Introduction to Aristotle’s Theory of Being as Being by Werner Marx (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 501 the Word) and fides ex infusione (of the Spirit). This appears to imply too great a separation between the two missions, producing too rational a view of fides ex auditu and too esoteric a view of fides ex infusione. Hans Kling gives a brilliantly succinct analysis of " Confinnation as the Completion of Baptism '', raising all the pertinent issues about this thorny topic in twenty pages, easily the lengthiest essay in the book. When it comes to practical pastoral policy, Kling attempts to have it both ways, asserting that confirmation must be "a freely acknowledged, selfresponsible , publicly confessed decision of the young person " (p. 93) in language suggesting youthful maturity, but later recommending "the early years of school (before admission to the Eucharist) .... a stage of uncomplicated openness " (p. 97) with a reference to the Gospel presentation of the child as an exemplar of faith. The section on healing makes more evident what is less sharply seen in the first part, namely the theoretical level of treatment and the lack of empirical analysis. It is strange that a volume on experience should contain less by way of sociological and psychological studies than the average volume in the Concilium series. More surprising still is the absence of any study of discernment of spirits; less surprising perhaps but no more justifiable is the lack of mention of experience of evil spirits. The healing section has nothing on the role of healing in the history of the Church and is virtually restricted, as Floristan admits, to " Christian experience and therapy " as part of the dialogue between psychoanalysis and theology (cf. p. 104). All the essays on healing are from Continental Europe and none refer to the extensive pioneering work on faith and healing in the English-speaking world. Combet and Fabre's article on " The Pentecostal Movement and the Gift of Healing " is very general and lacks a feel for the difficulties and intricacies of this topic, ignoring the key questions, such as God's will to heal, methods of inner healing, and the relationship between healing and evangelism. All in all, a disappointing book and, in the healing section, seriously inadequate. PETER HocKEN Introduction to Aristotle's Theory of Being as Being. By WERNER MARX. Translated by Robert S. Schines. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1977. Original German edition, Einfiihrung in Aristoteles Theorie vom Seienden. Freiburg im Breisgau, 197~. This small volume is an important study of the concept of being as being in Aristotle, a concept which Marx regards as " the foundation of traditional 50~ BOOK REVIEWS philosophy " (ix) . The word Introduction in the title is misleading since this is not a study easily grasped by beginning students, nor does it present an unprejudiced view of the concept. Rather it is a carefully written argument for a specific view of Aristotle's theory of being as being. Philosophy today, according to Marx, finds itself "between tradition and another beginning," a view which he developed in his book entitled Reason and World: Between Tradition and Another Beginning (The Hague: 1972). He believes that through the reconsideration of basic elements of traditional philosophy, specifically Aristotle's, there may arise a new philosophical foundation. The Introduction to Aristotle's Theory of Being as Being is divided into three parts. Part One, entitled " Knowledge, Science and Philosophical Theory," is a study of the nature of knowledge as developed by Aristotle, chiefly in Book Gamma of the Metaphysics. Part Two analyzes the concept of ousia (substance) in Books Zeta, Eta, and Theta, and arrives at the conclusion that Aristotle's ontology is an ousiology. Part Three examines the relation of this ousiology to theology. According to Marx there are three possible positions: (1) Aristotle's metaphysics is simply ontology; (2) it is simply theology; (3) it is both ontology and theology. In Part Three he briefly presents the conclusions of Natorp, Jaeger, Heidegger, Merlan, Owens, Patzig, Boeder, Dtiding, Mansion, Aubenque, and Wagner as to the theological character of being as being. No references are made to G. E. R. Lloyd, John Herman Randall, Jr., Henry B. Veatch, G. R. G. Mure, and Marjorie Grene, each of whom had something to say on this matter. Marx...