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I read about a very famous Scientist Newton, who had did not believe in the theory of trinity and i came across a banner in my country which called people to some "Unitarianism church"

Hence out of curiosity wanted to know:

What are some Christian sects (Modern as well as Extinct or Old) which don't believe in the theory of Trinity nor the divinity of Christ ?

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  • OK. The community will likely decide again, but list questions get left open all the time around here: christianity.stackexchange.com/… Mar 3, 2013 at 4:33
  • I kind of agree with @JonEricson. There could be multiple answers that are all correct. This would be a better entry for a wiki than for a Q&A site.
    – Greg
    Mar 4, 2013 at 2:25
  • I would only vote to close because it is a list question. If it asked for the largest, membership wise, church that didn't believe in the Trinity, I would vote to re-open. Mar 4, 2013 at 17:41
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    I'm going to retract my "list question" label. But I still think this question ought to be closed since Wikipedia answers it well. Mar 4, 2013 at 18:33
  • Maybe if the question was "what are the predominantly found non-Trinity churches in the established Western Culture" ???
    – jcolebrand
    Mar 6, 2013 at 17:47

2 Answers 2

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Before answering, there are a few ways of defining "divinity". I am going to answer from the traditional, orthodox understanding of the term as defined at http://carm.org/dictionary-divinity

Divinity is the nature or quality of being God. Within Christianity it belongs to God alone. It is also important to note that orthodox Christianity believes that Jesus was divine in nature (Col. 2:9) as well as being a man. For more information see Jesus' Two Natures.

There's a pretty comprehensive list of denominations that reject the Trinity here. Groups from that list that also deny the divinity of Christ include:

  • Latter-day Saints
  • Jehovah's Witnesses
  • Christian Science
  • Unification Church
  • Unity School of Christianity

While not necessarily sects, there are certain teachings that deny both the Trinity and Christ's divinity, which were adhered to by various sects.

Many are found at http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/bible/heresies.stm

  • Arianism-- Jesus less than God -- more than human-- The Arian controversy began in Alexandria, Egypt about 318 AD. Arius (c. 250-c. 336) was a popular Alexandrian priest whose theology about who Jesus was was condemned as heretical by the First Council of Nicaea in 325 and also at the First Council of Constantinople in 381.
  • Ebionite-- Jesus regarded as prophet rather than divine Word of God-- Ebionites originally were a first century Jewish-Christian sect. They emphasized Jewish law and rejected Paul's teachings. Most considered him to be a man, not God. Later use of this term refers to anyone who minimizes the divinity of Christ.
  • Nestorianism-- Refers to theology of Nestorius of Antioch, who became Bishop of Constantinople in 428 A.D.

Nestorius believed that Mary was mother only of the human Jesus, not the divine Logos and in the Antiochine "two-nature" Christology.

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  • +1 good answer , wanted to know about the older \ extinct sects too as updated in question Mar 2, 2013 at 18:13
  • thats a perfect plausible answer , it is unjustly closed though Mar 2, 2013 at 18:32
  • In the business of religion even one person can be right and entire nation could be wrong , that does not mean you suppress their basic ontological right. Mar 2, 2013 at 18:57
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    @Alypius, about Scientologists, I don't think so personally, but I included them because they do have a teaching on who Jesus is. I also agree that the groups that believe these things are a minority, and are heretical. But site guidelines require that I ignore that fact when answering. The "Who is considered a Christian on this site" means I have to bite my tongue on many answers. It also means that we can't judge whether a group is "important". That's subjective. That word should be removed from the question perhaps. Mar 2, 2013 at 19:18
  • One minor point: Latter-Day Saints have a slightly different understanding of Jesus and the nature of divinity in general than mainstream Christianity, but in no way do they deny the divinity of Christ.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Mar 3, 2013 at 5:02
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Another minor list maybe United Pentecostal Church International There are still more others but are some small local denominations.

In short, anyone who is not able conceive and understand the concept of Trinity usually ignores it. They prefer to have a simpler theology and belief.

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  • Your last para is very much true. Baiters from other major faith put their bait prescisely at this point. Mar 4, 2013 at 15:47

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