This is a textbook for undergraduates, developed by three professors in the Theology Department at Xavier University in Cincinnati for an introductory course taught there regularly. Let me first indicate its contents and then suggest the questions pertinent to evaluating it as an introductory text. The title indicates the three subjects that the authors treat, each author taking responsibility for one topic. After the Introduction, which offers preliminary notions of faith (a "gifted covenant"), religion (the context for faith; the social expression of people's intuitions about the "more" that life insinuates), and theology (reflection, on faith and religion), Brennan Hill deals with faith in four chapters. Chapter One considers what faith is. Faith is: unique to human beings, often expressed in religion, a gift, something apparently universal, a holistic response to the entire, complex human situation. Faith has to negotiate dealings with physical reality (the body, the material world), determining how friendly or fearsome these are. It includes a rational dimension, may be interwoven with doubt, and is related to, but not identical with, belief (the "rational acceptance of certain formulations about ultimate truth"). Faith involves the human imagination and has an aesthetic dimension. Experience shapes faith, and is shaped by faith in return. People's experiences of life's limits make an impact on their faith, and any lively faith is active, influencing people's careers and social service. Third world theologians presently offer sharp critiques of traditional Western faith. Finally, faith always has a communal dimension, involving people with the group who have passed their faith along and share it today. This lengthy list of topics treated in the first chapter indicates the style of the entire textbook. Each topic is treated briefly (for perhaps a page), in apparent deference to students' attention span. There are study questions at the end of each chapter, and a bibliography of suggested readings. The treatments of most topics offer an opinion or two from relevant contemporary or classical authors, and from time to time we are invited to eavesdrop on excerpts from class discussions. Usually these show the variety of opinions students possess, and the difficulties of "selling" them traditional Christian views.
