Turkish Academic Research Review

Although Christian theologians are unanimous on the point that Christianity is a religion with a monotheistic character, they have disagreed on the compatibility of the doctrine of the Trinity, which forms the basis of the principles of belief, with monotheism. In particular, monotheistic Christians, who are described as anti-trinitarian, claim that the true teaching of the Prophet Jesus was based on monotheism, and this teaching degenerated in later periods. Unitarians, who emphasize tawheed by saying that the harmony and order in the universe depend on the unity of God, oppose the deification of Jesus Christ, whom they accept as a religious and moral leader. According to the Unitarians, it is emphasized that God is one in the absolute sense in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Therefore, the source of the doctrine of the trinity is not the Christian scriptures. According to them, the Bible is the best guide written by human writers which people see as the record of a long struggle to understand themselves, the universe in which they live, and their God. But the Bible is not an indisputable authority. Therefore, its content should be interpreted with reason and conscience, because Jesus himself did not mention the infallibility of the Bible.

This article deals with the trinity critique of Unitarianism, a theological movement known for its anti-trinitarian views. Both History of Religions and Kalam studies needs to introduce this theological movement, which was born and developed in the Christian religious atmosphere but stands out with its ideas that are opposed to the doctrine of the trinity, which forms the basis of the Christian faith, and this movement’s views revealing the inconsistencies of the trinity. There are, albeit few, academic studies dealing with the birth and development processes of Unitarianism. However, Unitarianism has not been addressed with its criticisms of the Trinity. Therefore, in this study, Unitarianism is discussed in the context of its criticism of the trinity. The first point that draws attention to the trinity criticism of Unitarianism is the determination that the source of the trinity doctrine is not the Christian scriptures. Secondly, Unitarians claimed that the doctrine of the Trinity was incompatible with the principles of reason and logic, and they tried to prove their views with various methods. We can say that the trinity criticisms of the Unitarians in particular and the monotheistic Christians in general were shaped to remake the pure and absolute teachings of Jesus.