The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship [Paperback]

Robert Letham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2004

When it comes to the doctrine of the Trinity, evangelicals have underachieved. In The Holy Trinity Robert Letham helps to redress this shortcoming. He offers a well-researched volume about "the One who is utterly transcendent and incomprehensible." After examining the doctrine’s biblical foundations, the author traces its historical development through the twentieth century, and engages four critical issues: the Trinity and (1) the incarnation, (2) worship and prayer, (3) creation and missions, and (4) persons.

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About the Author

Robert Letham (M.A.R., Th.M., Westminster Theological Seminary; Ph.D., University of Aberdeen) is senior minister of Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Letham is author of The Work of Christ, Reformed Dogmatics 1523–1619, and The Lord’s Supper.

Product Details

• Paperback: 551 pages
• Publisher: P & R Publishing (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875520006
• ISBN-13: 978-0875520001
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #388,013 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who has this God we worship revealed himself to be?, December 27, 2006

By 

torowan (Tangará da Serra (MT) Brazil) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Paperback)

Letham's "The Holy Trinity" is an in-depth discussion of this distinguishing, cardinal, yet too-neglected doctrine of Christianity.

Letham's main concern, and crowning section, has to do with the importance of the Trinity. What are its implications for our worship and for our lives in general? As Christians we are saved from sin and death by all means, but we are not only saved "from": we are also saved TO union with God. Letham argues that this attribute of God in particular we should understand better: what is the union within God himself that we are adopted into? How do we relate to the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit?

Letham charges that too often the church (in particular the Western church) is ignorant of, or negligent of, the Trinity. We refer to God as "LORD" without thinking about who God is or who Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are. We have our analogies handy -- but unfortunately these usually introduce heresy themselves. Even in the best use these are limited to "illustrating" how God is simulataneously One and Three; and we remain ignorant about the relationship among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and about how God in each of his persons relates to us (what is the same of the One God, what is unique among each of the three Holy Persons).

As a sneak preview, let me share a few salient points of this doctrine:
* God is knowable to us because he revealed himself to us. And he revealed himself as he truly is, not as a false façade; so while we finite mortals can not know everything about Him, we can trust that what He revealed is true of his nature.
* God is One: one essence, one being.
* God is three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are each fully God. They are inseparable; each is fully God and fully indwells each other, as compared to being a collection of "1/3 of god's" that add up to a whole.
* God relates to us consistently in a pattern "from the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit". E.g., Compare a common perception of salvation "God the Father is angry at us as sinners, but Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin and all that anger and we're saved when we make a decision for Christ" to its Trinitarian expression in Titus 3:4 - 6: where we are saved because of the love of God [the Father], through the atoning death of Jesus Christ, by the washing and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Too often we misrepresent the Father's role, and ignore the Holy Spirit's role while overplaying our own.

The book is structured around the chronological development of the doctrine: with sections considering:
* Old Testament foundations (where the Trinity is never made explicit, but is strongly alluded to -- from a Christian interpretation; many of my Jewish friends will disagree)
* New Testament foundations, where several authors develop the components of the doctrine of the Trinity
* The early Fathers, who systematized the doctrine and created the term "Trinity" to describe it
* The history of the doctrine within the Church and the many related heresies that arose, and were resolved
* Overview of major current contributions to the doctrine of the Trinity
* Implications of the doctrine of the Trinity for world view, worship, prayer, and missions

Letham generally sticks to serious Christianity rather than it's more mindless offshoots: e.g., he addresses Arianism deeply at the time when the Church dealt with it, but doesn't deal with "Jehovah's Witnesses" who ignore the outcome and preach a doctrine that has long been demonstrated to be false and rejected by the Church.

In a sense this book is written as part of a wider dialog. Rather than being a completely independent work, it is obvious that at times Letham is answering writings by other authors. The result is very readable, and includes a wide range of interlocutors from the breadth of serious Christianity: from the fathers to modern theologians from Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches. This was rather refreshing in ways: when I run into Rowan Williams' name, usually it has to do with the politics of keeping the Anglican communion together; here here he is dealing with doctrinal issues that the church is about. As a reader, you will be caught up in the dialog developing this theology, rather than watching it passively from your armchair. As befits a complex topic, this is no light reading material. This is written at an academic level, so don't expect to read this casually or quickly; but in reading it, as a Christian, do expect: to be engaged; perhaps to be baffled with how, at times, we fight over things we needn't; but mostly to be rewarded with a deeper knowledge and awe of the God who is there.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tour de Force of the Trinity, January 20, 2007

By 

William R. Bullerman "Rusty Bullerman" (Round Rock, TX) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Paperback)

Dr. Letham has provided the reader with one of the most comprehensive and in depth treatments of the Trinity that I have found. There are books that survey the history of the Trinity theologically (The Trinity by Olson and Hall, e.g.), but this one goes into a lot of depth. He begins with the Bible and then goes through each phase of Church history to investigate what the theologians in that era had to say. He interacts extensively with the primary sources. He tells you what Irenaeus said and what Athanasius said and what the Cappadocians said, and so on. He also offers an incisive critique of their positions. He is also conversant and interacts with the volumnous literature on the various epochs of the church's development of the Trinity. His bibliography is worth the price of the book. Further, he places the footnotes and citations at the bottom of each page which is very helpful. It didn't use to matter, but I wanted to see who he was quoting and any additional comments he might be making.

The book, though technical is articulate, readable and accessible. I gained a lot of understanding of the Trinity and the issues involved in the historical development. One thing in particular is the fact that I also became aware of the mysteries that we can't penetrate. That is excellent scholarship. The scholar and the layman will profit from this book. They will be introduced to the major players in two thousand years of history and what they had to say. I especially liked his interaction with Eastern scholarship (Lossky, Bulgakov, Staniloae, and Bobrinskoy). He may have left some people out, but I would be hard-pressed to know who they might be.

He also has some excellent chapters on application of the Trinity to life, worship and mission. This is not a metaphysical excursion only. It is there to excite us into the riches of relationship that are ours in Jesus Christ and His finished work. I had to put the book down a lot to absorb what he had just said and grapple with the implications.

Time spent with this book is time well-spent. I highly recommend it.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Resource, May 2, 2008

By 

Jeffrey W. Brannen (Bella Vista, AR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology, and Worship (Paperback)

Pause for a moment - could you, if you had to right now, explain the doctrine of the Trinity? Can you tell someone how the Trinity impacts our prayers and our worship? What would happen to your faith if everyone stopped believing in the Triune God this moment?

If you are struggling with these questions, this is an excellent place to find answers.

In a day and age where evangelicals are increasingly soft on biblical and theological consideration, it is a breath of fresh air to read a book like this. Of particular interest to me is the relationship between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity, particularly in how they understand the Trinity. Letham's exploration of this by means of an historical analysis was particularly helpful to me. Much of the debate between the two camps relate to semantic difference between Greek and Latin, but also through the geographical and political distance (first with the two empires and then the West and Islam).

I thoroughly enjoyed the Trinitarian analysis of Ephesians. Frankly, I've never thought about that epistle in terms of its Trinitarian elements.

Finally, as Islam is growing worldwide, even western cultures which were physically isolated from Muslims must now engage them and their worldview. Central to a Christian rebuttal of Islam is a thorough-going defense of a Trinitarian understanding of God. Our sloppy, lazy thinking in this regard will not help us engage them or to respond to our critics.

Sadly, most of the people currently writing on the Trinity are seeking to undermine the historic belief and those who are reading about it are not grounded in original doctrine. The blind leading the ignorant and they will both fall into a pit.

For what it is worth, if you have never done serious thinking or reading on the doctrine of the Trinity, this is the second book you should read. The first is Donald MacLeod's "Shared Life." It is much shorter and very accessible. If you start with Letham, you'll probably get swamped in terminology and historical debate before understanding the full scope of what is at stake. MacLeod first, then Letham.