Chapter six provides an interesting discussion on the sover-eignty of God and the necessity of Christ. Wright, in affirm-ing that the “ontological necessity of Christ” does not requirean “epistemological necessity of Christ,” entertains optimis-tic soteriological possibilities for the fate of the unevange-lized. The strength of the book is found in its global,dynamic, and universal view of salvation that conceives thegrace of God as operative in the midst of, or in spite of, thereligions. However, its weakness may be seen in its neglectof pneumatology to help bear out this relationship betweengrace and the religions. Nevertheless, the book remainshighly recommended as a valuable resource for soteriologi-cal studies in a global perspective.

David TrementozziRegent University

TAUGHT BY GOD: TEACHING AND SPIRITUALFORMATION. By Karen Marie Yust and E. Byron Ander-son. St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2006. Pp. 186. $21.99.

Yust and Anderson make an important contribution tothe renewal of contemporary Christian educational minis-tries by engaging them with key resources from the Chris-tian spiritual traditions accessible to a wide audience ofProtestants, Catholics, and Orthodox. Part one is grounded inscripture and the writings of Luther, Kierkegaard, and deSales, which assert that practices of prayer cultivate reli-gious imagination and creativity in both teachers and stu-dents. Part two identifies Athanasius’ Life of Anthony andCassian’s Conferences as alternative modes of Christian edu-cation suitable to the North American sociological context.The lengthy summary of the spiritual correspondencebetween de Chantal and de Sales does little to advance theargument. Part Three presents several models of educationalministries committed to spiritual formation, including the1996 Rule of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist (Epis-copal). Part Four provides an excellent description of St.Ignatius of Loyola’s practice of the examen of consciousness,a method of prayer and discernment by which Christianeducators can evaluate their teaching in the context of theirfaith community. The connections to Gardner’s work on multi-ple intelligences and Brookfield’s work on critical self-reflection underscore the usefulness of the examen ofconsciousness in Christian education. This book should berequired reading for seminary students, graduate studentsin pastoral theology, church leaders, and Christian educa-tors seeking spiritual enrichment.

Michael Lee, S.J.Loyola Marymount University

EthicsCHRISTIAN ATTITUDES TOWARD WAR ANDPEACE. By Roland H. Bainton. Roland Bainton ReprintSeries. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2008.Pp. 299. $33.00.

In this reprint, Bainton has assembled a survey of Chris-tian positions on war and peace from the earliest sources inChristian thought through the Second World War. Writing inthe wake of nuclear proliferation, Bainton’s purpose is toprovide a critical reevaluation of traditional Christian ethicson war and peace, to see if the historical criteria remainapplicable for the nuclear era. Bainton views the earlychurch as predominately pacifist, adopting the rules of justwar and crusades in accommodation to popular culture.Comprehensive in its scope, emphasis is given to the earlychurch and the Middle Ages, with slight treatment given topost-Reformation church thinking on these issues. Bainton’sown allegiances as a Quaker become clear in his conclusionthat the church must return to its own roots in light ofnuclear weapons. For historical purposes, Bainton’s workremains a valuable work; scholarship in the field nearlyalways makes reference to Bainton’s chronology. Much ofthat chronology has been challenged and critiqued, but Bain-ton’s survey remains one of the great surveys for students ofwar and peace ethics. Thankfully, this critical piece of schol-arship has been brought back into print by Wipf and Stockfor a new generation to appreciate and appropriate.

Myles WerntzBaylor University

THE LITTLE BOOK OF ATHEIST SPIRITUALITY. ByAndre Comte-Sponville. Translated by Nancy Huston. NewYork: Viking, Penguin Group, 2007. Pp. 212. Hardback,$19.95.

Atheist spirituality assumes that humans are one andresponsible for each other. Although it struggles againstdogmatism and intolerance, it primarily struggles for toler-ance, separation of church/state, and freedom of belief.Comte-Sponville addresses three questions. First, can we dowithout religion? Yes! However, we cannot do without reli-gare, the binding that makes a moral community possible.Instead of faith, society needs “fidelity” and faithfulness tovalues similar to those of Christianity minus belief in God.Second, does God exist? No! Comte-Sponville discusses threedefinitions of the idea of “God” and rejects them as incoher-ent. He then sets forth three arguments that compel him toconclude, “God does not exist.” Third, can there be an atheistspirituality? Yes! Renouncing religion does not meanrenouncing spirituality. Humans are spiritual and live mostfully as spiritual beings. Spirituality is not a substance butan activity in which humans commit themselves to supremevalues. For Comte-Sponville, “a large part of the Gospelscontinues to be valid,” especially love, which helps us livewell, and truth, which sets us free. This book is accessible toa wide audience, professionals and laypersons alike. Comte-Sponville is not a “new atheist.” Religion does not traumatizehim, nor does he call for its extermination. He believes thatreligion and irreligion must collaborate to create a moral,civilized world.

Jim GilmanMary Baldwin College

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LIBERATING JONAH: FORMING AN ETHICS OFRECONCILIATION. By Miguel A. De La Torre. Maryknoll,NY: Orbis Books, 2007. Pp. xiii + 178. $20.00.

De La Torre’s Liberating Jonah provides a creative andinsightful exploration of what might be required to achieveracial, ethnic, and socioeconomic reconciliation in the USA.Against the traditional tale of the man eaten by a whale, DeLa Torre rereads the biblical story of Jonah as one of recon-ciliation. In this reading, “the marginalized [are] called byGod to bring the ‘good news’ of God’s grace to an oppressiveempire.” Far from a simple diatribe against “oppressors,” DeLa Torre complicates the concept of reconciliation by holdingthe reality of social injustice in tension with the ChristianGod’s call to love and forgive. He posits that although theterms of reconciliation must be determined by theoppressed, the reconciliatory process will require “arrivingat a new state of being, one perhaps that neither [oppressedor oppressor] has ever experienced.” While Liberating Jonahshould be applauded for its detailed wrestling with such acomplex issue as reconciliation, De La Torre’s multifacetedunderstanding of reconciliation hinders him from puttingforth a single working definition for his readers. Althoughthis technique allows him to put forth a complex analysis ofreconciliation, the lack of one definition at times convolutesthe author’s method. Despite this methodological limitation,the theological and ethical contributions of this text are rich!Liberating Jonah is passionately written and promises to be agreat tool for teachers of graduate and undergraduate stu-dents who hope to begin a discussion on reconciliation.

Ben Sanders IIIIliff School of Theology and the University of Denver

PROBING THE DEPTHS OF EVIL AND GOOD:MULTIRELIGIOUS VIEWS AND CASE STUDIES.Edited by Jerald Goort, Henry Jansen, and Hendrik M.Vroom. Currents of Encounter, v. 33. Amsterdam: RodopiB.V., 2007. Pp. 377. $105.00.

This volume contains an arbitrary if illuminating arrayof how some sample traditions construct the concept of“evil” within their theologies and cosmogonies. The result isa rich excavation of often overlooked faith-traditions in com-parative enterprises (e.g., Bhakti traditions, early Taoism,Pure Land Buddhism, African-Christian traditions, subtradi-tions within Islam) that explores basic models for construingsuffering and sin (e.g., Manichean dualism, theodicy, priva-tion). The one thesis to which all the authors seem commit-ted is that evil, notwithstanding its propensity to be defineddisparately across cultures, is itself a perennial problem forany serious religion. Thus, the admirable resistance in thisvolume to homogenizing traditions is matched by a strongclaim that a scholar cannot do descriptive justice to her orhis subject without taking note of how it appropriates tragicroot experiences into its larger worldview. Collectively, theauthors offer some fascinating observations. For example, D.P. Saklani argues for a dualism that sees evil in Hindu Bhaktitraditions as the upshot of the conflict between gods and

devils. S. Yasunaga places Zen Buddhism in the context ofmedieval Chinese thinkers and offers a fresh argument thatevil is the manifestation of shame. And R. E. Cornell con-nects Sufi depictions of lower and animal souls within theMuslim mystic tradition to a misogynistic stereotype thatcasts women in a primitive light. The essays in Probing theDepths of Evil and Good are well-written, accessible vesselsfor undergraduates and scholars who have an inclination tofamiliarize themselves with the obscure.

Andrew FlescherCalifornia State University

POLITICS & THE ORDER OF LOVE: AN AUGUSTIN-IAN ETHIC OF DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP. By EricGregory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.Pp. xv + 417. $45.00.

In this exhaustive and well-argued treatise, Gregoryfinds support for modern liberal democracy in Augustine’sworks and theological legacy. In contrast to various strandsof Augustinian liberalism and illiberalism, Gregory pro-motes an Augustinian vision of love as a necessary civicvirtue. As such, he allies with the criticisms of feministpolitical theorists who argue that the wholly autonomousperson is a dangerous illusion. He also counters both A.Nygren’s understanding of love in the works of Augustine(Agape and Eros) and H. Arendt’s and others’ fear of benevo-lence run amok. Gregory’s Augustine believed that theproblem with human love is that we loved too much and thatour loves were disordered. Loving God as the ultimate objectof love does not compete with loving one’s neighbor butrather stretches one to love the neighbor more. For Gregory,Augustine never saw the neighbor as a mere means to lovingGod, as others have argued. While this vision of love pro-motes human flourishing necessary for a healthy civic life,Augustine’s awareness of human sin restrains benevolenttotalitarianism. Thus, an Augustinian ethic of love canundergird liberal democratic societies. Not only is his argu-ment compelling, but Gregory is respectful of those withwhom he disagrees, learning from them whenever possible.Recommended for students of Augustine and political theol-ogy as well as university and seminary libraries.

Glenn M. HardenBaker College

WHAT IS ECONOMIC JUSTICE: BIBLICAL ANDSECULAR PERSPECTIVES CONTRASTED. ByAndrew Hartropp. Colorado Springs, CO: Paternoster, 2007.Pp. xvi + 222. $29.00.

Hartropp addresses two difficulties in current discus-sions about economic justice. One, so many definitions arepresent that what the term means lacks consensus. Two, thediverse definitions are “insufficiently” biblical. To remedythese difficulties, he presents a “theological framework” foreconomic justice through a careful and rewarding exegesisof the Bible. According to Hartropp, righteousness is not acategory found univocally throughout Scripture. But there

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are “family resemblances” among different usages, andthese are suggestive of a definition of justice, namely that it“is appropriate treatment, especially of human beings, andusually in a relational setting, according to the norms com-manded and set by God in each particular case.” This defi-nition sets the stage for the second part of the book whereHartropp uses it to assess Mill’s utilitarianism, Rawls’s con-tractarianism, Nozick’s libertarianism, and Reinhold Niebu-hr’s understandings of justice, liberation theology, andRoman Catholic social teaching. He shows the strengths andlimits of each of these approaches. The result is, on thewhole, very illuminating. None of these positions is simplydismissed, but each is shown to be wanting something thatthe biblical definition supplies. Hartropp offers a carefulanalysis that is well worth reading. However, the work ofRawls and Nozick set the terms of the debate in that the bookfocuses on the meaning of justice primarily as a proposition;little notice is given to the sense in which justice can also beconsidered as a “virtue.” Nonetheless, the book is wellresearched and informative.

D. Stephen LongMarquette University

ETHICS IN THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: MORALINSIGHTS FOR A POST 9-11 USA. By Jack A. Hill.Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 2008. Pp. xiii + 174.$20.00.

Hill’s book offers a valuable resource for a cross-culturalethical reflection on three of the most compelling moralissues we face today: the war on terror, rising economicanxieties, and ecological crises. Hill contends that toadequately address these crises, we need to move beyondour “mainstream” ethical approaches—communalism, neo-conservatism, liberalism, and postmodernism—into “theworld of the ‘other’ ” to develop a “pragmatic, cross-culturalethics.” In the three chapters that are the heart of the book,Hill draws on his rich experience in the Pacific Islands,Jamaica, and South Africa to present stories, beliefs, andpractices that can help us reconnect with the earth, oneanother, and “the enemy.” He also draws on historical Jesusscholarship to include a Christian perspective in the cross-cultural ethics he develops. If the book has limitations, theyare that Hill occasionally speaks of the four mainstreamethical approaches in a rather formulaic manner and that theconclusion does not fully develop the implications of hiswork—perhaps because of the book’s relatively brief length.Overall, though, the book is an outstanding introduction tocross-cultural ethics. Each chapter ends with “TalkingPoints,” which help make it an excellent text for undergradu-ate and graduate ethics courses.

Pamela K. BrubakerCalifornia Lutheran University

GOOD PUNISHMENT? CHRISTIAN MORAL PRAC-TICE AND U.S. IMPRISONMENT. By James SamuelLogan. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans PublishingCompany, 2008. Pp. x + 254. $20.00.

Logan’s general thesis is that the Christ event, asinterpreted from within the Anabaptist/Mennonite Chris-tian tradition, poses a direct challenge to any prisonsystem—especially the North American prison-industrialcomplex—that depends upon a retributive view of justice.Logan notes that during the time of Jacksonian Democracy(1829-37), the philosophy behind early American imprison-ment practice had shifted from the punitive codes of colo-nial Britain to statutes that emphasized rehabilitation andreform. However, he asserts that the current practiceknown as “Lock Down America” destroys the Black familyand, in particular, increases the suffering of Black femaleinmates and their children. Logan contends that punitivejustice for lawbreakers makes sense for an American Chris-tianity that has constructed a line of demarcation betweenthe saved and the damned. The final three chapters lay afoundation for an appropriation of Hauerwas’s theologicalnotion of “good punishment.” While Logan thoroughlyexplicates the Anabaptist vision of atonement in order toprovide a Christian doctrine of restorative justice and rec-onciliation, he does not attend to the violent history inNorth American Christendom and thus does not address thecontinuing popularity of the notion of Penal Substitutionaryatonement. Good Punishment? would be of interest to theo-logical students as well as scholars of religion who have apassion for social justice issues.

Rodney A. Thomas, Jr.Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University

Greece, Rome, Greco-Roman PeriodTHE LANGUAGE OF LITERATURE: LINGUISTICAPPROACHES TO CLASSICAL TEXTS. Edited by R.Allan and M. Buijs. Amsterdam Studies in ClassicalPhilology, 13. Leiden: Brill, 2007. Pp. xiii + 251. $142.00.

This volume, which is actually a Festschrift for A. Rijks-baron, as the frontispiece and the bibliography of his worksattest, contains ten essays, many by Rijksbaron’s students.Their focus is on the application of both narratological anddiscourse analysis to ancient texts, often through a detailedinvestigation of linguistic features such as verbal tense,particles, or word order that lead to significant formula-tions of stylistic differences between writers (Vergil andOvid) or within a writer composing in different genres(Xenophon) or the use of different narrative modes within asingle composition (Thucydides). The various contributionsinclude two each on Greek and Latin poetry, four onGreek prose writers, a discussion of the language ofthe Gortyn law code, and one that nicely rounds out thevolume by demonstrating how the approaches of modernlinguistic analysis share features of ancient rhetoricalanalysis of classical texts. The volume, while not easygo-ing, nevertheless manages, for the most part, to avoidjargon and offers a perfect introduction to scholars andadvanced students of the potential importance and the

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