Reading “Understanding the Trinity”

March, being “Trinity month,” as called for by the Theology Network (see here), I have read “The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything” by Fred Sanders (see my short review here), and “The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son and Spirit” by Michael Reeves of the Theology Network (see my short review here). Right now I am reading “Understanding the Trinity” by Alister McGrath.


As I have done in my previous post on March being Trinity month, here are a couple of quotes from McGrath’s book:

“God obstinately refuses to show any signs of rigor mortis.” p12 (emphasis by the author) 

“What do we mean when we talk about ‘God’ anyway? There is a tendency on the part of many—especially those of a more philosophical inclination—to talk about God as if he was some sort of concept. But it is much more accurate to think of God as someone we experience or encounter. God isn’t an idea we can kick about in seminar rooms—he is a living reality who enters into our experience and transforms it. Our experience of God is something which we talk about with others, and our encounter with him is something which we can try to put into words, but behind our ideas and words lies the greater reality of God himself.” p13 (emphasis by the author) 

“Atheism is, in fact, nor more ‘scientific’ than Christian faith, despite the attempts of atheists to convince us otherwise. Both atheism and Christianity are, then, matters of faith—whereas agnosticism is just a matter of indifference.” p19 

“The suggestion that ‘God exists because Christians want him to’ is just as logically plausible as the suggestion ‘God doesn’t exist because atheists don’t want him to’. This no proof that God doesn’t exist, it is simply an assertion that he doesn’t.” p21 (emphasis by the author) 

“The great reformer John Calvin is often thought of as being a rather stern theologian, but he has his tender moments as well. One of those moments lies in his famous assertion that ‘God accommodates himself to our weakness’—in other words, God knows the limitations of our intellects and deliberately reveals himself in such a way that we can cope with him.” p47

UPDATE:
See my short review on "Understanding the Trinity" here.

Reading “The Good God”

I announced in my previous post that March is Trinity month and that the Theology Network ran a competition to win a copy of Michael Reeves’ new book, “The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son and Spirit.”

Well, in God’s providence I was a winner of the book and it arrived this last Friday. I have started reading it already, although I have only finished the ten pages of the introduction so far.

March, being Trinity month, I started and finished Fred Sanders’ book “The Deep things of God: how the Trinity changes everything.” I also went back to James White’s book, “The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the heart of Christian belief” and had a look at some of the things in the book that I highlighted. Out of these two books, I appreciated White’s book more because he shows exegetically how he got to his belief in the Trinity, and not so much philosophical talk (not that I am against philosophy, but as Christians, our belief is based first on the Bible’s declarations). I am also not saying that Sanders did not go to Scripture either. I just found that White’s exegesis was more thorough. White’s book is more a why-we-believe-in-the-Trinity book, whereas Sanders’ book shows how the belief in the Trinity touches our lives as Christians.

I will finish “The Good God” as soon as possible, and then I will tackle Alister McGrath’s book, “Understanding the Trinity.”

Here are a few good quotes from “The Good God”:

“[T]he truth is that God is love because God is a Trinity.” p vii

“Christianity is not primarily about lifestyle change; it is about knowing God.” p vii

“’... it would be madness to settle for any presupposed idea of God. Without being specific about which God is God, which God will we worship? Which God will we ever call others to worship? Given all the different preconceptions people have about ‘God’, it simply will not do for us to speak abstractly about some general ‘God’. And where would doing so leave us? If we content ourselves with being mere monotheists, and speak of God only in terms so vague they could apply to Allah as much as the Trinity, then we will never enjoy or share what is so fundamentally and delightfully different about Christianity.” pp xv-xvi

March is Trinity month!

Every now and again the doctrine of the Trinity comes under attack from all kinds of quarters, such as from Arians (modern day Jehovah’s Witnesses) and Modalists (such as T.D. Jakes—despite his latest remarks in Elephant Room 2). Historic Christianity has seen these types of teachers as heretics, and as falling outside of Christianity, and henceforth need the gospel preached to them.

The doctrine of the Trinity tells us who God is. If we worship any other God, we worship a false ‘god.’ We have to worship God and who He is, in the way that He revealed Himself. If God has revealed Himself as a Trinity, in which the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and in which the Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit, and the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son, then that is who we must worship Him as! We cannot of ourselves concoct a ‘god’ of our own choosing, because that would not be the true God that revealed Himself in Scripture!

It is true that the Trinity isn’t always the easiest historical Christian doctrine to wrap our minds around, but the fact remains, that is how God revealed Himself to us, and that is what Scripture demands from us to believe and worship.

The Theology Network is calling for March to be celebrated as “Trinity Month.” So, there are probably going to be many bloggers out there blogging on some or all aspects of the doctrine of the Trinity during March 2012. So, get ready with the Theology Network and other bloggers to celebrate “Trinity Month.”

You could perhaps purchase one or two, or more, books on the Trinity. Here are some ideas for you:

1. The Forgotten Trinity by Dr. James White.
2. The Deep Things of God by Fred Sanders.
3. The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son and Spirit? which is a brand new book on the Trinity by Mike Reeves. You could perhaps win a copy of this book by visiting this page at the Theology Network.

There some other books that I recommend here.

You could perhaps start so long by reading my article “God and Jesus Christ in Orthodoxy” which touches on the Trinity.

 

The Dividing Line program in MP3 format with Dr. James White's
analysis of where T.D. Jakes stands concerning the doctrine of the Trinity.