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BOOK REVIEWS 188 these signs must be called direct, but he fails to explain the reason for such instances. This volume provides an enlightening view of a renowned theologian's response to the problems of secularity. Though his insights may appear outdated in the light of recent developments, taken in the context in which they were written, they give evidence of his theological acuity in dealing with the impact of secularity on traditional Christian teaching. The Catholic University of America Washington, D. C. REGINALD MASTERSON, 0. P. Beyond Trinity. The Aquinas Lecture, 1969. By BERNARD CooKE, S. J. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1969. Pp. 73. $2.50. Few areas in the on-going theological task of reconceptualizing the basic beliefs of Christianity have been as neglected as that which is most central and determinative of all the others-the specifically Christian theistic concept of God as Triune in Personality or as a Trinity. Fr. Bernard Cooke, in this Aquinas lecture for 1969 given at Marquette, draws attention to the present inadequacies of the traditional formulation of this mystery somewhat as Leslie Dewart has more graphically but in an overly facile way done in his Fut1tre of Belief. Still, few positive suggestions have been forthcoming which are not variations on Rahner's essay in the early fifties, "Theos in the New Testament." Fr. Cooke has given this approach as rich and updated expression as is currently available. In fairness, his own declared intention here is not to attempt creative theology but "to suggest the possibilities for more understanding of the God we love and worship." (p. 5) His own suggestion is that we look "beyond Trinity," by which he ostensibly means that the doctrinal formula stretching from Nicea to Florence, while not to be jettisoned, ca.n no longer truly serve as a faith-symbolum. He argues strongly-with scholarly reserve and personal faith engagement-that man's sole cognitive approach to the identity of the Father, Son, and Spirit lies in the historical realities of Jesus' human life. This is achieved by living faith which from past historical faithevents encounters Jesus' present consciousness (one fully achieved only after the Resurrection and possession by the Spirit) of his precise relationship to the Father in and by their Spirit. Good! And well said by Fr. Cooke whose respect for tradition keeps him from a possible pitfall here, namely, an over-emphasis on the Trinity of the economy of salvation (the human experience of which is recorded in the New Testament) which runs the risk of suggesting a crypto-modalism. This accords with the insistence 184 BOOK REVIEWS of Tertullian and Origen that Jesus' earthly life was a revelation of the inner life of God himself, of the "immanent" Trinity. Primitive Christian worship, at any rate, was historical in an unprecedented way, and Fr. Cooke views " the present moment as continuing what had broken forth in history." (p. 47) What this implies is that trinitarian theology should begin with the missions (as Scheeben suggested) rather than ending with them. This may well be the author's strongest point. But, surely some intellectual conceptualization of the unique divine Personhood of the Word and his real distinction from the Father and the Spirit is humanly unavoidable. The humanity of Jesus is a nature; even though it is God's own humanity, it should not be looked upon as a " surrogate God." It is the reality of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that faith seeks to know. What Fr. Cooke questions is "the extent to which the idea 'trinity' corresponds (to this]." (p. 4) The troublesome concept for him is that of "person" as it stands over and against that of " nature." But, does his substitution of "community of persons" for "unity of nature" (pp. 59-60) really surmount the difficulty? Is it not itself a formulation fraught with overtones of at least a crypto-tritheism? While there is no juvenile disparagement of metaphysics here, there is a headlong flight from any engagement with that science in " doing" theology. The question that this raises is whether the shift of focus from the concerns of metaphysical anthropology to the social dimensions of man's existence can...

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