Understanding the Trinity

by Alister E. McGrath

"Beginning with the current skepticism about God's very existence, Dr. McGrath starts off with some convincing apologetics. The book would be worth buying for this alone. But he does not rely on apologetics., He knows that the only way to be sure about the living God is to encounter him: and this can happen to people who know almost nothing about him. "Dr. McGrath then develops a number of models which help us to form some conception of God, leading into an important chapter on God as personal. . . There follows a shrewd chapter on the Incarnation, with some very straight talk to theologians who affect to dispense with the deity of Jesus: at the same time Dr. McGrath makes it clear that Jesus is not an exhaustive definition of God. The last four chapters are on the Trinity proper. They are skillfully put together, and avoid dangers such as Modalism on the one hand or Tritheism on the other. Dr. McGrath's fellow-theologians could learn a lot from this book, not least on how to communicate. . . Ordinary Christians devoid of theological training (will find this book a marvelous guide." -Michael Green

Genres: Christianity, Theology, Religion, God

154 pages, Paperback

First published August 28, 1988

About the author

Alister Edgar McGrath is a Northern Irish theologian, priest, intellectual historian, scientist, and Christian apologist. He currently holds the Andreas Idreos Professorship in Science and Religion in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and is Professor of Divinity at Gresham College. He was previously Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College London and Head of the Centre for Theology, Religion and Culture, Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Oxford, and was principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, until 2005. He is an Anglican priest and is ordained within the Church of England.

Aside from being a faculty member at Oxford, McGrath has also taught at Cambridge University and is a Teaching Fellow at Regent College. McGrath holds three doctorates from the University of Oxford, a DPhil in Molecular Biophysics, a Doctor of Divinity in Theology and a Doctor of Letters in Intellectual History.

McGrath is noted for his work in historical theology, systematic theology, and the relationship between science and religion, as well as his writings on apologetics. He is also known for his opposition to New Atheism and antireligionism and his advocacy of theological critical realism. Among his best-known books are The Twilight of Atheism, The Dawkins Delusion?: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine, Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life, and A Scientific Theology. He is also the author of a number of popular textbooks on theology.

Reviews

[William Dicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a book on the Trinity, one would expect to read much of the Trinity from the beginning of the book. However, in Understanding the Trinity, Alister McGrath waits until chapter 7 to really go into the Trinity. Yet, no exegesis is ever done to show why we believe in the Trinity (apart from many assertions), while it felt like McGrath used a thousand illustrations and analogies to explain almost everything he wrote.

The first 5 chapters are basically spent on explaining God, and then one chapter on the divinity of Jesus. From chapter 7-10 we read about the Trinity with many references to Scripture, but no true explanations or exegesis on what those passages really mean.

There are better books on the Trinity to read.

[Neh · Rating 3 out of 5]

As others said, this book is not a heavy, serious academic engagement on the doctrine of the Trinity. In a relative disorganization, let me point out a few things.

- it would have benefited readers had it been entitled "Understanding the Triune/Trinitarian God" because it spends way too much space on how we relate to God and how we know God in the first half and more chapters. If it had not been for the author's meandering, I would have given it more than 3 stars.

- If you want to get a good glimpse of his treatment of the Trinity, then focus on Ch. 8 and 9 and quit. Other chapters may serve future Christians and new Christians than those interested focusedly in the Trinity doctrine.

- there are lots of illustrations in the early chapters-- that are mostly helpful but don't waste your time on every sentence because they are repetitive.

- although the author explicitly denies modalism, his illustrations get pretty close to them.

Overall, I get the sense that this book may have been his writing exercise, and not really an apologetic, engaging, or throroughly polemic/doctrinaire work, which the "mistitle" that misled many of us. No doubt there were some insightful moments here and there. Just don't expect too much.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, but very roundabout. The Trinity is actually addressed only in the last third of the book. Everything else, while serving as a buildup, isn’t necessary.

Stylistically, this is a better read than James White’s The Forgotten Trinity, but White’s book is better in terms of content.