418 - The Just Demands of the Poor: Essays in Socio-Theology

The Just Demands of the Poor: Essays in Socio-Theology
By Marie Augusta Neal
New York, Paulist, 1987. 142 pp. $8.95.

In this book, the author continues the argument of her earlier work, Socio-Theology of Letting Go. She lives at the interface between critical theology and an enormous fund of political-economic-sociological data infused with prophetic passion. She is committed to and governed by the most challenging elements of Catholic social teaching. At the same time, she is fully informed by the most acute social criticism. She proposes a civil religion and a public practice that is informed by prophetic passion and urgency. The book is lean and accessible and will be especially useful for study sessions in church contexts among those who care and want serious, faithful thought that will lead to serious, faithful action.

Two facets of the book are, in my judgment, particularly important. First, Neal provides a thorough critique of E. O. Wilson's Sociobiology, which she correctly labels "a new form of Social Darwinism." Second, the book contains a twenty page bibliography that will be enormously useful for faithful living in our deathly situation.

Walter Brueggemann, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Ga.