John West is a retired university lecturer in metallurgy and a former Central Co-ordinator of the Life Style Movement. Details of the Movement are available from the Secretary, Denise Moll, 21 Fleetwood Court, West Byfleet, Surrey KT14 6BE BOOKS Book Briefs Absolutely relative Relativity -— The Key to Human Understanding, by Lloyd Geering (St Andrews Trust for the Study of Religion and Society, New Zealand. Available from SoF, 15 Burton St, Loughborough LEI | 2DT, £2.50 plus 50p p&p) There is considerable media interest at present in cosmology, particularly under the aegis of Stephen Hawking.
Significant though this renaissance in human understanding is, | find most people | talk to perplexed by concepts which strain the limits of our understanding and so remain unintegrated into other areas of knowledge. If you too feel like that, this book is for you.
Lloyd Geering explains the concept of relativity in science and then shows how _ it affects our total selfunderstanding — culturally, morally and religiously. Though each of these areas is a minefield of interpretation or prejudice, | couldn't fault Lloyd once. The depth of his perception is equalled by his balance of judgement. The result is a comprehensive overview of contemporary human understanding which is radically new and challenging. It is the most satisfying and stimulating read | have had for some time. — Dominic Kirkham Christianity before the Church Two books on early Christianity before it became an institutionalised religion.
The Childhood of Christianity by Etienne Trocme, translated by John Bowden (SCM, £12.95) is short (122 pages) and clear, an absorbing account of an obscure Jewish sect which tried to stave off the influences of a Romanised Jew named Paul but finally fell under his spell.
James the Brother of Jesus by Robert Eisenman (Faber, £25) is long (982 pages) and obscure, but even more absorbing once you have penetrated the author’s confused prose style and chaotic ordering of his ideas. Unusually for Dead Sea Scrolls scholars, among whom he is pre-eminent, he interprets many of the scrolls as Ist century CE rather than Ist century BCE documents — ie, as contemporary with the early evolving Church. Eisenman identifies James as the central figure in the Jewish resistance movement to Roman rule, both the leader of the new cult created by his brother Jesus and a key figure in the scrolls. If Eisenman proves right about the dating, and half-right about the interpretation of the scrolls, the history of the infancy of the Church will have to be re-written.
For Beginners The “...for Beginners” series by Icon Books (£8.99 each) is a brilliant way of picking up just enough knowledge about abstruse subjects to bluff your way through a SoF conference workshop. It’s all done with text and cartoons. Highly recommended:
Postmodernism and Ethics. More difficult, but rewarding: Wittgenstein and Derrida.
Not worth bothering with: Jesus.
Others include Kant, Quantum Theory, Eastern Philosophy, Chomsky, Genetics, The Universe, Muhammad. Avoid Astrology.
Quick reference If you have a spare £30 (after making your donation to the SoF Development Fund) you could do a lot worse than spend it on John Bowker’s massive Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (OUP). After dipping into some of its 8,200 entries you'll be in no doubt about the cultural relativity of religion and its very human origins (even though that is not John Bowker’s intention). Nothing on SoF but a two-word entry on Don Cupitt: “reductionist theologian”. A great tome to sit on your lavatory shelf.