tetratheism

English

Etymology

From tetra- +‎ theism.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛ.tɹə.ˈθi.ɪzəm/

Noun

tetratheism (uncountable)

1. A belief in four gods.
2. (Christianity) The belief that there are four elements in the Christian Godhead—the three hypostases (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) of the Trinity and a divine essence out of which each of these originates.
   • 2002, Hans Hauben, “On the Invocation of the 'Holy and Consubstantial Trinity' in Byzantine Oath and Dating Formulas”, in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, volume 139, Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH, →ISSN, →JSTOR, page 160:

     […] "consubstantial Trinity" could have been a reaction against the supposed heresy of […] Damian […] who was accused of "tetratheism" (or "tetradism", distinguishing four different entities in the Godhead), a response to, but as it seems a variant of, the very influential "tritheism" of John Philoponus (distinguishing three Deities in the Trinity) […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:tetratheism.

Derived terms

• tetratheist

Related terms

• tritheism
• polytheism
• monotheism
• henotheism
• atheism

References

• “tetratheism”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• Tetratheism in Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary, London, W. & R. Chambers, 1907. p. 1003.
• Tetratheism in Canney, Maurice A. An Encyclopaedia of Religions, London, G. Routledge, 1921. p. 351. →OCLC.
• Hook, Julius N. The Grand Panjandrum and 2,699 Other Rare, Useful, and Delightful Words and Expressions. Revised and expanded. New York: Collier Books, 1991. p. 132. →ISBN.

See also

• trinitarianism