Theism or Atheism: The Eternal Debate by F. F. Centore (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 335 the act of creation, the self-emptying Trinity images itself in that which only exists insofar as it empties itself into a being. Being is kenosis. As nonsubsistent, being is not identical with itself: it is only real insofar as it has poured itself out and allowed a being to be. Siewerth believes that this nonsubstantive notion of being can accommodate Heidegger's retrieval of the pre-Socratic notion of physis, "self-blossoming emergence," while preservingthe Scholasticprinciple ofthe subsistence, eternity, and infinity of God. The First and Absolute Being remains the eternal ground of all that is; it excludes time. The being of beings is the condition of the possibility of time. The being in which all things participate, the being the horizon ofwhich is time, to speak Heidegger's language, is not the being of God, but the first act of God, the donation of the energy of his presence in the othering by which creation becomes possible. It is the simple unlimited being of every thing that exists, "das einfache, nicht begrenzte Sein des Seienden." However near to us, it is "a profound mystery," for it includes within itself all possible conceptual determinations, while remaining "uncircumscribed" by any concept. It is the act that actualizes every thing that is, but is "captured and consumed" by none of them. Siewerth refers to many texts of Aquinas in constructing his central points. One might question whether this metaphysics is true to Aquinas. One cannot, however, question that it is in its own right an important contribution to contemporary metaphysics. That Wiercinski has gone to such lengths to make this contribution better known forgives some of the idiosyncrasies of Inspired Metaphysics? Wiercinski has recently announced the publication of a translation and commentary ofSiewerth's seminal treatise, Das Sein als Gleichnis Gottes. Let us hope that these valuable works are the first of many studies of Siewerth. SEAN MCGRATH Mount Allison University Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada Theism or Atheism: The Eternal Debate. By F. F. CENrORE. Aldershot, Hants, England and Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2004. Pp. 206 + xiii. $94.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-7546-3670-4. F. F. Centore begins his book with a playful account of his Thomistic academic pedigree: "It is not too much to say that Gilson begot Owens, who begot Azar, who begot Centore" (xi). A note "About the Author" on the following page observes that Centore died on 24 August 2003, and that the work is being published posthumously. It recalls that "his love of teaching and 336 BOOK REVIEWS interaction with his students" became "his whole life, second onlyto his family." The author's love of Aquinas as well as his devotion to his students is evident throughout. The work shows all the fervor of a true disciple of Aquinas along with the occasional outrageousness of a college philosophy classroom. The book aims to examine rational arguments for the existence of God (vii). It comprises nine chapters. The first serves as a prologue, showing the compatibility offaith and reason and reviewing some ways in which arguments about God can go wrong. The next three deal with atheism and various types of theism. The remainder of the work examines arguments for God's existence by presenting the thought of representative philosophers for various types of arguments and then using other thinkers to critique them. The historical situation of each philosopher is presented, though with uneven detail. Atheism (chap. 2) is divided into "naive atheism," represented by Bertrand Russell, who tried to affirm the reality of evil without affirming the reality of God, and "sophisticated atheism," represented by Nietzsche, who denied the reality of God, good and evil, repudiating "all value, meaning and desirability" (16). Theism, in contrast, affirms the existence of God and recognizes that the "unchanging divine standard" is essential for distinguishing good from evil (22). Theism is divided into "naturalistic theism" (chap. 3), in which God is "the same as the world or some fundamental aspect of the world" (25), and "supernaturalistic theism" (chap. 4), in which God is "separate from the natural world" (35). Examples ofnaturalistic theism are Hinduism, Buddhism, Stoicism, and Epicureanism. Supematuralistic theism is divided into polytheism (Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Confucianism...