God's communicative relationality in the theology of Petrus van Mastricht

Abstract

This thesis is a constructive theological retrieval of seventeenth-century Reformed theologian Petrus van Mastricht’s concepts of divine glory and covenant as the structuring principles of a systematic pattern of communicative relationality that runs through his account of divine being and action. Against the prevailing tendency to pit Reformed orthodoxy and contemporary relational theologies against one another, it demonstrates that fruitful cross-fertilization can emerge when they are interpreted in dialogical exchange. By approaching Mastricht’s theology through the lens of Christoph Schwöbel’s trinitarian theology of conversation, I reconstruct a coherent theology of divine communicative relationality in Mastricht that, in turn, offers resources for developing Schwöbel’s account of the Trinity as conversation. After locating the roots of Mastricht’s theology in his practical conception of theology as the doctrina vivendi Deo per Christum and the implicit notion of revelation lying within the twin concepts of faith and glory, I trace Mastricht’s doctrine of God from divine being in se to divine works ad extra. Mastricht’s triadic conception of glory provides the key for understanding his account of divine relationality grounded in the relationship of God and faith. Glory describes the divine essence in terms of the communicative movement of source, radiance, and recognition, and culminates in Mastricht’s account of the Trinity as a “household” communion of mutual glorification, the grammar of which helps expand the Spirit’s active role in Schwöbel’s model of trinitarian conversation. While Mastricht’s account of the divine decree shows a relative lapse in relationality, his reframing of self-determination in terms of the pactum salutis provides a trinitarian corrective. In particular, the pactum re-envisions self-determination in terms of mutual, covenantal promise, extending Schwöbel’s reformulation of divine self-determination as promise. Finally, the trinitarian and communicative emphases of Mastricht’s are discovered in his account of the act of creation as command and call.

Date of Award	2 Jul 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Oliver Crisp (Supervisor), Katrin Bosse (Supervisor) & Christoph Schwoebel (Supervisor)