In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

RELIGION 537 strategies et de leurs modalites d'expansion' (pp 13-14). Peut-elle permettre 'une action efficace en vue de limiter leur emprise, de les contr6ler et, si possible, de les demembrer' (p 14)? Cela reste averifier. Religion H. -M AR TIN RUM 5 CHEI DT Publications in 1983 gave evidence of the breadth of approach to the multifaceted dimension of the human engagement called religion. One wishes at times that the definitions ofreligion were set more narrowly and were as precise as those of astronomy or geology appear to be. But since religion is perceived to encompass things of the heavens and of the earth, publication in this dimension is varied. Hence the reviewer's dilemma: should one review every book received and, as a consequence, subject the reader to a list of 'what came out in 1983' or should one be selective and indicate in some detail, with critical discussion, what was added to 'the state of the art in Canada' and, as a consequence, do some injustice to publishers who sent review copies of their books? With reluctance the latter course was chosen. But in order to signal the variety of works published during the last year and to honour the goodwill of Canadian publishers, the works received but not specifically discussed in this article will be listed. Three books bring together and expand in a slight degree material which has been heard, read, or seen before in other media: Roy Bonisteel, Man Alive: The Human Journey (Collins, 220, $18.95), Tom Harpur, Harpur's Heaven and Hell (Oxford, 248, $9.95 paper), and Gilles Langevin, SJ, ed, Les Premiers Chretiens (3 vols, Bellarmin/Cerf, 160, 150, 150, $6.95 each, paper). A strong contribution is made to historical illumination of the recent and not so recent past both in Canada and elsewhere, especially Europe, in Desmond Bowen, Paul Cardinal Cullen and the Shaping of Modern Irish Catholicism (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 311, $15.00), Flore Dupriez, La Condition ftiminine et les peres de I'Eglise latine (Editions Paulines, 194, $10.00), James Martin Estes, Christian Magistrate and State Church: The Reforming Career of Johannes Brenz (University of Toronto Press, 190, $27.50), J.A.W. Gunn, Beyond Liberty and Property: The Process of Self-Recognition in Eighteenth-Century Political Thought (McGill-Queen's University Press, 331, $35.00), Ernilien Lamirande, Paulin de Milan et la 'Vita Ambrosii' (Theologie 30, Bellarrninl Desclee, 206, $15.00 paper), Laurie Stanley, The Well-Watered Garden: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798-1860 (University College of Cape Breton Press, 239, $25.00), Margaret Randall, Christians in the Nicaraguan Revolution, trans Mariana Valverde (New Star Books, 208, $7.95 paper), and W.K. Thomas, Down-to-Earth Cherub: The Life and Legend of Finlay Stewart (Welch, 270, $21.95). Three monographs deal with specific 538 LETTERS IN CANADA 1983 theological loci, two focusing on the Christian and'one on the Buddhist context: David Ewert, The Holy Spirit in the N= Testament (Herald Press, 324, $14.35 paper), Bruce Matthews, Craving and Salvation: A Study in Buddhist Soteriology (SR Supplements 13, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 138, $6.50 paper), and Paul W. Newman, Humanity and Spirit: An Anatomy ofHope (Image Publishing, 179, $9,95 paper). There is a Festschrift which, regrettably, could not be presented to the jubilarian during his lifetime: Howard Joseph, Jack N. Lightstone, and Michael D. Oppenheim, eds, Truth and Compassion: Essays on Judaism and Religion in Memory ofRabbi Dr. Solomon Frank (SR Supplements 12, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 217, $8.95 paper). Finally, two impressive anthologies appeared: Elizabeth Lacelle, ed, La Femme, son corps, la religion: Approches pluridisciplinaires (2. Femmes et Religion, Bellarmin, 246, $15.00 paper), and Peter Slater and Donald Wiebe with Maurice Boutin and Harold Coward, eds, Traditions in Contact and Change: Selected Proceedings of the XlVth Congress of the Intemational Association for the History of Religions (Editions sR/3, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 756, $14.50 paper). Even an 'overview' of so summary a kind as this provides a glimpse not only of what goes on in current research in Canada in the field of religion but also of the wide range of...

pdf

Share