Two Methods of Defending the Trinity

1688 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Is christianity really a monotheistic religion essays

Two Methods of Defending the Trinity

Christians believe in one God, yet the apparent contradictory nature of the Trinity is such that it has caused many to doubt whether Christianity is indeed monotheistic. This has consequently caused Christians to defend their monotheism in relation to the Trinity. In the two such defenses that are studied in this essay, we find that Christians have explained the nature of Trinity with varying degrees of effectiveness and success. Timothy the Patriarch defends the Trinity before the Caliph Madhi with few compelling arguments, and Gregory of Nyssa explains it in a more abstract and therefore more effective way. Each however defends the Trinity according to his understanding of it.

In The Apology of Timothy the Patriarch before the Caliph Madhi the way in which the Trinity ought to be understood is made clear: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are not three separate gods but three persons. "We believe they are three…not in Godhead, but in persons, and that they are one not in persons but in Godhead" (63). Timothy says quite clearly that the Trinity is not three gods but "God, his Word and his Spirit" (65). Thus there is no confusion concerning what Timothy actually believes; according to his own word he does not worship more than one God, and condemns idolatry and polytheism. Yet the Caliph, as would any other critic of Trinity, must ask the question, "How is that these three persons…do not constitute three Gods?" (62). If Timothy sees the answer as a mystery he does not effectively communicate such an idea. Rather, Timothy tries to give a logical explanation of the Trinity to the Caliph, a practical, political and logical man. The leaps of logic that Timothy makes d...

... middle of paper ...

...fore Spirit. This relationship shows the primal, original nature of the Father, who exists "without a cause" (8), yet nevertheless cannot partake of Godhead without the Son and the Spirit.

It appears from exploring these two selections that the early Church had no standard of defense for the Trinity and that different understandings of it were common. Moreover, whether it constitutes one God or many gods is a question that is embedded within any conversation of the Trinity. That is, the tradition and teachings that surround the Trinity are inseparable from this question. One might expect that an individual's understanding of the Trinity would determine his or her ability to defend it. Yet, the defense is so tied up with the discussion itself that the ability to defend the Trinity seems almost a prerequisite of a personal spiritual understanding of it.

Show More
Related

  • Catholic Intellectual Tradition: Fundamental Claims Of Religion

    1153 Words  | 3 Pages

    The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the

    Read More

  • Key Differences in Tosa Nikki and Oku no Hosomichi

    1142 Words  | 3 Pages

    These two stories, although they seem like just an ordinary diary of their experience, one can have more meaningful story behind than the other story. By not only paying attention to the small details and the information, but by looking at the bigger picture as one. The most important theme in both diary was honoring the gods and appreciating them for their doings. Though Oku no Hosomichi seems less religious compare to the Tosa Nikki, the story behind the normal understanding of Oku no Hosomichi shows us a deeper involvement of religion for Matsuo Bashō.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter

    583 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne has introduced a character that has been judged harshly. Because, she has been misinformed of her husband’s death; therefore, she was greave and had sought comfort resulting in a baby from the lover whom gave her comfort. When her secret had been discovered she was isolated for committing a treacherous crime of adultery, as one of her punishments she was forced to wear an A on her chest. The novel presents a structure of a society, using symbolism and diction to give underline meaning to the themes, portraying religious tendencies ruled by the philosophy of good and evil.

    Read More

  • Understanding the Divine Trinity in the Bible

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Bible never makes of the specific reference of the trinity, the Bible does talk about the divine existence of each of the three members of the Trinity, God (The Father), The Son (Jesus Christ), and the Spirit (The Holy Spirit). It is still a complex idea for me to understand fully but scripture does indeed tell of the work and existence of the trinity.

    Read More

  • The Doctrine of the Trinity

    539 Words  | 2 Pages

    Three equals one. Out of all of the statements made by the Christian faith, perhaps none is more confusing. The Doctrine of the Trinity has been questioned for decades and many Christians do not even understand it. Colin E. Gunton argues that this does not have to be so. Instead, he calls the Western Church to learn from Eastern Orthodoxy and allow Trinitarian thinking to permeate every aspect of the church. It is when the Western Church embarrasses “The Forgotten Trinity” (the name of the chapter) in thinking and in worship, that we not only learn the nature of God, but how we should live in light of it.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Courtly Love In Sir Gawain And The Green Knight

    949 Words  | 2 Pages

    Courtly love was a secret love or romance between the first knight and the king’s lady that would usually begin with something as small as an exchange of looks through eye glances. Next, a declaration is then discussed by both parties to pursue a relationship under the table from their king or anyone else in the castle. “Gawain glanced at the gracious looking woman …Gawain and the beautiful woman found such comfort and closeness in each other company (line 970,1010)”. Sir Gawain had courted Guinevere while he was at kings Arthurs castle but being here in Bertilak’s Castle he now found a much more stunning lady superior to Guinevere, Lady Bertilak. He had really fallen in love with lady Bertilak at first glance and Lady Bertilak was in love with his heroicness. Moreover, the relationship was established, Sir Gawain was to love her and be obedient to all of her commands as well as to always be polite, courteous and to never exceed the desires of the lover. At one point of the story, Lady Bertilak goes to Sir Gawain’s room in the morning while her husband is away and everyone is sleep because she desires to be with him, “I shall kiss at your command ...should it please you, so press me no more (line 1303). Abiding by the rules of courtly love Sir Gawain is to be a good knight and do as she pleases but

    Read More

  • The Connection between the Monotheistic Traditions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam with Respect to Divine Revelations within the Traditions

    2810 Words  | 6 Pages

    In looking at the world, one would not be surprised to find a great variety of people with varying beliefs and cultural traditions according to the culture’s history and geographic location. But what might strike one as odd is a great similarity across most of those people as well: a belief in God. And not just any God, but a single God who has divine knowledge and power over humanity. Yet with these commonalities, the three traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam each have a unique take on what they feel is the correct belief about God. But with so many commonalities, one might think the three traditions would be closer linked than they appear. Could these three faiths all have a common source beyond simply monotheistic beliefs, but rather a common belief in the same deity? For this paper, through the lens of divine revelation, I wish to research the connection between the three monotheistic traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism with respect to the identity of the Supreme Being (God, Allah, YHWH) and discover if these three identities are found in the same being.

    Read More

  • The Scarlet Letter

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    Why is it The Scarlet Letter? Why not The Scarlet A? A title is much more effective when it is more general. At the end of the day, authors write books to make money. The Scarlet A is a confusing, as well as less appealing, title that would have sold much less. The title is better off being general, and then allowing the book to be more specific. What is more memorable? “The Scarlet Letter” or “The Scarlet A: Adultery in the 1600’s?” The Scarlet Letter was titled the way it was for a reason. It symbolizes and appeals to every major theme in the book, while making it obvious on first glance what the book centralizes on.

    Read More

  • Maybe Rape Is Not Always so Bad

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite the common thought that it is not rape if it is enjoyed, Roark did rape Dominique. This is because rape can be defined as forced or unwanted sex, to gain power. However, this inaccurate phrase about rape not being rape when it is enjoyed is often used in situations when rape is occurring, and the victim first protests, but then starts having fun; which is is exactly what happened in this scene. “She lay still in his arms, in the first instant, in the shock of feeling his skin against hers, the thing she had thought about, had expected, had never known to be like this, could not have known, because this was not part of living, but a thing one could not bear longer than a second” (Rand 216). Dominique was scared by these forceful actions and was left unsure what to do; because of this many individuals place the blame on Dominique stating that she did not fight against it, which makes the sex consensual, but they are mistaken. “She fought like an animal. But she made no sound. She did not call for help” (Rand 216). She did fight and struggled with it, even if she did not call for help its does not matter because if she did call for help, there is a good chance that no one would have heard her. Besides not calling for help, she did everything that she could to not submit herself to him. Letting him take control of her was something she did not want to allow, so should fought as long as she possibly could. “She tried to tear herself away from him” (Rand 216). As she did continue to try to tear her self away it was not effective, so rather than continuing to struggle by putting up a fight she just submitted herself to him.

    Read More

  • Courtly Love

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    Courtly love defined the romance between a knight and his lady love. A knight must be worthy of love. A knight must be sworn to complete devotion to his beloved. He must hold her in high esteem and do all he can to protect her. A knight must desire no one above his beloved and the thought of her must continually be in his mind. Furthermore, courtly love must be a secret love; it does not exist within marriage. The conventions of medieval courtly love directed a knight towards servitude to his beloved.

    Read More

  • Christianity

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    If the factions of Christianity are joined by belief in Jesus, they have been divided since the beginning in understanding who this man is. One of the very first questions the early church had to answer as the fledgling religion distinguished itself centered around the identity of their savior. Was he human or divine or some odd combination? Thinkers such as Arius argued that he was fully human, “pre-eminent in rank within the created order, yet someone who was created rather than being divine” (McGrath 56). However, several immediate problems with this theory arose, pointed out by critics such as Ath...

    Read More

  • The Canon of Biblical Writings

    2279 Words  | 5 Pages

    For centuries now Christians have claimed to possess the special revelation of an omnipotent, loving Deity who is sovereign over all of His creation. This special revelation is in written form and is what has come to be known as The Bible which consists of two books. The first book is the Hebrew Scriptures, written by prophets in a time that was before Christ, and the second book is the New Testament, which was written by Apostles and disciples of the risen Lord after His ascension. It is well documented that Christians in the context of the early first century were used to viewing a set of writings as being not only authoritative, but divinely inspired. The fact that there were certain books out in the public that were written by followers of Jesus and recognized as being just as authoritative as the Hebrew Scriptures was never under debate. The disagreement between some groups of Christians and Gnostics centered on which exact group of books were divinely inspired and which were not. The debate also took place over the way we can know for sure what God would have us include in a book of divinely inspired writings. This ultimately led to the formation of the Biblical canon in the next centuries. Some may ask, “Isn’t Jesus really the only thing that we can and should call God’s Word?” and “Isn’t the Bible just a man made collection of writings all centered on the same thing, Jesus Christ?” This paper summarizes some of the evidences for the Old and New Testament canon’s accuracy in choosing God breathed, authoritative writings and then reflects on the wide ranging

    Read More

  • Similarities of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many religions today that people worship and adapt into their daily lives are their creed. Some may have a lot of gods, while some only have one god. But three of these religions are considered as the major religion practiced by most people in the world today. Although different in some senses in terms of history and other teachings, they all have things in common that most of their followers do not seem to realize. The similarities are very important to understand each religion better and be able to determine which parts they vary. In this paper, I like to discuss the similarities found in the three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

    Read More

  • Essay On Jesus Be Tempted

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    The third and final part of this objection against the divinity of Jesus says that Jesus cannot be God if the last two parts of the objection are true. The first two parts of this objection and be proven false through sc...

    Read More

  • The Apostle Creed

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    Growing up in a Christian church, a member of any parish could probably recite the Lord’s Prayer from the many years of repetition and orating on Sunday mornings. Another good example of another prayer that is engraved in the minds of Christians, the Apostle’s Creed, has significant resonance in any Christian community. Even though the Apostle’s Creed is not in the Bible nor is it actually created by the direct twelve Apostles of Jesus, the Apostles Creed is a continuation of the Lord 's Prayer, which stands as an important element in the Christian religions.

    Read More

More about Two Methods of Defending the Trinity

Open Document