Nontrinitarianism

===Early Christianity===
{{main|Apostolic Age}}
{{see also|Caesaropapism}}[[File:Nikea-arius.png|upright|thumb|The [[First Council of Nicaea]] depicted with [[Arius]] beneath the feet of Emperor Constantine and the [[bishop]]s]]
Although nontrinitarian beliefs continued and were dominant among some peoples—for example, the [[Lombards]], [[Ostrogoths]], [[Visigoths]] and [[Vandals]]—for hundreds of years, the Trinity doctrine eventually gained prominence in the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians typically argue that early nontrinitarian beliefs, such as [[Arianism]], were systematically suppressed (often to the point of death).<ref>[http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33 Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians]</ref> After the [[First Council of Nicaea]], [[Roman Emperor]] [[Constantine I]] issued an [[edict]] against [[Arius]]' writings, which included systematic [[book burning]].<ref name="SaintConstantinesBookBurning">"In addition, if any writing composed by Arius should be found, it should be handed over to the flames, so that not only will the wickedness of his teaching be obliterated, but nothing will be left even to remind anyone of him. And I hereby make a public order, that if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death. As soon as he is discovered in this offense, he shall be submitted for capital punishment." – Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians. {{cite web|last=Athanasius|title=Edict by Emperor Constantine against the Arians|url=http://www.fourthcentury.com/index.php/urkunde-33|work=Fourth Century Christianity|publisher=Wisconsin Lutheran College|access-date=2 May 2012|date=23 January 2010}}</ref> In spite of the decree, [[Constantine the Great|Constantine]] ordered the readmission of Arius to the church, removed the bishops (including [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]]) who upheld the teaching of Nicaea,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgEZmsn34PEC&q=Arian+emperors&pg=PA179|title=Getting to Know the Church Fathers|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-4412-0074-7|last1=Litfin|first1=Bryan M|date=2007|publisher=Brazos Press }}</ref> allowed Arianism to grow within the Empire and to spread to Germanic tribes on the frontier,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yW-GfElbafQC&q=constantine+arianism&pg=PA136|title=Encyclopedia of Barbarian Europe|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-1-57607-263-9|last1=Frassetto|first1=Michael|year=2003|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic }}</ref> and was himself baptized by an Arian bishop, [[Eusebius of Nicomedia]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/earlycontroversi0000kaat|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/earlycontroversi0000kaat/page/113 113]|quote=into the Arian version.|title=Early Controversies and the Growth of Christianity|publisher=ABC-CLIO|access-date=5 March 2015|isbn=978-0-313-38359-5|last1=Kaatz|first1=Kevin|year=2012}}</ref> His successors as Christian emperors promoted Arianism, until [[Theodosius I]] came to the throne in 379 and supported Nicene Christianity.

The [[Easter letter]] that Athanasius issued in 367, when the Eastern Empire was ruled by the Arian Emperor [[Valens]], specified the books that belong to the [[Old Testament]] and the [[New Testament]], together with seven other books to be read "for instruction in the word of godliness"; it also excluded what Athanasius called apocryphal writings, falsely presented as ancient.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html|title=NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref> [[Elaine Pagels]] writes: "In AD 367, [[Athanasius]], the zealous bishop of [[Alexandria]]... issued an Easter letter in which he demanded that [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Egyptian monks]] destroy all such unacceptable writings, except for those he specifically listed as 'acceptable' even 'canonical'—a list that constitutes the present 'New Testament'".<ref>Elaine Pagels, ''Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas'' (Random House, 2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=pkSrV5cEBp8C&dq=%22Athanasius%2C+the+zealous+bishop%22&pg=PT64 n.p.]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.xxv.iii.iii.xxv.html |title=NPNF2-04. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters |publisher=Ccel.org |date=13 July 2005 |access-date=21 January 2012}}</ref>

Nontrinitarians see the [[Nicene Creed]] and the results of the [[Council of Chalcedon]] as essentially political documents, resulting from the subordination of true doctrine to state interests by leaders of the [[Catholic Church]], so that the church became, in their view, an extension of the Roman Empire. Nontrinitarians (both Modalists and Unitarians) assert that Athanasius and others at Nicaea adopted Greek Platonic philosophy and concepts, and incorporated them in their views of God and Christ.<ref>David Bernard's [https://web.archive.org/web/20080216034825/http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/pentecostal/One-Top.htm ''The Oneness of God''], Word Aflame Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0-912315-12-1}}. pp. 264–274.</ref>

The author [[H. G. Wells]], later famous for his contribution to science-fiction, wrote in [[The Outline of History]]: "We shall see presently how later on all [[Christendom]] was torn by disputes about the Trinity. There is no evidence that the apostles of Jesus ever heard of the Trinity, at any rate from him."<ref>{{Cite book | last = Wells | first = H. G. | author-link = H. G. Wells | title = The Outline of History: being a plain history of life and mankind | publisher = The Waverley Book Company | series = Forgotten Books | volume = 2 | date = n.d. | location = London | page = 284 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=L0zF2wuRCDUC&q=%22There+is+no+evidence+that+the+apostles+of+Jesus+ever+heard+of+the+Trinity,+at+any+rate+from+him%22&pg=PA284
| isbn = 978-1-4400-8226-9 }}</ref>

The question of why such a central doctrine to the Christian faith would never have been explicitly stated in scripture or taught in detail by Jesus himself was sufficiently important to 16th century historical figures such as [[Michael Servetus]] to lead them to argue the question. The [[Michael Servetus#Imprisonment and execution|Geneva City Council]], in accord with the judgment of the cantons of Zürich, Bern, Basel, and Schaffhausen, condemned Servetus to be burned at the stake for this and his opposition to infant baptism.

The ''Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics'' describes the five stages that led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity:<ref>W. Fulton, "Trinity", ''Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics,'' T. & T. Clark, 1921, Vol. 12, p. 459.</ref>
# The acceptance of the pre-human existence of Jesus as the ([[Middle Platonism|middle-platonic]]) [[Logos]], namely, as the medium between the transcendent sovereign God and the created cosmos. The doctrine of Logos was accepted by the Apologists and by other Fathers of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, such as [[Justin the Martyr]], [[Hippolytus of Rome|Hippolytus]], [[Tertullian]], [[Ireneus]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Origen]], [[Lactantius]], and in the 4th century by [[Arius]];
# The doctrine of the timeless generation of the Son from the Father as it was articulated by Origen in his effort to support the ontological [[immutability (theology)|immutability]] of [[God]], that he is ever-being a father and a creator. The doctrine of the timeless generation was adopted by [[Athanasius of Alexandria]];
# The acceptance of the idea that the son of God is of the same transcendent nature (''[[Homoousian|homoousios]]'') as his father. This position was declared in the [[Nicene Creed]], which specifically states the son of God is as immutable as his father;
# The acceptance that the Holy Spirit also has ontological equality as a third person in a divine Trinity and the final Trinitarian terminology by the teachings of the [[Cappadocian Fathers]];
# The addition of the [[Filioque]] to the Nicene Creed, as accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.