11) Evolution of the Trinity, Part 2, Interview with Dr. Dale Tuggy

Mar 28, 2020

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This episode of the One God Report podcast is the second part of our two-part interview with Christian philosopher, Dr. Dale Tuggy, examining the historical development of the Trinity in the centuries following Jesus. If you haven’t heard part 1, you may want to listen to that episode first in which Dr. Tuggy surveyed major historical and theological developments of the 100s and 200s AD.

We saw in the first episode that at least into the mid-AD 200s, none of the church fathers were Trinitarian in the sense that none of them believed in a tri-personal, co-equal, co-eternal god.

In the current episode, Dr. Tuggy has us look at major developments leading up to and including the Council of Nicea in AD 325.

Then we will hear about the three Cappadocian fathers (Cappadocian was a region in what is now central modern Turkey). The Cappadocian fathers laid the ground work for what led to the so-called 2nd Ecumenical Council, the Council of Constantinople of AD 381.

Before the AD 381 Council of Constantinople, even though some church fathers believed in a second, lesser god they called the Logos, they insisted on their monotheism by emphasizing the One True God, the Father.

However, after the 381 Constantinople Council, the title “God” began to be considered the Trinity, that is, one god in three persons. Dr. Tuggy explains that the first Christian Trinitarians - those who believed in three persons in one God - did not show up historically until the late AD 300s.

In other words, no Christian believed in a three-persons-in-one-God until some 350 years after Jesus lived on earth.

Dr. Dale Tuggy served as Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia for 18 years. His PhD is from Brown University. He has authored about two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the Trinity and other topics in analytic theology and philosophy of religion; for instance, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on the Trinity, and his book called What is the Trinity? Thinking about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Since 2013 he has hosted “The Trinities” podcast which explores theories about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His podcast and articles can be found on the webpage https://trinities.org

Additional articles, books, podcasts and videos relating to the development of Christian theology in the centuries following Jesus Christ can be found on the One God Report resource page http://www.onegodreport.com/evolution_of_trinitarian_doctrine