Description
This book views the triune God from a Pentecostal viewpoint. In so doing, it offers a fresh articulation of the theology of the Trinity that starts with Pentecost and with the Spirit. It concludes that the Trinity cannot be adequately appreciated using any single model – whether social, modal, or psychological. Instead, it presents three models – relational, instrumental, and substantial – that need to be held in paradoxical tension with one another. Of these, the relational is the foremost. Pentecost offers rich potential for seeing these relations between the Father, the Son and the Spirit as a dynamic reciprocal ‘dance’, in which each person empties self in order to exalt the other.
About the Author
William P. Atkinson is Director of Research and a Senior Lecturer in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies at the London School of Theology. He is author of the award-winning The “Spiritual Death” of Jesus (2009) and Baptism in the Spirit (2011), which is also available from the Lutterworth Press.
Contents
Preface
1. Introductory Matters
2. Pentecost and the Spirit
3. Pentecost and the Son
4. Pentecost and the Father
5. Pentecost and the Trinity
Bibliography
Subject Index
Author Index
Ancient Document Index
Endorsements and Reviews
This is an excellent book written in a lucid and lively manner. It makes an important and original contribution to Trinitarian theology from the perspective of Pentecost. … It is a must-read for all students and scholars of contemporary pentecostal and charismatic theology.
Mark J. Cartledge, Director of the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
Mysterious yet illuminating! Paradoxical yet clarifying! Opaque yet brilliant! Atkinson shows that starting with the Spirit poured out at Pentecost opens up multiple dissonant and yet altogether coherent tongues and pathways toward a dynamic, perichoretic, and relational theology of the Trinity that anticipates the fullness of eschatological divine glory. No longer is the Spirit the shy, hidden, or neglected Trinitarian member.
Amos Yong, Professor of Theology and Dean, School of Divinity, Regent University
Atkinson’s call for a pneumatological Trinitarianism is reminiscent of Basil of Caesarea, who, among the early church fathers, warned against failing to appreciate the full deity of the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. Atkinson shows that without an adequate understanding of the Holy Spirit given to the church on the day of Pentecost, one’s theology of God is defective and one’s worship of the triune God is diminished. This book is lucidly written and a joy to read.
Laurence W. Wood, Professor of Theology and Wesley Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary
Trinity After Pentecost is further evidence, if proof was needed, that pentecostal theology has come of age. With expert skill, William Atkinson explores the doctrine of the Trinity from the unusual angle of Pentecost. Like a wise tour guide, he takes his readers step-by-step and leads them to some adventurous conclusions. Theologians and practitioners, Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals will be enriched by reading this cleverly titled, engagingly written, and thought-provoking book.
Derek Tidball, Former Principal, London School of Theology, Past President of Baptist Union of Great Britain
This is a fine, concise, systematic and inspiring book about the Trinity. Atkinson’s style, as those who have read his other books know, is noted for its clarity and precision … This is a book that I hope will become a classic among Pentecostals since it addresses issues that are well beyond the sterile argumentation that sometimes occurs.
William K. Kay, in Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association, Vol 35, Issue 1
Atkinson is an extremely clear writer, and I would recommend this book to anyone, academically trained or otherwise … to anyone who seeks to understand more about the Spirit’s role and importance within the Trinity, and to anyone who is interested in exploring a fresh, but ultimately very traditional, account of the doctrine of the Trinity.
Joanna Leidenhag, in The Expository Times, Vol 127(5)
The study is academically rigorous. It will appeal to anyone who is seriously interested in the academic study of Jesus, whether or not they are Pentecostal.
Bradford L McCall, in Theological Book Review, Vol 28, No 2
