The Sum of Our Choices: Essays in Honour of Eric J. Sharpe ed. by Arvind Sharma (review)

118 LEITERS IN CANADA 1996 But where to find it? In the book, the publisher's imprint is simply four capital letters: TSAR. No explication of those letters appears, nor is any postal address for TSAR given. You (or your libraryorder department) may, or alternatively may not, be able to ascertain from sources outside the volume that that's the acronym of Toronto South Asian Review. You won't find either TSAR or Toronto South Asian Review in the phone book. But the Quill and Quire directory gives General Distribution Services as the current Canadian distributor for TSAR publications. (WILLARD G. OXTOBY) Arvind Sharma, editor. The Sum ofOur Choices: Essays in Honour ofEric J. Sharpe McGill Studies in Religion, 4. Scholars Press. x, 422. $39.95 Arvind Sharma of McGill University has collected a very diverse set of writings by an international list of authors to honour Eric Sharpe on the occasion of his retirement as professor of Religious Studies at the University ofSydney. Sharpe is best known for Comparative Religion: A History, an extraordinarily fine history of the study of religion which he published in two editions (1975 and 1986). Five of the twenty-one writers are based in Canadian universities. The essays are arranged under the headings of theory of religion, comparative religion, Christianity, and religion and the imagination. Three of the essays treat the religions of India. No common theme runs through this miscellany and scarcely any essay has much to do directly with anything else in the volume. The range of authors and contents is explained chiefly by the career, personal interests, and contacts of Sharpe himself. , The essays do invite some overall conunent in light of the piece by Ninian Smart entitled 'Some Thoughts on the Science of Religion.' Smart's rambling essay contains suggestive remarks about the study of religion. He proposes that we look upon the scope of Religious Studies in universities as inclusive of three, perhaps four, ranks of studies. First is the 'Science of Religion,' by which he seems to mean things like historicat sociological, and anthropological studies as well as theories of religion. Second is the philosophical study of religion. Third are 'reflections' by scholars on the worth and truth of various theologies, ideologies, religious ethics, and, I guess, religious practices. FoUrth, possibly, are 'presentational concerns with theology or ideology' in order to produce a 'pluralistic theology' formed by involving a variety of world religious expressions. He seems to place these four ranks on an objectivity scale rurming from fairly 'neutral' to overtly advocative of world pluralist theology. 'Neutral' seems to mean that an author's religious and cultural personhood and convictions do not intrude. Sharma suggests a similar measure when he claims that he and ' Sharpe agree that Jcomplete objectivity may be impossible, but complete striving after it is not.' HUMANITIES 119 It is not clear that any of the essays in the volume would fall tmder Smart's 'Science of Religion,' although I can imagine that he might point to one or two. As I read them, however, all of the essays reveal at least something of the author's religious and cultural identity and all of them seem to advocate something that may be called 'religious..' Several of the writers are explicit about their religion, starting with Sharma as Hindu and Smartas Christianworldpluralist, with Sharpehimselfnamed asChristian, notably Methodist. All the writers seem to disclose their religious selves to some degree via the very language and concepts they use to name and discuss 'religion' and the phenomena they call 'religious,' In this manner most of them exhibit some variety of Christian, post-Christian, or ex-Christian expression, and no expressions emerging from aboriginal, Buddhist, or . Shinto sensibilities are evident. I am not complaining about the presence of an author's religion, for I think such presence is a normal and quite important constitutive element in any study of religions. In any case - and I speak as a historian - I am amazed that Smart puts historical study of religion into his 'Science of Religion.' For at least a generation, historians have been learning that the belief in historical study as 'scientific' is hopelessly unioWlded. Everything about historical study is...