BULLETIN of the General Theological Library of Bangor Theological Seminary 159 State Street, Portland, Maine 04101 Telephone: (207) 874-2214 E-mail (Internet): portlib@BTSgateP.caps.maine.edu the_library@BTSgate.caps.maine.edu Published Quarterly 1993 BULLETIN Subscription Rate: $15.00 Postmaster: Send address changes to GTL, 159 State Street, Portland, Maine 04101 ISSN 1052-8202 GENERAL THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY The General Theological Library of Bangor Theological Seminary was established in Boston in 1860 by the Rev. Charles Burroughs, an Episcopal minister who founded several libraries throughout New England. In 1988 it was moved to its present location in Portland, when it became part of the General Theological Center of Maine. In 1991 the Seminary assumed responsibility for the Library and the Center's programs. The Library contains 35,000 volumes. It was established to maintain a collection of "...works pertaining to theology and religious knowledge, and a reading room for the periodical publications of all religious denominations." Its purpose was "...to promote the interest of religion and the diffusion of theological learning." The Library made its collections available to clergy and lay people living in primarily rural areas apart from large cities and centers of learning. Its focus was on mailing books to its constituency, a tradition Bangor Seminary has continued. The General Theological Library has a general reference collection of encyclopedias and dictionaries specializing in religious studies, yet representative works from other disciplines are present. The collection includes the major areas of current theological thought brought along from its origins in the mid-nineteenth century to the present; church history, with a major concern for the missionary activity of the church and a minor emphasis on Anglican studies; religion and literature accompanied by the category of the Bible as literature; pastoral counselling and the attendant literature of pastoral theology and the work of the church in the community, Christian ethics, and the discussion of the church's responsibility for social problems; world religion and comparative religion. The collection complements that of the Moulton Library. FROM THE LIBRARIAN Beginning with the October issue of the BULLETIN, the library has embarked on a new and exciting project. Through the medium of the Internet, our Bulletin is now sent electronically to several hundred subscribers at educational institutions worldwide. This allows us to reach more readers than ever before. Bulletin issues are stored online at the University of Ottawa, home of the CONTENTS Project which collects and disseminates documents in the fields of religion and theology. The Seminary is pleased to be involved in this growing venture. In this issue is the text of the December Library Lecture, given by The Rev. Dr. Landon Summers, minister of the United Methodist Church in Hampden, Maine. It is followed by a response by Michael Carter, social studies teacher at Gorham (Maine) High School. The issue of religion in the public schools produced a lively discussion. The next Library Lecture will be presented by Dr. Joseph Conforti, Director of the New England Studies Program of the University of Southern Maine in Portland. His theme is Jonathan Edwards, the subject of his forthcoming book. The lecture will be held at the Portland Campus of the Seminary, on Friday, March 12, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The lecture is open to the public. We extend our thanks to Dr. Leslie Zeigler, Professor of Theology Emerita at Bangor Seminary, for providing annotations to several important books. Other annotations have been provided by Katherine Grieb and the Librarian. It must be noted that only a small number of books added to the collection appear in these annotations. Your comments are solicited concerning materials listed. Is there a preference for longer reviews, or for brief remarks concerning content? From time to time, the Library receives donations of books from individuals. Such a gift was received from Mr. John Barney or Portland, who has given us the library of his wife, the late Grace Barney. This collection consists of 400 volumes on Judaism, and issues in contemporary "spirituality." It is a most welcomed addition to our resources. Clifton G. Davis Librarian ON THE EDUCATION OF GENERALISTS: RELIGION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND TEACHER EDUCATION By Landon Summers Abstract: Public educators increasingly are aware of the need to introduce students to the broad cultural backdrop that makes up the human experience- what is commonly referred to as multiculturalism. To speak about different cultures, however, let alone to educate about what it means to be a responsible member of one's own culture, entails an appreciation for and tolerance of cultural differences and more: it also necessitates some awareness of the place that religion has had as part of the human experience. Herewith, I discuss the need for public school teacher training to focus explicit attention on religion's contributions to human civilization. To do so will complement the important yet limited perspectives that the social sciences provide in teacher training with the insights of theology and philosophy. Furthermore, it will enable public school teachers to apprehend the significant role that religion plays -- for better and for worse -- in human culture, and the importance that it thus should have in discussions about multiculturalism. Landon T. A. Summers has been Senior Minister at Hampden Highlands United Methodist Church, Hampden, Maine, since 1985. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Maine School Administrative District #22, and he presently serves on the District's Steering Committee -- a group charged with the responsibility of programmatically and administratively reorganizing the District for the twenty-first century. He earned his public school certification through Harvard's Program in Religion and Secondary Education, and his primary research interests include religious education, public education and the First Amendment, and interreligious dialogue. ON THE EDUCATION OF GENERALISTS: RELIGION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND TEACHER EDUCATION The college was seeking a generalist. It was a Midwestern school, advertising a teaching position in education, except instead of a specific type of educator -- elementary education or educational administration -- this school wanted a generalist. I've not seen many ads for generalists, and temptation led me to inquire if only to find out what this school imagined a generalist to be. Generalists seem to be becoming rare birds these days, for notwithstanding the current rhetoric about multiculturalism and interdisciplinary studies, many schools of education demand very specific skills and expertise with little interest in versatility save as part of a professed commitment to diversity. But beyond proficiency across a range of educational specialities, a true generalist, in my view, must have a solid grounding in one critically important but currently much-ignored area of human inquiry: a true generalist must be adept at dealing with religion. As a fledgling graduate student at a leading school of education, I once presented to a discussion group a paper entitled, "Theology in the Public Secondary Schools." In it, I argued that public education's world view is incomplete in that today's curricula and classroom discussions often ignore the fundamental contribution of religion -- for better or for worse -- to civilization. I was met with opprobrium, not because of what had been said in the paper, but because, as one student bluntly noted, my paper presupposed that all people believe in God. She was right. I had assumed then, and still do, that all individuals believe something (the "God" part was her addition). But that all people have convictions, whether they be affirmations or negations, is a matter of fact; what struck me as curious, though, and what has been my experience in both graduate school and in my occasional work with the public schools ever since, is that individuals tend to isolate belief, especially religious belief, from the rest of academic discourse, presumably on the theory that if it is not discussed, it must be either non-existent or irrelevant. A problem for schools of education and for public education in general is that we have a penury of words and images to use for talking about how it is that a culture or a society or a community passes on its wisdom to the next generation, and how it is that each new generation enhances that wisdom through its own experiences and reflection. At heart is an avoidance of those stories and symbols that have given shape and form, not just to the Western tradition, but to civilizations throughout the world: namely, religious stories and symbols. Instead we promote uncritical acceptance of the social sciences as the definitive utterances about what it means to be human. Yet one cannot excise religious stories and symbols from any culture and still be able to talk about its art, music, literature, or history -- in a word, its soul. This is a point over which there is little debate, even in the courts. A more troubling question, though, is whether we as educators can talk about human culture if we only make use of those terms coined by the various psychologists and sociologists of the last century. Moreover, and as I argue below, it is intellectually dishonest to have an educational system that is unabashedly secular but that has little caution about the type of theological statements such secularism connotes. To say, or even to imply that religion is a private concern or that God is only a reality "for some people," is a theological statement, whether educators treat it as such or not. Teaching has theological overtones, whether it be in a worship setting or in the public classroom. To teach is to shape an individual's world view, and although civil libertarians are less inclined to challenge the unfounded belief statements of, say, secularism or consumerism, those topics which are discussed in the classroom and those issues that are skirted aside bespeak the convictions of the instructor. As Donald Oliver has written, "All teaching is essentially religious in that it carries with it, to some degree, an answer to the question: How does the world pass beyond itself and yet satisfy (or leave unsatisfied) the longing within us for continuity and permanence?"{1} American education is situated between two camps: on the one hand, a quasi- epistemology has come to emphasize the subjectivity of the individual student such that it has become an end-all in the educational process; on the other, there has been a national push for standardized testing so as to ensure students have a better working knowledge of educational fundamentals once graduated. These two aims appear to be at odds, at least in terms of their starting points: the one looks to the individual for direction while the other looks to a collective norm. Notwithstanding their different emphases, though, they are kith and kin in that they divert attention from a more troubling problem, namely, education's inability to articulate, in word and deed, the aims of teaching. Regarding the first camp: the modern psyche has ascribed an unsettling primacy to subjectivity as the ultimate arbiter of truth and knowledge. The end result has been that American educators lack a widely accepted philosophy of education. Self-esteem and autonomy have become gems on education's grail of self-realization whose efficacy is sought through various concoctions of psycho-social analyses and strategies. In short, the larger goal of education (namely, to help students learn to live responsibly by vesting them with the accumulated wisdom of their own immediate culture and that of others) has come to be subordinated to an arguably ever more elusive goal: that of helping students take confidence in their individual feelings and actions. This in itself is not bad, save that modern public educators spend an undue amount of time and training puzzling over student psyches such that many students grow up knowing much about, say, interpersonal communication, but almost nothing about the corporate affect of the larger culture into which they have been born or reared. Or as Alasdair Maclntyre notes: It is of course important that in our culture the concept of the therapeutic has been given application far beyond the sphere of psychological medicine in which it obviously has its legitimate place. In The Triumph of the Therapeutic (1966) and also in To My Fellow Teachers (1975) Philip Rieff has documented with devastating insight a number of the ways in which truth has been displaced as a value and replaced by psychological effectiveness. The idioms of therapy have invaded all too successfully such spheres as those of education and of religion. The types of theory involved in and invoked to justify such therapeutic modes do of course vary widely; but the mode itself is of far greater social significance than the theories which matter so much to its protagonists.{2} This emphasis is undergirded by the almost dogmatic quality the social sciences have gained in public education. In many schools of education, the curricula emphasize current trends in psychology and sociology with but scant attention given to the humanities, and so many new teachers are graduated with an incomplete and unbalanced understanding of their own culture, let alone that of anybody else. This is not to question the merits of the social sciences; rather, it is to challenge their preeminence when it comes to educating individuals about what it means to be a teacher, let alone a responsible member of the larger society. The other factor that has gained much impetus (but which has yet to prove as detrimental to the goals of educating our citizenry, save in theory) is the push in recent years for nationwide testing so as to determine whether students have attained an adequate grasp of subject knowledge. The problem with standardized tests is not that testing per se is bad; however, standardized tests tell us nothing about whether students have anything more than a rudimentary understanding of facts, and they excuse us from the much more difFcult task of teaching students how to be wise, rather than how to be adept at manipulating data. In terms of the National Education Goals, I would argue that "Competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, history and geography" is useful only if students are able to see the connections between these disciplines and the larger human experience. "To use their minds well," to become "responsible citizens," lifelong learners, and assets in the workplace are admirable objectives. But unless there is a common language and symbolism inherent to these disciplines and shared by the student and the wider culture, they are nothing more than pedagogical platitudes.{3} The quest for modern education should not be how to crawl into the heads of students, nor should it be how to quantify education. Already we do both quite ably, to the neglect of articulating a larger vision of what it means not only to be educated, but how to educate. Like it or not (and many educators do not like it, and thus, part of the problem), religion is an integral part of the human experience. It has had a tremendous influence on all the disciplines that are part of the modern-day school, and if students are to understand not just their past, but how that past has come to influence the present, then religious questions must take a more prominent role in teacher education and in the classroom. Kurt Badt, the art historian, contrasts the approach of the Impressionist painters with that of the Symbolists, and in doing so he presents a provocative vantage point whence to consider education's need for a more integrative and expressive pedagogy: The Symbolists derived their representation of the world from individual objects; they built it around single figures, composed it of objects, in Latin: res. Their intention was that of realists, regardless of the meaning they attributed to the objects. The Impressionists proceeded from impressions of the world, from a connexion of things, into which these things had grown and which they had created by their natural growth.... In their conception of the world and in the intention of their art, which had the task of showing that conception, the Impressionists were naturalists (using the word nature in its original sense of nasci being born, wanting to become, growing). This means that there was in fact a profound difference between the two artistic tendencies. But there is no difference of rank or value between the two conceptions of reality. They are two equally good aspects of the same thing. For this reality of the world exists, in man's conception, as connexion but also as segregation because the two can be thought of as represented only in mutual relation.{4} Modern education functions much like a museum of Symbolist paintings in whose attic is stored an Impressionist or two. Occasional acknowledgement is made of the Impressionists, but inasmuch as these are stashed away in the attic, hidden from public view and seldom made reference to, they come to be seen as artistic oddities rather than as interpretive genius. The docents rush students past the attic as though it were an ossuary of supernatural conjurings, while the galleries hang brightly with newly "ontologized" theories of one sort or another. Of course the modern world view has been greatly enhanced by the many and sundry disciplines we use to interpret our world, but they are not enough. And to reconsider the place of the social sciences in teacher education and in the public classroom is the first step in acknowledging that there are other important ways of interpreting the human experience. As Badt says of the Impressionists and the Symbolists, so it can be said about the social sciences and religion: these modes of expression come into their own in mutual relation, and thus, I would add, until educators and schools of education are adept at discussing religious stories and symbols, the educational experience of students will remain narrowly scientistic. It is at this juncture, of course, that objections are raised about church-state separation. It is a curious irony, though, that although most educators are willing to discuss, for example, sex education without presuming such discussion will encourage students to have sex, when it comes to religion, the mere mention of it raises concerns about catechesis. I am not suggesting that the state become involved in religious instruction. I do think it important, however, for schools of education and teachers to be familiar with the role of religion in civilization, lest students continue to be indoctrinated in secularism, as though it and it alone has been the most important influence in terms of the arts, music, literature and history. Concerns about church-state separation are important, and I do not want to sidestep them. At the same time, though, legal haggling over what constitutes religious indoctrination versus teaching about religion does not give public educators an imprimatur to ignore the issue altogether. Just because it may be difficult to strike the right balance between church-state separation is no excuse not to broach the subject at all, let alone to continue to graduate public school teachers who are inarticulate about religion's role in civilization.{5} Moreover, there are three very compelling reasons why schools of education and public school teachers should be dedicated to this pursuit. The first reason is honesty. The exacting scrutiny given by civil libertarians to religious questions in the public sector has come full circle, such that we now are teaching a generation of students that religion is a private matter that has little bearing upon public education. This is, as I have argued, ironically a belief statement in itself. Is religion a personal pursuit? Yes, of course it is. But not to talk about religion entails just as profound a theological attestation as is to profess the Apostles' Creed or any other faith statement, or as Philip H. Phenix has written: The religious situation of any person is defined by what he most truly loves, i.e, by what concerns him ultimately. The teacher makes his object of worship known by every indication of what most deeply interests him, of how he measures his successes and failures, of the sources from which he seeks strength and solace, and of his criteria of choice in making important decisions. What counts in the living witness is not primarily an explicit rational system of belief but the implicit values and commitments which govern the actual organization of the person's life. The teacher cannot avoid communicating his own religion in this fundamental sense. What he is will more surely and impressively be taught than anything he says. Students will learn what the teacher's life really means by observing what he puts his trust in, what are the grounds for his confidence, and the objects of his fear, affection, and reverence.{6} There is a basic dishonesty to teacher education and public education as they now are practiced. As Jurgen Habermas notes about post-Enlightenment thought: it is out of modernism's uncritical self-consciousness whence arises its "self-glorification and illusionment"; that is, the modern world's (and thus, modern education's) tendency "toward absolutizing a given level of reflection and emancipation."{7} We as a society have gone to great ends to expunge supernaturalism and religious practice from the public schools, but the end results have been teachers who are inarticulate about religion's role in civilization, and a gospel of negation where belief statements about religion's unimportance are zealously promulgated by the courts and boards of education. Yet another reason to make religious education a part of teacher education is so as to ensure that students have a better understanding of their own culture in relation to other culture -- multiculturalism, that is. Cultures are at heart religious. As Mircea Eliade has written in the preface of his A History of Religious Ideas, "On the most archaic levels of cultures, living, considered as being human, is in itself a religious act, for food- getting, sexual life, and work have a sacramental value. In other words, to be -- or, to become -- a man signifies being 'religious."{8} Interwoven in the culture of, for instance, modern Turkey are In Hoc Signo and jihad; iconography and the sometimes unsettling relationship between the divine and the imperial, the Qur'an and the Prophet's teachings; ecclesiastical councils and Muslim scholars who introduce Greek thought to the West; Hagia Sophia and thuribles, minarets and calls to prayer. Throughout human history, religious symbols and stories have shaped peoples' psyches -- they have given inspiration in the face of insurmountable odds; they have inspired artists to craft images that bespeak hope and vision; they have resulted in acts of tremendous bravery and of reckless cruelty. At each and every turn of the human experience, for better and for worse, religious faith has played some role, and thus multiculturalism and religion are inextricable; we cannot promote an appreciation for one without addressing the other. Some would argue that multiculturalism does not ignore religion; that inasmuch as religion is a part of any culture, it is presumed. But even here, it is not adequate merely to intimate at religion's role in culture, for religion is not an ancillary but, rather, a pivot in understanding the world view of a culture. Or as Victor Turner writes, "In the social sciences, generally, it is, I think, becoming widely recognized that religious beliefs and practices are something more than 'grotesque' reflections or expressions of economic, political, and social relationships; rather are they coming to be seen as decisive keys to the understanding of how people think and feel about those relationships, and about the natural and social environments in which they operate."{9} Notwithstanding Turner's optimism about the trend in the social sciences as a whole, educators regretfully have yet to express much widespread interest in how it is that understanding religion is key to students' gaining an appreciation for multiculturalism. In the days leading up to the Gulf War, Lamin Sanneh contrasted the American perspective with that of the Islamic world, and in so doing he suggested that it was our unwillingness to analyze the situation in anything butsecular terms that raised the stakes so high: Sometimes, with one part of my mind, I think it might reassure Muslims to know that Americans are too unconcerned with Islam to be able to do it any harm until, with the other part, I realize it is precisely that unconcern that raises Muslim hackles, with the provocative suggestion that while America is indifferent to spiritual values, it is prepared to fight and die for oil supplies. America's intrusion in Muslim countries is, therefore, perceived as an antireligious crusade. In Muslim eyes nothing makes America more incompatible with Islamic values. (We might reflect for this reason how America's Middle East policy in general will always operate under infidel suspicion, requiring willing Islamic surrogates to make its policy credible.){10} Sanneh's point is that American policy toward the Middle East is remiss because we have yet to understand the inextricable link between faith and life in Islam. Toward the end of his article, Sanneh then held out hope that diplomatic efforts might avert a war, "particularly if the process is deepened and made credible by Western appreciation for religion, and not just oil, as an abiding force in the new international order."{11} Needless to say, we have not yet come to understand the Middle East, and as long as we remain monolingual secularists, it is unlikely that we will do so. Which brings me, finally, to the third reason why religion should become part of teacher education, namely, so as to better enable teachers to talk across disciplines in a holistic fashion. Jurgen Habermas, critiquing Hegel and asking whether modernism's self- consciousness is an adequate basis for positing questions about itself, notes that pre-Enlightenment, religion had a unifying force to it that subjectivity and reason have yet to replicate: "If the question is posed in this way, subjectivity proved to be a one-sided principle. It does possess, to be sure, an unexampled power to bring about the formation [Bildung] of subjective freedom and reflection and to undermine religion, which heretofore had appeared as an absolutely unifying force. But the principle of subjectivity is not powerful enough to regenerate the unifying power of religion in the medium of reason."{12} That religion, pre-Enlightenment, was able to provide humans with a comprehensive world view is not in dispute; nor is it to be suggested that by utilizing religious world views in the classroom, modern- day students will be cosmologically happier. What is at issue, though, is whether teachers are going to teach integratively, and if so, how it is that they intend to show the ways that cultures, from the time of prehistoric humans up to the the modern age, conjoined the arts, science, literature, governance and whatever other facets of life into a meaningful whole; that is, how they intend to do this without explicit attention to that which provided the underpinnings for these historical world views, namely, religion. Postmodernism and the visceral yearning of modern people to look anew at their lives and world is for naught as long as we ignore the very models that have provided cosmological wherewithal for generations, and one cannot conjure up holism in the classroom merely by pretending as though disciplines are permeable. Permeability in subject matter is not the same thing as holism. In the former case, one culls from various disciplines as suits one's fancy; in the latter, one looks to discern an integral whole behind all that one learns. By introducing students to how their own culture has been shaped by religious world views, and how these world views traditionally have enabled individuals to cultivate meaningful connections among the now disjointed disciplines and specializations of the modern world, students will be provided with a holism that is more abiding than ideology, just as it will help students to become more wary of those modern day -isms that proffer religious-like belief in the guise of science. The modern identity is very much shaped by its struggle with its own subjectivity; that public schools reflect this concern comes as no surprise. What is distressing, though, is how uncritical educators have become about the limitations of the tools of their trade. The Christian fundamentalist backlash against the public schools of recent decades may have gone largely unnoticed had it not been for their unrelenting protest that the anti-religious bias of the public education system is itself "confessional." Sadly, though, because modern-day education has a radically truncated view of the world, and inasmuch as educators, with few exceptions, have remained aloof from discussion of this shortcoming, the search for true generalists is in for rough seas.{13} There may indeed be schools of education in this day and age that graduate generalists. And I applaud them. But for this generalism to be anything more than a rehashing of pedagogical scientism will require an honest look at multiculturalism and holism and the abiding religious backdrop that are their flesh and blood. RESPONSE TO "ON THE EDUCATION OF GENERALISTS: RELIGION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AND TEACHER EDUCATION" by Michael Carter I applaud Reverend Summers' efforts to bring this issue to the forefront of the debate over what should be included in a teacher education program and what should be taught to students. Currently, as more and more public schools are re-examining their curriculums and assessments, this issue probably could not be more timely. Restructuring and reform efforts are now requiring schools to take a long, hard look at what is important and what is truly essential for students. More precisely, "What exactly should students know and be able to do when they leave high school?" I agree wholeheartedly with Reverend Summers that the role of religion historically and in contemporary societies should be one of the essential areas of knowledge and understanding. Reverend Summers has made numerous points. There are five of them in particular that I not only agree with, but believe are fundamental to this issue: (1) a culture's "soul" -- art, music, literature, or history cannot be understood and discussed without the religious stories and symbols. Example: One can not fully understand Native American cultures without reference to the religious beliefs underlying their social system -- beliefs about creation, mother earth, and the close bond between humans, animals, and the natural environment. Similarly, one can not fully appreciate medieval art or music without understanding the role of the Catholic Church in nearly every aspect of society and an individual's existence. (2) "Teaching has theological overtones...To teach is to shape an individual's world view....those topics which are discussed in the classroom and those issues that are skirted aside bespeak the convictions of the instructor." Michael Carter is a Social Studies teacher at Gorham High School and earned a M.A. in History from the University of Maine at Orono. He is the author of Converting the Wasteplaces of Zion: The Maine Missionary Society, 1807 - 1862. (Wakefield, NH: Longwood Academic, 1990) Because of this reality, teachers need to pay particular attention to the enormous impact that they can have on a student. How enthusiastic and persistent a teacher is often determines the extent to which many students find a particular course valuable. In addition, my decision to focus more on problems than on politicians throughout history sends a message about what I see as the role of education and the role of the citizen. (3) "[a] problem is the lack of connections made between the disciplines" In a traditional curriculum, disciplines are covered in virtual isolation. We have compartmentalized the world into 45 minute blocks where we ask a student to spend the next three-quarters of an hour in the pursuit of historical knowledge and then qive them a four minute break to change gears to spend 45 minutes learning science knowledge as though the two disciplines have nothing in common other than an occasional incident such as organized religions basic opposition to Galileo's theory that the sun was the center of the universe or its opposition to Darwin's theory of evolution. This is not an interdisciplinary curriculum! Traditionally we have been stuck in a "bells and cells" mentality or what some have called a 2 x 4 education. (4) The three compelling reasons why schools of education and public school teachers should be dedicated to this pursuit (to articulate religion's role in civilization): a. honesty Students should not leave public school thinking that secularism has been the only important influence in terms of the arts, music, literature, and history (By the way, parochial school children should similarly not leave school thinking that religion has been the only important force in these areas. b. importance to understanding other cultures -- multiculturalism c. to better enable teachers to talk across the discipline. Although I agree that this is probably true, I would have liked Reverend Summers to be more specific as to "how" this will lead to a "holistic" understanding of cultures. I will return to this concern later. (5) Lastly, I agree with Reverend Summers that "Throughout human history, religious symbols and stories have shaped people's psyches, they have given inspiration in the face of insurmountable odds; they have inspired artists to craft images that bespeak hope and vision; they have resulted in acts of tremendous bravery and of reckless cruelty. At each and every turn of the human experience, for better or for worse, religious faith has played some role, and thus multiculturalism and religion are inextricable; we cannot promote an appreciation for one without addressing the other." I believe this is probably the most powerful point Reverend Summers makes. Understanding the role of religion is crucial to understanding the works of Michelangelo or Dante, the Inquisition, the Spanish treatment of Native Americans in Central and South America, or the conflict in the Middle East, or even the Vietnam War, or for that matter, any other major incident in history. Reverend Summers states that "religious beliefs and practices are something more than grotesque reflections or expressions". Unfortunately, many students think that the role of religion is confined, for the most part, to Puritans who spent their days burning witches, 1920's fundamentalists resisting the teaching of the theory of evolution, or current-day televangelists asking for support. Having explained those areas in which I agree with Reverend Summers, I am now compelled to raise some questions and areas of concern. Before I address my questions and concerns, I would like to mention a concern that I believe many educators might raise which I personally do not believe is as serious a problem as it may initially appear to be. Many educators will respond with the statement that "I already have too much to cover and run out of time. How am I supposed to add more content and still get through the course? For example, the average high school sociology text has only three to six pages on religion in its chapter on "Social Institutions. I still just barely get through the book." And in history, many students think contemporary history ends with World War II since many traditional programs never get past this war. I believe that teachers need to re-examine, as I mentioned earlier, whether or not most of what we currently try to stuff into students heads is indeed essential. Studies show that in a traditional curriculum the average student (on a good day) will remember about 10% of what was "taught" in class. If this is the case, we might as well send the students home for about 150 days of the school year. I suspect that the 10%' retention rate is the same for other subjects as well. Rather than worrying about whether or not we get through a 600 or 800-page textbook, why not give just the most essential information, hold students accountable to it, and then give them the skills to be able to find the information should they by chance ever need it in the future. Instead, require students to demonstrate understanding by performance. If we as educators do this, I believe we will find that including the crucial role of religion in human society -- from history to science to fine arts -- is not as much of a problem as one might imagine. Now, let me move on to the four questions or areas of concern that I believe require more examination: (1) In the area of teacher preparation, how much education about the role of religion is sufficient? Is it unrealistic to expect an individual to add all that this entails to their "knowledge base"? (2) Reverend Summers seems to imply that there is or was (before self- esteem and similar programs came along) a general agreement about the goal or aim of education or that somehow understanding the role of religion will resolve this problem. This common goal does not exist, so achieving a consensus on the importance of the role of religion and the need for a completely interdisciplinary ("holistic") education will be hard to achieve. (3) Reverend Summers fails to address the claims of those who believe that religion is not any more influential than economics or politics on human society nor does he demonstrate how an understanding of the role of religion will help people make "meaningful connections" among the disciplines. (4) Part of the recent conflict between public education and some Christian fundamentalists is not only unmitigated secularism, but also the inclusion of religion, and more broadly spiritualism, in the curriculum. This paradox puts public school educators in an extremely difficult position. (1) How much preparation is enough? Given the fact that there are more religions, denominations, and sects than one can count, how many of these variations should someone be familiar with, or even more so, understand. Is basic knowledge about the so-called major world religions -- Hinduism, Taoism, Shintoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Confucianism -- enough? In order to get a true sense of Judaism and the role of religion in the lives of Jews, does one need to read the Torah, the Mishnah, and the Talmud? What about Islam? Can one appreciate the culture and advancements of the Arab world and beyond without reading the Koran and knowing the five pillars (duties) of Islam? And what about Buddhism? the Four Noble Truths? the Tripitaka? the Analects of Confucianism? If the goal is to understand other cultures and their history, how much do you need? To adequately examine the Sikh-Hindu conflict in India or the Arab- Israeli conflict, how much is enough? In order to look at Northern Ireland in a "holistic" way, how much does one need to know about Catholicism and Protestantism? And speaking of Protestantism -- there are variations ranging from Anglicans, to Baptists, the Quakers, to Unitarians. In other words, are we expecting prospective teachers to forgo a few more years of employment to increase teacher preparation to six or even more years? (2) The fact that there currently is no (nor has there been a) commonly agreed upon aim or goal of education is not an easily "corrected" problem or (some would argue) a necessarily desirable goal. Reverend Summers makes the comment that public education has been unable to articulate, in word or deed, the aims of teaching. This is true, but until this occurs it is unlikely that studying the role of religion or multiculturalism will be central to an education. Yet Reverend Summers gives no ideas of how he proposes that this be attained. He states that the emphasis on self-esteem and autonomy have contributed to education's inability to emphasize its "larger goal". Reverend Summers states that this larger goal is to help students learn to live responsibly by vesting them with the accumulated wisdom of their own immediate culture and that of others. However, if you put 10 educators in a room and ask them to tell you what the goal of education is, you will likely get about ten different answers, possibly twelve. Some see the aim of education as the imparting of knowledge, sometimes called the "scholar-academic" philosophy. In this theory, the child is incomplete, waiting to be trained and "filled" by a teacher who primarily lectures as a sort of mediator between the curriculum and the students. Others see the role of education as "social efficiency". These individuals see teachers as a sort of educational engineer who shapes the behavior of students to mold them into adult members of society. Still others see the school as a social institution through which leadership is to be provided and actions learned in order to improve their society. These "Social Reconstructionists" see education as the process through which the society is to be improved and see students as potential reformers who will create a vision of a better world. Even if educators or the public at large could agree that the role of education is to help students learn to live responsibly. There would not be disagreement on what "responsibly" means? Some would envision an adult who goes to a steady job, obeys his country's military call, pledges allegiance to the flag, donates money to the Salvation Army at Christmas time, and votes each year when given the opportunity. To someone else, such as social reconstructionist, responsible living means challenging the country's decisions and its substructure, and may mean protesting or committing civil disobedience rather than serve in the military or just voting once a year or every four years. This problem needs to be addressed -- possibly before Reverend Summers' plan can be considered or at least implemented. (3) Reverend Summers also fails to give an answer to those who argue that religion isn't necessarily the most important factor influencing cultures from "the time of prehistoric humans up to the modern age." To a Marxist, economics is the common factor, not religion -- especially organized religion. And a case can be made that politics and power had more to do with the religion promoted by the Egyptian pharaohs and the Roman emperors than the spiritual state of the society. Also, Reverend Summers fails to demonstrate how a relgious world view allowed individuals to cultivate "meaningful connections among the now disjointed disciplines and specializations of the modern world." Some would argue that a religious world view will not bring about these meaningful connections as it supposedly did in the pre-Enlightenment period. The fact that the disciplines of sociology, psychology, etc. didn't exist in that pre-modern era (at least as we now understand them) tends to increase doubt that a revival of an old world view can make the "meaningful connections." (4) Lastly, some Christian fundamentalists have put public education in the awkward position of being "damned if they do and damned if they don't". Let me explain. Although the typical or most vocal attack is against the "anti-religious bias" or "secular humanist philosophy", when teachers do try to explore the realm of the spiritual, they are met with further opposition. I am not talking about the teaching of a particular religion but teaching about religions (as Reverend Summers suggests) and about an individual's spiritual side. It seems that in the minds of some, only certain approved religions or perspectives should be addressed. But as Reverend Summers pointed out, inclusion or omission of topics says a lot about the teacher's views. Hence, as Reverend Summers also stated, "Teaching has theological overtones." Therefore, in an attempt to be thorough, fair, and unbiased, public school teachers are required to offer numerous alternative views. Yet this results oftentimes in a backlash against "exposing" one's son or daughter to ideas which the parents oppose. It is as though exposure is an attempt at conversion. Although some would disagree with Reverend Summers that sex education does not encourage students to have sex, some fundamentalists assume that exposing students to the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism will result in their child joining a Buddhist monastery. Or just as bad, heaven forbid, that they might question the beliefs of their parents. In order to be open and fair does teaching about religions and their role in human societies include not only the major organized religions but also Scientology, Astrology, reincarnation, out-of-body experiences, and the Wicca religion? This question and problem also needs to be addressed. In conclusion and summary, let me say that I agree with Reverend Summers: -that understanding the role of religion is crucial to understanding our own culture and the cultures of others -that teacher preparation programs need to include some level of awareness of the role of religion -that both multicultural and interdisciplinary programs need to be developed and implemented, and -that in the name of honesty and accuracy, educators must include the impact of religion in the curriculum. On the other hand, before these things can fully take place, hard decisions need to be made as to: -how much preparation for teachers is adequate -what is indeed the aim of education as the public perceives it -how exactly is incorporating a religious world view going to help students make connections between the disciplines, and -how do you create a system and atmosphere in which teachers can look at the broad role and varieties of religious belief without continual criticism. I would like to close by relating a story which I believe demonstrates the timeliness of Reverend Summers proposal to increase the emphasis on the role of religion. Two years ago I gave a class of students three different creation stories -- two Native American, and the other from the book of Genesis. After handing out these readings a student raised his hand and asked, "What are all these little numbers on the left side of the column?" Obviously this junior in high school had never seen the inside of a Bible. I question whether or not the student really understood the foundations of this country, its development over the previous centuries, or even fully why some individuals disagree on the best ways to deal with the social problems of the day. Assuming (I believe correctly) that this student had neither read or heard of the Koran or Torah, he probably has little understanding as to why Muslims and Jews are killing each other in the Middle East or why many religious groups around the world are in conflict. If this incident is any indication, we can not afford to ignore Reverend Summers' proposal any longer. 1992-1993 LECTURES AND FORUMS A full season of lectures and forums is scheduled for 1992-1993. All are open to the public. Please call (207) 874-2214 or write for more information. March 7, 1993 The Decline of American Religion and the Emergence 3:00 p.m. of a New Spirituality. Dr. William Geoghegan, Research Professor of Religion, Bowdoin College. State Street Congregational Church, UCC, 159 State Street, Portland, Maine March 12, 1993 Jonathan Edwards. Dr. Joseph Conforti, Director, New 3:00 p.m. England Studies Program, University of Southern Maine. Bangor Theological Seminary, 159 State Street, Portland, Maine THE THROCKMORTON LECTURES "Far More Precious Than Jewels": Perspectives on Biblical Women Dr. Katheryn Pfisterer Darr Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible Boston University School of Theology March 21, 1993 "More Than the Stars of the Heavens": Critical, 3:00 p.m. Rabbinical, and Feminist Perspectives on Sara "More Than a Possession": Critical, Rabbinical, and Feminist Perspectives on Hagar March 28, 1993 "More Than Seven Sons": Critical, Rabbinical, and 3:00 p.m. Feminist Perspectives on Ruth "More Than Just a Pretty Face": Critical, Rabbinical, and Feminist Perspectives on Esther Cathedral Church of St. Luke -- Episcopal, 143 State Street, Portland, Maine NEW ACQUISITIONS Annotations prepared by: Sarah Colby Clifton Davis Katherine Grieb Leslie Ziegler BIBLICAL STUDY AND INTERPRETATION BAIGENT, MICHAEL AND LEIGH, RICHARD. The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception. New York: Summit Books, 1991, 268 pp. This book is more about the "deception" perpetrated by members of the international committee alone privileged to examine the scroll fragments, than it is about the scrolls themselves. There is a cast of colorful characters on both sides of the issues who have varied and fascinating theories about what the scrolls mean. The scrolls that generate the most controversy are those labeled sectarian, rather than those that are biblical. The authors rely upon the work of Robert Eisenman, whose insights have provided the impetus for their writing. sc FOX, MICHAEL V. Character and Ideology in the Book of Esther. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991, 317 pp. Anyone interested in the Book of Esther will find this study a helpful guide. It attempts to answer the questions "How can Jews best survive and thrive in the diaspora? What is the nature of the gentile state? What must Jews do in times of crisis? What is the nature of the Jewish community in exile and how does (and should) it work? How do men and women treat each other? Where do we see God?" Published in the series "Studies on personalities of the Old Testament," this work provides not only commentary, but helpful essays which highlight the themes and personalities of the book. Readers of this journal are informed that the library has all titles in the series. cd GEORGI, DIETER. Theocracy in Paul's Praxis and Theology. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991, 112 pp. Dieter Georgi, for fifteen years a member of the faculty at Harvard Divinity School, is now Professor of New Testament at the University of Frankfurt, Germany. His study is not confined to an examination of Paul's thought in a narrow sense, but has ramifications for social and political issues as well. His focus is on the concept of "sovereignty," important for theological conversations today and for issues in the relations of the Christian to the state. cd. ROBERTS, J. J. M. Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: a Commentary. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991. 223 pp. Roberts' commentary on three of the minor prophets is part of The Old Testament Library series, based on sound methods of historical-critical scholarship. The author provides an introduction to the reading of prophetic literature concerned with oracles placed in sequence which may or may not follow on logically in the development of a theme, as one would expect in the reading of a novel. This observation runs counter to narrative or canonical criticism which concentrate more on books as whole and integrated units. This commentary pays attention to textual criticism, philology, and to historical questions raised in the text. Each book has a brief introduction, discussion of the date of composition, and something about the prophet and his message, preceding the commentary. A significant bibliography is included. Readers are reminded that the library has all titles available in this series. cd. SCHNEIDERS, SANDRA M. The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture. San Francisco: Harper, 1991, 206 pp. Schneiders' basic claim is that the scholarly academy -- modern historical biblical scholarship -- has not yet developed an adequate hermeneutics. The scholarly community has uncritically assumed that what it does is exactly what needs to be done in order for the text to be truly understood, and hence does not really "know what it is doing" (p.21). The result is the unfortunate chasm between the work of the academy and the effectiveness of that work in the understanding of Scripture in the believing community -- the church. Schneiders proposes a hermeneutical theory aimed at bridging this chasm -- a hermeneutics which incorporates aspects of the whole range of approaches found in the academy today, but with a special dependence upon the work of Gadamer and Ricoeur, and a special emphasis upon "ideological criticism," particularly as it is exemplified in the feminist "hermeneutics of suspicion." In the process of constructing her proposal for understanding the New Testament as a revelatory text, Schneiders provides us with an exceptionally clear account of her view of revelation as a "transformative" understanding or appropriation of the subject matter of the text. This book provides the reader with an excellent spring-board from which to enter the on-going debate regarding an understanding of Scripture as foundational for the life of the church. lz. WEBER, HANS-RUEDI. Experiments with Bible Study. Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1981, 319 pp. This book begins (part one) with a rather brief (50 pages), but very informative, account of how the Bible has functioned as an authoritative guide for the Christian way of life throughout the centuries and in different cultures. Part two contains 25 fully written-up examples of Bible studies, with suggestions and notes for the study enabler. Weber is concerned about the fact that there is a wide gap between what happens in biblical scholarship and what happens in the everyday life of the Christian. The enormous increase in biblical knowledge, and in the excellent tools available for the understanding and explaining of the meaning of a biblical text and for exploring that meaning in our present context, seemingly has had little impact upon the level of biblical understanding among the members of church congregations. His "experiments" are exactly that -- experiments involving various methods and approaches aimed at helping the biblical message to become alive for Christians, so that their life-style and decision-making may be brought under the judgment, promise, and guidance of biblical revelation. lz CHURCH HISTORY GRAGG, LARRY. The Salem Witch Crisis. New York: Praeger, 1992, 228 pp. This book provides a fascinating and informative account of the everyday life of those inhabitants of seventeenth century New England whose very human weaknesses, and frequent almost superhuman fortitude and courage were clearly exposed in the tragedy of the Salem witch hunt. It is the author's view that the best approach to understanding what happened at Salem is in terms of the particular decisions made by the individuals involved and their consequences. Gragg presents his account, therefore, in narrative style. We become acquainted with the accused, their accusers, the sheriff, the judges, and the very important spiritual leaders -- the ministers of the area. Gragg introduces his narrative by reminding us of the fact that people act upon what they believe to be true, and in the seventeenth century people believed fervently in the powers of witchcraft. He also describes clearly the strife, the greediness, the jealousies, the tensions resulting from the necessity of people living closely together under difficult conditions for extended periods of time, all of which combined to produce fertile soil for accusations that certain "troublesome" individuals were making use of supernatural powers to harm their neighbors. The heart of the book deals with the struggle of the community to understand what was happening as the crisis grew -- the frightening willingness of many to bring accusations, and the ease with which the court convicted. As the number of executions increased, appeals were made to the clergy to help determine what constituted legitimate evidence of the practice of witchcraft, and to help understand how so many perviously "faithful and virtuous Christians" could suddenly become captive to the power of Satan. To a clergy who did not question the existence of witches and who was thoroughly convinced of the awesome wiles of Satan, this was a formidable assignment. But with their guidance, it became apparent the convictions were being made on at least very flimsy, and most often, completely unreliable, evidence. And the trials were stopped. As Gragg put it, "New Englanders had decided, as had most authorities in Europe, that there were no reliable methods of detecting witches" (p. 200). But the arrival at that decision was by way of a path strewn with much intense human misery and the shedding of a good deal of innocent blood. lz KAUFFMAN, J. HOWARD AND LEO DRIEDGER. The Mennonite Mosaic: Identity and Modernization. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1991, 308 pp. An excellent resource for anyone interested in the impact of modernization on members of Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches. This study is based on findings from surveys made in 1972 and 1989, surveys which represent the following denominations: Brethren in Christ Church, Ekvangelical Mennonite Church, General Conference Mennonite Church, Mennonite Brethren Church, and Mennonite Church. A wealth of information is provided on the current beliefs, practices, and social attitudess of members of these five denominations, and what happens to their religious identity when church members become urbanized, achieve higher educational and income levels, and enter occupations that involve them much more extensively with the networks of commerce and the professions. This information is of value and interest not only to leaders of these Mennonite groups, but also to any interested in the sociology of religion. lz MCBRIEN, RICHARD P. Report on the Church: Catholicism After Vatican II. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1992. The twenty-five year period following Vatican II, is chronicled here by Richard McBrien, a weekly columnist for the "Catholic Transcript", the weekly newspaper of the archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut. The columns are the author's reflections on persons and events which have been important in the life of the Catholic Church, but also are of interest to Protestants as well. Vatican II has had an effect upon us all. cd Memory Offended: The Auschwitz Convent Controversy. Edited by Carol Rittner and John K. Roth. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1991, 289 pp. On one level, the least important one, this book serves as a reference source to the controversy surrounding the presence of the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz. The editors have provided a detailed chronology of events pertinent to this controversy and appendixes containing key documents, as well as even four selected political cartoons, regarding the controversy. But of prime importance is the message provided by the fifteen contributors (four of them Holocaust survivors) of the essays in this volume. Here we find, clearly set forth, the incredibly entangled maze of disagreements and thinly veiled hatreds and fears unleashed by the seemingly simple question of the location of a convent. The evil of Auschwitz is obviously somehow still active, and offended memories easily blossom forth as bitter animosities. The question whether these offended memories can be redeemed remains an open one. These essays provide ample evidence that it is important to remember that "there is no armistice from the inhuman" if there is to ever be any chance of genuine reconciliation. lz COUNSELING, PSYCHOLOGY, PASTORAL CARE GUERNSEY, DENNIS B. AND LUCY GUERNSEY. Birthmarks. Dallas: Word, 1991, 192 pp. A practical guide to removing, or at least dealing with, "birthmarks" -- those "blemishes" or dilemmas which result from past dysfunctional relationships with crucial persons in our lives, particularly with family members, and frequently involving patterns that have been transmitted through several generations. The aim of the authors is to help the individual to become a "transitional person" -- i.e., to have the dysfunctional pattern stop with him or her. This begins with removal of the "birthmark" from his or her own relationships so that the future history for that family is forever altered. It would be a rare person who could not find some helpful insight in this book. lz ETHICS, SOCIETAL PROBLEMS, CHURCH & SOCIETY DULLES, AVERY. The Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System. New York: Crossroad, 1992, 228 pp. Avery Dulles, a Jesuit scholar, regards a healthy theology as one which serves and is accountable to the church. The present "unhealthy" state of theololgy, a disarray which in some cases approaches a loss of identity, he sees as the result of its tendency to cease to be a reflection upon the faith of the church. Of course, problems arise about how to determine the faith of the church, and this book deals with those problems. Each of the twelve chapters was originally composed to deal with a specific problem upon a special occasion -- nine of them within the past three years. All of the chapters have been reworked for inclusion in the present volume, resulting in a unified presentation of what the title promises -- a fine example of the craft of theololgy. Dulles looks upon Scripture and tradition, particularly liturgy, both as constituting the foundation of the faith of the original community and as continuing to shape the faith of the believing community today -- i.e., as providing the "symbols" from which one can move to the theological system appropriate to that faith. He holds that the neo-scholasticism which held sway in the recent past, particularly in Roman Catholicism, is no longer adequate for today, but rejects those emphases upon methodology which are content with theology as being merely descriptive or phenomenological. Rather, theology must seriously grapple with questions of truth, and must do justice to the transformative power of grace through the gospel itself. He also deals with the relation of theology to philosophy and to the physical sciences, and with the problem of method in ecumenical theology. Dulles contends that ecumenism is not a separate branch of theology, but a dimension of all good theology, and his book is rewarding to Catholic and Protestant readers alike. lz. ENROTH, RONALD M. Churches That Abuse. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992, 231 pp. Enroth here calls attention to a phenomenon in church life difficult to understand and shattering to the lives of those caught up in it -- church abuse, psychological and spiritual. Churches that abuse are really those tightly controled by a single individual whose control needs are great and who, through manipulation, gain authority over the total lives of those caught in their net. In most such situations, the churches are independent of any denomination where accountability might prevent such abuse. The author provides numerous case studies of persons with spiritual longings who sought God, only to be found by a demonic parasitic preacher. Pastors seeking counsel for those in their midst who have family caught up in abusive churches will find this book of some help. cd KRAUS, C. NORMAN. God Our Savior: Theology in a Christological Mode. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1991, 272 pp. C. Norman Kraus has spent a number of years of his professional life serving under Mennonite Board of Missions in Asia and Australia, and is a student of the origens of Anabaptism. In this comparatively small volume he provides a clearly written, easily understood systematic theological statement based upon God's unique self-disclosure in Jesus Christ, as recorded in Scripture. There are chapters on the nature of theological reflection, revelation, God, the Holy Spirit, the church, and eschatology -- all understood through the lens of Jesus Christ as Lord. Thus Kraus' work is a thoroughly biblical evangelical theology, in contrast to a rationalistic orthodoxy or to a politically oriented liberalism. lz. MISCELLANEOUS OGDEN, EVELYN HUNT. Completing Your Doctoral Dissertation or Master's Thesis in Two Semesters or Less. Lancaster, PA: Technomic Publishing Company, Inc., 1991, 139 pp. Designed for the graduate student at an early point of the dissertation or thesis process who wishes to streamline the task, this book provides practical advice about such matters as how to pick a committee, readers, an advisor; how to frame a realistic schedule and stick to it; what sorts of problems to anticipate and head off before they appear. The book is interactive in style, with lists, tests, and forms appropriate to various stages of the process. Not all readers will share the author's assumptions about what the process of writing a thesis or dissertation is about, but this book is a welcome contribution to the planning process. akg PREACHING, CHURCH ADMINISTRATION ANDREW, JOHN. The Best of Both Worlds. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, 235 pp. John Andrew, priest at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City, has provided a book of homilies delivered at the church he has served for eighteen years. "The best of both worlds" refers to life in Christ, in this world, and the next. cd NEUHAUS, RICHARD JOHN. Freedom for Ministry. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992, 257 pp. Neuhaus states that were he to use a subtitle for this revised edition of a volume published originally in 1979, it would be, "A Guide to the Perplexed Who Are Called to Serve" (p.ix.). The book fulfills this description admirably. To those anticipating service -- seminarians or others -- it provides a very accurate map of the hills and valleys involved in being an "ambassador for a disputed sovereignty" (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20), as well as of the locations of the paths by which that ambassadorship is betrayed. For those who have become weary of serving, who have felt the despair of seeming uselessness, who have looked longingly at the paths of betrayal, or perhaps even tried one or more of them, this book provides a very potent dose of renewed courage to do what they are called to do. Neuhaus makes it clear that the true crisis of ministry is theological, and hence excursions into various forms of psychology, sociology, or political activism actually constitute experiments in joining those who dispute the sovereignty of Christ -- experiments in accepting the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6:1). lz OGDEN, GREG. The New Reformation: Returning the Ministry to the People of God. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990, 224 pp. In this book, Ogden holds that the time is ripe for a new reformation -- one that completes, and corrects, an incompleteness, the unfinished promise, of the Protestant Reformation. Luther stressed the "priesthood of all believers," but, Ogden points out, we have developed an understanding of the church and the ministry which actually inhibits rather than encourages this promise of the ministry of all of God's people. His book is a well stated proposal aimed at realizing the church that "God intended." He sees the proper model of the church as an "organism," as opposed to our common "institutional" model -- an organism (the Body of Christ) consisting of "life-pulsating people who are animated by the indwelling presence of Jesus Christ." The institutional model of the church leads to a "dependency" model of ministry which views pastors as the performers who enact "real" ministry, while God's people are the passive audience. In the organism model, ministry is what the whole body is called to do, and the pastor makes use of his professional knowledge to "equip" the body for full service. This book presents a real challenge, not only to the commonly held view of the church and the ministry, but also to the generally held understanding of "call" and "ordination." Implementing Ogden's proposal would be, indeed, a new reformation, and his work deserves the serious attention of all the people of God -- ordained and not ordained. lz. YODER, JOHN HOWARD. Nevertheless: the Varieties and Shortcomings of Religious Pacificism. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1992, 191 pp. This book is a revised and expanded edition of Yoder's original 1971 publication. Today, when the issues of war and peace are not far from the minds of most of the world's population, and upper-most in the minds of many, this small volume is a very timely work -- particularly to be valued by all Christians concerned about the imperatives of peacemaking. Yoder provides a typology of "pacifisms," and makes it clear that all pacifisms are by no means the same. There are a number of different types, some compatible with each other, some mutually reinforcing, and some even directly contradictory in their assumptions. To name just a few of these types we have the pacifism of absolute principle, of non-violent social change, of prophetic protest, of absolute conscience, of redemptive personalism, and "on and on." Yoder summarizes, briefly and clearly, the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments for each type, and his conclusion is that "every serious critique that one can address to the pacifist, if taken honestly, turns back with greater force upon the advocate of war" (p. 143). lz THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY ADDINALL, PETER. Philosophy and Biblical Interpretation: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991, 330 pp. This book explores the nature of the conflict between science and religion. Addinall shows, through a detailed consideration of this conflict as it was manifested in nineteenth-century Britain, that religion and science, properly understood, cannot co-exist in harmony. In Britain, he contends, Hume's scepticism never received its proper philosophical response. Instead it was apparently confirmed by the empirical success of the rapidly developing natural science. Hence, the legacy of this unresolved and misunderstood conflict was passed on to the twentieth century, much to the detriment of religious belief. Addinall argues that the true philosophical response to Hume is provided by Immanuel Kant, whose thought provides the foundation for understanding the fundamental difference between the religious and the scientific approaches to the world, as well as the nature of the choice between them. We are free to make the choice, but we then must accept the consequences of that choice. And Kant's thought also makes it clear what our choice ought to be -- makes it clear that in our world, properly understood, virtue is more firmly grounded than the laws of physics or chemistry, and scientific advancement must proceed under the authority of a "community which has a firm grasp of values which are not to be bargained away in return for short-term or illusory benefits" (p. 298). A careful reading of Addinall's closely structured argument can only prove instructive for anyone interested in the roles of science and religious belief with regard to what it means to be human in today's world. lz HILDEBRAND, DIETRICH VON. Man and Woman: Love and the Meaning of Intimacy. Manchester, N.H.: Sophia Institute Press, 1992. This reprint and reedit of a work first published in 1966 offers the reader a traditional approach to love, marriage, and sexuality from the perspective of Roman Catholic spirituality. Von Hildebrand, a wise and thoughtful guide whose comment is to be read slowly and prayerfully, speaks a word contrary to current popular experience, yet its truth points to the fulness of life for both sexes in their relationship to God, and through God, to one another. cd. MCCOLLOUGH, THOMAS E. The Moral Imagination and Public Life: Raising the Ethical Question. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1991, 176 pp. "Is it possible to reconceive democratic polity and ethics so as to disclose an integral and moral relation between the ethically concerned citizen and political decision making?" (p. 6) This is the question that McCollough raises with the reader in a way that is both engaging and moving. He removes the realm of ethics from the chambers of a decision-making elite viewed as applying ethical principles to public policy to consider the dynamic of persons in community fired by a moral imagination, bringing their lives to bear on issues in support of the common good. In this there is both liberty and hope. cd MACINTYRE, ALASDAIR. Three Rival Versions of Moral Enquiry: Encyclopedia, Genealogy, and Tradition. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990, 241 pp. In this volume of his 1988 Gifford Lectures, Alasdair MacIntyre presents, and defends very persuasively, the claim that genuine rational inquiry requires membership in some particular community, which entails, of course, a prior pre-rational commitment. He sees rational moral inquiry as analogous to a craft. To share in the rationality of a craft requires sharing in the contingencies of its history, understanding oneself as a participant in that historical tradition through which the craft has come so far. And the authority of the craft-master is not only a matter of exemplifying the best standards so far, but, even more importantly, of knowing how to use what can be learned from the tradition of past work to move toward the future of a more fully perfected work. Thus the authority of the master is not one of domination, but is legitimated by the ability to draw upon the tradition, to interpret and reinterpret it, so that the telos of that particular craft becomes apparent in new and even unexpected ways (pp.65-6). In the history of philosophy this (traditional) stance has been opposed by two radically conflicting views. First, that which holds to belief in the unity of truth and reason, and sees reason as impersonal, impartial, uniting, and universal -- the Encyclopedists. And second, which MacIntyre refers to as the Genealogists, exemplified particularly by Nietzsche, that which rejects any truth as such, and sees reason as the unwitting servant of particular interests, masking their drive to power by pretensions to neutrality and universality. MacIntyre provides a very informative history of Western thought in which he presents both the strengths and weaknesses of these two perspectives, and argues that the general failure to see them as anything but radically incompatible -- utterly irreconcilable -- is the result of failure to understand the nature of genuine rational inquiry. MacIntyre also offers a fairly detailed account of Thomas Aquinas' procedure in producing his synthesis of the conflicting Augustinianism and Aristotelianism of his day as an example of the use of truly rational moral inquiry, and one which also provides an example of the use of tradition as an authority in such inquiry. He suggests this example may be especially useful today, when we tend to see moral standards largely in Nietzschian terms as being merely the "devices" of the historically successful special interest groups. lz ODEN, THOMAS C. Life in the Spirit: Systematic Theology, Volume 3. San Francisco, Harper, 1992, 548 pp. This is the third and final volume in the author's Systematic Theology. Volume one dealt with the Christian understanding of God, creation, and providence. The second volume discussed the Word become flesh and its significance. This final volume is concerned with the work of God in creation and redemption -- the Holy Spirit in persons, through communities, and in the fullness of human destiny. Oden's approach to Christian theoogy is one that, unfortunately, is not very often found today. His deliberate aim is to recover and restate the core traditions of Christian faith, in contrast to those who are all too ready to ignore or discard essentials from the past in favor of the fads and fancies of the present. Hence he makes frequent use of the "principal consensual exegetes" that represent the mind of the believing church as it set forth the apostolic faith, namely, the ecumenical councils and early synods, and the eight great doctors of the faith -- the four of the East, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom; and the four of the West, Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great. Life in the Spirit takes up the traditional topics: the person of the Holy Spirit and the work of the Spirit; salvation (the way of repentance, the community of celebration, marks of the church); and human destiny (death and personal survival, the end of human history, the communion of saints and the life everlasting). And in doing so Oden makes it obvious that the essentials of the Christian faith are as alive and well today as they were at the time of their formulation. lz SELL, ALAN P.F. A Reformed, Evangelical, Catholic Theology: The Contribution of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, 1875-1982. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991, 304 pp. Alan Sell, who served as theological secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches from 1983 to 1987, compiled this theological history of the W.A.R.C. as a beginning step to fill a lacuna in the story of twentieth century theology -- the lack of attention to the theological work of the Christian ecumenical bodies. He first gives an introduction to the Alliance and its parent bodies, and then engages in critical, analytical reflection upon the entire corpus of Alliance literature with the following questions in mind -- How well does it reflect the reformed, evangelical catholic faith? How well has it responded to the ecumenical and intellectual challenges confronting the faith during the years involved? What has been its ethical witness during this period? Although Sell gives the Alliance high grades overall, he also points out that work needs to be done, particularly with regard to the understanding of the atonement as basic to ecclesiology and witness (p. 241f.). lz WORSHIP, PRAYER, SPIRITUAL LIFE GEDICKS, FREDERICK M. AND HENDRIX, ROGER. Choosing the Dream: The Future of Religion in American Public Life. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991, 196 pp. Gedicks, a Professor of Law at Brigham Young University, and Hendrix, president of a management consulting firm, have teamed up to produce this essay promoting the place of religion in American public life. Religion, considered here, concerns the "longing for transcendent and enduring meaning..." (p. 6) and is primarily focused on that which provides adherents satisfying and fulfilling ways to live their lives. Thus, religious experience in America is not seen as particularly Christian or Jewish, but includes the major religions of the world along with current new age possibilities. This is a plea for toleration among religious persons and secularists alike, for together they participate in the public life of pursuing the American dream. cd BIOGRAPHY DOLAN, TIMOTHY MICHAEL. "Some Seed Fell on Good Ground": The Life of Edwin V. O'Hara. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1992. 300 pp. Fr. Dolan has provided us with a very readable, scholarly, and critical biography of a remarkable churchman -- one who was instrumental to the progress of the Catholic Church in America during the first half of the twentieth century. Edwin V. O'Hara (1881-1956) is characterized by Dolan as a man ahead of his time whose work foreshadowed many of the changes wrought in Roman Catholicism following Vatican II. During his entire career, beginning as a young priest in Oregon in 1905, through his service as bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls, Montana, then of the Diocese of Kansas City (and his appointment as archbishop), O'Hara was confronted at every turn by the anti-Catholic prejudice of the American public, and during the early years by out-right bigotry. His method of dealing with the specific issues and problems involved makes for interesting and enlightening reading. O'Hara was convinced that ignorance and complacency which hesitated to face the challenges of the times were the main enemies of the church's mission. His vigorous leadership made itself felt in all aspects of this mission. He was instrumental in obtaining the passage of the first state minimum wage law -- a battle which went all the way to the Supreme Court. He pioneered rural life reforms, regarding farming as a way of life, rather than merely a way to earn a living, and was the leading force for elimination of discrimination against Afro-Americans, promoting the integration of parochial schools and equal opportunities for black physicians to obtain the best training available and to practice in the best hospitals. He was greatly concerned for improved education, particularly religious education. This led him to open religious vacation schools, to strong support for Newman Clubs on secular college and university campuses, to vigorous support for high standards in parochial schools, and to the founding and promoting of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in the United States as well as the Catholic Biblical Association, and to pioneer work on liturgical renewal which included more active participation by the laity. This book provides the reader not only an account of the life of a devoted and very influential priest, but also an instructive history of American Catholicism during the first half of the twentieth century. lz FOOTNOTES******************************** {1} I Donald W. Oliver with Kathleen Waldron Gershman, Education, Modemity, and Fractured Meaning: Toward a Process Theory of Teaching and Learning (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), p. 203. {2} Alasdair Maclntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), pp. 30-31. {3} The National Education Goals. "By the year 2000: #3. American students will leave grades four, eight, and twelve having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, science, history and geography; and every school in American will ensure that all students learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy." {4} Karl Badt as cited in Rudolf Arnheim, Visual Thinking (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969), p. 47. {5} In Abington v. Schempp, the Supreme Court ruled that prescribed Bible reading as a part of public education is unconstitutional. Notwithstanding this, the Court also repeatedly noted the importance and qualitatively different character of study about religion, as when it said: "It is insisted that unless these religious exercises are permitted a 'religion of secularism' is established in the schools. We agree of course that the State may not establish a 'religion of secularism' in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus 'preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe.' Zorach v. Clauson, supra, 343 U.S., at 314, 72 S.Ct., at 684, 96 L.Ed. 954. We do not agree, however, that this decision in any sense has that effect. In addition, it might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment." See School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1 963). {6} Philip H. Phenix, Religious Concerns in Contemporary Education: A Study of Reciprocal Relations (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University), pp. 44-45. {7} Habermas's full quote reads as follows: "The parties that have contended about the correct self-understanding of modernity since the days of the Young Hegelians all agree on one point: that a far-reaching process of self-illusion was connected with the learning processes conceptualized in the eighteenth century as 'enlightenment.' Agreement also exists about the fact that the authoritarian traits of a narrow-minded enlightenment are embedded in the principle of self-consciousness or of subjectivity .... This limitation, built into the structure of the relation-to-self, remains unconscious in the process of becoming conscious. From this springs the tendency toward self- glorification and illusionment, that is, toward absolutizing a given level of reflection and emancipation." See Jurgen Habermas, The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, trans. Frederick Lawrence (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1987), p. 52. {8} Mircea Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, vol. I (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1978), p. xiii. {9} Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1969), p. 6. {10} Lamin Sanneh, "Muslim Faith, American Ideals," The Christian Century 108 (2-9 January 1991), 18. {11} Sanneh, p. 18. {12} Habermas, p. 20. {13} Donald W. Oliver presents an especially promising postmodern educational paradigm in his Education, Modernity, and Fractured Meaning: Toward a Process Theory of Teaching and Leaming (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989).