A Look on the Evolution of Theological Approaches to the Christian Trinity Terminology

Abstract

In a loose sense of the word, the doctrine of “Trinity” can be seen as the most important doctrine in the Christian theology. The generation of many controversies concerning trinity from the beginning of Christianity, holding the different councils of the church, flourishing of a movement called “Heretic” against the official church and the codification of a rich terminology about the trinity, all testify that the mentioned claim is the case. In this paper, it is tried to explicate how the different attitudes are taken to the terminology of the doctrine of trinity and related doctrines. In this regard, debates and terms in the theological protestant context are more discussed than Roman Catholic ones. The main topics discussed in this paper are as follows: the reasons of attributing different names to the triune Hypostases, effects of disputation between the orthodox faithful people and Heretics on the trinity terminology, debates on the attributes and the nature of the unique triune God, the most important issues related to the trinity in different eras and their own theological terms.

Keywords

• christian terminology
• theological concepts
• orthodoxy
• heresy
• trinity