Concordant Discord. The Interdependence of Faiths by R. C. Zaehner (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 709 Is difficult to know which of these values justified such a treatment of Thomas Aquinas. Basic to Valente's "theological" position is a totally dialectical theory of reality and of human life. Modem man is fundamentally changed; he has a radically altered psychic world view. (p. 90) "Evolution" is Valente's key-word; he neither tells us what it is nor seems aware that the general sort of theory he is espousing is at least as old as the Greek Sophists and has always represented an altemative to other philosophical views of man and nature. What is the use of Valente's book? The fact that it is relatively inexpensive and that its positions are bluntly stated, even if not well organized, might make it useful as a foil for serious study of the morality of sexual conduct. In particular, the relationship between theological dissent on the issue of contraception and a radical revision both of traditional moral teaching and of ecclesiology appears more clearly in this work than in more technically competent theological studies. On the other hand, Valente is professor of theology and former Chairman of the Department of Theology at Seton Hall University. One can only feel sorry for unsophisticated young people, including his own students, who will be persuaded by this book that they can embrace both Christian faith and a completely secularized sexual ethics. Perhaps someone like Valente himself, brought up with a sense of faith and guilt, can maintain for a time this unstable synthesis of incompatible elements. The next generation surely will choose, and then there will be no further call for " theology " such as this. Georgetown University Washington, D. C. GERMAIN GRISEZ Concordant Discord. The Interdependence of Faiths. By R. C. ZAEHNER. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970. Pp. 464. $15.00. R. C. Zaehner is one of a coterie of older British scholars who have written prolifically over the years in comparative religions and have exerted remarkable influence on the place of religion in England today. Along with E. 0. James, Geoffrey Parrinder, and S. G. F. Brandon, Zaehner and his colleagues have brought the discipline of comparative religions into the forefront of religion study in England. In fact, the discipline of comparative religions may have a firmer position in England than anywhere else in the world today. For the past century the British have been orientated towards Asia and Africa and, consequently, have taken great interest in advancing the study of other religions. The discipline has taken root in the 710 BOOK REVIEWS British educational system with some ease, and this has resulted in a demand for materials and scholarly works on the religions of Asia and Africa. The British school of comparative religions, as represented by those mentioned above, differs markedly from Continental and American scholars in this field. In both America and on the Continent the phenomenology of religion and the history of religions, strictly speaking, have dominated the direction of those studying world religions. Religionswissenschajt, in its classical sense for this discipline, is an attempt to integrate the research of the phenomenology and history of religions, and this is the goal, with the exception of the British school, of most comparative religionists today. R. C. Zaehner and his colleagues are by and large less concerned with this methodology and, consequently, are working within this discipline much as their predecessors did. It means that the British school is primarily concerned with the " comparing " of religions as was the fashion with the great pioneers in this discipline some decades ago. A redeeming factor, however, is that several of the British scholars, for example, Geoffrey Parrinder and S. G. F. Brandon, are more astute than Zaehner in drawing upon anthropological data and pertinent historical studies respectively. In England the scholar in comparative religions has become frequently the apologist for religion and, moreover, because of his Christian heritage, the Christian apologist of religion in the latter half of this century. It has effected the type of research and scholarship done in England. This is especially true of R. C. Zaehner. The British school, with R. C. Zaehner in the lead, has taken on a polemical and solipsistic approach in dealing...