The Trinity in the New Testament

It is often said that the doctrine of the Trinity was implicit in the religion of the New Testament Christians but only received theological formulation when their successors reflected on the faith by which they were living. Mr. Wainwright sets out to discover how far the writers of the New Testament were conscious of the problem involved in their faith which led to the working out of the doctrine by their successors. His conclusion, based upon a meticulous examination of the evidence, is that, although they made no formal statement of the doctrine, the problem was present in their minds and that they were seeking to answer it. So, in so far as doctrine is an answer to a problem, the doctrine of the Trinity emerges in the New Testament, and is far from being a speculation inessential to the Christian message.

Arthur Wainwright is Professor of New Testament Emeritus at Candler School of Theology, Emory University. He was born in Leeds, England, and educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Wesley House, Cambridge. He was ordained into the British Methodist ministry and was pastor of several churches in England as well as being chaplain to Methodists at Manchester University. He joined the faculty of the Candler School of Theology in 1965 and retired in 1994. His writings include The Trinity in the New Testament and Mysterious Apocalypse, and he prepared the Clarendon edition of John Locke's Paraphrase and Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul.