Forsaken ? The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

How should a Christian interpret this passage? What implications does the cross have for the trinitarian theology? Did the Father kill the Son?

Theologian Thomas McCall presents a trinitarian reading of Christ's darkest moment--the moment of his prayer to his heavenly Father from the cross. McCall revisits the biblical texts and surveys the various interpretations of Jesus' cry, ranging from early church theologians tothe Reformation to contemporary theologians. Along the way, he explains the terms of the scholarly debate and clearly marks out what he believes to be the historically orthodox point of view. By approaching the Son's cry to the Father as an event inthe life of the Triune God, Forsaken seeks to recover the true poignancy of the orthodox perspective on the cross.

Thomas H. McCall (PhD, Calvin Seminary) is professor of biblical and systematic theology and director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He is the author of Which Trinity? Whose Monotheism? and Forsaken: The Trinity and the Cross, and Why It Matters.