the Trinity

During my "writer's block week" of posting quotes without comment I had a nice combination of blog comments and Facebook Likes on several of the quotes. In fact, it was just a tad disconcerting that I got more of those that week than I frequently do on my own original material. sigh Oh, well.

One quote that didn't get any comments was this one from Diana Butler Bass:

Jesus didn't say "Come, follow me only if you assent to all the points of the Nicene Creed."

I found this a little bit surprising, because this is a big deal to me. I am a member of distinctly Trinitarian denomination of which I am delighted to be a part. (As is Diana Butler Bass, by the way.) The Nicene Creed is an integral part of our Sunday liturgy.

But me? I'm an Arian heretic. The Trinity, after all, is a relatively late construct. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all found in the New Testament, but the idea of the Trinity is not. There is one passage in one of the Epistles that may have a Trinitarian reference, but that is not in the earliest, best manuscripts.

Personally, I feel that the idea of the Trinity adds a level of complexity that is unneeded and not necessary, to be redundant.

But what do I know? I'm just an Arian heretic.