Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity, The

The Trinity: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Trinity. Edited by Stephen T. Davis, Daniel Kendall, and Gerald O'Collins. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. 420 pages.

In recent years, the doctrine of the Trinity has once again become a subject of intense study and discussion. It has also become a subject of intense criticism and critical reinterpretation. This collection of essays, originally presented at a conference with the imposing title, "The Trinity Summit," held in New York in 1998, brings together perspectives from a variety of disciplines by some of the most prominent scholars in their fields (among them, Sarah Coakley, David Tracy, Frans Jozef Van Beeck, and Marguerite Shuster). While all the contributors share a conviction that classical trinitarian thought is essential and of continuing relevance, the reader will note important differences among their statements on a number of points, including what constitutes a proper understanding of the divine persons, the person, and the unity of God.

The volume is organized into four main sections, following an introductory chapter by Gerald O'Collins which identifies twelve key issues in current discussion of the doctrine. These issues range from the biblical, kerygmatic, and experiential grounding of the developing trinitarian formulations in the early church to more recent challenges to the doctrine in modern Western thought and in feminist and interreligious dialogue.

The essays in the first section focus on biblical foundations which already produce initial trinitarian formulas and give rise to later elaboration of the doctrine. Craig Evans argues that Jesus' activity and self-predication already prior to Easter suggest a claim to deity, which leads to a later explication in terms of Trinity. Gordon Fee and Alan Segal deal with Paul and the "two powers in heaven" concept, respectively, to show a further movement toward trinitarian doctrine.

The second section of essays probes facets of patristic thought, the Cappadocians and Augustine in particular, relating to commonalities and differences in Eastern and Western concepts of the Trinity and the question of personal distinctiveness and sociality within the triune God.

A third section, longer than the others, addresses more contemporary systematic issues. William Alston argues in defense of a substance metaphysics in explicating the doctrine and against what he sees as misconceptions in critiques of Ted Peters, process theology, Macquarrie, and Moltmann. Brian Leftow and Stephen David respond to critiques of social trinitarianism and the metaphorical theology of John Hick. While David Tracy explores the indissoluble relation of form and content in divine disclosure, and Frans Jozef Van Beeck the participatory nature of personal being in the lives of others for contemporary understanding of the classical trinitarian confession.

A closing section deals with two ways of articulating trinitarian faith. David Brown focuses on the Trinity in art, contending that artistic images can in some cases convey even more powerfully the truth of the matter than verbal and discursive exposition. While Marguerite Shuster, in a well-researched and insightful essay, surveys Protestant and Catholic preaching on/of the Trinity and concludes that such preaching should be, but unfortunately often is not, theologically informed and concretely relevant to the lives of its hearers.

This is a thought-provoking collection of essays on the subject, and not only to those who share it allegiance to classical trinitarian formulations. This perspective too needs to be given attention in the current discussion.

William R. Barr

Lexington Theological Seminary

Copyright Christian Theological Seminary Summer 2002
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