Christian apologists used rational creation arguments to prove the Trinity
Evidence
Since indeed it is proven that substance truly exists and that it is the creator of all things, the beginning of all beginnings, and the maker of all things made, it is necessary that it have wisdom and will, namely that it know what it wishes to do before it does it, and that it also will to it do, because, before the work comes forth in appearance, it is ο¬rst formed in the imagining soul, and this imagination is wisdom. And since it thus knew, either it did it or it did not do it. It did not do it if it did not will it. If indeed it did it, then it willed it. And this is the will. Thus the creator of the world could not create anything, before there existed in Him both knowing and willing. β John V. Tolan, Saracens, 827
Categorization
- DEFINE: Shows how the Trinity was rationalistically argued: God must have wisdom and will to create, hence three persons.
- XREF: Connects to rational theology arguments and to apologetic proof strategies that parallel later philosophical-theological debates. β connects to: Muslims rejected the Trinity as polytheism and carnal generation