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| English: a Venn diagram-like symbol for the Christian Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit) Deutsch: Symbol der Dreifaltigkeit/Dreieinigkeit (blau: Dreifaltigkeit, türkis: Dreieinigkeit, grün: Monotheismus) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| The Scutum Fidei, a diagram frequently used by Christian apologists to explain the Trinity. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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| Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Church http://www.stjohnsashfield.org.au, Ashfield, New South Wales. Illustrates Jesus' description of himself "I am the Good Shepherd" (from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 11). This version of the image shows the detail of his face. The memorial window is also captioned: "To the Glory of God and in Loving Memory of William Wright. Died 6th November, 1932. Aged 70 Yrs." (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The theology of the
attributes
and nature of God has been discussed since the earliest days of
Christianity, with
Irenaeus
writing in the 2nd century: "His greatness lacks nothing, but contains all
things".
[10] In the 8th century,
John of Damascus
listed eighteen attributes which remain widely accepted.
[11] As time passed, theologians
developed systematic lists of these attributes, some based on statements in the
Bible (e.g., the
Lord's
Prayer, stating that the
Father is in
Heaven), others
based on theological reasoning.
[12][13] The
Kingdom of
God is a prominent phrase in the
Synoptic Gospels and
while there is near unanimous agreement among scholars that it represents a key
element of the teachings of Jesus, there is little scholarly agreement on its
exact interpretation.
[14][15]
Although the
New Testament does not
have a formal doctrine of the
Trinity
as such, it does repeatedly speak of the Father,
the Son, and the
Holy Spirit in such a way
as to "compel a
trinitarian
understanding of God." This never becomes a "tritheism." This
does not imply three Gods.
[16] Around the year 200,
Tertullian formulated a
version of the doctrine of the Trinity which clearly affirmed the divinity of
Jesus and came close to the later definitive form produced by the
Ecumenical
Council of 381.
[17][18] The doctrine of the Trinity can be
summed up as: "The One God exists in Three Persons and One Substance, as
God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit."
[19][20] Trinitarians, who form the large
majority of
Christians,
hold it as a core tenet of their faith.
[21][22] Nontrinitarian
denominations define the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in a number of
different ways.
[23]
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