Trinity
The Trinity
The early Christian writer, Tertullian, coined the word "Trinity" around the year A.D. 200. Although he coined a new word, Tertullian introduced no new teachings about the Trinity. Rather, he explained and defended what the entire church had believed from the time of the apostles up through his day. Other than perhaps the doctrine of salvation, no doctrine is discussed more often and more thoroughly by the pre-Nicene Christian writers than that of the Trinity. And what they taught about the Trinity is based solidly on Scripture. Yet, their understanding of the Trinity differed in certain important aspects from what is popularly taught in the West today as the doctrine of the Trinity. Our western understanding of the Trinity is based upon the teachings and misunderstandings of Augustine. It is not the historical understanding nor the Scriptural teaching of the Trinity.
We offer, What the Early Christians Believed about the Trinity, on audio CD. Or, read for yourself an extensive collection of representative quotations from the early Christians about the Trinity in the Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, which is also offered below.
