The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review

BOOK REVIEW'S 179 Bonhoeffer: The Man and his Work. By RENE MARLE:, S.J. Glen Rock, N. J.: Newman Press, 1968. Pp. 141. $4.50. When Bonhoeffer's name is mentioned many of us make an immediate association: religionless Christianity. This small book is valuable because it puts that association into the perspective of Bonhoeffer's whole life and whole teaching. The life reveals a man of deep faith in Christ and in the Church, a man of constant prayer. The teaching reveals the essential complexity of his thought. No one after reading this book would ever dare to sum up his thought by the phrase " religionless Christianity " nor identify him with the secularity movement today. Perhaps MarJe's best contribution to fuller understanding of Bonhoeffer 's theology is his juxtaposition of the religionless Christianity theme from the Letters and Papers with other themes from the same book and from the Ethics, which Bonhoeffer was also writing in prison. For example, Bonhoeffer never gave up on the necessity of intense, personal prayer while dialoguing with religionless men. Also, while insisting that the Christian must have true affection for this world and its peoples before one could have true appreciation for Christ's work, since Incarnation (or God t>mbracing the world) comes before Redemption, the Old Testament before the New, the penultimate before the ultimate, still what is important in the end is Redemption, justification, salvation; what is important in the end is religion. Bonhoeffer does not make the connection between religionless Christianity and Incarnation, Old Testament, penultimate things explicit, but Marie shows that it is no distortion of his writings to say that the connection is strongly implicit. I believe Marie is right. In all, this is a very useful book for these seeking a few handles into the study of this great Lutheran theologian who was conservative in his ecclesiology, yet open to ecumenical dialogue; who stood stubbornly with the Confessing Church, while sharply criticizing it; who wrote a highly subtle book on Christian ethics, yet lived a basically simple life; and who died a hero's death. Dominican House of Studies Washington, D. C. THOMAS R. HEATH, 0. P. Un Cardenal, Fil6sofo de la Historia, Fr. Zeferino Gonzcilez, 0. P. (18811894 ). By FRANCO DrAZ DE CERro, S. J. Rome: Lateran University, 1969. Pp. 197. Four articles published in 1870 under the title "La Filosofia de la Historia " (" The Philosophy of History ") are taken as basic writings for a study on Cardinal Gonzalez's notion on the subject. They first appeared 180 BOOK REVIEWS in the journal La Ciudad de Dios; augmented by Cardinal Gonzalez himself later on, they were also included in Estudios religiosos, cientificos Y sociales (2 vol. Madrid, 1873). The author of this book, a Gregorian University professor, states in the introduction that the ideas contained in those articles signified an important contribution to the Philosophy of History. Such a point is never proved in a book that even has an illconceived title. The work starts out with a bibliography of Cardinal Gonzalez and his writings. It is well organized, complete and undoubtedly very helpful for scholars devoted to the study of the Thomist restoration in the last century. Some of the works included, however, touch the subject merely in a very indirect way. Though the book does not purport to be a biography, the first part gives that impression. Moreover, this first section comprises a very .lengthy collection of praises by many contemporary friends of the Cardinal, and it fails to give the impression of a carefully written biography. Very often the appraisals border on the ridiculous, and almost always they refer to small details without any bearing on the supposed purpose of the book. In the monotonous litany of quotations the only refreshing one is taken from Unamuno. The second and third chapters are devoted, respectively, to the notions of Philosophy and of History of Philosophy. One gets the impression that Cardinal Gonzalez was just beginning to work his way out of an incredibly poor intellectual environment and that his merits are to be considered in this perspective. His notion of philosophy as quoted here, for instance, is at best confusing because...