Great modern, up-to-date ST
(Read the full review on my blog SpoiledMilks, 9/24/21)
Michael Bird updated this volume as ââ?¬Å"a continued defense and thoughtful explication of what it means to be an evangelical Christian" (xvi). Since people come to Christ through the gospel, Bird's purpose for this evangelical theology is to show how the gospel works out in different parts of Christian theology. This is then applied to our daily lives and to the offices of church leaders. As Bird writes, "The gospel is the glue between doctrine, experience, mission, and practice" (xxix). Bird's task is "to lay out what a theology driven and defined by the gospel looks like" (xxix). Theology gospelizes. That is, theology makes "the gospel shape our thinking, praying, preaching, teaching, and ministering in relation to God so that we increasingly participate in the life and mission of God" (xxix-xxx).
The Trinity is Christianityââ?¬â?¢s most distinctive doctrine (107). Bird examines both the Athanasian and Nicean creeds to show how these two creeds explain ââ?¬Å"how the three persons were all divine and yet separate persons and rejecting all the wrong ways of articulating that factââ?¬Â? (116-17). The Trinity is ââ?¬Å"a theological and hermeneutical framework drawn from the biblical materialsââ?¬Â? (119). As well, it is deduced from Scripture. It is derived from reading Scripture closely on how God has revealed himself through his words and redemptive acts.
Bird scans through both Testaments to see how trinitarian language develops. Bird offers hosts of texts from the NT on the relationship between the Triune persons.
Recommended?
Bird�s volume is both bolstered by good biblical, systematic, and historical theology and is easy to read. Wayne Grude�s ST is backed by a lot of biblical texts and theology, but he�s not as strong on historical exegesis as Bird, meaning Bird�s conclusions receive more support from historical exegesis than Grudem�s. Where Bird and Grudem diverge, I usually go with Bird. Highly recommended.
