Abstract
The overall thesis of Atkinson’s Trinity after Pentecost argues that, ‘even the incarnation did not “tell the whole story”’ (p. 101). Instead, we need to consider Pentecost as the starting point, though not in isolation, for understanding God’s Triune nature. The result is a Pentecostal and ‘pneumatological trinitarianism’ (p. 145). The main content of this book is found in chapters two, three, and four, each of which focuses on a different member of the Trinity (Spirit, Son, and Father, respectively) in light of Pentecost. Each chapter follows roughly the same structure. Firstly, the unity and distinction between two of the persons of the Trinity are examined: Spirit and Father, Son and Spirit, Father and Son. Secondly, the personal and impersonal biblical depictions of each person are outlined. Although Atkinson favours social or relational accounts of the Trinity, he also sees value in impersonal descriptions, which allow for instrumental and substantive models of the Trinity. It is chiefly the understanding of the Spirit which changes between these three models, and Atkinson emphases that no single model is sufficient. Thirdly, personhood, for Atkinson, is grounded in the Trinitarian relating through kenosis and exaltation. Thus, as the central dynamic in the life of God the kenotic actions of the Spirit, Son and Father are all examined and balanced against the exaltation that each person receives. Fourthly, each chapter ends with a consideration of how, through a ‘pneumatological imagination’, or an ‘imaginative analogy’ we can think back from the economic Trinity into the immanent Trinity. Thus, issues such as the monarchy of the Father, the character of the eternal Son, the Spirit as the life of the Father and the Son, and the filioque, are all considered in light of the event of Acts 2:33 and other New Testament passages.
Atkinson is an extremely clear writer, and I would recommend this book to anyone, academically trained or otherwise, who worries that the Trinity is an abstract piece of theology divorced from the biblical text or the experience of Christianity today, to anyone who seeks to understand more about the Spirit’s role and importance within the Trinity, and to anyone who interested in exploring a fresh, but ultimately very traditional, account of the doctrine of the Trinity.