This paper examines Anthony Godzieba's section "The Trinitarian Rule of Faith and Its Interpretation" from his book A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God. The paper explores how Godzieba uses patristic sources—including Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and the Council of Nicaea—to answer the foundational question "Who is God?" It discusses the Arian controversy, the distinction between logical and ontological subordination of the Son to the Father, and how the Trinitarian doctrine connects early Church history to the modern believer's experience of God. The paper also considers how this section advances the book's central themes of divine presence and the knowability of God.
The paper demonstrates effective contextual framing: rather than treating the Trinitarian debates as abstract doctrine, the author situates the Nicene Council within the broader intellectual challenges of Platonic naturalism in the Roman world. This technique allows the writer to show why the question "Who is God?" was historically urgent—and why it remains relevant—rather than merely rehearsing settled theological positions.
The paper opens with a brief introduction to Godzieba's larger theological project before narrowing to the specific section under analysis. It then explains Godzieba's argument about the Trinity and its historical development, connects that section to preceding chapters, and assesses how it advances the book's overarching themes. A short reflection on classroom relevance precedes the final section, which identifies the most intellectually provocative claim and poses two discussion questions for peer engagement. This structure reflects a standard discussion-leadership format used in graduate theology seminars.
In his book A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God, Anthony Godzieba provides a detailed analysis of the various ways that God can be experienced as both present and absent in our lives. He begins by exploring the concept of the "hiddenness" of God, noting that even though we may not always be able to see or hear God, He is always with us. Godzieba explains that the mystery of God requires our participation; we cannot really know God as present unless we are willing to engage with Him. It is when we are not open to the mystery of God that His absence becomes a problem for us.
He notes that people often ask, "Where is God?" and "Who is God?" (p. 181). In the section titled "The Trinitarian Rule of Faith and Its Interpretation," Godzieba tackles the question "Who is God?" and explains God in terms of the Holy Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit.
The purpose of this section is to explore what the Fathers of the Church said about the Trinity so that readers today can more fully understand where the doctrine of the Trinity came from and what it is meant to convey. Godzieba provides historical context for a very important element of the Faith, which answers the question "Who is God?" In doing so, he appeals to Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, and several early councils, including the one in 325 (p. 225) that condemned the Arian position. The Arian position and its condemnation by the Church at Nicaea in 325 shows how serious the question about the relationship between Father, Son, and Spirit was—and still is—for to get even one aspect of that relationship wrong is to open the door to theological and practical errors that could ultimately cause one to lose faith.
The Church's mission has always been about safeguarding the deposit of faith, and so it is Godzieba's purpose to support that mission by framing the question of "Who is God?" in a historical context that helps contemporary readers see why we believe what we do. He shows how the Nicene Council was focused on making clear that only certain views of God's personhood would be accepted within the Church.
Godzieba explores the significance of the Arian heresy, which he characterizes as essentially serving as the "crisis of the ancient church's Platonism." He also describes the Council of Nicaea as representing "a parallel crisis of scriptural interpretation [which] had to be faced as well."2 Godzieba goes on to explain that at the heart of the controversy was a question of the subordination of the Son to the Father. Logically, the Nicene Fathers argued, the Son is subordinate to the Father; but ontologically there is no subordination—meaning the Father and the Son are the same in terms of divinity. Godzieba finds this significant because there were others in the Church, like Arius, who held a different view on the matter (p. 232). The Nicene Fathers maintained that the Son should be understood as doing the will of the Father on earth, which is why they promoted the idea that "Christ saves us by the power of the Father and gives us a share in the eternal life of God."3
Godzieba addresses this issue at this point in the text because it connects the preceding chapter on natural theology to the following chapter on the presence and absence of God. It represents the Christian response to the problem of God for the modern world, and it does so by inviting the reader to return to those pivotal moments in the early Church when the question of "Who is God?" was being answered and clarified (p. 232).
People in the modern world might not appreciate the relevance of this question because they no longer see it as something that needs to be asked. They assume that ship has sailed. They do not realize that this question has been asked by many different people throughout history—people who have held widely different views—and that those views have been debated, refined, and argued over at length. People today might feel that the matter is settled and there is nothing further to think about, but that is a mistake. There is much to consider, for, as Godzieba shows, it is really a journey of discovery that each of us must undertake—all of us reliving the process of refinement that the Church underwent at pivotal moments, such as during the Nicene Council. Today's people could embrace this invitation to journey toward the question of "Who is God?" if they recognized that the ship has not yet sailed—everyone may board and be part of that discovery.
2 Anthony Godzieba, A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God (Liturgical Press, 2018), 232.
3 Anthony Godzieba, A Theology of the Presence and Absence of God (Liturgical Press, 2018), 232.
Section 4.3 connects to previous sections by showing how the early Church ultimately responded to the natural philosophy of its time. The early Christian Church faced many challenges as it sought to establish itself in the Roman world. One of these challenges was the widespread popularity of Platonic philosophy and its account of the natural world. This philosophy taught that the material world is an imperfect copy of an ideal, spiritual world. Many early Christians were drawn to this philosophy because it offered a way to reconcile their belief in God with the observed reality of suffering and death in the world.
The Church responded to this challenge by developing its own understanding of creation, emphasizing that the material world is not an imperfect copy of an ideal spiritual world, but rather that it is good and created by God. The Church also taught that while the material world is subject to suffering and death, there is hope for a spiritual life after death. This teaching helped to convince many people that Christianity was a true and viable religion. Godzieba takes this context and applies it to the question of "Who is God?" showing how the Trinitarian Rule of Faith came to be the standard of the early Church.
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