Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of the Christian Synthesis by John Herman Randall, Jr. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 185 Unfortunately, the reviewer was somewhat distracted from the trend of thought in the appeal by the fact that page 90 is entirely blank-hopefully, the defect is unique to the reviewer's copy. Generally, the proofreading has been well done save for " principle " instead of " principal " on p. 38-a common oversight. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. ALAN SMITH, 0. P. Hellenistic Ways of Deliverance and the Making of the Christian Synthesis. By JoHN HERMAN RANDALL, JR. New York and London: Columbia University Press. 1970. Pp. ~54. $7.95. This little book, with the disproportionately long title and the even more disproportionately high price, represents a rather ambitious project requiring a scholar of Randall's expertise and stature to carry it out. And, in his own way, he does carry it out very well. He has not aimed at a detailed, comprehensive study of the topic but, rather, he has written a series of connected essays which are characterized by conciseness and clarity. Basically, the book may be divided into two parts, the first dealing with Hellenism and the second with early Christianity. The first part impresses one as certainly the better of the two, for it deals with an area in which the author has for a long time given abundant proof of his scholarly competence and in which he seems to be more at home. He begins by discussing the main characteristics of the thought and culture of the Hellenistic world, especially as centered around Alexandria. He then presents a clear and well-drawn picture of the principal secular ways of deliverance, the Epicurean, the Stoic and the Skeptic, the last of which he feels makes the most sense and is the most relevant to the human situation today. The book, incidentally, contains a number of asides and reflections which, whether or not the reader concurs, are worth listening to. The fortunes of the Hellenistic philosophical systems in Rome are next examined with special attention devoted to Cicero, Seneca, Panaetius, Posedonius, and Antiochus. A chapter on the revival of religious ways of salvation and the mystery cults is followed by one on the nearly pure rationalism of Plotinus. All of this is handled by a scholar who knows what he is talking about and who can explain it to others. In treating of early Christianity, however, he seems less at ease, and he is certainly less convincing when, for example, he compares Pauline Christianity with the mystery religions. In discussing early Christian thought the author, now emeritus, relies very heavily, as he frankly admits, on what he learned as a student from his own teachers. In many cases, what was once new and provocative has now become passe. 186 BOOK REVIEWS The book concludes with several chapters on Augustine's completion of the Christian synthesis. While much of what the author writes has been said before, he puts it together very neatly and clearly, adding his own interesting reflections. His analyses of philosophical and religious thought are, with very few exceptions, penetrating and thorough, and they are admirably presented to the reader. Some of his ideas may be controversial and some of his conclusions debatable, but they merit our attention. The Catholic University of America Washington, D. C. GEORGE T. DENNIS, s.J. Work, Society and Culture. By YVEs R. SIMON. Edited by Vukan Kuic. New York: Fordham University Press, 1971. Pp. ~50. (Appendix Simon Bibliography). $7.50. Yves Simon was at once a precisionist and a comprehensive and depth student in philosophy, a profound Catholic in his life and thought, and among American Catholics by far the most creative philosopher. He knew how to work and enjoyed it. Two events will indicate his determination to work. When at the age of fifty-eight he was terminally sick, he insisted on being carried onto the stage to deliver from a stretcher a promised lecture on "Jacques Maritain: The Growth of a Christian Philosopher," and when I once asked this sick man whether he was working, he replied: " Good Lord, man, if I wasn't, I'd be dead." In the present study, the sixth posthumous book, he remarks (p. 41) that " if philosophers...