Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/562

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

548 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The last chapter, dealing with the statistics of unemployment, will be of most interest to the general reader. An excellent analysis and interpretation of the statistics are made, the two most important points brought out being that the question is largely one of seasonal employ- ment, and that the problem is by far the most serious in the large cities.

The author is at great pains to show the reader how all the facts fortify the position he has taken on this question and how his own plan is the only practicable one. This may detract from the interest of the book for the general reader, yet, looked at from his point of view, that of finding the practicable method of solving the problem in hand, the author is not to be criticised upon this point.

H. A. MILLIS.

The Social Teachings of Jesus. An Essay in Christian Sociology. By SHAILER MATHEWS, A.M., Professor of New Testament History and Interpretation in the University of Chicago. New York : The Macmillan Co. ; Chicago : American Bap- tist Publication Society. Pp. 230, 8vo. $1.50.

THE chapters contained in this volume appeared originally in the AM&RICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY, and attracted a great deal of atten- tion. In their present form they have been largely rewritten, and we have one of the best treatises on the subject. It is a volume not to be glanced over or read carelessly, but demands a careful and consid- erate attention. It is a clear, conscientious, and comprehensive state- ment of the subject, logically and reverently put forth ; the style is condensed, the employment of terms is accurate, and reveals a mastery of good idiomatic English. It shows a most earnest desire to view the subject fairly and fully from every standpoint, yet brings all its conclu- sions to the test indicated by the title, and reveals a wide and thought- ful acquaintance with the best literature on the subject. Its method is strictly logical, and the chapters follow one another in an orderly development of the principle upon which the book is grounded. The term reverent is one that is so often abused that we almost hesitate to employ it in this connection. We are asked today to overlook a great many things because the spirit is a so-called reverent one, but in apply- ing it to these essays we can do so honestly. It is not the spirit of an iconoclast, but of a constructionist, that appears on every page. The