Los orígenes de la doctrina de la trinidad

Los orígenes de la doctrina de la trinidad

La mayoría de las culturas que rodeaban a Israel poseían entre sus deidades a triadas o trinidades como Horus-Isis-Osiris (Egipto); Samash-Sin-Istar o Anú-Enlil-Enki (Babilonia); Brahma-Visnú-Siva (India). Para los siglos IV en adelante la idea de asemejar costumbres paganas a costumbres cristianas se había hecho una corriente fuerte con el objetivo de facilitar la conversión de los paganos. Pero una corriente mucho más fuerte estaba cobrando fuerza.

Col 2:8  Mirad que nadie os esclavice mediante la vana falacia de una filosofía, fundada en tradiciones humanas, según los elementos del mundo y no según Cristo. (BJ)

La filosofía sin duda era una corriente que creció enormemente para los siglos tercero y  cuarto en adelante, pese a las recomendaciones de los apóstoles y cristianos de primer siglo muchos fueron suavizando las normas cristianas y empezaron a tomar en cuenta, aceptar e incluso darle la misma importancia a las enseñanzas filosóficas, como si fueran igual de importantes que  las escrituras de la Biblia.

Tal fue el caso que a finales del siglo tercero muchos cristianos comenzaron a mezclar las enseñanzas del neoplatonismo con las enseñanzas de las escrituras, a través de los escritos de Plotinus, que cada vez se hallaban más accesibles (la corriente filosófica de moda en aquellos tiempos). Producto de esta mezcla nuevos credos fueron insertándose en las enseñanzas de estos cristianos, principalmente la doctrina de la trinidad, la cual debe sus orígenes al neoplatonismo. 

"the Trinitarian Doctrine of God's hypostases derives from Plotinus, who belived the hypostases in God are Three and no others. These Three are The One, beyond being and essence; the Mind or Nous, the Unity of Being and Thought; and the Soul." (Neoplatonism and contemporary thought, Volumen 1, Escrito por International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, pg. 325, 2002)

"... the metaphysical doctrine of a supreme unity-in-trinity (usually associated with Neoplatonism and its "originator," Plotinus)" (Platonisms: ancient, modern, and postmodern, Escrito por Kevin Corrigan, John Douglas Turner, pg. 8, 2007)

"Lo que llamamos el neoplatonismo, inspirado por la lectura de Plotino (205-hacia 270)" (San Agustín Escrito por Francis Ferrier, pg. 31, 1996)

"Esta temprana <<conversión a la filosofía>> fue el prototipo de otras conversiones sucesivas: al maniqueísmo, secta gnóstica que prometía sabiduría, y en 386 a un neoplatonismo cristianizado que patrocinaba *Ambrosio, obispo de Milán. (Diccionario del mundo clásico, Escrito por Antony Spawforth, Oxford University Press, pg. 8,9, 2002)

A partir del siglo cuarto, tras conseguir el apoyo político del emperador Constantino, los primeros trinitarios liderados por los Capadocianos (Basilio, Gregorio de Niza, Gregorio Nacianzo) y Atanasio logran poner en alto una parte de esta nueva enseñanza influenciada por el neoplatonismo (solamente se puso en vigencia la creencia de que el Logos o Jesucristo era co-igual con Dios, no así el espíritu santo).

"Athanasius and Gregory of Nyssa used modified Neoplatonic categories to formulate the Nicene Creed's doctrine of the Trinity" (Panentheism, the other God of the philosophers: from Plato to the present, Escrito por John W. Cooper, pg. 49, 2006)

"This philosophy was the background of the work of the Cappadocians in the fourth century and through them influenced Greek Orthodox theology and it was decisive in the intellectual development of Augustine" (Backgrounds of early Christianity, Escrito por Everett Ferguson, pg. 391, 2003)

"Some later Christian philosophers from importing large elements of Neoplatonism into their own philosophies. Notable among these were: some of the Greek Church fathers, such as the Cappadocians, Basil and the two Gregories, the great Latin Church father St Augustine (354-430), Boethius (470-525), Eriugena (c.820-70), and St Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)." (The Oxford companion to philosophy, Ted Honderich, pg. 649, 2005)

"Neoplatonism was also a strong influence on Christianity in its concept of Original Sin and the Trinity." (World Religions Almanac, VOLUME 1, Michael J. O’Neal and J. Sydney Jones, pg. 236, 2007)

 

"The Cappadocians' use of contemporary Hellenistic philosophy is an extremely complex issue and is best studied in relation to specific issues (such as the doctrine of the Trinity; Platonic and Aristotelian ideas;... Neoplatonism)" (The first Christian theologians: an introduction to theology in the early church, Escrito por Gillian Rosemary Evans, pg. 182, 2004)

Esta nueva doctrina la formalizan e imponen en el concilio Niceno (Nótese que se esperaba una gran afluencia a dicho Concilio; sin embargo la participación del emperador pagano y su influencia política en cuestiones de religión hicieron que menos de un 30% de asistentes fueran los que aprobaran dicho concilio, una clara minoría; es notable que ni si quiera el ‘papa’ de dichos siglos asistió, lo cual muestra el descontento y división muy grande que existía con la recientemente formada “Iglesia Católica”). Cualquiera que fuese en contra de este precepto seria desde exiliado hasta muerto por el imperio Romano. 

 “Constantine was amenable to tolerating a variety of groups, as long as they accepted his creed and each other" (Rusch, pg. 20, director of ecunumenical relations for the Lutheran Church of America)

"Si bien es cierto que en el concilio niceno varios se opusieron a la formulación de los cánones de fe en torno al Hijo, también es verdad que Constantino no vaciló en exiliarles, con lo que quedaba lo suficientemente claro que el interés del emperador radicaba en la homogeneidad de la doctrina." (De la heterodoxia a la ortodoxia: hacia una historia hermenéutica de los dogmas nicenos, Escrito por Roberto Sánchez Valencia, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City, Mexico), pg. 201, 2007)

"The four ecumenical councils of the fourth and fifth centuries developed doctrines of the Triune God" (Jesus: A Brief History Escrito por W. Barnes Tatum, pg. 84, 2009)

"Some of the delegates believed that it was Constantine's influence that determined the outcome. After all, he had thrown his political weight behind Athanasius" "political rather than theological considerations" (The doctrines that divide: a fresh look at the historic doctrines that divide, Escrito por Erwin W. Lutzer, pg. 36, 1998)

"The ancient understanding of the Trinity was developed in the fourth century A.D. and formalized at the Councils of 325 and 381." (Christian confessions: a historical introduction, Escrito por Ted Campbell, Professor of Church History at Wesley Theological Seminary, pg 42, 1996)

"Now at Nicaea the Church had opted for the paradox of the Incarnation, despite its apparent incompatibility with monotheism." (A history of God: the 4000-year quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Karen Armstrong, A.A. Knopf, pg. 112, 1993)

"These disputes were nominally settled by Councils of Bishops, implying a basic democracy in the Church, but usually the decision went in favor of the side that could win over the Emperor… at the Council of Nicaea in 325. There Athanasius imposed his implacable Trinitarian creed. Its triumph was not assured, however, until almost two centuries later when Justinian had defeated the Arian Goths." (Science in History Volume 1: The Emergence of Science, J. D. Bernal, pg. 260, 2010)

"«The founder of Neo-Platonism is Plotinus (ca.205–270 CE). From their base in Alexandria, the Neo-Platonists came to exert an enormous influence on the intellectual traditions of Rome and, later, Christianity. With his doctrine of the trinity (The One, The Intellect, and The Soul), Plotinus bridges the gap between Plato’s Theory of Forms (the One is the ultimate form equivalent to the Good, the world has reality only because it shares in the Forms) and Christian theology. What Christian scholars took from Plotinus was the idea that the body is essentially unimportant. What matters is the nurturing of the Soul, with the aim of reaching God, the One. Attaining the One was a kind of ecstatic revelation»." (Eyewitness Companions: Philosophy, Stephen Law, pg. 29, 2007)

En resumen queda bastante claro que la doctrina de la trinidad debe sus orígenes al neoplatonismo y esta llega a partir del siglo tercero-cuarto, una vez que la política y la religión comienzan a mezclarse. Todo esto nos muestra que la doctrina de la trinidad no existía antes del siglo cuarto, y por ende no formaba parte de las creencias de los cristianos de primeros siglos.

"agree that the Trinity may have entered Christian doctrine from Alexandrian school, or from Neoplatonists" (Lectures on the philosophy of religion, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Peter Crafts Hodgson, pg. 83, 1988)

"The fact that Neoplatonism became part of Christian thought is not surprising when one considers that there was a great deal of common ground.... Both expounded a view of a higher reality as consisting of a trinity." (Ezra Pound and Neoplatonism, Escrito por P. Th. M. G. Liebregts, pg. 335, 2004)

"the Trinitarian Doctrine of God's hypostases derives from Plotinus, who belived the hypostases in God are Three and no others. These Three are The One, beyond being and essence; the Mind or Nous, the Unity of Being and Thought; and the Soul." (Neoplatonism and contemporary thought, Volumen 1, Escrito por International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, pg. 325, 2002)

"The dominant Theistic philosophy of Greece became the dominant philosophy of Christianity. It prevailed in form as well as in substance." (Ibid., 207,208., Hatch)

"Clearly, the issue of accepting the trinity was all about power politics" (Bible basics: a study manual : revealing the joy and peace of true Christianity, Duncan Heaster, pg. 22, 2001)

"The concept of the Trinity perhaps lends itself to Neoplatonist analysis." (Philosophy in the ancient world: an introduction, Escrito por James A. Arieti, pg. 346, 2005)

"tenemos que en la Sagrada Escritura no se encuentra una doctrina sobre la Trinidad, en el sentido de una especulación (reflexión racional) o de un dogmatismo (fórmulas fijas) sobre la misma. El dogma trinitario quedará formulado doctrinalmente en los concilios de Nicea (a 325) y Constantinopla (a. 380) (Misterio trinitario: Dios desde el silencio y la cercanía, Escrito por Sebastián Fuster Perelló, pg. 112, 1997)

"The doctrine so stated does not appear in Scripture, ... The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity was hammered out gradually over a period of three centuries or more" (Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature, David Lyle Jeffrey, pg. 785, 1992)

"Their debt to Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought is undeniable" (Rusch, pg. 23)

"significado, al que se legó bajo la influencia del neoplatonismo, subraya que las tres personas existen en una unidad perfecta que siempre permanece indivisible e inmutable" (B. Sturder, ibid., 607)

"Judaism and Christianity were both profoundly influenced by Neoplatonism, which described creation in terms of emanation from “The One” and encouraged the idea that this emanation occurred through triads or “Trinities.” In explaining how The One became the many, Plotinus introduced the concept of the three Hypostases, a Greek term interpreted as meaning “origin,” “substance,” “real nature” or “first principle.” According to Plotinus’ formulation in his great work The Enneads, the first of these Hypostases was The One (to hen), the second, Intellect or Mind (Nous) and the third, Soul (psuche) (Enneads 5.1.) While Plotinus saw these as three separated entities, each one emanating from the previous one, Proclus tended to abolish any absolute distinction between them and “telescope” them into one. Christians were happy to see prefigurations of the Trinity in these triadic formulations (Proclus was especially helpful in this respect), and, indeed, it has been suggested that neoplatonic philosophy helped Christian theologians formulate the doctrine of the Trinity. Such triads made their way into Judaism and Islam through the infiltration of neoplatonic ideas, thus opening the way for Trinitarian interpretations of these rival religions by proselytizing Christians." (Secret conversions to judaism in early modern Europe, Brill’s studies in intellectual history, vol. 122, Martin Mulsow & Richard H. Popkin, pg. 97,98, 2004)

"in the Western church the doctrine was not complete until the fifth century" (A Commentary on the Holy Bible, pg. cxiii)

"It is evident that none come nearer to us than the Platonists" (Syntopicon, "Theology", Vol.2, Great Books of the Western World, pg. 700)

"teoría de la Trinidad tomada ó de las doctrinas egipcias ó de las de Platon y Pitágoras" (Manual de Historia universal, Escrito por Auguste Ott, pg. 320)

"most Christian thinkers, some to a larger extent than others, have derived inspiration from Neoplatonic tradition when speculating about the Trinity." (Henry of Ghent : metaphysics and the Trinity, Juan Carlos Flores, Henry (of Ghent), pg. 7, 2006)

"In Christianity the unity of the One was modified by the idea of the Trinity, and Neoplatonic otherworldliness was modified by the Incarnation" (That all may be one: hierarchy and participation in the Church, Escrito por Terence L. Nichols, pg. 155, 1997)

Thus, the concept of the Trinity did not take its present form until some four hundred years after Christ's death. (SACRED ORIGINS OF PROFOUND THINGS, CHARLES PANATI, pg. 30, 1996)

"What do we find in the writings of Christian leaders durin

g roughly the first sixty years of the second century CE? As we might expect, we do not find the developed Trinitarian language or theology that will blossom from the fourth century on." (The Trinity Guides to Theology, Olson, Roger. Hall Christopher, pg. 16, 2002)

“Constantine was amenable to tolerating a variety of groups, as long as they accepted his creed and each other" (Rusch, pg. 20, director of ecunumenical relations for the Lutheran Church of America)

"The debt to Aristotelian and Neoplatonic thought is undeniable" (Rusch, pg. 23, director of ecunumenical relations for the Lutheran Church of America)

"The four ecumenical councils of the fourth and fifth centuries developed doctrines of the Triune God" (Jesus: A Brief History, Escrito por W. Barnes Tatum, pg. 84, 2009)

"the principal elements of the doctrine of the Trinity were settled during fourth an fifth-century Trinitarian controversies under the leadership of the Cappadocian Fathers and Augustine." (Encyclopedia of the Reformed faith, Escrito por Donald K. McKim, David F. Wright, pg. 374, 1992)

"La formulación del dogma de la Santísima Trinidad tuvo lugar en el siglo IV" (Historia de la Iglesia, Volumen 1, Escrito por José Orlandis, pg. 169, 1998)

"Sin embargo, teniendo en cuenta que el término <<Trinidad>> se adopta en el siglo III y su formulación clásica en el siglo IV, es evidente que se trata de pura especulación helenística, ajena a la Biblia" (AFONIA DE EZEQUIEL, Escrito por Cástor Olcoz Iracheta, Doctor en Teología y licenciado en Derecho Canónico, Profesor de Teología en el Seminario de Pamplona pg. 42, 2009)

" The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies." (Encyclopedia of World Religions, ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, pg. 1108, 2006)

"La formulación del dogma trinitario fue la gran empresa teológica del siglo IV" (Historia breve del cristianismo, Escrito por José Orlandis, pg. 47, 2008)

"La idea posterior, de la teología del siglo IV, de que hay un Dios único en tres personas, está en relación con dicha fórmula, pero no es posible sacarla solo de ella. La fórmula de Mateo no dice nada sobre el modo en el que se relacionan entre sí Padre, Hijo y Espíritu" (Teología sistemática, Volumen 1, Escrito por Wolfhart Pannenberg, pg. 328, 1992)

"the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity in the 4th century determined the course of subsequent discussion about the person of Christ." (Merriam-Webster's encyclopedia of world religions, Escrito por Merriam-Webster, Inc, pg. 217, 1999)

Al pasar los años se estandarizaría en un concilio posterior la idea completa de la trinidad junto a diversas creencias asimiladas de culturas paganas. Dicha doctrina sería difundida por la nueva corriente cristiano-filosófica ahora representada por Augustín y Tomás Aquinas.

"Augustine was certainly not unaware that neoplatonism was an element in his theologizing" (The image of the immanent Trinity, Escrito por Fred R. Sanders, pg. 32, 2005)

"Aquinas was able to be more precise in how the Trinity is the one God in three persons, thanks to Aristotle." (From Plato to Jesus: What Does Philosophy Have to Do with Theology?, Escrito por C. Marvin Pate, pg. 206, 2011)

"Neoplatonism also influenced Augustine's approach to the Trinity" (An introduction to classical rhetoric: essential readings, Escrito por James Dale Williams, pg. 456, 2009)

"So Augustine is moving with one direction of the logic inherent in Neoplatonism when becomes his horizontal trinity of equal substancial relations." (Augustine through the ages: an encyclopedia, Escrito por John C. Cavadini, pg. 699, 1999)

"Clearly, Augustine's theology of the Trinity was speculative, not biblical theology" (The Church speaks: papers of the Commission on Theology, Escrito por James I. Cook, Reformed Church in America. Commission on Theology, pg. 74, 2002)

"By the fifth century a compromise between faith and philosophy was worked out by St Augustine (354-430), who produced a kind of composite between scriptural tradition and Platonism, with a strong flavour of predestination, derived from his Manichean experience, which was to dog Christianity and particularly Puritanism ever afterwards. This included the essentially Zoroastrian idea of the cosmic conflict of good and evil (Ormuzd and Ariman) with its associated ideas of the Devil and Hell-fire. The Augustinian compromise did not last; heresy followed heresy, and the work of suppressing them had to be done all over again in the Middle Ages, and ultimately failed altogether in the Reformation." (Science in History Volume 1: The Emergence of Science, J. D. Bernal, pg. 260, 2010)

"Later Christian leaders, however, blended the two schools of thought further.For example, the writings of Plato and Aristotle influenced such Christian writers and scholars as Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) in the creation of his influential Summa Theologica (a summary of theology or religious writings). Here he talks of God as being ‘‘infinite,’’ just as Plato and Aristotle had centuries before." (World Religions Almanac, VOLUME 1, Michael J. O’Neal and J. Sydney Jones, pg. 237, 2007)

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