Connected: Living in the Light of the Trinity

by Sam Allberry

How is the doctrine of the Trinity meant to be understood? Can it be applied to our everyday lives? Sam Allberry shows us how the Trinity both matters and has enormous implications for us.

Genres: Christian, Theology, Religion, Nonfiction, Christian Living

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Sam comes from Sevenoaks in Kent, but studied theology at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford, and has since worked at St Ebbe's Church, Oxford, and now serves at a church in Maidenhead. Hobbies include reading, watching The West Wing and anything to do with South-East Asia.

Reviews

[Emma S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and concise - doesn't claim to answer all our questions about the Trinity, but provides a good starting point for thinking about the work of the Father, Son and Spirit. A little like Tim Chester's "Enjoying God", but with application particularly geared towards how the Trinity shapes male-female roles, and the church. I think that is the main strength of this book.

[Rhys · Rating 2 out of 5]

I first read this as a student a few years ago, and loved it. It really opened up the doctrine of the Trinity for me and, as the book promises, some of its practical implications. And most of it is pretty great still, and achieves what it sets out to do.

However, I decided to re-read the book, in light of some changes to my understanding of the Trinity, resulting from last year's debate about the Trinity and the Eternal Submission of the Son. This found Wayne Grudem and Bruce Ware, among others, under fire for departing from the traditional understanding of the Trinity in order to provide an ultimate theological grounding for complimentarianism. In seeking to (rightly, in my view) defend a biblical understanding of male headship, these theologians were accused of introducing the unhistoric and unorthodox idea that the Son is eternally submissive to the Father, rather than submissive simply in his incarnation. I'll confess to having previously held this view myself, as an uncritical member of circles in which Grudem and Ware are well-respected; however, the helpful work of people like Carl Trueman, Liam Goligher, Fred Sanders, Mark Jones and others has helped me to see how anomalous the idea of eternal submission within the Trinity is.

Sadly, as I suspected when I decided to reread this, Allberry endorses this doctrine wholeheartedly in his chapters on gender and marriage. Unsurprisingly, he quotes regularly from Grudem and Ware. Amusingly, he quotes Fred Sanders a few times in earlier chapters, which is ironic given that Sanders comes down against ESS.

In spite of how helpful and accessible a lot of this book is, I couldn't now recommend it, given this heterodox understanding of the inner workings of the Trinity, even if it is deployed in the honourable cause of defending biblical gender roles.

I find it hard to hold it too strongly against Allberry - he's not a theologian proper, but a practical pastoral minister, clearly influenced strongly by conservative evangelical theological gatekeepers like Grudem and Ware, who bear more responsibility for avoiding these missteps.

And, please note, I write all of the above as a conservative evangelical myself, who probably comes down even more conservatively on gender roles than many of my peers. I'm hopeful that Allberry, and others like him within our tribe, can humbly adjust their understanding and teaching of Trinitarian doctrine to be more in line with the traditional and biblical understanding.

[Landon Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an short, accessible, solid treatment of the Trinity. Allberry walks through the doctrine itself, then he applies the doctrine to the way we think about human nature, marriage and sexuality, the local church, prayer, and worship.

[The Bookworm Girl Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. I appreciated the sections on biblical sexuality, marriage, and human connection. Absolutely beautiful! I’d definitely recommend this to new Christians or Christians who want a basic, compassionate approach to the Trinity. It was insightful for me.

[James Bunyan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent practical understanding of the Trinity and how that truth will make your life better, from prayer to assurance and marriage. Sam writes in a way that is abundantly clear, well connected and is full of little laughs and stories to illuminate what he is saying.
A particularly strong chapter on the church called "Showing God to the World."
Perhaps serves a different purpose than Mike Reeve's book "The Good God," which wins the battle for your heart better, as you are deeply excited by the Trinity by the end. Sam's book is far more practical, simple and uses analogy superbly to highlight the exciting life implications and uses less historical theology.

[Cydney Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connected is an excellent read on the Trinity. Allberry does an excellent job of breaking down such a complex idea. I found myself realizing and learning new things about God through his explanations and exposition of scripture. He argues that, as Christians, it isn’t enough for us to just say, “Well, the Trinity is a mystery and we can’t learn about it.” God gives us a lot of information about himself as Trinity in the Bible and it can have a deep impact on our relationship with God. I am definitely going to read this book again to soak it in all over again.

[J. Wootton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Necessarily a bit deeper than Allberry's first book, Lifted, but doesn't sacrifice a bit of its readability to examine the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. Allberry has the trick of holding up a complicated, "otherworldly" subject and turning it all around for us to see, then tracing its implications to all sorts of everyday places.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent because of its simplicity and his engaging writing style. Allberry does a great job of helping connect all areas of life (at least the really important ones) to the doctrine of the Trinity.

[Hobart · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid, accessible -- not so much about "what's the Trinity" but "how does being Trinitarian affect our life?"

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book for my GENE 150 class. Just finished reading chapters eight and nine to finish the book off. I learned quite a bit from its pages. Learning how humans are special in creation not only because we are made in God's image, but because instead of just speaking us into existence, he molded us together like clay from the dust of the Earth. Learning about how the different persons of the Trinity relate to each other and how we model that relationship at different points of our lives.
The truth of the Trinity is a facet of Christian belief in which every Christian should believe. How can one properly believe in God the Father, Son, and Spirit if we do not try to come to grips with who they fully are? This book goes a long way into explaining how the Trinity is real, how it is relevant, and why we should believe that it is true.
Theologians have been trying to explain how the mystery of the Trinity is true since Justin Martyr. Many people say that because the word 'Trinity' does not appear in the Bible then it can not be true. While the word itself does not appear, the meaning behind it can be found in various places in God's Word.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, easy read. Very well written.

However, if you’re looking for an apologetics book on why Christians believe in a Trinitarian God and a focus on defending that belief - you won’t necessarily find it here. Nevertheless, this book is useful for a general guidance on the Bible and on who God is, and how we should live. It is more relevant for Christians, and it is instructive on how to really walk in light of the knowledge that we serve a Trinitarian God.

Didn’t give this a higher rating, because I felt that though it was challenging at points, it was a very light read, and I tend to prefer more challenging and ‘application-based’ books. Saying that, I would read more of the authors works.

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that brings clarity on a difficult topic. I particularly found the chapter on relationships helpful in highlighting the root of our ‘need’ for relationship in the Trinity - particularly significant in the current COVID outbreak.

[Hayley Bourne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Accessible, demystifying and illuminating.

I've learned so much from this book about the Trinity and how better understanding the persons of God can, will and should impact my life in a very practical way.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really love Sam Alberry. He is so approachable—or makes his topics approachable. (His book on singleness is one of my favorites.)

I was going to say this book is not a deep dive on the trinity—but that would make it seem light, frivolous and devotional. It’s none of those things. This is a deep and thorough book on Trinity. But, like I said, approachable. You won’t feel overwhelmed reading it. In fact, you might feel loved and invited into Trinity’s desire for you.

I read this on my kindle and read it kinda fast, this one is worth reading closely with a highlighter in hand. He takes you through the big ideas of Trinity but how they come near for your everyday life including prayer, gender and more.

Definitely recommend. Especially if it had a new cover. ;)

[Jim Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant little book on the Doctrine of the Trinity and how it relates to the Christian life. Really easy to read and less than 200 pages. What’s not to like?

[Tom Murdock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very useful, I learnt a great deal.

[Tinomutenda Mpunganyi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm barely halfway into this book and I'm frustrated. My understanding of the Trinity seems even worse than when I first started reading this book. I only picked it back up a few days ago after not reading it for a couple of weeks.

Sam writes in simple English but I wonder about his understanding of the Trinity. The Godhead is a tricky topic to write on considering how much of a mystery it is in scripture itself. There's much to be dissected in terms of the way the Bible is written and in fairness, most of the Bible's writers didn't directly address the issue of the Godhead. The only time I can truly remember the Trinity being directly addressed was by Jesus Christ Himself. I digress.

Most of the way Sam explains his understanding of Trinitarianism comes off as a scientist proving theorems. It's all, this is that so therefore, that is this. It really just feels like a conflation of various unrelated theological issues to come up with an answer. Maybe I'm the one who just doesn't understand theology.

I'll admit that this has sparked a desire in me to learn more about the Godhead in a search to know God more for myself and be able to share Him because of the close relationship I will have with Him.

[Jared · Rating 1 out of 5]

Allberry’s treatment is a high-level introduction—barely—that leans toward a pedestrian understanding. There is a nice review overall. Nevertheless, too many times does Allberry demonstrate an overly simplistic and imprecise understanding of Scripture. Too many times I thought, “Yes, but…” His predilection for Reformed theology—more precisely, The Gospel Coalition—made his selection and use of Scripture fit his predetermined scheme. This is seen in his emphasis on gender roles (i.e. hierarchical/complementarian roles) and predestination. The Trinity is proclaimed as understandable—which it is to an extent—but the mystery, complexity, and oneness of the three persons is never sufficiently fleshed out. Much ink has been spilled by theologians on this topic. A deeper look—perhaps even just *a* look—at the spectrum of views would have been helpful to orient the reader. All this said, there were some beneficial nuggets of insight, which could also be gleaned elsewhere.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the Trinity. I would definitely read this again and would recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about the Holy Trinity. It is written in a simple language that makes a very complex topic understandable.

[Jes Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a clear, concise view of the Trinity in light of the Scriptures told by someone with a sense of humor. I would recommend it to any Christian struggling with the concept of God being three in one, or any non-Christian confused by what Christians believe.