The Story of the Trinity: Controversy, Crisis, and the Creation of the Nicene Creed

by Bryan M. Litfin, Donald Fairbairn (foreword)

Christians believe in the Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yet many would be hard-pressed to explain why they believe this, or even where it might be found in Scripture. But that doesn't mean we're blindly following a merely human tradition. It just means we don't know the story of how the early church came to understand the triune nature of our God--or why it matters to believers today.

In engaging, accessible prose, The Story of the Trinity relates the settings, characters, and conflicts that led to the creation of the Nicene Creed, a simple yet beautiful statement of faith that helped early Christians express their beliefs. Rather than getting bogged down in dry semantics, this book recounts the dynamic story of how the one God revealed himself as trifold in both biblical testaments. The Trinity emerges from the pages of Scripture itself. Litfin unfolds this core doctrine of the church so that it not only makes sense, but it brings glory to God and expresses the true nature of the gospel.

If you've struggled to understand this essential yet often overlooked doctrine, The Story of the Trinity invites you to discover one of the most beautiful expressions of God's love for us, laid out in one of the church's most elegant and edifying creeds.

Genres: History, Church History, Christianity, Theology

192 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2025

About the author

Bryan Litfin received his PhD in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia and a Master of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary. His undergraduate work was at the University of Tennessee in the field of Communications.

Bryan now works as Head of Strategy and Advancement at Clapham School, after serving for 16 years as Professor of Theology at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and 3 years as an editor and writer at Moody Publishers. He is the author of The Conqueror (Revell, 2020), Every Knee Shall Bow (Revell 2021), the Chiveis Trilogy (Crossway, 2010, 2011, 2012), Early Christian Martyr Stories (Baker, 2014), After Acts (Moody, 2015), and Getting To Know the Church Fathers (Brazos, 2007, 2nd ed. 2016), as well as numerous scholarly articles and essays. In early 2022, he will release Wisdom from the Ancients (Harvest House).

Bryan is married to Carolyn, and they have two adult children. He enjoys writing, traveling, teaching, reading, spending time with family, and being involved in his local church.

Reviews

[Paul Narvaez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not typically the kinda book I would be reading, but I wanted to gain some clarity on the Nicene Creed so I decided this sounded like a fairly compact, and not overly preachy way to get some information. Amidst the doctrinal slants that you would expect from a book such as this...it did give me the basic information I was not clear about as well as sending me off in other tangents about terms we don't use anymore like "asia minor", etc...

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most readable, normal-person friendly, single-volume history of the doctrine of the Trinity and the development of the Nicene Creed. I have a few quibbles, of course, about framing and phrasing and narrative structure, but this is a notable and valuable contribution and very much appreciated.

[Julian Haigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

In the preface the author asserts that the idea of the trinity is essential to how to seek salvation which I immediately thought was a load of crock. Looked at more to understand why it was important to the people back in 325 his enthusiasm in archaic beliefs helps the reader get back to the times.

[Kelton Zacharias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Litfin’s skills as a storyteller are on full display. This is a helpful and concise review of the history of the development of the doctrine of the Trinity with all the major players.

[Trevor Atwood]

Short and helpful for understanding the development of Trinitarian understanding and the councils that cemented that theology for the church.