Making Sense of the World: How the Trinity Helps to Explain Reality

by Vern S. Poythress

Herman Bavinck taught that the “Trinity is wholly unlike anything else, but everything in the world is like the Trinity.” In this book, Vern Poythress uses a theological exploration of beauty to show how everything in the world reflects our Trinitarian God—from oak trees to image-bearers.

Because our world is a Trinitarian world, to understand it properly requires using multiple perspectives, as Poythress demonstrates by analyzing a grape! “Once we acknowledge that there are multiple possible perspectives on anything in the world,” Poythress says, “it suggests that there is no one metaphysical analysis that alone represents the ultimate structure of the world. Rather, structures are intrinsically multiple. God has built in the multiplicity. The unity in one perspective is no more ultimate than the diversity expressed in several perspectives. Unity and diversity go together. Each points to the other, and neither is independent of the other. That is true in God. Subordinately, it is true in analyzing the world that God made. God’s world bears the imprint of the unity-in-diversity and the diversity-in-unity that characterize his nature.”

Throughout this book, Poythress demonstrates how we can use various threefold perspectives as complementary ways of looking at creation, without reducing it to any one perspective. To understand our Trinitarian world in a non-reductionistic manner, we must employ a multiperspectival approach—specifically a triperspectival that’s the key contribution of this book.

Endorsements“Herman Bavinck considered that while the Trinity is unlike anything in the world, everything in the world is like the Trinity. Poythress’s intriguing account of Trinitarian reflections in the world is worth extensive consideration. He is careful to operate within the constraints of biblical revelation and the historical parameters of church teaching, pointing the way to a vivid realization that the glory of the triune God can be perceived all around us in the things that he has made.”

—Robert Letham, Senior Research Fellow, Union School of Theology

“There may be no better Bible interpreter in conservative Reformed circles than Vern Poythress. This book represents years of labors in theology and exegesis. It is a followup to his splendid The Mystery of the Trinity, in which he comprehensively lays out the Christian view of the Godhead. Here, he applies the Holy Trinity to understanding the creation, its unity, and its diversity. Each chapter ends with a prayer, evidencing the connection between the ideas in every segment and our personal relation to the God herein defended. May the reader enjoy the book and be enriched by it.”

—William Edgar, Professor Emeritus of Apologetics, Westminster Theological Seminary

“When it comes to the deep questions of how we know what we know or why we find some things beautiful, there is always a danger that Christians will simply take ambient cultural ideas off the peg and sprinkle them with the magic dust of Bible verses. This wonderful book resists that disappointing trend, building instead a deeply and distinctively Christian account of beauty and knowledge. Beginning with the Trinity, Vern Poythress shows us in his characteristically clear and incisive way how unity and diversity beautifully cohere for the Christian, and how God gives us different perspectives to understand the world. This is a book on Trinitarian thinking that demonstrates the rare virtue of being both practical and readable.

Genres: Theology

224 pages, Hardcover

Published April 24, 2024

About the author

Vern Sheridan Poythress was born in 1946 in Madera, California, where he lived with his parents Ransom H. Poythress and Carola N. Poythress and his older brother Kenneth R. Poythress. After teaching mathematics for a year at Fresno State College (now California State University at Fresno), he became a student at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he earned an M.Div. (1974) and a Th.M. in apologetics (1974). He received an M.Litt. in New Testament from University of Cambridge (1977) and a Th.D. in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa (1981).

He has been teaching in New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia since 1976. In 1981 he was ordained as a teaching elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod, which has now merged with the Presbyterian Church in America.

More information about his teaching at Westminster can be found at the Westminster Seminary website.

Dr. Poythress studied linguistics and Bible translation at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Norman Oklahoma in 1971 and 1972, and taught linguistics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the summers of 1974, 1975, and 1977. He has published books on Christian philosophy of science, theological method, dispensationalism, biblical law, hermeneutics, Bible translation, and Revelation. A list of publications is found on this website.

Dr. Poythress married his wife Diane in 1983, and they have two children, Ransom and Justin. He has side interests in science fiction, string figures, volleyball, and computers.

The family lived on a farm until he was five years old. When he was nine years old he made a public commitment to Christ and was baptized in Chowchilla First Baptist Church, Chowchilla, California. The family later moved to Fresno, California, and he graduated from Bullard High School in Fresno.

He earned a B.S. in mathematics from California Institute of Technology (1966) and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University (1970).

Reviews

[Mark A Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Western philosophy has largely abandoned metaphysics since the time of Kant, or at least relegated metaphysics to an unknowable category. Poythress suggests that we can, in fact, know the ultimate nature of reality.

Such a claim is grounded in God, who creates this reality, and subsequently invites us to discover its nature through created order and divine revelation.

However, we could reasonably assume that a book titled “Making Sense of the World” would provide more help in that aim. Instead it serves as little more than a primer for the framework of ideas, few of which are worked out to helpful degrees. (There is a quasi-sequel, “Making Sense of Man,” which may yet extrapolate some of these concepts.)

Poythress is a gifted thinker, and has a true talent for distilling daunting ideas into accessible writing. This book feels incomplete, but the parts we got are still worth contemplating.

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yea nice. The appendix on the gaps and slithers of truth in each western philosophical school of thought was ripper.

[Kevin Fulton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is vintage Poythress in that it is succinct, well structured, and logically sound. Some of the content gets rather complex and you will want to be familiar with his philosophical approach (multiperspectivalism) before you read it.

One of the key take a ways is that multiple perspectives are required to gain a fuller understanding of anything. That multiple perspectives are required by no means implies that there isn’t objective truth, but rather that different perspectives highlight different aspects of said truth. The other take home is that the perspectives have a type of conference (I’m not going to explain how this part works because I do not know how to do it succinctly, but it is a logically sound concept. If you want to know more, read the book)

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many of Vern Poythress’ books he has talked about the Trinity and how the Trinity is the foundation metaphysically to understand the world, the creation of God. Here in this new book Vern Poythress has given this topic a book length treatment. I appreciated that the author wrote this book and that it was published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing.
After the Foreword by John Frame the book has fifteen chapters group together in four parts. Part One is about the beauty of God displayed in the world which consists of three chapters. I thought part one is unique than Poythress’ other presentation of his theology in that he begins with the beauty and glory of God. Part two then goes over ways to analyze the world, with chapters four through nine. Part three consists of three chapters and is on the topic of perspectives and here the Triperspectivalism of Poythress makes its appearance in details. Part four is titled “Examples Confirming Multistructured Beauty” which is followed by a conclusion and four appendices. Appendix A is on alternative philosophical view of reality, appendix B looks at Aristotle, Kant and Metaphysics while appendix C is on abstractions and attributes and the final one is on writing on reality as perspectival.
Overall I felt that if you have read Poythress on philosophy and triperspectivalism you do not really need to read this book. I have read several of his books and it can feel repetitive. However the reason why I did read this book is because this past year I have not finish many books and I have been spending a lot of time doing Greek exegesis and technical Bible commentaries and I needed a break from that and read something related to systematic theology, philosophy and apologetics not to mention I want to finish a book all the way through rather than portions of a book (since I’m a slow exegete). For those who are new to Poythress this would be a great book.

[Luminous Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book invites us to see the world in a new way, to explore the entirety of creation through the lens of God's Trinitarian nature. I loved how Vern was able to engage both the reader's heart and mind as he skillfully delved into the intricacies of theological concepts surrounding the Trinity.

What captivates me most is the way the narrative encourages readers to celebrate the beauty of the Trinity with its inherent unity and diversity. Each Person of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—offers a distinct perspective while radiating from a single divine source, oneness in essence but rich in relational depth.

By reframing our understanding of God, the book transforms our view of the world and humanity itself. It challenges us to perceive the interconnectedness of all creation, revealing the intricate beauty woven throughout existence. This exploration overwhelmed my heart with a deep appreciation for God's majesty and the harmonious tapestry of life that reflects His character.

I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Josh Cosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are parts of ‘Making Sense of the World’ that I would rate five stars, but there are many others, particularly those dealing with the metaphysical, where I found the attempt to confirm or prove the existence of a Triune Being using metaphysical categories of reality lacking—and, in some cases, really difficult to follow. I don’t mean to be snarky, but there were moments when I found myself struggling to make sense of the book itself.

[Peter Kiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to make sense of the world when I can hardly make sense of this book. Again, the triperspectavilism feels artificial and unhelpful in actually understanding things. I think Poythress said some splendid things on beauty and analogy and derivation, but I can't grasp the perspectivalism.