BOOK REVIEW: THE GOOD GOD

The Good God: Enjoying Father, Son & Spirit by Michael Reeves

This is a delightful little book!

Trinitarian theology has seen a huge surge in interest in academic circles in recent years, but – sadly – is often functionally absent from the life of local churches and individual Christians. This is a disaster, not because every Christian should be able to complete a tick-box survey demonstrating their theological competence, but because a lack of understanding of God as Trinity is to be fundamentally lacking in understanding about who God is. Period.

The trouble is, discussions of the Trinity can soon become massively complex, and deeply abstract, and very dry. None of these things are failings of which The Good God could be accused. Mike Reeves has written something which is, truly, delightful. I would strongly recommend this book to be read as an aid to devotion and worship, for that is what it produces. You could do a lot worse than to start each morning by reading a couple of pages of this and letting it direct your heart and soul in worship to Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

One of the features of the book I most enjoyed are the panels which delve into historical examples that help illustrate the significance of the doctrine of the Trinity. These range from a brief description of Yodo Shin-Shu Buddhism to the joyful theology of St Hilarius to the ‘lust for life’ of William Tyndale. This is all very illuminating and enjoyable stuff.

But the key thing about this book is the way it stirs worship. Clearly and winsomely Reeves describes the nature of the God who lives in eternal, delightful, loving relationship – a love that has overflowed into the creation of all things, and a love into which we are invited to join. The God Reeves describes is very good, very delightful – a God you want to be close to! As Reeves expresses it in a description of the work of the Holy Spirit, “How great and lovely, then, is the work of the Spirit! He unites us to the Son so that the Father’s love for the Son also encompasses us; he draws us to share the Father’s own enjoyment of the Son; and he causes us to share the Son’s delight in the Father. What could be more delicious than to keep in step with a Spirit whose purpose is that?”

What indeed! A delicious God – that is what Trinitarian theology is meant to bring us to, and it is where this book will help draw you.

Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it!