own as well. His account of the issues surrounding Nicaea isespecially valuable, for he presents the council’s compli-cated debates in a manner that is both approachable andaccurate. Indeed, throughout the book Weinandy’s writing iscarefully researched yet clear, and pedagogically motivatedyet free of oversimplifications. No student of Athanasiusshould overlook this reliable guidebook to the little Alexan-drian’s great life and works.

Kevin HillDurham University

NEW MONASTICISM: WHAT IT HAS TO SAY TOTODAY’S CHURCH. By Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove.Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2008. Pp. 147. $14.99.

In this book, J. Wilson-Hartgrove, a leader within thenew monastic movement and member of Rutba House com-munity, considers what the new monasticism has to offer theNorth American church. The new monasticism is a networkof Christian communities formed to enable their members tolive out an authentic Christian life by loving each other andtheir neighbors. The premise of both the movement and thisbook is that it is “hard to be a Christian in America.” In thiscontext, the new monasticism testifies to the necessity ofgenuine Christian community: that God plans “to save theworld through a people.” In authentic Christian community,Christians are able to relocate to abandoned places so as toshare in the life of people on the margins, to express gener-osity in poverty, to love their enemies, and to exhibit grace toeach other and their neighbors. While some might betempted to think of the new monastics as a kind of spiritualelite, Wilson-Hartgrove maintains that the new monasticismneeds the church and that it exists to serve the church.Written for the lay reader, this book is a good introduction tothe new monasticism. Recommended for pastors, lay Chris-tians, and libraries.

Glenn M. HardenBaker College

WOLFHART PANNENBERG ON HUMAN DESTINY.By Kam Ming Wong. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 2008. Pp. 177.$99.95.

Wong has offered one of the first monographs on Pan-nenberg’s doctrine of human destiny, a theme of no smallimportance for a thinker so oriented towards eschatology.After an overview of the argument and brief methodologicalexcursus, Wong treats Pannenberg’s view of the imago Deiand human destiny with special (and insightful) reference toHerder and supplements it with Christological justifications.He then devotes a chapter each to the two fundamental con-cepts of Pannenberg’s anthropology: openness to the worldas the basis of the image of God, and self-preservation as thegeneral anthropological analogue for the Christian idea ofsin. The reader will find in the final chapter one of the chiefcontributions of the book, to bring Pannenberg’s oft-neglected work on ethics into fuller connection with theother themes in question and to point up unnoticed develop-

ments in his thought on these matters. However, Wongappears somewhat confused as to the relation between thefundamental and systematic moments in Pannenberg’smethod. Claiming that the argument of Pannenberg’s earlierfundamental theological anthropology “failed to generatemuch theological resonance” because it did not includeChristological content or a full treatment of sin (i.e., dog-matic theology) is to gauge the function of the fundamentaltheological task against the proper standard of systematictheology in Pannenberg’s scheme. The blunting of Wong’scritique, then, also limits the otherwise fine constructiveedge of his book.

Sean HaydenVanderbilt University

AIN’T TOO PROUD TO BEG: LIVING THROUGHTHE LORD’S PRAYER. By Telford Work. Grand Rapids,MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007. Pp. xi + 252.$16.00.

Work’s book offers an approach of “living through theLord’s Prayer” in which twenty-first century readers arechallenged to learn a prayerful way of life when they praytheologically and theologically pray. He seeks to avoid pre-conceived notions and gravitates to the Lord’s Prayer asGod’s way of transformative thinking. Even though he doesnot approach the Lord’s Prayer from an exegetical stand-point, his work reflects upon some of the issues that arecommon both to the first and present century. Workadvances through the prayer under the separate petitionsand provides points of contact with distinct American chal-lenges, e.g., patriotism, economics, and politics. He main-tains a healthy balance without falling into the ditches ofChristian fundamentalism or liberalism, and radicalizes theprayer’s message through various challenges that AmericanChristians have faced and now confront. The book is writtenwith passion and imagination, but could have been strength-ened with clearer connections between the significance ofthe Prayer then and now. For example, Work traces throughfour schools of American self-understanding and politics inAmerica’s history, but yet does not make clear connectionsbetween these approaches and the title of the chapter, “ThePresence of God.” Still, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg might serve asinteresting discussion points for readers who wish to praythe Lord’s Prayer today.

J. Lyle StoryRegent University School of Divinity

EthicsFREEDOM IN RESPONSE: LUTHERAN ETHICS:SOURCES AND CONTROVERSIES. By Oswald Bayer.Translated by Jeffrey F. Cayzer. New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 2007. Pp. xi + 275. $99.00.

The essays in this volume constitute a deep reflection onthe implications of God’s promise of freedom for Christian

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ethics. God’s promise is a “categorical gift,” a command thatdoes not prohibit but rather permits creation to exist infellowship with God. It is also a performative-linguistic form:promise creates ways of being in the world in the very act ofpronouncing them. Systematic theology is a “doctrine of lan-guage” that reflects on promise in terms of the linguistic“forms” that disclose promise in the gospel. Genuinefreedom is “granted, allowed and promised” in the ways ofbeing that God permits, and in the human response to them.Freedom in response contrasts with modern conceptions offreedom in which human beings must both give promises tothemselves and fulfill them, which, Bayer argues, is nofreedom at all. Bayer’s analysis of promise queries animpressive range of issues: law and freedom, marriage,power, evil, and responsibility, among others. The readermust work hard to hold together the volume’s theologicalframing across seventeen essays, at times guessing as towhat hermeneutical principles account for conclusionsabout the appearance of promise in the form-critical analysisof particular biblical texts. But the work is well rewarded.This volume is an excellent resource for scholars of Lutheranethics.

John SeniorEmory University

BEYOND HOMELESSNESS: CHRISTIAN FAITH INA CULTURE OF DISPLACEMENT. By Steven Bouma-Prediger and Brian J. Walsh. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerd-mans Publishing Co. Pp. xv + 361. $24.00.

In this co-authored volume, Bouma-Prediger and Walshdraw upon their vocations as professor of theology (HopeCollege) and campus minister (University of Toronto) tocreate this pastoral and reflective work on the nature andpitfalls of a transient culture. Viewing “homelessness” as aphenomenon which describes not only those without perma-nent lodging, but also a turbulent culture in which manynever discover “home,” the authors articulate a call to live incommunity which goes beyond the abiding restlessness andpsychospiritual sense of loss permeating society. As this is abook concerned with the full range of cultural displacement,issues of economy, ecology, consumerism, and postmoderndiscourse are covered. Walsh, perhaps best known for hisrecent Colossians Remixed, provides creative Scripturalreadings, which function as interludes between the largerchapters, framing the authors’ quest for a vision of homewithin the canon of the Scriptural journey toward home.After all, for the authors, it is ultimately the indwelling Godwithin creation who creates home for sojourners of alldescriptions, providing a true orientation within creationand with one another. Well suited as a supplemental text foran ethics course, this volume provides a comprehensivevision, which unites society in a common problem, and acommon solution.

Myles WerntzBaylor University

DISCERNING THE STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOP-MENT. By Thomas W. Devereaux. South Bend, IN: Clover-dale Books, 2007. Pp. 128. $14.95.

Many nonprofit organizations—churches, civic groups,community organizations—depend on volunteers for a con-siderable portion of their work. Yet volunteers can be theAchilles’ heel in any organization: if many volunteers are notonly productive but also generous and gracious, others proveto be ineffective, self-serving, and even disruptive. How dothe directors of nonprofits discern the motivations of volun-teers and channel their work appropriately? The authorproposes screening volunteers on the basis of a modifiedversion of Kohlberg’s six stages of moral judgment. Thisproposal is certainly promising, but the usefulness of thisbook is unfortunately minimal: first, the descriptions ofKohlberg’s stages are overly succinct; second, each stageshould have been illustrated by appropriate in-depth casestudies of actual volunteers. The cases that are mentioned inpassing are often more anecdotal than analytical and some-times tangential to a particular stage. Another drawback isthat a major portion of the book is devoted to the author’s“Stages of Moral Development Survey Questionnaire”: sucha questionnaire has the potential for being useful for screen-ing volunteers, but it is not clear how the questionnaireshould be administered, much less evaluated. Regrettably,this small book—which seems more a set of lecture notes,rather than a fully developed presentation—does not reallyprovide much help to directors of volunteer organizations,who are seeking assistance “in identifying agendized atti-tudes and behavior” as well as “fresh insights into people’smotivations and behavior.”

John T. FordThe Catholic University of America

WHITENESS AND MORALITY: PURSUING RACIALJUSTICE THROUGH REPARATIONS AND SOVER-EIGNTY. By Jennifer Harvey. New York: Palgrave Mac-millan, 2007. Pp. xi + 264. $69.95.

An inquiry into and interrogation of the very soul of whiteUS-American identity. Authored by a white woman ethicist,this book asks, “Who are we as white racial subjects?” and“Who might we yet become?” It is a thoroughgoing, wide-ranging account of being white as a moral crisis that lays thegroundwork for agency for racial justice. Harvey provides awell-nuanced discussion of whiteness theory, defining raceas a social construction in a formation process, in waysthat attend to both ideology and materiality. This is no smallfeat. Focusing on English–African–Native relations inseventeenth-century colonial US America, she provides anhistorical lens for understanding how a uniquely white“American” identity emerged and was linked to unjustenrichment. Documenting the genocide of Native peoples, theenslavement of peoples of African descent, and more recentlegacies of colonialism and racial subjugation illustrated bylynchings and cultural productions, Harvey makes a compel-ling case that white US Americans do not have a “stand-alone

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identity” apart from a heritage of violence—and thus have amoral imperative to work for reparations. Because Harveypurposely restricts her analysis to relations between andamong Europeans, Native peoples and people of Africandescent, it is not clear how other immigrant “others”—such asLatino/Latinas—and classism in the broadest sense, factorinto becoming white. Nevertheless, this is a superbly argued,much needed, courageous exposition that should be read byall white US-American undergraduate and graduate students;and teachers of ethics, theology and religion.

Jack A. HillTexas Christian University

GANDHI AND JESUS: THE SAVING POWER OFNONVIOLENCE. By Terrance J. Rynne. Maryknoll, NY:Orbis Books, 2008. Pp. 228. $20.

This book’s key is threefold: the influence of Christian-ity on Gandhi, the influence of Gandhi on Christians, and theresulting transformation of Christian soteriology. First,Rynne weaves together biography, moral philosophy andreligion to show how Jesus, Tolstoy, and “the cross” helpedshape Gandhi’s Hindu philosophy of nonviolence. Secondly,Rynne shows how Gandhi’s philosophy of Satygraha influ-enced Christian thinkers (C. F. Andrews, Yoder, Haring, andWink) who because of Gandhi discover anew the “centralityof nonviolence in the life and death of Jesus . . .” Finally,Rynne discusses Christian soteriologies, which assume incommon that evil and “the powers” are defeated by domina-tion and violence. This assumption, however, is in oppositionto the actual life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, whoopposes evil “ ‘without becoming evil in the process,’ namely[through] nonviolence.” Rynne concludes his discussion,showing how Christians, following Jesus and Gandhi, shouldrespond to certain questions—human responsibility forhistory, what humans are saved from, how discipleship is away of nonviolence—in a way that is “faithful to the scrip-tures and responsive to contemporary needs and sensibili-ties.” This book is well organized and clearly written lendingitself to a wide readership, layperson, student, and scholaralike. One could wish for heightened sensitivity to the role ofpolitics in the failure of Christian theories of salvation.

James E. GilmanMary Baldwin College

WOMEN, ETHICS, AND INEQUALITY IN U.S.HEALTHCARE: “TO COUNT AMONG THE LIVING.”By Aana Marie Vigen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.Pp. xxiii + 272. $69.95.

Vigen’s most basic goal is for readers, especially whitereaders with good health insurance, to care about theinequalities that exist in American healthcare. Moreover,she wants to raise consciousness of the ways racism andclassism aggravate the problems, not only at the level ofpolicy but also on the ground. Wisely perceiving that health-care statistics cause most people’s eyes to glaze over, Vigengives socioscientific stats their due, but relies primarily on

ethnographic research to do most of the persuading. Inter-views with eight Latina and Black women about their expe-riences with breast cancer, in which they reflect on thepoignant (and sometimes terrifying) particularities of theirown struggles in the American medical system, do morethan statistics can to offer a holistic picture of the health caresituation among the most vulnerable Americans. Vigendraws recurring themes out of their stories and recommendschanges based on these, though a lack of clarity regardingher audience prevents her from offering many concrete solu-tions. Nevertheless, this is a brave and impressive synthesisof diverse data that works well as an introduction to health-care ethics, as well as being an important call to ethicists andother scholars to leave their musty ivory towers and librarybasements now and then. It demonstrates that academicresearch can benefit from the fresh air.

Kathryn D. BlanchardAlma College

Greece, Rome, Greco-Roman PeriodINSTRUCTIONS FOR THE NETHERWORLD: THEORPHIC GOLD TABLETS. By Alberto Bernabé andJiménez San Cristobal. Religions in the Graeco-Roman World162. Leiden: Brill, 2008. Pp. xii + 379. $188.00.

This volume is a revised and augmented version of theSpanish edition (2001) of the gold tablets, dating mainlyfrom the fourth and third century BCE and found in tombs,many from Magna Graecia, northern Greece and now alsoCrete; they contain instructions, usually in verse, for thedead to negotiate the landscape of the underworld and toperform acts that will lead to postmortem happiness. Whilethe notion of Orphism has long been regarded with somesuspicion, the sheer amount and geographic spread of theevidence makes it difficult to deny the existence of somesort of organized belief in the afterlife. The proliferation ofstudies on these texts in the last fifteen years demonstratesthe degree of interest, but also of the controversies thetablets continue to arouse. Each tablet is presented inEnglish with a detailed commentary; the Greek, based onBernabé’s Teubner edition (2005) with its rather intimidat-ing apparatus, is given separately in an appendix. Theeditors have chosen to arrange the material thematicallywith chapters devoted to the soul’s arrival in the under-world, to its presentation to Persephone and other aspectsof its journey, including prayers and passwords, as well astablets merely containing the word mystes. Most strikingare the similarities over widely distributed geographicalareas. Chapters 9 and 10 offer a useful synthesis of thetexts and a positive answer to “the central question: are thegold leaves Orphic?” An appendix discusses iconographicevidence that has plausibly been linked to Orphic motifs.All in all, an essential tool for all those interested in Greekreligion.

Jenny Strauss ClayUniversity of Virginia

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