Book Review: The Deep Things of God

In my quest to understand the Trinity better, I came across Fred Sanders's book The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (2010, Crossway). Sanders took a different approach than other recent authors I read in that he specifically focused on the centrality of the Trinity in evangelicalism. He intentionally drew upon less commonly cited Trinitarian authors because of their ties to the evangelical movement. For example, one of the first authors he discusses in some detail is Nicky Cruz, author of The Magnificent Three, and former "warlord of a violent street gang" (page 28). Though he would references some of the more well-known Trinitarian authors (e.g., Thomas Torrance), it was his attempt to explore the Trinitarian thinking of people like Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer, and DL Moody that made this a particularly unique and beneficial book. 

However, I think what most pleased me about Sanders's book was his sustained focus on showing how the Trinity is necessary for the good news of the gospel. The Trinity is not merely some theological conundrum to be solved, or some mystical relationship only of interest to 2000 year old men, but it is a central belief of the broadly Christian and narrowly evangelical church.

On the whole, The Deep Things of God provides a useful addition to books like Robert Letham's The Holy Trinity, Michael Reeves's Delighting in the Trinity, and Darrell Johnson's Experiencing the Trinity.  It tends to be bookish at times, but worth the hard work if you are willing to dig in.