Kirkus Reviews QR Code
THE GRAVE OF GOD by

THE GRAVE OF GOD

By

Pub Date: Aug. 2nd, 1967
Publisher: Harper & Row

The English translation of this short work by a prominent Dutch Augustinian neglects the second half of the original, ""Heeft de Kerk nog Toekomst""--""Has the Church a Future?"" It is with this latter question, rather than with the ""death of God"" which the first part of the title might suggest; that the author is concerned. He speaks freely of those matters which have become commonly accepted in current analyses of the situation of the Church today--the problem of God, the rise of secularization, rapid social change--""rapidation""--demythologizing, and the rest; and frankly accepts the fact of the Church's present irrelevance and incompetence in dealing with the modern world. Even as residential parish, the Church is ""alienated from the structures of Society"" The future of the Church lies in its ""ekonsis""--its taking the ""self-emptying form of the servant."" The Pope should give up the idea of an ""ecclesiastical state"" and leave the Vatican palace; juridical authority should be given up and replaced by the authority of the servant; laity should come into their own; women should be ordained to the priesthood--these are among the author's proposals. A sharp book for both Catholics and Protestants, ably written.