Nontrinitarianism

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Nontrinitarianism (or antitrinitarianism) includes all Christian belief systems that reject, wholly or partly, the doctrine of the Trinity, namely, the teaching that God is three distinct yet coeternal and coequal hypostases who are indivisibly united in one essence or ousia (see also Consubstantiality).

Nontrinitarian persons and groups do not generally use the term nontrinitarian to describe themselves.[1] Unitarians have adopted a name that speaks of their belief in God as subsisting in a theological or cosmic unity. Modern nontrinitarian views differ widely on the nature of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

Various nontrinitarian views, such as Adoptionism, Monarchianism, and Arianism, existed prior to the formal definition of the Trinity doctrine in AD 325.[2] Nontrinitarianism was later renewed in the Gnosticism of the Cathars in the 11th through 13th centuries, in the Age of Enlightenment of the 18th century, and in some groups arising during the Second Great Awakening of the 19th century.

Modern nontrinitarian Christian denominations include Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter Day Saints, Unitarians, Christadelphians, Oneness Pentecostalism and Iglesia ni Cristo. But most Protestant and Orthodox denominations do not consider the nontrinitarian groups to be Christian[3].

Contents

Forms

All nontrinitarians take the position that the doctrine of the earliest form of Christianity (see Apostolic Age) was not Trinitarian. Typically, nontrinitarians believe Christianity was altered by the edicts of Emperor Constantine I, which resulted in the eventual adoption of Trinitarian Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Because it was during a dramatic shift in Christianity's status that the doctrine of the Trinity attained its definitive development, nontrinitarians typically consider the doctrine questionable. Nontrinitarians see the Nicene Creed as an essentially political document, resulting from the subordination of true doctrine to state interests by leaders of the Catholic Church, so that the church became, in their view, an extension of the Roman Empire.

Although nontrinitarian beliefs continued to multiply, and among some people (such as the Lombards in the west) were dominant for hundreds of years after their inception, the Trinitarians gained prominence in the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians typically argue that the primitive beliefs of Christianity were systematically suppressed (often to the point of death), and that the historical record, perhaps also including the scriptures of the New Testament, was altered as a consequence. Nontrinitarian followers of Jesus fall into roughly four different groups:

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Nontrinitarians claim the roots of their position go back further than those of their counterpart Trinitarians. The biblical basis for each side of the issue is debated chiefly on the question of the divinity of Jesus. Nontrinitarians note that in deference to God, Jesus rejected even being called "good", that he disavowed omniscience as the Son,[6] and that he referred to ascending unto "my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and to your God", and that he said "the Father is the only true God." Additionally, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:4 when saying in Mark 12:29 "“The most important [commandment],” answered Jesus, “is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”"

Some scholars investigating the historical Jesus assert that Jesus taught neither his own equality with God nor the Trinity (see, for example, the Jesus Seminar).

The text of the Athanasian Creed states that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are "coequal"; nontrinitarians dispute this, citing Jesus' statement at John 14:28: "for my father is greater than I".

They also dispute the veracity of the Nicene Creed based on its adoption approximately 300 years after the life of Jesus as a result of conflict within pre-Nicene early Christianity. Nontrinitarians also cite scriptures that warn the reader to beware the doctrines of men such as Matthew 15:9 and Ephesians 4:14.

The author H. G. Wells, later famous for his contribution to science-fiction, wrote in The Outline of History: "We shall see presently how later on all Christendom was torn by disputes about the Trinity. There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the Trinity at any rate from him."

The Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics describes the five stages that led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity.[7]

  1. The acceptance of the pre-human existence of Jesus as the (middle-platonic) Logos, namely, as the medium between the transcendent sovereign God and the created cosmos. The doctrine of Logos was accepted by the Apologists and by other Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, such as Justin the Martyr, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Ireneus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Lactantius, and the 4th century Arius.
  2. The doctrine of the timeless generation of the Son from the Father as it was articulated by Origen in his effort to support the ontological immutability of God, that he is ever-being a father and a creator. The doctrine of the timeless generation was adopted by Athanasius of Alexandria.
  3. The acceptance of the idea that the son of God is homoousios to his father, that is, of the same transcendent nature. This position was declared at the creed of the First Council of Nicaea, which specifically states the son of God is as immutable as his father.
  4. The acceptance that the Holy Spirit also has ontological equality as a third person in a divine Trinity and the final Trinitarian terminology by the teachings of the Cappadocian Fathers.
  5. The addition of filioque to the Trinitarian creed, as accepted by the Roman Catholics.

Points of dissent

Irrationality

Trinitarians say that "the doctrine of the Trinity is [...] a deep mystery that cannot be fathomed by the finite mind."[8] Criticism of the Trinitarian doctrine includes the argument that its "mystery" is essentially an inherent irrationality, where the persons of God are claimed to share completely a single divine substance, the "being of God", and yet not partake of each others' identity.

They also contend that the doctrine of the Trinity ignores Aristotle's three Laws of Thought:

Jehovah's Witnesses believe it is a contradiction to simultaneously say that knowing "the only true God" (John 17:3) is a requirement of everlasting life, and that God is an unknowable "mystery".[9] They claim that the perplexity of Trinitarian philosophical arguments is contrary to biblical principles, which they contend are clear and simple.[10].

Scriptural support

Critics argue that the Trinity, for a teaching described as fundamental, lacks direct scriptural support, and even some proponents of the doctrine acknowledge that direct or formal support is lacking. The New Catholic Encyclopedia says, "The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is not taught [explicitly] in the [Old Testament]", "The formulation 'one God in three Persons' was not solidly established [by a council]...prior to the end of the 4th century". Similarly, Encyclopedia Encarta states: "The doctrine is not taught explicitly in the New Testament, where the word God almost invariably refers to the Father. [...] The term trinitas was first used in the 2nd century, by the Latin theologian Tertullian, but the concept was developed in the course of the debates on the nature of Christ [...]. In the 4th century, the doctrine was finally formulated"[11]. Encyclopædia Britannica says: "Neither the word Trinity nor the explicit doctrine appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deuteronomy 6:4). [...] The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. [...] by the end of the 4th century, under the leadership of Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus (the Cappadocian Fathers), the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since."[12] The Anchor Bible Dictionary states: "One does not find in the NT the trinitarian paradox of the coexistence of the Father, Son, and Spirit within a divine unity."[13] The question of why such a central doctrine to the Christian faith would never have been explicitly stated in scripture or taught in detail by Jesus himself was sufficiently important to 16th century historical figures such as Michael Servetus as to lead them to argue the question. The Geneva City Council, in accord with the judgment of the cantons of Zürich, Bern, Basel, and Schaffhausen, condemned Servetus to be burned at the stake for this and his opposition to infant baptism.

Jesus as Almighty God

The debate over the biblical basis of the Trinity doctrine revolves primarily around the issue of Jesus being the Almighty. Those who refute the teaching that Jesus is Almighty God argue that Jesus himself rejected being called even "good" in deference to God, in the parable of the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-18; Matthew 19:16-17; Luke 18:18-19), disavowed omniscience as the Son, "learned obedience" (Hebrews 5:8), and referred to ascending to "my Father, and to your Father; and to my God, and to your God" (John 20:17). They also argue to show that "Elohim" (literally "gods") does not hint at any form of plurality, but rather to majesty pointing to the Hebrew dialect and grammar rules that render this title in nearly all circumstances with a singular verb. They also point to statements made by Jesus himself. Such statements include his declaration that the Father is greater than he is, that he does know when the final day and hour will be (Mark 13:32), and that his being called the 'firstborn of all creation' and 'the beginning of God's creation' (Colossians 1:15, Revelation 3:14) show that he was created by God and argue directly against his being eternal. Raymond E. Brown wrote that Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19, Matthew 19:17, Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46, John 20:17, Ephesians 1:17, 2 Corinthians 1:3, 1 Peter 1:3, John 17:3, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, 1 Timothy 2:5, John 14:28, Mark 13:32, Philippians 2:5-10, 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 are "texts that seem to imply that the title God was not used for Jesus" and are "negative evidence which is often somewhat neglected in Catholic treatments of the subject."[14]

Trinitarians, and nontrinitarians who also hold Jesus Christ as Almighty God (such as the "Modalists"), claim these statements are based on Jesus' existence as the Son of God in human flesh; that he is therefore both God and man, who became "lower than the angels, for our sake" (Hebrews 2:6-8, Psalm 8:4-6), and that he was tempted as humans are tempted, but did not sin (Hebrews 4:14-16). Some nontrinitarians counter the belief that the Son was limited only during his earthly life by citing 1 Corinthians 11:3 ("the head of Christ [is] God" [KJV]), placing Jesus in an inferior position to the Father even after his resurrection. They also cite Acts 5:31 and Philippians 2:9, indicating that Jesus became exalted after ascension to heaven, and to Hebrews 9:24, Acts 7:55, 1 Corinthians 15:24, 28, regarding Jesus as a distinct personality in heaven, all after his ascension.

Terminology

Nontrinitarians state that the doctrine of the Trinity relies on non-Biblical terminology. The term "Trinity" is not found in scripture and the number three is never associated with God in any sense other than within the Comma Johanneum of disputed authenticity. They argue that the only number ascribed to God in the Bible is one, and that the Trinity, literally meaning three-in-one, ascribes a threeness to God that is not biblical.

Several other examples of terms not found in the Bible include multiple "persons" in relation to God, the terms "God the Son" and "God the Holy Spirit", and "eternally" begotten. For example, a basic tenet of Trinitarianism is that God is made up of three distinct persons (hypostasis). The term hypostasis is used only once in reference to God in the Bible (Hebrews 1:3), where it states that Jesus is the express image of God's person. The Bible never uses the term in relation to the Holy Spirit nor explicitly mentions the Son having a distinct hypostasis from the Father.

Regarding the major term homoousios (of the same essence), which was introduced into the Creed at the First Council of Nicea, Pier Franco Beatrice stated: "The main thesis of this paper is that homoousios came straight from Constantine's Hermetic background. [...] The Plato recalled by Constantine is just a name used to cover precisely the Egyptian and Hermetic theology of the "consubstantiality" of the Logos-Son with the Nous-Father, having recourse to a traditional apologetic argument. [...] Constantine's Hermetic interpretation of Plato's theology and consequently the emperor's decision to insert homoousios in the Creed of Nicaea."[15]

Trinitarians maintain that these ideas are implied within scripture and were necessary additions of the Nicene Era to counter the doctrine of Arianism.

Holy Spirit

See also: Holy Spirit

It is also argued that the vast majority of scriptures that Trinitarians offer in support of their beliefs refer to the Father and to Son, but not to the Holy Spirit. Non-Trinitarians like Jehovah's witnesses beleive that Holyspirit is not a person but the active force of God.

Monotheism

The Trinity doctrine is integral in inter-religious disagreements with two of the other major faiths, Judaism and Islam; the former rejects Jesus' divine mission entirely, and the latter accepts Jesus as a human prophet and the Messiah but not as the son of God. The concept of trinity is totally rejected, with Quranic verses calling the doctrine of the Trinity blasphemous. Many within Judaism and Islam also accuse Christian Trinitarians of practicing polytheism—believing in three gods rather than just one.

Supporting scriptures

Among Bible verses cited by opponents of Trinitarianism are those that claim there is only one God, the Father. Other verses state that Jesus Christ was a man. Although Trinitarians consider these apparent contradictions part of the mystery and paradox of the Trinity itself, some nontrinitarians argue that there is little, if any, biblical basis for the Trinity.[16] Nontrinitarians cite scriptures such as the following as being contrary to the Trinity doctrine.

One God

Below are some scriptures nontrinitarians use to claim that there is only one God, the Father.

Son and Father

Below are some scriptures nontrinitarians use to claim Son is inferior to father and was a creation.

Holy spirit

Below are some scriptures nontrinitarians use to claim Holyspirit is inferior to God. Some nontrinitarians use the below scriptures to endorse that Holyspirit is a power of God.

Old Testament

Ontological differences

View on claimed trinity supporting scriptures

Nontrinitarians argue that a person who is really seeking to know the truth about God is not going to search the Bible hoping to find a text that he can construe as fitting what he already believes. They say that it is be noteworthy at the outset that most of the texts used as “proof” of the Trinity actually mention only two persons, not three; So nontrinitarians claim that even if the Trinitarian explanation of the texts were correct, these would not prove that the Bible teaches the Trinity.[17]

John 1:1:- Nontrinitarians argue that translation of John 1:1,2 should agree with the context. John 1:18 says: “No one has ever seen God.” Verse 14 clearly says that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . . we have beheld his glory.” Also, verses 1,2 say that in the beginning he was “with God.” Hence nontrinitarians believe it would be controversial to consider that one be with someone and at the same time be that person. At John 17:3, Jesus addresses the Father as “the only true God”; So most nontrinitarians believe Jesus as “a god” merely reflects his Father’s divine qualities.[18]

John  10:30:- Nontrinitarians believe When saying, “I and the Father are one,” Jesus did not mean that they were equal. They quote John 17:21,22 where Jesus prayed regarding his followers: “That they may all be one,” and he added, “that they may be one even as we are one.” Nontrinitarians endorse Jesus used the same Greek word (hen) for “one” in all these instances. It would be controversial that if Jesus mean his disciples do all become part of the Trinity. Instead nontrinitarians believe disciples do come to share a oneness of purpose with the Father and the Son, the same sort of oneness that unites God and Christ.[19]

Alternate views

There have been numerous other views of the relations of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, including the following.

Early Christian

Famous Christians

Modern Christians

Non-Christian

Claimed pagan origins

Many nontrinitarians contend that the doctrine of the Trinity is a prime example of Christianity borrowing from Indo-European pagan sources. According to them, very early in the Church's history a simpler idea of God was lost and the incomprehensible doctrine of the Trinity took its place due to the Church's accommodation of pagan ideas. In support of this, they often compare the doctrine of the Trinity with notions of a divine triad found in ancient pagan religions and even in modern Hinduism.

Those who argue for a pagan basis note that as far back as Babylonia, the worship of pagan gods grouped in threes, or triads, was common, and that this influence was also prevalent among the Celts, in Egypt, Greece, Rome. In ancient India, the concept of the trio—Brahma the creator, Shiva the destroyer and Vishnu the preserver dates back to millennia before Christ. They allege that after the death of the apostles these pagan beliefs began to invade a more exclusively Jewish form of Christian doctrine. At the very least, they suggest that Greek philosophy brought a late influence into the creation of the doctrine.

Critics of the doctrine point to the widely acknowledged synthesis of Christianity with Platonic philosophy, which is evident in Trinitarian formulas that appeared by the end of the third century. "The Greek philosophical theology" was "developed during the Trinitarian controversies over the relationships among the persons of the Godhead."[30] Roman Catholic doctrine became firmly rooted Hellenism, allowing an essentially pagan idea to be imposed on the Church, beginning with the Constantinian period. The neo-Platonic trinities, such as that of the One, the Nous and the Soul, are not a trinity of consubstantial equals as in orthodox Christianity. However, the neo-Platonic trinity has the doctrine of emanation, a timeless procedure of generation having as a source the One and being paralleled with the generation of the light from the Sun. This was adopted by Origen and applied to the generation of the Son from the Father, because he wanted to support that the Father, as immutable, always had the Son with him, and that the generation of the Son is therefore eternal and timeless. This formula was accepted by Athanasius and others and became an official doctrine of the Church.[31] The Gentile (non-Jewish) culture of Bible times suggests that miraculous events were attributed to "gods".[32]

Nontrinitarians assert that Catholics must have recognized the pagan roots of the Trinity, because the allegation of borrowing was raised by some disputants when the Nicene doctrine was being formalized and adopted by the bishops. For example, in the writings of 4th century Catholic Bishop Marcellus of Ancyra, On the Holy Church, 9:

"Now with the heresy of the Ariomaniacs, which has corrupted the Church of God...These then teach three hypostases, just as Valentinus the heresiarch first invented in the book entitled by him 'On the Three Natures'. For he was the first to invent three hypostases and three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and he is discovered to have filched this from Hermes and Plato." (Source: Logan A. Marcellus of Ancyra (Pseudo-Anthimus), 'On the Holy Church': Text, Translation and Commentary. Verses 8-9. Journal of Theological Studies, NS, Volume 51, Pt. 1, April 2000, p.95 ).

Such a late date for a key term of Nicene Christianity, and attributed to a Gnostic, they believe, lends credibility to the charge of pagan borrowing. Marcellus was rejected by the Catholic Church for teaching a form of Sabellianism.

The early apologists, including Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Irenaeus, frequently discussed the parallels and contrasts between Christianity, Paganism and other syncretic religions, and answered charges of borrowing from paganism in their apologetical writings.

Some nontrinitarians find a direct link between the doctrine of the Trinity and the Egyptian theologians of Alexandria, suggesting that Alexandrian theology, with its strong emphasis on the deity of Jesus, served to infuse Egypt's pagan religious heritage into Christianity. They charge the Church with adopting these Egyptian tenets after adapting them to Christian thinking by means of Greek philosophy.[33] As evidence of this, they point to the widely acknowledged synthesis of Christianity with Platonic philosophy evident in Trinitarian formulas appearing by the end of the third century. Hence, beginning with the Constantinian period, they allege, these pagan ideas were forcibly imposed on the churches as Catholic doctrine rooted firmly in the soil of Hellenism. Most groups subscribing to the theory of a Great Apostasy generally concur in this thesis.

Some have pointed to the Comma Johanneum (the portion of 1 John 5:7-8 that does not appear in the earliest Greek manuscripts) as an explicit statement of the Trinity. However, the authenticity of the passage is in doubt, and is not found in what modern scholars regard as the "best" or oldest manuscripts; secondly, it suggests that the unity "in heaven" is one of agreement, rather than of essence—and therefore the verse does not distinguish Trinitarian belief.

Other nonunitarian nontrinitarians point to John 20:28-29, to support their view that Jesus was God in the Bible: "And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed""(NKJV). Since Thomas called Jesus God, Jesus' statement appears to endorse Thomas' assertion (though it is plausible that Thomas is addressing the Lord Jesus and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead). Raymond E. Brown in Does the NT call Jesus God? notes on this passage: "... the contention of Theodore of Mopsuestia [c.400] that Thomas was uttering an exclamation of thanks to the Father finds few proponents today." "Dominus et deus noster" (Our Lord and God) was a title used by the Roman Emperor Domitian. Regarding this usage, Jesus Himself said, "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?"[34]" referring to Psalms 82:6-8, "I have said, Ye [are] gods; and all of you [are] children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations."[35] The word "gods" in verse 6 and "God" in verse 8 is the same Hebrew word "'elohiym"[36], which means, "gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative"[37] and as "God, god, gods, rulers, judges or angels"[36] and as "divine ones, goddess, godlike one"[38]

Hellenic influences

Advocates of the "Hellenic origins" argument consider it well supported by primary sources. They see these sources as tracing the influence of Philo on post-Apostolic Christian philosophers - many of them ex-pagan Hellenic philosophers - who then interpreted Scripture through the Neoplatonic filter of their original beliefs and subsequently incorporated those interpretations into their theology. The early synthesis between Hellenic philosophy and early Christianity was certainly made easier by the fact that so many of the earliest apologists (such as Athenagoras and Justin Martyr) were Greek converts themselves, whose original beliefs had consisted of Hellenistic philosophical religion.

Stuart G Hall (formerly Professor of Ecclesiastical History at King's College, London) describes the subsequent process of philosophical/theological amalgamation in Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church (1991), where he writes:

The apologists began to claim that Greek culture pointed to and was consummated in the Christian message, just as the Old Testament was. This process was done most thoroughly in the synthesis of Clement of Alexandria. It can be done in several ways.
You can rake through Greek literature, and find (especially in the oldest seers and poets) references to ‘God’ which are more compatible with monotheism than with polytheism (so at length Athenagoras.) You can work out a common chronology between the legends of prehistoric (Homer) Greece and the biblical record (so Theophilus.)
You can adapt a piece of pre-Christian Jewish apologetic, which claimed that Plato and other Greek philosophers got their best ideas indirectly from the teachings of Moses in the Bible, which was much earlier.
This theory combines the advantage of making out the Greeks to be plagiarists (and therefore second-rate or criminal), while claiming that they support Christianity by their arguments at least some of the time. Especially this applied to the question of God.

Philo himself had been influenced by Plato’s Timaeus, in which he called the logos “the image of God” and “the second God”. Many Trinitarians today are emphatic in their insistence that John's gospel deliberately makes use of the term "logos"[39] because (according to them) he was fully aware of its Philonic meaning, and expected his readers to understand this. Some Trinitarians even go so far as to say that John himself was responsible for using the term in a new and especially religious way.

Philo's work reveals his dependence upon the Hellenic view that God Himself could not be directly responsible for the creation - for how could a perfect being produce an imperfect world, or the mutable derive from the immutable? The Greek solution was to propose the existence of a secondary divine being - the Demiurge - which, although tremendously powerful in its own right, was a little lower than God Himself (being neither perfect nor immutable in the absolute sense), and could therefore be safely associated with the creative process. To the Greeks, this arrangement was both a logical and philosophical necessity, and Philo - following his Hellenic inclinations - emphasizes it strongly in De Opificio:

The Absolute Being, the Father, who had begotten all things, gave an especial grace to the Archangel and First-born Logos (Word), that standing between, He might sever the creature from the Creator. The same is ever the Intercessor for the dying mortal before the immortal God, and the Ambassador and the Ruler to the subject. He is neither without beginning of days, as God is, nor is He begotten, as we are, but is something between these extremes, being connected with both.

Here, then, was a Greek concept that may have influenced formation of the Christian Scriptures. Instead of abandoning their philosophical preconceptions, they were able to import them into their new religion. It is therefore easy to understand the attractiveness of the Philonic model among Greek converts to Christianity.

The idea was warmly received by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen and Arius (to name but a few), who successfully developed it over several centuries.

To quote again from Hall's Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church:

Justin’s ‘creed’, as we saw, spoke of a transcendent God and Father, of his Son (with the angels), and of the Spirit of prophecy. This triple confession is in line with what we know of the baptismal formula.
But when we look at the theology of the apologists, we find that generally their thought is ‘binitarian’ rather than ‘Trinitarian’: it speaks of God and his Word, rather than of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The term ‘Trinity’ was not yet in use in the Church.
Theophilus is the first to use the Greek word for Trinity (trias, triad), when he takes the first three days of creation as signifying the trinity of ‘God and his Word and his Wisdom’ (To Autolycus 2.15), and Tertullian soon after 200 was using the Latin trinitas of God.
If we suppose that the baptismal confession and central Christian belief was in a threefold form, we have to account for the binitarian thought of Justin and those like him. The most obvious explanation is that their apologetic is directed towards Greek thought. They began from what appeared to be common ground.
Among the Greeks, a familiar notion was the thought of an utterly transcendent, perfect, unmoving God, and of a second, mediating, active being responsible for the created order, whether as its superior governor or as its immanent soul.
Such a theology was being propounded, for instance, by the Platonist Albinos in Asia Minor at the same time that Justin was himself there, before he moved to Rome.

Quite apart from any philosophical reasons (which were certainly influential in their own right), the church preserved the Philonic writings because Eusebius of Caesarea labeled the monastic ascetic groups of Therapeutae and Therapeutrides - described in Philo's De Vita Contemplativa - as Christians (which they were not.) Eusebius also promoted the legend that Philo met Peter in Rome, while Jerome (AD 345-420) even lists him as a church Father. None of this was true, but in time (via church tradition) it came to be accepted as historical fact. Thus, through a series of pious frauds, Philo's work was eventually elevated to the level of honorary orthodoxy.

One standard reference for the "pagan origins" hypothesis is Alexander Hislop's The Two Babylons. It is charged that the book is poorly researched and badly written while being well referenced and powerfully presented. Critics contend the book contains a multitude of errors easily overlooked by the untrained eye, and say its popularity among nontrinitarians is a result of uncritical acceptance.

Controversy over status

Most nontrinitarians identify themselves as Christian. In this regard The Encyclopædia Britannica states, "To some Christians the doctrine of the Trinity appeared inconsistent with the unity of God....They therefore denied it, and accepted Jesus Christ, not as incarnate God, but as God's highest creature by Whom all else was created....[this] view in the early Church long contended with the orthodox doctrine."[40] This view (nontrinitarian) “in the early church”, still supported by some Christians, generates controversy among mainstream Christians. Most trinitarians considered it heresy not to believe in the Trinity.

Christianity is typically understood as an oxymoronic Trinitarian monotheism in its God-concept, although the theological and philosophical work needed to differentiate this from tritheism is significant, if not impossible. This difficulty is so great that non-Christians who make the attempt are often left with a view of Christianity as being a faith of tritheism or quadratheism when dealing with Roman Catholics and their focus on the Virgin Mary Mariology. Some scholars get the general sense that the Cappadocian Fathers, who developed the idea of Trinity, were themselves not entirely convinced of its truth. However, some framework was needed to reconcile the centrality of Jesus for the Christian experience with the figure of YHWH or "Abba" of which Jesus was a representative, and the best option at that time was this trinity idea. In any discussion of early Christianity, it is important to remember that a small sect like Christianity needed to show itself as quantifiably different from that which came before and the surrounding culture in general. In order to accomplish this, a standard theology was needed. With this theology, the group could define itself and rally around a central cause or figure. This made the faith strong, but after the faith grew beyond the danger of being destroyed by Rome, it also made the faith somewhat myopic when it came to dissenting views.

At times, segments of Nicene Christianity reacted with ultimate severity toward nontrinitarian views. At other times, especially among Protestants, the same views have been accommodated. See the related section of the Unitarianism article for a more detailed discussion.

Groups

People

  • Hermas c. 140 (he considers the Father superior and the Son as the archangel Michael)
  • Clement of Alexandria c. 190 (he considers the Father superior and the Son born in time)
  • Natalius, ~200
  • Sabellius, ~220 (he considers the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit as three manifestations of the same person)
  • Origen c. 230 (he considers the Father superior, but the Son as co-eternal)
  • Paul of Samosata, 269
  • Arius, 336
  • Eusebius of Nicomedia, 341, baptized Constantine
  • Constantius II, Byzantine Emperor, 361
  • Antipope Felix II, 365
  • Aëtius, 367
  • Ulfilas, Apostle to the Goths, 383
  • Priscillian, 385, considered first Christian to be executed for heresy
  • Muhammad, 632, see also Isa
  • Ludwig Haetzer, 1529
  • Michael Servetus, 1553, burned at the stake in Geneva under John Calvin
  • Sebastian Castellio, 1563
  • Ferenc Dávid, 1579
  • Fausto Paolo Sozzini, 1604
  • John Biddle, 1662
  • John Milton (poet), c. 1674
  • Thomas Aikenhead, 1697, last person to be hanged for blasphemy in Britain

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ For example, Jehovah's Witnesses' Watchtower Library on CDROM—2009, containing most of their publications since 1950, uses the term non-trinitarian only once (in unquoted text).
  2. ↑ von Harnack, Adolf (1894-03-01). "History of Dogma". http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.iii.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15. "[In the 2nd century,] Jesus was either regarded as the man whom God hath chosen, in whom the Deity or the Spirit of God dwelt, and who, after being tested, was adopted by God and invested with dominion, (Adoptian Christology); or Jesus was regarded as a heavenly spiritual being (the highest after God) who took flesh, and again returned to heaven after the completion of his work on earth (pneumatic Christology)" 
  3. ↑ McGrath, Christianity: An Introduction
  4. ↑ HISTORY OF ARIANISM, Alexandria and Arius: AD 323-325
  5. ↑ D&C 130:22
  6. ↑ see John 8:28 "Then Jesus said unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then ye shall know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things."
  7. ↑ W. Fulton, .”Trinity”, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, T. & T. Clark, 1921, Vol. 12, p. 459.
  8. ↑ Evans, W., & Coder, S. M., The great doctrines of the Bible, Moody Press, Chicago 1998, c1974, p. 26.
  9. ↑ "Should you believe in it?" Should you believe in the Trinity?, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, New York. Retrieved in Jan 26, 2010.
  10. ↑ "How Is the Trinity Explained?" Should you believe in the Trinity?, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, New York. Retrieved in April 1, 2008.
  11. ↑ John Macquarrie, "Trinity," Microsoft Encarta Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved in March 31, 2008.
  12. ↑ "Trinity," Encyclopedia Britannica 2004 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD. Retrieved in March 31, 2008.
  13. ↑ Jouette M. Bassler, "God in the NT", The Anchor Bible Dictionary, Doubleday, New York 1992, 2:1055.
  14. ↑ Theological Studies #26 (1965) p. 545-73, "Does the NT call Jesus God?"
  15. ↑ "The Word "Homoousios" from Hellenism to Christianity," Church History, Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Society of Church History, Vol. 71, No. 2, (Jun., 2002), pp. 243-272.
  16. ↑ AUC Christian Beliefs
  17. ↑ Reasoning from Scriptures, Watch Tower bible and tract society page 411 para 4
  18. ↑ Reasoning from Scriptures, Watch Tower bible and tract society page 415 para 4
  19. ↑ Reasoning from Scriptures, Watch Tower bible and tract society page 422 para 3
  20. ↑ Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Present Day, Prince Press, 1984, Vol. 1, pp. 159-161• Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine, The University of Chicago Press, 1971, Vol. 1, pp. 181-199
  21. ↑ Avery Cardinal Dulles. The Deist Minimum. 2005.
  22. ↑ Pfizenmaier, T.C., "Was Isaac Newton an Arian?" Journal of the History of Ideas 68(1):57–80, 1997.
  23. ↑ Snobelen, Stephen D. (1999). "Isaac Newton, heretic : the strategies of a Nicodemite" (PDF). British Journal for the History of Science 32: 381–419. doi:10.1017/S0007087499003751. http://www.isaac-newton.org/heretic.pdf. 
  24. ↑ Flint, James; Deb Flint. One God or a Trinity?. Hyderabad: Printland Publishers. ISBN 81-87409-61-4. http://www.christadelphia.org/pamphlet/p_onegod.htm. 
  25. ↑ Broughton, James H.; Peter J Southgate. The Trinity: True or False?. UK: The Dawn Book Supply. http://www.biblelight.org/trin/trinind.htm. 
  26. ↑ History:11
  27. ↑ Manalo, Eraño G., Fundamental Beliefs of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) (Iglesia ni Cristo; Manila 1989)
  28. ↑ http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm
  29. ↑ The Holy Spirit-God's Active Force - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Web Site
  30. ↑ A. Hilary Armstrong, Henry J. Blumenthal, Platonism. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved May 13, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica 2006 Ultimate Reference Suite DVD.
  31. ↑ See John Laird, Cosmology and Theism, Ayer Publishing, 1940, 1969, p. 119• Deepa Majumdar, Plotinus on the Appearance of Time and the World of Sense: A Pantomime, Ashgate Publising, 2007, p. 77, 78• Ν. Λούβαρις, Ιστορία της φιλοσοφίας, Ελευθερουδάκης, τόμ. 1, p. 156• Paul M. Blowers, “Creation,” Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, Taylor and Francis, 1999, p. 299· James Orr, The Progress of Dogma, James Clark and Co., 1901, 2002, p. 86.
  32. ↑ http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Act&c=14&v=10&t=KJV#10
  33. ↑ 'At times he forms one of a trinity in unity, with Ra and Osiris, as in Fig. 87, a god with the two sceptres of Osiris, the hawk's head of Horus, and the sun of Ra. This is the god described to Eusebius, who tells us that when the oracle was consulted about the divine nature, by those who wished to understand this complicated mythology, it had answered, "I am Apollo and Lord and Bacchus," or, to use the Egyptian names, "I am Ra and Horus and Osiris." Another god, in the form of a porcelain idol to be worn as a charm, shows us Horus as one of a trinity in unity, in name, at least, agreeing with that afterwards adopted by the Christians--namely, the Great God, the Son God, and the Spirit God.'—Samuel Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology and Egyptian Christianity, 1863, pp. 89-90.
  34. ↑ http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jhn&c=10&v=34&t=KJV#34
  35. ↑ http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=82&v=6&t=KJV#6
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 http://www.biblicalheritage.org/Linguistic/HL/1-A/-elohiym.htm
  37. ↑ http://strongsnumbers.com/hebrew/430.htm
  38. ↑ http://www.biblestudytools.net/Lexicons/Hebrew/heb.cgi?number=0430
  39. ↑ Example: Greek word #3056 in Strong's
  40. ↑ Encyclopedia Britannica 1942 edition p.634 "Christianity"

External links