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The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity

The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity

The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity
Edited by Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering

Print Publication Date: Oct 2011 Subject: Religion Online Publication Date: Jan 2012

(p. iv)

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP

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Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press

in the UK and in certain other countries

Published in the United States

by Oxford University Press Inc., New York

© Oxford University Press 2011

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted

Database right Oxford University Press (maker)

First published 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate
reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction
outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department,

Page 1 of 2
The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity

Oxford University Press, at the address above

You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover
and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Data available

Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India

Printed in Great Britain
on acid-free paper by
MPG Books Group, Bodmin and King's Lynn

ISBN 978–0–19–955781–3

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Page 2 of 2
List of Illustrations

List of Illustrations
The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity
Edited by Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering

Print Publication Date: Oct 2011 Subject: Religion Online Publication Date: Jan 2012

(p. x) List of Illustrations

Fig. 1: Triple Chrism. Mosaic, vault of the Albenga Baptistry (Italy), around 500. Re­
production with permission of the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali—So­
printendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Liguria (Italy). 477
Fig. 2: Throne of grace. Miniature, c.1120, Missal of Cambrai, ms. 234, f° 2, Cam­
brai (France), Médiathèque municipale. Image taken by CNRS-IRHT. 479
Fig. 3: Abraham giving bread and wine to the three angels. Cambridge, St John's
College, ms. k 26, f° 9 v°. By permission of the Master and Fellows of St John's Col­
lege, Cambridge. 480
Fig. 4: Trinità, by Nicoletto Semitecolo, 1367. Padua (Italy), Museo Diocesano. 481

Page 1 of 1
Common Abbreviations

Common Abbreviations
The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity
Edited by Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering

Print Publication Date: Oct 2011 Subject: Religion Online Publication Date: Jan 2012

(p. xi) Common Abbreviations

BEM: Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (Faith and Order Paper No. 111, 1982)

CDF: Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

GNO: Gregorii Nysseni Opera, ed. W. Jaeger (Leiden: Brill)

Haer.: Irenaeus of Lyon, Adversus Haereses (Against Heresies)

In Sent.: Commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences (In I Sent., In II Sent., and so

on)

LXX: Septuagint (Greek version of the OT)

NRSV: The Bible, New Revised Standard Version

NT: New Testament

OT: Old Testament

PG: Patrologia Graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris

PL: Patrologia Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, Paris

RSV: The Bible, Revised Standard Version

SC: Sources Chrétiennes (Paris: Cerf)

Page 1 of 3
Common Abbreviations

Sent.: Peter Lombard, Sentences (I Sent., II Sent., III Sent., and IV Sent.)

ST: Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae (ST I; ST I-II; ST II-II; and ST III)

WCC: World Council of Churches

a.: article

ad: reply to an objection (in medieval works, e.g. ‘ad1’)

ch.: chapter

chs.: chapters

corp.: corpus (body of a response in a systematic work)

dist.: distinction

l.: line

ll.: line

lit.: literally

ms.: manuscript

parr.: parallels

(p. xii) pref.: preface

proem.: proemium

Pt. (or pt.): part

q.: question

resp.: responsio (response, main body of an article or of a question)

rev.: revised translation

Page 2 of 3
Common Abbreviations

s.v.: sub verso

v.: verse

vv.: verses

ST (in Amy Laura Hall's essay): Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love,
Short Text

LT (in Amy Laura Hall's essay): Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love, Long
Text

Page 3 of 3
Contributors

Contributors
The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity
Edited by Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering

Print Publication Date: Oct 2011 Subject: Religion Online Publication Date: Jan 2012

(p. xiii) Contributors

Khaled Anatolios is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at the Boston Col­

lege School of Theology and Ministry.

Lewis Ayres holds the Bede Chair in Catholic Theology at the University of Durham.

Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt is Associate Professor of Theology at Loyola

University Maryland and a deacon of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

François Bœspflug, O.P., is Professor of the History of Religions at the Faculty of

Catholic Theology of the University of Strasbourg, where he has taught since 1990.
He also teaches at the Centre Sèvres (Paris), and he held the Chair of the Louvre
(Paris) in 2010.

Romanus Cessario, O.P., teaches theology at the Boston seminary, Saint John's in
Brighton, and is a Socio Ordinario of the Pontificia Accademia San Tommaso
d’Aquino in Rome.

Page 1 of 7
Contributors

Ellen T. Charry is the Margaret W. Harmon Professor of Theology at Princeton The­

ological Seminary.

Gavin D’Costa is Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. He has

published six books on interreligious dialogues and advises the Catholic Church in
Britain and the Vatican on interreligious dialogue.

Emmanuel Durand, O.P., teaches systematic theology at the Institut Catholique in

Paris. He specializes in the study of Trinitarian theology and Christology.

Mark Edwards is Tutor in Theology at Christ Church, Oxford and Lecturer in Patris­
tics in the Theology Faculty of Oxford University.

Gilles Emery, O.P., is Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the University of Fribourg,

Switzerland. He is a member of the International Theological Commission of the
Catholic Church.

Karl Christian Felmy, Doctor honoris causa of the Moscow Theological Academy
(2005) and of the Bucharest Theological Faculty (2008), is Emeritus Professor of His­
tory and Theology of the Christian East at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

David Fergusson is Professor of Divinity and Principal of New College at the Uni­
versity of Edinburgh. He is the author of Faith and its Critics.

Russell L. Friedman is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Katholieke

(p. xiv)

Universiteit Leuven (Belgium).

Page 2 of 7
Contributors

Simon Gathercole is Lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of Cam­

bridge, and Fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge.

Amy Laura Hall is Associate Professor at Duke University Divinity School and an or­
dained elder in the United Methodist Church.

Nonna Verna Harrison is an Orthodox nun and theologian and an experienced pa­
tristics scholar.

Stephen M. Hildebrand is Associate Professor of Theology at Franciscan Universi­

ty of Steubenville, received his doctorate in Historical Theology from Fordham Uni­
versity.

Vincent Holzer is Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at the Institut

Catholique in Paris and a corresponding member of the Pontifical Academy of Theol­
ogy (Rome).

George Hunsinger is the Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theolo­

gy at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the president of the Karl Barth Society of
North America.

Daniel A. Keating is Associate Professor of Theology at Sacred Heart Major Semi­

nary in Detroit, MI, and the author of The Appropriation of Divine Life in Cyril of
Alexandria.

Fergus Kerr, O.P., holds an honorary fellowship in the School of Divinity at the Uni­
versity of Edinburgh. He serves as the Director of the Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars,
Oxford, and is the editor of New Blackfriars.

Page 3 of 7
Contributors

Ulrich L. Lehner, Dr. Theol. (Univ. Regensburg), is Assistant Professor of Church

History and Historical Theology at Marquette University. He is the author and editor
of several books about Early Modern religious history.

Matthew Levering is Professor of Theology at the University of Dayton. He is co-ed­

itor of the English edition of the quarterly journal Nova et Vetera.

Andrew Louth is currently Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies in the Uni­
versity of Durham, UK.

Bruce D. Marshall holds the Lehman Chair of Christian Doctrine and is Director of
the Graduate Program in Religious Studies at the Perkins School of Theology, South­
ern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.

Charles Morerod, O.P., Dominican priest from Switzerland, is Professor at the Pon­
tifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), Rome. He is also the General
Secretary of the International Theological Commission (Rome).

Francesca Aran Murphy is Professor of Theology at the University of Notre

(p. xv)

Dame. Formerly she was Professor of Christian Philosophy at the University of Ab­
erdeen.

Aidan Nichols, O.P., is a priest of the English Province of the Order of Preachers.
He has written extensively on various aspects of historical and dogmatic theology, as
well as on ecumenical issues and the relation of the Church to the arts.

Page 4 of 7
Contributors

Lauge O. Nielsen is Professor of Church History at the Faculty of Theology in the

University of Copenhagen.

Cyril O’Regan is the Huisking Professor of Theology at the University of Notre

Dame. He specializes in Catholic systematic theology and also works in the area of
philosophy of Religion.

Aristotle Papanikolaou is Associate Professor of Theology and co-founding Direc­

tor of the Orthodox Christian Studies Program at Fordham University.

Dominique Poirel is Researcher at the Institut de Recherche et d’Histoire des

Textes (C.N.R.S., Paris) and Lecturer at the École Pratique des Hautes Études.

Samuel M. Powell has taught at Point Loma Nazarene University since 1986. He is
the editor (with Michael Lodahl) of Embodied Holiness, and the author of The Trinity
in German Thought.

C. Kavin Rowe is Associate Professor of New Testament at Duke University Divinity

School. He was recently awarded a Lilly Faculty Fellowship, the Louisville Institute's
Christian Faith and Life Grant, and the John Templeton Prize for Theological
Promise.

Tracey Rowland is Associate Professor and Dean of the John Paul II Institute in Mel­
bourne, Australia and a Permanent Fellow in Political Philosophy and Continental
Theology.

Risto Saarinen is Professor of Ecumenics at the University of Helsinki. Since 1994

he has been a member of the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission.

Page 5 of 7
Contributors

Christopher Seitz is Research Professor of Biblical Interpretation at Wycliffe Col­

lege in the University of Toronto. He is the author of numerous books on Isaiah, the
Book of the Twelve, prophecy, and Old and New Testament method and hermeneu­
tics.

J. Warren Smith is Associate Professor of Historical Theology at the Duke Divinity

School. A minister in the United Methodist Church, he specializes in patristic theolo­
gy.

Scott R. Swain is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theologi­

cal Seminary in Orlando, Florida.

Kathryn Tanner has taught theology in the Religious Studies Department at Yale
University and for many years at the University of Chicago Divinity School. She is
currently Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School.

(p. xvi) Rudi A. te Velde is Lecturer in Philosophy at the Faculty of Catholic Theolo­
gy at the University of Tilburg; he also holds the Catholic Radboud Foundation Chair
of Philosophy and Christianity in the Department of Philosophy of the University of
Amsterdam.

Geoffrey Wainwright, a British Methodist, studied in Cambridge, Geneva, and

Rome. Since 1983 he has been Professor of Systematic Theology at Duke University.

Joseph Wawrykow teaches the history of patristic and medieval theology at the Uni­
versity of Notre Dame (USA), specializing in the thirteenth-century scholastics.

Page 6 of 7
Contributors

Thomas G. Weinandy, O.F.M., Cap., is currently the Executive Director of the Sec­
retariat for Doctrine at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washing­
ton, DC.

Ben Witherington III is Professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Semi­

nary. He has authored a scholarly commentary on each of the books of the New Tes­
tament.

Page 7 of 7
Introduction

Introduction
Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering
The Oxford Handbook of the Trinity
Edited by Gilles Emery and Matthew Levering

Print Publication Date: Oct 2011

Subject: Religion, Christianity, Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Online Publication Date: Jan 2012 DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199557813.003.0001

Abstract and Keywords

This introductory article discusses the theme of this volume, which is about the history of
Trinitarian theology. This volume is divided into seven sections that cover general topics,
including the Trinity in Scripture, patristic witnesses to the Trinitarian faith and medieval
appropriations of the Trinitarian faith. It provides a valuable ecumenical overview of the
key theological and philosophical discussions relating to the Trinity and reflects on the
practical import of Trinitarian theology in the liturgy, art, and politics. It also charts the
development of theological doctrine from the New Testament writings through the patris­
tic medieval, Reformation, modern, and contemporary periods of Trinitarian reflection.

Keywords: Trinitarian theology, Scripture, patristic witness, Trinitarian faith, liturgy, art, politics, New Testament,
Reformation

THE development of Trinitarian theology constitutes one of the characteristic traits of

contemporary theology. This development is a complex phenomenon that one can observe
at least since the 1960s. It is often characterized as a ‘renewal’ or a ‘rediscovery’, but his­
torical studies invite us to nuance this judgement, because in reality reflection on the
Trinity has never ceased to be fruitful and to give rise to new approaches. It is perhaps
more exact to speak of ‘development’ in order to describe the scope and multiplication of
recent publications in this domain. This development is still ongoing, and it is probably
too early to speak of a ‘maturity’: the enquiry continues to feel its way forward, and has
not yet born full fruit. This Handbook bears witness to the enquiry that characterizes con­
temporary Trinitarian thought.

While recognizing the great diversity of the currents within this development, one can ob­
serve certain fundamental elements common to the contemporary enquiry:

(1) The Trinity is not a mystery among others, but it constitutes the central mystery
of Christian faith and should illumine the entirety of the Christian life. The Trinity is
the mystery of salvation, as Karl Rahner vigorously reminded us: ‘The Trinity is a
mystery of salvation, otherwise it would never have been revealed’ (Rahner 2001: 21;

Page 1 of 12
Introduction

italics in original). Trinitarian theology is situated at the heart of a nexus that is indis­
pensable for understanding its meaning: the liturgy (which, in the concrete life of
Christians, certainly has the first place), biblical exegesis, the dogmatic and moral
ecclesial tradition, the teaching of the saints, the historical inheritance of the great
theological syntheses, the necessary recourse to philosophy for expositing the faith,
the task of preaching and the proclamation of the faith, relationships to politics and
society, and the encounter with non-Christian cultures and religions. The fundamen­
tal nexus, formulated in an exemplary way by St Basil of Caesarea in the fourth cen­
tury, is constituted by the sacraments (baptism), the confession of faith (creed), and
the ecclesial prayer (doxology), ‘in conformity with the meaning of the Scriptures’:
(p. 2)

As we are baptized, so, also, do we believe; as we believe, so, also, do we give

glory. Therefore, since baptism has been given to us by the Savior in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, we offer a confes­
sion of faith consistent with our baptism, and also the doxology consistent
with our faith, glorifying the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son (Letter
159, in Basil of Caesarea 1981: 313; emphasis ours).

(2) Trinitarian theology is intrinsically connected to Christology. Contemporary re­

flection seeks to avoid the dichotomy that separated what is ‘Trinitarian’ from what
is ‘Christological’. On the one hand, contemporary works often underscore that Je­
sus’ Pasch (passion, death, resurrection, ascension, pentecost) is the ‘place’ par ex­
cellence of the revelation of the Trinity, without forgetting the presence and action of
the Spirit in the life of Christ (‘pneumatic Christology’). On the other hand, Jesus’
words and actions, which the New Testament teaches, only possess their full mean­
ing in light of faith in the Trinity.
(3) Trinitarian faith is not limited to illuminating the sphere of redemption and salva­
tion, but it equally concerns creation: the doctrine of creation calls for a properly
Trinitarian consideration.
(4) The majority of studies—not only the systematic works but also the biblical and
histories studies—pay attention to the problematic of the unity and distinction be­
tween the ‘economic Trinity’ and the ‘immanent Trinity’ (or, if one prefers, between
the Trinity in its work of creation and grace, and the Trinity in its inner life). The
question of the relationships between the Trinity and history is often found at the
centre of contemporary writing on the Trinity.
(5) The majority of studies also pay special attention to the complex question of the
relationships between holy Scripture and dogma (conciliar formulations of dogma) as
regards the Trinity.
(6) For related reasons, the separation between a treatise ‘De Deo uno’ (the one
essence of God) and a treatise ‘De Deo trino’ (God as Trinity) is most often avoided—
which does not negate the legitimacy of studies on the divine attributes common to
the three divine persons. An important debate remains open here: how to link Trini­
tarian theology with ‘philosophical theology’?

Page 2 of 12
Introduction

(7) Patristic doctrines today receive renewed attention in order to understand and
express the monotheism proper to Christian Trinitarian faith, not only because of
contemporary religious pluralism, but also in critical reaction to the hubris of the ide­
alist subjectivity that has marked the modern conception of God (God as the Absolute
Spirit which expresses itself in the human spirit).
(8) Ecumenical discussions of the Holy Spirit, especially between the eastern and
western traditions (Filioque, divine energies), exercise a determinative role in con­
temporary reflections, beyond that of ecumenical studies in the strict sense.
(9) Interreligious dialogue, along with the dialogue of Christianity with cultures
(without forgetting the confrontation of Christianity with atheism, which today en­
joys a revival in western societies), likewise plays a role whose importance continues
to increase.

Writing on the Trinity is not limited to books and essays that are devoted exclusive­
(p. 3)

ly to the doctrine of the Trinity. Simplifying a little, one can observe three principal cate­
gories of studies (cf. Durand 2010: 9–10).

(1) New ‘treatises’ devoted to the mystery of the Trinity are not numerous. Only a
few theologians, such as Karl Barth, Michael Schmaus, Karl Rahner, and Jürgen
Moltmann, have formally undertaken this task.
(2) Many theologians have placed the consideration of the Trinitarian mystery at the
centre of their dogmatic proposals (for example Eberhard Jüngel, Hans Urs von
Balthasar, Wohlfart Pannenberg, Robert Jenson).
(3) More broadly, numerous books and essays in recent decades have treated partic­
ular aspects of Trinitarian doctrine (consider, for instance, the works of the French
theologians Louis Bouyer and Yves Congar) or particular periods of the history of
Trinitarian doctrines (for example Thomas F. Torrance, Lewis Ayres).

Little by little, in diverse fields of theological reflection, works have appeared that at­
tempt to realize that programme that, already in 1952, Hans Urs von Balthasar had in
view: ‘Christian proclamation in the school, from the pulpit, and in the lecture halls of the
universities could be so much more alive, if all the theological tractates were given a com­
plete trinitarian form!’ (Balthasar 1993: 29; italics in the English translation)—‘Wie
lebendig könnte die christliche Verkündigung in der Schule, von der Kanzel, auf den
Kathedern sein, wenn alle theologischen Traktate trinitarisch duchrformt
wären!’ (Balthasar 1952: 18). Henceforth one sees develop Trinitarian Christologies and
treatises on creation structured in a Trinitarian manner. Still more, essays on ‘Trinitarian
ontology’ express in a striking way the search for a unified understanding of all reality in
light of faith in the Trinity. In addition to these new efforts, it appears more and more
clearly that the doctrine of the Trinity goes beyond purely instrumental usages and that it
should avoid ‘functionalization’, in order to become again what it is in the New Testa­
ment: the Christian teaching on God, with regard to the vivid knowledge of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit who is the very object of Revelation and therefore of all Christian
theology.

Page 3 of 12
Introduction

One domain of research seems, however, to be developed in a particularly extensive way:

that of historical studies. The present Handbook wished to honour this aspect: 18 contri­
butions of this volume are devoted to the patristic, medieval, and modern history of Trini­
tarian theology. The interest in history is not surprising because, on this topic perhaps
more than any other, reference to the dogmatic tradition and to theological traditions
plays a determinative role. What one means by ‘Trinitarian faith’ can hardly be under­
stood outside of reference to the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople and to their re­
ception: the doctrine of the Trinity is indissociably connected to the reading of Scripture
through the ecclesial and theological traditions, with the result that the development of
Trinitarian theology today appears generally as a creative reappropriation of the patristic
and medieval sources. In this history, a special place rightly belongs to the patristic peri­
od, but the medieval period also deserves particular attention, both because of the exten­
sions of patristic thought that it offers (continuity), and because of (p. 4) the creative syn­
theses that it shows (newness). There is no ‘blank space’ between the patristic age and
the era of the Reformation. In the same way, contrary to certain widespread prejudices,
the modern period reveals itself to be surprisingly fecund in this domain. The modern pe­
riod is characterized especially by the arrival of history, under two principal aspects.
First, Trinitarian enquiry has been marked since the seventeenth century by the impact of
the historical method, and then by history as a theological discipline—under the name
‘historical theology’ since the beginning of the twentieth century. Second, the develop­
ment of systematic Trinitarian theology owes much to ‘philosophies of history’, in particu­
lar that of Hegel, which have considerably influenced the destiny of Trinitarian theology,
although the consequences are ambiguous (Holzer 2008; for a critical reflection on this
subject, see Ayres 2004: 384–429). The modern period presented other challenges, in par­
ticular one that involves the notion of ‘person’ and that at times gave rise—paradoxically
—to a ‘depersonalization’ of the Trinity. The impact of the notion of ‘person’ derived from
seventeenth-century philosophy appears already in the controversies of that epoch, in
England, between Unitarians and Trinitarians (Dixon 2003; Libera 2007: 101–23). In ana­
lytic philosophy today, the notion of ‘person’ is often defined by the capacity for self-re­
flection or by the matrix of representation and recognition, in either case posing a chal­
lenge for theological thought (Allard 2010).

In contemporary theology, the principal ‘theological loci’ are Trinity and creation, Trinity
and history, Trinity and monotheism, Trinity and Christology, Trinity and grace, and more
broadly Trinity and human life (ethics, society, interreligious dialogue, politics and cul­
ture). All these theological loci are connected to biblical, liturgical, patristic, and histori­
cal renewals—without forgetting the revival of the eschatological dimension of biblical
faith. It is clear that the liturgical renewal and communion ecclesiology, for example, are
not posterior in time to the development of Trinitarian enquiry: we are dealing with con­
comitant movements. Thus, for over a century, ecclesiology has been marked by an effort
to renew itself from a Trinitarian perspective. It is necessary finally to note that contem­
porary Trinitarian theology is no longer presented under the rubric of a unified doctrine
and language. Formerly, St Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, elaborat­
ed different Trinitarian theologies, but their theological language and their references

Page 4 of 12
Introduction

were similar: they spoke the same theological language, on the basis of common sources
and with a common method. This no longer happens today. The diversification of lan­
guages, methods, and theological and philosophical sources is certainly a cause of a real
difficulty, for students as well as for teachers, with respect to a unified presentation of
faith in the Trinity. Trinitarian theology has also been widely freed from its connection to
the literary genre of the theological manual, in order to appear in works that bear the
marks of their authors and their own intellectual enquiry. This phenomenon, as one would
expect, brings today a diversification of points of view, to which this Handbook bears wit­
ness in its way. We have sought to offer readers essays that do justice to this diversifica­
tion of points of view, while also offering, in so far as possible, a coherent ensemble. The
present Handbook is not a theologically neutral encyclopaedia, but rather (p. 5) presents
contributions from scholars who differ on many points but who generally agree in work­
ing out their Trinitarian theology in relation to the Nicene faith. This Handbook thus of­
fers not only a contribution to those who wish to know the history of Trinitarian theology,
but it also reveals the Nicene unity still at work among Christians today despite the pres­
ence of ecumenical differences and the variety of theological perspectives.

The chapters that follow are divided into seven parts covering seven general topics: the
Trinity in Scripture, Patristic witnesses to the Trinitarian faith, Medieval appropriations
of the Trinitarian faith, From the Reformation to the Twentieth century, Trinitarian Dog­
matics, the Trinity and Christian life, and dialogues.

1. The Trinity in Scripture

This first section considers Trinitarian doctrine in Christian Scripture, which attained
canonical form during the same period in which Trinitarian doctrine was taking shape.
Khaled Anatolios shows that the fluidity of the canon in the first centuries does not ap­
pear to have affected Trinitarian doctrine. Yet the development of the notion of ‘canonici­
ty’ itself speaks to the understanding of revelation at work in the development of Trinitar­
ian doctrine, and the canon of Scripture also provides certain norms that shaped the de­
velopment of Trinitarian doctrine, such as the identity of the God of the Old Testament
with the God of the New, the rule of faith as an interpretive key, the Christological read­
ing of Scripture, and the understanding of history in light of missions of Christ and the
Holy Spirit. Exploring the topic of the Trinity in the Old Testament, Christopher Seitz be­
gins by noting the history-of-religions approach, which correlates certain developments
within Israel's worship of one God with what Christians identified as distinct hypostases
in God. Seitz proposes an alternative approach, namely that of recognizing that descrip­
tions of Israel's God may have not only a referent within ancient Israel but also, in God's
providence, a further divinely intended referent. The latter referent is not extrinsic to the
former, because it is the pressure of the affirmations about Israel's one God, in light of
the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, that lead Christians to identify Jesus and the Spirit
in Trinitarian fashion. Kavin Rowe takes up the Trinity in the Pauline epistles and He­
brews. Rather than seeking ‘proof-texts’ or studying the implications of particular words
as applied to Jesus, Rowe suggests that the narrative fabric of the books sets forth an id­
Page 5 of 12
Introduction

iom, a grammar or logic, that can only be rightly interpreted through Trinitarian concep­
tions. Examining the synoptic Gospels and Acts, Simon Gathercole begins with the point
that the God and Father of Jesus Christ is the one God of Israel, the Creator who chose Is­
rael and promised to restore her to holiness. The synoptic Gospels include Jesus within
the divine name and attribute to him the divine power of electing and forgiving, as well as
pre-existence, although the synoptic Gospels also indicate that the Son receives every­
thing from the Father. The risen Jesus gives the Spirit, whose divine (p. 6) personal
agency appears particularly in Acts. In his essay on the Gospel of John, the Epistles of
John, and Revelation, Ben Witherington III argues that John does not simply derive his Fa­
ther language from the Jewish wisdom literature (despite its recognizable influence), but
instead has in view the Son's relationship to his Father. After the Ascension, the Son's
agency on behalf of the Father is continued by the Spirit's agency on behalf of the Father.
Thus the Book of Revelation depicts the Father and the Son sitting on the divine throne
while the Spirit dwells in the Church. Bringing this section to a close, Mark Edwards
unites it to the next section by exploring how exegesis of Scripture, against the Gnostics’
rejection of the Old Testament and in the face of other heterodox currents, led to the lan­
guage in which Trinitarian doctrine was formulated during the first centuries of the
Church.

2. Patristic Witnesses to the Trinitarian Faith

Discussing the Trinity in the pre-Nicene Fathers, Stephen Hildebrand traces the evolution
of Trinitarian thought from Apostolic Fathers like Ignatius of Antioch through the Apolo­
gists (St Justin Martyr, Theophilus of Antioch) to the great theologians of the late second
and early third centuries: under the pressure of Gnostic and Monarchian theologies, a re­
fining of theological language within a more systematic approach characterizes the work
of Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian; the dominant themes are the
Trinity in the economy, the emergence of a theology of the Spirit, the theological appro­
priation of Greek philosophical thought in an effort to explain the faith handed down, and
the emergence of Trinitarian technical vocabulary. Warren Smith offers a nuanced ac­
count of the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies. He shows how these fundamentally
exegetical controversies began with Arius’ insistence on the unique divine prerogatives of
the Father and continued with decades of debate over the appropriateness of the word
‘homoousios’, which had been rejected by third-century synods in Antioch because of con­
cerns about modalism. Lewis Ayres presents the Trinitarian theology of Augustine, struc­
tured around the Father's begetting of the Word that breathes forth Love. Ayres identifies
the roots of Augustine's theology in the Latin anti-modalist tradition and in his apprecia­
tion of God's transcendent simplicity, and Ayres sets forth Augustine's emphasis on the
salvific missions as drawing us into the mystery of the divine processions. Andrew Louth
examines Trinitarian theology in the fifth through the eighth centuries, with particular at­
tention to Cyril of Alexandria as a consolidator of Cappadocian doctrine, Dionysius the
Areopagite with his emphasis on God as ever greater, Maximus the Confessor whose em­
phasis lies on the transformation of the soul brought about by contemplating the Trinity,
and John Damascene who roots his Trinitarian doctrine in the unity of God. Louth points
Page 6 of 12
Introduction

out the importance of hymnody for transmitting Trinitarian doctrine, and he notes the im­
pact of the rise of Islam.

3. Medieval Appropriations of the Trinitari­

(p. 7)

an Faith
Discussing the period between 800 and 1100 in the West, Lauge Nielsen highlights four
figures: Alcuin, Gottschalk, John Scotus Eriugena, and Anselm. Alcuin's work on the ‘undi­
vided Trinity’ defends the Augustinian emphasis on the divine unity, whereas Eriugena
draws on Greek Orthodox theology to emphasize the proper mode of action of the divine
persons. Anselm relies upon the Augustinian image and defends the Filioque against
Greek theologians. Dominique Poirel treats twelfth-century theologians in the West, most
notably Peter Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, Richard of St Victor, and Peter Lombard.
Poirel examines the multiplication of models used to think about the Trinity: the triad
‘power—wisdom—goodness’, images in the human soul, traces in visible creation, inter­
personal love. Despite tensions at the beginning of the period, these efforts draw toward
a richer doctrine, notably toward the theory of Trinitarian ‘appropriations’. Expositing
Bonaventure and Aquinas, Joseph Wawrykow underscores the centrality of Trinitarian
theology for both theologians and highlights their areas of agreement as well as their dis­
tinctive features: Bonaventure puts the good and love at the heart of his account of God,
and emphasizes the primacy of the Father; especially important in Aquinas’ teaching is
his understanding of divine persons in terms of ‘subsistent relations’. Russell Friedman
describes two distinct ways in the late thirteenth century of talking about the ‘constitu­
tion’ of the divine persons, one based on ‘relations’, the other on ‘emanations’. Friedman
focuses especially on John Duns Scotus and sketches two important fourteenth-century
developments: the denial that the Trinitarian mystery can be explained in any significant
sense, and innovations in Trinitarian logic. Byzantine theologies of the Trinity from the
ninth through the fifteenth centuries are traced by Karl Christian Felmy. After attending
briefly to liturgical hymnody and art, he explores the controversy over the Filioque with
particular attention to the ninth-century Patriarch of Constantinople Photius. He also
treats, less-known authors and the Trinitarian doctrine of Gregory Palamas, whose ap­
proach he shows to have similarities with that of Augustine except as regards the Filioque
and the divine energies.

4. The Reformation to the Twentieth Century

Our fourth section moves from the Reformers and the Baroque period to the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. These latter centuries are treated in seven essays, on the
grounds that the influence of these centuries is decisive for much contemporary study of
the Trinity. Scott Swain's study of the Reformers on the Trinity highlights their effort, in
light (p. 8) of the new exegetical modes arising with the Renaissance, to articulate Trini­
tarian doctrine biblically with a focus on the economy of salvation rather than on meta­
physical or logical debates per se, although the Reformers engaged in those too when
Page 7 of 12
Introduction

necessary. Ulrich Lehner examines both Catholic and Protestant Trinitarian theology from
1550 to 1770, from the mystical visions of Ignatius of Loyola to the Augustinian approach
of Jonathan Edwards. Lehner also attends to the growing variety of eclectic views and to
the influence of anti-Trinitarian thinkers, beginning with Michael Servetus and Faustus
Socinus. Cyril O’Regan examines how Immanuel Kant marginalizes Trinitarian doctrine,
and he also explores the use made by G. W. F. Hegel and Friedrich Schelling (among oth­
ers) of triadic dynamisms. Indebted to Jacob Boehme, Hegel rejects a tri-personal divinity
in favour of a self-realizing triadic dynamic symbolized by the doctrine of the Trinity; the
later Schelling argues for divine tri-personal agency (‘semi-Arian’ in its orientation) that
is brought to completion in history. In his treatment of nineteenth-century Protestant
thought, Samuel Powell shows that Friedrich Schleiermacher had a major impact through
his view that traditional Trinitarian doctrine is abstracted from the experience of salva­
tion, an impact reflected in Isaac Dorner's effort to develop a Trinitarian theology on the
basis of analysis of the ethical or supreme good (indebted also to Kant) and in Johann von
Hofmann's emphasis on the history of salvation (indebted also to Hegel). Aidan Nichols's
exposition of nineteenth-century Catholic theology moves from the Roman scholasticism
of Giovanni Perrone to the Tübingen School's emphasis on the Trinity's manifestation in
history to Matthias Joseph Scheeben's creatively Augustinian approach to divine Persons
and nature, with attention as well to lesser figures and to the mystical theology of Eliza­
beth of the Trinity.

Focusing on Karl Barth but also commenting on Jürgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg,
and Eberhard Jüngel, George Hunsinger credits Barth with placing the revelation of the
Trinity at the foundation of his dogmatics and with insisting that God's attributes (in his
unity) be thought through only in relation to prior Trinitarian and soteriological reflec­
tion. Vincent Holzer argues that Karl Rahner's and Hans Urs von Balthasar's Trinitarian
theology arises from a more fully historical theology of grace derived from Maurice
Blondel. Rahner and von Balthasar attempt to reintegrate the more abstract notion of the
divine essence into the historical revelation of the Trinity, Rahner through the self-com­
munication of God rooted in the gracious dynamism that is our created spiritual existence
and von Balthasar through his Trinitarian dramatics in which the Son undergoes the
wrath of the Father for us. Exploring contemporary Orthodox Trinitarian theology, Aristo­
tle Papanikolaou highlights the influence of Sergius Bulgakov, Vladimir Lossky, and John
Zizioulas. Bulgakov conceives of the Trinity in terms of the actualization, in the Holy Spir­
it, of the self-revelation of the Father in the Son—in which process the tri-hypostatic be­
ing of God is revealed as Sophia in eternal communion with humanity (the world's ‘sophi­
anicity’). Lossky holds that the Trinity is revealed in the Incarnation of Christ, an ‘antino­
mic’ truth (the non-opposition of opposites) that requires, against both Bulgakov and
scholasticism, an apophatic and mystical theology. In his theology of Trinitarian commu­
nion, Zizioulas adopts Lossky's emphasis on the monarchy of the Father and on person­
hood as freedom from the (p. 9) limitations of nature, but distances himself from Lossky's
apophaticism and neo-Palamite commitment to the essence/energies distinction. Fergus
Kerr inquires into the surprisingly limited interactions of theologians with the analytic
philosophy that has dominated English-speaking universities for the past half-century.

Page 8 of 12
Introduction

5. Trinitarian Dogmatics
The biblical and historical studies of the previous four sections make clear that Trinitari­
an reflection has consistently been at the centre of constructive Christian theology. What
might contemporary Trinitarian dogmatics look like? The fifth section seeks to answer
this question by treating, in order, the dogmatic place of the Trinity; the role of reflection
on the divine unity and analogous naming in Trinitarian theology; the theology of the Fa­
ther, Son, and Holy Spirit; the Trinity, creation, and the human person; the Trinity and the
sacramental Body of Christ; and deification. Kathryn Tanner shows that the dogmatic
place of the Trinity arises in the early Church from reading the New Testament's testimo­
ny to the relationships and activities of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What came to be au­
thoritative Christian teaching about the Trinity involves the convergence of biblical inter­
pretation and theological pressures fundamental to Christian concerns about salvation in
Christ. Rudi te Velde notes that the notion of a ‘personal’ God is presently in crisis in the
West, and he explores what it means to apply the notion of ‘person’ analogously to God,
with particular attention to intra-Trinitarian relationship and to the creation of persons
made for relationship with each other and God. Emmanuel Durand underscores the es­
chatological ultimacy of the Father, fecund source of the Son and Holy Spirit and first
principle of all Trinitarian action ad extra. This resituates the theology of Christ and of
the Holy Spirit within the context of a Trinitarian and paternal theocentrism. Thomas
Weinandy exhibits the Nicene affirmations that are central to all further teaching about
the Son, and he explores the relationship between the divine Son and all those who are
created and recreated in the image and likeness of the Son. Bruce Marshall underscores
that a Trinitarian pneumatology treats primarily the identity of the Holy Spirit and the
Spirit's distinctive work in creation and redemption. Regarding the first issue, he shows
two alternatives: one, exemplified by Aquinas, finds the identity of the Spirit in his rela­
tion of origin to the Father and Son; the other, exemplified by Scotus, finds the Spirit's
identity in his unique way of originating from the Father. The Spirit's place in the saving
work of the Trinity lies especially in his immediate indwelling by grace. Risto Saarinen
outlines some traditional and contemporary views of the human being as an image of
God, and discusses the analogical relationships between the triune God and creation, fo­
cusing on the problem of avoiding anthropomorphism; in this light he examines contem­
porary theologies that seek to affirm ontological links between the Trinity and created re­
alities. With ecumenical and interreligious conversations in view, Charles Morerod argues
that the theology of (p. 10) the Church requires first not an account of its visible struc­
tures but an account of how humans, through the missions of Christ and the Holy Spirit,
come to share in the relationships of the divine Persons. Daniel Keating emphasizes that
faith and the sacraments bring about real transformation through the indwelling of the
Spirit and adoptive sonship in the Son, so that Christians already live in the Trinity.

Page 9 of 12
Introduction

6. The Trinity and Christian Life

Keating's essay forms a bridge from the dogmatic to the practical import of the doctrine
of the Trinity. This practical import is no modern discovery, as Geoffrey Wainwright shows
by beginning his essay on the Trinity in liturgy and preaching with Basil the Great's Trini­
tarian doxology. Wainwright shows how doxologies, preaching, and hymnody developed to
foster Christians’ worship in accordance with the Trinitarian and mediatorial patterns
found in the New Testament. François Bœspflug examines the theology of Trinitarian im­
ages and distinguishes five periods in Trinitarian iconography, cataloguing a vast array of
artistic representations whose peak occurs in the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries.
Romanus Cessario depicts the moral life in terms of the creative Trinity and human par­
ticipation, as the created image of God, in the eternal law—a participation that through
grace (which brings forth not only the infused virtues but also the gifts of the Holy Spirit)
becomes filial conformity to God the Trinity in truth and charity, whose glorious consum­
mation is sketched in the beatitudes. Amy Laura Hall takes up Julian of Norwich's writ­
ings with a focus on Julian's context of the black plague and her insistence that in the
Trinity all things will be well, a vision that inspires moral and physical solidarity with
‘contagious’ outsiders today. Weaving together the insights of such figures as Thomas
Aquinas, John Owen, John Henry Newman, and Hans Urs von Balthasar, Francesca Mur­
phy explores prayer as requiring the confluence of invocation and meditation, made pos­
sible in various forms (personal and liturgical) by real assent to God revealing himself in
the humanity of Christ as the Mediator/intercessor/propitiator and inspiring us by his
Spirit. Examining the Trinity and feminism, Nonna Verna Harrison argues that the use of
feminine metaphors to describe God should not lead to a rejection or replacement of the
names for the Trinity given in Scripture and Tradition, since divine paternity does not
mean that the immaterial Father is male. The generation of the Son is a model for both
human motherhood and fatherhood. The Son, incarnate in a woman's womb and as a
man, redeems and sanctifies all humankind: like a mother and like a bridegroom, he en­
ters into deep relationships of love with men and women alike. Frederick Christian Bauer­
schmidt critiques social Trinitarianism on the grounds that it grants too much to Kant's
reduction of religion to the sphere of practical reason, and he goes on to show that the
true political relevance of the doctrine of the Trinity consists in the fruitfulness of our
participation in the Trinitarian life of God as it is revealed to us.

(p. 11) 7. Dialogues

Does Trinitarian reflection play a significant role in ecumenical dialogue? Does it pose a
hindrance or a help to interreligious dialogue and to engagement of postmodern culture?
David Fergusson shows how the agreement of Christians regarding the doctrine of the
Trinity has stimulated efforts to extend this agreement to other areas of faith and prac­
tice (doctrinal, liturgical, and moral) informed by Trinitarian reflection. Fergusson also
evaluates important contributions in this regard by George Lindbeck and Robert Jenson,
among others. Examining Jewish-Christian dialogue regarding the doctrine of God, Ellen

Page 10 of 12
Introduction

Charry explores two encounters that occurred during the patristic and medieval periods
and two encounters that occurred in the past thirty years. While the former two encoun­
ters were hampered by Christian inability to articulate the doctrine of the Trinity, the lat­
ter two show signs of promise, in part because both the Jewish and the Christian partici­
pants share a debt to Martin Buber, Franz Rosenzweig, and Abraham Heschel. Gavin
D’Costa raises concerns about the approaches of Karl Rahner, Jacques Dupuis, and
Raimundo Panikkar to the Trinity and non-Christian religions, and he instead argues for
explicitly Trinitarian and Christological approaches to these religions in terms of praepa­
ratio evangelica, semina Verbi, and vestigia Trinitatis. Building upon recent critiques of
modernity from theologians such as John Milbank and David Schindler, Tracey Rowland
proposes that Trinitarian love infuses culture with a self-giving and teleological order that
overcomes the ongoing mechanization and monetization of culture. An example of this re­
newal through self-giving love can be found in Pope John Paul II's theology of marriage
and the family. Lastly, by way of conclusion, the editors of this volume present some brief
Prospects for Trinitarian Theology.

References Mentioned in the Introduction

ALLARD, MAXIME (2010), ‘Régimes analytiques et postmodernes pour De la Trinité’, in
Emmanuel Durand and Vincent Holzer (eds.) Les réalisations du renouveau de la théolo­
gie trinitaire au XXe siècle (Paris: Cerf), 301–32.

AYRES, LEWIS (2004), Nicaea and its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitari­
an Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

BALTHASAR, HANS URS VON (1952), Schleifung der Bastionen: Von der Kirche in
dieser Welt (Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag).

—— (1993), Razing the Bastions: On the Church in This Age, trans. Brian McNeil (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press).

BASIL OF CAESAREA, SAINT (1981), Letters, vol. 1: Letters 1–185, trans. Sister Agnes
Clare Way (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press).

DIXON, PHILIP (2003), ‘Nice and Hot Disputes’: The Doctrine of the Trinity in the
Seventeenth Century (London: T. & T. Clark). (p. 12)

DURAND, EMMANUEL (2010), ‘Introduction: Les principaux foyers du renouveau trini­

taire’, in Emmanuel Durand and Vincent Holzer (eds.) Les réalisations du renouveau de la
théologie trinitaire au XXe siècle (Paris: Cerf), 9–14.

HOLZER, VINCENT (2008), ‘Ouverture: Le renouveau de la théologie trinitaire au XXe

siècle’, in Emmanuel Durand and Vincent Holzer (eds.) Les sources du renouveau de la
théologie trinitaire au XXe siècle (Paris: Cerf), 9–16.

LIBERA, ALAIN DE (2007), Archéologie du sujet, vol. 1: Naissance du sujet (Paris: J.

Vrin).

Page 11 of 12
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Portuguese
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Title: Portuguese portraits

Author: Aubrey F. G. Bell

Release date: May 31, 2022 [eBook #68210]

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

PORTUGUESE PORTRAITS ***
PORTUGUESE PORTRAITS
 By the same Author
THE MAGIC OF SPAIN, 1912.
IN PORTUGAL, 1912.
POEMS FROM THE PORTUGUESE, 1913.
STUDIES IN PORTUGUESE LITERATURE, 1914.
LYRICS OF GIL VICENTE, 1914.
PORTUGAL OF THE PORTUGUESE, 1915.

New York Agents

LONGMANS, GREEN & CO.
FOURTH AVENUE AND 30TH STREET
 NUN’ ALVAREZ.
From the earliest (1526) edition of the Cronica.
[Frontispiece.
 PORTUGUESE PORTRAITS
BY

AUBREY F. G. BELL

A notavel fama dos excelentes barões e muito antiguos antecessores dina de

perpetua lembrança
Duarte Pacheco Pereira, Esmeraldo

Oxford
B. H. BLACKWELL, BROAD STREET
MCMXVII
 TO

THE COUNTLESS FORGOTTEN HEROES

OF PORTUGAL
In burning sands or Ocean’s blinding silt,
In Africa, Asia, and the icy North,
They lie: yet came they home who thus went forth,
Since of their bones is all their country built.
 Preface
Not seven, nor seventy, names exhaust the tale of Portugal’s great
men. The reader need but turn to the fascinating pages of
Portuguese history. There he will find a plentiful feast set out before
him—the epic strife between Portuguese and Moor, Portuguese and
Spaniard, and deeds of high emprise in the foam of perilous seas
and the ever-mysterious lands of the East. His delight will be
impaired unless he can follow the events in detail in the chronicles
and histories of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and for this a
knowledge of Portuguese is requisite, since there are few
satisfactory translations. But it is as easy to acquire a sufficient
knowledge of Portuguese to read it with pleasure as it is difficult to
write or speak it.
There is a whole literature, often not less attractive in style than in
subject, of histories, memoirs, travels, accounts of wrecks and
sieges, recording the deeds of the Portuguese on and beyond the
seas. Of the battle of Ourique (1139) Portuguese historians have
loved to tell how the Moors numbered 600,000 (since to say 900,000
were an exaggeration) and how, heavy rain having fallen after the
battle, the streams that flowed into the far-distant Guadiana ran red
with blood. But there were scrupulous and moderate chroniclers like
Fernam Lopez and Azurara, and many of the historians of India were
sober writers whose narratives (those, for instance, of Fernam Lopez
de Castanheda, Diogo do Couto, and Gaspar Correa) bear the
stamp of truth while they delight the reader by their wealth of detail
and personal anecdote.
They may be pardoned for declaring that their heroes’
achievements outshone those of Greek and Roman. For indeed the
half-century (1498-1548) between the voyage of Vasco da Gama
and the death of Dom João de Castro is thick with names; the great
men tread on one another’s heels in the halls of fame, worthily
continuing the work of their predecessors during four centuries in
Portugal. Sousa, Mello, Meneses, Cunha, Castro, Noronha,
Mascarenhas, Coutinho, Pereira, Pacheco, Almeida, Azevedo, Sá,
Silva, Silveira—these are names the very catalogue of which must
be music to a Portuguese, and which would require a large volume
to chronicle in detail.
And many women hold a high place in Portuguese history, as the
Queen-Saint Elizabeth (or Isabel),[1] the stout-hearted bakeress of
Aljubarrota, Brites (Beatrice) de Almeida, who slew, if we are to trust
the tradition, seven Spaniards with her wooden baker’s shovel, or
the heroines of Diu.[2]
Among the men there is Affonso Henriquez, first King of Portugal,
half French by birth, and grandson of the Spanish King of Leon, but
in heart and action wholly Portuguese; loyal Egas Moniz; Gualdim
Paes and other legendary heroes in the conflict with the Moors which
transformed Portugal from a dependent province into a free
kingdom; and later, if not less legendary, Fernão Rodriguez
Pacheco, the astute defender of Celorico, who in starvation by a
miracle obtained a fish and sent it to the besieger to show that plenty
reigned in the town; or the defender of Coimbra, Martim Freitas,
heroically, almost quixotically loyal to the deposed King Sancho II.
On the sea the first to signalise himself was Fuas Roupinho, in the
twelfth century; and thenceforth Portugal never failed to produce
hardy if obscure seamen, to fish for cod in the Northern Seas or to
discover the west coast of Africa till Bartholomeu Diaz rounded the
Cape of Storms in 1487, and King João II rechristened it the Cape of
Good Hope.[3]
João II (1481-95), “the Perfect Prince,” or as Queen Isabella of
Spain more bluntly called him el hombre, “the man,” was one of a
series of great kings of the House of Avis, founded by João I (1385-
1433) “of good memory,” darling of the Lisbon people. João I was
succeeded by his eldest son, the noble but unfortunate student-king
Duarte (1433-8). Other brothers of Prince Henry the Navigator,
scarcely less famous, were the Infante Pedro, statesman and author,
who travelled through “the seven parts of the world,” and the Infante
Fernando, who died slowly with saintly patient heroism as a prisoner
of the Moors in Africa.
Under Manoel I (1495-1521) the Great, the Fortunate, and his son
João III (1521-57), Gama, Albuquerque and Dom João de Castro are
the most conspicuous names; but Dom Francisco de Almeida, first
Viceroy of India, Pedro Alvarez Cabral, discoverer of Brazil, Fernão
de Magalhães, the harsh and fiery navigator[4] who first penetrated
by sea to the North Pacific and was slain in the hour of his triumph—
his name lives in the Straits of Magellan—and many more were
almost equally celebrated. But especially among the discoverers and
early adventurers in India the men of fame are but types of hundreds
of less fortunate heroes who perished. Men left Portugal with their
lives in their hands, and for every one who (like Fernam Mendez
Pinto) survived to tell the tale scores sailed away who were never
seen or heard of afterwards.
Yet the population of Portugal in the first third of the sixteenth
century may have been but 1,500,000, and certainly did not reach
twice that figure. That is a fact that must uplift and inspire those who
study Portugal’s history or consider her future. For the Portuguese of
the sixteenth century fought not against or not only against hordes of
undisciplined savages, but against Moors and Turks highly civilised
and well equipped with artillery.
Perhaps the secret of their success is that their motto was “God,
King, and Country,” and that each man among them relied, under
Heaven, on himself, not on this or that sect or party or philosophy,
election promises or political programmes. They did not wait and
watch for some wonderful Ism, like a brazen serpent, to change the
face of the world: they as individuals simply, persistently set to work
and—changed it. In less than fifty years after the Portuguese first
reached India they were in Japan, converting and civilising the
Japanese, and had made possible that tremendous saying of
Camões:
E se mais mundo houvera lá chegára.
And had there been more world they would have reached it.
 That is, of course, a terrible condemnation as well as an undying
honour, for unless each generation were to produce an Albuquerque
there could be no hope of maintaining conquests so wide, and
Albuquerque had had his hands tied by his own countrymen, so that,
like the blinded Samson, he achieved the ruin of his enemies by his
unaided strength and at the expense of his own life. But if
Portuguese statesmanship was at fault in India, there never failed a
sprinkling of individuals who spent their lives in ungrudging service
and heroic effort to counterbalance errors committed, and often died
heartbroken for their pains.
Two anecdotes will give an idea of the spirit that animated the
Portuguese in the sixteenth century. During the siege of Diu a
soldier, Fernão Penteado, seriously wounded in the head, went to
the surgeon, but, finding him busy with other wounded and hearing
the noise of a Turkish attack, he returned to the fight and came back
with a second serious wound in the head, only to find the surgeon
busier than before. Again he went to fight, and when the surgeon
was finally able to attend to him he had a third wound, in his right
arm.
The second incident occurred in North-West Africa. During a fight
Dom Affonso da Cunha, aiming a mighty cut with his sword at a
Moor, missed him, and the sword leapt from his hand. “Go fetch it,
you dog!” roared Cunha, and the terror-stricken Moor obediently
picked it up and gave it to him, trembling. Cunha thereupon spared
his life.
Such were those Portuguese of old, persistent, brave, proud,
magnificent. And something of their spirit survives in the Portugal of
to-day, ready to reappear at a crisis—more of it, perhaps, than is
generally imagined.

FOOTNOTES:
[1] Antonio Coelho Gasco in his Conquista, Antiguidade e
Nobreza da mui insigne e inclita Cidade de Coimbra (Lisboa,
1805) drew the following rash picture of her from an ancient
portrait at Coimbra: “This very saintly lady was of gigantic frame
and very stout, very white and very red, with a long face and large
serene green eyes, nose rather low with wide nostrils, head long
and beautiful.”
[2] Isabel Fernandez, Barbara Fernandez, and Isabel Madeira.
Later heroines at home were Isabel Pereira in the defence of
Ouguella against the Spanish in 1644 and Elena Perez in the
similar siege of Monção in 1656.
[3] The Portuguese accounts of these discoveries are most
vivid and minute, a fascinating introduction to the geography of
what is now largely part of the British Empire.
[4] Garcia da Orta introduces him with the words “The Devil
entered into a Portuguese.”
 Contents
PAGE
I
King Dinis 1
II
Nun’ Alvarez 17
III
Prince Henry the Navigator 47
IV
Vasco da Gama 61
V
Duarte Pacheco Pereira 79
VI
Affonso de Albuquerque 103
VII
Dom João de Castro 127
 List of Illustrations
FACING PAGE
NUN’ ALVAREZ Frontispiece
From the earliest (1526) edition of the Cronica.
PRINCE HENRY THE NAVIGATOR 49
VASCO DA GAMA 63
AFFONSO DE ALBUQUERQUE 105
From Gaspar Correa, Lendas da India, frontispiece to vol. ii. pt.
1.
JOÃO DE CASTRO 129
 I
KING DINIS
(1261-1325)
Co’ este o reino prospero florece.
Camões, Os Lusiadas.
Um Dinis que ha de admirar o mundo.
Antonio de Sousa de Macedo, Ulyssippo.
When Henry of the French House of Burgundy became Count of
Portugal in 1095 he merely held a province in fealty to the King of
Leon, but by his son, the great Affonso I’s victories over the Moors it
almost automatically became an independent kingdom. The second
king, Sancho I, who has so many points of resemblance to King
Dinis, further established the new realm, and he and his successors
continued to wrest territory from the Moors. In the reign of the fifth
king, Dinis’ father, Affonso III, the conquest of Algarve was
completed, and the only remaining difficulty was the claim of the
kings of Castille to this region.
Dinis, born on October 9, 1261, was but a few years old when he
was sent to Seville to win the consent of his mother’s father, the
celebrated Alfonso the Learned, to waive his right to the latest
Portuguese conquest. As the shrewd Affonso III had foreseen, he
proved a successful diplomatist. Alfonso X, enchanted with the
grave, courtly bearing of his little grandson, knighted him and sent
him home with all his requests granted.
Thus it came about that when Dinis, to whom his father had given
a separate household but a few months before, ascended the throne
at the age of seventeen, he was the first king to begin to reign over
Portugal with its modern boundaries, from the River Minho to Faro.
Two centuries of great deeds had achieved this result—two more
were to pass before Spain was likewise entirely free of the Moorish
invader—and Dinis now in a reign of half a century (1279-1325) saw
to it that the heroism and sacrifices of his ancestors had not been in
vain.
His tutor had been a Frenchman, Ébrard de Cahors, who now
became Bishop of Coimbra, and the fame of his grandfather Alfonso
X was spread through the whole Peninsula. But, young as he was,
Dinis at once made it clear that he intended to rule as the national
King of Portugal and had resolution enough to withstand the
Castilian influence of his mother and Alfonso X. His first care was to
acquaint himself thoroughly with his kingdom, and he spent the great
part of the first year of his reign in visiting the country, paying
especial attention to the still almost deserted region of Alentejo.
But the first years of his reign were not entirely peaceful, for his
younger brother Affonso laid claim to the throne. Dinis was born
before the Pope had legitimised Affonso III’s second marriage;
Affonso, two years his junior, afterwards: hence the partisans of the
latter affected to consider Dinis illegitimate. The dispute was scarcely
settled when Dinis married Isabel, daughter of Pedro III of Aragon,
who proved so efficacious a mediator in the even more serious
troubles at the end of his reign, and, after sharing his throne for forty-
three years, is still venerated as the Queen-Saint of Portugal.
In his differences with Castile, Dinis was successful, both in peace
and war, and it was a tribute to his character and authority that he
was chosen as arbitrator between the claims of the kings of Castille
and Aragon. At home he was confronted by a powerful secular
clergy, by the excessive and growing wealth of the religious orders,
and by an overweening nobility, while his newly conquered kingdom
urgently required hands to till it and walls and castles for its defence.
Dinis dealt with all these problems in a spirit of equal wisdom and
firmness, upholding the rights of the throne and the rights of the
people till he had welded a scattered crowd of individuals into a
nation.
His quarrel with the clergy, who protested that the King had
infringed their rights, was referred to Rome, and in 1289 a formal but
not a lasting agreement was reached.
Two years later the King checked the ever-growing possessions of
the religious orders by a law limiting their right to gifts and legacies.
Their wealth was the result of the great part they had played during
the long conflict against the Moors, but it naturally began to prove
inconvenient to King and people in time of peace. The nobles were
in like case, and Dinis showed the same resolution towards them
and abolished certain of their privileges.
He could protect as well as check. When the Knights Templar
were abolished by the Pope, Dinis secured an exception for Portugal
and reorganised them as the Order of Christ in 1319. Indeed he was
essentially a builder, not a demolisher. In 1290 he founded the
University of Coimbra; in 1308 he renewed and consolidated the
treaty between Portugal and England; in 1317 he invited to Portugal
a Genoese, Manuel Pezagno, to organise his fleet and command it
as Admiral.
He encouraged agriculture, calling the peasants the “nerves of the
republic” and passed many laws to ensure their security, so that in
his reign men began to go in safety along the roads of Portugal,
hitherto infested by brigands, and he divided grants of land among
the poor of the towns. He planted near Leiria the pines which still
form so delightful a feature of the country between that town and
Alcobaça.
Some have called King Dinis a miser, others declare that in his
reign there was a saying “liberal as King Dinis.” It is certain that he
expended his money wisely, and, while no early king ever
accomplished more for the land over which he ruled, he left a full
treasury at his death. The charge of avarice perhaps arose from the
charming legend which so well exemplifies the simplicity of those
times.
The Queen was in the habit of distributing bread daily to a large
number of poor, and Dinis, who perhaps would rather have seen
them digging the soil, forbade the charity. Queen Isabel continued as
before, and one morning the King met her as she went out with her
apron full of bread.
 “What have you there?” said King Dinis.
“Roses,” said the Queen.
“Let me see them,” said King Dinis.
And behold the Queen’s apron was filled with roses.
In the matter of buildings King Dinis not only fortified many towns
with castles and walls, but founded numerous churches and
convents. The traveller in Portugal even now can scarcely pass a
day without coming upon something to remind him of the sixth King
of Portugal. The convent of Odivellas, the cloisters of Alcobaça, the
beautiful ruins of the castle above Leiria are but three of many
instances which show how King Dinis’ work survives even in the
twentieth century.
It was said of him that—
Whate’er he willed
Dinis fulfilled.
But he nearly always wrought even better than he knew. He
realised no doubt that Portugal was an all-but-island, especially
when the relations with Castille were unfriendly; but he could
scarcely foresee that of his pinewoods would be built the “ships that
went to the discovery of new worlds and seas”; that a future Master
of his new Order of Christ would devote its vast revenues to the
great work of exploring the West Coast of Africa, the work which
bore so important a share in transforming Europe from all that we
connect with mediævalism to all that is modern; that his embryo fleet
would grow and prosper till Portugal became the foremost sea-
power; or that the treaty with England would still be bearing fruit six
centuries after his death.
The University, too, lasted and became one of the glories of
Portugal, and a source of many of her greatest men in the sixteenth
century. Since the sixteenth century, after being several times moved
from Coimbra to Lisbon and from Lisbon to Coimbra, it has been
fixed in the little town on the right bank of the Mondego and remains
one of the most treasured possessions of modern Portugal. The
quality that explains how so many of King Dinis’ institutions endured