Greek Thought and the Rise of Christianity by James Shiel (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 779 As regards the second, less fundamental problem (i.e., whether o:r not metaphor is a kind of analogy), Mcinerny's analysis is without ambi~uity. He clearly shows how, according to Aquinas, analogy is formally distinct from metaphor by contending that, while the former always involves a new way of signifying the res significata, the latter never involves a new way of signifying the same form. Rather, a thing metaphorically named is referred to what is properly named by the term in question " because of a similarity of effects or properties." Nevertheless, the author points out that, if one goes by the narrower etymological meaning of metaphor (i. e., to transfer), then, to the extent that analogy involves a transfer of a word from its usual context, analogy may be say to be a kind of metaphor. University of Rhode Island Kingston, R. I. JoHN F. PETERSON Greek Thought and the Rise of Christianity. By JAMES SHIEL. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1968. Pp. 161. $~.50. Shiel's volume, presented in this country in paper by a firm commonly linked with the less-than-scholarly student handbook, marks a pleasing departure from that tradition. It is one of the series Problem,q and Perspectives in History which evolved under the general editorship of Hugh Kearney from the inter-disciplinary approach in force at the University of Sussex where Shiel lectures in classical and medieval thought. Although some might describe the work as an anthology, there is a much wider editorial consideration of issues than that format usually allows: fully half the text is Shiel's commentary. Even were this not so, with a problem as intricate as the relationship of Greek to Christian thinking, the selector/ arranger can never move too far from the scene of his deeds. It can be reported that Shiel has positioned his texts with verve, imagination and fairness. The product is balanced and sure to prove a useful item for upper level college courses. What is the philosopher to make of the New Testament, asks Shiel, and how account for Eusebius's declaration that " Nobody can deny that our Lord and Saviour was a philosopher and a truly pious man, no imposter or magician "? This encomium, of course, comes but a few generations after Paul warned his Colossians about the empty deceptions of philosophy. Shiel offers a generous cross-section of ancient writers who successively formulate and discard opinions, some tentative, some rabid, on the relationship of philosophy to the new religion. We meet Jesus who was a philosopher in spite of Paul, and Jesus who was not because of Paul. The proces- 780 BOOK REVIEWS sion of witnesses is well introduced and a perspective of caution maintained. Part I brings the reader from Clement of Alexandria up to Gemistos Plethon, and the compiler has written generous pages of orientation to his forty-odd authors. The matter is broken down into four chapters treating: the question of Greek rationalism and the possibility of a religious undertone , as we understand it, in that thought; the noisy advent of followers of Jesus into the intellectual stoa and the various attempts to synthesize faith with the evidence of reason. Since this discussion is too often carried on solely in terms of Augustine's view, it is refreshing to find appreciation for what Damascene, Michael Psellos and Origen have contributed to the effort. Part II is devoted to some thirteen " historical " approaches to the faith and reason question. In line with the definition given history by the general editor, the discussion here ranges into economic and social themes with Troeltsch, Gibbon and Toynbee represented. The same sense of balance and variety is had here as in Part 1: Nietzsche speaks and Peguy responds. If we are to take seriously Lord Acton's admonition to study problems in preference to periods-and the limitations of the lecture system still in vogue makes this an imperative-then Shiel's work offers hope that an historical approach can be combined with incisive commentary to the detriment of neither. Documentation is complete and so also is the index. While biographical data is supplied, one might have hoped for a...