The Trinity 101: How to Understand One God in Three Persons

By: David Meconi

Narrated by: David Meconi

The Trinity is the foundation of Christian faith, the lifeblood of its liturgy. In this remarkable course, you will come to understand the Trinitarian theology and history as never before. Your professor is Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ (DPhil, the University of Oxford), an expert on early Church history and an award-winning theology professor at Saint Louis University.

The idea of one God as three persons cannot be understood through human reason alone. Indeed, the doctrine of the Trinity was not something that early Christians fully grasped. Since then, the ecumenical councils and Christianity's great theologians have developed an understanding of this great mystery, giving us the necessary language to discuss it.

The Trinity 101 encapsulates two millennia of Trinitarian theology in a series of 12 brilliant lectures. Thorough yet accessible, Meconi's course covers the fascinating history of Trinitarian doctrine, from the first disciples to the pews of modern churches. Along the way, you'll explore how the Trinity manifests itself in sacred scripture, the Mass, and catechism.

The doctrine of God's triune existence has always been the foundation of Christian belief. After rooting yourself in the scriptural origins of the Trinity, you'll explore how the first Christians unfolded the teaching Jesus left to His disciples. Moving through the history of the Trinity, you will come to see its mystery not as an abstract doctrine, but rather as the manifestation of Christian discipleship.

This course is part of the Learn25 collection.

©2017 Now You Know Media, Inc. (P)2017 Now You Know Media, Inc.

perfect

perfect for study of trinity. as a Deacon candidate in formation is more than prefect

Purchased this based on Father's other talk

And I'm duly impressed again. His talks on the Patristics was truly enlightening and this was also thought provoking and extremely engaging. This was a great, brief overview on Trinitarian thought and theology. Amazing. Father's style is very accessible as well.

Not One of Learn25's Best

If you don't know much Church History, this could be a decent way to introduce yourself to it.
Unfortunately, it is VERY light on theology. You will probably not learn anything you did not learn in the first week of Catechism class.

There was a brief mention of the distinction between economic and imminent Trinity, but that's about as deep as it gets. At one point the Lecturer mentions Perichoresis, but I honestly don't know if he ever explained what that word means. There was no discussion of what "hypostasis" is (though the lecturer uses the word a good deal) nor any discussion of what it means to speak of God being "persons" (it surely does not mean that in addition to you and me and the billions of people who have lived, we need to add three more to the Grand Census).

I think he spent more time talking about Aquinas's biographical details than he did talking about Aquinas's thinking on the Trinity. And what he said about Aquinas on the Trinity missed the point.

I am working on a project where I should have a better grasp of some of the details of the Doctrine of the Trinity; unfortunately, this course did not provide anything close.
Still, if you are a total novice about Church history, the course will take you from the Apostolic Times through the 20th Century, and provides adequate discussion of the Protestant Reformation as well as Eastern Orthodoxy.

One last complaint: The course was very mildly on the sexist side. The lecturer gave no indication of whether "Mother" or "Parents" could suffice for the first person of the Trinity but seemed skeptical of attempts to use feminine pronouns for God. Still, if you've listened to anything by Peter Kreeft you've heard far worse sexism.