Rating: 
Summary: Better than ANY Trinity book when discussing the scriptures
Review: I was very excited to receive my copy because of the positive reviews it has received thus far. After reading the book, I am convinced these comments were well deserved. This book is truly unique in how it approaches the subject and the SCRIPTURAL evidence against Jesus being God is overwhelming. That being said, I do want to address the negative comments of one Trinitarian reviewer.This reviewer, amazingly, missed the viewpoint the author stressed throughout the book. That being we should not come into this subject ALREADY believing in the Trinity and then look for evidence that has to refute it. The reviewer states "he [the author] assumes what he has yet to prove and then proceeds to read this unproven assumption into the text. For instance, the author has already concluded that the Father ALONE is God." -all caps his Of course, he says this as if this is a bad thing and wants us to think it is too, but such is not the case. The author of this book merely "assumes" what people in the first century who just met Jesus would also assume. That being "the Father ALONE is God." This assumption is dangerous for Trinitarians and is why the Trinitarian reviewer attacks the author for doing such. After all, they rely on the definition of the Trinity to defend any scriptures that seem to go against the Trinity. First century Christians, unlike our already biased Trinitarian reviewer, didn't have that benefit. Both the author and first century Christians started out with a pre-conceived belief of Jesus NOT being God and expected the scriptures to prove otherwise. And despite what the Trinitarian reviewer said, the nearly 400 scriptures covered show that no one in the first century, including Jesus, thought he was God. Additionally, from what I can gather from the book, this author does not confuse Modalism with Trinitarianism as the Trinitarian reviewer suggested. The author quotes hundreds of scriptures, not to show that Jesus isn't the Father, but that Jesus isn't God. And again, since the people who walked around with him didn't believe in the Trinity at that point in time, it isn't just the author who believed "that the Father alone is God", it was what everyone else in Jesus' day thought too. Only because our Trinitarian reviewer already believes in the Trinity does he not conclude Jesus is not God if he is said to be standing next to God. And note that I did not argue that Jesus is not the Father because he is standing next to God, I said he is not God. Then our reviewer presents scriptures that the book doesn't cover which he invites us to look up and see how they say Jesus is God. When I looked these up, I knew why the author didn't mention these. For most of them, I don't see any reference at all to Jesus being God. A few of them I could see why someone who really WANTED to find support for his belief might think these do. I then compared them to the nearly 400 scriptures in Holt's book that show Jesus is not God. I don't need anyone to explain to me why these show Jesus is not God. And what Trinitarian book has considered these 400 verses? None that I have read. Then the reviewer flat out misleads us in his review by saying the author "simply ignores" some of the passages he listed. Since he is apparently missing some pages from his book, I will include the page number in the book for EVERY scripture this reviewer listed. " Isaiah 9:6 [pg 134]; John 1:1, 18[pg 49-59,184-185]; 20:28[pg 79-82]; Titus 2:13[pg100-103]; 2 Peter 1:1[pg 111-112]" And finally, I have read every book this Trinitarian reviewer told me to read and I have also read Holt's. This one is superior to any of the three he mentioned. At least Holt considers over 50 verses Trinitarians use to support their arguments. These books don't even consider half that showing the opposite of their belief. As all the other reviewers stated, if you want to see an unbiased, simple presentation of the scriptural viewpoint of God, this book is it!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book!
Review: I will say that this is the most complete book on the subject from a non-trinitarian viewpoint. The author considers about the top 50 arguments used by Trinitarians to defend the notion Jesus is God. He even considers arguments I know most trinitarians are not even aware of, and it's their doctrine! He quotes numerous scriptures and provides alternative explanations to these arguments. That in itself is not unique as other books do the same. But then he does something no one else has done. Going straight through the New Testament he cites every scripture that would lead someone who didn't already believe in the Trinity to conclude that Jesus is someone other than God. I never new how many there were! The question one is left with is "How does one even come up with the trinity doctrine in light of these scriptures?" You can only explain them away once you have the Trinity doctrine. Getting to the Trinity doctrine is the hard part. This book is one Trinitarians will be forced to reckon with!
Rating: 
Summary: An Engineer's Exegesis
Review: I've had many conversations with Jehovah's Witnesses. Without exception, at some point or another, they attack the Doctrine of Trinity. They argue convincingly and with use Scripture to support their reasoning. But there is always one flaw -- not one of them has, in fact, understood what the Trinitarians claim to believe. Holt's book has a similar flaw. As the other reviews state, it is a handy reference work. Without doubt, it convinces you that Jesus didn't claim to be God -- meaning that Jesus didn't claim that he was God the Father. The problem is, Trinitarians don't claim, nor they ever have, that Jesus did. It's easy to prove something your opponent also embraces. That's called "burning straw men". This book certainly won't help you against Trinitarians -- against Oneness Pentecostals, who claim that Jesus exhausts the Father in the sense that they are completely included in each other, you might have some success. If you really want to understand the Trinitarian view (and how the Bible supports it), instead of scrambling through a Handy-Dandy Reference Guide for Attacking Positions Your Opponents Don't Even Hold, tune into Tektonics.org and read the articles about Jesus' and the Holy Spirit's relation to the Father. You'll save twenty bucks and learn some crucial terms for understanding, such as "hypostasis" and "wisdom theology". Two stars for the nice cover.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to Read and Enjoy
Review: Instead of dazzling us with grammatical acrobatics on obscure and arguable rules of Greek as many do on this topic when defending what cannot logically be defended, Brian Holt takes us straight to the Bible, and breaks everything down so all can understand. What a breath of fresh air.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay presentation of non-Trinitarian view
Review: It seems that the star ratings of most of the reviewers simply reflect their own beliefs. Trinitarians give *, non-Trinitarians *****. And I suppose my own *** just reflects mixed feelings. So it would seem then that the only way for browsers to know what this book is like is to buy or borrow a copy for oneself. However I personally would be more inclined to recommend Rubinstein's 'When Jesus Became God' as a first read in this area. Firstly because its a good read. Secondly because, while Rubinstein is not remotely concerned with what the New Testament says, as a third party and a historian he does have something relevant to say about how the Trinity became such a big issue among Christians. Rubinstein gets *****. Rating Holt among the few other similar non-Trinitarian works, Buzzard & Hunting's 'Doctrine of the Trinity' and Broughton & Southgate's 'Trinity True or False' both get ****. Both are more complete and better argued than Holt, although the latter is currently not on US catalogues. A fourth book, Graeser, Schoenheit & Lynn's 'One God & One Lord' is less so. Among these four non-Trinitarian texts the thing that may stand in Holt's favour is that he represents the most common non-Trinitarian variant today, i.e. the one which accepts the existence of Jesus in heaven prior to his birth and his role in creating Adam. The Buzzard and Broughton books relate Jesus' role in creation in Colossians 1 etc, to the "new creation" rather than that of Genesis. In other words they follow a more Unitarian standpoint. Graeser, Schoenheit & Lynn seem a bit garbled on this point. As for views of the Trinity, a typical orthodox view would be McGrath's 'Understanding the Trinity' or O'Collins, 'The Tripersonal God'. Which state a positive case. If you want a negative case then alternatively one can go down the road of the various cult-bashing books, but as I wouldn't like to have that on my conscience I won't recommend any titles. The arguments in these books are usually pretty trite and only good for confirming one's prejudices against minority religious groups. As for theologians, you pays your money and takes your choice. They vary from the fairly orthodox (in the Athanasian sense) Dunn 'Christology', and Rahner, to the various progressive Trinitarian theologians who say they "believe in the Trinity" but may not even believe in the virgin birth or resurrection. To be honest anyone getting this interested in the subject would probably be better off prioritising their time on source material: Rusch has edited two volumes of contemporary documents: The Trinitarian Controversy, and The Christological Controversy. In parallel with Rubenstein these make fascinating reading. There's also the Bible of course, but it never mentions the Trinity, which makes it rather anachronistic for this subject.
Rating:
Summary: A balanced discussion of a Christian controversy
Review: Jesus: God Or The Son Of God? by Brian Holt presents a balanced discussion of a Christian controversy as to whether Jesus Christ was the literal personification of God, or whether this widely-held belief is more philosophical than absolutist in its meaning. From whether the Hebrew scriptures truly say that Jesus is God, to the foundation of the Trinity, and the interpretations of Jesus' contemporaries, Jesus: God Or The Son Of God? is a profoundly important, fair presented, and highly recommended study of a central religious issue within Christianity.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: Just to clarify something mentioned in some reviews...it is untrue that "Tellway" is an arm of the Watchtower organization. Maybe Tellway was started by someone who has left the WT organization. Anyway, this book is completely convincing that Jesus is God's son, and not God Himself, something very important to know. Definitely recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Three stars for the effort
Review: Rather than try to explain why I give the stars only for effort I will recommend two books. Since Amazon, in their incredible wisdom, ruined the review sites by removing the customer's recommendation box, this is the only way I have to "review" many of the books now. Reading the following books will clearly explain the problem of the Trinity of the Classical Theists:
1. "How Greek Philosophy Corrupted the Christian Concept of God"
2. "The Father Is Not the Son"
Rating:
Summary: A fair and honest evaluation of the subject
Review: So long to the Trinity! This book is a severe blow to the preconceived beliefs Trinitarians take to the Bible to explain away the hundreds of scriptures that show Jesus is not God. Holt easily explains the verses that some seem to think show Jesus is God and then considers the bountiful texts showing the truth. And as far as the Trinitarians complaining because he left out a few of their texts (and pretty weak ones at that!), come back and complain when you show me ONE Trinitarian book that considers HALF of the non-Trinitarian scriptures this book does. Talk about the Pope calling the priest Catholic!. ... ...Just go through the Gospels and read what Jesus' own friends said about him and his relationship with God. Trinitarians try to dismiss this with their definition of the Trinity but circular reasoning won't work. When Martha told Jesus, "I know that as many things as you ask God, God will give you", (John 11:22-27) she wasn't qualifying her definition of God as 1/3 of God nor did she think she was speaking to another 1/3 of God. And Jesus didn't think he was able to perform miracles because he was God either. (See John 11:41-42) ... ... And as the article "Jesus as "Theos" in the New Testament" by G.H. Boobyer confirms, "angel Christology was a prominent strand of early Christological thought." ... People, it's been demonstrated several times in these book reviews alone that Trinitarians have something to hide. They apparently haven't even read the book. "Jesus-God or the Son of God?" is more thorough than any other book out there, from a scriptural point of view. Despite what Trinitarian reviewers have said, it looks at the context of the verses quite thoroughly. At least Holt has the decency to mention Jesus' reply after the Jews accuse him of being equal to God (John 5:19).What Trinitarian book has done that? It even looks at them chronologically. For instance, after the disciples supposedly already thought Jesus was equal to God at John 5:18, Holt shows that later in time they did not understand how he could control the weather (Matt 8:27). So which is it? Did they think he was God or not? This book, while not perfect, was written by someone who had nothing to hide. True, he perhaps could have covered a few more points but no Trinitarian book even comes close to having the integrity this book does in covering the facts. Same with our Trinitarian reviewers. This book is a gold mine of truth.
Rating:
Summary: People -- your'e missing the point!!
Review: The book is well written and easy to understand using the human mindset. I gave it a "3" because of the author's attempt to compare both arguments, however, after reading ALL the reviews on this book I have come to one conclusion. Human knowledge, human logic and human emotion cannot begin to explain or encompass what God is. The fact is, as stated in Revelation, Jesus is the alpha and omega (beginning and end). The gospels document that "the Word became man". Whether you want to believe that the Trinity is or is not -- the fact still remains that the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ. Everyone can argue until blue in the face; but the one common belief that should unite us is our belief that Jesus Christ was born, lived, died and was resurrected for our salvation. Humans have finite minds with limited capabilities -- don't expect to encompass and understand the infinite. God does not intend for us to know everything. My concern is that this book is creating division between believers. Division and second-guessing is the work of only one being - Satan. None other but he will prosper from this. Please keep in mind what is really important -- Salvation.
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