Trinity After Pentecost

This book views the triune God from a Pentecostal viewpoint. In so doing it offers a fresh articulation of the theology of the Trinity that starts with Pentecost and with the Spirit. It concludes that the Trinity cannot be adequately appreciated using any single model--whether social modal or psychological. Instead it presents three models--relational instrumental and substantial--that need to be held in paradoxical tension with one another. Of these the relational is the foremost. Pentecost offers rich potential for seeing these relations between the Father the Son and the Spirit as a dynamic reciprocal dance in which each person empties self in order to exalt the other. This is an excellent book written in a lucid and lively manner. It makes an important and original contribution to Trinitarian theology from the perspective of Pentecost. . . . It is a must-read for all students and scholars of contemporary pentecostal and charismatic theology. --Mark J. Cartledge Director of the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies University of Birmingham UK Mysterious yet illuminating! Paradoxical yet clarifying! Opaque yet brilliant! Atkinson shows that starting with the Spirit poured out at Pentecost opens up multiple dissonant and yet altogether coherent tongues and pathways toward a dynamic perichoretic and relational theology of the Trinity that anticipates the fullness of eschatological divine glory. No longer is the Spirit the shy hidden or neglected Trinitarian member. --Amos Yong Professor of Theology and Dean School of Divinity Regent University Atkinsons call for a pneumatological Trinitarianism is reminiscent of Basil of Caesarea who among the early church fathers warned against failing to appreciate the full deity of the Spirit as the third person of the Trinity. Atkinson shows that without an adequate understanding of the Holy Spirit given to the church on the day of Pentecost ones theology of God is defective and ones worship of the triune God is diminished. This book is lucidly written and a joy to read. --Laurence W. Wood Professor of Theology and Wesley Studies Asbury Theological Seminary Trinity After Pentecost is further evidence if proof was needed that pentecostal theology has come of age. With expert skill William Atkinson explores the doctrine of the Trinity from the unusual angle of Pentecost. Like a wise tour guide he takes his readers step-by-step and leads them to some adventurous conclusions. Theologians and practitioners Pentecostals and non-Pentecostals will be enriched by reading this cleverly titled engagingly written and thought-provoking book. --Derek Tidball Former Principal London School of Theology Past President of Baptist Union of Great Britain William P. Atkinson is Director of Research and a Senior Lecturer in Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies at the London School of Theology. He is author of the award-winning The Spiritual Death of Jesus (2009) and Baptism in the Spirit (2011).