WHOLENESS AND HOLINESS

It was this books’ title that got my attention.  Its subtitle “A Study in Human Ethology and the Holy Trinity” increased my interest.  I was not disappointed as I made my way through its quite difficult subject matter.  Probably, many of us have not come across the word ‘ethology’ before.  Basically, it is the study of the ethos that people live in.  J.D. Trotter was a member of staff involved in something called the Peckham Experiment.  This was pioneered by a man named Scott Williamson in the 1920s in the south of London and was also known as the Pioneer Health Center.  This project was based on the premise that health was something more than something physical, it involved where people lived, whether they lived together in relative harmony, in other words, what is now known as a more holistic approach to the practice of medicine and living.  Fundamental to the study of ethology is the idea that man is made to live and not simply exist and living involves more than the merely physico/material operations of the bodily and even mental existence.  The experiment was discontinued after about twenty years because it did not fit with the philosophy of the newly emerging National Health Service, however, its vision has not passed away, others continue to examine its findings and follow their lead.  J. D. Trotter was also a Christian Theologian and lectured at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, through the years he began to discern that there was a correspondence between the findings of the Pioneer Health Center in the physical/mental/social/familial realm and the Christian understanding of God in Three Persons.  His further studies led him to examine the teachings of various writers from the Orthodox Church tradition, especially Maximus the Confessor and he saw further areas of correspondence, the wholeness and interconnectedness of all things in Christ became more and more clear to him.  This book approaches all these matters as a hypothesis and carefully opens up each subject systematically, it is a demanding book to read, certain words are given particular meanings as the argument unfolds and concentration is vital to gain benefit.  But, there are riches here. These insights will prove valuable, especially to those who have already pondered along the lines presented.  I found this book on the shelves of a second hand bookstore and I am glad that it came into my hands.