Edited by Stephen E Lammers and Allen Verhey, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Wm B Eerdmans, 1998, 1,004 pages, £32.99 (sc), US$49.00.

The sub-title of this book, Theological Perspectives in Medical Ethics, is a more accurate indication of its contents than the title. It is a compendium, an ordered collection of 128 reprinted theological and religious writings, grouped in nineteen chapters within three major sections - I. Perspectives on religion and medicine; II. Concepts in religion and medicine; III. Issues in medical ethics. Most writers are from the Judaeo-Christian world; the Christians are from the Roman Catholic, Reformed, Protestant and Anglican (Episcopalian) traditions. Other religions are referred to occasionally in passing, and “the ancient world” is present in quotation and commentary. The volume is a source-book, for reference. Some pieces may be read for pleasure; some with surprise - how often do we meet Thomas Sydenham, Florence Nightingale and W H Auden among the “bioethicists”? - some with toil, a dutiful struggle with web-spun words. Such a tome cannot be summarised in review; it can only be commended or waved away. This reviewer, from the depths of his native theological tradition, can only commend, but only …