Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Christianity: Regional Developments
- Part II Christianity Contested
- Part III Christian Culture and Society
- Part IV Christian Beliefs and Practices
- 18 Discourse on the Trinity
- 19 History of Christology to the seventh century
- 20 Sin and salvation: Experiences and reflections
- 21 From Antioch to Arles: Lay devotion in context
- 22 Saints and holy men
- 23 Pastoral care and discipline
- 24 Sexuality, marriage and the family
- 25 The growth of liturgy and the church year
- 26 Interpreting scripture
- 27 Asceticism and monasticism, I: Eastern
- 28 Asceticism and monasticism, II: Western
- 29 Art and Propaganda fide: Christian art and architecture, 300–600
- Index
- Map 1 The Roman empire, c. 400">
- References
18 - Discourse on the Trinity
from Part IV - Christian Beliefs and Practices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Introduction
- Part I Christianity: Regional Developments
- Part II Christianity Contested
- Part III Christian Culture and Society
- Part IV Christian Beliefs and Practices
- 18 Discourse on the Trinity
- 19 History of Christology to the seventh century
- 20 Sin and salvation: Experiences and reflections
- 21 From Antioch to Arles: Lay devotion in context
- 22 Saints and holy men
- 23 Pastoral care and discipline
- 24 Sexuality, marriage and the family
- 25 The growth of liturgy and the church year
- 26 Interpreting scripture
- 27 Asceticism and monasticism, I: Eastern
- 28 Asceticism and monasticism, II: Western
- 29 Art and Propaganda fide: Christian art and architecture, 300–600
- Index
- Map 1 The Roman empire, c. 400">
- References
Summary
The background to fourth-century Trinitarian debates
The church of the fourth century inherited a tradition of Trinitarian discourse that was pervasively embedded in its worship and proclamation, even if it was lacking in conceptual definition. No less than their Jewish counterparts, the early Christians were strict monotheists who gave unqualified adherence to the Shema of Deuteronomy 6.4: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.’ Yet their belief in Jesus Christ as Saviour was expressed in terms which referred to Jesus as the Son, Word, and Wisdom of God and as the one who grants to his disciples the grace of adoption through the bestowal of God’s Spirit (cf. Galatians 4.4–7). The first centuries of Christian theological reflection assimilated the confessions of both the oneness of God and the triadic form of Christian discipleship with varying degrees of concern for conceptual clarity and logical synthesis. The first major instance of a debate concerned with conceptualising the Christian experience of God as Trinity and bringing into coherence the emphases on divine unity and triadic distinction occurred in the third century. Tertullian (fl. 200), Hippolytus (c. 170–c. 236) and Novatian (mid-third century) all opposed doctrines that insisted on the radical singularity of God and attenuated the distinctions between Father, Son and Spirit to the level of modes of appearance. Tertullian insisted that the unity of God must itself be interpreted through the Trinitarian ‘economy’ and attempted terminological differentiations that made it possible to speak of God in terms of a monotheistic Trinitariansim: Father, Son and Spirit are one in ‘substance’, ‘condition’ and ‘power’ (substantia, status, potestas) while three in ‘degree’, ‘form’ and ‘aspect’ (gradus, forma, species).
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- The Cambridge History of Christianity , pp. 429 - 459Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007
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