The Mind and the Machine: What It Means To Be Human and Why It Matters – By Matthew Dickerson

undergraduates, graduate students, and scholars of medi- eval and gender studies as well as in art history and the history of Christianity. Anna Harrison Loyola Marymount University Religion and Science GENESIS KINDS: CREATIONISM AND THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Edited by Todd Charles Wood and Paul A. Garner. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009. Pp. 192. $22.00. This monograph is the fifth in a series entitled “CORE Issues in Creation” and features chapters by seven different authors. Interestingly, it is evidence that young earth cre- ationism is in the process of evolving. Still committed to the tenets of a 6000-year-old universe, creation in six literal days, and a global flood, the book extends F. L. Marsh’s 1947 baramins theory (Hebrew bara “to create,”min “kind”),which argues that species fall within basic groups that God had first created (Gen. 1 category of “according to their/its kinds”), and that creatures have the potential to evolve within their “kind” over time (i.e., microevolution). This approach mitigates the problem of Adam in only one day naming all the animal species known today and of fitting all of these intoNoah’s ark. Consequently, after the flood, dramatically new creatures arose through rapid and intense intra-baraminic diversifica- tion. Hence, the Genesis Kinds authors reject the notion of the fixity of species, arguing it is a nonbiblical idea that derives ultimately from preformatist embryology, the rejection of spontaneous generation, and Platonic/Aristotelian essential- ism. Ironically, the result is that evolutionary change for these antievolutionists necessarily occurred at rates that are many magnitudes of order greater than that proposed by the standard theory of evolution. A concordist hermeneutic, which assumesGod revealed basic scientific facts in the Bible thousands of years ago, undergirds this book, demonstrating how a misguided hermeneutic can lead to the misinterpreta- tion of the scientific record. Denis O. Lamoureux St. Joseph’s College, University of Alberta Ritual, Cult, Worship DWELLING WITH PHILIPPIANS: A CONVERSA- TION WITH SCRIPTURE THROUGH IMAGE AND WORD. Edited by Elizabeth Steele Halstead, Paul Detter- man, Joyce Borger, and John Witvliet. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010. Pp. xxiii + 288. $22.00. The editors of this book produce an innovative commen- tary that should prove to be a model for future commentators. They mix together a pleasurable blend of devotional narra- tives, study guides, poetry, and gripping artwork. Although structured in the classic verse-to-verse format, the editors utilize a delightful array of forms to posture readers for encounter and experience. Colored panels guide the reader through 1) prayers (biblical, ancient, and contemporary); 2) reflections; 3) professions (performative declarations); 4) praise (through songs, hymns, and poems); and 5) compara- tive scripture readings. Along theway, readers receive panels of insightful commentary and a feast of worship-related visual images that require meditation for maximum import. The cast includes theologians from Augustine and St. John Chrysostom to Karl Barth and Gordon Fee; revered artists such as Van Gogh, Picasso, and Rembrandt; and classic hymn writers like Charles Wesley, John Newton, and Henry van Dyke. Reminiscent of the successful Ancient Christian Com- mentary series, but with a twist, the editors also rely heavily on current poets, artists, musicians, and devotional writers to produce a contemporary Wirkungsgeschichte that is weighted toward recent interpretation and devotion. The editors include samples and supplements through their Web site at http://worship.calvin.edu/philippians. This work deserves a broad readership as a biblical and liturgical resource for teachers and pastors, a textbook for courses such as Pauline literature, Philippians, hermeneutics, andworship arts, as well as personal or collective Bible study. An inevi- table benefit might be to enlarge the reader’s imaginations to experience the scriptures in ways seldom considered. Martin W. Mittelstadt Evangel University Philosophy of Religion THE MIND AND THE MACHINE: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN AND WHY IT MATTERS. By Matthew Dickerson. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2011. Pp. 230. Paper, $19.99. A computer scientist and popular writer on J. R. R. Tolkien, Dickerson has produced a sustained defense of a nonmaterialist, nonmechanistic account of human nature. Dickerson is at home with contemporary philosophy, biblical theology, and theories of reason. His portrait of human nature is profoundly integrated and articulated with a pas- sionate concern for virtue. Rather than a standard treatment of materialism and the identity of pain states, Dickerson is concerned with the implications of materialism for our understanding of creativity, imagination, and the heroic virtues. The writing here is free of jargon and connects readers with the most recent work on the philosophy of human nature. This book will appeal to general readers with interests in philosophy of mind, but it will also be ideal reading for undergraduates and seminarians. Charles Taliaferro St. Olaf College MONOTHEISM AND TOLERANCE: RECOVERING A RELIGION OF REASON. By Robert Erlewine. Blooming- ton: Indiana University Press, 2010. Pp. x + 246. $24.95. The title of this well-researched and deeply thoughtful, if syntactically murky, book is a bit misleading because, as Religious Studies Reviewrsr_1554 262..308 • VOLUME 37 • NUMBER 4 • DECEMBER 2011 262 Erlewine acknowledges, he does not have the expertise to discuss Islam, the monotheism whose attitude toward tolerance especially interests many today. Also, Erlewine’s concept of intolerance creates a problem that the more stan- dard concept avoids. He seems to accept the notion that tolerance is a matter of “not acting rather than acting on one’s moral disapproval regarding the actions, beliefs, and practices of the Other . . .” Including “beliefs” causes him to posit intolerance as “the unwillingness to limit the implications of one’s worldview in order to make room for the Other and her worldview,” which leads him to label as intolerant positions that “actively work for the conversion of the Other through the bearing-witness modality of promul- gation.” Intolerance is more often restricted to coercive efforts to change behavior or practices but not to noncoercive efforts to persuade. Thus, a monotheist could believe that her revelation and theology is God’s truth, and moreover, attempt to witness to that by being an example to others, preaching to them, and even warning them about rejecting her views, while still insisting that the other’s being created in God’s image means that she must tolerate the other’s practices and freedom of speech. Hick and Habermas, Erlewine argues, “repudiate the discursive structure of Abra- hamic monotheisms” (which include telling unbelievers that they are wrong), while the “religions of reason” of Men- delssohn, Kant, and the neo-Kantian Hermann Cohen may better balance particular revelation and the universality of appeals to reason. The discussion of these three profound thinkers is perceptive and fruitful, and it could help revive interest in their philosophies of religion, Cohen’s especially. But Erlewine shows that all three have trouble resolving the tension inherent in “scriptural universalism,” which sug- gests to this reader the wisdom of accepting the more restricted notion of intolerance. Edward Langerak St. Olaf College BRITISH IDEALISM: A HISTORY. By W. J. Mander. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. Pp. 600. Cloth, $160.00. Mander has produced an erudite history of British ide- alism of great interest to philosophers of religion and theo- logians, for “few, if any of the idealists lacked a pervasive religious dimension to their thought.” Mander begins his narrative with German idealism (Kant, Hegel, Lotze) in the early nineteenth century and the British roots of the idealist movement that came to dominate the English-speaking world from the 1870s until the 1920s. Mander’s history pays close attention to place (especially Oxbridge, the University of Glasgow, and other universities) and relationships (men- torships, friendships, etc.). This book is the culmination of deep, comprehensive research and writing. Mander demon- strates that “British idealism” was and is a multifaceted movement; it was not merely a “German import” slain by Anglo-Saxon philosophers after the First World War. Mander shows that British idealism has rich resources for contemporary philosophy and theology. He offers a helpful, critical, evaluative commentary on the historically signifi- cant arguments. This is not a disinterested history; Mander offers his own assessment of the various arguments under review. But this is carried out with balance and in a fashion that will assist readers in making up their own minds. This book is an indispensable reference work for those interested in the history of ideas. Charles Taliaferro St. Olaf College REASON FULFILLED BY REVELATION: THE 1930s CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY DEBATES IN FRANCE. Edited and translated by Gregory B. Sadler. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2011. Pp. ix + 317. $64.95. With this volume, Sadler serves Anglophone readers well by introducing them to the 1930s Christian philosophy debates and translating key texts previously unavailable in English. A hundred-page introduction by the author traces the ecclesial, conceptual, and cultural origins of the debate, demarcates its three phases, outlines the primary positions held, gives the context of each author, and situates the occa- sion for each text. Even at a hundred pages, the schematic introduction still effectively readies the reader to join the exchange that ensues among those for and against Christian philosophy. Sadler has carefully chosen texts that clearly represent and pointedly express the differences of each posi- tion. As the debate unfolds, one learns the varying method- ologies employed and the progressive shift in emphases. One also discovers that authors often maintained somewhat similar positions but arrived at their positions through alto- gether different arguments. This holds true for the rational- ism of Bréhier compared with that of neo-Scholastics like Van Steenberghen, as well as the Christian philosophy of Gilson to that of Blondel’s Catholic philosophy. While Sadler’s presentation of these positions is balanced, it is notable that Blondel figures prominently with four essays translated. Since Blondel’s thought remains to be fully appreciated among English speakers, his contribution here is welcomed and his brief dialogue with Maréchal particu- larly rewarding. While Sadler provides an extensive chrono- logical bibliography, those wishing to enter these debates today should start at its inception, and for that, they would be wise to begin with Sadler’s introduction and the texts he provides. Nathan R. Strunk McGill University MORE THAN MATTER. By Keith Ward. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2011. Pp. 224. Paper, $20.00. An accomplished senior philosophical theologian, Keith Ward does a superior job in critiquing contemporary and late twentieth-century forms of materialism. With humor and clear arguments, Ward offers a sweeping overview of the Religious Studies Reviewrsr_1554 263..309 • VOLUME 37 • NUMBER 4 • DECEMBER 2011 263 insights and problems from past great philosophers, from Locke and Berkeley to Kant and Ward’s own teacher, G. Ryle. Although there is little theology or religious studies in this short but compelling work, the implications of the volume are of great theological and religious significance. Ward demonstrates that secular naturalism is not the only game in town. This book will be of interest to undergraduates and more advanced scholars in both philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion. Charles Taliaferro St. Olaf College THE REMAINS OF BEING: HERMENEUTIC ONTOL- OGY AFTER METAPHYSICS. By Santiago Zabala. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Pp. xx + 178. $45.00. Zabala pursues a historical and constructive interpreta- tion of the situation of the question of Being since Heidegger. This book is not only a study of Heidegger and selected post-Heideggerian thinkers but also an attempt to work out how the question of Being is generated now, in any and all ages (of “Western thought” at least), because of Heidegger’s destruction of the metaphysics of being-as-presence. The vague motif of the “remains of Being” thematizes the attempt: What remains of Being once Being is no more? What are the remains of Being? An introduction poses the problem, then the first chapter justifies its significance through a wide-ranging exposition of Heidegger’s destruc- tion of metaphysics. Chapter two offers intense sketches of what remains of Being according to six philosophers: R. Schürmann (“traits” of being), J. Derrida (“traces”), J.-L. Nancy (“co-presences”), H.-G. Gadamer (“conversation”), E. Tugendhat (“sentences”), and G. Vattimo (“events”). In the final chapter, Zabala stakes the claim that the philosophy of an ontology of remains must be hermeneutical, for in inter- pretation one seeks what is yet left out, left over, and brings it to Being as an event of understanding. This is a book for specialists: Zabala assumes the definitiveness of Heideg- ger’s achievement, and the book is steeped in Heideggerian and post- Heideggerian jargon. Chapter two will stimulate readers familiar with the thinkers discussed, but may baffle others; the argument is proposed but hardly exposed for analysis. For its likely audience though, the book offers illu- minating characterizations and suggestions. Andrew B. Irvine Maryville College Theology DIVINO COMPAÑERO: TOWARD A HISPANIC PEN- TECOSTAL CHRISTOLOGY. By Sammy Alfaro. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2010. Pp. xii + 164. $20.00. This book should have been twice as long. The first three chapters—about 125 pages—argue that early Pente- costals operated intuitively with various versions of Spirit-Christology, overview more recent scholarly and academic articulations of Spirit-Christology by Pentecostal theologians in dialogue with other Spirit-christological pro- posals, and draw upon Latino/a christologies of liberation and recent NT scholarship on the socioeconomic dimensions of historical Jesus research to further suggest the congru- ence between Hispanic liberation and Spirit-christological theologies. But that leaves only the last chapter, about twenty pages, to get at the topics that the book’s title announces. Each of the four short sections in this final chapter—on the US Hispanic Pentecostal context, on His- panic Pentecostal christological method, on Hispanic Pente- costal spirituality as illuminated through its hymnody and popular corito tradition, and the sketch of a Hispanic Pente- costal Spirit-Christology—could, and should, have been expanded into a full chapter. Had Alfaro had done that, then a critical Hispanic Pentecostal dialogue might have ensued with the mainstream of Spirit-christological ideas, resulting in a deeper crossfertilization of the encounter between “the West” and the heretofore marginalized voices and perspec- tives that this volume seeks to heed. In that sense then, one hopes that the promise announced in this volume will come into fruition as this young Fuller Theological Seminary Ph.D. (this volume being a revision of his doctoral dissertation) continues to engage the theological conversation. Amos Yong Regent University School of Divinity GRASSROOTS UNITY IN THE CHARISMATIC RENEWAL. By Connie Ho Yan Au. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011. Pp. xv + 281. $33.00. This is an extended case study of the Fountain Trust, a British organization that from 1964 to 1979 sought to facili- tate charismatic renewal as a springboard for thinking and theologizing about the interface between charismatic renewal and ecumenism. Although based in the UK, the Trust sought, particularly through its five international conferences during the 1970s, to mediate renewal in the churches. The ecumenical nature of the Trust—dominated primarily by Anglicans, but involving Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and, especially during the latter years of its exist- ence, also Pentecostals and Evangelicals—leads to Au’s thesis: the Trust was a grassroots example of the comple- mentarity between institution and charisma, and between the christological nature of the ecumenical church and the pneumatological means of ecumenical unity. A tangential thesis suggested in the course of study is that the charis- matic renewal can be viewed as converging with two other ecumenical streams—the World Council of Churches and the Second Vatican Council—with the former being comple- mented by charismatic renewal (being a later arrival) and the latter complementing charismatic renewal (in a sense precipitating the renewal in Catholic circles). Yet, the primary value of this volume consists in the detailed history (including key personalities, major developments, and the conferences) and astute theological analyses of the Trust as Religious Studies Reviewrsr_1555 264..310 • VOLUME 37 • NUMBER 4 • DECEMBER 2011 264 /ColorImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorImageDict > /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 290 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /Warning /DownsampleGrayImages true /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 600 /GrayImageDepth 8 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 2.03333 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /FlateEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages false /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict > /GrayImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayImageDict > /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 800 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /Warning /DownsampleMonoImages true /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 2400 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict > /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile (None) /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False /Description > /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ > /FormElements false /GenerateStructure true /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles true /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite) (2.0) ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /NA /PreserveEditing true /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged /UntaggedRGBHandling /LeaveUntagged /UseDocumentBleed false >> ] >> setdistillerparams > setpagedevice