As I mentioned in class on Sunday, The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering the Heart of Christian Belief by James White is a great first book to read on the doctrine of the Trinity–what it is and why it matters.
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Eric, how does James White deal with those who do alter historic Trinity “formula” for modalism or some other variation? Does he give any argumentation regarding a situation in which a person who does not believe in the Trinity can truly be a Christian?
Dan, White wrote this more as a call to Christians to return to this beloved doctrine in worship than as an apologetic for it. It’s a change of pace from what I’m used to from him, but he doesn’t spend any time calling anyone heretics.
By the way, we did talk about the problems with modalism (the Father is the Son is the Spirit, just in different roles the same as a human father can be a father, son, and brother simultaneously) in class. Of course there are scads of Biblical passages where the three persons of the Trinity interact, but I pushed my luck and posed a question about what modalism does to the idea of the atonement (the Father exacting the punishment we deserve on the Son).
It seemed like a good question to me at the time, but my explanation led to one person saying “I have a headache.” 🙂