Long Abstract
In this thesis I explore the emergence of the Christian triad with reference to two contemporary movements: Middle Platonism and Gnosticism. The earliest Christian text to enumerate a divine triad is Justin’s First Apology. This same triad is found in subsequent Christian texts and is ultimately reconfigured to become the Christian Trinity. I seek to explain the origins of this Christian triadology. There are two movements – Middle Platonism and Gnosticism – that were each part of the second century intellectual milieu, that each interacted with Christianity and that each posited ontological triads. On this basis these two movements are plausible candidates explain to the emergence of the Christian triad in the mid-second century.
I survey both Middle Platonism and Gnosticism to identify triads. These triads are analysed in terms of their structure and in terms of the function and ontological status of the individual constituents of these triads. This forms the basis of comparison with the Christian triad. In Middle Platonism, isosceles triads are diagnosed with a transcendent One above a pair of opposites; this pattern is found Eudorus, as well as Philo and Plutarch. Weak triadic structures are diagnosed in Plutarch and Atticus, who posit God and his emanating mind above the world soul; a similar pattern is found in Alcinous. The Neopythagorean interpretation of the Parmenides, perhaps as early as Thrasyllus, prompts a number of ontological triads, including the three Ones of Moderatus and the three gods of Numenius; this same pattern may be found in the Chaldean Oracles. Common to the triads of Plutarch and the Neopythagoreans is a hierarchical triad of transcendent God, mind and soul that will culminate in the three hypostases on Plotinus. It is this hierarchical triad that forms the best comparator with the Christian triad of the second century.
In Gnosticism and its cognate systems, I diagnose familial triads of father, mother and child in the Barbeolite tradition and three-male triads in the Ophite tradition. These triads may have pagan antecedents. There is also some evidence of the Platonic God-Mind- Soul triad within Gnostic systems. Early third century Gnostic texts contain a three-in- one triad, that is, a trinity, named the Triple-Powered One. This triad is later overwritten with the Neoplatonic Being-Mind-Life triad. None of the Gnostic triads seem plausible comparators for the Christian triad; there are some structural similarities but insignificant functional overlap to make influence credible.
I examine Christian thought prior to Justin and demonstrate that there was no ontological triad. This analysis focuses on the three constituents of what would become the Trinity. I demonstrate that God is identified as the Father, who, whilst considered transcendent, is also personally involved with creation and with believers. The Son is considered to be more than a man, born of a virgin and exalted to the heavens, but not identified with God; ontologically speaking, the Son is distinct. The Spirit is considered to be the power and presence of God, sometimes personified but not considered a distinct person. These Christians do not consider these three to be either a triad or a unity in ontological terms.
There is, however, a clear liturgical triad that I trace to primitive Christianity: the trine baptismal formula. I conclude that the baptismal formula was an expression of the Christian experience and thus of the faith to which candidates committed themselves to in baptism. The inclusion of the Spirit in the baptismal formula did not, for primitive Christians, denote a separate person or being, but a separate experience. This liturgical triad was to provide part of the basis for the emerging Christian triad. Justin is considered along with two Christian figures whom he directly influenced – Tatian and Athenagoras – who I have (somewhat artificially) grouped under the heading the “school of Justin”. These three are grouped for their shared thought pattern, which assists with the analysis of the emerging Christian triad by providing a wider set of datum. This is not to deny the innovations of these thinkers, which are also explored. I demonstrate that the “school of Justin” posited an ontological triad with a transcendent Father, a demiurgic and noetic Son, and immanent, world-penetrating Spirit. This is the conflation of the three referents of the trine baptismal formula with the three constituents of the Platonc God-Mind-Soul triad. I present evidence that Justin and Athenagoras engaged directly with Platonism, probably with Numenian and Plutarchian Platonism respectively. Tatian probably did not engage directly with Platonism but was influenced through Justin.
I also trace an argument developed by the “school of Justin” based upon the Platonic distinction between Being and Becoming. By identifying God as Being, identifying Being with that which is unbegotten, and identifying that which is unbegotten as creator, the “school of Justin” develops an argument for identifying the Son and the Spirit as God. This leads these thinkers to move beyond the Platonic precedent by unifying their hierarchical triad into a single substance. In so doing the “school of Justin” provides the basis for what will become the Christian Trinity.
Therefore I conclude that the Christian triad of the “school of Justin” emerged through a conflation of the trine baptismal formula with an ontological triad of Middle Platonism, which resulted in the three referents of the baptismal formula being embued with new functions and ontological status. Whilst emerging as a hierarchical triad, the logic of Platonic ontology when combined with Christian tradition required the sharp distinction between God as Being and all other things resulting in a Christian triad that was also a unity. This new triad became fixed as a central tenet of Christianity.
