Rodrick Durst's Reordering the Trinity: Six Movements of God in the New Testament is a refreshing journey through the trinitarian texts and subtexts of the New Testament, exploring all the ways our understanding of God impacts how we Christians live and worship and work in the Church.According to Durst, the traditional order we normally associate with trinitarian language, particularly at baptism -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- is but one of six ways in which the persons of the trinity are arranged in New Testament trinitarian formulations, and each of those six ways have very different emphases.
Durst then engages in a survey of the ways in which the early church utilized that diverse trinitarian language in order to enrich its life and work in the world. From the biblical context to the liturgical and missional implications, Durst's argument is richly textured and explores how the particular purpose or movement of each of those six formulations has implications in a variety of areas -- mission, salvation, witness, spiritual formation and ecclesial unity.
Reordering the Trinity is far more than historical theology or exegetical exploration. It's nothing short of a radical (in the best sense of the word) survey of all the ways our trinitarian faith and its language impacts so much of who we Christians are and what we do. Trinitarian theology has the potential to transform our work and worship, and Durst is just the person to lead us through these movements.
I was particularly impressed with the parts of the book that might go unnoticed -- the appendices. The two spiritual formation exercises (pages 325-329) will make Reordering the Trinity a text that I'll require seminary students in my basic theology course to read again and again. And "Explaining the Trinity to Children and Adolescents" (pages 331-335) is one of the best treatments I've seen for leading children and youth in the Church to reclaim our trinitarian language and worship in meaningful ways. Those appendices, alone, make this a book that every pastor needs on their library's shelves.
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I received a free copy of this book from Kregel Academic Publications in exchange for my honest review here.