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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 ?

JesusBoughtIslam
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  • OK. The community will likely decide again, but list questions get left open all the time around here: http://christianity.stackexchange.com/search?q=%22which+denominations%22 – David Stratton Mar 03 '13 at 04:33
  • 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 04 '13 at 02:25
  • 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. – MaskedPlant Mar 04 '13 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. – Jon Ericson Mar 04 '13 at 18:33
  • Maybe if the question was "what are the predominantly found non-Trinity churches in the established Western Culture" ??? – jcolebrand Mar 06 '13 at 17:47
  • Ali your flag is invalid, re-closing a question is not a violation of SE policy. In fact, that is how the system is designed to work. In this case a number of community members weighed in with concerns about this question and voted to close it even though a moderator unilaterally re-opened it. This is not evidence of bias of abuse of power but of the community exercising its right to police this site as they see fit. They have given you several specific concerns and a direction to edit that might get them to change their votes. Take it or leave it. – Caleb Mar 07 '13 at 08:27

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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.

David Stratton
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  • +1 good answer , wanted to know about the older \ extinct sects too as updated in question – JesusBoughtIslam Mar 02 '13 at 18:13
  • thats a perfect plausible answer , it is unjustly closed though – JesusBoughtIslam Mar 02 '13 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. – JesusBoughtIslam Mar 02 '13 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. – David Stratton Mar 02 '13 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 03 '13 at 05:02
  • @MasonWheeler - fair point. I should have clarified which definition of "divinity" I was assuming in my answer. I edited to clarify. – David Stratton Mar 03 '13 at 05:07
  • @David: Again, there's nothing in that definition that contradicts LDS beliefs. See http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/9463/do-the-lds-believe-in-the-hypostatic-union/9482#9482 for clarification. – Mason Wheeler Mar 03 '13 at 05:21
  • @MasonWheeler -You posted this comment while I was posting a question asking for clarification on the term "Divinity" with LDS teaching. Hopefully it's not a dupe. I also hope you don't take it as argumentative. I am hoping it will be a chance for someone from an LDS perspective to clear up terminology and potential misconceptions that non-LDS Christians have about the LDS teaching. – David Stratton Mar 03 '13 at 05:29
  • @DavidStratton Is your comment above about Scientology now obsolete? – Alypius Apr 18 '13 at 21:43
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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.

Mawia
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