C. Baxter Kruger
Baxter earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree under Professor James B. Torrance in Aberdeen, who intrigued his students with his original, in depth explorations of the Trinity. Baxter's books include The Shack Revisited - a critique of the best-selling novel that portrayed the First Person of the Trinity as Papa but who was addressed as Mama. He is the Director of Perichoresis www.perichoresis.org . Perichoresis is the Eastern Orthodox word for the eternal dance within God which we are invited to join. This month a UK speaking tour of evangelical churches brought him to Wellspring, new Craighall, Edinburgh. He asked if he and I could meet up. So we had lunch together with his organiser, John Walker. It was memorable.
His passion is that everyone may understand that God's self-sacrificial, incarnational love is eternally the Divine essence. He believes John, the Beloved Disciple, understood this truth mystically. His next book will be a novel in which John, exiled on Patmos Island, interprets for his interviewer the goings-on at the time of the Council of Nicea and the various formulations of the Trinity.
Now another linked passion is emerging. He is discovering his roots in Celtic lands, and studying early Christian leaders in Celtic lands such as Bishops Irenaeus (in Lyons, who was influenced by John) and Hilary (in Poitiers) who mentored Martin of Tours. He wants to study the links between the Celts' love of John and their love affair (rather than cold cerebral gymnastics) with the Trinity. I told him about the imaginative narrative called The House that John Built, that my friend Andy Raine does presentations of, and about which I write in my forthcoming book Prayer Houses. I sensed a partnership of purpose which pray God may ripen. I told him that our international Community of Aidan and Hilda welcomes all who wish to be available to the Holy Trinity.
A few days later I talked with a Danish Lutheran pastor who has returned from inter-faith work with Muslims in Tanzania. He came to our Mindfulness and Meditation Retreat led by David Cole. He told me that a secret of effective inter-faith work is to start by building a good relationship. To do that you need "a Third". In Tanzania "the Third" was sewing - a common job both Muslims and Christians could do together. Three components. A reflection, perhaps of the image of the Trinity in human beings?
