The Cosmic Christ: from Paul to Teilhard by George A. Maloney, S. J.

Abstract

176 BOOK REVIEWS by Leo Baeck. It is challenging without seeking to defeat. It is a rejection of some religious ideologies with an attempt at adding a balance to what was viewed as unbalanced. It is an acceptance of Jewish life as experienced by the Jewish people and an appreciation of seeking to spiritualize the soil of the land of Israel. But most of all, it is a book in which there is an affirmation of life, an optimism in living even while recognizing the depths of degradation to which man can descend. It is a book which presents the religious development of a significant scholar, the influences upon him and the meaning of his life and his teachings for the contemporary Jew and the contemporary Christian. Temple Sinai Amityville, N. Y. St. John's University Jamaica, N. Y. RABBI LEONARD w. STERN The Cosmic Christ: from Paul to Teilhard. By GEORGE A. MALONEY, S. J. New York: Sheed and Ward, 1968. Pp. 305. $6.95. It is true to say that no phrase of Teilhard de Chardin's has been viewed \Yith so much caution as " the Cosmic Christ." Father Maloney takes this phrase as the title for his book. He starts with the premise that modem man needs Christ. But does the Christ traditionally presented to him at school, in lectures, in sermons, have any relevance for him? Today, he is absorbed in the fascinating business of fashioning a new world. He cannot reconcile a Christ that can be found only by withdrawing from the world, with the strong attraction he feels toward the world. If he is to find Christ at all, he must find him in the world. The thesis of the book is that Christ is the centre of the life of the world-the spiritual and material world. God created the world, and he so loved that world that he sent his only-begotten Son into the world to establish his kingdom there. Christ came into the world to transform and complete God's creation. The cosmos itself participates in the Redemption. Instead, then, of trying to escape from the world in order to find Christ, we must search for him and find him in it. This is what has come to be termed the " cosmic " dimension of Christ. The phrase is Teilhard's. But the book shows that the same vision of Christ in the universe is to be found in the New Testament and in the early Fathers. So the first five chapters of the seven of the book sketch the relation of Christ to the cosmos in the writings of Paul and John, and in the ante- and post-Nicene Greek :Fathers. These chapters, the author handles very well, and in addition to the text he gives in an appendix selected quotations from each Father. BOOK REVIEWS 177 Some readers, however, may find fault with his interpretation of some texts. A fault of the book is that it has nothing to say on the period between Maximus the Confessor (7th cent.) and Teilhard de Chardin. It is dismissed simply" after Maximus the Confessor, for reasons too many and too complex to be developed here, Christ's dynamic presence and activity in the world was not sufficiently stressed...." (p. 15) The chapter on Teilhard de Chardin is an excellent summary of his Christology. This is not a book everyone will be able to read. But for those really interested in the problem of cosmic Christology, it makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the subject. St. Charl1!8' Seminary Nagpur, India ANTHONY MORRIS, 0. p. What Is Religion? By PAUL TILLICH. New York: Harper and Row, 1969. Pp. 191. $5.95. This volume contains three early works by Paul Tillich: " The Philosophy of Religion," which originally appeared in 19~5; " The Conquest of the Concept of Religion in the Philosophy of Religion " and " On the Idea of a Theology of Culture," originally presented in 19~~ and 1919 respectively . The main themes of Tillich's central work, his Systematic Theology, appear in these early essays. With interest these three essays are read in the reverse order in which they are published in...