A Brief Review of
Life in the Trinity:
An Introduction to Theology
With the Help of the Church Fathers.
Donald Fairbairn.
Paperback: IVP Academic, 2010.
Buy now: [ ChristianBook.com ]
Reviewed by Chris Smith.
[ Click Here to read an excerpt from this book… ]
In Life in the Trinity, Donald Fairbairn uses the writings of the Church Fathers to introduce basic theological ideas. Not surprisingly the book is intended for use in theology classes in the church or the university. This book bears much resemblance to another IVP text, Christopher Hall’s Learning Theology with the Church Fathers (2002), although Fairbairn’s book tends to be more introductory in nature. At the risk of oversimplifying, Fairbairn uses the Fathers as a means to explore theology, while Hall uses theology as a lens through which to view the work of the Church Fathers.
Both theology and the Church Fathers are invigorating topics for me and I think there is much that churches today can learn from turning their attention in such ways to the early Christian era. Life in the Trinity is well-constructed, using the Trinitarian imagery as a fundamental motif, but its presentation tends to be a bit dry – perhaps because it relies primarily on a modernist, systematic conception of theology. I, however, found myself agreeing with most of Fairbairn’s work. Consider the following passage from the end of the book, which is a fine representative sample of the whole text:
[O]ur task as Christians is not to aspire to some higher or better world, either through our own efforts or with God’s help. The effort we put into Christian life is not our attempt to achieve something we do not already have, because God has already given us a share in the Son’s relationship to the Father. We are already daughters and sons of God, and we are called to live like sons and daughters by reflecting the relationship of the true Son to his Father. Furthermore, the better world is not some other world than this, but it will be this world itself once God transforms it by removing the effects of sin, restoring it to its pristine glory and even bringing his own dwelling place into it (233).
Fairbairn’s writing can get a little dry and sometimes is a bit challenging to follow, but overall Life in the Trinity works well in its stated aims of introducing theology and in utilizing the Church Fathers as a means to these ends.
C. Christopher Smith is the founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books. He is also author of a number of books, including most recently How the Body of Christ Talks: Recovering the Practice of Conversation in the Church (Brazos Press, 2019). Connect with him online at: C-Christopher-Smith.com
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