Book Reviews and Notices : Church and State in Guatemala. BY MARY P. HOLLERAN. (New York: Columbia University Press. 1949. Pp. 254. $4.50.)

• Date: 01 December 1949
• Author: L. Edward Shuck
• Published date: 01 December 1949
• DOI: 10.1177/106591294900200432
• Subject Matter: Articles

648

He

shows

Aquinas’

distance

from

modern

democracy,

and

his

contrast

with

modern

concepts

of

natural

law

and

of

rights.

He

demonstrates

how

Aquinas’

political

ideas

spring

from

and

fit

into

a

total

theology

and

philosophy.

He

does

not

minimize

the

difficulties

of

the

system,

nor

gloss

over

those

elements

in

Aquinas’

thought

which

may

repel

the

non-

Catholic

modern.

Yet

at

the

same

time

he

reveals

the

full

force

of

that

system.

His

essay

ensures

sympathetic

understanding,

drives

the

reader

to

a

square

confrontation

of

the

awkward

questions

both

of

Aquinas’

political

teaching

and

of

subsequent

and

prevalent

doctrines.

The

role

of

Aquinas

in

the

evolution

of

western

thought,

his

position

between

an

age

of

faith

and

sin

and,

after

the

brief

return

thereto

of

the

Reforma,

tion,

an

age

of

reason

and

putative

perfectibility,

emerges

clearly.

Yet

he

stands,

in

D’Entreves’

essay,

as

a

living

and

lasting

mind;

his

reconcilia-

tion

of

faith

and

reason,

of

an

order

of

imposed

law

and

human

freedom

and

purpose

was

no

transition

in

some

manifest

destiny

of

western

thought,

but

a

timeless

commentary

on

inescapable

conundra

concern-

ing

man

and

his

life

in

society.

I

have

rarely

encountered

an

Introduc-

tion

which

so

effectively

combines

clarification

of

history

and

of

philo-

sophical

principle;

so

forcefully

emphasizes

essences,

yet

without

confusion

makes

manifest

subtle

intricacies

and

conflicts,

and

so

forces

the

reader,

confronted

with

inescapable

problems,

to

the

agitation

of

dialectic.

THOMAS

I. COOK.

The

Johns

Hopkins

University.

Church

and

State

in

Guatemala.

BY

MARY

P.

HOLLERAN.

(New

York:

Columbia

University

Press.

1949.

Pp.

254.

$4.50.)

More

honest

concern

with

the

ever-present

problem

of

the

influ,

ence

of

the

Catholic

Church

in

politics

should

create

demand

for

this

book.

The

author,

Associate

Professor

of

History

at

St.

Joseph’s

College

in

Connecticut,

has

taken

an

exhaustive

tour

through

the

archives

and

traced

the

history

of

the

formal

relations

between

the Catholic

Church

and

succeeding

Guatemaltecan

governments,

before

and

after

the

in-

dependence

period.

The

work

is

reportorial

and

does

not

delve

very

deeply

into

sociological

or

economic

motivations

behind

the

reported

events.

A

marshalling

of

reports

is

offered

rather

than

any

thorough

analysis

of

causes.

The

appendix

seems

to

be

valuable

for

its

reproduction

of

old

documents.

The

bibliography

is

an

exceptionally

good

one

in

the

field

of

Central

American

history.

Guatemala

is

used

as

a

locale

for

the

survey

of

conflicts

found

generally

in

the

Catholic

world.

There

exists

the

tension

between

the

anti-clerical

influence

of

the

French

Revolutionary

tradition

and

the

al-