17. A vital aspect of Christian religious doctrine, the Holy Trinity predates Christianity by thousands of years
A central component of the Christian doctrine, the Trinity – comprised of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – asserts that God exists as three distinct, yet also consubstantial divine persons. Emphasized in particular by the Gospel of John, which states “there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one”. Belief in the precise form of the Trinity, as resolved at the First Council of Nicaea, remains a matter of disconnect between various Christian denominations. However, despite internal schisms, the concept of a divine trinity is not original to Christianity, but rather borrowed from earlier and older religious traditions.
Known broadly as “Tritheism” – the belief that divinity is composed of three entities – this religious convention is recurrent among the world’s religions. The Hindu Trinity, for example, contains Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer, who act harmoniously to maintain balance. Observing even more ancient religious beliefs, many of humanity’s oldest theological conceptions contain a trinity, including Amun, Re, and Ptah in Egypt, Ishtar, Baal, and Tammuz in Mesopotamia, and Anu, Enil, and Ea, in Sumerian mythology, whilst pagan pantheons typically reserved positions for three great divinities above other lesser gods.