© The Author(s) 2016 33
K.J. Archer, L.W. Oliverio, Jr. (eds.), Constructive
Pneumatological Hermeneutics in Pentecostal Christianity,
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-58561-5_3
CHAPTER 3
Conversation, Being, and Trinity: Toward
a Trinitarian Hermeneutical and Linguistic
Ontology
Christopher C. Emerick
C. C. Emerick ( )
Strayer University , Chesapeake , VA , USA
An earlier version of this chapter was presented at the 42nd annual meeting of
the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Seattle, Washington. I extend my thanks to
Dr. John C. Poirier for his assistance with presentation.
INTRODUCTION
“Theology that refuses to address questions of ontology can never be
more than a mythology.” 1 The Bible provides theology with resources
for a rich ontology, albeit one that is more often implicit than explicit.
Christian theology is obligated to take these implicit resources—however
adumbrative they are—as far as they can go while simultaneously avoid-
ing compromising the gospel. In dialogue with Hans-Georg Gadamer,
Santiago Zabala, and Oliver Davies, this chapter explores possibilities of
a linguistic model of the Trinity as the ontological foundation for exis-
tence. There are three key features of this exploration: (1) the immanent
Trinity understood as conversation; (2) the created order as the linguistic
consequence of the divine conversation; and (3) conversation(s) as the
