In this less biographical episode, Sir Anthony and I discuss various Christian mistakes: obsession with Hebrew names for God and for Jesus, keeping kosher food laws and Jewish holidays, the doctrine of tithing, and even the avoidance of doctors (as if that showed a lack of faith in God).

Another mistake was discarding the simple, messianic gospel preached by Jesus, including his Jewish theology of one God, the Father. Jesus, Sir Anthony has argued, was not a trinitarian, and we, as his disciples, shouldn't be either. He suggests that the apostle's (Jesus') creed should be ours.

Another mistake: the widespread unwillingness by conservative, and especially Protestant Christians to think critically about trinitarian traditions, and specifically the 4th c. catholic consensus I discussed with Dr. Holmes in episode 42.

Finally, how could divine providence allow The Church to go so wrong, for so long, on such a central matter as the doctrine of God?

And if unitarian theology is true, then why 19th century unitarianism fail, morphing into a non-Christian movement. One reason (among many), we agree, is some early modern unitarians' wrongheaded denunciation of worship of and prayer to Jesus as "Christian idolatry."

You can also listen to this episode on youtube.

Links:

Jesus was not a Trinitarian

Jesus Wars by Philip Jenkins - on the process leading up to the Council of Chalcedon in 451

On the issue of the worship of Jesus, Sir Anthony agrees with this presentation (and paper) of mine.

My reprints of some early modern unitarian and trinitarian books.