Editing Consubstantiality

{{Short description|Christian theology of the Trinity}}
{{distinguish|Consubstantiation}}
{{Christology|expanded=Concepts}}

'''Consubstantiality''', a term derived from {{langx|la| consubstantialitas}}, denotes identity of substance or essence in spite of difference in [[Aspect (religion)|aspect]].<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/consubstantial Collins English Dictionary: "consubstantial"]</ref>

It appears most commonly in its adjectival form, "consubstantial",<ref>[http://www.finedictionary.com/consubstantial.html Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary: "of the same substance, nature, or essence, esp. of the Trinity", "united in one common substance"]</ref> from Latin ''consubstantialis'',<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3D%2310664&redirect=true Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'': consubstantialis]</ref> and its best-known use is in regard to an account, in [[Christian theology]], of the relation between [[Jesus Christ]] and [[God the Father]].

== Theological use ==
The affirmation that Jesus Christ is "consubstantial with the Father" appears in the [[Nicene Creed]].<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nicene-Creed ''Encyclopædia Britannica'': "Nicene Creed"]</ref> [[Greek language|Greek]] was the language in which the Nicene Creed was originally enunciated. The word used was {{langx|el|ὁμοούσιος}}<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aalphabetic+letter%3D*o%3Aentry+group%3D38%3Aentry%3Do%28moou%2Fsios Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'': ὁμοούσιος]</ref> (''[[homoousios]]'') and means "of the same substance."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of HOMOOUSIAN|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homoousian|access-date=2021-09-06|publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]]|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|title=homousian|url=https://www.thefreedictionary.com/homousian|work=[[The Free Dictionary]]|access-date=2021-09-06}}</ref> This may be contrasted with the term ὁμοιούσιος (''[[homoiousian|homoiousios]]''), meaning "of like substance" and, therefore, not the "same substance," as was proposed, for example, at a later church council (the [[Council of Seleucia]] regarding the [[Arian controversy]]) in the year 359.

The term {{lang|grc|οὐσία}} ([[ousia]]) is an [[Ancient Greek]] noun, formed on the [[Grammatical gender|feminine]] present [[participle]] of the verb {{wikt-lang|grc|εἰμί}}, {{transliteration|frc|eimí}}, meaning "to be, I am", so similar grammatically to the English noun "being". There was no equivalent grammatical formation in [[Latin]], and it was translated as {{lang|la|essentia}} or {{lang|la|substantia}} and then indirectly into English as "essence" or "substance". [[Cicero]] coined {{lang|la|essentia}}<ref>Conte, G.B.: "Latin Literature: a history" (1987) p. 199</ref> and the philosopher [[Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] and rhetorician [[Quintilian]] used it as equivalent for {{lang|grc|οὐσία}}, while [[Apuleius]] rendered {{lang|grc|οὐσία}} both as {{lang|la|essentia}} or {{lang|la|substantia}}. In order to designate {{lang|la|οὐσία}}, [[early Christian]] theologian [[Tertullian]] favored the use of {{lang|la|substantia}} over {{lang|la|essentia}}, while [[Augustine of Hippo]] and [[Boethius]] took the opposite stance, preferring the use of {{lang|la|essentia}} as designation for {{lang|grc|οὐσία}}.{{sfn|Owens|1951|pp=137–154}}{{sfn|Brown|1996|p=276}}

The word "consubstantial" was used by the [[Council of Chalcedon]] (451) to declare that Christ is "consubstantial with the Father in respect of the Godhead, and the same consubstantial with us in respect of the manhood".<ref>David M. Gwynn. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=UaNOBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA256 Christianity in the Later Roman Empire: A Sourcebook]''. Bloomsbury Publishing; 20 November 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-4411-3735-7}}. p. 256.</ref>

In contemporary Christian theology, the [[Holy Spirit]] is also described as consubstantial with the [[God the Father|Father]] and [[God the Son|Son]].<ref>Steven D. Cone. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=NGFNDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA417 Theology from the Great Tradition]''. Bloomsbury Publishing; 22 February 2018. {{ISBN|978-0-567-67002-1}}. p. 417.</ref>

== Alternative translations of the Nicene-Creed term ==

In the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']] of the [[Church of England]], the adjective "consubstantial" in the Nicene Creed is rendered by the phrase "being of one substance".<ref>[http://www.eskimo.com/~lhowell/bcp1662/communion/index.html The Order of the Administration of the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion].</ref> The same phrase appeared already in the [[Book of Common Prayer (1549)]]<ref>[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/1549/Communion_1549.htm The Book of Common Prayer – 1549]</ref> and continues to be used, within "Order Two", in ''[[Common Worship]]'', which within "Order One" gives the ecumenical [[English Language Liturgical Consultation]] version, "of one Being".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/holy-communion#na|title=Holy Communion Service|publisher=churchofengland.org|access-date=2020-08-16}}</ref>

The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] use "of one essence".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oca.org/orthodoxy/prayers/symbol-of-faith|title=Common Prayers - The Creed: The Symbol of Faith|website=oca.org|language=en|access-date=2020-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.goarch.org/-/the-nicene-creed |title=The Nicene Creed|website=goarch.org |access-date=2020-08-16}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ww1.antiochian.org/orthodox-prayers/morning-prayers |title=Morning Prayers|website=antiochian.org|language=en|access-date=2021-08-26}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church]], in its official translation of the Nicene Creed, uses the term "consubstantial"<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/|title=What We Believe|website=www.usccb.org|language=en|access-date=2020-08-16}}</ref> as a translation of "consubstantialem" (in [[Greek language|Greek]] “[[ὁμοούσιον]]"), instead of "of one Being with the Father" (or, in the United States only, "one in Being with the Father"), which were the English translations used until November 2011.<ref>{{cite web | url= http://old.usccb.org/romanmissal/consubstantial.shtml | title= Frequently Asked Questions | work= In the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed | publisher= [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] | access-date= 27 November 2011 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111124041129/http://old.usccb.org/romanmissal/consubstantial.shtml | archive-date= 24 November 2011 | url-status= dead | df= dmy-all }}</ref>

== In rhetoric ==
In [[rhetoric]], "consubstantiality", as defined by [[Kenneth Burke]], is "a practice-related concept based on stylistic identifications and symbolic structures, which persuade and produce acceptance: an acting-together within, and defined by, a common context".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dousset|first=Laurent|title=Structure and substance: combining 'classic' and 'modern' kinship studies in the Australian Western Desert|journal=The Australian Journal of Anthropology|date=April 2005|volume=16|page=18|doi=10.1111/j.1835-9310.2005.tb00107.x}}</ref> To be consubstantial with something is to be identified with it, to be associated with it; yet at the same time, to be different from what it is identified with.<ref name= Craig>{{cite book|author=Robert T. Craig|title=Theorizing Communication: Readings Across Traditions|year=2007|publisher=Sage Publications|location=Los Angeles}}</ref> It can be seen as an extension or in relation to the subject.{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

Burke explains this concept with two entities, A and B. He goes on to explain that "A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified with B. Or he may identify himself with B even when their interests are not joined, if he assumes they are, or is persuaded to believe so...In being identified with B, A is 'substantially one' with a person other than himself. Yet at the same time, he remains unique, an individual locus of motives. Thus he is both joined and separate, at once a distinct substance and consubstantial with another."<ref name=Craig />

"Consubstantiality may be necessary for any way of life, Burke says. And thus rhetoric, as he sees it, potentially builds community. It can tear it down as well. In the end, rhetoric relies on an unconscious desire for acting-together, for taking a 'sub-stance' together".<ref>David Blakesley. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=gasNAAAACAAJ The Elements of Dramatism]''. Longman; 2002. {{ISBN|978-0-205-33425-4}}. p. 15–16.</ref><ref>[http://www.unm.edu/~sromano/english540/Blakesley%20Elements%20all.pdf Same in pdf form]</ref>

==See also==
{{wiktionary|consubstantiality}}
{{columnslist|colwidth=20em|
* [[Adoptionism]]
* [[Arianism]]
* [[Chalcedonian Definition]]
* [[Eutychianism]]
* [[Glossary of rhetorical terms]]
* [[Hypostatic union]]
* [[Identification in Burkean rhetoric]]
* [[Jesus in Christianity]]
* [[Miaphysitism]]
* [[Subordinationism]]
* [[Trinity]]
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Stephen F.|chapter=Theology and Philosophy|title=Medieval Latin: An Introduction and Bibliographical Guide|year=1996|location=Washington, D.C.|publisher=CUA Press|pages=267–287|isbn=978-0813208428|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bb32Th4WAK0C}}
* {{Cite book|last=Owens|first=Joseph|author-link=Joseph Owens (Redemptorist)|title=The Doctrine of Being in the Aristotelian Metaphysics: A Study in the Greek Background of Mediaeval Thought|year=1951|location=Toronto|publisher=Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xl-zAAAAMAAJ}}

{{Theology}}

[[Category:Trinitarianism]]
[[Category:Christian terminology]]
[[Category:Nature of Jesus Christ]]

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