The Trinity in the Book of Revelation: Seeing Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in John's Apocalypse (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture)

“Brandon Smith has written a bold, brilliant, and beautiful theological interpretation of John's Apocalypse. Smith reads with a mixture of attention to the text and the various pressures that the text exerts upon the reader to think of God in triune terms. Smith's reading of the Apocalypse is historically sensitive and theologically attuned to John's story of God Almighty, the Lamb, and the Spirit who speaks to the churches. This book sets a new bar in the theological interpretation of Scripture.”

“An exciting new chapter of the history of biblical exegesis is unfolding in real time. Exegetes like Brandon Smith are leading us, with theological sophistication and evangelical zeal, beyond the tired (not to mention unchurchly) polarities of 'high' vs. 'low' Christology and 'scientific' vs. 'confessional' hermeneutics into a robustly and unapologetically Trinitarian reading of the Christian Bible. A landmark study.”

“Remarkably, no significant work on the Trinity in the Apocalypse has been written, and Brandon Smith has remedied that deficiency in this astute book. Smith's study represents theological interpretation of Scripture at its best as he investigates the trinitarian contours in the Apocalypse. Still, we don't have an example of an author imposing his construct onto the biblical text; instead, Smith demonstrates persuasively that the Trinity informs and pervades the Apocalypse. Biblical exegesis and theological retrieval in this instance are illuminating dialogical partners, and we can be grateful to Smith both for providing a model for theological and exegetical work and for deepening our understanding of the Apocalypse.”

“Brandon Smith's excellent book takes one of our most mystifying doctrines—the Trinity—and one of our most mystifying early Christian texts—Revelation—and illumines them both through his distillation of research on pro-Nicene theology. In this, he demonstrates how the tools and readings of early Christian authors can help us to approach Scripture better.”

“Amid the twenty-first century 'trinitarian retrieval' currently underway, Brandon Smith's book stands out as the kind of project desperately needed—firmly grounded in exegetical rigor, clearly shaped by the narratival structure of the biblical canon, keenly aware of the unique literary features of John's Apocalypse, and uniquely capable of drawing out the theological implications of those textual realities. This is a model for constructive theological reflection on Holy Scripture.”

“The old insult obscurum per obscurius means trying to explain one obscure thing by way of something even more obscure. Surely a study of the Trinity in the book of Revelation runs this risk, we might fear. But instead, Brandon Smith surprises us with clarity and calmness, a firm grasp of the main lines of biblical truth, and a compelling vision of the big picture of Christian doctrine. Highly recommended as an exercise in reading Scripture with classic doctrinal categories for the purpose of knowing God.”

“Brandon Smith's important work furthers the recent movement to reassert the intellectual integrity of viewing the New Testament as foundational to the church's orthodox doctrinal tradition. With sophistication and care, he engages the interplay between the text of Revelation and its early interpreters as an entry into the text's divinely revealed meaning. Trinity and trinitarian, rather than being conceptual impositions on the text, are convincingly shown to be a dynamic framework for truthfully confessing God's self-offering to the church in his Scriptures. In the process the book of Revelation's historically fraught role in Christian self-understanding is wonderfully focused, enlivened, and empowered. Deploying wide scholarship and lucid writing, Smith provides readers with a rich exegetical and theological feast, on a table set by one of the Bible's most fruitful books.”