The word mystery, Norman Anderson says, "expresses, better than any other term, the fact that we are here face to face with a subject which, by its very nature, the human mind can never fully fathom." Anderson wrestles with the doctrine by first setting the background to the contemporary debate and then tracing its development from the New Testament through the various early creeds.

Two detailed chapters analyze the views of contemporary theologians such as John Knox, John Robinson, D. N. Nineham and Geoffrey Lampe. Finally, Anderson develops his own "solution" to many of the problems which theologians have struggled to solve.

Sir Norman Anderson has recently retired as professor of Oriental laws and director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies at the University of London. He is the author of many books including Issues of Life and Death (IVP) and Christianity and Comparative Religion (IVP).