e-book price is $80
I'll get it through Inter-Library Loan for free. Order Request put in to my local library as pickup.
This book presents a critical evaluation of the doctrine of the Trinity,
tracing its development and investigating the intellectual,
philosophical and theological background that shaped this influential
doctrine of Christianity. Despite the centrality of Trinitarian thought
to Christianity and its importance as one of the fundamental tenets that
differentiates Christianity from Judaism and Islam, the doctrine is not
fully formulated in the canon of Christian scriptural texts. Instead,
it evolved through the conflation of selective pieces of scripture with
the philosophical and religious ideas of ancient Hellenistic milieu.
Marian Hillar analyzes the development of Trinitarian thought during the
formative years of Christianity from its roots in ancient Greek
philosophical concepts and religious thinking in the Mediterranean
region. He identifies several important sources of Trinitarian thought
heretofore largely ignored by scholars, including the Greek
middle-Platonic philosophical writings of Numenius and Egyptian
metaphysical writings and monuments representing divinity as a triune
entity.
youtube discussion of the book
Why
is this account of the development of doctrine from the Logos to the
Trinity so critically important in our time? Because the public, as
well as scholars, seems largely ignorant of the profound shifts in
thinking which occurred when the essentially Jewish faith of New
Testament times became severed from its roots and succumbed to the
distorting influence of neo-Platonism. The churches have in general
turned a blind eye to the somewhat embarrassing fact that a very strong
pagan Greek influence adversely affected the Christian faith as it
emerged after apostolic times.
Marian
Hillar is perhaps the first to put his finger on the detail of just how
Biblical Christianity's decline into a philosophical form of religion
came about. He shows us that the middle-Platonist Numenius quite
evidently exhibits an extraordinary affinity with the thinking of the
second-century Christian apologist, Justin Martyr. The mid-second
century marks the transition, via a mishandling of John's logos
teaching, from one theological paradigm to a new and very different one.
By stages the unitary monotheism of Jesus and the apostles became the
complex construction of the nature of God as Trinity. Now that this
scholar has laid bare the evidence, we are all more able to reevaluate
our own positions vis-a-vis Christianity as it originally stemmed from
Jesus himself.
Marian Hillar's book on Restoring the Lost Logos and how Christianity got corrupted by Platonism
Building
on this ubiquitous understanding, Pythagoras (570 b. c. e), a noted
theologian and philosopher, taught the “cosmological principles, Monad,
Dyad and Harmony” (7). Hillar labels this a “trinity” which corresponds
to the moral philosophy of Goodness, Truth and Beauty. (10). Men of
that era believed these principles controlled the Universe and were a
“philosophy of immanent order” (8).
Hillar next discusses several
philosophers who added concepts to the accepted philosophical thought on
Logos. Among them was Alemaeon of Croton, who mingled the idea of
Logos with medicine, thereby setting the precedent for the development
of the Hippocratic Oath (9,10). Other early disciples included
Heraclitus of Ephesus who equated “Mind” with Logos by discussing the
force of Logos/Mind in creation, and Anaxagoras of Clazomenae who
thought “Mind” more an impersonal force (11).
The philosopher,
Xenocrates of Chalcedon (d. 314 b. c. e.), agreed with Pythagoras and
Plato that numbers represent universal regularities and melded “the
ideal with the mathematical” (22). And, “Xenocrates philosophy
constitutes an important transition to Middle Platonism” (22).
Xenocrates discussed the ideal in terms of the three perfect triangles:
equilateral, representing unity; isosceles, representing unity and
variety; and scalene representing “descending souls with material
elements” (23), i. e., human beings.
Adding to this foundation, the
Stoics of the third century b. c. e. developed the thought on Logos
which became the accepted teaching of early Christians. The Stoics
taught that the principle of Logos governed the structure of the world.
It was a “celestial fire, intelligent breath” (26). They believed
several “world cycles began and ended with fire” (31), and that warm,
intelligent breath, pneuma, held the elements of the universe together.
The
equivalent Hebrew concept of Logos, davar, was considered to be “the
speech of God”. It is often seen in the Old Testament as “And God
said,” (36). From this Hillar directs the reader in a discussion of the
Hebrew personification of Wisdom, and subsequently of the union of Logos
and Wisdom in John 1.
Philo (20 b .c. e-50 c. e.), another
philosopher of importance, added significantly to the theological
underpinnings of Christianity. Philo used allegory to interpret Hebrew
religious traditions. In this manner he looked for hidden meaning in
the text and read back into it new interpretation (45). This method had
implications for Philo’s thoughts on Logos. Philo “fused Greek
philosophical concepts with Hebrew religious thought” (55), providing
more intellectual foundation for the acceptance of Christian writings
than was produced in the first and second centuries. Hillar believes
that Philo spent more time developing his ideas on Logos than on his
other intellectual interests.
For example, Philo defined Logos as
“utterance of God” and “divine mind” (56), “the agent of creation and
transcendent power” (57), “Universal bond and immanent reason” (60),
“the immanent Mediator” (62), and the “Angel of the Lord which is the
Revealer of God” (63).
In guiding the reader toward understanding the
development of thought leading to the trinity, Hillar elaborates
regarding the messianic tradition of the Jews in which eschatological
and apocalyptic themes were emphasized in Judaic writings, worship and
culture. The Jews believed God acts on behalf of the righteous of
Israel (102). Further, the ideas of messianic and apocalyptic
eschatology were carried through to Hellenistic Christian thought.
“Christianity” was first an early Jewish messianic movement (112).
Members were first identified as “Nazoraeans” before being called
“Christians” because their Messiah would be a Nazarene as stated in
Matthew 2:23 (114).
In the historical journey of discovery guided by
Hillar’s research, the reader is next given a thorough tour of the works
of Justin Martyr. Martyr was influenced by Numenius’ Middle Platonic
thought on the soul (148), and also by his thought on Logos as First God
and Second God (147). To Martyr belongs the distinction of being the
first church father to label the theological ideas of Pythagoras, the
Monad, Dyad and Harmony, as “triad”. This is significant because it was
the Latin layman, Tertullian, who finally translated “triad” to the
Latin trinitas, or “trinity”.
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