John L. Allen brings his level headed and thorough reporting skills to bear on this book about Opus Dei. Those who demonize the group or overstate its goals and practices will find this book to be a necessary corrective.

It's a clich? by now to say that someone has "wrestled" with a difficult question, but to the extent it can ever be applied appropriately, I believe this book merits it. John L. Allen has tacked a large and complex topic -- one that is surrounded in myth and mystery, brings out strong feelings from critics and defenders alike, and involves questions of deep, even eternal, importance. He has done it remarkably well.

I've read, I believe, all of John Allen's books, including both "Cardinal Ratzinger" and "The Rise of Benedict XVI," and one thing that has always stood out for me is his dedicated, even strenuous, objectivity. That's especially evident in this book. Readers expecting Allen to confirm the apparently ridiculous portrayal of Opus Dei in "The Da Vinci Code" (I haven't read that book myself) are sure to be disappointed. But other fair-minded readers should be satisfied with a study that neither whitewashes nor savages "the most controversial force in the Catholic Church."

Perhaps the most difficult part of Allen's task is solving the Rashomon dilemma: reconciling different observers' view of the same event or phenomenon. Part of the solution is Allen's deceptively simple conclusion that Opus Dei isn't right for everyone: behavior or doctrine some would see as controlling or stifling, others interpret as orderly, even helpful. There's also the difficult question of whether one person's individual experience is typical of the organization as a whole. As I said, Allen has wrestled with these questions, and clearly put a lot of thought and effort into how he asks and answers them. It's not for nothing that John Allen is so highly respected as a journalist and writer.

In making his analysis, Allen employs some tools that critics of the organization seem to regard as invalid. Most importantly, he draws a distinction between Opus Dei as an organization and the individuals who make up that organization. If Opus Dei members tend to be politically conservative, does that mean Opus Dei as an organization promotes a rightist political agenda? If the director of a large company belongs to Opus Dei, can that corporation's assets be said to be "controlled" by Opus Dei? Many critics would, and have, answered both questions "Yes." Allen says No, and cites Opus Dei's emphasis from the beginning on members' independence in their secular and professional lives. Allen has interviewed Opus Dei members who are left-wing politicians, outspoken journalists, and directors of big businesses who all attest that at no time has Opus Dei or any of its leadership attempted to sway their voting, writing, or business management.

Similarly, Allen does a good job placing Opus Dei in its historical context, both as a movement within the Catholic Church and as something arising from twentieth-century Spain. To those who charge the founder of Opus Dei was pro-Franco, for example, Allen concludes that he was, at best, not anti-Franco. But he also makes the valuable point that nearly all of Spanish Catholicism in the 1930s was to some degree pro-Franco. After all, the Republicans had by that time already murdered literally thousands of Catholic bishops, priests, and religious (both male and female). It strikes me that it would have been a particularly self-hating Catholic who would have embraced the Republicans at that point in history.

Mentioning Allen's use of history and interviews brings up one complaint I've had with his earlier books and which sadly applies here as well: he still -- still! -- doesn't include a bibliography. That's especially annoying here, in a book which is chock-full of interviews, references to other books and monographs, and a lot of history. Allen will even excerpt other writers' work (Mary Vincent's on page 57, for example) without bothering to give us the name of the book cited. Please, John, I'm begging you here...

Apart from that long-standing complaint, however, I think Allen has to be congratulated for the obvious effort he put into this book, and for how well it turned out. Extremists on both sides of the question may not be satisfied, but readers with an open mind, an open heart, or just an interest in a dramatic movement in the modern church should find a lot to interest them, and a lot to think about, within these pages. I looked forward to reading this book since I first heard Allen was working on it, and it certainly repaid the wait.