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BOOK REVIEWS The Trinity. By KARL RAHNER. Translated by Joseph Donceel. New York: Herder and Herder, 1970. Pp. 120. $4.95. It has become commonplace to lament the neglect of theological treatment of the mystery of the Trinity. Lonergan and Rahner stand nearly alone as exceptions to the failure, at least as far as constructive theology, in distinction from biblical and historical theology, is concerned. Each brings to his endeavor a common commitment to Transcendental Thomism, a qualified Kantian hermeneutic of St. Thomas initiated by Joseph Marechal . Lonergan's work is more in continuity with traditional Augustinianism -Thomism; if the methodology differs markedly, at least the same set of questions is raised. Rahner, in contrast, strikes out more originally and offers a newer alternative to Lonergan's study; he accepts the achievement of St. Thomas as an authentic, in-depth illumination of the mystery, but he sees little advantage for the contemporary faith-quest in remaining within the categories that suited an earlier moment of faith-consciousness. His is more an attempt to surpass the Thomistic synthesis without denying its own principles of intelligibility. His departure from a traditional approach, however, is hardly as radical as that of Robert Melville (" Creation and the Trinity," Theological Studies, March, 1969), and it attempts to harmonize continuity of dogma (the definitions of Nicaea, Lateran IV, Lyons, Florence) with genuine newness of theological concept and language. In part, this is accomplished by recovering a pre-Augustinian, Greek rather than Latin, mind-set in contemplating the mystery. What really dominates Rahner's thinking (or re-thinking) throughout, however, is German Existenz Philosophie, or at least that ontology of existence deriving from Heidegger that has taken such deep roots in Continental Catholic thought (and somewhat differently in Reformed and Evangelical theology). The present volume is a translation of Chapter Five of the Second Volume of Mysterium Salutis published in 1967. This prompts the question as to why the publishers chose to not include the earlier chapters, reputable in their own right, for example, those on the Trinity in the Bible by R. Schulte and F. J. Schierse. It is a concise study dealing with three main points: 1) the method and structure of the dogmatic treatise itself (a re-working of the article in the Schriften--Vol. IV of Theological Investigations); 2) the official doctrine of the Church; and 8) Rahner's own attempt at a new synthesis. This entails such economy of treatment that central structural elements are too often merely stated, resulting in highly convoluted, at times torturous, literary expression that renders trans175 176 BOOK REVIEWS lation exceedingly difficult. This may account for using the word " monotheism " as opposite to Trinitarianism, when seemingly the more proper term in the former case is "Unitarianism," and referring to the Persons as "different" (p. 101) rather than "distinct," which prior term at least connotes distinctness of essence. Likewise, to write that "the Father communicates Himself " (p. 102) suggests that the Father, though identified with his own essence, communicates that essence precisely as distinctly subsistent in a way constitutive of Fatherhood. Generally speaking , there is a tendency to be overly polemical and negative towards traditional Trinitarian theology; the charge of neglecting the Trinity of the " economy " is well taken, but it is a rather sweeping dismissal to assert: "in the usual presentation of the scholarly treatises on the Trinity, there is first developed a concept of " person " derived from experience and philosophy ...." (p. 43) This is not the case in St. Thomas's tract in the Summa Theologiae where " person " is the last of the three formal concepts to emerge (the other two being procession and relation), and this is true generally of the other classical thinkers. These, however, are negative remarks and may seem somewhat picayune. In a more positive vein, it is possible to single out the following central structural elements in the first two sections of the book. I) The triune character of God is unconcealed for us only in a revelation that occurs as an oikonomia, i.e., the Word is uttered to us and the Spirit is breathed forth within us (" in reality the Scriptures do not explicitly present a doctrine of the...

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