Hello, I’d just like to give my two cents here, and it’s actually nothing new. Philosophers have been pointing this out for a long time now. Hopefully I can do them justice. This could be long so please bear with me.
By the way, many of what I say can be found in this pdf written by the erudite Stratford Caldecott:
secondspring.co.uk/articles/Face%20to%20Face.pdf You might want to check this out instead
I think one argument that could really convince, is that Christianity is the only religion that has a belief which “saves” it from the problem of the “One and the Many.” Let me explain. In metaphysics, there is the so called problem of the One and the Many. Basically this problem is on how to reconcile two seemingly opposite “aspects” of the universe, namely unity and difference/distinction. On the one hand, the universe has unity (the One). There is commonality among things in the universe, and things in the universe also seem to “fit” together to form a unity (which is precisely the universe). If there was nothing in common among all things then ultimately there would be no intelligibility; we wouldn’t be able to understand anything because things would be too “different” from each other for us to make any general sense of. Indeed the very fact that we are able to know the things that we know shows that there is something in common with all these knowable things, namely, that they exist.
At the same time though, even as there is unity in the universe, there is also difference or distinction (the Many). Each thing is different from each other thing; nothing is completely alike in all respects. The particularity and individuality of things show this. Although we are all humans, no one human is exactly similar to another human, not even twins. So, again, the problem of the one and the many is how exactly do you reconcile these two opposites? This issue is important not just in speculative philosophy but also in our ethical and practical lives. For example, in making an ethical decision, to whom will we give importance to? The good of the community or the good of the individual. Of course, we would want both, but it is in trying to “make both ends meet,” as it were, that things become challenging. Even the dominant, rival political economies of Capitalism and Socialism/Communism reflect the problem of the one and the many. Capitalism in general tries to value individuality and thus difference/distinction. But Socialism/Communism tries to value the good of the whole and thus unity.
Inevitably, in religion the same problem arises. Indeed it is very important to religion. Religions that tend to emphasize difference over unity might be termed “dualist.” Often the “difference” exists between God/Supreme reality and Creature. These religions basically say that between God and creation there is an absolute and unbridgeable difference. Human beings, though they may worship and even love God, ultimately cannot experience unity with Him. There will always be a separation. A contemporary example is Hindu Madhva Vedanta. You could check it out yourselves.
However, the more common religion seems to be those that emphasize unity over difference/distinction. These could be called “monist” religions. These religions basically say that between God and creation, there is no real difference. Often the difference is just an illusion created by human ignorance and his idea of “self”. In other words, the human being is actually God or the supreme reality, it’s just that he doesn’t know it yet and he needs to be “enlightened.” He needs to realize that he doesn’t really have a unique self, but actually is the supreme reality. So he has to get rid of this idea of “self” (in other words, his sense of difference or distinction) to gain salvation. The major Asian religions often fall in this category. Advaita Vedanta Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism all have this idea of losing one’s sense of distinct self to gain salvation.
Now how about Christianity? It seems that Christianity is no different from other major religions in that it also believes in one God or supreme reality. But there is indeed a crucial difference; one which prevents it from sliding into monism or dualism, and instead allows it to transcend the problem of the One and the Many. And this is the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity. The God of Christianity is supreme unity but at the same time it is also supreme distinction because the One God is Three Persons. The problem with other religions is that they tend to prioritize either the many over the one, or more commonly, the one over the many. In a way though, they cannot be blamed because such is the outcome of natural reasoning. From a strictly logical point of view, unity and distinction cannot ultimately coexist -they are mutually exclusive. One has to prevail over the other. It is only through the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, divinely revealed, and not discovered by human reason, that the problem of the One and the Many is transcended. So unlike the common monist religions, Christianity does not believe that salvation requires denying the individual self. When we go to Heaven, we don’t lose our individuality and realize that we were God all along. We don’t sacrifice our distinction to achieve unity with the supreme reality, because in the supreme reality itself, there is space for distinction. Neither are we dualists who believe that there will be no unity with God because He is too far off or different from us. On the contrary, human beings have the greatest potential to have unity with God precisely because God Himself has first chosen to be united with humanity through Christ’s incarnation and redemptive act. But again, the person of Christ is ultimately rooted in the reality of the Trinity, because Christ is the Second Person after all.
