Augustins Trinitätsdenken

Augustine's »De Trinitate« is one of the most significant Christian works of antiquity. Roland Kany does a critical reassessment of international research carried out during the last 160 years on all aspects of this work. In modern systematic theology, Augustine's doctrine of the Trinity has for the most part been understood in a traditional manner and rejected. Current patristic research has given the work a new interpretation, has however neglected its philosophical implications. Philosophers are presently rediscovering Augustine's theory of self-consciousness in »De Trinitate«, but paying no attention to its theological context. Kany suggests a new interpretation, contending that Augustine's concept of self-consciousness solves a fundamental problem of ancient philosophy. Augustine uses the solution of this problem as a basis for a completely new theology of the Trinity.