The Shadow of the Almighty: Father, Son, and Spirit in Biblical Perspective

Rating:
Summary: Good Primer on the Bible's Trinitarianism
Review: This is an excellent biblical study of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Witherington and Ice masterfully engage in exgetical and literary study of the Old and New Testaments, examining how the language for the Father, Son and Spirit contained therein offers the raw elements of a Trintarian doctrine of God.

This book is a helpful introduction for those needing to examine how the Scriptures develop and portray the different persons of the Trinity. Witherington and Ice weave together the biblical images of Wisdom Christology, the Son of Man imagery and the like to show how the New Testament develops its Trintarian Christology. Likewise, they examine the life giving power of the Spirit in the Old Testament and it's further development in relation to the carismata and the formation of the Church commuity.

All in all, this is an excellent study of the biblical material pertaining to the three persons of the Trinity. The only real shortcoming that I encountered in reading it was the ways in which the authors felt that the Spirit was not portrayed as personal in the Old Testament. I think the Old Testament's understanding of the Holy Spirit is much more nuanced than the authors do, particularly in the nearly explicit Trintarian language of Isaiah. However this is a minor complaint about an otherwise excellent book. Highly recommended.