Handbook of Catholic Theology.

Wolfgang Beinert and Francis Schussler Fiorenza, editors Crossroad, $75, 783 pp.

The Handbook of Catholic Theology offers over 300 articles, illustrated by about sixty charts and tables, on the most important themes in Catholic systematic theology, written by major contemporary theologians in Germany and North America. In the articles translated from the original German edition, a theme is typically developed by exploring the biblical background, the history of theological reflection, official church teaching, ecumenical perspectives, and systematic reflections. The treatments often are very brief (the history of theology on "God" has fewer than nine lines) but usually communicate the essential information, or at least as much as a typical German theologian thinks is relevant. Unfortunately, this often means that only developments in German cultural or theological history are taken into account: if it wasn't thought or written in German, it can't be very important. (I heard recently this quip: an American theologian, asked what he thought of an earlier theological dictionary, Sacramentum Mundi, replied, "It really should be entitled Sacramentum Germaniae.") This is particularly evident in the treatments of ecumenical dimensions, where the dialogue with Lutheranism overshadows all others, as when it is claimed that it is Reformation communities that most insistently can for a renewal of pneumatology and no mention is made of Orthodoxy, which is also absent from the articles on bishops, church, and collegiability.

Perhaps in order to compensate for the German focus, the English edition includes several essays written by American theologians. These are presented under the rubric of "Contemporary Issues," perhaps a misnomer since the original German essays often discuss such issues; given the content of most of the added articles, they might more properly be called: "North American Perspectives.' Anyone who wants to get an idea of what passes for theology in Germany and the United States today could usefully compare the back-to-back essays. The bibliographies supplied for each article refer almost exclusively to works written in or translated into English, a pity. The readership of this text will be largely drawn from graduate students and it might help to remind them how much they will be missing if they can't read foreign languages.

The translations are generally well done, except for the irritating use of "he or she", "his or her" formulae and by the refusal to use a personal pronoun of God, which often makes the prose sound like a "Dick and Jane" primer. We don't quite have, "Out of God's mercy and for God's glory God stretched forth God's arm to smite God's enemies and to save God's people and reconcile them to God's self," but it's not far away.

The Encyclopedia of Catholicism has a much broader aim: while it includes a good number of articles on theological topics, it also provides a host of articles (more than 4,200) on practically everything you wanted to know about the concrete living reality that is Catholicism, including some things you probably didn't even know you could ask about. There are,articles on people, places, events, institutions, religious, orders, sacraments, practices, art, vestments, etc. Both past and present, the enduring and the evanescent, the central and the peripheral are represented. The focus is on Western Catholicism, but an effort is made to include the Eastern-rite churches, and there are articles also on the most prominent Protestant Reformers and traditions, on the Orthodox churches, and on some ancient and modem philosophers. The entries range in size from a few lines to several pages. Cross-references are abundant, but bibliographies are supplied inconsistently. There are many photographs and charts. The handsomely produced volume of 1,345 pages is wee worth the surprisingly cheap price.

The entries are generally accurate and supply essential information, although sometimes so briefly that, for example .in some of the articles on saints, one is left wondering why the person was canonized or chosen for inclusion here. Inevitably, of course, the articles vary in quality, but the cross-references often allow the weaknesses of one treatment to be compensated for by others.

The editors have made an effort to be up-to-date. There are articles on the "Big Bang," reproductive technologies, centering prayer, the seamless garment, the preferential option for the poor, inclusive language and sexism (but not on political correctness), and, in successive entries, both Women for Faith and Family and the Women's Ordination Conference.

The volume was conceived and edited at the University of Notre Dame, with which the general editor and an of his associate editors have or had some connection. The Golden Dome appears in a cover-photograph; its president emeritus wrote a foreword and appears in two photographs and a laudatory entry; he is, says one of the photo captions, "one of the most influential Catholic leaders in U.S. history." In parallel, the entry for the University of Notre Dame begins: "the most famous Catholic university in the world," which makes it curious that there is no entry for Knute Rockne or Johnny Lujack. The university's Laetare Medal receives an entry, and its award to him crowns the article on John Tracy Ellis. (Besides Notre Dame, the only other American Catholic institutions of higher education noticed are Catholic University and Georgetown.

No one will complete that any person, place, thing, or event has been included here, but some will wonder "If X, then why not Y?" If Alphege of Canterbury is here, where, his descendants and others will ask, is Arnulf of Metz? If Francis Thompson, why not Joyce Kilmer or John Bannister Tabb? If Hubert Jedin, why not Johannes Quasten? If Islam and Zoroastrianism, why not Buddhism, Hinduism or Taoism? If Methodism, why not baptists? John Courtney Murray is here but not two of his clues opponents, Francis Connell and Joseph Clifford Fenton. Caryll Houselander and Paul Horgan don't make it. Among the protagonists of Vatican H, Cardinals Suenens, Dearden, and Ottaviani are in, but not Konig, Dapfner, Ritter, and Shehan. Speaking of cardinals, where is Suhard? Among American biblical scholars, John L. McKenzie is in, but not Bruce Vawter and Patrick Skehan. Joseph Fichter is honored, but not Paul Hanl Furfey. Bishops John Hughes and Bernard McQuaid are here but not th two Kenricks or Archbishop Rommel. The YMCA and the YWCA have brief entries but not the CYO or the YCS and YCW. Catholicism in Poland and Hungary is treated, but not in the Czech or Slovak Republics. Argentina might feel slighted at getting only eight lines, but Brazil gets none.

Things get even dicier when one notices that the editors have chosen to include living people. Cardinal O'Connor is here, but not Cardinals Law, Krol, or the other living American cardinals. J. Bryan Hehir is here, but not George Higgins or Michael Novak. Governor Cuomo is admitted (his speech on religion and politics--guess where it was delivered--is said to be 'considered by some the most important and influential address on the subject ever given by a U.S. Catholic layperson' , but not Governor Casey or Geraldine Ferraro. Richard McCormick and Charles Curran make the cut, but not Germain Grisez. Commonweal makes it (whew!), along with America, The Catholic World and Theological Studies, but not The Sign, The Thomist, and The Homiletic and Pastoral Review. Nineteenth-century traditionalism is here, but not our twentieth-century variety. William F. Buckley is here but not Garry Wills, Rosemary Radford Ruether but not Mary Daly. Opus Dei is here, but not Communione e Liberazione or the Legionnaires of Christ.

These are the sorts of things, serious and not so serious, that a reviewer can notice in reviewing works of such great ambition. Having edited a volume which has certain parallels with those under review here, I can sympathize with the difficulties, from conception to parturition, involved in the task. Both volumes generally succeed in what they have attempted and will be usefully added to Catholic libraries, both institutional and personal.

Joseph A. Komonchak, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, teaches in the Department of Religion and Religious Education at The Catholic University of America.