Is The Trinity More Similar to Monotheism or Polytheism?

January 29 2021 - 16 Shevat 5781

Thought Experiment

Theology can be naturally divided into two super-general categories: monotheism and polytheism.

Let us do a thought experiment. If you were forced to put Trinitarianism into one of these categories, ignoring all of the smaller sub-categories of theology (such as henotheism), which would you intuitively choose and why? Which does it have more in common with?

For example, if you made two lists, one with all of the characteristics of monotheism, and the other with all of the characteristics of polytheism, which list would more closely resemble the Trinitarian formulation of God?

Note: This thought experiment must be binary on purpose. The goal is to see which category is more similar to Trinitarianism without the luxury of "hybrid" theologies.

Note: Orange text appearing in the lists below indicates commonality between both categories.

Note: The information below was taken from britannica.com (Polytheism, Monotheism).

Monotheism	Polytheism
Belief in one deity, or in the oneness of a deity.	More than one deity.
A deity that is unique and exists at the exclusion of all others.	Compatible with, and tolerant of, belief in other gods. Frequent borrowing.
Responsible for creating and ruling over everything and providing an ethical order.	Deities represented by celestial, atmospheric, or earthly elements and lifeforms, sometimes taking physical form. Environmental elements, such as rivers, may be deified. Deities are often in conflict with each other, but may join forces.
A personal deity.	A supreme deity superior to lesser or inferior deities. Greater focus placed on this deity.
An infinite deity.	Deities that die and return.
One exclusively exiting supreme deity.	Multitude of deities, possibly identified as aspects of one supreme deity.
Deity petitioned for needs, such as health, rain, or agricultural needs.	Deities associated with natural forces, such as war or love. Some are functional and are related to, for example, healing or agriculture, or abstractions, such as the cardinal directions.
A deity who takes no earthly form and prohibits worshiping them.	Human kings deified or identified as semi-divine.
Believers ritually act out and emulate deity.	Believers ritually act out and emulate deities.
Sacrifices offered to deity.	Sacrifices offered to deities.

Another Form of Monotheism?

What needs to be understood about monotheism is that it is fundamentally exclusivist on the theological front; it has a very low threshold for plurality. Because monotheism cannot tolerate any form of plurality within the very essence of God, it automatically disqualifies any form of theological inclusivity.

However, an interesting form of monotheism exists known as pluriform monotheism. According to britannica.com, pluriform monotheism is a system "in which the various gods of the pantheon, without losing their independence, are at the same time considered to be manifestations of one and the same divine substance." Although according to britannica.com the official title includes the word "monotheism," its definition describes "various gods," indicating that it is rather a form of polytheism.

Its being described as the various gods "at the same time considered to be manifestations of one and the same divine substance" is very similar in form to the description of the Trinity formulated by the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed describes the Persons in the Trinity as co-substantial (composed of the same substance), a state of existence known as "hypostasis."

While the scholarly treatment of pluriform monotheism "was not recognized by an older generation of scholars," and is therefore relatively new, identical theological systems have been found in other parts of the world. The Nuer are a pastoral people living in eastern South Sudan who worship a divine being called Kwoth. According to britannica.com, "Each of these manifestations bears a name of its own, but though they are addressed and treated as separate entities, they are essentially nothing but manifestations of the one spiritual being Kwoth and are themselves considered spirits and called kwoth."

This description is virtually identical to the one given by Christianity to describe the Trinity. According to the Athanasian Creed, “The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, the Spirit is not the Father, but each is God individually and yet they are together the one true God of the Bible."

A similar belief is found among the Shilluk people of South Sudan as well, who "have similar conceptions, and here again the idea of a kind of divine substance that manifests itself in various shapes and under different names is encountered. To give one instance, Macardit is God, but this pronouncement cannot be turned the other way round—it is not permissible to say that God is Macardit."

In my conversations with Christian apologists, I have been specifically told that Jesus is God, but that God is not Jesus.

The britannica.com article concludes by saying that it "seems, indeed, that in many parts of the world and in many times religious thinkers have struggled with the perplexing problem of the unity and the pluriformity of the divine." If true, it seems that the Trinitarian view of God is not a theological formulation unique to Christianity, but rather an expression of the struggle to conceptualize Divine unity with complexity.

Conclusion

While the Trinity may not be full-fledged polytheism, it seems to be another indication of the human mind's difficulty in coming to grips with an incorporeal, invisible, and inaccessible unitarian God. If the Trinity does qualify as monotheism, it does so only through a loophole.