Brief Notices

Berthelon, Pierre. Antoine Chevrier: Prêtre selon l’Évangile 1826–1879. (Paris: Editions du Cerf. 2010. Pp. 143. €10,00 paperback. ISBN 978-2-204-09179-4.)

This is a fascinating, well-written, concise, and accessible biography of Blessed Antoine Chevrier (beatified 1986). The Christo-centric conversion experience of this newly ordained priest on Christmas Eve 1856 led to his decision to become a un prêtre selon l’évangile. For Chevrier and the community he founded at Le Prado in Lyon, this meant living a priesthood modeled on the person and ministry of Jesus Christ as revealed in New Testament texts: a servant-priest living with the greatest personal simplicity and in apostolic poverty so as to be free to preach the gospel in word and deed to the masses of the urban poor created by the Industrial Revolution.

Berthelon knows his subject, the influences directing Chevrier’s spiritual journey, and the mature spirituality of Chevrier intimately, but he also succeeds in placing Chevrier within his mid-nineteenth-century contexts— socioeconomic, political, and religious. In doing so, the author illuminates the underappreciated role that Lyonnais Catholicism played in the revival of French Catholicism. In Chevrier’s case this includes the example of a fruitful engagement with modernity that, through its preferential option of identification with and service to people who were poor, linked the Church’s traditional charitable efforts with the first glimmerings of the nontraditional insights and pastoral experiences that would lead to the development of the Church’s social justice teachings. It is not a coincidence that Blessed Frederic Ozanam, cofounder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, also had Lyonnais roots.

The author’s critical use of Chevrier’s great spiritual work Le Véritable Disciple is key to his presentation of the down-to-earth and approachable priest not only as an innovative and charismatic figure in the history of French and Lyonnais Catholicism but also as a precursor for modern priestly and lay vocations of Christ-like service to those most in need. This work leaves the reader with a desire to learn more about Chevrier.

Edward R.Udovic, C.M.
(DePaul University)

Cassity, Michael, and Danney Goble. Divided Hearts: The Presbyterian Journey through Oklahoma History. (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. 2009. Pp. xix, 340. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-806-13848-0.)

As the title, Divided Hearts, suggests, authors Michael Cassity and Danney Goble see tension at the heart of the Presbyterian experience in Oklahoma— tension between “theology and practice . . . ‘civilization’ and ‘heathenism. . .’ tradition and modernization, [and] faith and science” (pp. xv–xvi). The book charts this tension from the early-nineteenth-century arrival of missionaries in the southeast to minister to the Five Civilized Tribes, follows them down the Trail of Tears, and documents the controversial debates on slavery and the Civil War that led to the removal of the missionaries from the Indian Territory. This began a transitory period for Presbyterians as they grew from missionaries to establishment while Oklahoma itself grew from territory to state. As their story progresses through the twentieth century, the authors demonstrate how the Oklahoma Presbyterians dealt with the most important social issues of the day, especially issues of race and sex.

Tension defined Oklahoma Presbyterianism on both a congregational and personal level; it developed out of Presbyterianism’s heavy emphasis on education (often state-supported) as a means to achieve salvation and belief in the necessity of participating in a civilized, market-based society. This twin emphasis required serving two masters, the sacred and the secular, which pulled Presbyterians in multiple directions and created sometimes intractable problems. The book does not seek to resolve these tensions; rather, the authors simply describe them and the difficulties they created.

The authors demonstrate well how the tensions that divided Presbyterians throughout the United States manifested themselves in Oklahoma; it would be instructive, however, to know more about how Presbyterianism fit into the religious landscape of Oklahoma. Regardless, the book is a solid starting point for further research dealing with Presbyterians and religion in Oklahoma, and the maps throughout the...