• Agent Smith
    9.5k
    Of the Sancta Trinitas, I've seen (independent) threads and debates on the Son (Jesus) and the Father (God) but never on the Holy Ghost/Spirit. Why?
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    The Trinity doesn't make sense additively because 1 + 1 + 1 = 3 (there should be 3)

    The Trinity makes sense multiplicatively because 1 × 1 × 1 = 1 (there's still only 1). The Trinity is 1 cube with a length of 1, a width of 1, and a height of 1. We could say the Sancta Trinitas is our 3D universe.

    What about time, the 4th dimension? :chin:

    P.S 1 × 1 × 1 = 13 = 1.
  • Fooloso4
    5.4k
    The trinity seems be a confluence of influences. Three plays an important role in Pythagoreanism, Plato, Aristotle, and Neoplatonism. It is not simply a number in the Greek sense of a count, of how many, but geometrically and with the connection is Plato's Timaeus between the elements and Platonic solids, with the tetrahedron being the most solid. Aristotle distinguished three kinds of substance (ousia). Plotinus was fond of threefold divisions, for example, the three hypostasis, the one, intelligence, and soul.

    In time Jesus came to be seen not a human with the honorific son of God, or even as the only begotten Son of God, but full God, the same ousia as the Father. How could it be explained that the monotheistic God was both one and more than one? While some sought a rational explanation, others regard it as a mystery worthy of contemplation, and still other Christians simply reject trinitarianism.
  • Count Timothy von Icarus
    1.9k


    Interesting. Haven't seen that one before. The dimensions of naive experience (fractional dimensions and fractal geometry being a major element of nature not withstanding) do fit with the number three.

    But which part is which entity?

    I have been thinking of my own variety, with a Piercean semiotic triangle. The Father is the ground of being, the thing in itself, the Object. Christ is the Logos, the symbol that generates meaning. The Spirit is the interpretant, that which feels. I think this can be combined with insights from Boehme and those he influenced (mainly Hegel for me). If God (the Absolute) must create what It is not to be, and be defined, It must also contain the elements of the triangle for meaning to exist. Apologies if I posted this before, I thought I might of but couldn't find the post, so maybe I left it for when I had more time.

    Dan Simmons' Hyperion, which is a sci-fi retelling of the Canterbury Tales in the distant future on an alien world, with some time travel and supernatural and/or science so advanced it seems supernatural to the protagonists elements. It also features a cloned version of John Keats who has his memories intact. Excellent prose, IMO the best in genre fiction.

    Anyhow, one of the ideas in it is that the human God is triune, but the Trinity essentially represents past, present, and future, another trifructaion we see in reality. It doesn't really take this in too much of a theological direction though; you don't see which part is which person if the Trinity is which of time. I would guess the Father is the past, the ground of being, the Son is the present, as immediate experience is only interpretable by cognition through the Logos (Christ), and the Spirit would be the future, where hope resides.

    I'd say it's one of the very best sci-fi books I've ever read, other contenders being Dune (some people get turned off by that due to the pacing and amount of dialogue), and The Darkness That Comes Before (I recommend this less because people get turned off by the rather extreme amounts of violence/sexual violence, it's a bit slow to start, and has some sexism issues). Unfortunately, the follow up to the original two Hyperion books, written in the 1990s, isn't near as good and Simmons would later go on to become a heavy Islamaphobe after 9/11, but this isn't really apparent in these books, which are from the late 1980s.
  • Agent Smith
    9.5k
    I would guess the Father is the past, the ground of being, the Son is the present, as immediate experience is only interpretable by cognition through the Logos (Christ), and the Spirit would be the future, where hope resides.Count Timothy von Icarus

    :up:
1678910Next
bold
italic
underline
strike
code
quote
ulist
image
url
mention
reveal
youtube
tweet
Add a Comment

Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.