The Death and Life of Bishop Pike
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52 Whig contempt for the Conservatives, kinds ofTory connections and views for favorite relaxation was the Trollope for whose party he reserves the most which the Whigs expressed such con- political novels, which give a fictional incisive thrusts. (The Conservative Par- tempt. The Conservative rank and file in account of the same families and situa- ty, he writes. is a collection of bad losers Parliament consists of small-scale busi- tions. who are "apt to seek scapegoats for ness, the professions, and advertising One wonders whether this tradition defeat either in the Leader or the party agencies. On its side, the Labor Party gave a quality to government that made organization.") Mr. Macmil Ian's con- has a few representatives of the Whig- it easier to obtain consent. Even if this is tempt for the Conservatives has been Liberal tradition (in ideas, not in de- so, the Whig families cannot be re- that of Lord Lansdowne of whom he scent), and the rest of the rank and file created; yet the task remains of giving recounts that. having held the highest consists of trade unionists. lawyers. government decisions the kind of au- offices in successive Conservative ad- teachers, and sociologists. thority that allows the system to work ministrations, he preferred to be In practice it is difficult to produce effectively. It requires a trust among the drenched in the rain rather than commit governing groups with set con- electorate that those in power are not the indignity of seeking refuge in the victions-with vigor and indepen- primarily self-seeking. and a corre- conservative Carlron Club. dence, accustomed to the exercise of a sponding beliefby those in power that the Indeed, Mr. Macmillan do'es not pre- firm but not arrogant authority-if there public good is not to be exploited for tend to be othei than an unrepentant, ceases to be a reservoir of people whose their benefit. 'Whether in England or unreconstructed Whig. He tells the background and training prepares them America, failure in this connection Conservatives that "a successful party for the task of leadership. The conduct leads ultimately to disasters such as of the Right must continue to recruit its of politicians is bound to be different if Watergate. and to the collapse of politi- strength from the Center. and even from they are trying simultaneously to earn a cal authority. thc Left Center. Once it begins to shrink living in politics, to establish thcm- The virtue of Mr. Macmillan's book into itself likc a snail it will be selves, and to absorb the conventions of is that it does not distort or disguise the doomed." He is not afraid to think democratic government. R. H.S. plight of England today. But. charac- about a National Government. To him it Crossman used to complain that if in his teristically, Mr. Macmillan ends on a seems more important that men and speeches he drew even the most obvious note of hope and faith. "It is a danger- women of good will, "including politi- parallels with previous episodes in ous thing to say about the British people cians and even leaders of parties." British political life, the passage would that they are finished. They have a should devote rhemselves to the con- evoke no response because only a hand- remarkable power of recovery once they structive work of fighting inflation ful of M.P.s knew what he was saying. are determined and united." And you rather than continue to indulge in "con- Yet Mr. hlacmillan is 'full of apposite can just hear him saying that. standing tests of negative recrimination and references, because this history is all strong and defiant like the great oak in abusc. '' part of the family background into the forest that through his life has been His message-hinted at rather than which he married. For this reason his the example and source of inspiration. stated openly. but certainly discernible between the lines-is that Britain's problems can no longer be solved within the convcntional party framework, that that framework is unlikely to yield to The Death and Life of Bishop Pike something more satisfactory of its own accord, that the English are lost without by William Stringfellow and Anthony Towne strong leadership. but that strong lead- (Doubleday; 446 pp.; $10.00) ership may no longer be possible in the political system the English know. The theme that echoes through the book is Richard John Neuhaus that of decline: of decline in British power and of decline in the character, When in 1969 the body of James Albert against propriety, if not against Chris- courage. and individuality of the politi- Pike was found in the Judean wilder- tian truth. and most of his colleagues cal nation. ness, the House of Bishops of the Prot- seemed relieved when Pike publicly de- Despite the lack of explicit answers to estant Episcopal Church resolved to clared himself outside the Episcopal the magnitude of Britain's crisis, the "give thanks to God for the life and Church. book does provoke some thought on the prophetic ministry of James Albert Pike Pike had asked his friends Stringfel- subject. It is clear that continuity was and recognize the depth of our loss in the low and Towne to write his biography once 3 marked feature of English politi- dying of this creative and compassion- when the time came. The request was cal lifc, of its leadership. its attitudes, ate man." Perhaps the prelates can be renewed after his death by Pike's widow and its institutions. Yet, more or less excused. even commended, for observ- and third wife, Diane Kennedy Pike, since thc cnd of the Macmillan era in the ing the ancient maxim, De morriiis nil who contributes an introduction to this early 1960'~~many aspects of political nisi bon~irn.The irony of their fine volume. This is. then. an "official" life have profoundly altered. The Con- words is not lost, however, on Stringfel- biography, but, more than that. it is a servative Party has shifted to leaders low and Towne. The same House of duty fulfilled in the exercise of the educated at grammar schools, people Bishops had only recently censured office of friendship. without a shred of Whiggery or even thc Bishop Pike for a host of alleged crimes The authors have successfully re- sisted the temptation to gloss over the Undoubtedly it is not easy to write a many aspects of Pike’s person and friend’s biography. Sometimes the au- New ORBIS Titles career that made him appear a scandal, thors slip into exculpating sentimental- or merely ridiculous. to many. Critics ity and, when the subject is homosexual- CHRISTIANS, will find aniple support in these pages ity, even propaganda. In connection POLITICS and for believing Pike was intellectually with the suicide of Pike’s son, Jim Jr.. VIOLENT REVOLUTION frivolous, sexually libertine, politically in 1966. we are told: “society and his hi 1. G. Dmies Church were cruelly complicit in his credulous , and frequently insufferable The volatile situations found in in his estimate of his own importance. murder.. .There was no perversion in Latin America, Africa, Portugal, The authors trace his curious path froni Jim Jr. He needed to make love with his Lebanon and Ireland own kind. The pain of that was so Northern Roman Catholic apostate. through a make this a book of singular impor- period that Pike. for reasons having to unbearable he found it more bearable to tance. Davies cites major Protes- do with his public role as Christian kill himself. Where did that pain come tant and Catholic statements to il- apologist, later called agnosticism. to from? Answer us that and you will have lustrate that violence and revolu- told us where perversion rea//! is.” the Episcopal priesthood. which the au- tion are on the agenda which the thors describe as “a resolution of this Similarly. Pike’s often unbridled ego- world presents to the Church. relationship to incest [with his tripping tends to get blanied on the P qwr $4.95 mother).” In short, the wives, the mis- society and its twisted mass communi- tresses, the alcoholism. the suicide of cations systems. as though the virtues of THE HUMANITY OF GOD son and friend are all here. But also self-control were not available to the by €drrrorrd Barbofiri here are the driving talent, the reckless bishop. A companion volume to the bril- integrity. the insatiable curiosity. and liant 71ir Hurrimiihy of Mnri, this the daring hope that the excitement of Many readers will no doubt be dis- book views the God of revelation Christian existence can be rescued from couraged by the inexhaustible preoccu- through the prisms we know best, the conventions of churchliness. pation with Episcopalian minutiae and the categories of human experi- Describing the controversies sur- by the almost consistent caricature of ence. Clotli $12.95 rounding his chaplaincy at Columbia those who do not share the authors’ University in the early 1950’s. the au- appreciation of Pike. Large parts of the THE LIBERATION thors note that “Pike was revealing book might have been subtitled “For OF THEOLOGY himself as a remarkably obtuse figure Episcopalians Only.” while others are by Jirnrt Liris Srgirrtdo, S.j. politically. He seems to have been quite “Getting Back at Those Who Got insensitive to the realities of faculty Him.” Those familiar with Diane Ken- Developed from a series of lectures politics ....At the same time, his politi- nedy Pike’s writings on efforts to com- given by Segundo while a Visiting cal obtuseness indicated an absence of municate with the dead or with Professor at Harvard Divinity guile and calculation that endured as Stringfellow and Towne’s earlier hook School, this book critically ex- one of Pike’s attractive characteris- on Pike’s troubles with his fellow amines the methodology of this tics ....[ His] way was not the way of the bishops will find much of that material ”new” theology, but in doing so world and as Pike found out- reproduced here.