Religion and Alienation. 2nd ed.

A.J. Pell is editor of the Canadian Evangelical Review and an instructor
of Liturgy, Anglican Studies Program, Regent College, Vancouver.

Next to Bernard Lonergon, Gregory Baum is the most famous Canadian Roman Catholic theologian of the 20th century. Many would say that his greatest influence was as a teacher, first at St. Michael’s College, Toronto and then at McGill University’s Faculty of Theology. As a writer, Baum’s original edition of Religion and Alienation, published by Paulist Press in 1976, was his most influential book, read by generations of seminarians and graduate students of theology. Now Novalis has published a second edition for students in the 21st century.

Baum has used this new edition as the occasion to make his original text relevant for a new century, and has done so in two ways. First, he has tightened the manuscript, removing two chapters from the previous edition. Second, he has added a new eleventh chapter, which demonstrates both the need for and the possible positive results that arise from theologians taking seriously the critiques of sociologists and social thinkers. Perhaps the last chapter is where new students should begin to read this book.

In the more conservative political climate of this new century, some readers may dismiss Baum’s language as being that of a left wing theologian. But that would be to underestimate Baum. He is no ideologue, but rather a theologian who takes thinking in social context seriously. He is as critical of the new left as of the new right, arguing that the great Gospel issue for theologians and for the Christian church is to proclaim and to demonstrate how Christ and people of faith can bring community to alienated people and justice to a world torn by injustice.