Religion

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 3

Religion

Hosea. Introduction and Commentary. By George A. F. Knight, S.C.M. 127 pp. Professor Knight is well known in this country; he was formerly in charge of Old Testament studies at Knox College, Dunedin. During his time there, before going on to St Andrew’s University, he wrote a book recently published by the S.C.M. Press. “A Christian Theology of the Old Testament" a work of marked originality. His present book, a commentary on the prophet Hosea, is intended rather for the general reader than for the scholar; and the explanation of the text, although clear and crisply written, follows traditional lines for the most part. However, Professor Knight has added a 29-page general introduction; and here his individual approach is more noticeable. Particularly good is his treatment of the bride imagery, by which Hosea, in a figure, shows the relationship of God and Israel. This particular section is a brilliant precis of the more extended discussion in his larger work. The paragraphs on Prophetic Symbolism and on Hosea and the New Testament are further examples of what may be regarded as Professor Knight's special subject. The commentary, in general, is a most usefuf work, readable, and inspired by modern ideas. First Questions on the Life of the Spirit. By Thomas E. Powers. Hodder and Staughton. 220 pp. Index. From its title this book could, at first sight, seem better suited for the Americans to whom it was originally directed, than for British readers. Mr Powers is a man with a purpose; he is disposed to stand no nonsense. He chooses topics of perennial interest—“ASter Death, What?” for instance, or “How Practical is the Spiritual Life?”—and then lines up the authorities and demands their answers. A sentence typical of his approach may be quoted from page 93. “Who is right—'the Brother Lawrence fans, who see in him and his way, a direct, unconfused, and wonderfully easy* method of living the practical life in God, or Gerald Heard, who sees in Lawrence a man very far advanced in sanctity and in his practice an expert’s, not a novice’s technique?”

Once the reader becomes used to the author's businesslike approach, he may find much to interest him in the book. It is a reflection of that part of the religious life in the United States which shades gradually from orthodoxy into the occult. Mr Powers’s inclusive view takes in the Saints of the Christian Church and also Harry Price, the investigator of spiritualist phenomena. ("Well, if this is it—if it actually is a Spirit with which you are in contact—the time has come for saying not ‘Wow!’ but ‘Whoa!’’) The book also contains glimpses of Vedanta Buddhism and of the teaching of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky. God in My Unbelief. By J. W. Stevenson. Collins. 159 pp.

The Rev. J. W. Stevenson has written an unusual book. It is a record, fictitious, but certainly based on fact, of the life of a minister of the Church of Scotland in the rural parish of Crainie. The new incumbent was faced with peculiar difficulties, one of the most formidable being the fact that the minister before him had laboured in Crainie for 50 years. It was hard to follow him, but harder still to make even the slightest change. In any case the country folk were naturally conservative. “Crainie aye tak’s a twalmonth to look at a man.” Accordingly the new minister walked cautiously and began to identify himself with the life of the community. “I learned how to put hay in a coil; when the roads were blocked with snow I was taught by the roadmen how to cast; I sat at the roadside with the dyker and found how his stones were set so that they would lock together without mortar. The 20 miles of field and hill, woods and running water became my life.” The fruit of his labour came when he gained the confidence of the people, who could hardly be called simple or unreserved in their responses. The book gives a whole gallery of Scottish types drawn from the life. But this is incidental; for “God in My Unbelief” is a book with a spiritual purpose. It discusses, on a high plane, the problems of unbelief that confront a minister or parish priest in ah most any Christian community today, ART Looking At Pictures. By Ken' neth Clark. John Murray. 199 pp. Ulus. In this book Sir Kenneth Clark looks at 16 great paintings, sharing his methods of scrutinising them, his judgment, his emotions and his knowledge of art and the artists with the reader. All but one of the essays he originally wrote for the “Sunday Times.” In the introduction the author explains that just as long practice in any occupation such as playing golf or cooking produces skill, so, for the greatest understanding and pleasure of great works of art it is necessary to apply disciplined knowledge to their contemplation. To look at pictures responsively requires “nips of information” he tells us, for one cannot enjoy a pure aesthetic sensation for longer than one can enjoy the smell of an orange (in his case less than two minutes) without such fortification. “Art is not a lollipop, or even a glass of kummeL” he says. Carrying forward the epicurian food analogy it could be said that kununel —or many a savoured delicacy connoisseur taste from caviar to ripe olives, is usually appreciated only by acquired experience in taste. There are 75 half-tone illustrations and six details in colour.

European Art. a traveller’s guide. By Wolfgang Stadler. Nelson. 299 pp. Ulus. Any New Zealand traveller, before or after visiting Europe, who owned this beautiful book would have the art jewels of Europe spread before him. Of the 450 illustrations, 104 are in full colour. There is brief description of the development of European art from its beginnings to the present time. A convenient country-by-country listing of art treasures and eight maps show their locations. Brief biographies of the lives of 300 famous artists are given in alphabetical order. This book of great beauty and magnificent presentation on glossy paper and in large clear type is something for the whole family to savour for great pleasure and painless education.