When Was The
Trinity Invented?
Kris
From: "Kris" Hi Cliff I was hoping you could answer a question for me. I was having a discussion about the Trinity with a Catholic friend and we had a little disagreement about its origin. I'm pretty sure that the idea of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit in particular) was arbitrarily created in the 15th century at some summit. Do you know the exact story (i.e. which groups/councils were involved)? Thanx Kris From: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org> The Trinity is late-fourth century, having been passed into law during the Nicene Council in C.E. 381. But the idea predates this and even predates Christianity, though in various forms. In other words, the Christians didn't invent it, they glommed it. And some say they butchered it, as well. The concept of a Trinitarian godhead harkens from Egypt, and is also part of the Hindu godhead. Both cultures had heavily influenced Roman thought by the time the Trinitarian disputes came about, but by then, Egypt was an important center of Christian power. To try to develop a Trinitarian concept of deity from Hebrew Scripture is a stretch, at best, and even to develop it from Christian scripture is sketchy. When Erasmus published his New Testament, people objected that it did not have any passages which teach the Trinity, so he introduced, on very flimsy evidence, I John 5:7:
Only the King James versions retain this passage without comment: the rest relegate it to footnotes. Another passage that is used to bolster the Scriptural basis for the doctrine of the Trinity is Matthew 28:20:
This really says nothing about a Trinity, but merely mentions three names. Like the other New Testament writers, Matthew was not very precise in this or any other concept. This precision came later. Other baptismal formulae instruct Christians to baptize in the name of Jesus, and some sects use this parallel to teach that Jesus is the Father and the Holy Ghost, that there is no Trinity. Consult any Christian primer on the doctrine of the Trinity (like you'd get when you first become saved and take classes to find out what you believe) and you will see just how tough it is to justify deriving this idea from Christian Scripture, which was written by people who were not as sophisticated in self-consistency or as obsessively detailed in their dogma as later scholars became. Before the Nicene Councils consolidated The Dogma Of The One True Faith, Christian ideas along these lines were extremely varied. Many Christian sects, most notably the Jehovah's Witnesses, reject the Trinity. In fact, their materials are as good as any when trying to balance the pro-Trinity arguments of the so-called orthodox Christians. But contrary to what they say (and the Trinitarians, as well), there was no real consensus and nothing resembling precision on this or any other matter during the first few centuries of the Church. Nevertheless, the doctrine of the Trinity is very much a litmus test in modern Christian circles. In the Introduction to Robert M. Price's book Deconstructing Jesus, Price warns:
Early Evangelical Christian "cults" books, particularly those modeled after Walter Martin's classic Evangelical work Kingdom of the Cults, use the doctrine of the Trinity as the primary test of orthodoxy (as well as various degrees of biblical inerrancy and other key issues which distinguish a "true" Christian from a "false" Christian). Many, for example, accept Missouri-based Mormons as Brethren because they are Trinitarian, even though they accept the Book of Mormon as Scripture. Utah-based Mormons, though, are out because they are not Trinitarian. As I have said in some of my writings, often the key test of loyalty is that you believe a tenet that is both unique to the group and patently absurd. I suggest that the absurdity of the teaching is crucial to the test of loyalty. Believing, for example, that the sun is round, would be no test at all. But to believe the Trinity is quite an exertion, as Thomas Jefferson suggests:
But Voltaire summarizes this point most succinctly, and with much-deserved sarcasm:
There is a short write-up in John Draper's History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science, in Chapter 2. You can find what Draper says about the further Trinitarian disputes by typing the words "trinity draper" into the Google search engine at the bottom of our front page. This search is set to default to our website, so you can type these words in and return all the chapters in Draper's book which mention the Trinity. You'll also get, for example, Ingersoll quoting Draper, but check out Draper first, as he's the easiest read on our web site to deal with this matter. Another study would be W. E. H. Lecky's History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe, but this would be rather scarce. To get what he says (mostly later disputes and oblique mentions, but Lecky's footnotes are as informative as his text), simply type "trinity lecky" into the search engine. The most available (that is, readable) studies of the Christian history is in The Dark Side of Christian History by Helen Ellerby. The author covers the Trinitarian disputes from a slightly different perspective. We have a few other excerpts of this book posted, but here's part of what she says about the Trinity, which is (until now) unposted.
I hope this helps a little. This is a tough study because almost everybody who writes about this particular subject has an agenda of some sort, so each writer will emphasize some elements while ignoring others, to come up with a case that fits what she or he is trying to say. That is precisely why I titled this letter the way I did. Cliff Walker |
Material by Cliff Walker (including unsigned editorial commentary) is copyright ©1995-2006 by Cliff Walker. Each submission is copyrighted by its writer, who retains control of the work except that by submitting it to Positive Atheism, permission has been granted to use the material or an edited version: (1) on the Positive Atheism web site; (2) in Positive Atheism Magazine; (3) in subsequent works controlled by Cliff Walker or Positive Atheism Magazine (including published or posted compilations). Excerpts not exceeding 500 words are allowed provided the proper copyright notice is affixed. Other use requires permission; Positive Atheism will work to protect the rights of all who submit their writings to us.