The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity

1137 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay on the concept of the christian trinity

INTRODUCTION

The Trinity is one of the greatest of all mysteries, causing many debates, changes in belief, and doubts in the formation of the early church to present day. The most prominent difficulty with accepting the Trinity as the church formed was the idea that there was only one God and to say that the one God had three "parts" was seen to be straying away from monotheism. Spanning centuries upon centuries of debate and development, the doctrine of the trinity was and is a widely protested idea in which the Christian faith and church lay their foundation of belief. With the church being shaped by such a large and ambiguous doctrine, it is important to analyze the key figures in the development of the Trinitarian doctrine as they provide input and details for how and why the church struggled with such an idea. By noting the different arguments that various key people or councils had, it is easier to see where the present day belief came from and because of that, gain a greater understanding about what is believed today. Also, it is crucial to analyze the belief that present day Christians, including myself, have as doing so will allow a reflection on where our certain beliefs originated, giving Christians a more appreciative understanding about when and how my beliefs started to be molded.

Throughout the first and second centuries, the early church struggled with the idea that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit could come together to form the Trinity. While early church leaders did profess a belief in a triad, they held the three different aspects as separate and not equally divine in any sense, illustrating that their thinking did not match a Trinitarian belief. They declared that the Father is unanimously superior, the ...

... middle of paper ...

...ion marks at the beginning or end of the citation. It is best to refrain from using such a large amount of quoted material unless it is necessary to your paper. Quotations less than eight lines may be formatted in this manner if it is desirable for emphasis of the quotation.

Footnotes

The format of footnotes should consist of the following information in the order given: (1) author’s name, (2) title and subtitle (if any), (3) name of editor, compiler or translator, if any, (4) number or name of edition, if other than the first, (5) name of the series in which the book appears, if any, with volume or number in the series, (6) facts of publication including place of publication, publishing agency, date of publication, and (7) page number(s) of the specific citation. If you have an odd resource that does not fit the criteria listed above, look up examples online.

Show More
Related

  • Free Essays - APA Style Sample

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    APA uses parenthetical (or in-text) citations within sentences, but rather than indicating the author's name and page number, APA includes author's name and date of publication. The page number, represented with a p. or a pp., is only added to the citation when using a direct quote (not a summary or paraphrase). If the author's name is mentioned in the sentence, then place the date of publication in parentheses directly after the name. If the name is not mentioned include the author's name and date in parentheses at the end of the source material. And, if you use a direct quote, place the page number after the publication date within the parentheses. Note the difference between the following three examples:

    Read More

  • Kaiser Permanente

    999 Words  | 2 Pages

    6. Properly cite your references in the text of your essay (either in parentheses or in footnotes), as well as at the end.

    Read More

  • Explain how the principal beliefs of Christianity as they are expressed in the Bible, influence the lives of adherents

    1331 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the main principles of Christianity is the belief in both the divinity and humanity of Jesus, that these two natures are combined harmoniously in one being. In general, all modern Christians believe that Jesus was human, he was considered to be “The Word was made flesh” (John, I: 14). However, Jesus was more than just a human, despite being subjected to pain, suffering and death like all other human beings, he was sinless and also possessed the power to heal and to defy death in order to ascend, both body and spirit, into heaven. He was all man and all God, a combination of these two elements, remaining distinct but united in one being. The deity of Jesus is a non-negotiable belief in Christianity, which is referred to in many parts of scripture, “God was revealed in the flesh” (I Timothy, 3:16). The Christian faith does not perceive Jesus as God but rather a reincarnation of God, a mysterious deity who is the second person of the Holy Trinity. Throughout history, controversy has surrounded the issue of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, leading to the formation of Docetism, the belief that Jesus was fully divine but not fully human, Arianism, that Jesus was superior to all of creation, but less divine than God, and Nestorius, that there were two separate persons within Jesus. This the proportion of the divine and human within Je...

    Read More

  • Transformation of Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    3.                         When quoting, the parentheses, which hold the page number, should come after the quotation marks and the punctuation should come after the parentheses.  An example of a correctly cited quote would be “A spell was broken” (251). Instead of “a spell was broken (251)”.

    Read More

  • Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

    1903 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...nity. The Holy Spirit allows human beings to become closer to God, and the relationship between the Father and the Son. After writing about both the Trinity and Salvation, I have learned that they are immensely interconnected. The Trinity allows human beings to find Salvation. All in all, the Trinity is not three separate parts, but one part with three different essences.

    Read More

  • confant Conflict of Passion and Reason in Sophocles' Antigone

    1472 Words  | 3 Pages

    2.      When quoting always cite the quote by putting into parentheses the name of the author and the page on which the quote can be found.

    Read More

  • Grapes of Wrath Essay: Moving From Me to We

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    2.       Also always be sure to cite each quote.  Make sure that you have the author and the page number every time.

    Read More

  • Homosexuals and Child Molestation

    1634 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lee, I. “How to Write a Bibliography: Examples in MLA Style.” Nov. 17, 2002. A Research Guide for Students. Dec. 2, 2002.

    Read More

  • The Morality Of Christianity: The Nature Of God And Christianity

    1811 Words  | 4 Pages

    “The practice of baptism in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the second century propelled the development of the trinitarian theology” (LaDue 48). According to Collins, the trinity can be defined by three statements “1. There is only one true God. 2. This one true God exists as three distinct persons. 3. Each person is fully divine” (Collins 29-31). The three people that make up the trinity are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. First there is the Father. There are many Bible passages where God is referred to as the Father, this can be concluded because He alone created all things and His first human creation, Adam, was called the son of God. Jesus is God’s son and he was sent by his father, the Father, to offer humanity salvation from their sins. The “God of the Israelites reveals himself as a distinct, unique, superior deity who is always there. God’s being there is what defines him” (LaDue 14). The Israelites sometimes see the God Yahweh as an imitation of the trinity in the old testament, but they do not have distinct leveled personalities. Although God is distinct and unique, the idea that He is superior can be a false assumption as all the persons of the trinity have equal power and divinity. Another person of the trinity is the Holy Spirit. Yes, the Holy Spirit is a person. This is a common misconception of the

    Read More

  • The Beliefs that Effect Christianity

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Christianity one of their primary beliefs is the idea of a Triune God, which means the belief of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as one entity not three separate beings. This would result in God being indivisible and could not be divided into three different parts for an ...

    Read More

  • Democracy to Dictatorship in Lord of the Flies

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    2. Also when quoting you must always place in parentheses the name of the author and the page on which the quote can be found.  This way your readers can look up the quotes for themselves.

    Read More

  • The Doctrine of the Trinity

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    The doctrine of the Trinity, as seen in the Christian bible, is primary to the Christian faith. The word “Trinity” does not actually appear in the bible; it is a theological label meant to summarize certain teachings of certain passages of scripture, and is crucial to properly understand what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we relate to Him. It may also raise many difficult questions including what does it mean that God is a Trinity? While it is difficult for us to fully understand everything about the trinity, it is quite possible to answer questions like this one and come to a solid grasp of what it means for God to be three in one.

    Read More

  • On the Incarnation

    1127 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Trinity is made up of God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This concept is what many Catholics believe in, but other worldwide religions believe in other beliefs. Out of all the three Divine Persons, “Jesus is the most qualified to bring the renewal of creation because it was through him that creation came into being” (Pohle February 7th). We as humans will have to face the consequences for actions that we have done in the past, present and future. Jesus has come into the world as a human to show his dignity and save us from sin; he was the world and of all creation. As we come to read more about Jesus we get to know Jesus more, we learn about what he did, how he did it and why he had to do these saving actions.

    Read More

  • The Importance of The Doctrine of The Incarnation

    1417 Words  | 3 Pages

    Four movements, now heresies, of the past each adopted one of these four views mentioned previously. They are: Nestorianism, Eutychianism, Apollinarianism, and Arianism. Nestorianism and Eutychianism fall under the controversy of the relationship between the two natures. The controversy of Nestorianism arose over the propriety of the term theotokos (“God-bearing”) as a description of Mary. At the Council of Chalcedon in 428 Nestorius gave his view of theotokos to which he held and overly dividing view of the two natures of Christ. Nestorius felt that the term was of doubtful propriety unless the term anthropotokos (“human-bearing”) was also used. Nestorius was later condemned when Cyril of Alexandria; who held the belief in Christ having one nature got involved. Nestorius’ pronouncement towards the birth of Christ caused Cyril to oppose him. Nestorius said that God cannot have a mother; no woman can give birth to God. Cyril of Alexandria suggested that Nestorius was proposing that Jesus has two natures joined in a purely moral union. After Nestorianism came Eutychianism. Eutyches who was repeatedly summoned to the standing Synod of Constantinople in 448, finally appeared and stated his position whereas Christ has two natures before the incarnation, that was but one afterwards. The result of the Synod was the Eutyches was deposed and excommunicated and the one- nature doctrine rejected.

    Read More

  • The Apostle Creed

    1663 Words  | 4 Pages

    The creed begins with the most general statement in the Christian rule book, the affirmation of God himself, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth” (Apostles’). In the book of Genesis, it is found in the first verse that “…In the beginning…God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis). As stated, it says “I believe”, not “I think” or “I was told”. There is a clear distinction in maturity of a Christian: youth, adolescence, and adulthood. As a young child, Christians are introduced to the entity of God. In adolescent years, Christians are analyzing God through a scope of skepticism. But in adulthood, Christians take in the glory of God and find that he governs all, which is why they assert the most powerful words of the creed, “I believe”. In the following lines of the creed, the Holy Trinity is presented and briefly identified the role they play, “…and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit…” (Apostles’). The placement of the Holy Trinity is without a doubt in close proximity. After the triad, the life of Jesus, from birth to sacrifice, to resurrection and ascension, is addressed, “…born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose from the dead; he ascended

    Read More

More about The Development of the Doctrine of the Trinity

Open Document