Trinitarian Pneumatological Personhood and the Theology of John Zizioulas

“Ronald Adkins highlights the personal dynamics in the Christian understanding of the Trinity, based on the pneumatological (Spirit-oriented) theology of John Zizioulas. Zizioulas and Adkins emphasize the relationships between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, which help us to focus on right relations as much (or more) than on right beliefs about the Trinity.”


—Don Thorsen, Azusa Pacific Seminary





“As Pergamum’s angel once received praise and critique from the Revelator (Rev 2:12–17), so does its current bishop, Greek Orthodox theologian John Zizioulas, from Ronald Adkins. Writing as a Wesleyan evangelical, he recognizes how his own tradition (and Pentecostals too) can profit from Zizioulas’s theology of personhood while correcting its deficiencies. This volume advances the ecumenical cross-fertilization of the Trinitarian renaissance. As the Revelator would say: Those who have an ear, let them hear!”


—Jerome Van Kuiken, Oklahoma Wesleyan University





“Nearly forty years on from John Zizioulas’s seminal work on personhood, Ron Adkins addresses its impact on how we should view the human person. Adkins challenges the reader to think through what it means for human personhood to be made alive in and through Jesus Christ, whose own personhood is radically Trinitarian. For anyone interested in theological anthropology, especially from a specifically Trinitarian perspective, this is a must-read.”


—Graham McFarlane, London School of Theology