Flatly said, the notion of
Trinity finds only scanty support in the bible itself, only indirectly suggested in the closing of The 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, 13-13, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
Strictly taken word for word, Chritianity WITH the Trinity doctrine departs from the core belief of Monotheos of the
Shema Israel, "Hear, O Israel; YHWH is our God, YHWH alone !" Since the destruction of the two sacred places of worship, esp. the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem prior to
Babylonian captivity (597-537 BCE; earliest dates), Post-exilic Judaism before Chritianity naturally anticipated the expansion on the concept of the nationalist monotheos, which by then had been historically and theologically disputed by the destruction of the two Isrealite kingdoms of
Israel (722 BCE) and
Judah (587 BCE), and the subsequent Babylonization, Persification, and esp. Helenisation during the
Macedonian rule by Alexander (333-323 BCE), the
Ptolemies (323-198 BCE), and the
Seleucids (198-166 BCE).
The nationalist uprising of
Judah Maccabeus against the 'evil' Helenist puppets, and the establishment of the
Hasmonean dynasty (166-63 BCE) breathed life back into the idea of a living, interacting God, but also gave rise to dissenting theological factions as the
Sadduccees, the
Pharisees, the
Essenes, the
Zealots, the
Ebionites,
Samaritans (
Samaritan), the
Nazirites (cf.
Nazarenes), and others, some of whom believed in the emergence of a new kind of kingship directly anointed by God himself (a
christ, a
messiah) and the direct rule by a universal (catholic, generic), guiding breath of God himself (a
Holy Spirit).
There seems to be no expectation of a motherly goddess figure as Ancient Hebraism seems to have already distanced itself from the mother-of-all creator, the feminine, life-giving deity and agricultural fertility symbolism which only later found its way into the minds of early Christians in Asia Minor and the vicinity. The dying and resurrecting deity of son-
Adonis and the life giving earth Goddess of mother-
Demeter, according to some scholars of religion, are reflected in the dying & resurrecting Christ figure and Mary the mother of Christ figure.
As for there being so many former Catholics becoming atheists, could we also say the
Catholic Church has been giving them a good kick-start in logic, history, language, and critical thinking ? Nothing to diss Catholics for at all. En arche en ho
logos: In the beginning was the word. Education is nothing to be wasted, whether theist or non-theist.
To be really picky with words,
Judaism/
Chritianity/
Islam come in 4 varieties.
1)
monotheism
2)
dualism
3)
tritheism: the Trinity
4) quadritheism: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and Mother Mary
