The Transformative Experience Don Macdonald Summary

In this paper, I will briefly explore and reflect on Don MacDonald, OFM’s notes on “The Transformative Experience ([i.e. the emergence of belief in the] Trinity).” In order to do this, I will begin by examining the five key points that MacDonald identifies in the resume that he presents in his notes which are: “A Dual Paradox,” “The Experience of the Cross,” “The Experience of the Resurrection,” “The Experience of the Trinity,” and “The Christian Experience of the Spirit.” Each of these points addresses an important aspect in how the Christian Trinitarian faith gradually emerged. After looking at each of these points, I will conclude this paper with a short reflection on why I think that MacDonald’s explanation for the disciples’ belief in the Trinity is both logical and reasonable. The first point that MacDonald raises in his resume is the notion of “A Dual
under the Law and by the Law.” Jesus is first arrested by the Romans and then eventually sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate in the cruelest and most shameful way possible in the Roman Empire—which was by crucifixion. While all of these unimaginable events were unfolding, the “disciples’ faith was shattered and lost,” and they subsequently “experienced the death of Jesus as a supreme separation from God.” For the disciples, Jesus’ death on the cross was an “experience of distance and powerlessness… [that confirmed again Jesus’ “otherness” or] difference from God.” This difference between Jesus and God was clearly emphasized by his death because Jews at that time believed that “death [(i.e. when a soul went to Sheol)] meant no communication with God[,] and [that death was, therefore, a total] separation from