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Consubstantiality, a term derived fromLatin:consubstantialitas, denotes identity of substance or essence in spite of difference inaspect.[1]
It appears most commonly in its adjectival form, "consubstantial",[2] from Latinconsubstantialis,[3] and its best-known use is in regard to an account, inChristian theology, of the relation betweenJesus Christ andGod the Father.
The affirmation that Jesus Christ is "consubstantial with the Father" appears in theNicene Creed.[4]Greek was the language in which the Nicene Creed was originally enunciated. The word used wasGreek:ὁμοούσιος[5] (homoousios) and means "of the same substance."[6][7] This may be contrasted with the term ὁμοιούσιος (homoiousios), meaning "of like substance" and, therefore, not the "same substance," as was proposed, for example, at a later church council (theCouncil of Seleucia regarding theArian controversy) in the year 359.
The termοὐσία (ousia) is anAncient Greek noun, formed on thefeminine presentparticiple of the verbεἰμί,eimí, meaning "to be, I am", so similar grammatically to the English noun "being". There was no equivalent grammatical formation inLatin, and it was translated asessentia orsubstantia and then indirectly into English as "essence" or "substance".Cicero coinedessentia[8] and the philosopherSeneca and rhetoricianQuintilian used it as equivalent forοὐσία, whileApuleius renderedοὐσία both asessentia orsubstantia. In order to designateοὐσία,early Christian theologianTertullian favored the use ofsubstantia overessentia, whileAugustine of Hippo andBoethius took the opposite stance, preferring the use ofessentia as designation forοὐσία.[9][10]
The word "consubstantial" was used by theCouncil 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".[11]
In contemporary Christian theology, theHoly Spirit is also described as consubstantial with theFather andSon.[12]
In the1662Book of Common Prayer of theChurch of England, the adjective "consubstantial" in the Nicene Creed is rendered by the phrase "being of one substance".[13] The same phrase appeared already in theBook of Common Prayer (1549)[14] and continues to be used, within "Order Two", inCommon Worship, which within "Order One" gives the ecumenicalEnglish Language Liturgical Consultation version, "of one Being".[15]
TheEastern Orthodox Church use "of one essence".[16][17][18]
TheCatholic Church, in its official translation of the Nicene Creed, uses the term "consubstantial"[19] as a translation of "consubstantialem" (inGreek “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.[20]
Inrhetoric, "consubstantiality", as defined byKenneth 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".[21] 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.[22] It can be seen as an extension or in relation to the subject.[citation needed]
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."[22]
"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".[23][24]
