The ‘Monarchy’ of God the Father

According to the Eleventh Council of Toledo (675), God the Father ‘takes his origin from no one’ and is ‘the font and origin of all divinity’. This article clarifies and defends these declarations about God the Father and the patristic consensus on which they rely. First, it documents the patristic consensus about the Father’s fontal role within the Trinity. Afterwards, it responds to revisionist narratives that deny the universality of certain aspects of this consensus. Then, setting aside historical questions, it argues that Christian confession of the Trinity cannot fail to acknowledge the Father’s status as principle without principle and source of all deity without descending into incoherence. Finally, it takes the results of this study and applies them to the contested category of monarchy and what it means to speak about the ‘monarchy’ of God the Father.