Book Details
- Author: Donald Macleod
- Publisher: Christian Focus (2000)
- Category: Theology, Church Life
Discerning Reader Editorial Review
Reviewed 02/08/2010 by Mark Tubbs.
Recommended. An accessible, clear, and worshipful presentation of God as Trinity in less than 100 pages.
Amazon.com is awash with books on the Trinity, and no wonder: it has been a hot topic since the dawn of the Christian era. Naturally, the nature and personhood of God should dominate the attention of Christians, but many of these books have been highly philosophical and academic. In Shared Life, Donald Macleod, Principal of the Free Church College of Edinburgh, Scotland, has brought clarity and perspective to a subject that often overwhelms its writers, let alone its readers.
In Shared Life, Macleod deftly avoids the two extremes writers are prone to when discussing the Trinity: on one hand, the use of trite similes to explain the Trininty that inevitably fall down eventually, and on the other, overly technical explorations of trinitarian profundities that only further confuse the reader.
From the get-go Macleod admits (as he must) that Scripture never employs the term 'Trinity" as such. This does not mean, however, that Scripture does not present the Trinity as a fundamental biblical truth. Chapter 1 monitors the progressive biblical development of the concept of God as God Himself reveals Himself. Chapter 2 follows up by tracing the historical development of the doctrine of the Trinity as the early Church fathers sought a biblically faithful and precise formulation of God's triune nature. As A.W. Tozer said, we cannot know God completely, but we can known Him truly.
In Part 2, enigmatically entitled "Trinitarian Religion," Macleod shows how the inter-relationship of the persons of the Trinity informs and affects life in the kingdom of God. (P.S. If you are thinking of Karl Barth right now, be assured that Macleod is infinitely more clear and succinct than the venerable German scholar.) All God's acts, from creation of the universe to the inauguration of the New Testament Church, reflect God's trinitarian nature in some way, explains Macleod.
But the biblical and historical establishment of the doctrine of the Trinity does not mean the doctrine is free of controversy. This is the overarching theme of Part 3, entitled "Under Attack." Here Macleod addresses the mistaken notions of divinity held by Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, and the Jehovah's Witnesses. Unexpectedly, I found this section the most interesting in the whole book.
However, the Christian world in the West has undergone a sea-change since this book was released in the year 2000. At that time, apparently, books were being taken off the shelves of Christian bookstores because of their authors' less-than-robust trinitarian positions. Today, obviously, the opposite is the case: Christian bookstore shelves and bestseller lists are rife with both fiction and non-fiction titles in which the authors do not do due diligence in presenting the doctrine of the Trinity in all its biblical fulness. So Shared Life is even more needed in these confused and confusing times.
As Ligon Duncan says in his introduction to the now out-of-print Reformed Academic Press edition of Shared Life, "Many Christians in various callings, circumstances, and stages of growth will find this little book useful." I have not yet located such an accessible, accurate resource for personal growth or small group ministry on the topic of the Trinity as this one. Ever so highly recommended.
