In an essay in the forthcoming book, The Great Tradition–A Great Labor, Edith Humphrey makes some interesting comments about the nature of the much-mentioned term in trinitarian theology, perichoresis:
Contrary to the common wisdom, the term perichōrēsis does not come from the root noun chōros (meaning “chorus,” as in Greek tragedy, or “dance”) but from chōra (meaning “place”). Perichōrēsis therefore means “going around and beyond one’s place” or “making room for.” The word refers to the reciprocity, alternation and interpenetration of the Persons of the Trinity. It was not meant to evoke anything so frivolous as a democratic round-dance, but is used to describe the great mystery by which Persons of the holy Trinity occupy the same “space,” yet are “near and towards” each other, in their distinctness. So the talk that we hear in some places about the “dance of the Trinity,” and our entering blithely into that dance, is mistaken.
Interesting stuff, though I’m sure there would be some who would debate the etymology. Regardless, though, it seems to me that Humphrey’s characterization certainly has more theological merit.
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