439 - Varieties of Civil Religion

Varieties of Civil Religion
By Robert N. Bellah and Phillip E. Hammond
New York, Harper and Row, 1980. 208 pp. $14.95.

The controlling theme of this volume is that civil religion functions to promote republican virtue, to restrain naked self-interest, and to harmonize religion and politics. Of the eight essays here, only three are new. The other five have been part of the civil religion discussion from 1974 to 1978. Hence, the statement on the jacket that this "is the latest state ment in the field" is misleading. The one new essay by Bellah is a 12-page piece comparing Japanese and American civil religion.

Divided into four parts, this book contains a recapitulation of Bellah's civil religion proposal, (with characteristic moral earnestness and religious passion); a comparison of American, Japanese, Mexican, and Italian civil religion; an historical and sociological treatment of its development; and a section on civil religion and "the new cults." The most interesting and valuable of these sections is the comparative treatment.

It is disappointing, however, that John Wilson's thoughtful and hard hitting critique of civil religion proposals is not acknowledged, even though two of Hammond's previously published essays make advances in this direction.

Donald G. Jones
Drew University
Madison, N.J.