Nice and Hot Disputes

For a number of years, I have wanted a historical study of the decline of Trinitarian theology between the Reformation and the Enlightenment. James Buckley tells part of that story in his history of atheism, but his interests are broader. Philip Dixon has produced the book I’ve been looking for – or at least a big chunk of what I’ve been looking for, in his 2003 book Nice and Hot Disputes: The Doctrine of the Trinity in the Seventeenth Century (T&T Clark). Dixon looks primarily at debates about the Trinity in seventeenth-century England, focusing more particularly on changing conceptions of “person.” Along the way, he suggests that debates about Trinitarian theology reflect broader cultural trends – for example, a shift from an analogical to a flatly univocal understanding of language. I hope to comment more on Dixon’s book later. For now, let me just say it’s an excellent study that fills part of the huge gap in our our understanding of the historical fortunes of Trinitarian theology.