What I'm reading

The book I am reading right now, Jesus and the Father, surprised me. I thought it would be a fast overview of trinitarian theology. It's not. It is an in-depth examination of what scripture, Athanasius, the Cappadocians, Augustine, Calvin, Rahner, Pannenberg, and Barth think about the ordering of the trinity, i.e., is it hierarchical. I certainly didn't expect this kind of book from Zonder–Purpose-driven–van. This is the kind of book that Eerdmans or Baker Academic (or Fortress before KC left) would publish, not Zonder–Purpose-driven–van!

He takes on the trinitarian views of some Evangelicals, such as fellow Zondervan author Wayne Grudem, who are arguing for the eternal submission of women by arguing that it follows the ordering of the trinity. The Son is eternally subordinated to the Father, the Spirit is eternally subordinated to the Son, therefore the wife/woman is eternally under the husband. The Father commands, the Son obeys, just as in earthly relations. In other words, the incarnated Son is to be read back into the eternal Godhead.

Giles shows that this was the view of the Arians in the 4th century against which the pro-Nicean bishops and fathers were fighting. Further, it is a view that Calvin was fighting in the Reformation era. A very interesting, and I think, convincing argument. Using Philippians 2 as his starting point, just as Athanasius, the Cappadocians and Augustine did, he goes through the biblical passages that seem to argue for subordination and shows that they relate to the incarnational Son, not the eternal Godhead. From there he brings in the writings of the church fathers and shows how they agree with him.

This book is slow reading for me, since my trinitarian theology is just a light overview in seminary. Sure I read the Cappadocians, about a paragraphs worth! I was in seminary just as the modern interest in the trinity was beginning, so my reading list was light on it. I'm just a philologist trying to read theology :) But, I find this book moe than repaying the effort of reading it.

Jesus and the Father
Modern Evangelicals Reinvent the Doctrine of the Trinity
by Kevin Giles
Zondervan Publishing Company,2006
320 pages,English
Paper,6 x 9
ISBN: 0310266645
List Price: $24.99
Your Price: $21.24
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