The Cappadocians described the personal distinctions within God by reference to “relations of origin.” Father, Son, and Spirit are what they are from eternity past.
Pannenberg, Moltmann, Jenson all want to reverse this: Father, Son, and Spirit are what they are in eternity future. God’s eternity is not the persistence in the way he started but His power to achieve al His aims.
Does the Cappadocian emphasis on origin arise from a residual tragic metaphysics?
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