  Beginning with an effective field theory based upon meson exchange, the
Bethe-Salpeter equation for the three-particle propagator (six-point function)
is obtained. Using the one-boson-exchange form of the kernel, this equation is
then analyzed using time-ordered perturbation theory, and a three-dimensional
equation for the propagator is developed. The propagator consists of a
pre-factor in which the relative energies are fixed by the initial state of the
particles, an intermediate part in which only global propagation of the
particles occurs, and a post-factor in which relative energies are fixed by the
final state of the particles. The pre- and post-factors are necessary in order
to account for the transition from states where particles are off their mass
shell to states described by the global propagator with all of the particle
energies on shell. The pole structure of the intermediate part of the
propagator is used to determine the equation for the three-body bound state: a
Schr{\"o}dinger-like relativistic equation with a single, global Green's
function. The role of the pre- and post-factors in the relativistic dynamics is
to incorporate the poles of the breakup channels in the initial and final
states. The derivation of this equation by integrating over the relative times
rather than via a constraint on relative momenta allows the inclusion of
retardation and dynamical boost corrections without introducing unphysical
singularities.
