Reviews

Books reviewed:
Edward O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
Alister E. McGrath, Science and Religion: An Introduction
K. Helmut Reich, Fritz K. Oser, and W. George Scarlett, Being Human: The Case of Religion
Colin E. Gunton, The Triune Creator: A Historical and Systematic Study
V. S. Ramachandran and Sandra Blakeslee, Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind
Van A. Harvey, Feuerbach and the Interpretation of Religions     

Creator and Creature

This article suggests that the distinction between Creator and creature is not adequately expressed by the ‘customary pairings’ onto which the Creator/creature difference is so often mapped. The failure of these pairings is highlighted by testing them against the question of will: what is the difference between the Creator’s willing and ours? This question pushes beyond the biblical narrative to a more conceptualized and metaphysical discourse in which the difference between Creator and creature is displayed by God’s activity. Only a theology which describes God’s activity christologically is able to express fully the Creator/creature distinction.     

Sin and bioethics: why a liturgical anthropology is foundational.

The project of articulating a coherent, canonical, content-full, secular morality-cum-bioethics fails, because it does not acknowledge sin, which is to say, it does not acknowledge the centrality of holiness, which is essential to a non-distorted understanding of human existence and of morality. Secular morality cannot establish a particular moral content, the harmony of the good and the right, or the necessary precedence of morality over prudence, because such is possible only in terms of an ultimate point of reference: God. The necessity of a rightly ordered appreciation of God places centrally the focus on holiness and the avoidance of sin. Because the cardinal relationship of creatures to their Creator is worship, and because the cardinal corporate act of human worship is the Liturgy, morality in general and bioethics in particular can be understood in terms of the conditions necessary, so as worthily to enter into Eucharistic liturgical participation. Morality can be summed up in terms of the requirements of ritual purity. A liturgical anthropology is foundational to an account of the content-full morality and bioethics that should bind humans, since humans are first and foremost creatures obliged to join in rightly ordered worship of their Creator. When humans worship correctly, when they avoid sin and pursue holiness, they participate in restoring created reality.     

Salvaging the Biological Design Argument in Light of Darwinism?

It is a common assumption that biological organisms appear as though they were designed. Prior to the Darwinian revolution, the order of biological organisms was often taken as a sign of their divine Creator. It is also commonly argued that Darwinian evolutionary theory as a good explanation for the adaptive complexity of biology reveals this appearance to be merely an illusion. However, in recent philosophical discussion several defenses of the compatibility of divine design and Darwinian evolution have emerged. These defenses insist not only that divine design and evolution are compatible, but even that biological organisms can continue to function as pointers to the Creator, even in a Darwinian cosmos. This article explores and extends these recent arguments. I analyze four different strategies for arguing that the wisdom of the Creator is apparent in biological organisms. The basic underlying assumption is that the products of some larger whole can reflect the rationality and designedness of that whole.     

Short Notices

Jerrold E. Levy, In the Beginning: The Navajo Genesis Luise Schottroff, Silvia Schroer & Marie-Theres Wacker, Feminist Interpretation: The Bible in Woman's Perspective Ben Witherington, Grace in Galatia: A Commentary on St Paul's Letter to the Galatians Donald Armstrong (ed.), The Truth about Jesus R. N. Longenecker (ed.), Life in the Face of Death: The Resurrection Message of the New Testament A. Friesen, Erasmus, the Anabaptists and the Great Commission Alan P. F. Sell (ed.), Mill and Religion: Contemporary Responses to Mill's, ‘Three Essays on Religion’ G. W. F. Hegel (ed. Peter C. Hodgson), Lectures on the Philosophy of Religion, Volume III: The Consummate Religion John Webster, Barth's Moral Theology: Human Action in Barth's Thought Anne Hunt, What are they saying about the Trinity? David A. S. Fergusson, The Cosmos and the Creator: An Introduction to the Theology of Creation C. David Grant, Thinking Through Our Faith: Theology for 21st Century Christians Walter Wink, The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium Michael Nazir-Ali, Citizens and Exiles: Christian Faith in a Plural World Robert J. Schreiter, The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies John Gladwin, Love and Liberty: Faith and Unity in a Postmodern Age Eric O. Springsted (ed.), The Spirituality and Theology: Essays in Honour of Diogenes Allen Kenneth Leech, Drugs and Pastoral Care S. E. Lammers and A. Verhey (eds), On Moral Medicine: Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics Anthony Elliot (ed.), Freud 2000     

Calvin, Osiander and Participation in God

Abstract: This article investigates the ways in which Calvin's controversy with Osiander has made the Reformed tradition skittish when confronted with categories of participation. An examination of the similarities between Calvin and Osiander are probed, with an eye to seeing how the debate functioned in refining Calvin's doctrine of participation whose strict trinitarian boundaries kept creature and Creator distinct.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Counseling for Career Development by E. L. Tolbert. Career Education for Gifted and Talented Students by Kenneth B. Hoyt and Jean R. Hebeler. Work Is Here to Stay, Alas by Sar A. Levitan and William B. Johnston. Occupational Careers: A Sociological Perspective by Walter L. Slocum. About Behaviorism by B. F. Skinner. Rehabilitation of the Urban Disadvantaged edited by John G. Cull and Richard E. Hardy. The Black Self by Marvin D. Wyne, Kinnard P. White, and Richard H. Coop. Severe Disabilities: Social and Rehabilitation Approaches edited by Richard E. Hardy and John G. Cull. Guidance Program Development and Management by Herman J. Peters and Bruce Shertzer. The Counselor and Military Service Opportunities by Dean L. Hummel. One volume of “Special Topics in Counseling,” Series VII of the Guidance Monograph Series, edited by Shelley C. Stone and Bruce Shertzer. Public Schools of Choice: A Plan for the Reform of American Education by Mario D. Fantini. Guidance Services in the Modern School by Merle M. Ohlsen. The Organization of Pupil Personnel Programs: Issues and Practices edited by Raymond N. Hatch. The Counselor's Handbook edited by Gail F. Farwell, Neal R. Gamsky, and Philippa Mathieu-Coughlan. One volume of the Intext Series in Guidance and Counseling, edited by Philip A. Perrone.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Problem Pregnancy and Abortion Counseling edited by Robert R. Wilson. Career Guidance: A Handbook of Methods by Robert E. Campbell, Garry R. Walz, Juliet V. Miller, and Sara Finn Kriger. Drug Abuse in Industry: Growing Corporate Dilemma edited by Jordan M. The Reform of Secondary Education: A Report to the Public and the Profession by the National Commission on the Reform of Secondary Education, B. Frank Brown, Chairman. The Counselor and Sexuality by Marianne Mitchell. One volume of “Special Topics in Counseling,” Series VII of the Guidance Monograph Series, edited by Shelley C. Stone and Bruce Shertzer. Drug Dependence and Rehabilitation Approaches edited by Richard E. Hardy and John G. Cull. The Counselor and Drug Abuse Programs by Roger F. Aubrey. One volume of “Special Topics in Counseling,” Series VII of the Guidance Monograph Series, edited by Shelley C. Stone and Bruce Shertzer. The Counselor and Youth Employment by William C. Bingham. One volume of “Special Topics in Counseling,” Series VII of the Guidance Monograph Series, edited by Shelley C. Stone and Bruce Shertzer. The Counselor and Black/White Relations by James D. Beck. One volume of “Special Topics in Counseling,” Series VII of the Guidance Monograph Series, edited by Shelley C. Stone and Bruce Shertzer.     

The Spirit Moved Over the Face of the Waters: The Holy Spirit and the Created Order

The article is a sketch for a dogmatics of the Creator Spirit and contends that the Spirit's relation to the creation in general cannot be treated either without attention being paid to its trinitarian matrix or in the absence of some consideration of the human creation in particular. A christologically formed attempt is made to expand the Cappadocian theology of the Spirit as the creation's perfecting cause. This leads into some fragmentary remarks about the Spirit in relation to church, political order and culture more generally.     

The Role of Religion in the Collective Identity of the White Racialist Movement

This paper applies the concept of identity to the white racialist or separatist movement, typically referred to as the white supremacist movement in many mainstream publications. While similar racial identity and shared perceptions of the meaning of racialism bind the movement together, there are other important concerns that potentially divide the movement but also have served to attract members to it. One of these potentially divisive areas, the differences in religious views, is explored here through an analysis of the white separatist literature and interviews with movement members. Three belief systems of movement members—Christian or Israel Identity, Church of the Creator, and Odinism—are examined. All three contribute to strengthening the racial identity of white racialists, but are at the same time potentially antagonistic to each other. It is suggested that this religious divide will be a key issue in influencing the future development of the movement.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Creator , Creation and Faith , by Norman Young The Precarious Organization : Sociological Explorations of the Church's Mission and Structure , by Mady A. Thung . Christian Meditation : Its Art And Practice , by H. Wayne Pipkin . Mysticism : Window on a World View , by Margaret Lewis Furse . A Reader's Guide to the Great Religions (second edition), by Charles J. Adams (ed.). Dialogue in Community : Statement and Reports of a Theological Consultation , Chiang Mai , Thailand Faith in the Midst of Faiths : Reflections on Dialogue in Community by Stanley J. Samartha (ed.). Inside Out : A Style for Dialogue (Risk , Vol. 13, No. 3, 1977). Bibliografi Ilmu Agama dan Theologia Kristen Dalam Bahasa Indonesia , Jilid 1, 2. Bibliography of the Scientific Study of Religions and Christian Theology in the Indonesian Language , Volumes 1, 2 by J. A. B. Jongeneel .     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book reviews in this article:
T he P lace of V alue in a W orld of F act . By Wolfgang Kohler.
T he 1938 M ental M easurements Y earbook . Edited by Oscar Krisen Buros.
B iographies of C hild D evelopment : The Mental Growth Careers of Eighty-four Infants and Children . Part One by Arnold Gesell; Part Two by Catherine S. Amatruda. Burton M. Castner, and Helen Thompson.
S ocial I nterest : A Challenge to Mankind. By Alfred Adler.
W orld M edical E ncyclopaedia : London
A V isual M otor G estalt T est A nd I ts C linical U se . By Lauretta Bender.     

Odd Couplets: CPE, Journaling, and Spiritual Poetry

It is argued that concepts of what is poetryand what is a journalare broader than might be considered and vital to the spirit of I AM in us. It begins with word derivations that shed light on conceptual connections that might otherwise be missed. Through the author's CPE experience, the I AM of what we do, write, and feel manifests: Creation connected to Creator as Co-Creator, explored through a wide variety of word-arts under five (5) themes: I AM, empty/full, birth/death, bridges, and the path of unknowing. Conclusion: We are I AM and I AM is us.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Susan J. White, Christian Worship and Technological Change Martien E. Brinkman, Progress in Unity? Fifty Years of Theology Within the World Council of Churches, 1945–1995: A Study Guide, Louvain, Peeters, and Grand Rapids, MI, Eerdmans Paul F. Knitter, One Earth, Many Religions     

COSMIC PURPOSE AND THE CONTINGENCY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION

Some understand the evolutionary process as more or less predictable; others stress its contingency. I argue that both Christian evolutionists who have assumed that the purposes of the Creator can be realized only through more or less predictable processes as well as those who infer from the contingency of the evolutionary process to the lack of purpose in the universe generally, are mistaken if the Creator escapes from the limits imposed on the creature by temporality, as the traditional Augustinian account supposes. The notion of “purpose” must itself be reinterpreted in such a case. It makes no difference whether the appearance of Homo sapiens is the inevitable result of a steady process of complexification stretching over billions of years, or whether it comes about through a series of coincidences that would have made it entirely unpredictable from the (causal) human standpoint. Either way, the outcome is of God's making, and from the biblical standpoint may appear as part of God's plan.     

WHAT IS A SCIENTIFIC WORLD VIEW,AND HOW DOES IT BEAR ON THE INTERPLAY OF SCIENCE AND RELIGION?

Abstract. What is a scientific worldview, and why should we care? One worldview can knit together various notions, and therefore understanding a worldview requires analysis of its component parts. Stripped to its minimum, a scientific worldview consists strictly of falsifiable components. Such a worldview, based solely on ideas that can be tested with empirical observation, conforms to the highest levels of objectivity but is severely limited in utility. The limits arise for two reasons: first, many falsifiable ideas cannot be tested adequately until their repercussions already have been felt; second, the reach of science is limited, and ethics, which compose an inevitable part of any useful worldview, are largely unfalsifiable. Thus, a worldview that acts only on scientific components is crippled by a lack of moral relevance. Organized religion traditionally has played a central role in defining moral values, but it lost much of its influence after the discovery that key principles (such as the personal Creator of Genesis) contradict empirical reality. The apparent conundrum is that strictly scientific worldviews are amoral, while many long‐held religious worldviews have proven unscientific. The way out of this conundrum is to recognize that nonscientific ideas, as distinct from unscientific ideas, are acceptable components of a scientific worldview, because they do not contradict science. Nonscientific components of a worldview should draw upon scientific findings to explore traditional religious themes, such as faith and taboo. In contrast, unscientific ideas have been falsified and survive only via ignorance, denial, wishful thinking, blind faith, and institutional inertia. A worldview composed of both scientific components and scientifically informed nonscientific components can be both objective and ethically persuasive.     

REVIEWS

Book reviewed in this article:
The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies, by Jon D. Levenson
The Origins of Christian Morality:The First Two Centuries, by Wayne Meeks
Believing Three Ways in One God: A reading of the Apostles' Creed by Nicholas
When Women Were Priests:Women's Leadership in the Early Church and the Scandal of their Subordination in the Rise of Christianity, by Karen jo Torjesen
Judaism and Modernity: Philosophical Essays, by Gillan Rose
The One, the Three and the Many:God, Creation and the Culture of Modernity, by Colin E. Gunton
Passage to Modernity:An Essay in the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture, by Louis Dupre
Back to the Rough Ground: 'Phronesis' and 'Techne' in Modern Philosophy and in Aristotle, by Joseph Dunne.
Kierkegaard as Negative Theologian, by David R. Law
The Hasting that Waits: Karl Barth's Ethics, by Nigel Biggar
GOD as Trinity: Relationality and temporality in Divine Life, by Ted Peters
Discipleship of Equals, by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza
Unleasing the Scripture: Freeing the Bible from Captivity to America, by Stanley Hauerwas
Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction, by J.Phillip Wogaman     

The use of conditional probabilities in applications of Holland's theory

The hexagon of J. L. Holland (1973, Making Vocational Choices: A Theory of Careers, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice-Hall) is a useful heuristic device for predicting congruency and consistency among the six personality/environment types specified by his theory. One limitation of the traditional hexagon is the implicit bidirectionality: the hexagon displays a single distance between two types. People in applied areas may assume a symmetry which does not exist. Examples are given of situations in which a consistent asymmetry occurs; e.g., in the illustrative data presented, C (Conventional) types are more likely to have E (Enterprising) as a secondary interest than E types are to have C as a secondary interest. Implications of such asymmetries are discussed and suggestions made concerning counseling and other applications.     

Truth and Holiness: The Way of the Cross

The Unity We Have and the Unity We Seek: Ecumenical Prospects for the Third Millennium , Jeremy Morris and Nicholas Sagovsky (eds), T. & T. Clark 2003, A Continuum Imprint (Hb 0-567-8907-X, Pb 0-567-08879-0), pp. xix + 244, Pb £14.99
In One Body Through the Cross: The Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity , Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson (eds), Eerdmans 2003 (0-8028-2298-3), pp. 62, Pb £7.99/$10     

Does God Play Dice? A Response to Niels H. Gregersen, “The Idea of Creation and the Theory of Autopoietic Processes”

The idea that the Creator has a plan for creation is deeply rooted in the Christian notion of Providence. This notion seems to suggest that the history of creation must be the execution of the providential plan of God. Such an understanding of divine providence expects science to confirm that cosmic history is under supernatural guidance, that evolution is therefore oriented toward a goal—to bring forth human beings, for example. The problem is, however, that science finds evidence for neither supernatural guidance nor teleology in nature. To address this problem, I understand Niels H. Gregersen to suggest that God is involved in the creative process. The reason science cannot demonstrate God's supernatural guidance of evolution is that the Creator structures the process from within. Gregersen argues that God is involved in the process of creation by changing the overall probability pattern of evolving systems.
In my view, such a model of how God interacts with creation is supported neither by orthodox Christianity nor by modern science. After a critique of Gregersen's argument and a brief history of the relationship between Christianity and science, I shall suggest an alternative. It is that the freedom of creation to create itself is implicit in the fundamental dogma of Christianity that God is love.