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Towards moderation -- 6 From moderation to assimilation: 1777-1806 -- Last men standing -- The Hutchinsonian reputation in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Bibliography -- Index
This book, the first serious analysis of the doctrine of the Trinity for many years, presents a defense against the conservative treatment of the Trinity as an impenetrable "mystery," and against the radical position that the doctrine is incoherent and therefore unacceptable. Brown favors "the founding of a new discipline of philosophical theology (or the widening of the horizons of the philosophy of religion) to apply more widely the type of penetration of theology by philosophy" that he exemplifies in his treatment of the Trinity. He argues for belief in an interventionist God (theism rather than deism), and contends that biblical criticism and historical research do not imply the abandonment of Christian belief, since "the historical original" should not be equated with "theological truth." Although historical difficulties must prevent any literal acceptance of the Gospel accounts in toto, "the true Christ" can be disentangled from "the historical Jesus" by philosophical method. Wide-ranging in scope, rigorous and candid in argument, Brown's work will prove of interest to educated Christian laypersons and others beyond the boundaries of professional theology and philosophy of religion. Perhaps most provocative is Brown's assertion that the Resurrection must be accepted as a literally true visionary experience, and that anyone who accepts it must be prepared to take seriously other visionary experiences, for example, visions of the Virgin Mary, even if he rejects them in the end. "It is certainly an astonishing truth that God should be so interested in a being of such vastly inferior powers as man," says the author. "But that clearly must be the implication of the doctrine of the Trinity . . ." To have reached this conclusion by means of philosophical argument is to have taken a major step toward the "complete penetration of theology by philosophy" that Brown calls for.
In Divine Truth or Human Tradition? the author critically examines the viewpoints and Scripture expositions of prominent evangelical scholars and apologistsincluding Dr. James R. White (author of The Forgotten Trinity), Dr. John MacArthur (President of The Master?s Seminary), Wayne Grudem (author of the widely-read Systematic Theology), Robert Morey (author of The Trinity, Evidence and Issues), Robert L. Reymond (author of A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith), and others According to what has long been considered mainstream Christian orthodoxy, the doctrine of the Trinity (the idea that the one God of the Bible is a singular being made up of three coequal and coeternal persons?) is not only central to the Christian faith, but even necessary for one to accept in order to be counted as a true Christian and be saved. Such a demand on a Christian?s faith has come across as strange and perplexing to many, especially so in light of the fact pointed out by one respected Trinitarian: [The Trinity] is not clearly or explicitly taught anywhere in Scripture, yet it is widely regarded as a central doctrine, indispensable to the Christian faith. In this regard, it goes contrary to what is virtually an axiom [that is, a given, a self-evident truth] of biblical doctrine, namely, that there is a direct correlation between the scriptural clarity of a doctrine and its cruciality to the faith and life of the church. (Millard J. Erickson, God in Three Persons, p. 11. Emphasis added) Understandably, this fact has raised questions in the minds of Christians and truth-seekers alike ever since the doctrine was first articulated in the late 4th century. Many Christians have wondered: How can a doctrine that is not clearly or explicitly taught in the Bible be necessary to accept in order to be a true practitioner of the Christian faith?
The concept of the 'social Trinity', which posits three conscious subjects in God, radically revised the traditional Christian idea of the Creator. It promoted a view of God as a passionate, creative and responsive source of all being. Keith Ward argues that social Trinitarian thinking threatens the unity of God, however, and that this new view of God does not require a 'social' component. Expanding on the work of theologians such as Barth and Rahner, who insisted that there was only one mind of God, Ward offers a coherent, wholly monotheistic interpretation of the Trinity. Christ and the Cosmos analyses theistic belief in a scientific context, demonstrating the necessity of cosmology to theological thinking that is often overly myopic and anthropomorphic. This important volume will benefit those who seek to understand what the Trinity is, why it matters and how it fits into a scientific account of the universe.
When you consider the aspects of Christianity that differentiate it from other religions, one of its most distinguishing characteristics is certainly the notion of a "triune God." This concept has been the bedrock of Christian orthodoxy for almost two millennia, and even today remains the standard by which everything claiming to be Christian is measured. Indeed, in many respects the Trinity has actually become Christianity’s defining doctrine. In addition to its singular importance, though, the Trinity is also one of the most enigmatic doctrines of the Christian faith. For even though most believers are aware of the Trinity, they would probably be hard-pressed to explain it without slipping into heresy themselves. They know it has something to do with "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," and that the three are somehow one, but that’s about the extent of it. That being said, perhaps the most perplexing thing about this doctrine is that neither the word "Trinity" nor its central premise of "one God in three persons" can be found in Scripture! This comes as a shock to most Christians, who tacitly assume that something as essential as the Trinity must be on virtually every page of the Bible. In reality, though, the Trinity gradually took shape during the 300+ years after the close of the New Testament, a synthesis of Christian doctrine and concepts borrowed from Greek philosophical and religious systems. If you’ve ever had to wrestle with the ideas of Plato and Aristotle, you can start to appreciate why the Trinity is so hard to grasp. So in light of all this, why are we still talking about this doctrine after almost 2,000 years? It’s not in the Bible, most Christians can’t comprehend it, and yet it is deemed to be the litmus test of orthodoxy! Granted, the Trinity has been used many times over the years to vanquish some of the most serious threats that the church has faced; still, when you look at the history of this doctrine it sure feels like the early church fell into the very trap that Paul had warned them about. In his letter to the Colossians, he admonished the church to steer clear of "empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense," yet here we are. Fortunately, there is a better answer to the riddle of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." We simply need to allow Scripture to speak for itself, rather than listening to it through its would-be interpreter, the Trinity. This is not an easy task, to be sure, since we have been so indoctrinated with the Trinity that it is hard to see anything else when we open the pages of the Bible. Nevertheless, when we set God’s tri-partite designation in the context of the Kingdom of God and the Bible’s overarching story of redemption, the truth of this phrase starts to emerge. The trick, of course, is doing that without also slipping into heresy…which is exactly what "Testing the Trinity" strives to accomplish.