2 NOVEMBER 1929, Page 32

Some years ago Professor S. Angus, of Sydney, wrote a

very able book on the mystery religions which preceded Christianity. He now treats of the whole historical background of the early Church in an impressive treatise on The Religious Quests of the Graeco-Roman World .(Murray, 15s.), of which the mysteries were only one aspect. A substantial section is devoted to the development of sacramentarianisrn, whether Christian or pagan, and to the place that it occupies in the

Pauline Epistles and. in the Fourth Gospel. Astrology, Greek theosophy and Gnosticism are discussed also in some detail, so that the promise of the title is fulfilled. Professor Angus is a refreshingly broad-minded Christian. He is no sacerdotalist, but he welcomes "the present revival of mysticism."