The Trinity as our Ecclesial Program? Assessing Miroslav Volf’s Trinitarian Theology of the Church

This article argues that while there are missteps in Mirolsav Volf’s proposal of a trinitarian theology of the church, his impulse to coordinate these doctrines is to be commended and built upon. Specifically it argues that Volf falters by moving from intra‐trinitarian relations to an ethical‐structural orientation for the church too quickly, but that alternative models of coordination can succeed to the extent that they follow a proper progression of dogmatic grounding from God’s triune processions through the triune missions to a constitution of the church’s being, then to an orientation of the church’s mission and, finally, to a determination of the church’s organization and ethics.