knocking im^es about as if theynare subatomic quarks. Qoyce tonthe world, the word remains.)nAlas. Counterfeit echoes, unheard,nof a silent man who sits inna room and writes. DnPerceptiblesnJames Atkinson: MartinnLuther: Prophet to Ote ChurchnCatholic; Patemoster/WiUiam B.nEerdmans; Grand Rapids, MI.nDuring the past year, Catholicnscholars and writers have spokennwith unwonted warmth andnapprobation of the Germannmonk who initiated the Reformationnand thus split the Churchnover four centuries ago. In part,nthis new Catholic appreciationnfor Luther brings to ftuition thenscholarly work of a number ofnresearchers, who have demonstratednthat the doctrinalngap between Catholicism andnProtestantism is much narrowernthan is commonly supposed.nSuch understanding, here delineatednby James Atkinson in anbook published jointly by anCatholic and a Protestant press, isnwelcome and salutory. However,nbecause our age is singularlynindifferent to creeds andndoctrine, it appears that much ofnthe adulation of Luther is not thenthoughtful recognition of ancourageous theologian, butnrather the irrational mythologizingnof a prototypical defier ofnauthority and thus the ahistoricalncreation of a new counterculturalnhero. As a leading Catholicnscholar recently suggested, “I getnthe feeling that many Catholicnleaders adore Luther primarilynbecause they see him as a latemedievalnHans Kung.” Since thenabsence of authority has provednProtestantism’s most vexing andninsoluble problem in trying toncreate cohesive communities ofnbelievers, such knee-jerk antiauthoritarianismndoes not bodenwell for the future of Catholicism—ornsociety. For when thenposting of defiant theses, regardlessnof content, becomes thenfocus of woirship, then no congregationncan share any valuesnmore substantial than a preferencenfor bulletin boards shapednlike cathedral doors. DnJ. D. Ogilvy and Donald C.nBaker: Reading Beowulf;nUniversity of Oklahoma Press; Norman,nOK.nPeople in pagan cultures knewnthey needed heroes: Who elsencould keep the dragons andnother monsters at bay? After thencoming of Christianity, the neednfor heroes was still obvious,nthough the new &ith required itsnchampions to show more devotionnand less vainglory and vengefiilnessnthan their heathen predecessors.nWritten not long afternEngland became Christian,nBeott’M//’permits a glimpse intonthis transition in heroic types.nThose unfamiliar with Old Englishnliterature can turn to translatorsnfor an understanding of thenwords of this masterpiece and tonscholars like J. D. Ogilvy andnDonald C. Baker for an explicationnof its themes, prosody, andnbackgrounds. It requires nonspecial scholarly skills now,nhowever, to see that Christianitynis &st disappearing into a morassnof amoral egalitarianism and thatnthe notion of heroism is consequentlynundergoing anothernand more disturbing metamor­nphosis: heroes defending all ofnsociety against its common fticsnare being replaced by “rolenmodels” who legitimate its aberrantnfringes. Indeed, those pursuingnGrendel’s murderous offspringntoday usually do so not tonWASTE OF MONEYnprotect humane order by engagingnthe monsters in mortal combatnbut rather to further reducenour hopes for survival by gainingnan interview or publicationnrights for another bestial lifenstory. DnOf Communists and ConvictsnNathan Heard: House ofnSlamnters; Macmillan; New York.n”It was only when I lay therenon rotting prison straw that Insensed within myself the firstnstirrings of good.” So wrotenAleksandr Solzhenitsyn in “ThenSoul and Barbed Wire” about hisnexperience in the Soviet Gul^.nLike most inmates in the communistnpenal system, he wasnguilty of no crime, yet he camento thank God for the himiiliationnof an imprisonment that helpednhim become a believer. Indeed,ndespite all of their incrediblynbrutal and dehumanizing effortsnto make the Gulag a tool tor enfiarcingntheir atheistic doctrines,nthe Soviet prison authorities unwittinglynprovided Solzhenitsynnwith a classroom where henlearned “the truth of all the religionsnof the world” and “thenfalsehood of all the revolutionsnin history.” Religion is valid, henconcluded, because it combatsnthe “evil inside a human being “nIn contrast, revolutions are in­nnnvalid because they attack “onlynthose carriers of evil contemporarynwith them (and also fell, outnof haste, to discriminate the carriersnof good as well)”; consequently,n”they then take to themselvesnas their heritage the actualnevil itself, mj^nified still more.”nNathan Heard has also spentna number of years in prison, andnhas likewise taken his experiencenas a basis for his writing.nBut he was justly convicted andnsentenced by a judicial systemnthat presumed his innocence,nwas never deprived of adequatenrest or nourishment while incarcerated,nnor was he deniednvisits from femily and friends norntime for reading, writing, andnrecreatioa Regrettably, he apparentlynlearned from this experiencenonly how to write noxiousnnovels glamorizing communismnas an alternative to then”racist capitalism” which allegedlynforces men to crimenwhen outside of prison and tonbestial depravity when inside.nHis transparent protagonist innHouse of Stammers, an articulatenarmed robber who has educatednhimself while in prisonnand •wiio is finally killed by murderousnprison authorities fornleading a demonstration fornprisoner’s “rights,” spouts endlessnleftist driveL Declaring annequal love for Jesus and KarlnMarx, for Arthur Koestier andn•HI^HSInApril 1984n