Book Reviews : Human Freedom and Social Order: An Essay in Christian Philosophy. By JOHN WILD. (Durham: Duke University Press, 1959. Pp. xi, 250. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296001300353
• Date: 01 September 1960
• Published date: 01 September 1960
• Subject Matter: Articles

844

Human

Freedom

and

Social

Order:

An

Essay

in

Christian

Philosophy.

By

JOHN

WILD.

(Durham:

Duke

University

Press,

1959.

Pp.

xi,

250.

$5.00.)

Professor

Wild’s

latest

book

is

based

on

three

lectures

given

at

Duke

Uni-

versity

in

November,

1958.

Its

publication

results

from

activities

of

the

Lilly

Endowment

Research

Program

in

Christianity

and

Politics,

under

whose

auspices

the

lectures

occurred.

Professor

Wild

concerns

himself

with

an

examination

of

the

possibility

of

a

Christian

philosophy

-

an

old

and

controversial

topic.

Part

I

presents

a

critical

analysis

of

Christianity,

myth,

and

rationalism

as

well

as

what

is

meant

by

Christian

philosophy;

while

Part

II

is

devoted

to

problems

in

Christian

ethics

and

social

philosophy.

As

a

Christian,

Professor

Wild

stands

on

the

side

of

&dquo;reason,&dquo;

for

he

argues

that

&dquo;faith

cannot

be

separated

from

philosophy.&dquo;

Yet he

does

not

think

a

fin-

ished

Christian

philosophy

is

possible.

His

hopes

are

for

an

&dquo;open&dquo;

philosophy,

influenced

by

the

views

of

contemporary

Existentialists

and

Phenomenologists

and

sensitive

to

what

Wild

calls

the

concreteness

of

the

Lebenswelt.

He

tries

to

show

how,

and

why,

myth

and

rationalism

failed

in

the

ancient

as

well

as

in

the

contemporary

intellectual

world;

and

argues

that

the

Christian

myth

is

crucially

different

from

other

myths.

Christian

myth

is

said

to

deal

with

an

inevitable

&dquo;mystery&dquo;

surrounding

the

Lebenswelt

in

a

way

which

no

strictly

scientific

ap-

proach

can

hope

to

achieve.

Wild

offers

an

imaginatively

reversed

treatment

of

Plato’s

&dquo;allegory

of

the

cave,&dquo;

arguing

against

Plato

that

man

already

lives

in

the

sunlight

while

the

scientist

descends

into

the

shadows

of

the

cave

in

his

quest

for

a

type

of

knowledge.

(Unfortunately,

this

aspect

of

Wild’s

book

seems

to

con-

tradict

the

author’s

contention

that

science

is

unable

to

deal

with

&dquo;mystery.&dquo;)

A

most

important

section

discusses

objections

to

the

idea

of

a

Christian

philosophy

(Protestant,

Catholic,

objectivist,

anthropological,

phenomenological)

and

the

possible

replies

to

such

objections.

Two

final

chapters

get

to

some

political

issues

(&dquo;The

Gap

Between

Individual

and

Social

Action&dquo;

and

&dquo;Bridging

the

Gap&dquo;).

The

age-old

problem

of

the

rela-

tion

of

the

individual

to

the

group

is

here

studied,

involving

emphasis

on

the

Christian’s

plight

whose

ethics

is

that

of

love

and

sacrifice.

Wild

suggests

several

ways

of

wrongly

understanding

&dquo;this

divorce

from

a

religious

point

of

view&dquo;

of

the

individual

and

the

social.

This

whole

section

is

done

with

insight

and

care.

Professor

Wild

has

not

solved

all

the

issues

connected

with

a

possible

Christ-

ian

philosophy.

But

the

freshness

of

his

views

and

his

effort

at

a

kind

of

synthesis

in

an

age

of

philosophical

analysis

deserve

consideration.

Professor

Wild

is

at-

tempting

to

maintain

a

dialogue

on

important

matters

in

a

period

when

dialogue

may,

threateningly,

tend

to

dry

up

and

disappear.

More

than

this,

he

tries

to

write

for

a

broad

audience,

wanting

to

say

what

is

required

rather

than

to

play

the

strict

role

of

the

technical

philosopher

in

this

book.

San

Jose

State

College

WHITAKER

T.

DEININGER