Summary: The Trinity, the idea that God is a single entity but one known in three distinct forms (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), has been a central belief for most Christians since the earliest years of the religion. The doctrine was often controversial in the early Church, until clarified by the Council of Nicaea in the late 4th century. St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas recognised that this religious mystery posed profound theological questions. The Trinity's influence on Christian thought and practice is considerable, although it is interpreted in different ways by different Christian traditions. Melvyn Bragg is joined by Janet Soskice, Professor of Philosophical Theology at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Jesus College; Martin Palmer, Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education, and Culture, and The Reverend Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford and a Canon of Christ Church.
