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Mike Reeves, a Protestant theologian, undertakes “an introduction to the Christian faith that is rooted in the triune God” (really!? no kidding!? who’d have thought it!?) in an IVP Academic book and in a series of video clips apparently designed for people with extremely short attention spans.
I was prepared to be pleased by the videos (I’ve not read the book), but then to note the irony that one could not derive such sound Trinitarian theology from the Bible alone. But the notable absence of Nicene Trinitarian theology (not even implicit), was a sore disappointment. This is very, very thin gruel from an Orthodox perspective. (The breathless style is annoying, too.)
He got some things right, and my sense is that those things are things need to be discovered or rediscovered in the Evangelical/Reformed tradition(s). (Caveat: I’m now 15 years removed from this world.) Among other things:
- He’s got it that Trinity is about relationship and that a monad God wouldn’t know love.
- He’s got it that eternal life has something to do with knowing God and that we can be united to God’s Son.
- He’s got it that God offers Himself, not just abstract salvation.
So far, so good.
But one is left with the impressions that the Father and the Son are united only in that love relationship, not necessarily consubstantial (the refrain that Jesus is “God‘s Son” leaves open that He is not Himself entirely and unequivocally God) and that the Holy Spirit is a mysterious footnote. In other worlds, one is left with an impression not of Trinity, but of Arianism or even Tri-theism.
IVP, by the way, was (same caveat as before) one of the most serious popular Protestant publishers, and was my personal favorite 20-40 years ago.
What’s healthy about the Protestant enterprise is what it borrowed (without attribution) from the historic church. It has not, sadly, borrowed more than a nominal acknowledgement of the Holy Trinity, and that’s reflected in prayers to “God” or “Father” but “in Jesus name.” One rarely hears a Protestant minister invoke the Trinity in prayer, for instance – and those that do (Mike Salemink of St. James Lutheran Church in my hometown, for example) enjoy a special warm spot in my heart.
2
I used to be a Sting fan. I got a chance to see him at Deer Creek in suburban Indianapolis some years back. But he was sharing the venue, implausibly, with Lyle Lovett, about whom I knew little and was not inclined to suspect of making music I’d enjoy.
It’s been years since I listened to Sting. But I’ve become a big fan, in my musically omnivorous tastes, of one of the hardest-working guys around, Mr. Lovett.
The first track here is one of my favorites – quintessential Lovett. The second, I’d never even heard (it’s good). The third is a great arrangement of another favorite.
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I’m surprised, given the almost universal distress over our Presidential choices last Tuesday, that Libertarian Gary Johnson got only 1% of the vote. Libertarianism ought to almost automatically get far more than that, considering the racket that government has become. (H/T Volokh Conspiracy)
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Tipsy Teetotaler ن 
Sorry the videos didn’t really satisfy you. There’s a whole lot more in the book and in Mike’s doctrine & historical theology mp3s at http://theologynetwork.org
Really worth pursuing him on it.
I’m glad there’s more in the book. I do hope he doesn’t try to “explain” the Trinity; explaining divine mysteries so as to make them logical often leads to heresy.
What was the context or purpose in which the odd little video bursts were produced? Justin Taylor embedded them, but that’s all I know.
I’ve been Orthodox – the ne plus ultra of Trinitarianism – for 15 years now. I marinate in Trinitarianism through the serving as Cantor. If I want to make systematic study, it likely will be from an patristic source.