Triads and Trinity

Was the idea of the Trinity-that One God exists in Three Persons and One Substance - influenced by pre-Christian traditions? It is well known that the New Testament offers no such doctrine, and there is no evidence that Jesus of Nazareth regarded himself as a member of the Trinity. The doctrine was developed during the first four Christian centuries, culminating in the Council of Constantinople in AD 381. The world of the early Christian centuries in which the Trinity was developed as a tenet of belief included several religious and philosophical systems with similar beliefs. Triads and Trinity examines three possible areas of impact: Judaism, the religion of Egypt, and various Greek traditions. Whereas a pluralistic concept of God was inherited by Judaism, it eventually accepted a firm monotheism. In Egypt the concept of trinity was of ancient origin, but it flourished especially in the second century AD and afterwards, when the mystery cult of Isis reached its acme of popularity in a Graeco-Egyptian framework which found adherents in many countries of the Roman empire. This Graeco-Egyptian religious amalgam excercised a potent influence on early Christian thinkers, particularly in Alexandria. Using the methods of comparative religion, the distinguished Classicist and Egyptologist J. Gwyn Griffiths has examined the origins of the doctrine of the Trinity and has based his conclusions on a thorough analysis of the original sources in Greek, Latin, Egyptian, Coptic and Hebrew.

ISBN 0708312810   DEWEY edition DC20 ISBN13 9780708312810 (What's this?)   Pages 300 Publisher University of Wales Press   Volumes 001 Imprint University of Wales Press   Published in Wales Format Hardback   Series title University of Wales - Pocket Guide Publication date 18 Jul 1996   Height (mm) 216 Library of Congress BT   Width (mm) 140 DEWEY 231.044   Academic level Undergraduate, Postgraduate, Professional / Scholarly

		Preface
		Abbreviations
		Introduction		1
1		Egypt's Early Tradition		11
2		The Developed Egyptian System		44
3		Amarna Triadic Doctrine		56
4		Triadic Topography		80
5		Mesopotamia Types and Regions		117
6		Early Indian Religion		129
7		Iran		151
8		Greece		156
9		Rome and Etruria		166
10		The Celtic and Germanic Peoples		174
11		Possible Hebraic Antecedents		193
12		The Evolved Christian Creed		207
13		The Likely Sources		223
14		Concluding Remarks		280
		Appendix: The Pallid Pantheon of Ancient China		314
		Sectional Bibliography		318
		Notes to the Illustrations		350
		Index		355

'Professor Griffiths's magnificent book provides a useful reminder that the history of Christianity cannot meaningfully be separated from that of the rest of the ancient world.' Logos '...prose which combines formidable scholarship with all the oratory of the Welsh chapels. A most intersting book.' Expository Times

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