For a relatively short book, this is such a rich and comprehensive read encompassing a new worldview that is rationally consistent and aesthetically coherent. Bracken takes the reader on a philosophical journey integrating the ideas of Whitehead, Hegel, Laszlo, Luhmann, and many others to bring out an evolutionary cosmology that keeps the Trinitarian intact. I have a bias towards Integral theory and Evolutionary spirituality, and although those ideas are usually more grounded in the Eastern Enlightenment, it great to see Bracken ground this meta-narrative in a Christian cosmology. Bracken is constantly trying to work that tension between a top-down Divine attractor and bottom-up emerging structures to find that sweet spot. I found myself having to read these passages slowly, not necessarily because Bracken's prose is difficult, but more so because he packs so many insights in each paragraph. It seems to me that there is fledgling movement for a more trans-rational religion that incorporates our understanding of mysticism, metaphysics, the social and natural sciences, evolution, and culture. Bracken is taking these ideas seriously, and is one of the few process-relational theologians who is doing it so comprehensively and with great care. A must read if you are interested in the harmonious totality of the nature of existence and a rational, well thought out teleology to go along with it.
