The Ethnic Trinities and Their Relations to the Christian Trinity; A Chapter in the Comparative History of Religions
by Levi Leonard Paine (9781150402197)

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1901 Original Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin and company Subjects: Trinities Trinity Fiction / Classics Literary Collections / General Literary Criticism / General Religion / Christian Theology / General Religion / Christian Theology / Systematic Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II SPECIAL CAUSES OP THE RISE OF THE ETHNIC TRINITIES From this preliminary survey we pass to a closer investigation of the historical origin and character of the Ethnic trinities. Their origin is hid in the obscurity of the prehistoric ages. When the Ethnic religions first appear under clear historical light they are already polytheistic, and the trinitarian feature is more or less fully developed. In the latest authoritative bookl on the Babylonian religion and mythology, it is stated that " we can thus trace back the existence of this great triad of gods (Anu, Bel, and Ea) to the very beginning of history." This is equally true of the Egyptian and the Hindoo trinities. Thus an investigation of the causes that led to their development must be conducted with such side lights as are afforded us from early man's religious nature and environment and from the forms into which these trinities were moulded. The radical question is, why a trinity of gods, or a triune god, rather than a duad or a quaternity of gods, or a duo-une or quadrune god? Certainly there isnothing peculiar in the number three to distinguish it from the other numerals. A triangle is no more remarkable as a geometrical figure than a square or a pentagon. Why, then, should three have become the sacred number of deity ? The question might here be raised whether after all trinity was so em...

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