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BOOK REVIEWS 877 would do better to read The Pentecostal Movement in the Catholic Church by Edward O'Connor, C.S.C. or Did You Receive the Spirit by Simon Tugwell, O.P. On the other hand, Catholics involved in the Charismatic Renewal would do well to read this book, as the author sees Catholic strengths and Pentecostal pitfalls that the Catholic Charismatic may overlook , all the while affirming what the Spirit is saying to the churches today. GILES DIMOCK, O.P. Providence College Providence, Rhode Island The Other Dimension: A Search for the Meaning of Religious Attitudes. By Louis Dupre. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 197fl. Pp. 545. $10.00. Something of a product of the Enlightenment, philosophy of religion has tended to pass judgment on religious statements and attitudes by testing whether they met philosophical standards. Dupre intends to turn that about, affording religion the pride of place, and employing philosophical tools to clarify what religious people do. He means to shift the bias only, holding philosophy itself to be a neutral instrument of critical inquiry. His intention leads him to a predilection for more dialectical forms of philosophy, however, since these-notably Hegel-prove more attuned to the harmonics of religious affirmations. In short, where philosophy's critical task has often led it to be unsympathetically critical of religious life and language, Dupre allows his predilection for religion to lead him to adopt those philosophical styles which prove sympathetic with it. The result is closer to what has been called religious philosophy than to philosophy of religion, however that inquiry may be inclined. For Dupre re-states many a religious position in philosophical terms, and does so with grace and judiciousness. This approach allows him to recall how much the language we speak is an inherently symbolic one, and to point out how many philosophers have relied upon the symbolic dimension of language. Once again, philosophy is used neither to prove nor to supplant a religious way but to open us to the myriad traces of the transcendent in our everday experience. Dupre is clear on this point: "philosophy alone is unable to reach the idea of God." (p. Hl7) His concern throughout is to present those philosophical options which " pretend neither to invent nor to prove the existence of God, but to remain' open' toward the transcendent." (p. 139) He wishes to offer philosophical support to an intelligent person who believes in God. In fact, the book itself embodies the odyssey of just such 378 BOOK REVIEWS a person: Louis Dupre. Therein lies its appeal and its limitations. No central thesis appears; its unity is more that of a saga than of a system. The items considered, the thinkers presented, are germane to the intellectual adventure of a believer seeking understanding and hence enjoy the thematic unity referred to. Yet for 'that very reason, these same issues are not subjected to the sort of treatment that presents them in a coherent pattern. So, for example, the issues brought into focus by process theologians are presented, as are more classical treatments of God as being. Similarly, the conceptual conflicts between divine omnipotence and human freedom, God's goodness and evil, are laid out. In each case, some distinctions are made and an adjudication is normally offered. Many a sensible judgment is rendered, but, lacking a central argument, the reader is not exercised in learning how to make such judgments himself. As a result, I fear this book may prove exasperating for a philosophical student of religion, while it may well elude a religious person hoping to learn how better to understand what he is doing. For the specific form of philosophical encouragement which gives heart to Dupre may well be cumbersome rather than enlightening to someone else. What appears to be at stake here is the manner in which philosophical reasoning might lend support to a way of life informed by faith. Dupr6 finds it in those philosophical schemes which themselves venture into transcendent regions and so offer some preliminary soundings for discoursing about divine things. Others could well find such philosophical forays less credible than the articles of faith themselves and so be left discouraged by...

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