THE CULT OF REVOLUTION IN THE CHURCH

The concept of world revolution -- that is, of the violent overthrow of the existing socioeconomic order -- is one which certain Catholic theologians have blessed with their approval. But Eppstein argues that those who favor such an apocalyptic catharsis are victims, perhaps unwittingly, of an international Communist plot, or ""puppets of the directing minds of Marxism-Leninism."" Even good Catholics are being prepared for this revolution, he argues, by being forced to live in a climate which idealizes violence (as in the case of abortion) and in which the United Nations, by presenting distorted statistics to the public, exaggerates the poverty and misery of the nations of Africa and Asia (""The Myth of the Third World""). To do justice to Eppstein, it must be said that he writes well, and often persuasively; more so, in both respects, than is customary in books which many tend to describe as reactionary ramblings. The obvious audience is that segment of American Catholicism -- a surprisingly sizable one -- which agrees with him a priori.