Trinitarian Theology: Theological Models and Doctrinal Application

by Bruce Ware

The heart of Christianity is trinitarian.

The subject matter of Trinitarian Theology casts a long shadow over our faith. The relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is central to the salvation story. The Trinity is central to Christianity, for the vibrancy of our churches, and for the clarity of our witness in the world. In Trinitarian Theology,  Bruce Ware, Malcon B. Yarnell III, Matthew Y. Emerson, and Luke Stamps discuss issues such as the eternal functional subordination of the Son, the nature of the God-human relationship, and theological methods for forming the doctrine of the Trinity. This is a discussion of great importance, offered by scholars who represent varying views held by today’s Southern Baptist scholars.
 

Genres: Theology, Christian

208 pages, Paperback

Published February 15, 2019

Reviews

[Pig Rieke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Have you ever walked in on a group having a discussion and then tried to piece together what they were talking about? Now imagine that the group’s preferred manner of communication was technical terminology that they didn’t want to define and thus resulted in a large amount of confusion amongst the group members even over the topic at hand. Well, that’s about what this book seems to be. The subject being the Triune God and how we are to understand the relations of Persons within the God and extended to humanity as God’s image bearers.

The book entails three essays and three response between the authors in another three essays. The book’s two largest flaws seem to be a failure of the authors to be answering the same questions and a failure of the authors to define their terms. The result is a regular lack of clarity on what the authors are arguing for and against.

That all said, the book certainly made me think and for that reason earns three stars. Prior to reading the book, I assumed Trinitarian issues had been resolved by the 5th century; however, even within the boundaries of Nicene, there does as this book shows, some freedoms of movement while still staying in the bounds of orthodoxy. That said, certainly some ideas in the book pushed those bounds and require at the least further clarification. For example, does the Son of God have all authority? Yes, should be the resounding answer although at least one writer seems to agree with such statement while still showing a significant shyness in affirming such a truth or at least an elongated explanation.

More could be said, but all and all I’d recommend turning to another book before entering into this one mid-conversation.

[Carsten Kates · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this bad boy for a paper… EFS is W A C K

[Mike Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

The editor’s goal was to compile 3 essays that represent different views of internal Trinitarian relations in light of recent disagreements around Bruce Ware’s view on Eternal Functional Subordination (known as EFS,ESS, or ERAS).

The contributors do a 4-5 star job presenting their positions. However, my qualms with this book mostly respect the editor, who wrote the introduction and conclusion. His weak introduction significantly hinders the clarity of the book. In order to understand the chapters submitted by each contributor, a reader must be deeply aware of the Nicene tradition and how it has formulated language around the internal relations of the Trinity. There are complicated theological terms and other means of context that a reader must be given to properly dialogue with these chapters. Unfortunately, the editor offers none of the context mentioned above. Therefore, the only people who can clearly understand and trace the arguments of the contributors are those who have taken a masters-level or, more likely, a doctorate-level course on the Trinity.

[Jenny Schroeder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this to get a better understanding of what EFS (eternal function subordination) is within the Trinity and the arguments for it. Though I still don’t hold to that belief, this was a very thorough explanation by some phenomenal scholars. If you haven’t taken a systematic theology class on the Trinity, you might want to skip this one. It assumed a level of knowledge about the internal and external relations and functions of the Trinity. It’s a dense read. But I really enjoyed reading each essay, their different point of views, and how they each got to respond to each other.

[Ruth]

This amounts to an in-house Southern Baptist theological conversation. Basically just here to see how in the world and by what methodology people are defending ERAS.

[Shane Williamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat helpful. Systematics and trinitarian theology are certainly not my strong point. Given the write/response nature of this book, I felt as though I was an outsider to some rather peculiar and specific conversations that I was not all that too well clued up on. Ware and Emerson & Stamps' contributions were helpful. Yarnell was all over the place for me. Not a book I would strongly recommend, unless one was familiar with present, SBC trinitarian discussions.

Always good to be challenged, though!

[Josh Anders · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was initially excited to read this book which pits a few Baptist theologians against one another to debate eternal relations within the Trinity. Unfortunately, it was poorly done and i am now more confused on the issue than i was prior. The authors seemed more worried about decorum than stating their arguments clearly. Not a well done book.

[David Shoemaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wonderfully and thoroughly explains competing views of the doctrine of the Trinity specifically centering on eternal subordination of the Son and Spirit and whether or not the Trinity is made up of multiple wills. The contributors Stamps and Emerson fully convinced me through this book that there is one full will in the Trinity carried out from the Father through the Son by the Spirit and that there is no subordination in the Trinity outside the economy of the incarnate Son. If anyone wants a good read about the Trinity this is it.

[Daniel Scheiderer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great interaction among SBC theologians in the context of 1) the 2016 'trinity debates' and 2) Ware's modification/clarification of his view. Though I still believe he is incorrect—i.e. he says things I wish he didn't—he has clarified things he was once less clear on. This should be the "go-to" work for those wanting to challenge ERAS (along with Grudem's updated ST) going forward since it represents a level of maturation following the debates.

[Marcus Whitson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The view of Ware was quite compelling, but the other views were not presented in the same way. In the response chapters, Emerson and Stamp, and Yarnell even said they didn’t want to respond except the editor had asked them to.
Overall a very good book, but at times it was quite difficult to follow some trains of thought.

[Nick birri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is getting close to one of my favorite trinitarian books. I really love the application and critical analysis. I'm a HUGE fan of this book. The only reason I didn't rate it higher is because I think they could do better (more concise, more applicable, deeper)

[Andrew Mulnix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me connect some puzzle pieces of recent trinity debates.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful book surveying an evangelical debate.

[Ryan Kirst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trinitarian Theology is an excellent dialogue on the ways to interpret the Trinity.

[Aaron Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall helpful.

[Dalton Summers · Rating 4 out of 5]

The discussion between Ware, Emerson, and Stamps is worth the cost of this book. I wouldn’t recommend it to someone with no experience in systematics or beginning to read about our triune God, but it ought to be read as they dig and begin to learn the debates and discussions that are prevalent in our day.