The Holy Trinity - again!

I am very happy to commend Stephen Holmes book, The Holy Trinity: Understanding God's Life.
Pub: Paternoster 2012
200 pages, xix introduction, 30 pages biblography and index
Price: see amazon!

There are a number of good books that cover this story, the development of the Christian understanding of the Trinity. Steve mentions almost all of them in his footnotes and often through direct engagement with them in the text.

What makes Steve's book different is the clarity with which he draws together the threads of Trinitarian debates from the 4th Century to the time of the Reformation. As Steve shows what he calls 'The Harvest of Patristic Trinitarianism', pp. 144-46, stands for the Medieval and Reformation period scholars also. For this summary alone the book is worth having.

In his opening and closing chapters Steve engages with 20th Century Trinitarian scholarship and boldly shows where these have departed from the Ecumenical settlement of Trinitarian study. Steve offers an historical study to show that the older tradition has strong exegetical roots. He limits his study in this way, 'Nothing I have written excludes that possibility [that this settled doctrine was always wrong]; I do, however, attemnpt to show just how strongly exegetical the traditional presentations of the doctrine were.' page xvi.

For those seeking a brief introduction to the history of Trinitarian thinking within the church and an engagement with 20th Century contributions Steve's book is a good starting place. The footnotes and bibliography will guide you to many other valuable resources. And Steve's writing about the Cappadocian Fathers will have you rushing out to buy English versions or learning Greek to read them for yourself.

Thanks to Steve for this book. And thanks to Paternoster for what promises to be a very helpful series. The series is entitles: Christian Doctrine in Historical Perspective. Coming volumes:
Andrew McGowan, The Person and Work of Christ
Robert Pope, The Church and the Sacraments
Andrew Kirk, The Church and the World

Embracing The Trinity

Here's another book I brought home from Cambridge (and for the avoidance of doubt, I didn't already have a copy of this one!)

Fred Sanders 'Embracing The Trinity' is on the whole a good book, if not especially easy to read. At least it is a timely reminder to Evangelicals of our Trinitarian roots and a need to have Trinitarian thinking well embedded in our theology and practice of Christian living.

Sanders writes that the Trinity isn't for anything, the Trinity is God. (page 61). So, even to ask, 'What is the Trinity for?' is to misunderstand what God is revealing of himself when he reveals his Trinitarian nature to us.

The best chapter is chapter 4 'The Shape of the Gospel'. In this long chapter Sanders clearly relates the Trinity to all of the Gospel in a most helpful way. On p. 136-141 writing of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel Sanders uses the phrase 'the Holy Spirit puts us in our place'. This is not used to demean but to teach us that the Holy Spirit, by his powerful indwelling work, places us within the Gospel story.

One final point, writing (page 113) on the depth of the Gospel and of '"head" Christians who mistakenly believe that being "theologically correct" is the sum and substance of Christian living.' and quoting Henry Scougal we read:
Scougal indicts, I consider these "orthodox notions" believers to be the nearest to the real thing, but for that reason they are probably the most thoroughly trapped. If you tell one of these top-heavy believers that they are missing out on the reality of salvation, they will immediately make room in their intellectual systerm for a doctrine about "the reality of salvation." They earnestly seek to embrace all God's truth, but if you tell them they are missing the power of godliness, they will buy (or write) a book about it. dp a Bible study about it, or in some other way try to put together a proper doctine about it.

Indeed!

On the whole a good book. Not to be recommended to young Christians or those without some theological background or interest.

Bavinck on The Trinity

There is a really good section in Bavinck, vol 2, when he discusses the development of trinitarian dogma.
ok, I suppose the history of doctrine isn't everyone's thing, but this is really good and well worth reading.

From the very outset [which for Bavink is the Apostolic Fathers of the late first, early second century] it is clear that the dogma of the Trinity was not born from philosophical reasoning about the nature of God, but from reflection on the facts of revelation, specifically on the person and work of Christ. From the beginning it revolved around the deity of Christ, the absolute character of Christianity, the truth of the revelation of God, the true atonement from sin, and the absolute certainty of salvation. (p. 280)

Notice the foundations upon which, according to Bavinck, the doctrine of the Trinity rests:
> the facts of revelation - that is Scripture and its witness to God;
> the person and work of Christ - we cannot read the gospels or the New Testament without asking the disciples question, 'Who is this man?', and we find the language and themes of Scripture drive us ever more towards divinity in answering this question;
> the deity of Christ, the NT leaves us no where else to go;
> the absolute character of Christianity - in part I'm posting this to ask if anyone knows what this might mean!
> the truth of the revelation of God, see above;
> the true atonement from sin - the inclusion of the atonement here I found unexpected, and yet, when we read of the atonement from sin and how this was accomplished in the cross of Christ we must again reflect upon the nature of Christ and of God;
> the absolute certainty of salvation - an assurance of salvation also leads us to reflect upon God and so will take us into an understanding of the Trinity.

The Trinity is not some philosophical add on to a 'simple' Christianity, but the very heart beat of a catholic, ecumenical faith. As the Athanasian Creed, which in large part is an exposition of the Trinity, concludes:

 This is the catholic faith, which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation.

The Trinity and John's Gospel

I picked this book up at EMA in June. I like the series, well, not ever volume, but most of them are very good. Biblical theology is a hobby of mine and this book is a very good example of excellent biblical theology.

The authors give us a really good example of biblical studies providing a strong foundation for theological reflection.

The Bible is, after all, a profoundly theological document. Readings that fail to move beyond literary and genetic/historical issues to substantive doctrinal ones thus fail to grasp the Bible’s main subject matter. (pages 20-21)

No fear with this work, theological reflection is the final aim, but the route to it is through detailed study of the text of scripture. John’s gospel is the source and verse by verse, section by section a detailed account of what John writes about God, and how this is fully Trinitarian is carefully built up. Chapters 2 to 6 are entirely given over to a study and synthesis of what John’s gospel contributes to our understanding of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The biblical studies are excellent, the theological reflections start from the text and build four square upon what has been learned from John’s gospel. Jesus is shown to be God theos, in the whole gospel – note the inclusio 1:1, 18 and 20:28. But also in the references which include Jesus in the monotheistic character and nature of God, theos.

I don’t want to fall into blogging another long book review, although that would be very easy from this great book. Buy the book, read the book and share with me how much you have benefitted from it.

Just one more quote, on the author’s approach to their work:
we have read the Fourth Gospel with awe and wonder and with prayerful dependence upon ‘the Spirit of truth’ (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). (page 23)

May we all so read every page of scripture and find there displayed for us the glory of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.