The doctrine of divine simplicity is largely ignored in modern continental theology and has been criticized by some analytic theists. However, it plays a central role in patristic and medieval trinitarian thought, and is a doctrinal affirmation of the Catholic Church. This article seeks to illustrate the significance of the teaching first by examining the contrasting modern trinitarian theologies of Karl Barth and Richard Swinburne, noting how each suffers from a deficit of reference to the doctrine of divine simplicity. The article then presents four aspects of Aquinas’ teaching on divine simplicity. From this a consideration of trinitarian persons ensues that illustrates why the distinction of persons in God can best be understood by making use of Aquinas’ theology of ‘subsistent relations’, while the unified nature of God can best be understood in terms of ‘personal modes of subsistence’. Based on this analysis, the contrasting insights of both Barth and Swinburne can be fully retained, without the contrasting inherent problems that the theology of each presents.

中文翻译：

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神圣的简单和神圣的三位一体

现代大陆神学在很大程度上忽略了神圣简单的教义，并受到了一些分析有神论者的批评。然而，它在教父和中世纪的三位一体思想中起着核心作用，是对天主教会的教义肯定。本文试图首先通过检查卡尔·巴特和理查德·斯威本对比鲜明的现代三位一体神学来说明该教义的重要性，并指出每个人都如何缺乏对神圣简单教义的参考。然后，文章介绍了阿奎那关于神圣简单性的教导的四个方面。由此引出对三位一体的人的考虑，这说明为什么使用阿奎那的“持续关系”神学可以最好地理解上帝中人的区别，而上帝的统一本质可以从“个人生存方式”的角度来最好地理解。基于这种分析，可以完全保留巴特和斯威本的对比见解，而没有各自的神学所呈现的对比的固有问题。