02-21-2019, 07:21 PM
(02-21-2019, 07:01 PM)nili Wrote: What we seem to know with some degree of confidence is that Ignatius saw Jesus as deity, which suggests that nascent trinitarianism may well have been promulgated prior to 107 C.E., i.e., within half a century of Paul's missionary work. This seems at odds with your view that "The teaching of the Trinity isn't something that developed until way later."
Parenthetically, when talking about this period care should be taken to avoid conflating Judaism and Rabbinic Judaism. It's also useful to remember that much of what's 'known' about the Ebionites and Nazarenes is derivative and speculative.
I have to disagree with that notion of the development of the Trinity. We know that that the development of the Trinity is something that was started by the Greeks as a form of mediation, sort of like a koan that's used in Zen practices (e.g. what is the sound of one hand clapping) in order to illustrate the impossibility of thinking of HaShem directly. The question as to whether Jesus is divine and the question of the Trinity were two VERY DIFFERENT debates on Christianity, so I would say no. It isn't till the 200s that the Trinity comes into full form and is accepted.
In a similar manner, Christianity is also not a monolithic, so even supposing that Ignatius were espousing nascent Trinitarianism, that's no indication that his view, in his time, was prominent among Christians but again, I don't think I could call it that. Let me look more into it just to make sure, but I feel fairly confident about what I've said.