As I’m again working on some of these early catholic unitarians, I thought I’d re-post this talk I gave in May of 2013, at the Theological Conference in Atlanta. (Here are the slides if you want to click through them as you listen.) This was just before I started the podcast. The paper moves quickly through some big names of pre-Nicene catholic Christianity. I show that they were to a man unitarians, and not trinitarians, as many would prefer to believe. This has been pointed out in some detail before, in the 17th century, in the 18th century, and again in the 19th century. On the whole, the trinitarian tradition prefers not to hear the detailed case for this. It raises too many uncomfortable questions. This is why they keep forgetting or covering up these facts.
Since this talk I have continued to work in more depth on Tertullian, resulting in this podcast and this published paper.
God willing, a revised version of this talk will be a chapter in a future book.
Many thanks to Sharon and Dan Gill for recording and editing this. See their 21st Century Reformation website for many helpful unitarian Christian resources. You can download the video or audio of this talk there.
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Dale,
Well reasoned, the step taken in the 4th century seems much further than what these four thinkers were arguing. I found interesting your quote of Origen responding to the charge that Jesus is worshiped as the supreme savior/God, and his rebuttal (if I understand it correclty) is essentially “there is indeed diversity among believers and those that believe so are wrong/confused.” It seems Origen is admitting to Jesus-olatry in his day but is correcting the notion with his take, “but we believe…”
Interesting b/c it shows that it is difficult conceptually (for the simple) to hold in tension a unitarian understanding of God while simultaneously exalting Jesus (God from God in a sense but not “the” God) and while worshiping him alongside God. Can a movement of believers in God through Christ sustain a nuanced and sophisticated unitarian belief without downgrading the NT texts’ emphasis on the honor due Jesus? And further, is conceptual tri-theism virtually inevitable for the simple that hold a high view of scripture?
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