#875 Cerberus and the Trinity
February 18, 2024I once heard you use "Cerberus" when discussing the trinity:
Did you know John Calvin rebuked Servetus for using "Cerberus" in reference to the trinity? I was translating this book by John Calvin:
"DEFENSIO ORTHODOXAE
fidei de ſacra Trinitate" From latin to English (no English translation is available) and right on page 7, we find Calvin railing against Servetus, saying:
", he spewed out rage more than bile. But cutting off the talk about me, I asked him to seek pardon rather from the eternal God into whom he had too atrociously contended, calling the Trinity a three-headed Cerberus, if a real distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were established. "
Did you know this about Calvin / Servetus? I actually thought you came up with the cerebus analogy, and I was shocked to know that Calvin talked about it coming from Servetus.
Here is the actual page (look for Cerberũ in Latin) to be found here for you to read for yourself as public domain in Geneva library:
https://www.e-rara.ch/gep_g/content/zoom/884107
Arthur
Unknown
Dr. craig’s response
A
Thank you for this fascinating reference, Arthur! I was vaguely aware that the Church Fathers, familiar as they were with Greco-Roman mythology, rejected analogies to the Trinity like Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades. But I didn’t know that it played a role in the sad case of Calvin and Servetus.
Your question gives me the opportunity to clarify the function played by Cerberus in my discussion of the Trinity. I do not take Cerberus to be an analogy of the Trinity. On the contrary, after appealing to it as thought-experiment, I lay it aside as inadequate.
So what role does it play? Simply as a springboard for reflection on the Trinity! It’s a great way to launch discussion about how three persons can be one being. It may not be adequate as an analogy to the Trinity, but at least it gets us thinking! I call it an “image” of the Trinity, after Augustine, who identified other images of the Trinity like memory, understanding, and will (or love) in the human mind, which reflect three-in-oneness but are finally inadequate as analogies of the Trinity.
What’s interesting to me about the case you cite is that it is the Socinian Unitarian Michael Servetus who brings up Cerberus as an analogy. Servetus objects to the doctrine of the Trinity on the grounds that if there is a real distinction between the persons of the Trinity, as Trinitarians like me believe, then the doctrine of the Trinity is akin to the atrocious Cerberus. Calvin is so offended by this claim that he calls on Servetus to repent.
My response to Servetus would have been quite different. I should have said, “It’s no wonder a Unitarian like you is repulsed by the doctrine of the Trinity. But I see no problem in asserting that just as there are three distinct consciousnesses in Cerberus, so there are three distinct self-consciousnesses or persons in God, whom we call Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So what’s the problem?”
- William Lane Craig