Van Til attempts to slay the beast of liberal Protestantism as it rears its ugly head in the writings of three American professors of theology. Van Til's position, though a minority one, is important enough but somehow his major arguments suffer from a certain lack of penetration into the issues.—D. J. B.

This is the first in a series of college texts dealing with biblical archaeology. Written in outline form, the book gives a clear account of the discovery and significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. A careful analysis is offered for the content of each set of scrolls. Chapter XIX is a comparison of the Qumran sect and early Christianity. Numerous parallels in faith and rite can be drawn between the two groups: e.g., Messianic and eschatological beliefs as well as similar (...) practices of baptism, communal meals, celibacy, etc. The author claims that all of these elements are transformed when integrated into the primitive Christian faith. This book is a very useful and judicious introduction to the Dead Sea Scrolls.—D. J. B. (shrink)

Along with a line by line translation and interpretation of the fragments, are four essays: "Parmenides' Concept of Being," "Aletheia and Doxa," "The World of Appearance Described in the Doxa," and "Parmenides in the Ancient Philosophical Tradition." Parmenides did not understand the logical connection between time and process: undifferentiated Being is without process but, curiously enough, possesses temporal duration. The philosophical tradition wrongly interpreted the Doxa as Parmenides' cosmogony. In short, this important book is a splendid example of painstaking scholarship. (...) The footnotes and references to other critical studies of Parmenides are comprehensive.—D. J. B. (shrink)

This book is a sort of junior search for the historical Jesus. The authoress throws in a dash of dialectic by interlarding the cursory text with questions for the reader. The presentation of complex exegetical and theological problems is so oversimplified that this book should prove equally embarrassing for both the liberals and the orthodox.—D. J. B.

This beautifully definitive edition of More's Utopia, the fourth volume in the Yale Edition of the complete works, appears on the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the original composition. The latin text used is the one of March 1518 ; but included is a complete list of variant readings from the 1516, 1517, and November 1518 editions. Using a lucid revision of G. C. Richards' translation, Hexter and Surtz provide a wealth of helpful details about the textual, linguistic, historical, (...) and cultural character of Utopia as well as a discussion of it as a work of literary art. The text is followed by a number of interesting illustrations and a lengthy, analytical commentary. More's work gave rise to a host of similar descriptions of imaginary lands but it is Utopia which is still commonly read today. Its relatively down-to-earth quality gives Utopia a certain modern appeal, and needless to say, it is an important work for anyone interested in the ordering of human society.—D. J. B. (shrink)

Contemporary problems associated with the notion of determinism are focused by this symposium in three major areas of inquiry--philosophy, physical science, and law and moral responsibility. Determinism in modern physics is capably analyzed by a number of eminent contributors; but with respect to its significance for a philosophy of nature, little that is new or suggestive emerges from this analysis. The distinction between "hard" and "soft" determinism and its implications in legal and moral contexts provoke the most valuable part of (...) the discussion.--J. F. D. (shrink)

The selections in this anthology range from Plato to Tolstoy, concentrating mainly on the Greeks, Kant, and representative figures from eighteenth-century Britain. All of the standard authors are included and speak for themselves. Sesonske has contributed a short but insightful introduction suggesting that a myriad of questions really underlie the seemingly simple question "What is art?" and showing that in each historical period of aesthetic theory there is a shift of terminology and interest. Professor Sesonske has also drawn up an (...) extremely useful bibliography.—D. J. B. (shrink)

This little book contains lectures given by Vlastos in the summer of 1972 in the Danz Lectures series of the University of Washington. His theme relates to that often rather paternalistic exercise of plotting out the extent to which Science was Revealed to the Greeks. In his view, "it was not given to them... to grasp the essential genius of the scientific method." However, they did discover "the conception of the cosmos that is presupposed by the idea of natural science (...) and by its practice". This discovery, an intellectual "revolution," was of the view, upheld by the Presocratic physiologoi, that the world is characterized by "unbreachable regularities" which make the world a "cosmos," which "constitute the order of nature and, if known, would yield the ultimate explanation of every natural phenomenon". This was revolutionary since it rejected the traditional belief in an unlimited area of possible divine supernatural intervention in the world, a belief which made perception of the universe a perception of an "irrational universe". Thus, "for the first time in history", man achieved, with Presocratic physiologia, "a perception of a rational universe". In the remaining two chapters of the book, Vlastos examines Plato, represented as a "fierce opponent" of the revolution who appropriated the newly discovered cosmos, refashioning it "on the pattern of his own idealistic and theistic metaphysics". This interpretation of Plato is developed mainly through a study of the Timaeus and especially of the "Theory of Celestial Motions" and of the "Theory of the Structure of Matter". Plato appears as opposed to the "impiety" of the physiologoi, proposing himself in the Timaeus a transcendent god as his primary cosmological principle. At the same time, the Timaeus reflects, as Vlastos shows in a brief survey of earlier and contemporary Greek astronomy, an awareness of the "empirical facts" established by the astronomers and Plato’s desire to reconcile these facts with his metaphysical, theological, a priori convictions. This reconciliation involved postulating a system of celestial circular motions, a theory whose "scientific value" Vlastos does not doubt, despite its dependence on a "metaphysical scheme". Vlastos concludes that although Plato fully acknowledged a supernatural power in the universe, he guaranteed the regularities of nature against divine intervention. There is an unfailing natural law. However, its ground for Plato is not natural but supernatural. In examining the "Theory of the Structure of Matter", Vlastos again finds that Plato’s world-order resembles very much that of the physiologoi and, like theirs, is "safe from supernatural interference". The "elementarism" of the Timaeus is shown to be indebted to the Atomists, but also to innovate by opening the way to the intertransformability of elementary corpuscules. What "scientific value" does this theory of the transformation of elements have? It is neither entailed nor contradicted by observation. Vlastos suggests rather that its grounds are "aesthetic". At any rate, Vlastos concludes that although Plato opposed the physiologoi in reintroducing supernatural agency, he annexed their conception of cosmos. In his "perversely original way," he thus "sustained the faith that our world is cosmos. He gave rational men a pious faith to live by in two millennia all through which science was more prophecy than reality". Some of Vlastos’ more extensive footnotes are collected in an Appendix, which is followed by a Bibliography and Indices. (shrink)

This beautifully definitive edition of More's Utopia, the fourth volume in the Yale Edition of the complete works, appears on the four hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the original composition. The latin text used is the one of March 1518 ; but included is a complete list of variant readings from the 1516, 1517, and November 1518 editions. Using a lucid revision of G. C. Richards' translation, Hexter and Surtz provide a wealth of helpful details about the textual, linguistic, historical, (...) and cultural character of Utopia as well as a discussion of it as a work of literary art. The text is followed by a number of interesting illustrations and a lengthy, analytical commentary. More's work gave rise to a host of similar descriptions of imaginary lands but it is Utopia which is still commonly read today. Its relatively down-to-earth quality gives Utopia a certain modern appeal, and needless to say, it is an important work for anyone interested in the ordering of human society.—D. J. B. (shrink)

Hardly a systematic anthropology, Heschel's book, which has at times an almost devotional flavor, contains enough insights, aphorisms, moral intuitions, and wise asides to be worth reading.—D. J. B.

Though the individual chapters appeared as essays in various journals, their cogency and urbane scholarship make them particularly noteworthy in book form. In the chapter "Social Problems in the Early Church" Ehrhardt suggests an important methodological principle: the history of theological development cannot ignore the social conditions of the little people who accepted the Christian message. The most demanding chapter of the book, "Creatio ex Nihilo," is also the most unsatisfactory. Ehrhardt has command of the historical sources, but his treatment (...) of the relevant philosophical problems is less than clear. It need only be added that the first chapter, "The Theology of New Testament Criticism" is a devastating attack on unenlightened faith.—D. J. B. (shrink)

An introduction to the author's conception of Ganzheitlichkeit and Terminalkausalität, and the first part of an inquiry into the relevance and adequacy of this conception for three different types of phenomena--atomic, biodynamic, and neural. The concept of Terminalkausalität is proposed as a basis on which the theoretical dualism of modern physics, and particularly the problems associated with the uncertainty relation, may be overcome. Further, this concept suggests the principles by which the various natural sciences may be unified. --J. F. D.

Neil offers a comprehensive but highly readable account of the world expansion and missionary efforts of Christianity—in its Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox varieties. What emerges rather clearly is the close connection between post-Renaissance European political expansion and Christian missionary activities: the former appears to have been the condition of the latter with a rather detrimental tendency to over-identify a paternalistic Western culture with Christian religious belief and practice. Neil writes with equanimity but points out that present ecumenical thinking was foreign (...) to 19th century Roman Catholic missionaries. This is the sixth volume of The Pelican History of the Church and a worthy member of a distinguished series.—D. J. B. (shrink)

For anyone intrigued by the possibility of the so-called "psi phenomena", this is a rather interesting, even entertaining book to ponder. Kahn describes an entire gamut of unusual or weird happenings and gives the biographies of a number of persons supposedly possessing occult powers. Philosophers would probably be more cautious in their interpretations than Kahn who has a tendency to claim that every important thinker has had a vital fascination with psi phenomena.—D. J. B.

Using rather standard techniques of linguistic philosophy, the author develops an historical and critical analysis of Ghazali's doctrine of God as utterly unique and unknowable. Divine uniqueness and unknowability are logically implied by the statement "There is one god, Allah" and are therefore not "self-refuting" but are simply analytic statements of honorific and not descriptive value. The important historical question arises then as to how Ghazali can logically talk about God "revealing" himself. Shehadi attempts to rescue Ghazali from this logical (...) bind by arguing that the Moslem creed is not a description of God but a practical directive for men. Once given the belief in divine unknowability, if Ghazali wants Allah to "authenticate" a religious creed this would be "inconsistent." Reading these sorts of arguments, gives one the impression that this volume is a Moslem imitation of a Christian original. Somehow this type of philosophical approach does not seem to do justice to either religion.—D. J. B. (shrink)

This book is a sort of junior search for the historical Jesus. The authoress throws in a dash of dialectic by interlarding the cursory text with questions for the reader. The presentation of complex exegetical and theological problems is so oversimplified that this book should prove equally embarrassing for both the liberals and the orthodox.—D. J. B.

This is a well-chosen anthology selected from the Levy translation but topically arranged according to Karl Schlechta's German edition. Professor Clive's rather elegant introduction, despite occasional lapses into apparent rhetoric, is penetrating. Clive interprets Nietzsche "dialectically," in terms of Nietzsche's "love-hate relationship to himself." Nietzsche's contributions to philosophy, philology, artistic criticism, and to the literature of stunning aphorisms are all duly noted. But Nietzsche emerges as typically modern in that his own irony, at his best moments, was itself subject to (...) a lucid scepticism.—D. J. B. (shrink)

Thomas surveys most of the major philosophers attempting to analyze each figure as a representative of different religious philosophies. While the expositions are competent, much of the material has been well-worked by similar studies. It is unfortunate that the author did not develop his own, often very pertinent, critical remarks usually argued from the standpoint of some form of modified theism. The book, however, is useful as an introductory text or for review purposes.—D. J. B.

A series of amorphous essays, including one by S. Radhakrishnan, so general in content as to be of dubious value. For those who have a developed sense of whimsey, there are a few striking aphorisms to be garnered here and there in the volume.—D. J. B.

Writing in Elizabethan English and Renaissance Latin, Stapleton was one of the leading controversialists in the Catholic Counter Reformation of the sixteenth century. Two areas of specific disagreement were the problem of justification and church government but Stapleton could indulge in the usual bitter polemics of the period by emphasizing Protestant abuses and minimizing similar conditions on the Catholic side. Father O'Connell writes well and is in control of the sources.—D. J. B.

This collection of five essays, dedicated to the memory of Robert Daniel Miller, deserves more notice than it has hitherto received. Each of the papers represents some one "facet" of Plato's thought, and most make a provocative, if not always convincing, contribution to their subjects.

A collection of addresses given by men of various backgrounds at the First Institute of Ethics arranged by Beth Tzedec Congregation, Toronto.—D. J. B.

This is a standard selection of readings taken from Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and James. The introduction and commentary are not sufficient to distinguish this anthology from similar introductions—D. J. B.

This, the second volume in the English translation of the famous Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, covers the Greek words in the delta to eta section of the lexicon. An indispensable exegetical aid, the entire volume is a treasury of information, but of particular interest is the discussion of dike, one of those key New Testament concepts at the heart of subsequent theological speculation.—D. J. B.

This is a collection of Professor De Koninck's incidental writings, treating of such topics as "Contre l'antisémitisme," "Pie IX sur l'ignorance invincible de la vraie religion," "Ce qui est à César," et al. Whatever the intrinsic merits of these essays, they will be of interest to anyone who has followed the late Professor De Koninck's career as a scholar, teacher, and dedicated Catholic layman.—D. J. B.

Raju offers a comprehensive interpretation of Western, Chinese, and Indian philosophy, using the two central concepts of "inwardness" and "outwardness" to delineate the essential tendencies of each tradition. Western Philosophy has overemphasized "outwardness", Indian Philosophy "inwardness", while Chinese Philosophy, being mostly concerned with man as social animal, reached a golden mean but failed to produce deep metaphysical speculation. Raju contends that the various traditions should be evaluated in terms of how much each one has contributed to a "full and complete (...) human life." Though his concepts of "inwardness" and "outwardness" are perhaps not extensive enough, Raju is always lucid and has made a defensible beginning for comparative philosophy.—D. J. B. (shrink)

Concentrating on Teilhard's Christological interests, this book, written by a fellow Jesuit, is eminently successful in showing the essentially theological character and motivation behind Teilhard's speculations. Christology permeates the supposedly scientific theory of evolution. In Teilhard's universe, Christ is the physical center for mankind and for the material world. This vision of Teilhard's, almost Pauline in scope, is the fascination and the consternation of both theologians and scientists. A concluding chapter treats of some of the theological "risks" implicit in Teilhard's (...) attempted synthesis. Mooney is always helpful in his expositions and gracious in his criticisms. Recent, more radical theological sallies make Teilhard appear surprisingly orthodox but rather more profound. Mooney has done us a service with his book, but one emerges feeling the need for a detailed critique of Teilhard's works.—D. J. B. (shrink)

The thesis is that any connection between Jesus and Christianity is accidental at best. Jesus was a vibrant personality capable of stirring crowds to eschatological hopes. Later followers, notably Paul, invest the simple Galilean with all the features of a Hellenic cult savior, even attributing to him a "magically reanimated corpse." Anyone interested in an adequate discussion of the development of the Biblical kerygma will not find it in this book.—D. J. B.

The Platonic School regarded the Alcibiades I as the most suitable introduction to Plato. Proclus' wideranging discussion includes later Neoplatonism as well as questions of Aristotelian logic. O'Neill's translation is always readable and his commentary helpful without being fussy.—D. J. B.

This is Volume IV in the Evangelical Commentary on the Bible. As one might expect, the authors avoid novelty—which does not detract from the value of their work. A lengthy introduction provides a lucid summary of contemporary scholarship on the influence, distinctive features, background, problems, and text of the Fourth Gospel. The authors incline to the view that the Gospel is at least the "witness" of the Apostle John though the actual writing may have been done by a later "John (...) the Presbyter or an unnamed disciple." Each page of the commentary has four divisions: 1) text, 2) exegesis, 3) exposition, 4) footnotes. The exposition is intended to relate John's message to contemporary life and is, therefore, a useful preaching aid.—D. J. B. (shrink)