“The value of this book lies in the helpful process out of which the volume emerged. Informal roundtables at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, brought students and faculty together for ongoing discussions about the relationship between religion and evolution. Among the roundtable participants were the authors of the various book chapters on biblical studies (Birge), evolutionary biology (Taylor), philosophy (Henning), and systematic theology (Stoicoiu). There is no new information or perspective in this book. However, an effective way forward on this issue will certainly entail interdisciplinary dialogue. The Mount St. Mary’s University roundtables and this book stemming from them constitute a pretty good case study for how to do this important dialogue.
“All the authors work from the perspective that science and religion in general, and biblical creation and biological evolution in particular, are not antagonistic. As John Cobb writes in a jacket blurb, ’The book makes it abundantly clear that there is no reason for opposition between science and faith.’
“Birge’s chapter on Genesis provides some helpful exegesis of relevant biblical texts that show how the Bible can be responsibly read in a way that is consistent with science. Taylor’s chapter is a very good summary of the science and is easily accessible for anyone without a science background. In the final chapter, systematic theologian Stoicoiu pulls together many threads from the other chapters. She displays the deficits of creationism and intelligent design. Then, she champions an evolutionary theology that appreciates what evolutionary biology can contribute to theological reflection on these issues.
“As she summarizes evolutionary theology,
’the world is in a process of becoming. This movement occurs throughout the cosmos by way of evolution—that seemingly chaotic method of natural selection that produces a display of life full of innovation and originality. In this process of becoming, Rahner argues, the world is drawing closer to the mystery of God by way of the ”divinization of the world as a whole”.’ (117) ’God is the ultimate ground of evolutionary science and the ultimate future toward which evolution is progressing.’ (119) It is no accident that John Cobb writes a blurb for the book.
“The book could be useful as a supplemental text in an undergraduate course on science and religion.”
”An excellent and comprehensive introductory volume on this topic, covering a variety of issues including professionalism in the patient-physician relationship, abortion, care of critically ill newborns, reproductive technology, embryonic stem cell research, genomic technologies, treatment at the end of life, and health care reform. There is a particularly useful introductory chapter about understanding ethics and approaches to ethical decisions. The authors provide a framework where ethics sits between being and doing, in other words who we ought to become as a person and how we ought to act in relation to others. This involves goals, virtues, principles and circumstances. Among the requirements for ethics are freedom and knowledge, reasoning and discernment, and a normative basis on which to judge the issues. This framework is then applied to health care ethics at three levels: macro health policy issues, middle organizational issues and micro clinical issues. Different types of ethical theories are also explained—virtue theories, deontological theories relating to action, and consequentialist theories. The discussions are very well illustrated with a variety of case histories.”
The impetus for this book was the editor’s desire to mark the 25th anniversary of the US bishops pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All (EJA). This well-conceived collection builds on EJA and does not merely summarize or reiterate its points.
The volume is divided into three parts: (1) a substantial excerpt of the original pastoral letter; (2) four essays dealing with foundational aspects of economic justice; and (3) five essays that address topics inadequately addressed in the original letter. Two additional essays completed post-publication are available online. Those two essays are of particular interest, since they were written by principals involved in the original formulation of the letter: Rembert Weakland, chair of the episcopal drafting committee, and John Donahue, who served as a consulting scholar in the writing of EJA. An essay by David Hollenbach, another academic consultant, is also included in the book.
Weakland reflects on what would have to change if a similar letter were to be written today. He accepts the challenges/criticisms that authors in part 3 make of the pastorals shortcomings—for example, neglect of migration and race. Donahue presents a record of the process and some highlights of the letter, as well as reflections on the implicit ecclesiology at work in the letter’s formulation. He laments the failure to sustain and develop that ecclesiology in subsequent years. He also provides extensive reference notes to writings on economic justice since EJA. Hollenbach focuses on globalization, perhaps the most prominent economic factor emergent since EJA. He comments on current discussion among development theorists and how Catholic teaching might enter into present thinking about achieving justice for the developing world.
The remaining essays are all solid. Most have an analytic/expository style, although a few reflect a more prophetic and challenging tone, even while being appreciative of the achievement of EJA. The book would be a fine text to include in a course in Catholic social thought. It reminds us both of the benefits of an effective teaching office and that Catholic social teaching requires ongoing reflection and evolution.
“Schaab has written a very accessible treatment of the God-world relationship, one that aims to exploit recent work in systematic theology that foregrounds relationality. Laudably, her starting point is explicitly not theological, as she wants to demonstrate the pervasiveness of a relational model of ‘the world’ through insights drawn from philosophy and the natural and behavioral sciences.
“Closely structured throughout, the first half of the book presents trinitarian theology via a threefold model of relations of origins, emergence, and effect, answering this in the second half with a parallel model of an evolving cosmos. The strength of this work is its ongoing attention to the role of language in shaping our understanding, with a fine overview of the use of metaphor in theology midway through the text.
“This overall attenuation of the notion of ‘relation’ is an important aspect of the argument’s credibility. Yet, as is sometimes true of recent work in Trinitarian theology, the desire to right a variety of social wrongs—dysfunctional families, racism, heterosexism, poverty—is the goal of trinitarian theology, or at least its best rationale. This can imply a reified notion of the equality of relations that mark God’s trinity, even in a nuanced treatment.
“Given the range of this discussion, many topics in the early chapters—for example, quantum mechanics—must be presented in a ‘digest’ form. Sometimes these seem to move toward the argument of the book too neatly, a problem that does not occur in Schaab’s targeted and thoughtful selection of theological insights in the second half of the book. In the end, however, her presentation of this work is effective, as she marshals a range of material toward a rich and multilayered account of the incarnation and the process of grace. The book would serve well as a text in upper-level undergraduate courses on the doctrine of God or as a starting point for courses that engage questions of science and religion.”
“Reminiscent of the size and scope of Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style, Mari Rapela Heidt’s A Guide for Writing about Theology and Religion is a slim style manual addressing the particulars of writing about topics in theology and religious studies. The book’s primary goal is to serve as a guide for undergraduates to improve their writing in religion and theology courses. The author holds a PhD in theological ethics from Marquette University and teaches in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Dayton. Drawing from her experience teaching undergraduates, Heidt sets out to distill the fundamentals of good writing she sees as lacking in many of her students’ assignments. At a little over a hundred pages, the book is just what the author describes in the preface: a crash course on punctuation, citation, and word usage (10).”