance as) the Father, through the novel metaphysical framework (or model) of Conciliar Aspectivalism. By integrating complex concepts from contemporary metaphysics, Conciliar Aspectivalism provides a coherent and philosophically robust framework for expressing the central tenets of Conciliar Trinitarianism in a way, however, that preserves fundamentality of the one God, the Father, and the absolute unity and singularity of the divine substance that is equally shared by the Trinitarian persons. Hence, through this elucidation, Conciliar Aspectivalism offers a unique perspective for understanding and articulating the core teaching of the Trinitarianism that is expressed by the Seven Ecumenical Councils within a metaphysically coherent framework.