Spirit and Light: Essays in Historical Theory ed. by William B. Green, Madeleine L’Engle (review)

160 BOOK REVIEWS to confront language philosophy with its continential sibling. We continue to look for a common parent, and even more eagerly for a family reunion. The Aquinas Institute Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey JOHN B. DAVIS, O.P. Spirit and Light: Essays in Historical Theory. Ed. by WILLIAM B. GREEN and MADELEINE L'ENGLE. New York: Seabury Press, 1976. Pp. 148. $8.95. Besides a common admiration for Canon Edward West of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine these essays written in his honor are most obviously connected by a deep appreciation of the rich Christian tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Though partisans of theologies of the Latin tradition will find much to question, everyone who is not already well versed in Eastern Christianity will find much to ponder in this little book. The monotholete controversy is not of burning interest in the hearts and minds of many today, as it seems somewhat technical and remote even for a Christological controversy of the ancient world .William Green's lucid and concise essay " Maximus Confessor: An Introduction " provides even the casual reader with an understanding of the importance of the controversy and a respect for the tradition which produced the orthodox formulation. Professor Green ably shows that Maximus's doctrine of the two natures of Christ harmonizes with the thought of the Alexandrian theologians, and indicates the importance of Maximus in the later theology of the East by sketching the connection between deification and incarnation in the Confessor's work. Reginald Fuller of the Virginia Theological Seminary begins his essay on" Christmas, Epiphany, and the Johannine Prologue" with the following observations: Canon Edward West's friends and colleagues will remember his disdain for the festival of Christmas. After a striking series of Advent sermons . . . he would lapse into a sort of intelLectual hibernation and spiritual melancholy to emerge again only at Epiphany. Edward West is profoundly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy, for which Epiphany takes theological and liturgical precedence over Christmas. And it is the celebration of Christ's baptism, not the visit of the Magi, that engages the primary attention of the Orthodox. (p. 68) Fuller then proceeds by examining what he supposes to have been the original form of the Johannine Prologue to demonstrate that the New BOOK REVIEWS 161 Testament supports the practice of Canon West and of the Orthodox. The reconstructions which scholars have proposed for the Logos Hymn are so various that Fuller concedes in a footnote, " It is easy to stand on the sidelines and laugh at the lack of agreement over the extent of the original hymn," but goes on to say, "Fruitful exegesis demands that we take risks" (p. 7~. note 6). It cannot be denied that Fuller's exegesis is fruitful, whatever degree of risk may attach to statements like " This then is how the gospel, in its first draft, would have begun " (p. 67) . Although the prologue to the Gospel of John is traditionally read at Christmas , Fuller observes that the passage should more probably be read as a commentary on the baptism of Christ than on His infancy: " It cannot be other than a commentary on what follows, not on what is absent from the book! " (p. 64) . Certainly this emphasis sets the Incarnation of the Word more dynamically against the background of Christ's entire life and ministry and throws the feast of Epiphany into sharper relief. Still, many readers who cherish a certain fondness for Christmas will await Professor Fuller's exegesis of the infancy narratives before joining Canon West in hibernation. Canon Allchin of Canterbury Cathedral argues in the concluding essay " The Reconciliation of Opposites: A Study of St. Francis and Von Hugel " that St. Francis of Assisi can best be understood from the Eastern Orthodox standpoint, and that his spirit was more in harmony with the theology of a Palamas or Cabasilas than with the spirit of the western universities and the Franciscan Order. Canon Allchin's preference for Eastern over Western painting leads him to make statements which some will attribute to taste alone. "The growing humanism of the West more and more deprived religious painting of its theological and spiritual content...