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Trinity
In Christianity, a unity of God, Jesus, the son of God and the Holy Spirit.
It is often suggested that the Egyptian triad was the model for the Christian, though the Christian concept of a total unity does not correspond to the Egyptian concept.
The concept of the Christian Trinity is not defined from the New Testament, rather it belongs to the times of the first Christians. Its background was the troubled disunity of a God acting on earth as a distinct figure without God's omnipotence (i.e. Jesus) and a third emanation of God, a spirit acting within the community of the first Christians (i.e. Holy Spirit). Still, the concept of the Trinity would take centuries to develop, and with many controversies.
The North African theologian, Tertullian, was the first to relate to and define "trinity" sometime around 200.
Before arriving at the final definition of trinity, the early church went through a numer of development stages. The need to safeguard monotheism was the main motive in the debates. One early explanation of the three emanations was to define Jesus as subordinate to God. A second theory was to define the three as modes of the disclosure of God, all being part of the same being.
It was first late in the 4th century, that the final definition of trinity was set down. At the Council of Nicaea in 325 a hard-to-get definition of Jesus made him both distinct from God, yet of the same substance. At this time, the Holy Spirit still came out as little defined. A long process involving Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus) would eventually come to define trinity as it ever since has been understood.
Christianity has a second trinity, which is weaker in its formulation, yet important with many cults: Jesus, and his mother Mary and father Joseph. The latter, rarely plays much of a role, but the link between Mary and Jesus has many interesting similarities with Isis and Horus of Ancient Egyptian religion. In both religions, the father is a detached figure, Joseph appears not very different from Osiris in many ways.
In the Islamic-linked orientation of Bektashi, there is the concept of a trinity, formed between God, Muhammad and Ali, known as wahdat al-wujud, the "Unity of Being".
© Copyright 1996-2008 LookLex Ltd. All rights reserved
By: Tore Kjeilen
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