25 AUGUST 1928, Page 17

The parallels between the Platonic philosophy and the teachings of

Christ are drawn out with great skill in Mr. John S. Hoyland's The Great Forerunner (Constable, 5s.). It was the Platonic doctrine of ideas which made possible to the Greeks the understanding of the Christian view of the Incarnation. It is true that the Christian doctrine added as much to Platonism as in another fashion it added to the Messianic, expectations of the Hebrews ; but it is probable that, unless the groundwork of thought had been prepared for the Greeks by Plato, Europe would never have accepted Christianity with understanding.