C’est tout particulièrement au chapitre X du De Trinitate qu’Hilaire de Poitiers place sa distinction du dolereet du pati du Christ au coeur d'une ample réflexion doctrinale visant à démontrer que l'Incarnation et la Passion du Christ, témoignant de l'humanité assumée en vertu de «l'économie» (dispensatio), n'avaient en rien altéré la plénitude de sa divinité. Mais la pensée d'Hilaire est parfois considérée comme difficile, voire obscure. Hilaire, confesseur de la foi, aurait-il tenu des propos contraires à l'orthodoxie ? Qu'a-t-il réellement pensé des servitudes liées à la condition humaine du Christ (faim, soif, larmes) ainsi que des «passions» qu'il s'agisse des souffrances d'origine corporelle ou psychologique qu'il eut à traverser ? Comment le mystère de l'Incarnation pouvait éclairer le mystère de la Passion du Christ ? Ces constats ont invité à une relecture des interrogations d'Hilaire sur l'humanité souffrante du Verbe incarné dans le contexte historique de ses œuvres : la période pré-exilique de l'évêque de Poitiers avec son In Matthaeum, la période de son exil en Phrygie (356-360) avec son immersion dans l’Église d'Orient et deux ouvrages : le De Trinitate et le De Synodis, sa période post-exilique avec son Tractatus super Psalmos. / It is particularly in Chapter X of De Trinitate that Hilary of Poitiers places his distinction of Christ's dolere and pati at the heart of an extensive doctrinal reflection aiming to demonstrate that the Incarnation and Passion of Christ, testimonials of Christ's human nature assumed by virtue of «economy» (dispensatio), had ot altered the fullness of His divinity. Nonetheless, the thought of Hilary is sometimes considered difficultor even obscure. Could Hilary, confessor of the faith, have made statements contrary to Orthodoxy ? What did he truly think of the thralls relating to the human condition of Christ (hunger, thirst, tears) as well as ofthe « passions », whether they were sufferings of either bodily or psychological origin, that Christ would have had to traverse ? How does the mystery of the Incarnation shed light upon the mystery of Christ'sPassion ? These observations have prompted a new reading of Hilary's views on the Incarnate Word's suffering human nature, and this, according to the historical context of his works : a) the pre-exilic period of the Bishop of Poitiers with his In Matthaeum, b) the per-exilic period in Phrygia (356-360) with his immersion in the Eastern Church and two works, De Trinitate and De Synodis and, finally, c) the post-exilicperiod with his Tractatus super Psalmos.

No figure of fourth-century Christianity seems to be at once so well known and so clouded in mystery as Hilary of Poitiers. His work as an historian provides invaluable knowledge of the mid-fourth century, and he was praised as a theologian throughout late antiquity. Today, however, discussions of his theology are founded upon less solid ground. This is largely due to methodological issues. Modern scholarship has often read Hilary through anachronistic historical and theological categories which have rendered his thought incomprehensible. Recent scholars have sought to overcome this and to reexamine Hilary within his own historical, polemical, and theological context. Much remains to be said, however, in regard to Hilary's actual theological contribution within these contextual parameters. This thesis contends that in all of Hilary's polemical and constructive argumentation in De Trinitate, which is essentially trinitarian, he is inherently and necessarily developing an anthropology. In all he says about the divine, he is saying as much about what it means to be human. This thesis therefore seeks to reenvision Hilary's overall theological project in terms of the continual, and for him necessary, anthropological corollary of trinitarian theology-to reframe it in terms of a 'trinitarian anthropology'. My contention is that the coherence of Hilary's thought depends upon his understanding of divine-human relations. I will demonstrate this through following Hilary's main lines of trinitarian argument, out of which flows his anthropological vision. These main lines of argument, namely, divine generation, divine infinity, divine unity, the divine image, and divine humanity, each unfold into a progressive picture of humanity from potentiality to perfection. This not only provides a new paradigm for understanding Hilary's own thought, but invites us to reexamine our approach to fourth-century theology entirely, as it disavows any reading of the trinitarian controversies in conceptual abstraction. Further, theological and religious anthropology are widely discussed in contemporary scholarship, and Hilary's profound exploration of divine-human relations, and what it means to be a human being as a result, has much to offer both historical and contemporary concerns.