The claim that God is one in three persons is a bedrock principal in Christian theolgy. In some ways this is similar to “aspects” forms of panentheism. This form of panentheism is monistic in ontology but pluralistic its manifestations. Early philosophy contained this form of panentheism both in the East and the West. In the East Ramanuja posited a qualified monism where the One had “attributes” which represented its plurality in reality. Contrary to Advaitan philosophy and the philosophy of Parmenides where the “individuation” of the Brahman or the One was considered illusionary, in Ramanuja’s philosophy the “Many” was real but still part of the One. Also for Plato there was a contracted aspect of the One which for him represented a unity in the absolute, pure, and unalloyed. However, for Plato there was also an expanded apsect of the One which represented a hidden plurality. This plurality is not illusionary.

One can see similarities in these concepts with that of the trinitiarian doctrine. The Father in the trinity could be viewed as the aspect of the divine that is “distinct” in some respect from the world. The Son in the trinity is the incarnated aspect which is the ontological and sacramental presence of God in the universe. The Spirit in the trinity could be considered the aspect of the divine as the eternal animating and informing activity of the divine in all things.

Now this might seem a bit strained in analogy but that is only natural for symbols. Clearly a systematic treatment of these analogies might run into problems. However, the point I am trying to make is that there is an inherent struggle in the trinitarian doctrine, which is the same struggle that thinkers of all ages have engaged. That struggle is how to think about the inevitable principal of oneness that is intuited with the experience of being a self.

If one views that trinitarian theology within the broad milieu of all religious thought, it affirms Christian theology as one more attempt to embrace and explore the fundamental issue of the One and the Many.