Book Reviews : Christianity and Anti-Semitism. By NICOLAS BERDYAEV. Translated by ALAN A. SPEARS and VICTOR B. KANTER, with a commentary and notes by ALAN A. SPEARS. (New York: Philosophical Library. 1954. Pp. 58. $2.75.)

• Author: Lee C. McCdonald
• Published date: 01 September 1958
• Date: 01 September 1958
• DOI: 10.1177/106591295801100328
• Subject Matter: Articles

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available),

of

training

workers

in

modern

techniques,

of

increased

research,

and

especially

of

educating

the

people;

without

these

processes

being

kept

in

reasonable

line,

sound

economic

progress

cannot

be

expected.

He

has

wise

words

to

say

on

the

relation

of

private

to

governmental

enterprise,

and

takes

a

critical

view

of

the

experts

who,

a

few

years

ago,

made

&dquo;exaggerated&dquo;

estimates

of

the

amount

of

capital

which

the

underdeveloped

countries

could

absorb.

He

deals

with

the

role

of

domestic

savings

and

deficit

finance

and

indi-

cates

that

better

methods

of

using

existing

techniques

could

bring

substan-

tial

(even

though

from

our

standpoint

relatively

modest)

improvements.

Above

all,

the

underdeveloped

countries

need

more

and

better

food

in

order

to

produce

more

energy

and

stamina

and

to

build

up

surplus

capital

and

food

supplies

which

can

make

possible

the

growth

of

industrialism.

He

emphasizes

that

what

is

required

is

the

expansion

of

the

whole

economy,

and

not

just

a

preoccupation

with

any one

sector.

He

sets

forth

the

dilemma

which

faces

the

underdeveloped

countries;

they

are

dependent

on

a

world

market

which

experience

has

shown

is

extremely

unpredictable

owing

to

tariffs

and

fall

in

prices

of

primary

products,

and

yet

international

conferences

have

had

little

success

in

their

attempt

to

stabilize

prices.

The

author’s

answer

does

not

appear

to

be

conclusive,

and

will

not

carry

con-

viction

to

economic

nationalists,

however

persuasive

the

argument

appears

to

be

on

paper.

On

the

population

question,

Benham

is

heavily

on

the

side of

those

who

claim

that

&dquo;the

only

permanent

solution

to

the

problem

of

poverty

in

the

Far

East,

as

in

the

West

Indies

and

Southern

Europe,

is

a

drastic

limitation

of

birthsl&dquo;

University

of

Washington.

LINDEN

A.

MANDER.

Christianity

and

Anti-Semitism.

By

NICOLAS

BERDYAEV.

Translated

by

ALAN

A.

SPEARS

and

VICTOR

B.

KANTER,

with

a

commentary

and

notes

by

ALAN

A.

SPEARS.

(New

York:

Philosophical

Library.

1954.

Pp.

58.

$2.75.)

In

1940

Nicolas

Berdyaev,

the

late

Russian

Orthodox

existentialist

theo-

logian,

wrote

this

brief

essay,

here

translated

into

English

for

the

first

time.

The

essay

reflects

the

contemporary

torment

of

Nazi

anti-Semitism,

but

for

all

of

that,

it

is

remarkably

timeless.

The

essay

is

not,

as

the

title

might

suggest,

a

declaration

concerning

the

un-Christian

character

of

anti-Semitism,

though

there

is

no

doubt

that

Berdyaev

regards

anti-Semitism

as

antithetical

to

Christian

ethics.

What

the

author

does,

after

checking

off

familiar

political,

economic,

psycho-

logical,

and

racist

explanations

of

anti-Semitism,

is

to

explore

the

religious