book reviews

An introduction to
dialogical thought

In addition to the scholarship and the depth of thought this work represents, there is a personal side to its conception that is most congenial to its purpose in helping to bring about interfaith dialogue. The author's mother encouraged him to study German when he was very young, an act of exceptional magnanimity given the fact that she had suffered greatly during the Second World War as a patriotic Pole. His knowledge of German allowed him to penetrate more deeply the mind of Hans Urs von Balthasar. Four days before Balthasar passed away, the great theologian answered a letter that the author, then a student in Rome and unknown to him, had written him. Balthasar expressed his belief in the possibility of a dialogical encounter with Asia.

Dialogue is essential to the thought of Balthasar. He has insisted time after time, for example, that his work was absolutely inseparable from that of Adrienne von Speyr, a medical doctor of unmistakable holiness and mystical gifts. Moreover, man himself, according to Balthasar, is through and through a dialogical being. Though weary of words, especially in a world where words are more and more severed from reality, he cannot escape language. He was made for speech, conversation. To reduce him to monologue is to destroy him. Man is made in the image of God, and dialogue is at the very heart of the divine life of the Trinity.

Balthasar's methodology, very much like that of the early Church Fathers, is most suitable for initiating dialogue with people of different faiths, or even no faith at all. He begins by presenting what others in the world have thought on a particular topic and then gradually circles ever closer to his own vision. Balthasar is an apologist, but one of vast erudition which gives him a common base with people of many different cultural backgrounds.

The theme of "Word and Silence," essential to the book, is also an image of dialogue. God is the Word and the Word weds Silence. God not only speaks to man, but is himself Word, a Word uttered in an eternal, interpersonal dialogue which is part of the very Being of God himself. If man does not hear God's Word, it is because he is not perceiving it. Mary is the perfect listener to the speech of God. She receives the Word so perfectly that she conceives from it, and allows it to become flesh in her. Thus, the Virgin, who in her silence is perfectly attuned to God's Word, becomes the fruitful mother of the Word incarnate-Christ.

Obedience, therefore, becomes a critical human virtue. Obedience to God allows my will to be subsumed under his so that God can be God in my life. My true center is not in my "self" or my "ego" but in the Other-in the God who is my Thou. Similarly, the sexes find meaning and fulfillment in their relation to God. The author refers to a duet from Mozart's Magic Flute in which Pamina and Papageno (not Tamino and Tamina [sic], as the author incorrectly states) sing: "Weib und Mann, Mann und Weib/Reichen an die Gottheit an" (Woman and Man, Man and Woman, reaching up to God). All non-Christian mysticisms are solitary. Balthasar states, "ecstasies don't happen for two, let alone the masses." There is much of interest here concerning God-created male and female, the perversity of homosexuality, the unisex rebellion against God, the via technica in which the male factor dominates while receptivity, obedience, and fruitfulness disappear. "Sterility" in Balthasar's view, appears to be the goal of the current secular world.

Dialogue, in the end, can be too strong for most people. The sheer horror of the 20th century usually entices people to seek avenues of escape. What is unique about Catholicism is the emphasis it gives to the Cross. No horror is too great for the true Christian to face because all horror has been embraced by Christ on the Cross.

Word and Silence is far more a synthesis of Balthasar's thought on this theme than a dialogue between East and West. Given the fact that its spirit is essentially dialogical provides us with a most important starting point for dialogue, but a dialogue that involves many polarities other than East and West, including man and God, male and female, the objective Word and the subjective response, Biblical and non-Biblical traditions, theism and atheism, and so on. It is both a good introduction to the dialogical thought of one of the greatest Catholic theologians of this century, as well as a good introduction to a discussion of what is wrong with the world and how it can be made right.

Donald DeMarco

Kitchener, Ontario

Competing with TV

Narrative theology has been popular for some time now so it was inevitable that storytelling would be applied to the homily. The use of a good story to illustrate a point in a homily is a technique that preachers have always used. Human beings love to hear stories-most of our movies and TV programs center around telling a story. As children we all loved to hear mom or dad tell us a story, especially before going to bed.

In this book Fr. William J. Bausch presents both the theory and the practice of preaching homilies by using stories. In the first part of the book he offers us eight short chapters on the problems of preaching today, especially stressing that the people in the pews are a visual culture, that is, their imagination is filled with images from watching television. They are accustomed to short sound bites and find it hard to follow a lengthy argument. Since they relate to images, our author tries to compete with TV by painting word pictures through the use of stories that are highly concrete, current and occasionally humorous. In addition, he describes the modern mind-set of individualism, relativism, anti-dogmatism, selfism. Parishioners imbued with these views are not easy to reach through a didactic or expository sermon. Therefore, Fr. Bausch tries to reach them by telling stories.

The second part of the book is the most interesting and the most original. There he offers 42 full length homilies based on his theory of illustrating Scripture and divine truths with stories. Some of the homilies have three points and a story illustrating each point. A few have no stories at all. A blurb that came with the book says that he offers 130 stories in all.

The author does not offer any examples of a doctrinal or catechetical homily. He is not against that, as he says on page 100, but that is not the focus of this book.

I have mixed feelings about some of the homilies printed here. Some are very good; others, in my opinion are flippant and a bit irreverent. I suppose the author would say he is trying to reach the modern person in the pew who is saturated with TV messages and turned off by most preaching. Maybe he is right, but that would not be my approach.

Fr. Bausch is obviously a Commonweal or NCR priest and that is clear from the people he quotes-Dan Berrigan, Bishop "Ken" (sic) Untener, Andrew Greeley, et al. It is also clear from those he does not quote-Archbishop Sheen, Pope John Paul II, George Rutler or Benedict Groeschel. I saw no references to Crisis, Catholic World Report or Homiletic & Pastoral Review.

Don't get me wrong. The book has many redeeming features and is worth reading if you would like to spice up your preaching with stories that have a point and a punch. Many of his stories can be borrowed and used by other preachers; in fact, they are intended to be used as such.

It seems to me however that good preaching is based primarily not on stories but on the prayer of the preacher. Good examples of this are the Curé of Ars, Archbishop Sheen and Pope John Paul II. Mother Teresa has said that she wants the priests who offer Mass for her Sisters to pray over the Scriptures and then tell the Sisters what they discovered in prayer. Prayer adds sincerity and conviction to words that otherwise are not convincing. I wish the author had said something about the need for prayer in the preparation of homilies. Perhaps that will come in his next book.

Kenneth Baker, S.J.

Fairfield, N.J.

Missale Romanum Redivivum

Priests and parishes wishing to offer the traditional Latin Mass of the Church can now purchase a brand new Missale Romanum 1962 from Roman Catholic Books. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first reprint of the Missale Romanum in this country since the time of the Second Vatican Council.

The book is beautifully printed and bound in red leather on sturdy, long-lasting paper. The Canon of the Mass is printed on 70 pound stock, so it will take a lot of wear. The red tabs were affixed by hand and seem to be made of substantial material. Five extra tabs come with the Missale just in case a few should be lost.

Here are some specifics provided by the publisher: "Beautiful Belgian woodcuts adorn the text; Smyth-sewn binding; entirely Latin; weighs over 5-1/2 lbs; quality Finch vanilla paper; 2-color pages throughout; gold-gilded pages all round; ribbon markers in the liturgical colors, hand bound; rich red leather covers, Cabra bonded-the sturdiest and most handsome available, imported from Germany."

They are all there: the rubrics in Latin, the calendarium, prayers before and after Mass, special Masses for North America. But there is a discrepancy between the date on the cover (1962) and the date of approval from the Congregation of Rites (1960). This edition does not contain the changes of 1962, such as the insertion into the Canon of the Mass in the "communicantes" of the name of St. Joseph: "et beati Joseph eiusdem Virginis sponsi." This is a minor point and easily supplied by the celebrant, but it seems to indicate that we have a 1960 missal here. Also, I would like to have seen a gold cross on the back cover of the missal. Reason? When the missal is on the altar the open side always faces the tabernacle; this means that the back cover is towards the people. The older missals usually had an ornate gold cross on the back which was visible to the whole congregation when the book was not open.

The price of the book may seem excessive, but it really is not. This is a high quality missal that will last for many years and will grace any altar, whether in a cathedral or a small chapel. The worship of God and his altar deserves the best.

Kenneth Baker, S.J.

Fairfield, N.J.

A historian's personal faith

One of the most significant events of the 20th century is something that didn't happen: God did not die. So says one of the century's leading historians, Paul Johnson, who further argues that as this bloody century draws to a close, not only has God survived, he is flourishing.

This is the starting point for a lovely volume that is part history and part meditation. The Quest for God is, as its subtitle announces, a personal pilgrimage-idiosyncratic musings on the nature of faith and the practice of religion. Mr. Johnson, who is British, has spent his life as a Roman Catholic in a land of Anglicans.

Mr. Johnson opens his book with a mini-history of atheism. Atheism, of course, did not die with Hume, and by the 19th century Hegel's vision of human history as a progression from lower to higher forms led many people to believe that man and woman would eventually outgrow God.

In the 19th century, the new science of archaeology shook the faith of the Victorians more than Darwin ever did, in that it seemed to prove that many of the events and places chronicled in the Old Testament never existed. Just the reverse has happened in the 20th century, Mr. Johnson says, with science now reinforcing the existence of God.

The Quest for God is filled with delectable tidbits such as the story of St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan in the fourth century, who set to music the principal prayers of the Mass. According to St. Augustine, St. Ambrose also set the fashion for silent reading, a practice that Mr. Johnson surmises was unknown in the classical world. Augustine marvelled at the innovation.

The Egyptians were the first to come up with the notion of an afterlife, a concept later taken up by the ancient Hebrews. Mr. Johnson believes the first hell in people's minds may have been an actual place on the south side of Jerusalem, where smoldering dumps consumed the garbage of the city and fires raged day and night. He devotes a whole chapter to contemplating gruesome visions of hell that history, art and literature have offered up and speculating on whom one might find as inmates in residence there. Another chapter offers far tamer contemplations of heaven.

Mr. Johnson is content to regard God as "She" or "He," and among his predictions are that his Church will permit women to be priests but will retain the practice of celibacy.

He sees the crucial moral test of the next century as the "Battle for Life." As a historian, he believes the great evil of the 20th century was totalitarianism, in which Hitler, Stalin and Mao replaced God with the state. As a Christian, he believes the great evil of the 21st will be the abuse of new medical technologies to "play with human life itself." Men and women will be tempted to usurp God's role in deciding when life begins and ends.

Paul Johnson talks about personal faith with intelligence and ease. By sharing the God that lives in his heart, he helps the rest of us to better understand the God that lives in our hearts.

John H. Fahey

Washington, West Va.

No "dumbing down"

A simple, compact, meticulously organized, and substantive work, Jesus the Teacher concentrates on this one facet of Our Lord's life and work: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God . . ." (John 3:2). Part One of the book explores the Biblical evidence of Christ's special vocation as a teacher: Jesus' friends and disciples, the Scribes and the Pharisees, and common people all addressed him as Teacher: "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing" (Mark 4:38). The honorific title of "Rabbi" ascribed to Jesus also recognized his noble calling. Christ himself identifies one of his roles as Teacher: "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14).

The book then proceeds to examine the scenes of Jesus' teaching in his travels through towns and villages, from Simon's boat, in the synagogues, on the hillside, and in the privacy of rooms. The valuable insights gleaned from this section depict Jesus as a Teacher who would instruct all who desired to know, not just the learned, privileged, or initiated. In his teaching Jesus manifested special compassion for the ignorant, the uneducated, the poor, and sinners as he spoke to the multitudes. In a Jewish culture in which only men were granted the privilege of formal learning from the Torah, Jesus gladly taught women about the Kingdom of God, for example, the Samaritan woman and Mary and Martha.

Next the book explores the subject of Jesus' own teachers, demonstrating that Christ not only embodied "the wisdom that comes from above" but also learned from Joseph and Mary the virtue of hospitality as a sacred duty and acquired formal schooling from the synagogue. Jesus' parables reflect his knowledge from practical experience and proverbial wisdom-his familiarity with agriculture, building, business, law, and social customs. As Jesus "increased in wisdom and in years," his teaching reflected both the sublimity of divine truth and a familiarity with the ordinary life of farmers and merchants. Jesus' teaching was never abstract or theoretical but reflected the wisdom of Solomon in its references to trees, birds, fish.

As a teacher Jesus taught "a way or path" rather than an elaborate legal code. While Christ admonished that "not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished," he summarized the moral law as love of God and love of neighbor. Utilizing proverbs, parables, epigrams, paradoxes, hyperbole, irony, and reductio ad absurdum as some of his teaching devices, Jesus' teaching was not pedantic or humdrum but "concrete and colourful": for example, Jesus' contrast between seeing a speck in one's neighbor's eye but overlooking the log in one's own is an unforgettable image and an example of Christ's sense of humor according to Elton Trueblood.

In Chapter 7 Brother Grenier illuminates Jesus' attitude toward his listeners and disciples, providing an inspiring example for all parents and educators. First, Jesus respects the freedom of his pupils: "Compassionately uncompromising, he proposes but does not impose." Christ does not intimidate or threaten the rich young man who walks away after he discovers he must sacrifice his wealth to gain eternal life. Second, Jesus loved those whom he taught, as seen in his fondness for "the beloved disciple," his close bonds with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, his affection for Peter, and his delight in children. Third, Jesus challenged his followers, exhorting them to be born anew, to go and sin no more, to wash one another's feet, to love one's enemies, and to worship God rather than love wealth. There is no "dumbing down" in his instruction.

Part Two of Jesus the Teacher examines the rich subject matter of Jesus' teaching. The full content of Christ's instruction to his followers reveals the Father, bears witness to the truth, shows the way to eternal life, and offers a vision of what Pope Paul VI called "a civilization of love" where service, charity, compassion, and forgiveness transform daily life. The great lessons of Christ's teachings instruct us in the danger of riches, in a trust in God's providence, in the primacy of sharing, and in the cost of discipleship. Christ's commandment to love transcends the love of family, friends, and nation and embraces strangers and enemies: "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?" The law of love demands the humility to be the servant of others and a hospitality to welcome strangers, "for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it" (Heb. 13:32).

The book summarizes Christ's teaching into three categories: man's relationship with material reality ("And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field . . ."), man's relationship with other people ("Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy"), and man's relationship with God (God as "Our Father," as an "intimate presence" present in history, in the cloud and pillar of fire, in the tabernacle, and in the humanity of the Word made Flesh)-the God who knows us by name, whom we address in the familiar "Abba," the Father who does not give his children a stone when they ask for bread.

In a succinct but thorough examination of all facets of Christ's teaching vocation, Jesus the Teacher specializes in Christ's distinctive role as the Word made Flesh, wisdom incarnate, the ideal teacher, and eternal truth. All the passages in Sacred Scripture that illuminate Christ's ministry of teaching, his method and style of instruction, and the hard sayings he speaks are culled and gathered to provide a cornucopia of spiritual nourishment. Although not exhaustive in its development of the topic, Jesus the Teacher offers a solid foundation and bedrock for further reflection on this subject.

Mitchell Kalpakgian

Simpson College

Indianola, Iowa

Christ or a cat?

After thirty years in a Poor Clare Monastery, the author, Karen Karper, sets out for the solitude of the mountains of West Virginia to undertake one of the most difficult forms of consecrated life, that of the hermit. This book provides glimpses of her experiences in the West Virginia version of the "desert." Well-written anecdotes of mishaps and miscalculations illustrate her early naivete. Under the pressure of daily problems-unremitting rain, mud, copperhead snakes, etc.-the hermitess comes to a new sense of self-reliance and resourcefulness. The beauty of the natural world around her is a source of delight and compensation for many challenges she meets.

But beyond the more superficial aspects of adjustment to a new mode of life, Karper's account raises some rather deep questions. Is the life she describes a truly Christian form of the eremetical life, making sense in view of intimate union with Christ, or does its meaning come from elsewhere-whether from finding time and inspiration for writing, or experiencing a sense of independence, or discovering and communing with nature, or helping bring to birth the "New Age"? Perhaps the best we can say is that if Karper does see the eremetical life as deeply Christ-centered and ecclesial, she does not communicate it in this book. True, there are quotations from psalms and hymns. There are fleeting glimpses of the child in the crib at Christmas and the Man from Galilee. But there are also suggestions that the author's view of the eremetical life is substantially different from that found in the Christian tradition. For example, there is a prayer service celebrating spring where the author and two other hermitesses gather round a flowering trillium and sing its praises, and parenthetically, praises of its creator; there is the journal writing to take care of unresolved guilt feelings over having left the monastery; there is the decision to leave behind the ways of prayer learned in the monastery.

However, perhaps the most telling element in this book is Karper's description of her relationship with her cat, Merton the tom. Karper states that the cat has taken over her life and rules her house. In terms usually reserved for intimate human love, she speaks of the cat. It had "padded" into her heart and "created a hole that no one but he could fill"; it had helped her to unlearn the lessons of the cloister where she had been taught to guard undue attachment to worldly things. She had become "defenseless in the soft paws of a purring cat" and thus found her heart open to love. She deems herself recreated through the love she receives from and gives to the cat. In his "fathomless amber eyes" she sees an intelligence and wisdom which are older than humanity. She worries about losing the animal and when for a brief time, the cat wanders in a shopping center, she searches for it in near despair and with many tears.

In the early centuries of the Church, men and women flocked to the desert to live the Christian life in the most radical way possible. They did not write autobiographies but, through the accounts of those who visited them, we know that their lives spoke eloquently of passionate love for Jesus Christ and burning desire for their own and the world's salvation. Karper's book is proof that, if Christ is not the center, something else takes his place, and thus the heart is fixed where there can be no true or abiding joy. This is true of life in general, but all the more so of the eremetical life. Contrary to what is thought by nonbelievers, the solitary life can be suffused with the radiance of Christ's love and be fruitful for the Church. But if Christ is placed on the periphery of life, or is displaced, the solitary life appears to be an exercise in futility. The value of this book lies in giving one more proof-albeit a negative one-of the importance of living the Church's faith in Jesus Christ. One can only hope that all those who embark upon this way of life may find Christ, and the fullness of joy in intimacy with him. Apart from Christ, there is no other way to find the eternal God who never "begins to be" but always is, now and forever.

Sister Joan Gormley

Mount Saint Mary's Seminary

Emmitsburg, Md.