Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: The Myth of Christian Uniqueness, eds. John Hick and Paul Knitter. From Here to Where?: Australian Christians Owning the Past-Embracing the Future, by Andrew Dutney. Lancelot Andrewes, le Predicateur (1555–1626) aux sources de la theologie mystique de l'Eglise d'Angleterre, by Nicholas Lossky. Ministries Examined: Laity, Clergy, Women, and Bishops in a Time of Change, by John H.P. Reumann. Peacemaking in a Nuclear Age, a report of a working party, under the chairmanship of Bishop Richard Harries, of the Board for Social Responsibility of the General Synod of the Church of England.     

Finding a Locus for Dialogue between Genetics and Theology

Christoph Schönborn, Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, has dismissed Pope John Paul II's position on theology and science as “rather vague and unimportant.” I believe that the Cardinal's analysis of John Paul II's views on evolution and Christian faith deserves a careful and detailed response from all those concerned with the constructive dialogue between science and theology that John Paul II so strongly supported for decades. My ‘bottom line’ is twofold. First, Cardinal Schönborn's concern over evolution is unnecessary: What scientists view as chance in nature Christians can see as God's ongoing and purposeful action in the creation of life and humanity. Second, the Cardinal's concern is also misplaced. When evolutionary theory is co-opted by atheists to serve their agenda the Cardinal should challenge the atheists, not the science they falsely claim proves their views.     

Christian Responses to the Political Challenge of Islam

The article provides an overview of the political dimension of Islam, drawing attention to the traditional understanding of Islam's fusion of the political and the religious. An assessment of both the historical roots of Islam and more contemporary Islam political theologies makes manifest the problematic and variegated nature of this assumption. The contemporary responses to Islam in the public square of three Christian theologians are then analysed in the light of the evident diversity of political Islam: Kenneth Cragg, Pope Benedict XVI, and Rowan Williams, drawing them into conversation with Oliver O'Donovan and John Milbank. They each offer complementary insights into theologies of the Church, the common good, Christian culture, sin, notions of power and the doctrine of God. This analysis highlights the need for a Christian political theology that can engage with Islam in all its diversity and yet challenge elements of Islamic voluntarism that are inhibitive of religious plurality.     

RHETORIC OF FAITH AND PATTERNS OF PERSUASION IN BERKELEY'S ALCIPHRON

In this article I consider George Berkeley's Alciphron (1732) from the standpoint of the literary techniques and rhetorical procedures employed, as evidence for placing this composition within the tradition of Christian apologetic rhetoric. The argument develops around three main issues: 1) Berkeley's employment of the traditional rhetorical tool of attacking his opponents using their own weapons; 2) Berkeley's resort to a perennial tradition of pre‐Christian or non‐Christian wisdom, in order to validate his Christian‐theistic claims; and 3) Berkeley's ‘argument from utility’ (considering the beneficial effects that accepting Christianity has had over the centuries on people's lives, making them better, wiser, happier, and more virtuous, as well as the social peace and harmony that living by Christian standards brings about – it is preferable to adopt the Christian faith than not). These three theses are discussed in light of the history of Christian apologetic rhetoric, with references to the works of St. Augustine, St. Justin Martyr, Origen, St. Thomas Aquinas and other Christian authors.     

‘Securing the day’s devotion’: the spirituality of John Henry Newman and his Anglican inspirers

John Henry Newman’s spirituality and understanding of prayer was formed and framed by his years as an Anglican, from 1801 until his move to the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, and particularly by the years following his Anglican ordination in 1824. Influenced originally by the aspects of the Evangelical tradition, Newman discovered both the Fathers of the Church and the seventeenth-century Anglican divines. This paper explores the significance for him of the devotional work of three Anglican divines, the Sacra Privata of Thomas Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man (1663–1755), the Golden Grove of Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667), and the Preces Privatae of Bishop Lancelot Andrewes (1555–1626), as encapsulating models of Christian devotion which, as an Oxford Movement leader, he wished to commend to others.     

A Christian philosopher's view of recent directions in the abortion debate.

From the standpoint of a Christian philosopher, heeding the teaching and exhortations of Pope John Paul II and previous popes, I examine three directions in which the recent philosophical debate has developed. In the last seven or eight years there has been 1) a renewed focus on the biological issue of when a human individual comes to be, 2) new arguments for the proposition that personhood is a characteristic acquired after birth, and 3) refinements of the early argument of Judith Thomson. Replying to these developments, I defend, on philosophical grounds, the pro-life position. I argue that a distinct, whole (though immature) human individual comes to be at conception, that he or she is a person, with full moral worth, from the moment he or she comes to be, and the mothers and fathers have a special responsibility to their children which entails (at least) that they ought not to choose to abort them. I conclude by briefly indicating, from the standpoint of Christian faith, why Christian philosophers should vigorously pursue this debate.     

REVIEWS

Models for Scripture , John Goldingay, Paternoster Critical Theology , Gareth Jones Narratives of a Vulnerable God: Christ, Theology and Scripture , William C. Placher, Westminster/John Knox The Real God: A Response to Anthony Freeman's God in Us , Richard Harries One Faith? Non-realism and the World of Faiths , David A. Hart European Religion in the Age of Great Cities 1830–1930 , Hugh McLeod (ed.) Religion in Industrial Society: Oldham and Saddleworth 1740–1865 , Mark Smith Hear Our Voice: Women Rabbis Tell Their Stories , Sybil Sheridan (ed.) Rethinking Islam , Mohammed Arkoun Pastoral Care and Liberation Theology , Stephen Pattison Theology, Ideology and Liberation , Peter Scott A Rereading of Romans: Justice, Jews and Gentiles , Stanley K. Stowers, God in Christian Perspective , George Newlands, T. & T. Clark Learning to Speak: The Church's Voice in Public Affairs , Keith Clements, T. & T. Clark The Ethics of IVF , Anthony Dyson, Mowbray The End of Innocence: Britain in the Time of AIDS , Simon Garfield Sophie's World , Jostein Gaarder The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief , George M. Marsden The Last Philosophy , Don Cupitt The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God , Clark Pinnock and others, Paternoster Christianity without Absolutes , Reinhold Bernhardt     

Mercy as the essence of the Gospel: key themes in Walter Kasper and in the ministry of Pope Francis

This article explores two books by Walter, Cardinal Kasper, who brings to the task wisdom and experience drawn from his ministries as Professor of Theology, Bishop and President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. His major study explores mercy as the essence of the divine, engaging with biblical studies, philosophy, and systematic theology as he lays the foundation for this radical focus. In the second volume, Cardinal Kasper offers a perceptive account of the theological and pastoral perspectives of the ministry of Pope Francis. He characterises the theological approach as kerygmatic, an identification which applies also to his own approach to theology. There is a coincidence of themes and concerns evident in the two studies. Pope Francis has designated 2016 as a Year of Mercy. This article emphasises the importance of this focus on mercy for ecumenical discussion, explores the ecclesiology which results from it and examines the ecumenical implications and opportunities afforded by the Year of Mercy and the 2017 celebration of Martin Luther’s 95 theses with their focus on the question, ‘How may we find a merciful God?’     

The role of importance/consequentiality appraisal in flashbulb memory formation: the case of the death of Pope John Paul II

This study investigates how flashbulb memories (FBMs) relative to the death of Pope John Paul II vary according to the persons' evaluation of the event's importance and consequences. In particular, FBMs were investigated in persons who were expected to attribute different degrees of importance/consequentiality to the event as a function of two factors: (1) religious involvement, (2) nationality (Polish, Italian, Swiss). The comparison was made with respect to the following hypothesized determinants of FBMs: surprise, emotional reaction, rehearsal, event memory and especially the attitudes towards the Pope and the appraisal of the importance and the consequences of his death. Structural equation modelling indicates that importance/consequentiality is a fundamental determinant of FBM and is influenced by antecedent personal and social characteristics reflected in the person's attitudes. Moreover, memory consistency seems to be both directly influenced by emotional intensity and indirectly through rehearsal, whereas surprise seems not a critical determinant of FBM. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Beyond the Apophatic Circle: Rethinking the Debate Between Jean-Luc Marion and Jacques Derrida

This study offers a new perspective on the much-discussed debate between French phenomenologist Jean-Luc Marion and postructuralist theorist Jacques Derrida on the question of ‘negative theology’ and the Christian mystical tradition. It argues that Marion's critique of Derrida betrays a fundamental misunderstanding, specifically, that it fails to recognise that Derrida is not interested in negative theology qua theology, but rather as a discursive practice with certain resources for the performative ‘unsaying’ of logocentric systems. It continues to show that Derrida's principal object is not the God of apophatic theology, but the broader, juridico-political implications of all ‘transcendental signifieds’. Finally, it suggests that Marion's oversight of these facts in his defence of the apophatic tradition unwittingly legitimates Derrida's critique, to the extent that it insulates the Christian tradition from external criticism, and thereby limits the responsiveness of that tradition to the demands of justice.     

AN EVOLVING VISION OF GOD: THE THEOLOGY OF JOHN F. HAUGHT

The theology of God in the scholarship of John Haught exemplifies rigor, resourcefulness, and creativity in response to ever‐evolving worldviews. Haught presents insightful and plausible ways in which to speak about the mystery of God in a variety of contexts while remaining steadfastly grounded in the Christian tradition. This essay explores Haught's proposals through three of his selected lenses—human experience, the informed universe, and evolutionary cosmology—and highlights two areas for further theological development.     

‘THE METAPHYSICS OF CHRISTIAN ETHICS: RADICAL ORTHODOXY AND THEOSIS’

Western theology struggles with the rise of secularism and postmodernism. The Radical Orthodoxy sensibility asserts that the ancient principles of methexis (participation) and theosis (deification) presents an alternative metaphysical narrative to the narrative of secularism and the onto‐theological tradition. This article addresses the problems of the onto‐theological metaphysical tradition in Western theology by analyzing Radical Orthodoxy's rediscovery of the philosophical and theological principles of participation and theosis as articulated in the patristic tradition and in the thought of Thomas Aquinas. Using historical and analytical methods, this article will survey the biblical and patristic literature on theosis, as well as John Milbank's understanding of methexis and theosis in Thomas Aquinas. The result of this study will be to offer theosis, rooted in participation in God, as not only a soteriological model to reclaim for the West, but also a core metaphysical principle for Christian ethics that contravenes both onto‐theology and the materialistic reduction of ontology in secularism.     

‘Wounded by the Arrow of Beauty’: The Silent Call of Art

One of the urgent tasks facing Christian educators at the present time is how they might encourage the spiritual growth of their students. This paper invites reflection on this central question by discussing the role aesthetics might play with particular focus on its relationship to the ‘spiritual senses’, a theme which has been strikingly absent from recent publications on religion and Christian education. Paying particular attention to the work of the contemporary French phenomenologist, Jean‐Louis Chrétien, I shall argue that art invites us to listen to as well as to see the power of beauty. Educators should not ignore this capacity of art to engage the spiritual senses within a contemplative ethos of silence. But I go further than simply pointing to these seminal ideas about Christian formation, by discussing the ‘wound’ that beauty inevitably inflicts. I illustrate this suggestion by referring to Pope Benedict XVI's essay ‘Wounded by the Arrow of the Beautiful’ and to two visualizations of religion: Delacroix's painting Fight between Jacob and the Angel and Beauvois' film Of Gods and Men.     

Naves and Nukes: John Ruskin as “Augustinian” Social Theorist?

John Milbank appropriates John Ruskin as part of his “Augustinian” tradition. Milbank's selective reading, however, omits Ruskin's fixed hierarchies as well as his acknowledgment of conflict in economic life. Neither of these ideas fits the social aesthetics of harmony and difference that Milbank claims is unique to Christian theology. While Milbank's strictly theoretical portrait of theology gains critical force from Ruskin's robust account of social practices and just exchange, Milbank lacks effective historical and institutional responses to the problems in Ruskin's corpus. This deficiency undermines Milbank's dichotomy between theology and secular reason.     

The Egyptian Coptic Christians: the conflict between identity and equality

This essay will endeavor to explore the identity and situation of the Coptic Christian community in Egypt, which constitutes the largest Christian community in the Middle East. I will start with a brief background of the community's history and introduction to modern Coptic life in the form of its liturgy, art, and music in order that those of us in the West might better grasp the richness and heritage in which Coptic Christianity grounds its worldview. The essay will proceed to explore the present situation in which Coptic Christians find themselves as a minority within the borders of a nation that officially designates itself Islamic. In the late 1960s and 1970s the Sunday School Movement brought about an age of reform in the Coptic Church that continues to this day. A large part of the reform has been to identify their origins as apostolic, monastic and marked by martyrdom and persecution. Under Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic Church has undergone some organizational changes that are clearly perceived as a threat to the Egyptian government under President Mubarak, despite groundbreaking progress towards ecumenism and cooperation between Muslims and Christians at large. This essay will explore the tension between Muslims and Christians in Egypt and the ways in which the minority status of the Copts is simultaneously defining and sustaining their tradition and self-image.     

BRICOLAGE AND THE PURITY OF TRADITIONS: Engaging the Stoics for Contemporary Christian Ethics

This essay is a response to C. Kavin Rowe's critique of my 2011 argument that certain dimensions of Roman Stoic ethics are at work in Jonathan Edwards's moral thought. Rowe raises questions about the act of selectively retrieving ideas from a philosophical tradition to support constructive work in another tradition. I argue for the importance of acknowledging how Christian thought has been shaped by what Jeffrey Stout describes as moral bricolage, the selective retrieval of ideas from various traditions, and I contend that this bricolage can continue to be a fruitful means through which Christian ethics engages external traditions. Moreover, the importance of Stoicism's retrieval in early modern philosophy makes the work of eighteenth‐century theologians such as Edwards a particularly valuable resource for exploring the plausibility of Christian engagement with the Stoics.     

The roman catholic church and interreligious dialogue: Implications for Christian‐Muslim relations

At the Second Vatican Council, 1965, the Roman Catholic Church, in the declaration Nostra Aetate, opened a new and more positive relationship with Islam and other world religions. In 1984 the Vatican issued a second document, on mission and dialogue, which strongly encouraged interreligious dialogue and set out in detail the breadth of activities involved. Since then there has been in some Catholic circles a growing fear that the emphasis on dialogue has led to an abandoning of the. Church's missionary obligation to proclaim the full Christian Gospel to non‐Christians and to invite them to Christian faith. At the end of 1990 the present Pope issued the encyclical letter Redemptoris Missio, ’on the permanent validity of the Church's missionary mandate’. This was followed five months later by another Vatican document on Dialogue and Proclamation. This paper examines these four documents in the light of the wider debate taking place among Christians on the relationship of Christianity to men and women of other faiths. It concentrates on the specific case of Christian‐Muslim relations and concludes that there is even more need for Christians and Muslims to be religiously sensitive and open; to know and esteem each other's values, and to cooperate for the social, moral and religious well‐being of the whole human family.     

A RAFT THAT FLOATS: EXPERIENCE,TRADITION, AND SCIENCES IN GUSTAFSON'S THEOCENTRIC ETHICS

Abstract. Although James Gustafson's use of the Christian Bible and tradition is not fully displayed in the essays published here, Bible and tradition are a crucial part of a composite rationale, which includes experience and the sciences, for his theocentric ethics. Gustafson's theocentric ethics employs the sciences to back, inform, and correct the Christian tradition and offers grounds for respecting the natural piety and morality of “nonreligious” persons while explaining and justifying why Christians draw on major themes and metaphors from their tradition that should penetrate their piety and morality. His proposal should reorient the thinking of theological ethics more than it has thus far.     

In the light of the splendor: Veritatis Splendor and moral theology.

In the last 25 years, Roman Catholic moral theology has debated issues ranging from the sources of moral theology to the role of ecclesiastical authority in moral theology. In 1993, Pope John Paul II issued his encyclical letter Veritatis Splendor, which addresses issues in fundamental moral theology. The encyclical must be understood against the background of ongoing debates since Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical on birth control (Humanae Vitae). It is not clear what the impact of Veritatis Splendor will be. However, it seems safe to say that it will be deployed in debates about issues such as birth control, artificial reproduction, sterilization, and abortion.     

The Church as sacrament

Abstract

In 1967 Pope Paul VI acknowledged that the papacy is a major obstacle on the road to Christian unity. More recently, Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical on ecumenism, invited non-Roman Christians to contribute to a revisioning of the papal office. On the basis of this acknowledgement and invitation, this essay explores related issues from an Anglican perspective. These include a consideration of both positive and negative aspects of the ARCIC statement The Gift of Authority with regard to the papacy; a view of the evolution of Anglican attitudes toward the papacy from the time of the Reformation; and, finally, issues related to the model of the papacy which has been in place since the pontificate of Pope Pius IX and the First Vatican Council. The pontificate of Pius IX was a turning point in papal theory toward an absolutist model of papal authority functioning apart from other sources of authority within the life of the Church. The revisioning of the papacy which Pope John Paul has invited would seem to require, if it is to become a sign of unity for all Christians, the setting aside of this model. Yet such a development would violate the now established understanding of the office among conservative Roman Catholics.