Quote from “The Trinity” by Olson and Hall
Yesterday I picked up “The Trinity” by Roger E. Olson and Christopher A. Hall. This is one of the books in Eerdmans “Guides to Theology” series. Having finished half the book, I would recommend the volume as a very well researched and written, though short, study on the theology and history of the Trinity. I will quote a passage regarding the catholicity of the doctrine, which is always important to keep in mind:
“To be sure, at times trinitarian theology has taken flights of speculative fancy and lost any solid connection with salvation and Christian worship, devotion, and discipleship. But in the whole and in the main the doctrine of the Trinity has always been affirmed and defended by Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Christians as the uniquely identifying concept of God in Christianity because it is rooted in and necessary to the reality of salvation and implied by the logic of divine revelation. The speculative flights of fancy that have sometimes led trinitarian theologians to attempt to trace the movements of the inner-trinitarian fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternity apart from the world have been at best reverent attempts at “faith seeking understanding” and at worst prideful projects of “thinking God’s thoughts after Him”. The Trinity, Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2002, pg. 3