Representing the highest quality of scholarship, Gilles Emery offers a much-anticipated introduction to Catholic doctrine on the Trinity. His extensive research combined with lucid prose provides readers a resource to better understand the foundations of Trinitarian reflection. The book is addressed to all who wish to benefit from an initiation to Trinitarian doctrine.
The path proposed by this introductory work comprises six steps. First the book indicates some liturgical and biblical ways for entering into Trinitarian faith. It then presents the revelation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the New Testament, by inviting the reader to reflect upon the signification of the word "God." Next it explores the confessions of Trinitarian faith, from the New Testament itself to the Creed of Constantinople, on which it offers a commentary. By emphasizing the Christian culture inherited from the fourth-century Fathers of the Church, the book presents the fundamental principles of Trinitarian doctrine, which find their summit in the Christian notion of "person."
On these foundations, the heart of the book is a synthetic exposition of the persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in their divine being and mutual relations, and in their action for us. Finally, the last step takes up again the study of the creative and saving action of the Trinity: the book concludes with a doctrinal exposition of the "missions" of the Son and Holy Spirit, that is, the salvific sending of the Son and Holy Spirit that leads humankind to the contemplation of the Father.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gilles Emery, a Dominican priest of the Swiss province of Preachers, is professor of dogmatic theology at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He is an elected member of the International Theological Commission and the author of several books, including The Trinitarian Theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas and Trinity, Church, and the Human Person. Matthew Levering, professor of theology at the University of Dayton, is author of several books, most recently Christ and the Catholic Priesthood, and coeditor of Thomas Aquinas's Commentary on the Gospel of John.
PRAISE FOR THE BOOK
"Even though it is an introduction, it is not simply the retelling of an oft-told tale, rather it is imaginative, insightful, and nuanced. . . Emery's treatment of the doctrine of the Trinity enhances the reader's understanding of the Trinity and so strengthens and deepens his or her faith." -The Thomist
