Topics of the Trinity: Absoluteness, Otherness, and Contingency Wolfgang Cramer’s ‘Absolute Reflection’ as a Philosophical Investigation of the Trinity

The Trinity is usually regarded as an exclusively theological topic. If, however, the postulated unity of the dogmatic tracts ‘De Deo uno’ and ‘De Deo trino’ is taken seriously, there must be at least a philosophical perspective on the Trinity. This article wants to present the little-known philosophy of the Absolute of Wolfgang Cramer as a possible approach to this problem. It first presents some aspects of Cramer’s analysis of the concept of the Absolute. It then argues that, within Cramer’s philosophy, the Trinitarian structure of the Absolute is deeply linked to the possibility of contingency. In the last step, it is argued that the meaning of the concept of the Absolute ultimately demands a new methodology without the presupposition of this very concept. Thus it is shown how a Trinitarian approach helps to take the Absoluteness of the Absolute more seriously. The article closes with some remarks on the status of Cramer’s claims.