Sacraments and Forgiveness ed. by Paul F. Palmer, S. J., S. T. D. (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 668 diverse Churches; and secondly, as I think ecumenical experience tends to show, concentration upon the specific good elements in particular Christian bodies may easily miss the expansive force--bonum diffusivum sui--of these good things and cling to .them as they actually exist, that is, in separation from others " (p. 257} . The wisdom of this remark becomes clearer when we realize that almost all of the sects began with the isolation and exaggeration of some one gift or insight. School of Theology, St. Mary's OoUege, Notre Dame, Ind. JAMES M. EGAN, O.P. Sacraments and Forgiveness. Edited with commentary by PAuL F. PALMER, S. J., S. T. D. Westminster, Md.: The Newman Press, 1959. Pp. xxv + 410 with indexes. $6.00. This is the second volume of Sources of Christian Theology, a series presenting in historico-topical arrangement, with introductory and commentary notes by the editor, translations of the basic liturgical, patristic, and Scholastic texts and the key documents of the Magisterium which have shaped and continue to control Catholic teaching, along with some selections representing Protestant and Eastern Orthodox points of view. In the first volume, Sacraments and Worship (1955), Father Palmer confined himself to the liturgy and doctrinal development of Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist (plus some material on the sacraments in general) . In this new volume, he undertakes to unfold the history and doctrinal development of Penance, Extreme Unction and indulgences, all of which are related to the remission of sins committed after Baptism and their consequences. A formidable task, but Father Palmer is equal to it, possessing as he does a wide acquaintance with and deep understanding of the many historical and speculative problems the book's topics, Penance especially, present (see his articles in Theological Studies, 1945, 1946, 1950, 1958). Part I, on Penance, after exhibiting and commenting on the New Testament evidence for this sacrament, sets forth period by period (ante-Nicene, post-Nicene, early and later Middle Ages, pre-Reformation, Reformation period to the present), the principal texts of the relevant patristic, liturgical , synodal, conciliar, papal, systematically theological, and pastoral documents, including early medieval sacramentaries and penitential handbooks , as well as excerpts from Luther, Calvin, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Jansenist documents. Quite similar are the provenance and, so far as the available materials allow, the arrangement of the documents in 664 BOOK REVIEWS Part II, on Extreme Unction. Part III, on indulgences, after a section on their historical antecedents (vicarious satisfaction in the early Church, Celtic practice of commutations, absolution grants), treats of indulgence grants in the lith and Hlth centuries, the indulgence-theology of the Middle Ages, the Catholic and Lutheran documents of the pre-Reformation period, and those of the Magisterium from the Council of Trent to the present. The book concludes with a " Summary and Appraisal," which gives a lucid synthesis of the history and doctrinal development of Penance , Extreme Unction, and indulgences. The translations, from the best critical editions, are usually clear and, where the reviewer has checked, quite faithful to the original; however, as to the excerpts from Tertullian's On Penance, On Modesty, one would prefer at several points the English version by W. Le Saint, S. J., Tertullian : Treatises on Penance (ACW, No. ~8). The introductions and annotations are most helpful, although there might have been more of the latter. Moreover, often they give no hint that the position they espouse is not necessarily that of all Catholic authorities-e. g., " that prior to the Decian persecution Cyprian regarded apostasy as irremissible." But these are trifling defects indeed, when weighed against the over-all merits of the book. All serious students of sacramental theology and of the liturgy, as well as those engaged in ecumenical dialogue, will find this work an invaluable tool. One awaits eagerly the third (Sacraments and Vocation ) and the remaining volumes of this excellent series. Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, N. J. GEORGE w. SHEA The Analogy of Learning. By TAD GuziE, S. J. Preface by R. J. HENLE, S. J. New York: Sheed and Ward, Inc., 1960. Pp. xiv + ~14, with index. $5.00. This book, written by a Jesuit scholastic, bears the descriptive subtitle , "An Essay toward...