Abstract
This volume is a timely effort to articulate a vision of Christianity that is both faithful to the tradition and gives coherence to the experience of modern people. The book’s point of departure is Roy’s diagnosis that the emergence of new sensibilities and mentalities in contemporary culture has disoriented people, many of whom have reacted by embracing either dogmatism or relativism. Eschewing both extremes, R. proposes as a third way a “critical rationality” by which Christians might approach both faith and culture in a manner that is critical yet open (40).
In dialogue with students, psychologists, and existential thinkers, R. identifies the constitutive elements and attitudes of his reconstructed vision of Christian experience in the book’s early chapters. Although the author is not always explicit about when and how he is employing these categories (e.g., searching, transcendent experience, comprehensive meaning), they continue to do important work in the background throughout the rest of the work. A linchpin of the book is R.’s Lonerganian analysis of human intentionality in chapter 3, which serves as an attractive illustration of how the act of faith, far from negating the human search for meaning, incorporates this seeking even as it transcends it.
In part 3, R.’s reinterpretation of Christian experience bears fruit in the areas of spirituality, pastoral companioning, liturgy, and preaching wherein he presents many concrete pastoral proposals that merit attention. In part 4, R. applies his criteria for authenticity and truth through dialogue with and evaluation of three thinkers—J. L. Hétu, K. G. Dürckheim, and B. Lonergan. Here R. models well the combination of critical rationality and openness he espouses, although again greater clarity concerning how the author is employing previously established criteria would allow the genuine merits of R.’s approach to dialogue to shine forth more brightly.
R. presents a creative and promising approach to postmodern challenges in numerous realms of Christian life. If readers are willing to make the effort to connect the dots between chapters and perhaps explore footnoted titles that expand on this all-too-brief volume, those individuals seeking greater meaning and integration in their lives may benefit tremendously.