Lewis work, or some other theological piece from a prior century, with all the dignity and wonder that earlier evangelical theologians inspired, Sanders provides an inviting, witty, and edifying treat, displaying the way theology really should be done.
It is biblically and theologically responsible, historically conscious, pastorally sensitive, and doxologically oriented. This book is wonderfully written, filled with rich imagery, vivid illustrations (verbal and pictorial), and a persuasive argument. Chapters 6–7 offer rich, practical approaches to a Trinitarian doctrine of Scripture and prayer, cohering entirely with emphases evangelicals have always stressed-although here Sanders explicitly shows just how tacitly Trinitarian these practices are.
175–84), chapter 5 unpacks how Trinitarian theology is properly Christ-centered meanwhile granting the experience of present life with the three Trinitarian persons and the doctrine of assurance inherent to this Trinitarian framework. With an illustration from the life and Trinitarian theology of Francis Schaeffer (pp.
Chapter 4 continues the gospel theme, seeking to show the gospel’s explicitly Trinitarian shape, including how Trinitarian members work together for our salvation, and how God has given his own life in the economy of salvation to bring about “adoption into the Trinity” (p. In the gospel God’s grace is extended in a manner that opens up his heart in the most intimate way-in the very giving of God’s own life made lavishly available to fallen humanity (p. Herein Sanders unpacks traditional Western ideas of intra-Trinitarian relations (generation, procession, mission), yielding somewhat a Trinitarian ontology, ably distinguishing God’s work in the gospel from God “within the happy land of the Trinity.”Īfter establishing from Eph 1 the necessary disorientation for proper praise and the unfortunate reductionism evangelicals have tended to, chapter 3 expounds God’s working in the salvation economy. God’s inner life, Sanders says, is the only thing “even better than the good news,” since it is the infinite depth to which the doctrine of the Trinity points (pp. 66) and that God’s being is behind his action in the salvation economy (p. 58).Ĭhapter 2 highlights God’s triune self-sufficiency as the gospel’s ground of grace (p. Employing sources from Puritans Isaac Watts and Bunyan to Holiness evangelist Amanda Smith and Nicky Cruz, chapter 1 develops methodologically how evangelicalism displays enough promise of tacit Trinitarianism to be seen as having “within its own particular genius” everything necessary to be even more robustly Trinitarian (p. 19, 21–23).Ĭurrently Associate Professor of Theology at Biola University’s Torrey Honors Institute and a well-known blogger (Sanders has provided a rich treasure-trove for those seeking to understand more of God’s ways and how he has invited us to participate in his Trinitarian life (pp. 9–10, 13, 18–21, 83, 98, 165, 191, 239) and its necessary presupposition since those who believe it are already immersed in the Trinitarian reality, having everything necessary to be robustly Trinitarian (pp.
Accordingly, he provides evidence for this in numerous evangelical forebears (and contemporaries), showing that the doctrine of the Trinity is inherent to the gospel (pp. Very few works have been so bold as this, arguing that evangelicals “have been in reality the most thoroughly Trinitarian Christians in the history of the church” (p. Amidst the current evangelical Trinitarian resurgence, Fred Sanders has provided a wonderful feast.
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