Credo Book Highlight: On Classical Trinitarianism, edited by Matthew Barrett

On Classical Trinitarianism: Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God, edited by Matthew Barrett, just won The Gospel Coalition Book Award in Theological Studies. Published with IVP Academic, Barrett brings together 40 of today’s best theologians to recover Nicene Orthodoxy in the church today. Here is what the book is about:

Modern theology claimed that it ignited a renaissance in trinitarian theology. Really, it has been a renaissance in social trinitarianism. Classical commitments like divine simplicity have been jettisoned, the three persons have been redefined as three centers of consciousness and will, and modern agendas in politics, gender, and ecclesiology determine the terms of the discussion. Contemporary trinitarian theology has followed the spirit of this trajectory, rejecting doctrines like eternal generation which were once a hallmark of Nicene orthodoxy and reintroducing subordinationism into the Trinity.

Motivated by the longstanding need to retrieve the classical doctrine of the Trinity, theologian Matthew Barrett brings together Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox scholars to intervene in the conversation. With over forty contributions, this ecumenical volume resurrects the enduring legacy of Nicene orthodoxy, providing a theological introduction that listens with humility to the Great Tradition.

The distinct yet united voices of On Classical Trinitarianism summon the next generation to move past modern revisionism for the sake of renewing classical trinitarian theology today. Together, they demonstrate that Nicene orthodoxy can endure in the modern world and unite the church catholic.

Table of Contents

PART 1 RETRIEVING NICENE TRINITARIANISM

1 ANTE-NICENE TRINITARIANISM
From Confession to Theology
Donald Fairbairn

2 THE NICENE CREED
Foundation of Orthodoxy
Christopher A. Hall

3 THE BEGINNINGS OF A PRO-NICENE TRINITARIAN VISION
Athanasius of Alexandria on the Activity of the Son and the Spirit
Amy Brown Hughes and Shawn J. Wilhite

4 HILARY OF POITIERS ON THE UNITY AND DISTINCTION OF FATHER AND SON
A Pro-Nicene Reading and Use of John 5:19
Carl L. Beckwith

5 THE CAPPADOCIANS AND THE MATURITY OF NICENE VOCABULARY
Stephen Hildebrand

6 MAXIMOS AND JOHN DAMASCENE
Mid-Byzantine Reception of Nicaea
Andrew Louth

7 AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
Will the Real Augustine Please Stand Up?
Keith E. Johnson

8 ANSELM OF CANTERBURY
Faith Seeking Trinitarian Understanding
David S. Hogg

9 THOMAS AQUINAS’S APPROPRIATION OF PRO-NICENE THEOLOGY OF THE TRINITY
Gilles Emery, OP

10 CREEDAL CRITICS OR CREEDAL CONFESSORS?
The Reformers and the Reformed Scholastics
J.V. Fesko

11 A FADING OF THE TRINITARIAN IMAGINATION
The Fight for Nicene Confessionalism in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Michael A. G. Haykin

12 THE INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF THE HOLY TRINITY
Ronni Kurtz

PART 2 TRINITARIAN HERMENEUTICS AND NICENE DOGMATICS

13 TRINITY, CREATURES, AND HERMENEUTICS
Accounting Properly for both Theologia and Oikonomia
Richard C. Barcellos

14 THE UNITY OF GOD AND THE UNITY OF THE ECONOMY
Steven J. Duby

15 PERFECT BEING THEOLOGY AND CLASSICAL TRINITARIANISM
Katherin A. Rogers

16 TRINITY AND DIVINE SIMPLICITY
James E. Dolezal

17 THREE PERSONS, ONE WILL
Stephen J. Wellum

18 TRINITY AND ASEITY
Gavin Ortlund

19 THE IMMUTABLE AND IMPASSIBLE TRINITY–PART 1
The Biblical Teaching and Early Patristic Thought
Thomas G. Weinandy

20 THE IMMUTABLE AND IMPASSIBLE TRINITY–PART 2
The Early Councils, Further Theological and Christological Developments, and Soteriological and Pastoral Implications
Thomas G. Weinandy

21 TRINITY AND LOVE
Matthew Levering

22 THE UNBEGOTTEN FATHER
John Baptist Ku

23 ONLY BEGOTTEN GOD
Eternal Generation, a Scriptural Doctrine
Charles Lee Irons

24 ONLY BEGOTTEN SON
The Doctrinal Functions of Eternal Generation
Fred Sanders

25 NO IMPASSIBILITY, NO ETERNAL GENERATION
Retrieving a Pro-Nicene Distinctive
Matthew Barrett

26 THE PROCESSION OF THE SPIRIT
Eternal Spiration
Christopher R. J. Holmes

27 THE SPIRIT’S PROCESSION REVEALED IN THE SPIRIT’S MISSION
An Augustinian Account
Adonis Vidu

28 THREE AGENTS, ONE AGENCY
The Undivided External Works of the Trinity
Scott R. Swain

29 TRINITY AND APPROPRIATIONS
Meaning, Practice, and Significance
Josh Malone

PART 3 THE RENEWAL OF NICENE FIDELITY TODAY

30 SOCIAL OR CLASSICAL?
A Theological Dialogue
Michael Allen and Matthew Barrett

31 THREE VERSUS ONE?
Some Problems of Social Trinitarianism
Stephen R. Holmes

32 PERICHORESIS AND PROJECTION
Problems with Social Doctrines of the Trinity
Karen Kilby

33 IS THERE OBEDIENCE IN GOD?
Nicene Orthodoxy and the Eternal Procession of the Son in Aquinas and Barth
Thomas Joseph White

34 RENAISSANCE OR REVISION?
Metaphysical Departures from Classical Trinitarian Theism
Craig A. Carter

35 ARE EVANGELICALS NICENE TRINITARIANS?
Evangelicalism’s Debt to Social Trinitarianism
D. Blair Smith

36 REFORMING THE TRINITY?
The Collapse of Classical Metaphysics and the Protestant Identity Crisis
Carl Trueman

37 THE NEED FOR NICENE EXEGESIS
Eternal Functional Subordination’s Hermeneutical Innovation
Amy Peeler

38 THE NEED FOR NICENE DOGMATICS
Eternal Functional Subordination’s Dogmatic Inadequacy
Glenn Butner

39 THE TRINITY IS STILL NOT OUR SOCIAL PROGRAM
The Trinity and Gender Roles
Samuel G. Parkison

40 BIBLICISM AND HETERODOXY
Nicene Orthodoxy, Ecclesiastical Accountability, and Institutional Fidelity
Michael Horton

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Image credit: “The Forerunners of Christ with Saints and Martyrs” by Fra Angelico, c. 1423-24, tempura on wood, National Gallery, London