Reviews

While politicians, social workers, news commentators and TV evangelists are wringing the nation's collective hands in dismay over mounting social disintegration and violence, Bailie forthrightly sets himself the task of exposing the deep cultural roots of the problem. By synthesizing an astounding array of seemingly discordant perceptions ranging from Bob Dylan songs and the Aztec myth of Tezcatlipoca to Greek tragedy and the Hebrew prophets, he presents a grippingly unified analysis undergirded by rigorous Christian conviction. Writing this challenging book, Bailie explains in an epilogue, ``has drawn me ever deeper into the power of Christian revelation.'' Bailie's vision of prophetic Christianity goes far beyond the conventionally comfortable one held by many churchgoers, some of whom may squirm in the face of Bailie's harsh assessment of how we've come to our culture's fraying and what's to be done about it. On the other hand, those with the patience to follow Bailie through the course of his argument may, as Rene Girard promises in a foreword, be ``lifted to a level far superior to what most writers think the average reader is able to absorb.'' (Mar.)