Thanks to the work of Matthew Barrett, the editor of a 40-author team, InterVarsity Press has provided the church and the academy with a work of monumental theological import with the release of, On Classical Trinitarianism: Retrieving the Nicene Doctrine of the Triune God. The book is wide-ranging, covering historical, dogmatic, philosophical, and cultural concerns surrounding the doctrine of the Trinity as we find it in the Nicene Creed. The book also has scholarly depth, with well-documented chapters authored by some of the foremost Trinity theologians and historians. And the book is chronologically opportune, both by releasing in time for the 1,700th anniversary of Nicaea and addressing the thorny complexities of today’s debates over the Trinity.
Monumental achievement notwithstanding, several assertions and accusations by some of the authors of On Classical Trinitarianism, in their attempt to defend and articulate the Nicene Creed, call into serious question the theological orthodoxy of certain other evangelical theologians. Putting entirely aside the rightful refutations of non-evangelical and blatantly heterodox contributors to the “modern trinitarian renaissance,” theologians who publish with evangelical publishers, who are members of the Evangelical Theological Society, who teach at solidly conservative evangelical institutions, and who attend confessionally evangelical churches are labelled, “incoherent,” “radical,” “revisionist,” “destructive,” and, “dismissive” of historic trinitarianism, to select just a few monikers. Most of these derided theologians heartily affirm Nicaea as it reads, yet are charged with compromising it, since they supposedly fail to affirm what certain authors of On Classical Trinitarianism claim are necessary metaphysical and doctrinal precommitments to a full affirmation of the Creed.
After identifying and explicating a number of such required precommitments, this paper will question the legitimacy of demanding adherence to them in order to truly affirm Nicaea. I will attempt to make the case that one can fully affirm Nicaea while holding to alternate metaphysics and carrying similar but alternately articulated doctrinal commitments. Explorations into the published works and personal confessions of some of the derided theologians will show that they should not be excluded from the circle of Nicene orthodoxy but rather embraced and included as faithful worshippers of our Triune God. Holding to a more reasonably-careful-but-open interpretation of Nicaea, as opposed to the rigidity of some articulations of Classical Trinitarianism, better reflects the realities of a diverse global church working towards doctrinal unity and fidelity.