Ontology and epistemology in contemporary discussions on the relation between the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity

This dissertation centers on contemporary discussions on the relation between the immanent Trinity and the economic Trinity from the perspective of both ontology and epistemology.;In order to do so, first, this dissertation provides a wider philosophical and historical context. It examines the changing focus of western philosophy which has moved from an ontology of eidos, an ontology of ousia, an ontology of hypostasis, and an ontology of essentia and esse, through Cartesian epistemology of innate ideas, Kantian transcendental idealism, and Husserlian phenomenological idealism, and finally to contemporary anti-metaphysical and non-idealistic tendencies. And then it discusses some other parallel distinctions in the history of theology: the immanent Logos-the expressed Logos, and procession--mission [processio-missio], and some other terms such as dispensation [dispositio, dispensatio ], economy [oikonomia], and operation or activity [energeia].;Next, by placing itself within the recent rediscovery and renaissance of Trinitarian theology, this dissertation analyzes eleven contemporary theologians and identifies seven different positions on the immanent-economic Trinity relation: Barth's mutual correspondence; Rahner's identity; Moltmann, Pannenberg and Jenson's eschatological unity; Boff and Pittenger's "much more than"; Bracken's "immersing"; Suchocki and LaCugna's "absorbing"; and Lee's mutual inclusiveness. And then, this dissertation shows through a critical analysis of each of these positions that ontology and epistemology are indispensably woven into the issue, while each position entails certain tensions, ontological, epistemological, or both. It goes further to show that a concept of divine mystery, though not univocally, has been used to resolve these tensions, but in a restricted way to the extent that it is relegated to the second rank, being as a function of ontology and epistemology.;Lastly, while noting the outstanding meaning of mystery [mysterion ] in the New Testament which is Jesus Christ, this dissertation argues that, in order to seek a more fully integrative relationship between the immanent and the economic Trinity, it is necessary to put a concept of mystery in the foreground, which is Jesus Christ, not merely as a device for resolving epistemological or ontological tensions, but rather that a concept of divine mystery needs to be determinative of ontology and epistemology.