In many ways there has been a renaissance in academic publications on the subject of the Trinity. On the whole, the content of these publications has, by and large, been dominated by traditional interpretations of the doctrine. On one side of the debate is the Roman Catholic David Coffey who dominates with his Deus Trinitas: The Doctrine of the Triune God. On the other is the late Colin Gunton of the United Reformed Church with his The One the Three and the Many, as well as his Triune Creator. In addition, a wealth of Eastern Orthodox publications have made both Greek and Russian understandings of the Trinity accessible to the English reader. It is against this backdrop that Bracken adds his own distinct and particular offering to this trinitarian renaissance.

The One in the Many has two bold aims. The first is to address contemporary objections to metaphysics. Bracken’s thesis is to be understood as an apologetic against current postmodern philosophers, Derrida in particular, who debunk the whole notion of the metaphysical. The second is to offer an alternative, what Bracken describes as a process-oriented metaphysics based on the logic of inter-subjectivity. Thus, rather cleverly, in Part One Bracken shows that for all Derrida’s protestations, in the end, Derrida himself constructs a new metaphysic even as he seeks to destroy the assumptions of classical western metaphysics. It would appear, thus, that we cannot really escape the metaphysical!

In part Two, Bracken constructs his own process-oriented metaphysic based on a quite exacting understanding of A.N. Whitehead. Here Bracken argues for a dynamic understanding of divine being based on the notion of inter-subjectivity. To do so, Bracken draws upon the notion of ‘systems theory’ to show that Whiteheadian ‘societies’ exist in their own right, thus providing a basis for describing the Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit as a democratic community of ‘persons’ who are unified by a shared ‘ontogeneric matrix’ Bracken describes as the divine nature.

At this point the reader will be conscious of a great divide in meaning! This book is not an easy read! Bracken draws from a number of major and minor thinkers in order to weave a very complex argument for what is, essentially, a simple thesis. He assumes a reading ability that will exclude all but an elite philosophical cognoscenti. For those interested in postmodern deconstructivist discussions about the nature of God, this book will be undeniably stimulating. For those who are interested in seeking creative ways of bridging the gulf between religious and scientific talk about God, there will be much that is worth reading. However, for those who presume from the title of the book that they will meet material similar to that found in Gunton’s, The One, the Three and the Many, they will be disappointed.

---