Helping the Congregation to Hear the Word Read

The often-repeated baptismal words ‘in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’ contain the profoundest truth Christians ever hear. They show us who God is, and they teach us who we are. That is why we need to grow in our understanding and experience of them. Scott Swain helps us to do that in this welcome contribution to Short Studies in Systematic Theology. The book lives up to its description: it is short (Swain gets straight to the point); it invites you to study (no superficiality here); and it is systematic theology (and Swain is exceptionally gifted in it). Plus, you will be able to understand Swain; and you can trust what he writes. What more could you ask for in such a compact treatment?

Only a very gifted teacher can select the most important things to say about the holy Trinity, especially for a wide audience. Lucid, rich with scriptural interpretation, and deeply informed by the Christian tradition, this is the first book I will recommend to anyone looking for clarity that yields a harvest of delight in the triune God.

What a powerful instrument this little book is, meeting the need of our moment for clear and precise teaching on this most important subject. Would you rather read a book on the Trinity that invites you into the worship of God and gives profound insight into his ways or a book that is guaranteed to provide safe, reliable, and responsible instruction? There is no need to choose: this book does it all, and in admirably brief compass.

Swain here takes up the practice of the ancient church, teaching the company of the baptized the grammar of the name of the one God into whose life they enter by water: ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.’ This is a wonderful primer to the grammar of ‘Trinitarian discourse,’ a grammar that is needed not simply to talk theological shop with the professionals but, more importantly, to read the Bible fluently, to name God correctly, to discern the true triune God from idols, and to praise the name of the one who invites us into the fellowship of the Father and the Son through the Spirit. This book edifies even as it educates.