A trinitarian theological anthropology of male-female difference

Abstract

In this thesis, I draw from trinitarian theology and Christology to develop an anthropological model of male-female relations. I argue that human male-female difference and the male-female relation (defined as relations between biologically male and biologically female humans) offer a unique set of insights for understanding personal relations more generally, and apply learnings from recent developments in theology to improve treatments of this topic in theological anthropology. I first draw from theories of the ontology of relations to explain how the Trinity exemplifies personal relations that are non-symmetrical but do not imply or require ontological priority of one person over another (expressed crudely: we can say that males and females are equal but different, using a rationale that has parallels with the argument that Father, Son and Spirit are equal but different). I argue that inner trinitarian relations can be used to understand male-female relations by using the imago dei concept and examining the personhood of Jesus Christ, who is the image of God in which all humans (male and female) are created. I review the historical development of theological treatments of the imago dei and Christology as they pertain directly to characterizing male-female relations, identifying and critiquing thinkers whose work highlights key questions in the debate. Then, using historical and modern Christology, I move to the theological anthropology of relations, defending the idea that male-female difference in humans is the paradigmatic form of personal differentiation in the created order and identifying ways that recent trinitarian theology and Christology can improve the characterization of male-female relations. Finally, I use the resulting relational model to draw conclusions about key questions in the history of the topic of male-female difference.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Stephen Holmes (Supervisor)