Christian Re-statement
Great Issues : Studies in Reconciliation. By Neville S. Talbot., D.D., M.C. (S.P.C.K. 3s. 6d.) BISHOP TALBOT'S little book has a value out of all proportion to its size. He is, as we know,. peculiarly well fitted to act as liaison-officer between the theologian and the lay-mind : and is able to present the great truths and Koblems of religion in such a way as to drive home their actuality. He reminds a world in which " the characteristic melancholy and fearfulness of paganism have reappeared " that in the last resort " nothing matters except God," and nothing but a recovery of this conviction can restore our civilisation to health. Christianity, he is sure, " alone can really grasp the tremendous nettle of existence." But its full power and significance have been concealed by the neat doctrinal pavement which covers its bare earth. In these present days the pavement has been roughly handled ; sonic bits broken beyond repair. This may not turn out to be an unredeemed disaster ; if it means a new disclosure and new interpretation of the enduring foundations of faith.
The Bishop begins. by an admirable chapter on. the present situation of religious faith over against modern thought. On one hand the awful cosmic landscape disclosed by physical science, and the rather hasty conclusions of comparative religion and psychology—studies which have, hardly advanced beyond the kindergarten stage7—seem to discredit revealed religion : the almost Messianic state-idolatry of the age appears to be taking its place. But, on the other hand, science at its best becomes ever more metaphysical, more humble-minded. There is a " quickening and heightening of wonder." Determinism is dead ; the climate of thought tends to become more genial to belief. This makes it possible to get a new hearing for the witness of history to the action of God ; especially the witness of the Old Testament, as reinterpreted by modern scholarship. It is, I think, in his chapter on the " relevance of the Old Testament " that the Bishop is at his best. He points out the unique contribution made by the Jew to our understanding of the meaning Of life ; his association of God with action in the arena of history —seen especially in the writings of the great prophets—his frank acknowledgement of all the difficulties involved in reconciling " the brutal realities of history " with belief in the direct action of a Holy, Merciful and Living GOd.
" To open the books of the great prophets is like opening the door of a furnace. Masts of heat issue from the fiery process of the testing of Jewish faith in the fires of history."
The religion of the Old Testament is not a closed system. We see in it the soul's passionate questioning of God as to life's meaning—its struggles with the ultimate problems of evil, suffering, and redemption. All the great questions of theism are asked by the Psalmists and Prophets ; but they are not answered. The answer is given in the New
Testament : for here, says Bishop Talbot, the real question which is raised and answered in the person and life of Jesus is " What is the Divine ? " This is the real centre of the gospel ; this is what Christian dogma, rightly understood, is all about. It is, he thinks, by trying to get as near as possible to the original historical events, where " not a glint of theology gleams in the story of sheer happening," and away from the
Christmas-carol frame of mind " (rather unfairly identified with Baron von Hiigel's " analytic approach ") that we shall receive the full impact of this question. And it is in the light of the answer which is made by Christianity that we shall come to understand in a more realistic sense the nature and vital function of the Church. For it is by and through the Church that secular civilisation and culture— inadequate as ends in themselves—can be given a trans- human objective, " shot through with everlastingness " : and this recovered belief in the ultimate significance of life is the only thing which can check the present drift towards imminent disaster. " On that which is not of the world but is of Heaven, the hope of secular progress depends."
EVELYN UNDERHILL.
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