The book reviewed here is the most recent of more than thirty by this prolific author, philosopher of religion, and Church of England priest Keith Ward, Fellow of the British Academy and former Regius Professor of Divinity and Canon of Christ Church, University of Oxford, to mention only a few of his many prestigious positions. Involved for many years in the interdisciplinary discourse between science and religion, of which his God, Chance, and Necessity (1996), Pascal's Fire: Scientific Faith and Religious Understanding (2006), and The Big Questions in Science and Religion (2008) give ample proof, Ward in this new publication reinterprets the Christian doctrine of the Trinity in light of new cosmological insights. In this book, a sequel to his earlier The Concept of God (1977), he states “now that we are aware for the first time in history of the vast extent of the universe and the possibility of many forms of life very different from our own” (260–61) the established anthropomorphic and anthropocentric concepts of God require a “reformulation” so to enable an authentic, meaningful re‐appropriation of faith in God today. His reformulation Ward calls “cosmic,” since “it conceives of God in relation to a hugely expanded cosmos and not just to humans on this planet” (221).

The book comes with a strange cover showing a small full body x‐ray image of a corpse (of a mummy it seems), set against the backdrop of a starry night sky in between a partial blue Earth below and a partial reddish planet above. This trivializes, and thus distorts, the truly demanding content of what follows, which “raises deep human questions about the nature of ultimate reality and of how much humans can hope to understand that reality” (xv). The book consists of five “parts” conveniently divided into forty comparatively short chapters: The threefold nature of the Divine being (1–30), the biblical sources of Trinitarian thought (33–82), the Trinity, immanent and economic (85–142), the social Trinity (145–216), and the cosmic Trinity (219–62); the bibliography and (incomplete) indices of names and subjects follow (263–71). Also supplied is a disclosing “Preface” (ix–xvi) in which Ward explains the aim of the book and the methodology he uses. “This is not a historical work, detailing the development of Trinitarian doctrine. … I look at some of the best‐known theological proposals in recent theology … By critical engagement with them [viz. Karl Barth, Jürgen Moltmann, Karl Rahner, Catherine LaCugna, John Zizioulas, Richard Swinburne, Hans Urs von Balthasar, D. Brown, Brian Leftow, William Craig, William Hasker, and John Macquarrie, besides a constant critical dialogue with Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and Neo‐Platonism], I build up a doctrine of the Trinity which is meant to be not a rejection but an authentic development of traditional concerns and to constitute a reworking of the doctrine that will have plausibility and practical significance in the scientific age” (xiv). As an analytical philosopher and “critical realist” (129) Ward insists “on clarity, precision, and the formal analysis of language” when providing his “contribution … to contemporary debate about the Trinity and to reflection on the nature of what most religious believers call God …” (xv–xvi), thereby indicating an inter‐religious agenda, too. He argues passionately from an explicitly, well articulated, sometimes very bold judgmental personal perspective, not minding some redundancies and rephrasing. This approach not only leaves its mark on the casual style in which he presents issues; this also limits the argument somewhat since the author, who self‐mockingly admits of “loving” his “own reflection” (179), is more interested in making his point known than engaging in elaborate scholastic disputes. Yet, his lively, at times still very technical, style will engage readers of all disciplines and cultures because he not only avoids footnotes and acronyms but repeatedly reminds his audience of similarities and parallels in other cultures and religions (see 20–21, 75–76, 93, 136, 194, 247, 260); the author, after all, was a Joint President of the World Congress of Faiths for almost ten years.

While one might ask if Ward does full justice to the various Trinitarian concepts he disagrees with when mounting his “resolute defense of monotheism” and insisting—not the least also out of consideration for Islam and Judaism—“upon a unitive view of the Trinity” (145), he certainly is on a clear mission, namely to show that (and how) it is possible to reformulate Christian belief in the Triune God as expressed in the Athanasian Creed (see 3, 5, 239) even though “the God of a hundred billion galaxies will be far beyond human imagination” (106). Holding that all “visual representations of the Trinity are misleading” (140) and that “the representation of God as a male human is grossly inadequate, if not actually idolatrous” (139) since rooted in “the desire for a naively realistic idea of God” (128), Ward is convinced that the newly acquired cosmological knowledge “does help the imagination think that God may really be known by other beings in very different ways than those in which God is known by us” (250).

Admitting that “it is very difficult to find suitable words to use when … trying to describe relationships which are unique and probably beyond complete human understanding” (247) the author, like everyone else attempting to do this before, honestly struggles with giving adequate expression to what is beyond words, because “we have no independent access to the innermost being of God” (91). What can be done is “to draw distinctions between different meanings that words may have and point out what may be helpful and what may be misleading” (247). While the reformulation of Trinitarian doctrine will thus become more abstract and universal, it allows for an authentic re‐appreciation of God as “the name of that Mystery which sets a goal of supreme value to the cosmos [the ‘Father’ in the creation], mediates signs of that goal and value to those who are open to receive them [the ‘Son’], and evokes a commitment to hope that the goal can ultimately be realized [through the ‘Spirit’]” (257). Put in more general terms, speaking about Trinity in light of today's cosmological knowledge means speaking “about how, in this universe, Being by its very nature generates beings, expresses itself in and through beings, and unites them to Being, thus fulfilling a goal inherent in the cosmos as a whole” (259–60).

Christians base their knowledge of the Trinity on God's revelation in Christ according to biblical witness (see Part II). This knowledge rests upon God's contingent self‐disclosure in time which surely reveals something of what and who God truly is, but not necessarily everything, especially when pondering cosmic dimensions with “localized symbols for the divine” (139). Even on planet Earth “there may be diverse forms of revelation as the infinite God is disclosed to and responded to by different peoples with different histories and cultures” (261) and where “vestiges of the Trinity” (260) can be found throughout. However, humans have to be made aware that they are called to “participate in the union” with “the divine,” to “theosis, or sharing the nature of God,” that is, becoming “fully indwelt by the Spirit, being united in a communion of being with Christ, and knowing and loving the ultimate ground of all being as ‘Father’” (244). For Ward this “is not just a very abstruse theoretical matter” or an idle intellectual exercise, but, rather, “a way of living in relation to a reality which fulfills and perfects human life” (244–45).

This book certainly contains a lot of valuable material for stimulating interdisciplinary as well as interreligious discussion. It not only challenges conventional ideas and concepts about God and Trinity, but also provides innovative and excitingly new perspectives begging for further in‐depth exploration and study.