Extracts from Damon So, The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never New

Dr Damon So, Research Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, UK, recently published The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never Knew (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2010). Following on from his contribution to the Foundations for Mission study group pre-conference report, he has submitted the following extracts, with the permission of the publisher, indicating their relevance to the Theme 1 issues.

'This book presents a dynamic picture of Jesus and relates this picture to Jesus’ fundamental and underlying relationship with his Father through the Holy Spirit. The concrete expression of that relationship in Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection is presented in a unified manner, avoiding the pitfall of majoring on only one of these aspects. This holistic and dynamic picture of Jesus in intimate fellowship with his Father through the Spirit gives the readers a valuable glimpse into the mystery of the Trinity and invites them to reflect on what it means to follow Jesus as individuals and as communities in the context of the twenty-first century with its many challenges.'

“All too often Christology has . . . failed to give proper account of the spiritual basis for Jesus’ life and ministry as well as for his death and resurrection. This book provides a necessary corrective for this failure and shows the relevance of a Trinitarian Christology to the life and mission of the church in today’s world. I wholeheartedly recommend this work by one of the most capable theologians from the Majority World.”

—C. René Padilla President Emeritus, Kairos Foundation, Buenos Aires

See the website at www.jesus-trinity.co.uk.

Relating to Theme 1 Foundations for Mission key issues 1-3:

The relation of the Trinitarian nature of God to our understanding of Christian mission.
The relation of Christology to mission theology and practice.
The relation of the work of the Holy Spirit to mission theology and practice.

Meditation on Jesus Christ with a trinitarian perspective

A panoramic view of his birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, universal reign and return. This holistic picture of Jesus avoids a selective view of him (e.g., majoring on this death only or his life only) or a purely christological view of him without sufficient reference to the Father and the Spirit. This is an excerpt from The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never Knew (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2010).

Download as a pdf file here.

Christ's holistic mission with a trinitarian perspective

Healing the leper. This is an excerpt from The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never Knew (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2010). A fuller trinitarian perspective is found in later sections of the book.

Download as a pdf file here.

Relating to Theme 1 Foundations for Mission key issue 4:

How does our understanding of the mission of the Triune God affect our ecclesiology and church practice [and mission]?

The Trinity, the kingdom of God and human society

This excerpt from The Forgotten Jesus and the Trinity You Never Knew (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 2010) briefly but succinctly explores the implications of the Trinity for Human Society, Church, Unity, Mission and the Kingdom of God.

Download as a pdf file here.