Weaving the American Catholic Tapestry: Essays in Honor of William L. Portier ed. by Derek C. Hatch and Timothy R. Gabrielli (review)

This collection of essays in honor of William L. Portier, currently of the University of Dayton, is an indispensable volume for the study of Catholicism in America. It will be of interest to anyone interested in American Catholicism, as well as the reader interested in inculturation more broadly. The essays—written by Portier's closest colleagues and former students—perform what can only be described as historical "theology à la Portier" (to borrow a phrase from the volume's editors). To this end, the volume manages to honor the scholar on its cover in the best possible way: by contributing substantively to the contextual theology to which Portier has dedicated himself over the past five decades.

Weaving the American Catholic Tapestry appears on the surface a project of ressourcement, of recovering many overlooked sources from the American Catholic context. The volume is better understood, however, as a representation of Portier's larger theological project, namely to reflect on the question of the relationship between nature and grace with careful attention to the context in which the question is asked. The apparent ressourcement, therefore, contributes to this broader and perennial question. The volume is a select dramatis personae for Catholicism in the United States, including Orestes Brownson, Dorothy Day, Abbe Felix Klein, and many others. The volume's final essay by Sandra Yocum on Joseph McSorley, however, may provide the best illustration of "theology à la Portier." Yocum focuses on McSorley's writings about prayer, opting for a source overshadowed by others that may be perceived as more "scholarly" or "relevant" to academic theology. In so doing, however, Yocum provides new insights for understanding McSorley's role in the Modernist crisis, insights that refer us back to the nature/grace question at the heart of all theological reflection.

Yocum is not the only essayist in the volume to mention the Modernist crisis, given that Portier's scholarly work has focused so much on that period. In a sense, Weaving the American Catholic Tapestry may even function talmudically for Portier's book-length treatment on the subject, Divided Friends. In addition, the volume's strength comes not only from its rich historical theology but also from its display of Portier's legacy as a teacher—from both students and colleagues. The collection is a testament to many students turned scholars formed by Portier's pedagogy. If one wants to understand "theology à la Portier," one need look no further than the theological temperament and methodology of his students, whose essays make up more than half of the volume.

Given the many passing references to Portier's affinity for things like Bruce Springsteen and baseball, however, the volume could have benefitted from an essay expressly on theology and popular culture. Indeed, given his deeply sacramental imagination as an American theologian, one assumes that these elements are not secondary to Portier's thought but are, in fact, another example of the inculturation that pervades his scholarly life. Ultimately, the collection will be of great utility for graduate students in both theology and history. Instructors will find its essays helpful additions to coursework on both individual and collective bases.