The Spirit and Power of Christian Secularity ed. by Albert L. Schlitzer, C. S. C. (review)

184 BOOK REVIEWS The Spirit and Power of Christian Secularity. Edited by ALBERT L. ScHLITZER, C. S.C. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1969. Pp.~30. $10.00. This symposium makes a broad contribution to the current study of Christian secularity and the challenges implied in this. One notes the unconvinced attitude of many of the contributors as regards the claims of the new secular theology, as much as one feels with them the frustration about the secular-secularity-secularism vocabulary. For this reason, the title of the volume might seem a little pretentious. However, it is certainly a spirited and frank discussion of a vital issue; and certainly the book is of interest to the specialist in this field. Martin E. Marty leads off the discussion with " Secular Theology as a Search for the Future." (1-~0) He gives a good documentation of the whole mood and aspiration of the thing we call "secular theology." He shows rather well that, as it seeks for a viable future, this theological strain does clarify some Christian emphases but leaves an element of confusion behind. It is a concentration on the future that refuses, in some degree. to face to the full eschatological dimensions of Christian hope. William Cantwell Smith brings his historical erudition to bear in " Secularity and the History of Religion." (33-59) He admits the difficulty of defining both secularity and religion and therefore proceeds in an explanatory manner, studying the interrelation of the two terms in some of their possible combinations. His most interesting opinion is that this secular concentration is entirely normal in the history of religious experience in that the whole of reality is grasped and illumined by religious faith in some form or other. Illustrations are offered from the religion of the ancient Egyptians, from Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. Hence, a truly secular theology is by no means a modern concern, since all the great religions have been concerned for the whole of life. The danger is that the vital religious spirit can be evaporated and man be left with no overall view of reality and life. Bernard Cooke follows with "Secularity and the Scriptures." (71-87) He briefly points out the inclusive power of faith in the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament accepted God as the Creator and sees him acting within the events of history; it shows how the Chosen People accepted and incorporated the secular realities of the kingship and the Wisdom teaching. In the New Testament, there is the fundamental event of the Incarnation embracing all aspects of the world. A secularity does emerge that is a challenge to a truly Christian theology: the whole world is claimed by God in Christ. From this there flows the necessity of considering everything in relation to Christ. Louis Dupre takes up " The Problem of Transcendence in Secular BOOK REVIEWS 185 Theology." (100-113) He admits that the Transcendent cannot be named on purely empirical grounds, but he demands that there be an affirmation of the Transcendent as a logical outcome of the religious act. This act requires a commitment. And such a commitment must be to a transcendent reality. Otherwise there is no reason why anyone should give a special place to Christ when he demands man's fidelity. Dupre makes interesting comments about the parallel between secular theology and the negative element in traditional theological thought, though he admits the cause of the negation is different: in the latter, the very sense of the Transcendent ; in the former, the exaltation of human autonomy. He goes on to say that, in our times when there is such an acute sense of the contingency and relativity of man, it is not the time to play down the presence of the Transcendent in human existence no matter how " secular " one's theology might be. " Secularization and Sacrament: Reflections on the Theology of Friedrich Gogarten " (123-144) is the contribution of Theodore Runyon. He attempts to gain a surer understanding of the secular movement, and of God-man relations through a use of the analogy of the Eucharist, and the sacraments in general. Though he rejects what he terms the medieval understanding...