Reviewed Book: James, William C. Religious Studies in Ontario: A State-of-the-Art-Review. Waterloo, Ont: Wilfrid Laurier Univ Press, 1992

Klassen, William

English

Wilfrid Laurier University

ConsensusVolume 20Issue 1 A Ministry Miscellany Article 175-1-1994Religious Studies in Ontario: A State-of-the-Art-ReviewWilliam KlassenFollow this and additional works at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensusThis Book Reviews is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Consensus by anauthorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.Recommended CitationKlassen, William (1994) "Religious Studies in Ontario: A State-of-the-Art-Review," Consensus: Vol. 20 : Iss. 1 , Article 17.Available at: http://scholars.wlu.ca/consensus/vol20/iss1/17130 ConsensusAs well, this stands out with the attention he gives to the inconsequentialCercle Proudhon. Finally, he states that his data upholds the “neither left,nor right” contentions of Zeev Sternhell and his disciples. This seems toclaim too much from too little. Certainly his mystique/politique polarity,borrowed from Peguy, is useful in comprehending a tiny, volatile elite likethe youthful, bourgeois, engages Catholics of this period, but it does notundermine the usefulness of left-right categories for understanding organi-zations and movements.These few weaknesses do not destroy the value of the book. It is astrong first effort by a scholar who will leave his mark in the years to come.Oscar L. Cole ArnalWaterloo Lutheran SeminaryReligious Studies in Ontario: A State of the Art Re-viewHarold Remus, William Closson James and Daniel FraikinWaterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1992422 pp. $24.95This book tells a part of the story of a major change which has takenplace in Canadian higher education since 1960: the study of religion emerg-ing as an accepted academic discipline in the secular university. The mosttangible form this took was the establishment of religious studies depart-ments or departments of religion in virtually every Canadian university.Since Ontario is the largest of the provinces and has the most variedand the largest number of faculty members working in the field, this book isimportant. As part of a series of studies on the state of the art of religiousstudies in Canada, it deserves careful reading, especially by members of theclergy and theological educators.The plan of the book is to review all of the religious studies programmesin Ontario and to draw up a composite profile of the state of the art of do-ing religious studies in Ontario thirty years after religious studies left herstatus as “queen” in the university or the sheltered environment of the the-ological college and moved into the academy as servant. The three authorsare all respected scholars and teachers, two in the area of scripture studiesand one in the area of religion and literature. They also demonstrate thatthey have a very pleasant and clear writing style. They cover all the top-ics: overview of Religion and Religious Studies in Ontario, the perceptionsof administrators, faculty and students (Remus); the preparation and hir-ing, teaching and research of faculty (Closson James), both graduate andundergraduate curricula (Fraikin), libraries, databases and even the BibleColleges (Remus). In addition there is a fine section on conclusions andrecommendations as well as rich appendices and tables.Book Reviews 131The authors are sensitive to the problems of the modern university andare aware that faculty in the field of religion have been as much part ofthe problem as of the solution. That applies to questions of equity, greed,sexual harassment, and pomposity and especially infighting (see 318-321).On all of these they have some very important things to say. Nor do theyhesitate to prognosticate the future and obviously before Social Contractdays still assume there is one.Gone are the days when members of churches went off to university toavoid religion. It is now possible to study religion as an academic disciplinein university and show no particular interest in “practising” the religionof one’s ancestors. Indeed one can be extremely keen on doing so withoutshowing a shred of interest in going to church.They suggest that “clergy who, while in seminary, had no time forreligious studies may want the kind of instruction offered in religious studiesand turn there for help in understanding and living in our pluralistic, secularsociety” (321). Words well worth heeding!It is a pleasure to read a book which has a joyous undertone (318), isvery carefully edited and proof-read; in short, one that performs a genuineservice for the discipline. The writers and the press, above all the CanadianCorporation for Studies in Religion, are to be congratulated for this finepiece of work. It deserves wide reading certainly by everyone interested inthe impact of religion on life.William KlassenSt. Paul’s United CollegeWaterloo, OntarioInitiation Into Christ: Ecumenical Reflections andCommon Teachings on Preparation for BaptismCanadian Council of ChurchesWinfield, BC: Wood Lake Books, and Ottawa: Novalis Press,50 pp. $7.50For those who have taken the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada’sStatement on Sacramental Practices seriously, especially the parts whichspeak about the ecumenical nature of the church’s beliefs on Holy Baptismand the Eucharist, and who are looking for a teaching tool which focuseson this ecumenicity, this may be the book for you. Sponsored by the Com-mission on Faith and Order of the Canadian Council of Churches and inpreparation for over fifteen years, it comes as a breath of fresh air in thistime of “ecumenical winter”.The book intends to provide a common teaching tool for churches whichagree on the recognition of one another’s processes of initiation. The for-mat is clear and the approach is inductive, each of the five chapters begin-ning with “refiections on human experience” and going on to “the biblical

Religious Studies in Ontario: A State-of-the-Art-Review

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