RELIGION

09-4-0399

Dennis, Marie; Golden, Renny; and Wright, Scott. Oscar Romero. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2000. 128 pp. Modern Spiritual Masters Series. ISBN 1-57075-309-1, $13.00 (pb).

This is a captivating little book that alternately enthralls and troubles the reader. It presents El Salvador’s martyred archbishop as an important actor in the real world of politics and the poor. Perhaps more importantly, it portrays a messenger of divine grace and favor who has lived in our midst.

For those who are not familiar with the life of Oscar Arnulfo Romero, this book provides an excellent introduction. The facts about his life, ministry, and martyrdom are all succinctly presented in the first five pages. But Romero is not the only subject of this book; it is as much about poor and marginalized people everywhere—and that is what will trouble the reader. This is not a guilt-producing screed, though it should challenge every comfortable and complacent reader. The transformation of an ordinary, pious, and somewhat traditional bishop by the least significant members of his society, may make some readers squirm. It will cause others to take heart.

This volume belongs to the series Modern Spiritual Masters, and Oscar Romero skillfully links the slain archbishop to the concepts and tradition of martyrdom. Romero is seen, not just as a brother to Gandhi and King, but as one of the latest in a series of witnesses that stretches back to the likes of Stephen, Polycarp, and Ignatius of Antioch.

The book is filled with thought-provoking and revealing quotations from Romero’s speeches and writings. They challenge and comfort us 20 years after his bloody and sacrificial death. Ultimately this is an inspiring book about life and hope.

—Daniel P. Dwyer
Siena College

09-4-0400

Freedman, Samuel G. Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle for the Soul of American Jewry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000. 384 pp. ISBN 0-684-85944-0, $26.00.

In this superb description of the human side of tensions internal to the American Jewish community, Freedman begins in the style of an investigative reporter by presenting a half dozen thorough, up-to-the-minute, and engaging vignettes of flashpoints. These include a decline of Yiddish culture as opposed to the rise of orthodoxy, the collapse of a cooperative effort between liberal and traditional rabbis, a clash over gender issues, the potential for violence within a radical fringe, and a struggle between Orthodox and Reform Jews. The book is detailed without being pedantic, exciting without the over-dramatic. Freedman points out conflicts—between Jews and the secular society and the splintering within orthodoxy between those who ally with modernism and those who shun it. These are not difficult issues to document, but Freedman does it so well.

Freedman’s reporting is strong, but his analysis does not rise to the same high caliber. Jews, sharing a long, varied history, argue with one another as with no one else. Freedman’s book, a superb contemporary snapshot, makes a few references to history without summoning the full lesson that history has to offer. His reflections on the course of Jewish life in Israel, his wisps of hope and pessimism, are not fully supported by his material.

—Rabbi Dennis Ross
Pittsfield, Mass.

09-4-0401

Hopkins, Dwight N. Down, Up, and Over: Slave Religion and Black Theology. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2000. 300 pp. ISBN 0-8006-2723-7, $20.00 (pb).

Hopkins is one of the foremost representatives of black theology in the United States, with several works to his credit. This well-researched book is particularly interesting for two reasons: First, the author is concerned with developing a systematic approach; and second, he turns his attention to the roots of black theology in the religion the slaves brought with them from Africa. Hopkins’s critique of the complicity of the Protestant churches in the indignity of slavery is unsparing, and the citations from different versions of the Episcopal Catechism are at once tragic and comic. His examination of the elements of West African religion raises some fascinating questions about the capacity of Christianity to absorb and incorporate other traditions without losing its own identity, while at the same time being enriched by the process. In addition, Hopkins develops a theology of the Spirit that has implications far beyond his own field.

Occasionally the author slips into jargon—probably inevitable in a field that draws so heavily on sociological data. There are also sporadic lapses into political correctness and occasional elements of the Marxist critique of the market economy that seem strangely dated.

But the book is valuable because it documents the long and convoluted path of black religion, from its origins in West Africa, through the attempts of white American Protestants to mold it to their goals, to the point where it can make a distinctive contribution to the faith and life of Christians of all colors.

—John C. Dwyer
St. Bernard’s Institute, Albany, N.Y.

09-4-0402

Jenkins, Philip. Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religions in American History. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2000. 294 pp. ISBN 0-19-512744-7, $27.50.

If I were to recommend a single book on the issue of cults, Mystics and Messiahs would be the one. Jenkins, distinguished professor of history and religious studies at Penn State University, has produced a scholarly and balanced book on this controversial and explosive topic.

Jenkins convincingly demonstrates that cult movements are, and have been historically, "laboratories and proving grounds for religious innovation." His historical survey of such movements throughout American history integrates them into broader religious, social, and cultural developments. He succeeds in showing that recent movements often have deep historical roots, as do the countermovements (anticult groups) that react to them. Especially important are his careful and nuanced descriptions of the often violent public reactions to these atypical religious movements, which sometimes develop later into mainstream traditions, such as Christian Science, Mormonism, and Seventh-Day Adventism.

In addition to his careful historical survey of known and obscure movements of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Jenkins gives in-depth analyses of twentieth-century religious movements such as "I Am," witchcraft, Satanism, and the more recent doomsday cults. His balanced view of them, and of their opponents, presents a needed antidote to much of the hysteria and misinformation that have been part of public and media reaction. Mystics and Messiahs is a much needed scholarly contribution to a topic that has for too long been the subject of public hysteria and distortion. Highly recommended!

—James S. Dalton
Siena College

09-4-0403

Kessel, Barbara. Suddenly Jewish: Jews Raised as Gentiles Discover Their Jewish Roots. Hanover, N.H.: Univ. Press of New England, 2000. 130 pp. ISBN 1-58465-038-9, $19.95.

This short book explores the reactions of people raised as non-Jews who discover their Jewish identity. Prompted by the revelation that U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had Jewish parents who concealed their identity when they fled Czechoslovakia before the Second World War, Kessel placed notices in a variety of publications to solicit the reactions of other non-Jews with Jewish roots. Her book shows the diverse backgrounds and reactions of "sudden" Jews.

Perhaps the largest group—many of whom have still not acknowledged their Jewish roots—are the crypto-Jews, descendents of those forced to convert during the Inquisition. (Some historians have argued that virtually all persons living in the Americas who trace their family trees to Spain or Portugal have at least some Jewish blood.) The crypto-Jews Kessel interviews are aware of their heritage and have tried in various ways to incorporate it into their lives. Others with Jewish roots include children hidden by non-Jews during the Holocaust, the children of Holocaust refugees and survivors, and Jewish children adopted by non-Jewish families. One informant represents the reverse: a young woman adopted by a Jewish family who discovered that her father was of Palestinian Arab heritage.

Drawing from these diverse experiences, Kessel discusses issues of identity formation and the cognitive dissonance that occurs when one discovers s/he is not what s/he has been raised to believe. Some respond with denial, some with anger; some make the effort to incorporate dual identities into their lives. Although the focus of this book is fairly narrow (and impressionistic rather than scientific), it offers broader insights into multiracial/multiethnic identity.

—Lyn Miller-Lachmann

09-4-0404

Patterson, Sheron C. New Faith: A Black Christian Woman’s Guide to Reformation, Re-Creation, Rediscovery, Renaissance, Resurrection, and Revival. Minneapolis, Minn.: Fortress Press, 2000. 160 pp. ISBN 0-8006-3158-7, $13.00 (pb).

Womanist theology is, by definition, sassy. It looks you in the eye, declares unabashed faith in Jesus, speaks hard truths with love, and prays that everyone (men included!) will get holy, healthy, and happy. Patterson is a womanist theologian par excellence, doing what she calls "a countercultural strut" and proclaiming a New Faith to her sisters in the black church.

Using the idiom particular to her faith context, she brings her sisters up to speed on contemporary Biblical scholarship, promotes self-esteem, dares to champion inclusive language, confronts patriarchy and the past, names the current sins of the community, offers solid advice on relationships and sexuality, and then shouts out joy and hope for the future. Her desired result is healing for all involved.

Patterson may be addressing her beloved black church, but there is much to be learned about ministry by all who read this book, black or not. Her work is solidly grounded in contemporary scholarship. She knows the folk she is addressing; she has shared their triumphs, tribulations, and tragedies. She can speak words that the community can hear. She can tell the truth and cast forth her vision without breaking the community apart. This is stimulating, uplifting reading.

—Patricia A. Raup
Albany, N.Y.