Towards an Ethics of Community: Negotiations of Difference in a Pluralist Society ed. by James H. Olthuis (review)

328 letters in canada 2001 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 Mahatma Gandhi=s nationalistic pamphlet Hind Swaraj of 1909 and his debate with Rabindrath Tagore of 1921 reveal Gandhi=s radical critique of European >civilization= as diseased and even Satanic. Gandhi=s vision of Indian nationalism involved a return to indigenous languages, local subsistence economies, overcoming the caste system, and Hindu-Muslim partnership. In other words, he looked for a nation which would foster the inherited cultures of India and also create a new order of equality, human rights, and sustainable prosperity. Baum also turns to The Socialist Decision (1933) by Paul Tillich. This is the source of much of the theory about the dialectic of nationalism. Economic and political liberalism result in human reification which can only be overcome through recovery of the traditional bonds of meaning found in myths of origin. With Buber, Tillich also looks to a biblical utopianism that is the source of the demand for justice and equality. Finally, Baum comes to the two-volume 1970 work, Nationalisme et Religion, by the Quebec theologian Jacques Grand=Maison. In 1970 Grand=Maison was an enthusiastic supporter of the Parti Québécois and of Quebec sovereignty. The Quebec view of Confederation is the union of two nations while the view of English Canada is a union of ten equal provinces. He argues that the identity and progress of Quebec as a nation can only be protected through sovereignty. Continuing as one province among ten is a formula for cultural and linguistic assimilation. Gregory Baum=s Nationalism, Religion, and Ethics is a bracing read from a man one could easily have excused for relaxing into retirement by now. It is particularly valuable for bringing Jacques Grand=Maison to the attention of English-language readers and for consideration of little-known texts on nationalism by Martin Buber and Paul Tillich. (BRIAN RUTTAN) James H. Olthuis, editor. Towards an Ethics of Community: Negotiations of Difference in a Pluralist Society. Volume 5 of Comparative Ethics Series Wilfrid Laurier University Press 2000. x, 226. $29.95 This collection of essays by scholars associated with the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto represents a fitting contribution to the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion=s comparative ethics series. According to the series description, >To study a morality as a dynamic whole in its social nature and functioning requires a context in which other instances of a comparable kind are considered. The different paths followed by moralities as cultural systems in the varying contexts demand comparative study.= The methodological reflections (James Olthuis, Robert Sweetman, Hendrik Hart, and Calvin Seerveld) and case studies (Ken Bradley, Janet Catherina Wesselius, Hendrik Hart, James Olthuis, Lisa Chisholm-Smith, Ronald Kuipers, and George Vanderveld) in this book reflect a shared humanities 329 university of toronto quarterly, volume 72, number 1, winter 2002/3 conviction that negotiations of difference in a pluralist society require an approach which is comparative, contextual, and non-hegemonic. >In contrast to the modernist either-or ethos of inclusion in sameness or exclusion in otherness,= an ethics of difference >begins with a recognition of difference B not as deviance or deficit that threatens B but as otherness to connect with, cherish, and celebrate= (Olthuis). In modern, so-called secular, societies it is this hegemonic either-or logic rather than religious, cultural, and political diversity which presents the greatest obstacle to recognition of difference. Therefore, the modern assumption that public justice requires a neutral state and privatized religions is misguided. Religion, morality, and law interact in complex ways. The key to negotiating difference involves treating claims in all realms not as privileged or private but as contestable. Chapters devoted to religious education in publicly funded schools, feminism, homosexual rights, the family, female genital mutilation, and aboriginal rights illustrate the connection between the contestability of claims and the possibility of mutually satisfying discussions about foundational issues as well as pragmatic judgments. The chapters on homosexuality show how a similar type of reasoning is required to clarify beliefs about and evaluations of homosexual identity in the shared public realm and in the context of particular religious communities . The recognition that each religious...