Editorial

The eight articles and ten book reviews in this issue make for interest-peaking and intellectually engaged reading pertaining mostly to church doctrine, politics, and ecclesial practices and theology of religions.

Take the first two articles. The opening one, on Augustinian realism, claims to offer a robust account of original sin, or a theologically sophisticated way of thinking about it. Does it? The second article appropriates Schelling's reflection on revelation for thinking about the threat of climate change. Schelling's positive philosophy provides an alternate perspective to the critical theorist interpretation of existence and truth.

The next four articles form a definite cluster relating religion/theology to politics. One discusses the notion of pure religion referenced by Olivier Roy, French anthropologist, to determine how plausible it is. Another, by a theologian, considers the post-secular contribution of religion to contemporary politics vis-à-vis Quebec's Act respecting the laicity of the State, passed after a heated parliamentary debate. A third article brings into focus a rabbinic voice in twentieth-century Jewish life—a philosopher and community voice for whom politics has a theological basis, or whose view of Israel and politics is transformed by ethics instead of law. The last in the cluster considers the celebrating of Mass at the Southern United States border as a political act. Doing so not only introduces new forms of relating politics and Christian liturgy but also shapes Christian identity and practice.

In A Different Tenor are the remaining two articles of the issue. One continues the theme of the Eucharist and liturgy but as seen through the lens of sermons by the bishop of Ravenna in the first half of the fifth century. It contends that the healing power of Jesus's garment is also present in the Eucharist. The other examines whether developments on the mission and ecumenical front of the United Church of Canada are guided by a formal theology of religions.

For book reviews, see what Toronto School of Theology professors Joseph Schner and Gordon Rixon have to say about Conscience of a Nation and What Has No Place Remains, respectively. Or see what scholars elsewhere have to say: Donald Schweitzer about Christ the Heart of Creation and Donald McKim about Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. See also what some other scholarly voices are saying about topics recently published on: for example, queer theology beyond apologetics and women leaving prison.