Writing on the flyleaf of his copy of An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent, Edward Caswall summarizes the gist of conversations with Newman about its purpose: 'Object of

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412recounts how several of his contributions to an encyclopaedia were revised insensitively by a Jesuit sub-editor without reference to himself. This is a refreshing book of great charm, which puts a human face on many important contributions to biblical study in the past half-century. . £9.95.Here we are given a commentary on the gospel accounts of the Passion. Basically, it is a work that provides an exegesis of the texts that transmit an account of the culmination of Jesus' history and mission. By deft analysis the distinctive and complementary traditions of Mark-Matthew, Luke and John are unfolded. The three main sections of the book dealing with the threefold tradition of the Passion are complemented by excursuses on 'Peter and the Passion', 'The Women at Calvary' and 'Mother of the Beloved'; the first of these enables us to be present at Jesus' hour by proxy; the other two give us the elements of a theological feminism and of a profound Mariology. These developments illustrate how the Passion can be the focal point for thematic radiation and be restored to its primal place in theology and devotion. While there is plenty of evidence to show the author's familiarity with texts and commentaries and his sensitivity to the weave of exegesis, we are not left with an arid litany of glosses on individual verses. This is due in part to his arresting style where rhetoric is given play but held on a firm rein. Frequently the reader is struck by originality of expression that by hindsight seems to be inevitable. But it has something to do with the enlarged consciousness that gives context to the words as well. The literal sense is respected, the resources of allegory, tropology and anagogy are put in service; noticeably there is a grandeur in the accommodations that resonate with authentic tradition, dimensions of which the author finds beyond liturgy and biblical scholarship in a whole culture. The Psalmist and Father of the Church find themselves in the company of

Reading the Life of the great mystic, St Teresa of Avila, Edith Stein's own life was transformed. To get an insight into that moment, the author examines the great German/Jewish Carmelite's life and philosophy - for her they were almost one and the same — paying particular attention to her originality as Husserl's assistant.

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With the help of a poet (Seamus Heaney), the author explores the conditions for speaking about God exemplified by a systematic theologian (Thomas Aquinas) and a mystic theologian (John of the Cross), and finds that one compliments the other.

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We can appreciate that this is a difficult position, but she doesn't seem to have thought about the possibility of living out one commitment or the other on a permanent basis.Given the high level of control which Norris appears to exercise over her text, it's surprising that she seems to miss the irony of her comment that 'spirituality workshops have become a hot consumer item'. One might be tempted to suggest that books about visits to monasteries have become similarly hot (a search for 'monastery' on amazon.co.uk will make the point admirably). Similarly ironic, given that Norris is interested in 'the full range of human experience' (p. 14), are her comments that 'all too often the call for creativity in worship simply leads to bad art' (p. 79) and that psalms in Pentecostal churches 'are likely to be pop tunes about Jesus' (p. 108). Maybe she doesn't intend