RELIGION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29454, 4 March 1961, Page 3

RELIGION

Images of God. By A. C. Bridge. Hodder and Stoughton. 151 pp. Index.

Mr Bridge’s book is very much in accord with the critical spirit of the times. It is, among other things, a comparison of theological symbolism, both verbal and pictorial, with the symbolism of the arts in their more secular aspects.

The author ponders the decline of interest in. and understanding of, symbolic statement generally; he asks whether this kind of ignorance in the sphere of theology may not derive from the same cause as crass artistic incomprehension. Some quotation and comment may make Mr Bridge’s meaning clear. He cites Professor Bultmann as saying that the statement, “In the fulness of time God sent forth his son, a pre-existent divine being, who appears on earth as man ... is the language of mythology and is accordingly incredible to modern man, for he is convinced that the mythological view of the world is obsolete.” Bultmann, however, apparently goes on to argue that to say mythology is incredible is not to say that it cannot have any meaning at all; and he protests that it is the task of theology to find out what, if any, that meaning is. Mr Bridge himself then makes this comment; “Mythical statement has this at least in common with artistic statement that, while its terms may be literally incredible, it may still have meaning.” This is an opinion that enables the author to suggest that the average modern man is liable to go as much astray in interpreting religious myth as he is in interpreting the significance of a picture of Picasso or a statue by Henry Moore. This is an attractive theory and it is developed with a good deal of plausibility in “Images of God.” It leads up to the central thesis of the work, which is best expressed in the author’s own words. "If there be any sense in which it is ultimately true to say that ‘God was in Christ,’ then there stands at the centre of the Christian faith, as its fons et origo, an event which can be expressed only in symbols, and apprehended only through them; simply because, in itself, the event transcends the limitations of material eventuality, and therefore the scope of material description.” “Images of God” is not an easy book; but thoughtful readers will find it most rewarding.

A Christian Core for New Zealand Education. By E. O. Blamires. Published by the author. 94 pp.

Mr Blamires has written a topical pamphlet about religious education in schools. He bases his contentions upon his own experience, and one of his main conclusions is expressed towards the end of the book. “My first charge as a minister in New Zealand,” he writes, “was at Port Chalmers. For many years the pupils of the primary school were assembled daily a few ihlnutes before the school opened for a very brief period of school worship. Now a seaport is not usually viewed as exemplary from a law-abiding standpoint, yet during the whole time to which reference has been made not one pupil from Port Chalmers appeared in the Children’s Court. ‘Remarkable!’ you say. Not at all! Quite natural!” This story shows that Mr Blamires is convinced that “Christianity applies to the whole of life, both with regard to the individual and to society.” He is concerned at the apparent incompleteness of the primary education system, and is working to bring church and school close together. Others have laboured to the same end, and Mr Blamires discusses their work and traces the history of the movement in his introductory chapters. He finds it necessary to examine the attitude taken up by various denominations, and in one section becomes somewhat entangled in the thorny question of State ,aid for church and private schools. Finally, in chapter nine, he sets out his own suggestions for what he considers an adequate system of education. Some of those who have followed the author so far might be inclined to think his proposals rather modest. However. if they persisted in this opinion, they would show a singular lack of judgment; for they would have failed to realise the possibilities of even so small an initial success.