Whether and in what sense the Son of God might eternally submit to his Father's will is a question that has ignited a firestorm of controversy in today's evangelical academy. On one side stand those who regard the affirmation of any inequality whatsoever in the Godhead as a revival of ancient subordinationism. On the other stand persons who consider the Son functionally subordinate to the Father even within the immanent Trinity, without respect to the Incarnation, and regard their belief as integral to historic orthodoxy. Many evangelicals, moreover, view the issue of subordination within the Trinity as pivotal to contemporary disputes about the role of women in church, home, and state. If the relations of the divine persons constitute a paradigm for human life, persons on all sides of the gender question argue, human relations ought to reflect either the divine persons' exceptionless equality or their orderly differentiation of roles. At the same time, others consider the issues of equality in the Trinity and gender relations irrelevant to each other and accuse both complementarians and evangelical feminists of degrading the doctrine of the Trinity into a partisan weapon. The New Evangelical Subordinationism? gathers commentary on evangelical debates about equality and subordination in the Trinity from representatives of the gamut of perspectives just mentioned. Here, evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and church historians of widely differing theological orientations address themselves to the panoply of questions raised by these debates. This volume, unprecedented in the breadth and depth of its coverage of the controversy over subordination in the Trinity, should become a standard source for teaching and research on its subject.

There are few beliefs more essential to Christianity than that of the Trinity. Millard Erickson seeks to provide a lucid and judicious answer to the question: Is Jesus eternally subordinate to the Father, or is Jesus equal with the Father? In addition to providing rigorous theological analysis of that question, Erickson exposes flaws in familial implications derived from the Trinity. This increasingly debated topic has finally received a thorough, careful, and objective treatment.

Subordination has been and still is a controversial subject within the church. The concept has been vigorously debated in relation to the doctrine of the Trinity since the fourth century. Certain New Testament texts have made it part of discussions of right relations between men and women. In recent years these two matters have been dramatically brought together. Indeed, today the doctrine of the Trinity is being used to support opposing views of the right relationship between men and women in the church. At the center of the debate is the question of whether or not the orthodox view of the trinitarian relations teach the eternal subordination of the Son of God. In this book Kevin Giles masterfully traces the historic understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity from the patristic age to our own times to help resolve this important question. But he does not stop there. Giles goes on to provide an illuminating investigation of a closely related question--whether or not women, even in terms of function or role, were created to be permanently subordinated to men. By surveying the church's traditional interpretation of texts relating to the status of women and inquiring into the proper use of the doctrine of the Trinity, Giles lays out his position in this current debate.

Since the late 1970s complementarian theologians have been arguing that the divine three persons in the Trinity are ordered hierarchically, and that this is the ground for the hierarchical ordering of the sexes. Suddenly and unexpectedly in June 2016 a number of complementarian theologians of confessional Reformed convictions came out and said that to so construe the Trinity is "heresy"; it is a denial of what the creeds and confessions of the church rule is the teaching of Scripture. A civil war among complementarians followed and in a very short time those arguing for hierarchical ordering in the Trinity capitulated. This book tells the story.

Annotation. A historical and systematic investigation of the doctrine of the Trinity.

There are few beliefs more essential to Christianity than that of the Trinity. Millard Erickson seeks to provide a lucid and judicious answer to the question: Is Jesus eternally subordinate to the Father, or is Jesus equal with the Father? In addition to providing rigorous theological analysis of that question, Erickson exposes flaws in familial implications derived from the Trinity. This increasingly debated topic has finally received a thorough, careful, and objective treatment.

The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the cornerstones of Christianity. In Jesus and the Father, Kevin Giles wrestles with questions about the Trinity that are dividing the evangelical community: What is the error called “subordinationism”? Is the Son eternally subordinated to the Father in function? Are the Father and the Son divided or undivided in power and authority? Is the Father-Son-Spirit relationship ordered hierarchical or horizontal? How should the Father and the Son be differentiated to avoid the errors of modalism and subordinationism? What is the relationship between the so-called economic Trinity and the immanent Trinity? Does the Father-Son relationship in the Trinity prescribe male-female relationships in the home and the church? "Kevin Giles points out serious problems in the teaching that the Son is eternally subordinated to the Father and argues effectively for the full eternal equality within the Trinity. This book should be read by all who wrestle with the complex but crucial doctrine of the Trinity."—Millard Erickson, author, Christian Theology “By showing that subordinationism is a revival of a heresy that was systematically rejected by the non-Arian Church, the author reinstates the classical orthodox doctrine of the Trinity in all its scriptural majesty and grandeur.”—Gilbert Bilezikian, professor emeritus, Wheaton College “Giles skillfully places before us the stark choice which each generation of theologians must face: will we allow the Bible to speak its message about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit to us, or will we use the Bible to advance our own agenda? This important book deserves to be widely read and carefully considered.”—Paul D. Molnar, professor of systematic theology, St. John’s University

In the analysis of contemporary patterns of thought, which comprises Parts II and III of this book, I have had always in mind four main problems. First, the distinguishing of the principal types of attitudes toward the doctrine of the Trinity. Second, the theological 'interest' or 'motivation' of these attitudes. . . . Third, the relation of the various restatements to 'classical' Christian views. . . . Fourth, the value and viability of the recent interpretations in terms of their relevance and meaning for contemprary religious problems and thought. My own constructive suggestions regarding the basis and significance of the trinitarian conception, and the systematic reformulation of the doctrine, are drawn together in Part IV. --from the Preface

ÒA primary condition for fresh thinking on the Trinity is an accurate, objective account of past and present thoughtÓ wrote one reviewer when The Triune God first appeared in 1972. ÒThis [is what] Fortman has presented sensitively, accurately, and compactly.Ó The author sets out Òto trace the historical development of Trinitarian doctrine from its written beginnings to its contemporary status.Ó Thus he treats the biblical witness, the Council of Nicea, Augustine, the Middle Ages, and the development of this doctrine from the fifteenth century to the present in the Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic traditions.