Profiles: An International Series on Contemporary Philosophers and Logicians, Vol. 5 ed. by Alvin Plantinga, James E. Tomberlin, and Peter van Inwagen (review)

710 BOOK REVIEWS he insists that divine acts are always story-relative, he does not provide a full explanation of how someone, either within the framework of the st-0ry, or outside it, can determine (using historical evidence and philosophical analysis) when they are dealing with a divine act. As evidenced by his review (The Thomist, 49 (1985), 299-305) of William Abraham's Divine Revelation and the Limits of Historical Criticism (Oxford, 1982), I'm certain Tracy is aware of this need for further development despite its absence in this book. It is, in fact, one of the most important contributions of his study of divine action that he has recognized the obligation on the part of those who accept his analysis to identify specific divine acts in history. In this respect, I believe, Tracy is well beyond the limited view of divine agency in Kaufman (who is reluctant to identify God with anything other than a vague kind of overarching intention). Tracy's argument gives us the basis for beginning to support the Biblical view of divine action on the solid ground of a metaphysics which is faithful to classical theism (perhaps to a fault) as well as to the most sophisticated forms of contemporary philosophical analysis and process thought. His book is a masterpiece of cogent reasoning, but, more important, it breaks new ground in our understanding of one of the most basic of all Christian claims-that God is one who acts in history. FRANK G. KIRKPATRICK Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut Alvin Plantinga, James E. Tomberlin and Peter van Inwagen, eds. in Profiles: An International Series on Contemporary Philosophers and Logicians, Vol. 5; Radu J. Bogdan and Ilkka Niiniluoto, general editors ; Dordrecht, D. Reidel Publishing Co., 1985; pp. ix + 396 with indices of names and subjects. No price quoted. The series to which this anthology belongs, Profiles, takes up the baton of P. A. Schilpp's Library of Living Philosophers. As with the Schilpp series, invited contributors (nine here) discuss the work of a distinguished living oolleague, Alvin Plantinga. Plantinga himself replies on topics in ontology, philosophical theology, and epistemology. The tradition of the Festschrift is our age's amiable compromise between scholastic dispute and literary polemic. And, indeed, the format is nearly certain to succeed within its clearly stated limits if the invited contributions are of high quality. Astute criticisms-and even astute apprecia- BOOK REVIEWS 711 tion-from a worthy colleague often help a philosopher clarify his own views, exposing to the public eye insights taken for granted or shrouded in the author's independent writings. If nothing more, the critique and reply format corroborates the thesis that the best answer to an objection is usually the philosopher's own. Yet it is difficult not to be disappointed that the program here is so cramped. Only philosophers practicing in the analytic tradition and sympathetic to Plantinga's fundamental assumptions about method in philosophy have offered their views. This is not necessarily bad, for the positions stated both for and against Plantinga are well stated. The tone throughout is entirely professional. It is simply that there are no fresh insights, no bracing challenges to fundamental assumptions. What is lacking is healthy variety. How welcome would be a piece by someone trained in the scholastic method such as Mclnerny or Wallace; how intriguing it would prove for the analytically trained to read a critique by an adherent of phenomenology or the hermeneutic critical approaches of Gadamer, Eugen, Fink, or Werner Marx, to balance an otherwise narrow and polarised presentation. In the end, it is ironic that Plantinga-who throughout his career has delved into the most time-honored and universal problems (what there is, the nature of evidence, the rational demonstration of the existence of God, and problem of evil)-should find himself involved in a dialogue more narrowly based than his true competence as a philosopher merits. NIOHOLAS INGHAM:, O.P. Providence College Providence, Rhode Islood The Matter of Minds. By ZENO VENDLER. (Clarendon Library of Logie and Philosophy). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985. Pp. vi + 139. Clothbound. In his book current logico-linguistie methods are used for the treatment of the traditional philosophical problems of...