A reissue of a brilliant and accessible introduction to Trinitarian thought. Colin Gunton argues that the theology of the Trinity has profound implications for all dimensions of human life. Central to his work is his argument that the doctrine should offer ways of articulating the being of God and of the world so that we may be better able to live before God and with each other.

Thomas F. Torrance is considered by many to be the most outstanding living Reformed theologian in the Anglo-Saxon world. In The Promise of Trinitarian Theology, Elmer M. Colyer presents a collection of essays critiquing Torrance's work. It explores his place in Reformed theology and his relation to the Greek fathers. Both everyday life and scientific understanding are discussed in the essays within. The Promise of Trinitarian Theology is a hopeful step engaging the works of T. F. Torrance and the theology behind his words.

In this book one of the leading and most popular theologians of our time develops themes he first introduced in 'The Promise of Trinitarian Theology' in 1992, a book which continues to be widely read and used as a textbook in Christian Doctrine throughout the world.Each essay addresses a topic of central importance in Trinitarian theology, ranging from the knowledge of God to the Christian sacraments. Together they reflect in particular on an increasing interest in the doctrine of the Holy Spirit and its bearing on the structure of the doctrine of the Trinity and its various sub-themes of Christology and soteriology etc.All but two of the fourteen chapters are published here for the first time.

The doctrine of the pactum salutis (covenant of redemption) offers the idea of a covenant between the very persons of the Trinity for the redemption of humanity. The doctrine received most of its attention in seventeenth-century Reformed theology, and has been criticized and almost totally forgotten in dogmatics since the eighteenth century. Most recent Reformed dogmatics tend to ignore the doctrine or disparage it from biblical, trinitarian, christological, pneumatological, and soteriological perspectives-namely, the doctrine lacks scriptural basis; it is tritheistic; it leads to subordination of the Son; it omits the role of the Holy Spirit; and it applies a deterministic idea for the Christian life. The theologies of Witsius, Owen, Dickson, Goodwin, and Cocceius portray a very robust form of the doctrine. Witsius argues with the help of a peculiar methodology of cross-referencing and collation of related scriptural texts that the doctrine is firmly based on biblical exegesis that was passed on from the patristic era. The doctrine formulated by Owen endorses the doctrines of inseparable operations and terminus operationis so as to give deep insight into the Trinity. In Dickson's doctrine, the Son's voluntary consent and obedience to the will of the Father are highly emphasized. Likewise, Goodwin's depiction of the Holy Spirit secures the divinity of the Spirit as well as his indispensable role for the transaction and accomplishment of the pactum. The doctrine in the theology of Cocceius sheds much light on the vibrant dynamic of the Christian life in accordance with the ordo salutis. The doctrine of the pactum salutis of the five Reformed theologians clearly shows that the doctrine is both promised and promising for theology and the life of faith.

The last century has witnessed a revival and renewal of trinitarian theology, led initially by Karl Barth. The legendary puzzles of trinitarian theology have become especially vexing in an era of changed philosophical and cultural categories, and a host of religious thinkers in the last century have tried to reformulate the main lines of thought about God's trinitarian life. Theologian Stanley Grenz here tells this story of trinitarian theology, reporting and analyzing the remarkable ferment in the discipline and discussing especially eleven theologians on such issues as: God's inner life vs. God's relationship to creation (immanent and economic trinity), social vs. psychological analogies for the relationships within God, the relationship between trinity and Christology, the feminist critique of classical categories, and how God's trinitarian life figures in evolution, social justice, and spirituality. Grenz's Introduction place this ferment historically in the course of Christian thought from the patristic period to now, while his Conclusion sets a future agenda for the doctrine and theology.

What can the early church contribute to theology today? Donald Fairbairn takes us back to the biblical roots and central convictions of the early church, showing us what we have tended to overlook, especially in our understanding of God as Trinity, the person of Christ and the nature of our salvation as sharing in the Son's relationship to the Father.

Drawing together scholars whose essays exhibit work after Barth in engaging the doctrine of the Trinity and its related themes. Barth's thought, as evidenced amongst his most expert commentators, allows for a variety of interpretations, the details of which are being hammered out on the pages of academic journals and volumes such as this one. It is this variety of responses to and interpretations of Barth's theology that gives such vibrancy to the essays in this volume by seasoned Barth scholars and voices new to the conversation.