Re: [asa] Nakedness and the Fall of Man (trinity conflict)

The Council of Nicea in 325 was called to deal with the views of Arius about the status of Christ. It's a little anachronistic to say that it's subject was "the doctrine of the Trinity" in the modern sense but it's true that the council's statement that Christ is "true God of true God" and "one in being with the Father" [homoousion to patri] was the essential step toward the official status of the dogma. But though the characteristric Arian formulae ("there was when he was not" &c) were condemned at Nicea, Arianian and semi-Arian ideas soon came back into favor & for one period were the views maintained by the emperor. ("The world awoke and groaned to find itself Arian" one of the catholic bishops said.) But this movement was reversed & in 381 the First Council of Constantinople affirmed & expanded the creed of Nicea, & in particular made the divinity of the Holy Spirit explicit. (Nicea had just said "We also believe in the Holy Spirit.) So it would really be more accurate to say that it was I Constantinople that made the dogma of the Trinity official.

Of course neither of those councils simply invented the Trinity. There are clear uses of trinitarian language, as well as statements about the divine status of Christ, in the NT but no systematic treatment or formalized doctrine there.

Shalom
George
http://home.roadrunner.com/~scitheologyglm

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dehler, Bernie" <bernie.dehler@intel.com>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 5:08 PM
Subject: RE: [asa] Nakedness and the Fall of Man (trinity conflict)

>I don't have the book with me now, but from memory of church history, there was a time when the church councils debated the trinity. It was accepted, then rejected (for something like 12 years), then accepted again up to the present.
>
> The book I like on this subject, and gives lots of interesting detail, is here:
> "Church History in Plain Language" by Bruce L. Shelley
> http://www.amazon.com/Church-History-Plain-Language-Third/dp/0718025539/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235772376&sr=8-1
>
> ...Bernie
>
> --------------------
> Gordon Brown wrote:
>
> What are you referring to when you say that the church at large rejected
> the doctrine of the trinity for a time? Of course the word trinity was not
> used until Tertullian coined it, but he was formulating something that was
> already Christian belief. Dissenting groups such as the Sabellians and
> Arians don't seem to constitute the church at large.
>
> Gordon Brown (ASA member)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of gordon brown
> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2009 10:52 AM
> To: asa@calvin.edu
> Subject: RE: [asa] Nakedness and the Fall of Man
>
> On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Dehler, Bernie wrote:
>
>> Why do we wear clothes, but not the animals? No one knows. Along comes Moses and explains it is because our eyes were opened when Adam ate a piece of forbidden fruit. Oh- I get it. I don't see an immediate need to start asking more questions, like what kind of fruit it was, etc. Even look at all the questions in typical modern Christianity that people don't even think about. For example, the trinity... once hotly debated in history (even rejected for a time by the church at large), but now just assumed... believe it or you are a heretic.
>>
>> ...Bernie
>
>
>
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Received on Fri Feb 27 17:27:31 2009