Novatian's Theology of the Father and Son: A Study of Ontological Subordinationism

by Daniel Lloyd

Overview

Early Christian theologian Novatian's (c. 200-258) work begins with the topic of the unique and supreme Father. The categories he uses to describe the Father include both traditions from Christian sources and articulations of negative theology, especially as seen in Middle Platonism. After establishing the limitations set by philosophical and theological language, Daniel Lloyd turns to the positive categories Novatian chooses for describing the Father, highlighting Novatian's emphasis on revelation, evaluating the parameters of the uniqueness of the Father, and showing that his theology presents the Father as distinct in attributes such as incomprehensibility, eternality, and inability to change.

Having presented Novatian's theology of the Father as the center point of his thought, Lloyd next assesses Novatian's theology of the Son, showing that his categories and terminology, even to the point of calling the Son "God," do not function against his theology of the unique Father. Novatian has many resources for speaking about the Son's divinity in a way that does not contradict his theology of the Father. Lloyd presents and analyzes these resources to demonstrate that the Son's status as ontologically subordinate to the Father is the best reading of De Trinitate.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781978711679
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	07/23/2020
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.01(h) x 1.02(d)

About the Author

Daniel Lloyd is associate professor in the Philosophy, Theology, and Religion Department at Saint Leo University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Philosophic Approaches to Divine Transcendence and Negative Theology Chapter 2: Novatian's Transcendent God Chapter 3: Revelation and Theological Epistemology Chapter 4: The One and Eternal Father Chapter 5: The Development of Word Christology Chapter 6: Arguments for the Son's Divinity Chapter 7: The Son as Ontologically Subordinate

Editorial Reviews

Despite the significance of Novatian for our understanding of early Latin Christianity, excellent studies of his thought are few and far between. Daniel Lloyd offers the best study in years, working from Novatian’s philosophical context to arrive at a compelling account of Novatian’s conception of divine transcendence, theological epistemology, and the relationship between Father and Son.

Anthony Briggman

In this book, Daniel Lloyd offers a fresh reading of Novatian’s Trinitarian theology. Breaking out of the unhelpful ruts of earlier scholarship, which judged Novatian by the standards of later centuries, Lloyd reads Novatian’s On the Trinity according to its own logic, in the context of second and early third century thought, and with a deep and helpful knowledge of Novatian’s various philosophical and theological sources. Lloyd’s careful analysis reveals neither a tidy pre-Nicene orthodoxy nor a pre-“Arian” heresy, but rather a sophisticated, ontological subordinationism between the transcendent and invisible Father and the immanent and visible Son. Lloyd’s work therefore is a needed reevaluation of Novatian and an important contribution to the growing field of Latin Trinitarian Theology in the early centuries.

Jackson Lashier

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