Shaping the Christian Message ed. by Gerard S. Sloyan (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 578 one of the men of wisdom, suggest that more work will have to be done in evaluating his notion of philosophical faith. It is still premature to treat it as one expression of man's perennial openness to the transcendent which finds a ready analogue and corrective in Thomistic philosophy and theology. St. Louil University, St. Louil, MiBBcntri JAMES CoLLINS Shaping the Christian Message. Edited by GERARD S. SLOYAN. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1958. Pp. 827. $5.50. These " Essays in Religious Education " constitute an informative survey of the views of a particular school of thought upon catechetics at the primary level and on the level of "college theology." Divided into three parts, the first ensemble, entitled " Religious Education, an Historical Perspective," gives us Father Sloyan himself (Early Christianity to Medieval Times); Father Josef A. Jungmann, S. J. (Late Medieval Times); Father J. D. Crichton (England in the Penal Days); Chanoine Joseph Colo:rp.b, P. S. S. (Method of Saint Sulpice), and Father Pierre Ranwez, S. J. (Contemporary Tendencies). Each of the five essays is documented, and obviously the result of much research and/or experience. The fifth essay emphasizes the current tendency to adapt doctrine to the child, rather than the child to the doctrine, since the child is, of course, more interested in the " concrete," enjoys " participation," yet is an " individual " with " differences " from other individuals in the " group " of students. Each essay contributes to Father Sloyan's avowed purpose to " win the right to complain " that catechisms have " not fitted the child " (Introduction) . The second part, " Religious Education: Some Theological and Scientific Considerations," is chiefly concerned with primary education-presumably in Europe(?) -and the concept of" college theology" in the United States: Father Fran~ois Coudreau, P. S. S. (Introduction to a Pedagogy of Faith); Chanoine Andre Boyer (Primary Religious Education and Primary Teaching ); and Father Gustave Weigel, S. J. (The Meaning of Sacred Doctrine in College); Father John A. Hardon, S. J. (A New Era In College Religious Instruction). Nothing but a passing mention is given to what is also our great concern in the United States-the seventh through the fourteenth grades-unless the animadversions on the primary level are meant also to apply to the secondary. But the first two essays have " little first communicants " (p. 124) in mind and children at the " parish " level (p. 125) together with the " baby " and the " child of six or seven " in the " family " teaching situation. (pp. 162-167) Father Coudreau sets the theme of this section with the reminder: " The basic error, of course, is that we should 574 BOOK REVIEWS be obliged to choose between instruction and formation. It ought to be entirely evident that both pedagogical approaches contain much that is true, and that a person ought not to limit himself solely to one or the other point of view. That we are obliged to instruct, that is, transmit the content of the Faith is a· truism beyond any need of discussion" (p. 181). Yet he seems to miss the point of the discussion that he implies is going on, namely, that it is not really concerned with this basic error at all but with the method of " transmitting the content of faith." Of the two essays on "college theology" Father John A. Rardon's gives the complete picture. After a quick but competent survey of what has been going on in the Catholic college, census-wise and with respect to the changes in method, Father Rardon follows up with some concise thinking on " the effects in the teaching of college religion " of the doctrine of the Mystical Body, the principles of Catholic Action, and the revival of interest in Liturgy. (pp. 197-217) For the school with limited time and crowded schedule Father Rardon's recipe-which he does not propose as such-might well be tried as a curriculum. Of Father Weigel's clearly presented proposition , this reviewer would wonder whether he can be persuaded to " push '' it for the high school level. He wishes method to be " expository " (not even controversial with regard to practical problems like evolution and birth control and divorce); "meaningful" and "pertinent...