Humiliation and Celebration: Post-Radical Themes in Doctrine, Morals and Mission by Gabriel Fackre (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 511 Humiliation and Celebration: Post-Radical Themes in Doctrine, Morals and Mission. By GABRIEL FACKRE. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1969. Pp. 307. $6.95. Professor Fackre believes that the radical theologies need a decent burial. Not that they should be revived-the themes are post-radicalbut their passing demands commentary upon their own importance and upon the relationship between the " death of God " and developments in ethics and ecclesiology. This "settling of accounts with radical thought" is undertaken "within ... and for the Christian community." (p. 2) Its perspective takes " the Christian drama as a fundamental point for our reflection." (p. 3) Part I offers sympathetic summaries of the radical theologians (Altizer, Hamilton, Van Buren) , a radical moralist (Fletcher) , and radical missioners (from W. C. C. sources). The remaining three parts develop postradical perspectives on each of these three areas respectively, with by far the most emphasis being given to doctrinal matters (Part II) . The term " radical " is likely to be initially misleading. It should not be thought that the views of the " radicals " in morals and mission are predicated upon the theological assumptions of the " death of God " group. Rather, what gives unity to these various radicals is that they all represent reactions to the cultural phenomenon of secularization. Secularization is a process which occasions celebration in virtue of its constructive possibilities, and humiliation because of its potentialities for evil. This much, then, should clarify the title and sub-title. The "radical " movement as a response to secularization is, thus, the theme running through the book. Secularization is defined as an historical process having two aspects: (I) Man has" come of age." In earlier periods men depended upon God, religious moral laws, and the Church to meet their various needs as befits children before maturity. Now man has grown up, and has taken control of his own destiny. (2) "This-worldliness " means the fading of any sense of transcendence, and the thoroughgoing adoption of the empirical attitudes of science-technology. Fackre thus shows how these two features characterize the various radicals. The radicals have been the missionaries, the pioneers, on this secular frontier. The fundamental problem of the book is how the Christian community, in its doctrine, morals, and mission, can learn to be at home in this secularized land without losing its own soul, that is, without departing from the basic features of the Christian Story. The doctrinal section is a discussion of a variety of " images " in terms of which the divine-human relationship may be made intelligible and meaningful to the believer in a secular age. Some traditional images, like fatherhood, must be restated so that its interpretation does not carry the 51~ BOOK REVIEWS kind of authoritarianism incompatible with our maturity, and the senses of transcendence ruled out by this-worldliness. Fackre also offers some new images, such as the tutor, explicitly borrowed from secular analogues. About this section as a whole, I did not find it easy to disentangle theology and sociology. That is, Fackre sometimes writes as if the process of secularization has actually altered the ontological relationship between God and man; at other times, it seems that the secular age only makes it necessary to find new ways of expressing a relationship which in itself is unaltered. In other words, it is not clear whether the community confronts a new reality or merely a new vocabulary expressive of the same reality. Radicalism in morals is a protest against the tyranny and dependency embodied in the traditional conception of the moral law. Fackre argues, contra Fletcher, that the concept of law should be restated in order to account for the important role which law plays in mature moral reflection as well as in the Christian Story. In addition, Fackre suggests that Fletcher's excessive individualism fails to appreciate the function of the community in the moral enterprise. Secularization in morals also means that the moral perspectives of the community must be scrutinized by all the tools of modem enquiry, but, in the last analysis, secular rationale is lacking for the selfless love which is the culmination of Christian morality. " Selfless love is part of the fabric of Christian morality ... because it...