Customer Reviews

Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons

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This is a very detailed study of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. He writes from a Barthian perspective within the Reformed tradition (Church of Scotland). However he interacts seriously with St. Athanasias and the Cappodocian Fathers. This much you can get from the back of the book. What I found compelling about the book was the commitment to the truth of the doctrine. He is writing about something that he believes is absolutely important and necessary. He is not sitting outside of the community of faith studying the history and details of an odd social belief. He is standing within the community telling all, inside and out, about this grand truth and the consequences that flow from it. But this is not a piece of polemic. This is research, contemplation, and conclusions. He delves deep and assumes any intellectual will see the manifest truth of that into which he digs. Surprisingly orthodox from a modern theologian who is writing as a modern theologian. Nothing like this has come out of more obvious conservative circles, not such a confident commitment to one of the most basic of christian doctrines. The great theme of this book is that God really is as God has revealed himself to us. To know God in Christ through the Holy Spirit is to know the majesty and glory on high.
His style is dense, but his repetitions help and he steers away from very technical language (except that which he spends a lot of time explaining why such are necessary).

The Christian Doctrine of God, One Being Three Persons is probably what I would call a primer on the Trinity by one of the 20th century's foremost modern Trinitarian theologians, Thomas F. Torrance. In this book, Torrance thoroughly discusses the basis for and the foundation of belief (doctrine) in the Triune God that is the cornerstone of modern Christianity, both Eastern Orthodox and Western Christianity. He traces the very origins of Trinitarian doctrine from the earliest Ancient Church Fathers (e.g., Athanasius) to the post Nicene Fathers (e.g., St. Augustine) to contemporary theologians (e.g., Luther and Karl Barth).

Contrary to popular belief, the early apostles already believed in the One God, Three Persons as evident in the 4 gospels (especially John) and the epistles (especially those of Paul and John), although they could not clearly explain the mystery. They addressed Jesus as God, considered the Holy Spirit as God, and worshiped Jesus as God, and knew that God is One even though he is also the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This was obvious to the Church Fathers who were left with the responsibility of fully fleshing out the faith in the Triune God that the apostles believed in, entrusted to all Christians, and left behind in their oral traditions and wrote in what we now have as the New Testament. This is the doctrine that Torrance explains and expounds on, based on almost 2,000 years' worth of church documents written by the Church Fathers and later rediscovered by Martin Luther and Karl Barth. (One of Torrance's major contributions in theology was to translate Barth's voluminous Church Dogmatics into English.)

I was told that Torrance is "very dense". Now that I have read him, I would qualify that as deep and not for the fainthearted. Because of the depth of his topic, Torrance emphasizes his points by often repeating himself. Each chapter in the book is built on the foundation of the preceding one, including the Preface. He writes very long, sometimes run-on sentences with very few pauses (commas), so that it is easy to lose the original thought he meant in each sentence. However, because he repeats most of what he has to say frequently as beginning or ending summaries or introductions to other topics in the next chapters, it is easy to recall once again what he originally discusses. Sometimes he also mentions other tangential doctrines that are offshoots of Trinitarian doctrine but does not elaborate on them--which is frustrating as I was left hanging and now have to read his other books where those theological points are more fully discussed.

I would say that Torrance is for the serious Christian who has eyes already opened by the Holy Spirit and who already has an understanding of, at the very least, intermediate theology or Christian doctrine. This book is not for spiritual "infants" in Christ as this is really "solid food" (1 Cor. 3:1-2, Heb. 5:12-13, NIV). It is definitely not for someone who is newly converted to the Christian faith--although if you are that but have a voracious appetite for deep spiritual truths, then this book is for you. Just don't say I didn't warn you! Overall, a very, very good, in-depth read that will open your eyes to the fact that all these other anti-Trinity/unitarian, atheistic and Gnostic beliefs are relatively young doctrines compared to the doctrine and dogma of the Trinity.

Torrance writes as one thoroughly convinced of and conversant with a biblically sound, christologically revealed trinitarian faith. He masterfully weaves together the ecclesiological development of this primary doctrine and the proper trinitarian worship and expression of the faith-filled life. He presents much of the Patristic discussion in greater depth than I've found anywhere else. This work should be read by anyone seeking to know the God who is Trinity who has made himself known, yet remains hidden in His self-revelation. I have found my own faith walk to have grown tremendously through the beauty and tremendous depth of this book. It is no easy read, but a truly rewarding one to anyone not too faint of heart to take the time wade through the depths.

One of the greatest books on the Trinity. One of the best insights from Torrance is his statement on p.180:
". . . the subjection of Christ to the Father in his incarnate economy as the suffering and obedient servant cannot be read back into the eternal hypostatic relations and distinctions subsisting in the Holy Trinity." Though Torrance admires Barth, and it shines through here, it is a well-needed book for Evangelical Christians who must grasp these foundational truths about our faith.

For the last few years, a debate has been raging among Evangelical Christians about the true nature of the interpersonal relationships of the Three Persons of the Triune God, a debate in which I have taken part. It was about a year ago that I read this book, and of all the books on the Trinity I have read, and I have read several good ones, Thomas F. Torrance's THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF GOD: ONE BEING THREE PERSONS is by far the best, a true Trinitarian treasure. I found that Torrance's exposition both of the Nicene formula of the Persons and of God as the Being for Others, in the mutual loving and self-giving of the Three Persons prior to creatiom--this confirmed, for me at least, that the doctrine being circulated as "the Eternal Subordination of the Son" is a novel form of Semi-Arianism, a false and harmful heresy that is to be opposed and repudiated by all who care for the integrity of the Gospel. So I highly recommend this book.

The book arrived in excellent condition. I have not read the contents yet, but intend to next week.