Divine Givenness AND DIVINE ATTRIBUTES IN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY

Divine Givenness (SSGO) AND DIVINE ATTRIBUTES IN CATHOLIC THEOLOGY: The Hermeneutics of harmonizing Trinity and Simplicity

(10 minute read)

INTRODUCTION

My Self‑Standing Givenness Ontology or theology in this context (but going by “SSGO” going forward) asserts that God’s very being is both self‑subsistent and intrinsically self‑giving. In this framework, God’s “self‑standing” existence and His “self‑giving” love are inseparable aspects of the one divine reality. Within the Catholic tradition, God’s essential attributes (such as eternity, omnipotence, and immutability) affirm His absolute self‑sufficiency, while His relational attributes—as most clearly revealed in the Trinity and His dealings with creation—express a dynamic communion of life and love.

SSGO deepens this traditional understanding by proposing that the fullest comprehension of God’s attributes emerges through the lens of relational self‑givenness. That is, God fully gives Himself in love without ceasing to be wholly God. This insight does not introduce entirely new doctrinal content but rather rearticulates long‑held truths of the Church in a way that brings out their dynamic, transformative quality. The Church Fathers, ecumenical councils, and papal teachings consistently affirm that God is at once perfectly transcendent and radically self‑giving. In the sections that follow, we will explore:

1. Essential Attributes,
2. Relational Attributes, and
3. “Fully Given” Attributes—each as affirmed in Catholic tradition and further illuminated by SSGO’s emphasis on self‑standing relational givenness (these attributes are hermeneutical).

In brief, Self‑Standing Givenness Ontology SSGO is a meta‑metaphysical framework that reconfigures our understanding of the divine by making God’s self‑givenness the primary mode of His being. Rather than relying on a traditional substance‑accident model—or treating divine relations as mere instantiations of an abstract universal—SSGO posits that the one divine essence is fully and irreducibly expressed in the distinct relational modes of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This means that God is not divided into parts nor reduced to a single modal expression; instead, each Person is a self‑standing, eternally actualized self‑gift, preserving both absolute unity and genuine relational distinction. By grounding all traditional divine attributes (such as simplicity, immutability, and omnipotence) in the eternal act of self‑disclosure, SSGO not only harmonizes with deeply informed Catholic theology but also deepens it, offering a conceptual key that unifies and clarifies the mystery of the Trinity. In essence, SSGO works as its own response by demonstrating that the fullness of God’s being—and His capacity to give Himself in love—is the ultimate reality underlying both His essential and relational attributes. I lay it out here and on my website in multiple places if you need more: Rethinking Divine Simplicity: A Meta‑Metaphysical Reconfiguration – RobertDryer

Keep in mind, traditional theology tends to balance essential and relational attributes, but has lacked a conceptual device to fully integrate them. As such SSGO is not a new doctrine but a new way of systematically thinking about God that brings unprecedented coherence to existing theological commitments. This way of theologizing and category of the Fully Given (SSGO) towards and with the attributes is a new way of structuring theology that clarifies how divine attributes are fully actualized in relational self-givenness. As the kids say, “big, if true.”

1. ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES: GOD’S SELF‑STANDING BEING AND PERFECTION

Catholic teaching maintains that God possesses all perfections in Himself—He is the fullness of being (ipsum esse) and is entirely independent of anything else. This is the “self‑standing” aspect of SSGO. The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) encapsulated this classical vision when it declared:

  ”We firmly believe and simply confess that there is only one true God, eternal and immeasurable, almighty, unchangeable, incomprehensible and ineffable, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons but one absolutely simple essence”
  (Constitution 1, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215; plain text link: legionofmarytidewater.com/faith/ECUM20.HTM).

Similarly, St. John Damascene describes God as “without beginning and without end, eternal and everlasting, uncreated, unchangeable, inalterable, simple, uncompounded, incorporeal, invisible, impalpable, … incomprehensible, uncontained, unfathomable, good, just, the maker of all created things, all-powerful, all-ruling, all-seeing, the provider, the sovereign, and the judge of all”
  (John Damascene, “An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith,” Book I, Chapter 8; plain text link: newadvent.org/fathers/33041.htm).

These claims underscore that God’s being is utterly self‑standing—He depends on nothing and is never subject to change. Yet, this self‑sufficiency is not sterile; rather, God’s immutable perfection overflows into creative and redemptive love. As the Fourth Lateran Council also taught, God created the world “not to increase His beatitude, but to manifest His perfection by the good things which He bestows on creatures”
  (Constitution 1, Fourth Lateran Council, 1215; plain text link: legionofmarytidewater.com/faith/ECUM20.HTM).

SSGO resonates with this tradition by showing that God’s immutable fullness is the very wellspring from which His self‑gifting flows. Because God “has life in himself” (John 5:26), His self‑standing perfection is what enables Him to communicate life and goodness freely to creation.

2. RELATIONAL ATTRIBUTES: GOD AS TRIUNE COMMUNION AND LOVING CREATOR

Beyond the abstract perfections of God’s essence, Catholic tradition emphatically teaches that God is relational—He exists as a Trinity of Persons in an eternal, loving communion. These relational attributes reveal that God’s one essence is not an impersonal unity but a vibrant exchange of love and self‑donation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (255) explains that in God “everything … is one where there is no opposition of relationship,” while the real distinctions among the divine Persons arise from their relations of origin (the Father begets the Son, the Son is begotten, and the Holy Spirit proceeds).
  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 255; plain text link: vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P17.HTM).

The Council of Florence captures this idea poetically by declaring that “because of [the divine] unity the Father is wholly in the Son and wholly in the Holy Spirit; the Son is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Holy Spirit; [and] the Holy Spirit is wholly in the Father and wholly in the Son”
  (Council of Florence, Session 6, “Laetentur Caeli,” 1439; plain text link: papalencyclicals.net/councils/trent/florence.htm).

Thus, God’s relational nature is not an accidental feature but the very mode through which whatever God ultimately is is one, and simple in terms of essence is-in fact-expressed. In SSGO, the identity of each Person is constituted by an eternal act of self‑givenness: the Father pours out His being in begetting; the Son is the perfect self‑gift returned; and the Holy Spirit is the love that binds them together. This understanding affirms that relationality is central to who God is—both within the Trinity and in His creative and redemptive dealings with the world.

3. “FULLY GIVEN” ATTRIBUTES: DIVINE LOVE AND GOODNESS AS TOTAL SELF‑GIFT

If God’s self‑standing essence is the source and His relationality is the form, then the full expression of His being is found in the manner in which He gives Himself away. The “Fully Given” Attributes—an interpretative category unique to SSGO—do not introduce new divine perfections but reframe our understanding of how traditional attributes are manifested.

In this view, attributes such as love, goodness, mercy, and holiness are best understood as expressions of God’s complete self‑donation. As 1 John 4:16 proclaims, “God is love”—a truth that speaks not merely to God’s capacity for love but to the very nature of His self‑communication. Pope Benedict XVI, in Deus Caritas Est, reflects on this radical self‑gift in the person of Christ:
  “His death on the Cross is the culmination of that turning of God against himself in which he gives himself in order to raise man up and save him. This is love in its most radical form.”
  (Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 12, 2005; plain text link: vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html).

Likewise, St. Athanasius summarized the Incarnation by stating, “He became what we are, that He might make us what He is”
  (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 54.3; plain text link: newadvent.org/fathers/2802.htm), and St. Irenaeus affirmed, “[God] did not abandon humanity… but in His immense love He became what we are, so that He might enable us to become what He is Himself”
  (St. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses, Book 5; plain text link: newadvent.org/fathers/0103500.htm).

Through these reflections, SSGO shows that God’s self‑giveness is not simply an abstract idea but the dynamic, radiant background of all divine activity. Every grace and sacrament is an overflow of God’s fully‑given self—a self‑donating love that is both the source and the summit of divine goodness.

In sum, the theological narrative of SSGO affirms that God is at once the Ground of Being and the Gift of Being. His essential attributes—aseity, simplicity, immutability, and so forth—reveal a self‑standing, perfectly complete God. His relational attributes, as seen in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, testify to an eternal communion of self‑giving love. And the “Fully Given” Attributes, the unique contribution of SSGO, articulate that all divine perfections are most fully expressed through God’s total self‑donation.

This integrated vision does not discard or alter traditional Catholic doctrine; rather, it brings those venerable truths to their logical and hermeneutical end. By viewing divine attributes through the lens of self‑standing relational givenness, SSGO enriches our understanding of the mystery of God—affirming that, as the Catechism declares, “God’s very being is an eternal exchange of love, and He has destined us to share in that exchange”
  (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 221; plain text link: vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P19.HTM).

In this way, SSGO provides a hermeneutical key that, while thoroughly rooted in the Catholic tradition, brings a new level of conceptual clarity to the ineffable mystery of the Divine.