The Church and Its Social Involvement in the Philippines, 1930-1972 by Wilfredo B. Fabros (review)

BOOK REVIEWS145 (the conservative/fundamentalist backlash to Modernism), the quixotic Gilbert Reid and his International Institute, and the Laymen's Inquiry and Report of 1932 (which marks the end of the coverage of the book). Lian Xi's conclusion stakes out a more ambitious claim, which cannot easily be proven: that the mission experience, especially in China, shaped the emergence of liberalism in North American theology on the home front during these decades. Here he makes some good points, such as the centrality ofmissions to Presbyterian conservatives as the focal point of their protests against liberalism, and the large number of liberal ex-missionaries who came home to teach in major seminaries . My major criticism of this work is that by ending in the early 1930's it gives the impression that the liberal/modernist impulse carried the day in missions. However, as a new work byJoel Carpenter,Revive UsAgain: The Reawakening ofAmerican Fundamentalism (Oxford, 1997), makes clear, a resurgence of conservative Christianity, including a strong thrust in foreign missions, was beginning just in these years. That impulse has been dominant inAmerican Protestant missions in the decades since; today, liberal missionaries like those described so well in this book are few, while fundamentalists on the mission field abound. Daniel H. Bays The University ofKansas Philippines The Church audits SocialInvolvement in the Philippines, 1930-1972. ByWiIfredo B. Fabros. (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press. 1988. Pp. xii, 202.) In the late 1970's and early 1980's,the ReverendJohn N. Schumacher, S.J.,prepared and presented an "elective" course, on the "History of the Catholic Church's Involvement in the Philippine Social Problem," at the Loyola School of Theology in the Ateneo de Manila University. Father Schumacher was committed to ensure that the up and coming clergy under his care were provided with an historical, social, and political perspective of the Church's involvement in the Philippine social problem and a scientific, historical, and analytical methodology to investigate such involvement. Some of the results of his efforts were a master's thesis on"Catholic Social Action Prior to WorldWar II" (1986) byVictor Ibabao and a doctoral thesis on "The Church and Its Social Involvement in the Philippines between 1930 and 1972" by FatherWilfredo Fabros. If anything, the publication of Father Fabros' dissertation is a testament to Father Schumacher's success in educating the young Philippine clergy to take up historical research work in the Philippines, be this at the level of the local or national church. Father Fabros' book covers the period from before World War II (the 1930's), after World War II (mid-1940's), after the Second Vatican Council (mid-1960's), 146BOOK REVIEWS up to 1972,when Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines and began his fourteen-year, one-man rule over the Philippines. Father Fabros' description of Catholic Social Action prior to World War II (the 1930's) is sketchy. This is understandable in that he concentrates his efforts, and much of the contents of his book, on events afterWorld War II (1945- 1972). The master's thesis ofVictor Ibabao provides a more detailed account and analysis of Catholic Social Action in the Philippines prior to World War II (1930's). Father Fabros' publication provides firsthand data on events afterWorld War II. In terms of future historical work in the years covered by Father Fabros' book, i.e., 1930- 1972, there appears to be a need to undertake further historical research in the areas of the ideological, social, political, and religious linkages between Catholic Social Action in the Philippines on the one hand and Catholic Social Action in Western Europe, the United States ofAmerica, and Central and Latin America on the other hand. In the Philippines, prior to and after World War II (1930-1960), such linkages would come primarily from Western Europe and the United States of America. Prior to and after Vatican Council II (1960-1972), such linkages would come primarily from Central and Latin America. Victor B. Ibabao Washington, DC. ...