Multiple Echo by Cornelius Ernst, O.P. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 631 eternal objects in a single way instead of in the many ways that compel Whitehead to have twenty-seven categories of explanation. It is not that " correlation " may not be a fit description of one moment of the theological task; and it can clearly be useful as a way to read history, to make various pedagogical points, and even to organize a book. But is it unfair to suggest that a genuinely pluralistic methodology will prefer a changing and variously ordered set of "sources" (e.g., Revelation, Scripture, Tradition , Experience, etc.) rather than one or two? In this context one would not so much " correlate " these data as " bring them to bear in different ways " on various issues. There would then be less need to rely on a disclosure model of truth, for " truth " would not be constituted by a single " event " but by a whole way of life from and in and toward Jesus Christ. Such a view would also encourage theologians to spend less time discussing criteria and more time bringing such criteria to bear on the whole range of classic Christian credenda and agenda. However, with this last paragraph I may have already exceeded the limits of a brief review. Tracy would have every right to insist on seeing a developed alternative. On the other hand, the constructive criticisms may matter very little: the conversation itself, as Tracy insists, is what is important . AI is written with such modesty, breadth of knowledge, and sense of complexity that it is the best among the rare works that try to tackle its subject matter. The comments offered here are parasitic on that fact. JAMES J. BUCKLEY Loyola College Baltimore, Maryland Multiple Echo. By CORNELIUS ERNST, O.P. Edited by Fergus Kerr, O.P., and Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1979. Pp. 238. £8.95. This book is a posthumous collection of occasional pieces, edited by two of Ernst's former students, Ernst himself having died very unexpectedly in 1977 at the age of 53. This review is by one of his former colleagues. I lived in the sames houses of the English province as he did from 1950 to 1966, during which time we were first students together and then lectors in the house of philosophy at Hawkesyard. So my reaction to these essays will be colored by a different kind of familiarity from that of the editors. First of all a few words about the work of the editors. Their short introduction is simply about Cornelius Ernst and his thought, and says nothing about how they themselves set about their editorial work. We don't know, 632 BOOK REVIEWS I don't know, whether we have here a selection of his articles and essays, or a complete collection of them. They are not arranged chronologically in the order in which they were composed; we are not told what the principle of arrangement is. Perhaps it doesn't matter. It is rather odd that we should first have a table of contents, which gives no indication of where or when the essays first appeared, and then a table of " Original Sources", which practically repeats the contents, giving this information. That is, no doubt, a publisher's decision. I would have appreciated a rather longer introduction, including a more ample memoir of the author. But the one substantial criticism I have of the editors is for their choice of quotation from a notebook of his, written in 1972, with which they begin their introduction , and which is reproduced in the blurb. The first two sentences of this quotation are, "Ultimately, I cannot accept the framework of experience demanded and presupposed by the orthodox ecclesiastical tradition. I think I must face this, with consequences I can't foretell". Now the immediate inference from these two sentences is that Cornelius Ernst was having difficulties about the Catholic faith. True, " orthodox ecclesiastical tradition " is not the same as " Catholic faith ", but they are clearly connected, and that phrase "with consequences I can't foretell", has an ominous ring about it. It is very probable that when he wrote these words he was having doubts at the very least...