The Life of Man with God by Thomas Verner Moore (review)

BOOK REVIEWS he chooses to ignore it. The author is too good an historian to have ignored reliable Catholic authorities who readily admit the mistakes of ecclesiastical statesmen during the long period of Church history-yet he gives us a thoroughly Protestant point of view on this subject-and Mr. Toynbee is not, in this reviewer's opinion, a Protestant. The distinctions between essentials and non-essentials in Christianity are clearly and definitively set down in Catholic theology. If Mr. Toynbee had consulted this source of information more frequently he would have written a different essay in Chapter 19. He confuses ecclesiastical policy and the reprehensible practice of ill-informed Catholics with sound theological doctrine. And he ignores the fact that even in matters theological, where the Church has made no definitive pronouncements, the " Roman Church " freely permits debate. There is so much that is true in An Historian's Approach to Religion that one wonders how the author could have drawn so many erroneous conclusions from valid premises until he realizes that Mr. Toynbee is writing out of character. Whatever else he is-and the author leaves us somewhat confused on the point-Mr. Toynbee is neither a philosopher nor a theologian. When Mr. Toynbee writes on any subject he does so out of an abundant store of information. In his own proper field his knowledge is encyclopedic. But whether he is writing about history, abstract mathematics, nuclear physics, psychiatry, politics or comparative religion he is always impressive. And because his writings are characterized by erudition rather than pedantry they can easily mislead the unwary. An Historian's Approach to Religion will afford no little comfort to free-thinkers, to employ an outmoded but trenchant designation, and supply them, too, with abundant apologetic material. It is the opinion of the present writer that the book is safe enough in the hands of the properly equipped-and they should be reasonably instructed in philosophy, theology and Church history--otherwise it is dangerous reading for Catholics. Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D. C. QuiTMAN F. BECKLEY, 0. P. The Life of Man with God. By THOMAS VERNER MooRE, Carthusian. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1956. Pp. 416 with index. $3.95. As the author states in the Introduction (p. ix): "This book is an attempt to lead the reader onward in the service of God by making him familiar with the spiritual life of man with God from i~s earliest beginnings BOOK REVIEWS 218 to perfect union of the soul with God." And in the Epilogue (p. 858) : "... the all-important concept of this book ... (is that) each and every human being is destined to be a friend of God." " One consecrates oneself to God by accepting the will of God. The more perfectly, and completely, and without reservation of any kind we accept the divine win, the more perfect is our charity." (p. 216) The spiritual life of man with God .is the life of charity. Charity, or friendship with God is never opposed to, but rather demands, the perfect fulfillment of one's duties in his state of life. Charity is developed and persevered in by the consciousness of the omnipresence of God; by going to God through Christ, especially in the Mass and the Eucharist; by devotion to the Mother of God and her Rosary; by prayer, particularly mental and liturgical; by spiritual reading and retreats; by repentance and the practice of tenuntiation and fraternal charity; by the elimination of fully deliberate venial sin, the conquest of semi-deliberate venial sin and imperfection; by emotional control in the development of the virtues. The gaining of indulgences has an important and official place in the work of satisfaction. The function of the spiritual director is of fundamental value, for "... one who trusts solely in his own judgment may go to injudicious extremes with the result that he gives up most of his good resolutions." (p. 356) Visions, locutions, especially the significant substantial and other (extraordinary) mystic graces are well treated. That these are not necessary for sanctity', or full friendship with God, is dear from the insistence on the superiority of the theological virtues. Lukewarmness, wherein one...