Book Reviews

The Religious Roots of Rebellion: Christians in Central American Revolutions. By Phillip Berryman . Maryknoll, N. Y.: Orbis Books, 1984. Pp. xxi, 452. Paperback $19.95 . As Uni ted States involve me n t in Cen­ tral Ame rica has esc ala ted over th e last four yea rs, so has sc holarly a tte n tio n to th e region . Sta rting from a near zero base of almost tot al neglect by policy an d aca demic specialists, Central Am eric a and its crise s ha ve lat ely come to be di ssected , d escribed, a nalyzed, and even exp laine d . N ot all a tte m p ts are succ essfu l, of co urse, a nd for most writers th e rock i­ es t shoal seems to be th at elus ive but inesca pable eleme n t, th e religious fac­ tor. Most jou rna lists and so cial scien ­ tists seem not to know w ha t to d o wi th such issu es as popular religiou s expressio n, liberatio n th eology, the cha nges in the Catholic Church , th e role of basic co mm unities, a nd more . Th ey tou ch o n religio n as back gr ound , local color, a so urce of a ne cd ota l illu s­ tra tio n; or th ey in d u lge in th e broad ge neralization th at th e ch urch, for­ merly one of th e pillars of th e es tablish­ ment, has some how reversed field and ado p ted a preferential op tio n for th e poor. But w ha t d oes all thi s mean? Before me a re six rece nt books o n Central America, collection s of essays by diff erent a u thors in th e main, a nd all contain a t lea st ritual cita tio ns to th e effect that th e church (or religion) is a crucial fact or in th e Central American problematic. Only o ne, Martin Dis­ kin' s Tro uble ill Our Backyard, ev en a t­ temp ts to exa mi ne religion as suc h . Tommie Sue Montgome ry 's essay on " Liberatio n and Revolution" is a good, if unnuanced , in tro d uc tio n to th e full er treatment that has lon g been needed . Now co mes Phillip Be rryman , who, mor e th an Montgome ry , more even th an Pe n ny Lernou x w hose Cry of the People has becom e a stan da rd tex t on th e new Lat in American church , an d certa inly more th an almost all of th e academic observers, kn ows what it all mean s. Berryman is a n observer-pa rtici­ pant w ho d aily experienced th e reli­ gious a nd social reality of Central

Thomas E. Quigley is the Latin Americall ad­ viserat the U.S. Catholic Conferenceoffice of in­ ternational justiceand peace. January 1985

America for much of the past two dec­ ad es. His is a painstakingly ca re fu l chro nicle of that reality as he ob served and experienced it . Still m ore, as a th e­ ologically trained " n ative speake r" of the principal Christian dialect of th e re­ gion, Roman Catholicism, he brings to his work that sure touch, the correct tone, that is sometimes lacking in oth­ ers with similar viewpoints and sy m­ pathies but different ex p erie nces of church . Berryman set out to d escribe th e effects of a renewed Christian co n ­ sciou sness on the lives of th e po or in Central Ameri ca . He e n ded up writin g three books in one: an ex p la nation a nd description of that process of renewal

and reform within the Christian com­ munity; a chronicle of the interplay be­ tween Christian renewal and social revolution in the last se ve ral turbulent years in Central America; and, his most important contribution, some in­ formed musings on what this all means to the church at large . By " som e informed musings" I am merely pickin g up on Berryman's own style, modest, tentative but-I be­ lieve-profound . He cites, by way of analogy, a modest and tentative work of the 1950s by the Fre n ch Dominican theologian, Yves Congar, entitled la­ Ions pour Lln e Theologie du Laical. Con­ gar's " n ote s towards a theology of the laity" (p ublish ed in English as Lay Peo-

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Malise Ruthven . "[AI boo k full of origina l ideas . . .Wh at is particularly valua ble is its attempt to show the relation ships betwee n the forma l doctrines of Islam and the ways in whic h Muslims live in the modern world ."-Albert Hourani , author of The Emergence ofthe M odern Middle East.

• Of a ll the great world religion s, Islam is the most inextricably tied to the soc ial and political lives of its peo ple . Events in the Muslim world have made an understandin g of Islam more important than eve r. Islam in the World provid es a valuab le introdu cto ry guide to Islam for the Western reade r, providing a n overview of the religion in its histor ic, po litical and socia l setting. . An exce ptiona lly insightful and tho ught-provo king introd uctio n to Islam ." - Joh n L. Esposito, a uthor of Voices of Resurgent Islam . • "Fasc inating . . .highly insightful. I am co nfide nt that it will satisfy a great need among those English readers who wa nt to understand Islam."- Faz lur Rahm an , University of Chicago. 384 pages

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pie in the Church) had a p ro found influ­ e n ce o n Va tica n II a n d e cclesiology in general. Toda y' s s to rmy d e vel opments of religious renewal a mong th e Th ird World p o o r m a y well p ro ve to h a ve even greater impact o n the whol e church . - Thomas E. Quigl ey

Ministers of God, Ministers of the People: Testimonies of Faith from Nicaragua. By Teofi/o Cabesirero. Maryknoll N. Y : Orbis Books, 1983. Pp. xiv, 130. Paperback $6.95.

The rol e of C hristia ns an d of th e C h ris ­ tian faith in tod ays N ica ragu a is a much d ebated to pic. Ca n o ne be fu lly com mi tte d to C h rist an d also be fu lly com mi tted to th e Sand in ist a Re volu ­ ti on ? Is th er e a co n tra dict io n b etween a Roman Ca tho lic p riestl y resp on sib ilit y an d fu lltim e service in a post of th e

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A study of t he influen ce of Hudson Ta ylor on t he Fai th Missions Movem en t. 198 pag es

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