The Trinity Without Heresy

[Alcibiades]

OK, so maybe there’s an explanation for how the Trinity can be understood and made to work in a not totally baffling way; the question still remains, what exactly is it supposed to be doing that a simpler understanding of God would not do?

Even as an atheist, I have to admit that there are intuitively compelling reasons which draw people to monotheism. In other words, I can understand why someone pondering the mysteries of reality might end up positing the existence of God. But I completely fail to see how they could come up with the Trinity in this way; that is to say, I fail to see what is supposed to make it an attractive theory.

Theoretical parsimony is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition of truth, but it is, all else equal, a virtue. More fundamentally, sure, I’ll grant you that perhaps the Trinity isn’t completely, baldly nonsensical; but what reason do we have for supposing that it is at all true?