An Adventure In Ideas

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31143, 20 August 1966, Page 4

An Adventure In Ideas

My Cherry Tree. By Nathaniel, Micklem. Geoffrey Bles.l 179 pp. One cannot imagine what connexion there could be) between the title of a book) “My Cherry Tree." and its contents which include such) ) matters as “Our Lady of) ) Fatima." “The Theology of, Flying Saucers,” “Behind the) Iron Curtain.” “Ethics and Economics," and “Pentecost) in Legend and History." Yet) Dr. Micklem. who was some-1 time Professor of Dogmatic! Theology at Oxford, has brought them together in an astute way in the pages of I this work. I This refreshing “adventure' i in ideas" is anchored about) the cherry tree which grows) outside the window of the home to which Dr. Micklem) has retired. Many, he says. ! when they look at the cherry tree, can only see it as an object of scientific analysis. Valuable as this exercise may be. he himself, feels that scientific knowledge is only the foundation of the hall of wisdom whose superstructure) must necessarily reach into) the realm of aesthetics. He I

.bewails the fact that not lenough scholarship has been I devoted to the analysis of the nature of beauty. In his ) opinion, beauty exists both in -the process and at the end ; of the evolutionary series and ) the “cherry tree” is symbol!- ) cal of a reality which has expressed itself in time. I Dr. Micklem is a Christian, but he is not a Christian who abstracts himself from ) society. Whilst he is prepared to examine all the evidence ) associated with the visions of Our Lady of Fatima, he refuses to isolate this event with all the physical abnormalities surrounding it from the fact of the appearances of the flying saucers which are purported to have been seen in recent years. As he , gives factual information | associated with Our Lady of Fatima, so he likewise gives statistics of the saucer appearances which have been reported in Europe and in the United States over, the last few years. But his reflections do not stop here, as he i wants to share with us his (theological interpretation of ithe fact of flying saucers. Is i

I there life on other planets' What is the relationship between such life if it exists and this ultimate reality in which he does believe. These are the questions which excite his mind. Dr. Micklem is prepared to engage in conversation with all and sundry. He tells of a visit to Prague where he talks to many of the philosophers who exist behind the Iron (Curtain. He tells us of the I problems that they face as they try to explain why the “Shangri-La” state has failed | to appear in the economical y determined Socialist State. Further, he asserts that whilst they find it incredible to conceive how people can hold the religious view of the universe today, at the same time they manifest a zealous faith in their own ideology, a faith which to us appears ) equally incredible in the light |of the evidence of history. ) The author’s own country [also comes under judgment. )and he invites us to share in I his criticism of the Chancellor jof the Exchequer, whose right to manipulate the currency lof the country is questionjable. The author is in no way inhibited as he gives voice to the criticisms which inhabit his own mind. Jurisprudence likewise suffers from the incisiveness of his penetrating judgment. Dr. Micklem is now 78 years old. and this work is his "testament to beauty." which he desires to present as the wisdom of an elderly scholar. The contribution is refreshing in so far as it presents us with an active mind, rich in culture, wide in its range, and vitally interested in the whole world, which to him reflects something of the goodness and beauty and truth of its Creator.