Page 6353 – Christianity Today (2024)

Can we validly apply the name “science” to missions?

If we mean an exact science like mathematics, the answer is No. On the other hand, if we mean “classifiable and verifiable knowledge,” an affirmative reply may be admitted.

In any case, Professor J. H. Bavinck, of Free Amsterdam University, Holland, has written a book, lately published by the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, to which he gives the title An Introduction to the Science of Missions. It is a book of substance: always thoughtful, frequently thrusting, and altogether thorough (What are the Dutch if they are not thorough?).

Professor Bavinck is equipped with a formidable vocabulary. In the Introduction he discusses “apostolics” and “prosthetics,” possible terms to be used in describing the discipline of Christian thought within which we place the world mission of the Church. “Apostolics” would be used to denote “the notion of missions in general,” the concept of the Church as a community of the “sent.” “Prosthetics,” interestingly enough, is derived from a Greek word which in Acts 2:41 is translated “added:” “And there were added unto them in that day about three thousand souls.” The word reappears in verse 47: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Both terms are rejected in favor of the phrase “the science of missions.” This is defined by Bavinck (in words borrowed from Abraham Kuyper) as “The investigation of the most profitable God-ordained method leading to the conversion of those outside of Christ.”

“Elenctics” is an extraordinary word that is used as the subject of the book’s second section. Drawn out from the Greek verb elengchein, it speaks of the whole phenomenon of conviction of sin, and the shame or condemnation growing therefrom. Thus of special importance for missions is our Lord’s word in John 16:8: “And when he [the Holy Spirit] is come, he will reprove [elengxei] the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”

From the “elenctic” point of view the crucial question with which men everywhere need to be confronted is, “What have you done with God?” Until they are brought to an acknowledgment of the God who stands self-revealed in Jesus Christ, they tend to move in four directions with respect to God:

1. Men may move in the direction of wrong identifications between God (or the gods) and the natural world. Thus we have animism and magic.

2. Others may move in the direction of some form of divine absenteeism. Thus we have the old Chinese belief in a being who created the heavens and the earth, but whose distance from common mortals is so great that he can be evoked only by the emperor.

3. Some will move in the direction of losing God behind laws and norms. Thus we have in Buddhism the contradiction of atheism and devotion in a system in which the all-important thing is not the being of God but the dharma, the doctrine of the eightfold path and all that is associated with it.

4. And some may move in the direction of mysticism. Thus we have, whether by artificially induced intoxication or by philosophical contemplation, the wiping out of the distinction between subject and object, between “Thou” and “I,” and the negation of what is basic in the Christian revelation, that is, the ineffaceable distinction between Creator and creature.

If these are the lines along which we discover the judgment and shame that rest upon St. Paul’s “natural man” (who is any man not “in Christ”), how are we to reconcile this biblical condemnation with what is manifestly true and noble in some of the insights of the higher religions?

For his reply Professor Bavinck would lean on the doctrine of common grace. This is the grace, attributable to a universal operation of the Spirit of God, that preserves the society of sinful man from total self-destruction. It causes even the distortions, derangements, and delinquencies that attach to human emotions, conscience, laws, institutions, insights, and desires to subserve the sovereign purposes of Almighty God. It is the antidote to complete racial destruction. It is the anteroom to the saving grace that is given in Jesus Christ our redeeming Lord.

This, it will be seen, is far removed from the position held by such thinkers as Harvard’s Professor Hocking, that the Christian message derives its supremacy of claim to the fact that it crowns and fulfills the aspirations that are found in the devotees of all the higher religions.

On the contrary, it has been the classical faith of the Christian Church that even such insights and susceptibilities as the Spirit of God has been able to keep alive in the intelligence and conscience of mankind have been twisted and debased in the unhallowed service of pride, so that even “religion” has become man’s final stronghold of self-sufficiency in the “flight from God.” Nor is this true only of pagan religions. It proved true repeatedly in the life of God’s covenant people, Israel. It may be seen indeed in false uses to which this thing called “Christianity” is put today.

Here is the point of convergence between the thinking of Professor Bavinck and that of Bishop Stephen Neill in his recent volume called Creative Tension. He suggests that “the only way in which [Christ] can fulfill human aspirations is first to reduce them to ashes.” He contends that “each religious system, in its autonomy, in its aim of self-realization, is so far in rebellion against God and so far under judgment.” What is intrinsically true in any of these systems will not be destroyed. It will pass through the “scorching fires of Christ’s judgment.” It will die to itself having implemented man’s pride. It will rise in a “joyful resurrection.”

Spring Book Forecast

Like the eagerly awaited first breath of spring come the announcements of publishers’ “Spring Lists” in the field of religion. The lists for 1961 seem to be larger. More evangelical authors are represented. Several big-name publishers are announcing religious titles on a large scale for the first time. Religion is breaking into the “paperbacks” (see page 31). All this is a good omen for the future.

Before us is a wide panorama of books on systematic and biblical theology, apologetics and philosophy, church history and biography, Old and New Testament studies, pastoral problems, sermons, liturgy and worship, ethical and social problems, Christian education, ecumenism to say nothing of Christian fiction and poetry.

Only a mere fraction of the planned output for the first six months of 1961 will be noted here. There can be no attempt to pre-evaluate. Eventually most of the titles will receive attention from CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S 100 capable reviewers who offer trustworthy guidance in evaluation and interpretation.

Foremost on the horizon is a new translation of the Holy Scriptures. It is only a matter of anxious days until the New Testament of the New English Bible (CHRISTIANITY TODAY, September 26, 1960; January 30, 1961) will be in the bookstores. Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press are publishers in America, as in the British Isles. This work in current English is the fruit of the best non-Roman scholarship in Britain working for 13 years on the earliest Greek Texts. It is not just a version, as the new American Standard Revised, but (at least in prospect) something far richer and better. Dr. F. F. Bruce, noted English scholar, will provide CHRISTIANITY TODAY with an advance review.

Since the LENTEN season is just around the corner these 1961 titles bid for immediate attention: Clarence W. Cranford’s The Seven Last Words and Alfred Doerffler’s The Cross Still Stands (Baker); William D. Streng’s What Language Shall I Borrow? (Augsburg); Reginald Cant’s Heart in Pilgrimage (Harper); Howard Hageman’s We Call This Friday Good (Muhlenberg); Erwin Kurth’s The Passion Pilgrimage (Concordia); and a new reprint The Death and Resurrection of Christ, by Abraham Kuyper (Zondervan).

A classification by fields of interest may serve as a forecast framework:

In the field of SYSTEMATIC AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY Eerdmans offers Man: The Image of God, by G. C. Berkouwer and Preaching and Biblical Theology, by E. P. Clowney. From Muhlenberg’s presses will come Meaning and Practice of the Lord’s Supper, a symposium edited by Helmut T. Lehman; from John Knox another Karl Barth volume, Anselm: Fidea Quarens Intellectum; Macmillan: A Theological and Historical Introduction to the Apostolic Fathers, by John Lawson; Corcordia: Follow Me: Discipleship According to Matthew, by Martin H. Franzmann; Nazarene: In Christ, by John Nielson; and McGraw-Hill: a collection of highly significant papers in The Theology of Christian Mission, edited by Gerald H. Anderson.

Books on APOLOGETICS, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE include Nihilism: Its Origin and Nature with the Christian Answer, by Helmut Thielicke (Harper); Natural Law and Divine Miracle, by R. Hooykaas, The Kingdom of Love and the Pride of Life, by Edward John Carnell and The Christian and His Bible, by Douglas Johnson (Eerdmans); Emil Brunner: An Introduction to the Man and His Thought, by Paul K. Jewett (Inter-Varsity); Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited, by Austin Farrar (Doubleday); Self, Religion and Metaphysics, edited by G. E. Hyers; The Spirit of Protestantism, by Robert McAfee Brown (Oxford). On the edge of science Concordia announces Modern Science in the Christian Life, by John W. Klotz; Abingdon: Science Technology and the Christian, by C. A. Coulson; Nelson: Life’s Long Journey, by Kenneth Walker; and Presbyterian and Reformed: The Genesis Flood, by John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris.

The area of CHURCH HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY is rich with promise. Harvard University Press will produce The Autobiography of Lyman Beecher in two volumes, edited by Barbara Cross. Abingdon offers Methodism and Society in Historical Perspective, by Richard M. Cameron. Two comprehensive and definitive histories of American communions are announced—Standard: James DeForest Murch’s Christians Only: A History of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ and Christian Education Press: A History of the Evangelical and Reformed Church by David Dunn and others. From an unusually long list of titles come: Romanticism in American Theology, by James H. Nichols (University of Chicago); Look Up and Live, a biography of Maud Ballington Booth, by Susan F. Welty (Nelson); Protestant Patriarch, the life of Cyril Lucaris, Patriarch of Constantinople, by George A. Hadjiantoniou (John Knox); Worship and Theology in England, 1690–1850, by Horton Davies (Princeton); Focus on Infinity, by R. M. Albright (Macmillan); This is Protestantism, by Arthur Mielke (Revell) and The Billy Sunday Story, by Lee Thomas (Zondervan).

In NEW TESTAMENT Inter-Varsity adds to its “Introduction to the New Testament” Donald Guthrie’s The Epistles of Paul. Eerdmans announces E. Earle Ellis’ Paul and His Recent Interpreters. Varieties of approach are to be found in The Mind of Jesus, by William Barclay (Harper); The Secret Sayings of Jesus, the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas, by Robert M. Grant (Doubleday); The Ethic of Jesus in the Teaching of the Church, by John Knox (Abingdon); Proclaiming the New Testament, edited by Ralph G. Turnbull (Baker); Great Personalities of the New Testament, by William Sanford LaSor (Revell) and another volume by the Greek evangelical leader, G. A. Hadjiantoniou—The Postman of Patmos (Zondervan).

An unusually long list of works in the field of OLD TESTAMENT includes: The Old Testament, Its Origin and Composition, by Curt Kuhl (John Knox); The Old Testament in the Cross, by J. A. Sanders and The Patriarchial Age, by F. Pfeiffer (Broadman); Glimpses of God in Genesis, a translation by J. W. Watts (Eerdmans); Adam to Daniel, edited by G. Cornfeld (Macmillan); King David, Shepherd and Psalmist, by Geoffrey de C. Parmiter (Nelson); The Message of Genesis, by Ralph H. Elliott (Broadman). These volumes are on the edge of archaeology: The Bible and the Ancient Near East, edited by G. Ernest Wright (Doubleday); The Old Testament and Our Times, by Margaret T. Munro (Longmans, Green); A History of Antioch in Syria, by Glanville Downey (Princeton); and Archaeology and the Bible by G. Frederick Owens (Revell).

General BIBLE STUDIES are relevant here. Topping the category and of special significance because of the New English Bible is F. F. Bruce’s The English Bible (Oxford). Somewhat related are The Design of the Scriptures, by Robert C. Dentan (McGraw-Hill); Palestine and the Bible, by Denis Baly (Association); Translating the Bible, by Frederick C. Grant (Seabury); Take and Read, by E. H. Robertson (John Knox); and Herbert Lockyer’s All the Kings and the Queens of the Bible (Zondervan). Baker’s New Bible Atlas will be a publication of more than ordinary significance to Bible students. It is edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer with consultants E. Leslie Carlson in Old Testament and Martin E. Scharlemann in New Testament.

In addition to the Lenten selections SERMONIC literature will be enriched by such titles as Karl Barth’s Deliverance to the Captives, sermons to the World War II inmates of Swiss prisons, (Harper); Frederick W. Schroeder’s Far From Home (Christian Education); D. R. Davies’ Down, Peacock’s Feathers (Abingdon) and Leslie Weatherhead’s Key Next Door (Abingdon); Alan Redpath’s Learning to Live (Eerdmans) and a collection of classics, Valiant for Truth, compiled by David Otis Fuller (McGraw-Hill). DEVOTIONAL works which come somewhat within this classification are Jesus Says to You, by Daniel A. Poling (McGraw-Hill); In Christ, by E. Stanley Jones (Abingdon); and a reprint of Abraham Kuyper’s classic Near To God (Eerdmans).

Practical works in the field of PASTORAL PROBLEMS include: Faith and Pastoral Prayer, by Charles D. Kean (Seabury); How to Increase Church Attendance, by James L. Christensen (Revell). And those that lean toward a PASTORAL COUNSELING category: Minister and Doctor Meet, by Granger E. Westberg (Harper); The Healing Ministry of the Church, by Bernard Martin (John Knox); The Road to Power, by W. Glyn Evans (Moody); The Pastor and Vocational Counseling, by Charles F. Kemp (Bethany); The Minister as Marriage Counselor, by Charles W. Stewart (Abingdon) and Problems of a Spirit Filled Life, by William S. Deal (Nazarene).

Books that emphasize EVANGELISM include: Man to Man, by Richard C. Halverson (Cowman); You Can Win Souls, by C. E. Autrey (Broadman); The Outsider and the Word of God, by James E. Sellers (Abingdon); Edge of the Edge, by Theodore E. Matson (Friendship) and The Suburban Captivity of the Churches, by Gibson Winter (Doubleday).

Another burgeoning area of religious book publishing is to be found in ETHICAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Among the volumes forecast for the next six months are Perry E. Gresham’s Answer to Conformity (Bethany); Paul Stephen’s answer to Communism, The Ultimate Weapon—Christianity (Nelson); Roswell P. Barnes’ Under Orders: The Churches and Public Problems (Doubleday); Carlyle Marney’s Structures of Prejudice (Abingdon) and Paul Ramsey’s Christian Ethics and the Sit-in (Association). Then there are: a symposium, Sex and the Church, edited by Oscar E. Feucht (Concordia); The Religious Factor, by Gerhard Lenski (Doubleday); Foment on the Fringe, by Shirley E. Greene (Christian Education); The City Church—Death or Renewal, by Walter Kloetzl (Muhlenberg); A Faith of Our Own, by Austin Farrer (World) and—something across the ocean—God and Caesar in East Germany, by R. W. Solberg (Macmillan). Broadman has three titles: Christ and Human Values, by A. C. Reid; Danger Ahead, by C. W. Scudder; and Introducing Christian Ethics by Henlee H. Barnette.

MISSIONS continues to be an inspiring theme for authors. The new books for Spring include: China Doctor, the story of Dr. Harry Miller, by Raymond S. Moore (Harper); Land of Eldorado, by Sante Uberto Barbiere (Friendship); On the Eight-Fold Path in which George Applebor deals with Christian Presence amid Buddhism (Oxford); and This is Haiti, by Paul Orjala (Nazarene). Of a more definitive nature are: Is Christ Divided, by Lesslie Newbigin (Eerdmans); God’s Mission and Ours, by Eugene L. Smith (Abingdon); Man’s Peace and God’s Glory, by Eric B. Fife (Inter-Varsity); and Earth’s Remotest End, by J. C. Pollock (Macmillan).

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION at the local church level and beyond inspires such works as Christian Approach to Educacation, by H. W. Byrne (Zondervan); Tools for Teaching and Training, by LeRoy Ford (Broadman); The Role of the Bible in Contemporary Christian Education, by Sara Little (John Knox); Seeking a Faith of Our Own, by E. Jerry Walker Abingdon); Academic Illusion, by Denis Baly (Seabury); and New Church Programs with the Aging, by Elsie T. Culver (Association).

There is a growing literature on LITURGY AND MUSIC. The Spring books include: The Reform of Liturgical Worship, by Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., (Oxford); The Eucharistic Memorial, seventh volume in a series of ecumenical studies, by Max Thurman (John Knox); A Well-appointed Church Music, by Howard J. Slenk (Eerdmans); Resources for Worship, by Clarice M. Bowman (Association).

In the CULTURAL realm are promised: The Protestant Mind of the English Reformation, 1570–1640 by Charles and Katherine George, and The Cathedral of Granada, by Earl Rosenthal (Princeton). Princeton is also producing with the assistance of 22 outstanding scholars a four volume work on Religion in American Life. James Ward Smith and Leland Jamison are the editors.

If anyone thinks that the well of religious literature has run dry the publishing prospects for 1961 will change his mind. The vitality of the Christian faith foreshadows even better days ahead although a better balance still needs to be achieved between liberal and evangelical in the new titles. Many books in this forecast will prove less than evangelical and sometimes error will be clad in literary artistry more attractive than the truth. But by and large these volumes will increase our capacity to clarify and illuminate our faith and to render a more effective service in the Kingdom of God.

JAMES DEFOREST MURCH

Preaching In Lent

Heart in Pilgrimage, by Canon Reginald Cant (Harper, 1961, 147 pp., $3); The Cross Still Stands by Alfred Doerffler (Baker, 1960, 135 pp., $2.50); What Language Shall I Borrow?, by Wm. D. Streng (Augsburg, 1961, 191 pp., $3); The Seven Last Words, by Clarence W. Cranford (Baker, 1960, 78 pp., $1.50); We Call This Friday Good, by Howard G. Hageman (Muhlenberg, 1961, 83 pp., $1.50), are reviewed by Andrew W. Blackwood, Professor of Homiletics, Emeritus, Princeton Seminary.

For Lent Canon Cant of Britain writes about Christian prayer. Unlike other such books he quotes much from the Bible and little but well from other books; he relies largely on theology (Anglican), and starts with God, Father, Son, or Spirit, not with man; and he also stresses holiness (32 pp.). The first half deals ably with what undergirds prayer. The latter half, which is more directly about prayer, proves less interesting and profitable to a non-Anglican. This scholarly and informative book suffers somewhat from lack of a clear title, and much more from the absence of an index. A wise reader will make his own index, especially in the first half, with its countless “leads.”

Lutheran Pastor Doerffler paints well with a wide brush. In five pages he treats clearly “Five Enemies of the Cross,” then and now. Sixteen topical studies deal with broad subjects, such as, “The Claims of the Cross.” This is a worthy book of its kind, but much of the writing would have served better had it developed into a semi-expository message explaining and applying what a given Bible passage teaches about the Christ of the Cross.

Lutheran Professor Streng reveals learning and clarity in writing about 30 Lenten subjects in five compact series, each one more difficult than the last. In little more than four pages he can deal with the Nicene Creed, or the Athanasian. The professor has done well with what he has undertaken. But would it not have proved more helpful to have a book about any one of the five series, such as “A Long View of Lent”?

American Baptist Cranford has the only conventional title, but among his ten chapter headings seven or eight seem unique and striking, such as, “The Bridge that Only God Could Build,” and “A Conversation Between Crosses.” He has many good ideas, without space to develop any of them biblically, or theologically. Unfortunately, a three-hour service usually allows a speaker only ten minutes or so. That is time enough to deal suggestively with one or two of the easier words, but not enough to get started on the second, or the fourth.

Reformed (Dutch) Professor Hageman deals with the Seven Words in a way new to me. No chapter has a topic, or a clear unifying phrase. After a brief opening chapter, suggested by a great text from Paul, a full-page symbolic mood, cut clear only to lovers of modern art, precedes each of seven examples of the “new preaching,” in the hands of a master. If these eight meditations raise more questions than they answer, then perhaps that is the professor’s purpose in preaching to believers “suggestively, not exhaustively.”

Not being a devotee of the “new painting,” or the “new preaching,” I do not feel competent to appraise either “art,” but I feel that any evangelical minister can learn more from the reading and study of an able book with which he does not agree than from one that states what he already knows and believes. In his later years Benjamin B. Warfield told me that he had practically quit reading books with which he agreed. Then he told me that he had just read one of mine!

If the reader ever arranges for a three-hour service, may he allot enough time to deal with the difficult “Words,” and ask every interpreter to keep Christ in the center of each passing scene. What a revolution that would cause on Good Friday!

ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD

Lenten Trilogy

The Pathway to the Cross, by Ralph G. Turnbull (Baker, 1959, 126 pp., $2); Culture and the Cross, by G. Hall Todd (Baker, 1959, 111 pp., $2); Messages on the Resurrection, by Herschel H. Hobbs (Baker, 1959, 87 pp., $1.75), are reviewed by Charles Ferguson Ball, minister First Presbyterian Church, River Forest, Illinois.

Many facets of the truth gleam in these three little volumes. Dr. Turnbull displays the artistry and the charm which characterizes so many Scottish preachers. The Pathway to the Cross is a scholarly attempt to select the great and outstanding events in the life of our Lord by which He moved toward His cross.

Beginning with the pre-existent Christ and the eternal aspect of the cross the author takes us through the silent years to the baptism, the temptation, the transfiguration, the Passover, the Upper Room scene, the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection victory and finally the little spoken of ascension. The chapter on the Passover and the Lord’s Supper is especially strong and informative.

The entire series holds one’s attention and reveals a satisfying depth of Biblical exposition. This is not oratory; this is something that will stay with us a long time. The author’s aim was: “to assist us in devotion and spiritual discipline, especially during the season of the year which stresses more than any other the sufferings and passion of our Lord.” This he has most certainly accomplished.

Dr. Todd’s book, Culture and the Cross, contains ten very keen portrayals of lesser known characters in the New Testament. These all center in the cross of Christ. They contain amazing evidence of historical research and wide-read habits on the part of the author, especially in history and the classics. They are scholarly and Biblically sound. The sermons are not couched in ordinary sermonic style. This is stimulating and at the same time disturbing. The disturbing thing is that so much space is given to the building up of an obscure point and so little to the application.

Dr. Hobb’s book, Messages on the Resurrection, is a thrilling exposition of the great fifteenth chapter of I Corinthians. He shows this to be the very heart of the logic of the resurrection. His little book contains only seven chapters but should not be regarded lightly because of its brevity. On the flyleaf the publishers have called it “a masterful exposition.” Careful reading will reveal that this is not fulsome flattery but is indeed the truth.

Dr. Hobb’s book holds the attention effectively and cleverly by a structure that binds the messages together. He sets the scene in a courtroom with a trial by jury progress. God is the judge. We are the jury. The attorney for the defense is the Apostle Paul himself who presents his argument magnificently under the titles: “Exhibit A, B, C, D, and E.” With rare insight he calls his witnesses—Cephas; then the twelve; and then the five hundred; and then two opposing witnesses—James, the Lord’s brother and Paul himself. In the remaining six chapters, the attorney for the defense addresses the jury and hammers home his reasons, one by one, for the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and our resurrection. He concludes his case and makes his appeal for an affirmative verdict. Since we are the jury, the verdict is ours. The work is scholarly and satisfying.

CHARLES FERGUSON BALL

Erotic Candor

The Biblical View of Sex and Marriage, by Otto A. Piper (Scribner’s, 1960, 239 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Edward John Carnell, Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Religion, Fuller Theological Seminary.

This is a revision of a volume which students of Christian ethics have come to regard as a standard work in the field. The author exhibits a happy balance of candor and reserve. He deals with some of the most delicate overtures between male and female, yet he never raises a blush nor does he treat sacred matters with frivolity or morbidness.

The author examines the possibilities and disappointments of sex in the light of the biblical evidence concerning the creation, fall, and redemption of man. This evidence is handled with a fairness which is beyond reproach.

Male and female complement their spiritual capacities by gratifying their erotic capacities. When sex is indulged without love, the divine image is perverted and shame is experienced. Sex is not an end in itself; it is a means by which male and female experience intimacies which would otherwise remain concealed. These intimacies open the door to manfestations of love which outlast the transient pleasures of the erotic life.

EDWARD JOHN CARNELL

Christ’S Command

The Healing Ministry in the Church, by Bernard Martin (John Knox, 1960, 125 pp., $3), is reviewed by William Henry Anderson, Jr., Pastor, Fourth United Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh.

A plea for churches and pastors to submit to Christ’s command to preach the Gospel and to heal the sick. Pastor Martin of the Reformed Church in Geneva has two aims in this excellent book: first, to present the biblical teaching on healing; and second; to consider the spiritual issues involved in healing. Neither psychosomatic medicine nor case histories enter this discussion, but submission to the authority of Scripture is the main emphasis. The virtues of depth of understanding and brevity are well combined which make this an ideal book for the busy pastor who wishes to learn how to enlarge his ministry.

WILLIAM HENRY ANDERSON, JR.

True Science

The Christian Approach in Teaching Science by R. Hooykas (Tyndale Press, 1960, 20 pp., 1s.6d.), is reviewed by A. P. Waterson, Lecturer in Pathology, Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

This booklet by Dr. Hooykas never palls, but nevertheless it is something of a surprise on reaching the end to find that it is only 20 pages long. The amount which he has packed into this short space is enormous. He begins with an exposure of the falseness of the ideal of complete objectivity which to many is the hallmark of true science. Hence the importance, as the author points out, of the personality of the experimenter. Scientists (and students of science) are people, although “in real life we never meet one in a chemically pure state” (p. 11).

Despite popular belief to the contrary, there is probably at least as great a proportion of Christians in the ranks of the scientists as outside them, even though since the days of Mrs. Eddy it has been rather difficult to know what to call them. It is one of Dr. Hooykas’ main burdens that such a one cannot keep his faith and his work in thought-tight compartments. In tracing the history of scientific thought, he shows that, while we owe much to the Greeks, Greek ideas in the end led up a blind alley. Science was liberated in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, just as religious thought was; and the Puritans, he maintains, were not backward in either cause. The present danger is that science will become “a new idolatry,” a new form of worship of the works of men’s minds. Science taught by an avowed Christian will mean that it is seen by the pupils in the correct light.

A. P. WATERSON

Early Communism

Original Marxism—Estranged Offspring: A Study of Points of Contact and Conflict Between Original Marxism and Christianity, by Robert Frank Fulton (Christopher Publishing House, 1960, 167 pp., $3), is reviewed by Charles Wesley Lowry, Author of Communism and Christ.

This work, based on a Yale Ph.D. thesis and written by a theologian with intensive experience in China over the period 1935–50, will be useful both to theologians and political scientists. It is a study of the first phase of Communism, and we are to understand by this term, written with an upper case “C,” the historical movement which today dominates an entire globe.

This phase called “original Marxism” is carefully distinguished by the author from lower case “c” communism of the sectarian and religious variety; from socialism in general, being interpreted as implying democratic methods; and from “various amalgams” of original Marxism “with the teachings of such later Marxists as Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Tito and others.”

The central thesis developed is that Marxism arose as the natural child of the Judaeo-Christian heritage—might one not say ideology?—but through the influence of such theological radicals as Strauss, Bruno Bauer, and Feuerbach it was alienated from its spiritual parent and became an estranged offspring. Professor Fulton carries this position out very consistently, going so far as to affirm that the basic difference between “Original Marxism and Christianity” is “the absence in Marxism and the presence in Christianity of an explicit and articulate theology” (p. 130). He goes on quite logically to minimize, as fundamental factors in the equation, both atheism and the rejection of Christian ethics.

The work is, as stated above, useful but must be viewed critically. It moves too much on the surface analytically and abounds in dangerous oversimplifications. Essentially it is illustrative of the fact that non-Communist students and commentators on Marx fall into two classes: the tender-hearted and the tough-minded. A surprising number of able people—one thinks immediately of such names as Tillich, Fromm, Alexander Miller—have had a compulsion to be tender toward Marx. Fulton falls into this category, and this is perhaps the concealed but basic flaw lurking in his study.

By way of contrast, one may mention Professor and Mrs. Harry Overstreet who though their point of view is that of ethical humanism, deal firmly and even severely with the character and person of Karl Marx in What We Must Know About Communism. It would be a good thing if Christian theologians generally read this book.

CHARLES WESLEY LOWRY

Book Briefs

We Wrote the Gospels, by John Calvin Reid (Eerdmans, 1960, 61 pp., $2). Striking and imaginative personal testimonies of the men who wrote the Four Gospels.

The Gospel According to Moses, by W. A. Criswell (Zondervan, 1960, 175 pp., $2.50). Sixteen sermons which trace “the vein of God’s grace that runs through the Pentateuch.”

The Principles of Moral Philosophy, by Ben Kimpel (Philosophical Library, 1960, 234 pp., $3.75). An attempt to develop empirically a sound moral idealism apart from divine revelation.

Messages for Men, edited by H. C. Brown, Jr. (Zondervan, 1960, 150 pp., $2.50). Laymen speak to pastors and laymen concerning their common tasks in the church and the community.

Existential Metaphysics, by Alvin Thalheimer (Philosophical Library, 1960, 632 pp., $7.50). An attempt to apply a definition of “existence” in the solution of a wide range of philosophical problems.

Luther’s Works (vol. 2), edited by Jaroslav Pelikan and Daniel E. Poellot (Concordia, 1960, 433 pp., $6). Luther’s lectures on Genesis, chapters 6–14. Freshly translated from the Latin by George V. Schick.

Conservative Baptists—A Story of Twentieth-Century Dissent, by Bruce L. Shelley (Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1960, 164 pp., $2). Capable chronicle of the Conservative Baptist movement, with extensive space given to documents.

Spurred by new concern for Christian witness in the swift-moving sixties, 900 U. S. business and professional men gathered January 18–21 in Miami Beach for the sixth annual Layman’s Leadership Institute. They were welcomed warmly by Texas supermarket executive Howard E. Butt, lay evangelist whose Christian Men Inc. annually coordinates the wheels-within-wheels program. Participants heard 33 speakers from business, politics, medicine, science and education stress the relevance of the Christian ethic to business and economic aspects of life, and the layman’s responsibility for winning men to Jesus Christ.

U. S. Senator George Smathers of Florida, opening speaker, soon rose above the platitudinous when he divulged aspects of the pre-inauguration meeting he had arranged between President Kennedy and Billy Graham at Kennedy’s request. (Mr. Graham stressed, among other things, the White House’s responsibility for moral leadership. But he also indicated his personal convictions that the Second Coming of Jesus Christ is the climax toward which history is moving, and that the Kingdom of God is the only real answer to man’s pressing problems.)

The roster of speakers included Graham; Maxey Jarman, Genesco board chairman; Paul Harvey, ABC newscaster; Herbert J. Taylor, Club Aluminum board chairman; John Bolton, Sr., Lestoil Products board chairman; and Maurice C. Smith of Bristol Manufacturing Company. Their swank Fontainebleau Hotel listeners were, as one observer said, mainly “men who can’t use the short form for income tax reporting” and a few squatters “without money and seeking it for good causes.”

Participants were prodded—in short speeches and long sermons, lively conference groups and cracker barrel discussions—to spiritual decision, soul winning, moral searching and financial stewardship. They were called to love of God and love of neighbor in respect to racial discrimination, civic concern, business integrity, employee welfare. Said Canon Bryan Green of Birmingham Cathedral, England: “The consummation of God’s redemptive purpose for history is certain as the coming dawn.… That purpose cannot be frustrated by man.”

“God would have to be schizoid,” said Fred Smith, Cincinnati management analyst, “to answer all prayers of the AFLCIO, NAM, Democrats and Republicans. Let’s not seek to use God, but to be used by God.” Quipped Smith, by way of overcomment: “Don’t take notes; one of the greatest escapes from spiritual decision is taking notes!”

Typical of the peppery seminar sessions was shoe magnate Maxey Jarman’s on “Economics and Christian Living,” which quickly shaped the question: What should be the primary motive in business? Some divergent answers: 1. “Make money—and then dispense it in good conscience; not ‘money-making’ but ‘love of money’ is the root of evil.” 2. “Make profit in order to disseminate the Gospel and marshal forces for the Kingdom of God.” 3. “Make money—but only in an area of service for God and neighbor.” A Bible class teacher of many years, Southern Baptist Jarman scored with telling comments: “The poor may be happier than the rich, and often are.… Christian living doesn’t guarantee business success, and is more important than ‘getting ahead in the world.’ But in most cases it is more an asset than an obstacle even to worldly advancement.… Jesus had wealthy friends, but he didn’t spend most of his time with them.”

Institute sponsor Butt confessed that one platform glimpse of his gifted audience was enough to “make a Texas groceryman jump on his horse and head for the pinto beans, chili and cactus.” But he quickly headed instead for the New Testament concept of the laity: “Preachers are not the only men called of God.… The layman is called too, though his gifts and talent and sphere of vocational activity may be different.… The word ‘layman’ originally comes from the Greek laos which means ‘the people of God.’” Butt put stress on the Bible doctrine that “every Christian is a priest.” “The Church is a vibrant, redeeming community of compassion and mission and service and witness and love and worship,” he said, and then to make sure he scored the point, he added: “It is not a ‘Fraternity of Fans of the Faith.’”

In the closing hour, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Duke McCall, institute co-sponsor with Butt and Graham, urged laymen “not to add ‘another role’ to what they are ‘already doing,’ but to allow the meaning of ‘being a Christian’ to permeate ‘all the roles we have.’”

Graham himself drew the evangelistic net in a forceful closing message, and a score of business leaders stepped out publicly for Christ. Speaking first of his conference, days before President Kennedy’s inauguration, he said: “The New Testament says ‘honor the Emperor,’ and the Roman Emperor in that time wasn’t a Baptist either!” Graham thrust home the Sermon on the Mount. Pleading for courageous Christian dedication, he preached with one eye on the Bible and other on the Soviet: “Mr. Khrushchev, if Christ is alive, we are not finally worried about you!”

Promoting Integration

Virtual endorsement of interracial marriages came from an independent Episcopal group last month.

Delegates to a meeting of the Episcopal Society for Cultural and Racial Unity asserted in a statement that there are “neither theological nor biological barriers” to interracial marriages.

The organization, started in 1959, has about 1,500 members, including some leading clergymen (Bishop James A. Pike is a director) from the Protestant Episcopal Church, but it has no official sanction. Its members are said to hold liberal social views to an extent that they wish to prod the Episcopal church into accelerating integration.

The statement adopted at the meeting, held in Williamsburg, Virginia, called on the Episcopal House of Bishops to study, and later state in a pastoral letter, the denomination’s position regarding marriage between persons of different color.”

“Laws forbidding such marriages,” the statement said, “are contrary to Christian teaching, natural law and the constitution of this country.”

Methodist Missions

The Methodist Board of Missions is appropriating a record $23,500,000 for its next fiscal year, which begins June 1.

The figure was approved at the board’s annual meeting in Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, last month. It represents a $1,250,000 increase over the current fiscal year appropriation.

Methodists support mission work in the United States and 44 other countries. Last year the efforts entailed expenditures of more than $30,000,000. Special funds and investment income, neither of which are figured in the determination of an appropriation, augmented regular giving.

People: Words And Events

Deaths:Dr. Thomas A. Dooley, 34, famed Roman Catholic “jungle doctor” of Southeast Asia, co-founder of the Medical International Cooperation Organization, and best-selling author; in New York … the Rt. Rev. Donald Bradshaw Aldrich, 68, former Bishop Coadjutor of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan and dean of the Princeton University Chapel; in Dennis, Massachusetts … William Henry Branson, 73, immediate past world president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; in Glendale, California.

Appointments: As president of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Dr. Charles M. Cooper … as head of All-Church Press, Lambuth Tomlinson.

Election: As chairman of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, Greek Orthodox Archbishop Iakovos.

A “special long-range project on rapid economic change in the U.S.A.,” sponsored by the National Council of Churches’ Department of the Church and Economic Life, purposes to involve clergy and lay leaders at the national level and church members at the local level in economic trends.

The three-phase program is to overlap with President Kennedy’s four-year term of office. It is to include proposals of “changes required in the American economy for the United States to discharge its responsibilities to (a) the underdeveloped countries, (b) the NATO Powers, and (c) the Soviet-Sino economic challenge.” Preparatory commissions are meeting this month to plan a national conference in Pittsburgh, November 8–11, 1962, when co-ordinated emphases are to be disclosed. One proposal calls for an early meeting with inter-faith leaders.

The department chairman, Attorney Charles P. Taft, is an outspoken opponent of voluntary unionism, and has been criticized for “the National Council’s vigorous promotion of forced union membership” by proponents of right-to-work laws. Reed Larson of the National Right to Work Committee contends that “the NCC has probably damaged the cause of voluntary unionism to a greater extent than any other single group outside the union hierarchy itself.”

On NBC’s “The Nation’s Future,” William Buckley, publisher of National Review, scored some telling criticisms January 28 in a nationally-televised debate with Mr. Taft. Granting Taft’s insistence that the Church bears a social responsibility, Buckley protested the tendency of liberal churchmen (who have surrendered supernatural Christianity) to “gospelize” the welfare state, and to turn the Protestant pulpit into a political instrument. He deplored political and economic particularizations for which the Church has no mandate, and by which the NCC really implies “that those who do not share these positions are moral delinquents.”

CHRISTIANITY TODAY recently noted (December 19, 1960, issue) that NCC officials had not publicly disclosed that its Department of Church and Economic Life’s General Committee was comprised of many members biased in favor of larger government intervention. Among members were clergymen, business and industrial leaders, labor leaders, and the then Secretary of Welfare Arthur S. Flemming. The 18 key labor union executives included Walter Reuther, who had been listed as Lutheran-Missouri Synod (Victor G. Reuther, administrative assistant to the president, UAW, AFLCIO, is one of the department’s three vice chairmen). The roster of General Committee members has since been revised; Walter Reuther and two others have now been dropped, but 15 union leaders remain.

The Rev. Cameron P. Hall, executive director of the department, from whom the complete list of committee members is available, protested that CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S disclosure of the names only of labor leaders “can only result in a distorted, and therefore false, view” of the membership. The revised list includes union executives, churchmen and seminary professors active in socio-economic programming, and representatives of business and industry (who seem hardly to reflect the convictions of “organized business” with the same strength and authority as “organized labor”). A Congresswoman, Mrs. Edith Green (Oregon) is on the list, as is Charles C. Webber (an ordained Methodist clergyman salaried by AFL-CIO as Representative for Religious Relations) whose name, in contrast with that of other ministers, does not openly carry the title “Rev.” in the NCC list. Mr. Webber’s most recent “Office for Religious Relations” letter circularized AFL-CIO publications advocating additional taxes on United States stockholders, increased government spending for goods and services, more taxes on corporations, and lower taxes for low income families.

A Perennial Battle

Hawaii is girding itself for what may be the most intensive phase of a perennial battle to legalize gambling. Church and civic groups have joined hands in an effort to block the introduction of pari-mutuel betting.

For many years it has been customary for someone to introduce a bill into the legislature as it meets in historic Iolani Palace in Honolulu. The efforts to introduce horse racing, cock fighting, and other gambling activity have always met with defeat. But biggest showdown apparently is yet to come in the nation’s newest state.

Mainland interests, backed by large sums of money, are strongly arguing for pari-mutuel betting. Promises of increased tourist dollars, welfare support, and tax money are being held out as reasons why gambling should be legalized.

Protest petitions are being circulated in churches and elsewhere by the Hawaiian Citizens Committee for the Prevention of Pari-mutuel Gambling.

P.E.T.

Uniform Divorce

A uniform divorce law went into effect throughout Australia February 1, replacing widely differing state statutes.

The Federal Parliament passed the new law more than a year ago after a long controversy with religious groups. Church spokesmen had argued that the act would make divorce easier, citing a clause which permits divorce if a husband and wife have been separated for five years continuously and “there is no reasonable likelihood of cohabitation being resumed.”

A last-ditch petition to amend the clause was rejected by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of her Australian Federal Ministers. Anglicans and Roman Catholics have been particularly outspoken in opposition to the new law.

Evangelicals on the Air

A radio broadcast representative of U. S. evangelical life and thought is on the planning boards. To be sponsored by the National Association of Evangelicals, the programs will be designed primarily for public service use by stations which refuse to sell time for religious broadcasts.

The project was unveiled last month in a report made at the 18th annual convention of National Religious Broadcasters in Washington’s Mayflower Hotel. NRB is a fellowship of radio preachers and programmers.

Format particulars are still to be worked out, and a producer is yet to be chosen. Sponsors are agreed, however, that the aim is to present a program which will communicate evangelical distinctives to the general public.

Overseeing the project is a five-man NAE committee including Dr. George L. Ford, executive director, and the Rev. Donald H. Gill, assistant secretary for public affairs.

The committee hopes to release the program by this fall, according to Gill.

The proposed broadcast is regarded as necessary by the NAE in view of the continuing trend toward so-called sustaining programs in lieu of purchased time for religious broadcasts.

Radio Honors

Dr. Charles E. Fuller, dean of radio evangelists, was given a gold-inscribed clock plaque by the ABC Radio Network last month “for 36 continuous years of broadcasting in the spiritual service of mankind.”

The anniversary presentation was made by Harry Woodworth, general manager of ABC’s western division. It marked also 11 years of consecutive network airing by ABC of Fuller’s “Old Fashioned Revival Hour.”

Beginning with a single radio station in 1925, the Fuller program has grown to where it is now heard by an estimated 10,000,000 people weekly over 600 stations around the world. The broadcasts originate in Eos Angeles.

Commending Kennedy

Editors assembled in Chicago last month for the 13th annual convention of the Evangelical Press Association assured President Kennedy of their “prayerful support as he seeks to uphold his commendably forthright pledges in the realm of Church-State separation.”

A resolution adopted by the convention commended Kennedy for his stand opposing federal aid to parochial schools. EPA represents 165 publications (total circulation: 6,500,000).

“We endorse his opposition,” the resolution said, “because we recognize such aid as tantamount to application of public money for promotion of sectarian interests.”

Moral Re-Armament’s Role

“The future depends to a very real extent on the churches coming alive to the things God has given to Moral Re-Armament to emphasize.”

The words were uttered last month by Dr. E. Benson Perkins, Secretary of the World Methodist Council, at the MRA World Assembly in Caux, Switzerland.

He said that in emphasizing the guidance of God and the absolute moral standards, Moral Re-Armament was only putting in different terms the things for which Christianity stands.

Recruiting the Retired

U. S. military services are seeing a gigantic exodus of personnel who have served 20 years and thereby become eligible for paid retirement. A large percentage of the personnel are relatively young with many productive years still ahead of them. To what extent this large corps of manpower can be tapped by religious organizations was the concern of a four-day conference in Washington last month.

Sixty delegates from twenty-two denominations attended the Brent Conference on Church Vocations for Retiring Service Personnel, named for the late Episcopal Bishop Charles Henry Brent, senior chaplain of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during World War I. Sponsors were the Yokefellow Institute of Richmond, Indiana, and the General Commission on Chaplains and Armed Forces Personnel, aided by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc.

It is estimated that 180,000 service personnel will be eligible for retirement in the next three years. The conference explored means whereby some of these might be recruited to fill the churches’ mounting needs for administrators, camp directors, youth and educational leaders, and ordained clergy.

Among conference participants was Dr. D. Elton Trueblood, who is professor of philosophy at Earlham College and a noted Quaker leader.

Whither the Study?

The American Friends Service Committee, which is under wide suspicion for promoting leftist philosophies, plans to renew activity programs among U. S. youth, according to a report given at an annual meeting in Philadelphia last month.

There was no public reference, however, to the progress of a self-study promised following severe criticism of the AFSC last summer because of infiltration by Communist sympathizers.

The AFSC conducts youth seminars which have been branded as socialist-pacifist brainwashing sessions. Originally founded as a relief organization by Rufus Jones, a well-known Quaker, following World War I, the AFSC has in recent years taken on the character of a political action group with a subversive propaganda line. Although a number of Quakers are allied with it, the organization has no official ties with any yearly meetings. Other Quakers have been outspoken in their criticism of AFSC leftist tendencies.

Religion and Psychiatry

Dr. Rollo May, noted psychiatrist, says the current religious boom will backfire unless essential questions about the meaning of human life are given sound answers.

May told the second annual meeting of the Academy of Religion and Mental Health last month that the widespread interest in religion “is of course a result of the fact that great numbers of people, psychiatrists, psychologists and intellectuals of all sorts … have again asked the questions of the meaning of human life.”

Expressing the view that the questions reflect the positive aspect of the religious revival, he asserted that the answers given them were “inadequate.”

“Unless the answers to these questions are given on a more profound level both in psychiatry and religion, I believe that the present religious boom will backfire,” he said. “People will be left in a more alienated and meaningless state than before.”

‘Triumphant Tradition’

The Lord’s Day Alliance of the United States is premiering a 30-minute sound film, “The Triumphant Tradition,” which traces Sunday observance from the time of the Pilgrims until today.

Parts of the full-color film, produced by the Protestant Radio and Television Center in Atlanta, were previewed at the alliance’s annual meeting in New York last month.

A spokesman said the film is now available for local church showings by special arrangement. It is advertised as a “presentation of the importance of observing the Lord’s Day from a positive standpoint.”

Background music for the film consists of an original score composed by a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The Healthy Baptists

When the American Baptist Convention began an official survey and study several years ago to try to pin down the weaknesses and strengths of the body in which more than a million and a half church members are associated, it was with a warning that the results might well be discouraging.

But during the last week in January, more than a thousand of the convention’s clergymen, leading lay persons, administrators and missionaries gathered in historic First Baptist Church in Minneapolis to take a sobering look at the diagnosis, and declared themselves satisfied that the American Baptist Convention is a healthy organization with its greatest and most productive years still to come.

Most leaders attending the Convocation on The Mission of The Church approached their problems from a warmly evangelical point of view, and seemed to be honestly grappling with an underlying question of the contemporary, modern techniques which must be brought to bear upon society’s deep problems without doing harm to the basic proclamation of the Christian Gospel. Perhaps this warm and seeking spirit of the convocation was peculiarly fitting for the American Baptist leadership in this setting of the auditorium of Minneapolis’ First Baptist Church, where for more than a half-century the compelling evangelicalism of famed Dr. W. B. Riley had noticeable effect against “modernistic” erosions in the convention.

Although the convocation was not planned as a “revival meeting,” Dr. Paul O. Madsen, associate executive secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Societies, said at the conclusion: “There were definite indications that hundreds of persons found a new basis for spiritual renewal at the personal level in response to the challenges of the convocation.”

Dr. Madsen said many persons expressed in many ways “a new sense of evangelical concern for the world.”

“They also expressed deep concern as to whether our convention will be able to implement new techniques to face up to the rapid shifts and changing conditions in nations throughout the world,” he added.

Could the American Baptists take encouragement from the results of their major check-up?

“Yes, without question,” Dr. Madsen said. “The results of our wide study showed that the American Baptist Convention was at the crossroads in the 50’s. But we found ourselves, and with new vigor and vision in our mission, have shown growth and progress since 1955. With a new insistence on what it means for men and women to be new creations in Christ, American Baptists are humbly on their way to enlarged service and expanded ministry in a world that needs so desperately a truly consecrated commitment to the commission of Jesus Christ.”

The convocation disbanded on a sad note with the death of Dr. C. Arlin Heydon, 71, director of evangelism for the Arizona Convention of American Baptist Churches. Heydon, a participant in the convocation, had figured prominently in American Baptist activities for many years. He was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Phoenix for some 15 years and had served as Midwest director of evangelism under the American Baptist Home Mission Society. He was in semi-retirement for the past several years.

In the first such intensive, public self-analysis ever undertaken by an American church body, the convention learned such facts as these:

Baptists have changed from a predominantly small town membership to an urban membership. Baptists are fairly literate in biblical knowledge. The membership emphasizes worship as extremely important, with a growing concept of the central purpose of worship being to praise and thank God. The church, for Baptists, is primarily the place to hear the proclamation of God’s Word, as well as being the body of Christ. Fellowship is the single most important fact in attracting new members. Six of every ten active members are present each Sunday at worship. The inability of the prayer meeting to hold its own and enlist the support of the membership has been confirmed by the study. Forty-two of every 100 members give five dollars or more each week to the church’s financial support.

The study made plain that one of every three members is an “inactive” member, and gives the convention concern because the most inactive age group in the churches is that between the ages of 15 and 24, with the second highest inactive group being ages 25 to 39.

There are now 6,227 churches which consider themselves affiliated with the American Baptist Convention, and the average membership growth in the Convention is now 222 persons each week. Total membership at the end of 1959 was 1,548,795.

G.B.S.

The State-versus-Church struggle for the minds of the East Germans appears to be leaning in favor of the materialistic atheism of the Communist regime.

Church leaders are particularly distressed, according to recent reports, over the steady decline in baptisms in the Evangelical churches of East Germany. In some urban areas the number is said to have dropped to one-tenth the figure for previous years.

Church baptisms are giving way to the Namensweihe (socialist name-giving ceremony), an atheistic substitute now urged upon the people. In 1955, when the substitute ceremony was introduced, a maximum of 15 per cent of the children were said to have taken part. By 1956 the number had risen to 25 percent, and by 1959 to 65 per cent.

The assault on Christian practices has also included substitution of the Jugendweihe (youth dedication ceremony) for Christian confirmation and first communion. Communist sources claim that during last year about 88 per cent of all eligible youngsters took part in these substitute dedications.

The Evangelical Church in Germany, a Lutheran-Reformed composite which embraces five-sixths of the East German population, has denounced the substitute rites in the strongest terms. But the Communists persist, and are now promoting “socialist” marriage vows and burial services as well.

East German Evangelical sources say the weak resistance offered by many parents to the name-givings is evidence that wide segments of the population no longer consider baptism an important aspect of the Christian faith (despite the fact that it rests upon a specific command of Jesus Christ) and that practical de-Christianization of East Germany is picking up steam.

Deterioration of spiritual interests is largely attributable to Communist coercion and propaganda. But church leaders of West Germany also are blamed for poor strategy. Until now clergy officials have apparently made their plans within the presumption that Germany would be reunified. This approach, plus their decision to make a stand on an essentially weak position—the rite of confirmation—is sometimes criticized.

Observers point out that confirmation has never been considered a sacrament by the Lutheran church. The ceremony marks the end of formal religious instruction and the initiation of church membership, including the privilege of partaking of the Lord’s Supper. Many social trappings attend the occasion, often subordinating the rite itself, which is supposed to represent profession of faith and dedication of life. In a society not noted for religious fervor, the actual rite is readily displaced, especially if a proffered substitute retains social elements.

The weakening influence of churches in East Germany is also attributable to the continuing of exodus of thousands of citizens, among them active Christian workers, to the West. Between January 14 and 20 a total of 3,085 refugees asked for asylum in West Germany, according to the Federal Refugee Ministry.

It is known, however, that many East Germans are choosing to stay put primarily because they feel a responsibility to their faith. The situation may well be the making of martyrs. Dedicated Christians encounter resistance at every turn, and find recognition virtually impossible in any phase of life involving the government.

The Communist-Christian struggle in the Soviet zone of Germany is dramatically portrayed in a feature-length film, “Question 7,” to be premiered early next month in seven North American cities—Washington; Seattle; Milwaukee; Austin, Texas; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Columbia, South Carolina; and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. The film was commissioned on the same basis as “Martin Luther” by Lutheran Film Associates, a cooperative agency of the National Lutheran Council, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, the United Lutheran Church in America and the American Lutheran Church.

Both East and West Germans are now grappling with the Scriptures in search of a common attitude in the face of East zone Communist domination. The New Testament doctrine of the state has two facets; Romans 13 characterizes the “God-state,” while Revelation 13 characterizes the “beast-state.” Paul’s emphasis that government is of divine ordination, charged to preserve justice and restrain evil, has led at times to highly vulnerable interpretations. German Lutheranism’s state church mood in the past has allowed rulers to define the church’s responsibility in government. Political leaders have often gone unchallenged by churchmen, who stressed the duty of political obedience. Since the Hitler regime, Protestant exegetes have increasingly emphasized that Christian obedience is enjoined only as the government rules for God, not when it requires disobedience to the commandments of Scripture. The determination of the Nazi government to stamp out Christian faith is a live memory in German Protestantism. Hitler himself was a professing Catholic.

Protestant Panorama

• Congregational Christian churches favor merger with Evangelical and Reformed churches by a margin of about twenty to one, according to Dr. Fred Hoskins, co-president of the United Church of Christ which is being formed out of the merger. Hoskins says that of 1427 local congregations which have voted on the proposed merger, 1358 have given assent. A number of large Congregational churches have declared their opposition to the union, however, including historic Park Street Church in Boston.

• Thirty-four Lutheran congregations are applying for membership in a new church body to be known as the Church of the Lutheran Confession. All but 2 of the 34 formerly belonged to the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. They object to some of the synod’s doctrinal practices and to its continuing relations with the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod in the Synodical Conference of North America.

• The National Baptist Convention, U. S. A., Inc., proposes to purchase 5,000 acres of land in Liberia for American Negroes. Officials of the nation’s largest Negro church organization say the land would be divided into small farms and sold on a nonprofit basis to American Negroes in an effort to teach Liberian natives Christian living and modern farming methods.

• An evangelical group in the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar declared itself independent last month and gave notice of its intention to form a new body to be known as the St. Thomas Evangelical Church of India. The action culminates tension existing between the “evangelical” and “orthodox” factions within the Mar Thoma church for more than a decade.

• A bid by Mrs. Ingrid Bjerkas to become Norway’s first woman pastor failed last month, but the 59-year-old divinity graduate plans to keep trying. She was passed over in nominations for five vacancies in the state Lutheran church’s Diocese of Hamar, where she had applied for a pastorate. Although Norwegian law has for several years permitted entry of women into the ministry, Mrs. Bjerkas’ application for ordination was the first received. Acceptance of women as pastors has been a controversial issue for several years in the northern European countries where Lutheranism is the state religion. The Church of Denmark, first in the northern countries to ordain women, now has six women ministers. The Church of Sweden admitted its first three women pastors last April. In Finland, the state church has postponed action on the question until 1963.

• The Latin American Evangelist, official organ of the Latin America Mission, is marking its 40th anniversary of continuous publication by adopting a new, larger format beginning with its current issue.

• The 1961 biennial world missions convention of the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) will be held in six cities instead of at one center. Regional sessions are scheduled for September 20–22 at Akron, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky; and Chicago, and for September 27–29 at Oklahoma City; Phoenix, Arizona; and Portland, Oregon.

• Some 22,000 Methodist ministers are being polled by a committee formed to revise The Methodist Hymnal. Questions cover use of the hymnal in the local church and opinions of what should be changed.

• Rental or ownership of pews in New York’s Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, a tradition since the parish was founded in 1808, is being abolished. Fees for the use of pews “are an anachronism in 1961,” said the Rev. Benjamin Minifie, rector, in an open letter to parishioners last month.

• A pastor in the Church of Sweden was fined 75 crowns ($14.50) last month for refusing to perform a second marriage for a divorced person. The Rev. Alf Hardelin of Oeja was sentenced under a law which compels ministers of the national Lutheran church to marry all couples wishing a church wedding even if the partners are divorced persons.

England’s Two Archbishops

Word of the planned retirement May 31 of Dr. Geoffrey Francis Fisher as Archbishop of Canterbury was followed by an announcement that Dr. Arthur Michael Ramsey, at present Archbishop of York, had been nominated to succeed him as Primate of All England, and that Dr. Frederick Donald Coggan, now Bishop of Bradford, would move up to Ramsey’s archbishopric.

Both Ramsey and Coggan are in their fifties. Dr. Ramsey is noted as an Anglican churchman and theologian. He is closely involved in the ecumenical movement. At a press conference in Chicago in 1959 he stated that he would be “willing to accept the Pope as a presiding bishop among the bishops of Christendom, but not as infallible.”

Ramsey was ordained in 1929 and, after a short curacy in Liverpool, has held these offices: subwarden of Lincoln Theological College (1930–36), vicar of St. Benedict’s parish, Cambridge (1938–40), Professor of Divinity in the University of Durham and Canon of Durham Cathedral (1940–50), Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge (1950–52), Bishop of Durham (1952–56), Archbishop of York (1956–61).

Dr. Coggan is also a scholar, with a strong interest in preaching, and is well known as an evangelical churchman. Ordained in 1935, he served a curacy in the parish of St. Mary’s Islington, London, a historic evangelical stronghold, whose vicar is chairman ex officio of the annual Islington Clerical Conference, founded by Daniel Wilson a hundred years ago when he was Vicar of Islington. (Dr. Coggan was one of the speakers at this year’s Islington conference, held last month in the Westminster Church House in London.) He left Islington for Canada, where he took up the post of Professor of New Testament at Toronto’s Wycliffe College (1937–44).

He returned to England in 1944 to become principal of the London College of Divinity and held the office until 1956, when he was appointed Bishop of Bradford.

In 1958 Dr. Coggan was made chairman of a commission set up by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to consider revision of the Psalter. He has also been a member of an archbishop’s commission formed to revise the Catechism of the Church of England. When the report of this commission was presented to the full synod of the Convocation of Canterbury last month, there was criticism because the Devil had been omitted from the proposed new form. The old catechism includes a promise to “renounce the Devil and all his works.” In light of the criticism the commission plans to reconsider before submitting the catechism for final approval.

Evangelicals are particularly gratified over Dr. Coggan’s appointment as Archbishop of York. In former years he was closely associated with the British Inter-Varsity Fellowship. Observers viewed his appointment as the possible beginning of a new period of evangelical influence in the Church of England.

P.E.H.

Obscenity Crackdown

Postmaster General J. Edward Day says his department is planning “the toughest crackdown ever conducted” against those who use the mails for pornography.

The new postal chief adds, however, that he will de-emphasize publicity in the obscenity drive.

“Our approach will be that used by the FBI and other successful law enforcement agencies in that our drive will be conducted without fanfare,” said Day. “Our public statements on the pornography problem will be confined largely to comments on actual results achieved and convictions obtained.”

A Worthy Heresy?

Protestant Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike received a unanimous vote of confidence from 137 ministers of his California diocese following charges of heresy made by a group of Episcopal clergymen in Georgia last month.

The heresy charges, denied by Pike, were based on an article he wrote for the December 21 issue of The Christian Century (CHRISTIANITY TODAY, January 16, p. 21).

The Protestant Episcopal Tri-Convocation Clericus of Albany, Dublin, and Thomasville, Georgia, accused Pike of expressing “disbelief in the Virgin Birth of our Lord, the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as stated by the Church and the necessity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone.”

Commenting on the accusations, the bishop spoke of raising a counter-charge of heresy against some of his fellow ministers in Georgia for their practice of racial segregation.

“Now there is a heresy worth discussing,” he said.

Some observers were distressed over the bishop’s assignment to sociological concerns of a priority over the doctrinal, even respecting the supernatural birth of the Founder of the Christian religion.

Congo Evacuations

Violence in the Congo forced the evacuation of dozens of missionaries last month. Rebel activity and inter-provincial strife prompted the U. S. State Department to reiterate an advisory originally issued last summer which urges Americans to leave the country.

As of the beginning of February, about two fifths of the Congo was virtually without a missionary, according to a spokesman for the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association.

“The current chaotic situation,” said the Rev. Wade Coggins, editor of the EFMA’s Missionary News Service, “presents the most serious threat to missionary enterprise in the Congo since independence took effect seven months ago.”

The Katanga Province government ordered the deportation of Archbishop Kyprianos, Greek Orthodox Primate for Central Africa, for allegedly plotting the return to power of ousted Congolese Premier Patrice Lumumba.

Missionary evacuations in January were all in western sections of the Congo. A relatively stable situation prevailed in eastern sectors, and missionary work was not interrupted.

Here is a list compiled by the State Department of the most recent missionary evacuations:

AFRICA INLAND MISSION

Fred Achenbach, Edna Amstutz, Mrs. N. Atkinson and children, Dorothy M. Baker, John Barney and family, Laura I. Barr, Grace Barth, C. K. Becker, Jr. and family, Jessie Blanchard, Peter Braschler and family, L. D. Brown and family, L. J. Buyse and family, P. A. Buyse and family, Evelyn Camp, Margaret L. Clapper, G. L. Crossman and family, William A. Deans and family, Donald D. Dix and family, Mr. and Mrs. Earl D. Dix, Lorraine Ernst, Anne Foster, Elizabeth P. Frost, Miss Gifford, J. A. Gratian and family, Mary Hayward, Beatrice King, Virginia Landis, R. M. Lawhead and family, B. L. J. Litchman, J. H. Littlejohns and family, Martha Lohrmann, Olive Love, Behring MacDowell and family, two E. McFall children, Ruth D. Meredith, A. L. Miller, Evelyn Myers, Harold C. Olsen and family, Betty Partridge, Emory Pinkerton and family, L. Pontier and family, E. Carolyn Saltenberger, R. W. Robinson and family, E. G. Schuit and family, Marian L. Settles, Zola B. Smith, Dena Speering, P. Stam and family, Claudon Stauffacher and family, J. R. Stauffacher and family, Florence Stewart, Margaret Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Paul P. Stouch, Vera E. Thiessen, Florence Vance, Violet Vogel, Kay Waller, Burnetta Wambold, R. A. Ward and family, Mary Watson, Edward Weaver and family, K. White and family, H. W. Wilcke and family, Earl A. Winsor and family, Jane Winterling.

Green Stamps In Church

S & H Green Stamps—1,288,800 of them—bought a new station wagon for the youth department of Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

The stamps were collected in a three-month campaign by the church’s teen-agers who visited more than 1,500 homes.

They were traded in for the new car through a special arrangement with dealers.

One mathematically-inclined youngster calculated that if the stamps were laid end to end, they would stretch more than 18 miles.

CONSERVATIVE BAPTIST

Ana Best, Louise Buness, Geneva Burkland, James Burroughs and family, Ellen Everett, Bernice Foss, Thomas Humphrey and family, Paul Hurlburt, Jr. and family, Joanna Kile, Helen Kovorkian and daughter, Richard Mattson and family, Beatrice Nelson, Donald Nelson and family, Paul Okken and family, Patricia Pearson, Elwin Pelletier and family, Don Penney and family, Elvin Peters and family, Roy Prester and family, Elfrida Pruitt, Eleanor Schmeltzer, John Simmons and family, Dr. Dwight Slater and family, Dr. John Slater and family, John Swinborne and family, Charles Trout, Jr. and family.

METHODISTS

Miss Mary Bozeman, Mr. Alfred Burlbaugh, Mr. Donald Collinson, Mr. Douglas Crowder, Rev. Wayne Culp, Miss Sue Dunham, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Gaddes, Miss Ethel Homfeldt, Miss Dorothy Hughlett, Mr. John Hughlett, Miss Lorena Kelly, Rev. Charles Le Masters, Miss Edith Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Maughlin, Miss Margaret McDougall, Miss Marjorie Murray, Rev. Charles Reeve, Rev. and Mrs. Alexander Reid, Miss Sally Reinecke, Mr. Jack Reitz, Mr. William Richardson, Rev. Harry Speckman, Rev. and Mrs. James R. Stevenson, Mr. Rolla Swanson, Mr. Charles T. Weaver, Mr. and Mrs. John Wesley, Dr. and Mrs. Robert White. (The Methodist missionaries were evacuated by missionary pilot Paul Alexander of Conroe, Texas.)

OTHERS

Assemblies of God: J. J. Friesen and family, Jorgenson and family, J. W. Tucker and family. Christian Missions in Many Lands: R. D. Carpenter and family, Phil Claar and family, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Green, Miss G. Koppe (Canadian).

Amish Exemptions

Members of the Old Order Amish Mennonites and other religious sects which oppose participation in the Social Security program on conscientious grounds will not be required to take out social security numbers or list them on their income tax returns.

This will not exempt the Amish, however, from paying the “self-employment tax” to which all farmers are obligated.

Many Amish have refused to take out a social security number, explaining that they take care of their own aged and infirm members and that they do not want government benefits.

Some have also refused to pay the tax and the Internal Revenue Service went so far at one point as to confiscate the horses of a number of Ohio farmers.

Crusade Opener

Evangelist Billy Graham opened his 10-week Florida crusade with a pair of week-end rallies in Jacksonville Coliseum which drew an aggregate crowd of more than 35,000.

Modern reprinting methods continue to revive many valuable religious books which have long been unavailable. During 1959–60 many works reappeared.

Since 1945 there has been an overwhelming flood of reprints of classical evangelical books. This development in the religious publishing field attests the fact that the collapse of classical liberalism is accompanied by a renewed interest in evangelical theology. While there is an encouraging increase in contemporary evangelical books, the demand for solid evangelical reading far exceeds the output. Reprints help meet the demand.

Probably the most scholarly and elaborate American reproduction project is the 56-volume publication of Luther’s Works by joint arrangement of Concordia and Muhlenberg. The first 30 volumes contain Luther’s expositions of various Bible books, while the remaining volumes include what are usually called his “Reformation writings.” The immense undertaking is well along, 11 volumes having been completed.

Most reproductions do not involve new typecasting or translation as in the Luther project. The photo offset process is frequently used, often with shoddy results. The better publishers are careful to see that the type faces are readably clear and artistic by modern standards.

Some Significant Titles

The major new reprints of standard sets and books of reference include Phillip Schaff’s Creeds of Christendom (Harper), Josephus’ Complete Works (Kregel), James Hastings’ Great Texts of the Bible in 20 volumes (Eerdmans), John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (Westminster). The Cross Reference Bible, a monumental work edited by Harold E. Monser, together with his Topical Index and Digest of the Bible, have again been made available by Baker. In somewhat the same class is Kregel’s reprint of Joseph Bryant Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible and Emphasized New Testament. Baker has also reissued the Dictionary of the Bible (4th ed.) by John D. Davis and is in the process of reproducing the largest collection of sermonic material ever published, Spence and Excell’s Biblical Illustrator in 57 volumes.

Out of the wealth of the older biblical exposition have come such reprint treasures as: The Epistles of Paul by W. J. Conybeare (Baker); Harry A. Ironside’s addresses on Ezekiel, Galatians, John, Matthew, Proverbs, Romans, Song of Solomon and I and II Thessalonians (8 volumes); C. H. Mackintosh’s valuable Notes on the Pentateuch (Loizeaux); and The Epistle to the Romans by James M. Stifler (Moody). Sovereign Grace press has added to its growing Puritan Commentary Series Patrick Fairbairn’s The Prophet Ezekiel, Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg’s Ecclesiastes, George Lawson’s Ruth and Esther, Edward Marbury’s Exposition of Obadiah and Habakkuk, and to John Owen’s works his Exposition of Hebrews (seven volumes in four).

In the doctrinal and theological field Harper meets a strong demand by reprinting the generally acclaimed The Virgin Birth of Christ by J. Gresham Machen; Kregel offers two volumes on the Paraclete, The Holy Spirit, His Gifts and Power by John Owen and The Holy Spirit by E. H. Bickersteth; Presbyterian and Reformed keeps in circulation B. B. Warfield’s worthy theological works The Person and Work of Christ, Biblical and Theological Studies, Calvin and Augustine and also his cogent apologetic, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible. Zondervan has isued The Death and Resurrection of Christ by Abraham Kuyper. To its Puritan Library of doctrinal and devotional classics Sovereign Grace adds Alarm to the Unconverted by Joseph Alleine, The Wiles of Satan by Thomas Brooks, An Unregenerate Man’s Guiltiness before God by Thomas Goodwin, and Prayer by William Gurnall. Baker has republished James Large’s 280 Titles and Symbols of Christ.

Preaching and the pastoral ministry will be enriched by the wider circulation of John A. Broadus’ On the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons and J. H. Jowett’s The Preacher: His Life and Work (Harper). Baker has made again available James Burns’ old Revivals, Their Laws and Leaders.

Currently available devotional literature will be enriched by the reappearance of F. B. Meyer’s The Sermon on the Mount and Calvary to Pentecost (Baker); Lord, Teach Us to Pray by Alexander Whyte (Harper); A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life by William Law (Westminster) and Christ Our Example (Imago Christi) by James Stalker (Zondervan).

It should be noted that there is a regrettable duplication in reprints of some of the more notable titles. One might wish that this multiple expenditure of funds might be conserved in the interest of the evangelical cause as a whole. Such prodigality could well be avoided by turning more to translations into English of significant continental European theological literature.

The above list is far from exhaustive but is indicative of the fact that our modern flood of reprints continues unabated and that ministerial libraries can be well provided with the best of the past which still has a relevance for today.

New Era of the Paperbacks

Indeed we are on the verge of a great new day in the religious reprint business, since books bound in paper have set off a revolution in publishing, bookselling and reading. In Europe there were experiments with books unbound or bound in paper as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Publishers realized that most people would not be able to buy books unless they could be sold cheaply. Who has strolled by the little Paris shops on the banks of the Seine and not been tempted to buy paperbacks by the dozen? Paper-bound books actually form the bulk of current publications in the Latin countries and to a large degree in the Scandinavian lands.

In America, with the price of hardcover books constantly rising, owing to soaring costs of production, paperbacks are coming into their own. The book comers in drug stores, department stores and the “chains” have their eagerly patronized paperback racks. And a surprising number of religious books is available, though usually these are of a strongly liberal flavor.

Religious book publishers have read the “handwriting on the wall” and now we have Abingdon’s Apex Books, Harper’s Torchbooks, Eerdmans’ Pathway Books, the Macmillan line distinguished by its colophon, and a half dozen other quality sets. Some of these are hardbacks but the trend is toward the more inexpensive volumes. Not all paperbacks are reprints. Some of those which are have been severely trimmed down to size with consequent damage to the original text. It is unfortunate that format and price should be an excuse for excluding valuable and essential content.

Eerdmans’ new paperback series in the strictly evangelical and highly competent tradition of this house includes G. C. Berkouwer’s The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth, Edward J. Carnell’s The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr, J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism and Gordon Clark’s A Christian View of Men and Things. Eerdmans has also issued John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion in a 2-volume paperback edition. Kregel has put Josephus’ Complete Works in paper. Macmillan has done the same for C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and Mere Christianity; also J. B. Phillips’ Letters to Young Churches and God, Our Contemporary. Concordia has paper editioned Alfred M. Rehwinkel’s The Flood and is contemplating other ventures in this field. So significant is this development in religious book publishing that it rates a full-scale survey in all its aspects, particularly its meaning for the future. Some kind of revolution impends. There is here a tremendous potential in the popularization of religious books and a publishers’ bonanza.

But a word of caution needs to be spoken. The publishers’ temptation of quick profit at little expense by drawing upon last-generation and even last-century material is likely to hinder the development and encouragement of competent contemporary authors in the production of new volumes entirely relevant to the times. It is legitimate to enquire whether or not a hardship is being laid upon evangelical Christianity in a crisis hour by too long a look at the past and not enough serious attention to the crucial needs of today and tomorrow.

JAMES DEFOREST MURCH

Not all writing need achieve a place in the annals of literary art to be a great witness for the truth. Many an effort which can hardly be dignified as literature has been a great stimulus to the spirit. To know that when we die in faith, the works which we have done in faith, however lightly esteemed they may have been on earth, will be remembered by the Father in heaven is not only mightily comforting but true.

There is a sense in which we may speak of “relative values” in the printed word. Much of what passes today for literary art in the novel, for instance, is naturalism of the grossest kind. One reads about evil as something in which to delight; filth and unredeemed perversity are exhibited as though they were natural and right. This kind of production may be, and frequently is, couched in very arty language, but it is not responsible literature, and its final worth, so far as the barest respect for the truth is concerned, is below the level of the telephone directory.

Just an ordinary blotter bearing the imprint of a rural church but having on it a great principle or portion of God’s Word will far exceed An American Tragedy by Dreiser or Bryant’s Christless Thanatopsis in the ultimate value of its message or the influence it will have for the good.

Certainly writing does not have to be applauded by the world to bear a successful witness for Christ. Thousands of books deficient in erudition and brilliance of language have led men to heaven because they clearly presented the gospel of Christ. A tract which fulfills its function of proclaiming the Saviour’s message may lead a soul to the Lord, while a well-written novel whose vision of life is defiling and invalid may point the way to hell for countless souls. We forget that it is not necessarily art but the “foolishness of preaching” that avails. For “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.”

But to infer from this that we need not write what we profess in the best way we can, revising and reexamining our words until we are sure we cannot do better, is a mistake. The Lord is worthy of infinitely more than we can ever put forth as our best. The language we use should be vital enough to flesh our sword. Much of avowedly Christian writing (particularly what is written for theologians and pastors) betrays a certain diffidence, a lack of vigor and power which would imply possibly that the writer does not really believe the thing he is saying. Is there not frequently a complacent indifference toward evil, almost a genial tolerance toward it? All this may pass for good breeding, but it plays directly into the hands of the enemy. Had Martin Luther written as flabbily and spinelessly as even some of our evangelicals do, his attempts at Reformation would not have caused a ripple anywhere. When the trumpet issues only tremulous and tentative hemidemisemiquavers, the battle becomes a sham, a polite feinting of “gentlemanly” polemics. Such writing will never make literature, much less does it serve Christ.

Great writing, of course, cannot be taught. A writer must have the gift to begin with; and he must have the discipline to train that gift perseveringly. But to be a great Christian writer demands something more. We shall never have worthy literature to the glory of God unless we first have genuine Christians filled with the Holy Spirit and dedicated to His purposes. God alone can raise up such men, and if they are not around, we had better petition Him for them or supplicate the gift of the Holy Spirit, as Milton did, so that we ourselves may accomplish the task, at least in part.

Meanwhile, go back to your King James Bible, one of the greatest works of English literature on the market, the most popular and the most neglected, the only book one really needs on a peaceful desert island or in a cosmos hurtling to destruction. Study it, meditate deeply in it. You might absorb enough of its spirit to stimulate you to become a Milton in your own right. But even if you do not, linger—for you will find there him who is the aim and end of all Christian literature,

Man’s friend, his Mediator, his designed

Both ransom and Redeemer voluntary,

Him who came

To conquer sin and death, the two grand foes,

By humiliation and strong sufferance …

To earn salvation for the sons of men.

PRESSURES FOR GOVERNMENT FUNDS IN EDUCATION, SECULAR AND SECTARIAN

Mounting grants of federal funds to educational institutions, and ecclesiastical attempts to deploy such funds to sectarian institutions, distress us. State aid to universities and colleges is objectionable because an educational system increasingly dependent on government ultimately will find itself under state influence and then control. An educational system not wholly free to criticize the state should be resisted rather than encouraged in the present climate of world totalitarianism.

The tendency to exploit state subsidy in behalf of sectarian church colleges is no less strongly to be condemned. In behalf of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, Francis Cardinal Spellman and others advocate use of public funds to support denominational schools. Since Roman Catholics now hold much political power in America, the danger of ecclesiastical pressures for partisan ends widens at legislative, executive, and judicial levels. President Kennedy, first Roman Catholic president in American history, was elected to office on record against use of Federal funds for religious institutions. The citizenry should reinforce this sound American conviction against ecclesiastical influences. This can best be accomplished by continual alertness, lest the unceasing pressures of certain church groups bring about a change while we are looking the other way.

Already the New York state legislature is faced with a sneak proposal to circumvent an explicit prohibition of the state constitution (“Neither the state nor any subdivision thereof shall use its property or credit or any public money, or authorize or permit either to be used, directly or indirectly, in aid … of any school or institution of learning wholly or in part under the control or direction of any religious denomination, or in which any denominational tenet or doctrine is taught …”). The proposal is that a $100 or $200 grant be given every private or denominational college resident student, payment to be given the college toward tuition costs. The New York Times alertly editorializes that the proposal’s advocates “instead of thus trying to evade the Constitution” should frankly “advocate amending the Constitution to permit the use of public funds for the support of denominational schools and colleges. We think such a proposal would be wrong, but at least the issue would be posed openly.”

Commenting on Romanist pressures, Dr. Oswald C. J. Hoffmann (whose Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod operates the nation’s largest Protestant elementary school system) said: “Let Cardinal Spellman speak for himself.… He does not speak for us Lutherans.” Neither, we might add, does the Cardinal speak for public policy both firmly planted and deeply rooted in American political traditions.

SEARCHING FOR A PHILOSOPHY IN AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOLS

Recent studies raise the question of the advisability of teaching Philosophy in American high schools. The booklet “Philosophy in High School,” a report on a Lilly Endowment project by MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, tells the story of a three year experimental course in Jacksonville High School.

A few observations on Philosophy in high school may not be amiss. The place to begin, we think, is with a course in Logic, stressing the rules of the syllogism. Logic is used in geometry, a standard high school course, and some study of the method itself would be useful (even for fortifying students against some speculative prejudices of opinionated teachers to whom they sometimes are specially vulnerable).

Ethics is a poor subject for high school study. Although insisting that the young should be trained to live morally, the Greek philosopher Aristotle rightly noted that good judgment on ethical questions requires a maximum experience. (Logic and mathematics require a minimum.) Are high school students sufficiently mature for creative ethical decision?

The promotion of Philosophy in high school reminds us of the public school system’s tendency systematically to ignore the Christian view of all subjects. It puts the wrong emphasis on Western history by neglecting the truth of the Reformation. The readings in English avoid solidly Christian writing. A course in Ethics would surely refrain from locating the reason for moral distinctions in the will of God. Have not the courts in some cases already banned the Ten Commandments? And may we not expect them likewise, in deference to minority pressures, to decide that the Beatitudes and the final chapters of some of the Epistles are un-American? Indeed, un-American because Christian?

CHRISTIAN BACKGROUNDS AND OUR AMERICAN CULTURE

Miss Verna M. Hall had been invited to speak to a small PTA meeting. When the school board learned that she planned to speak on the Christian background of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, they canceled her invitation. Christian ideas in the nation’s history are apparently too un-American to be aired before the parents of school children.

As a result of the experience Miss Hall has published a 481-page volume, Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (The American Christian Constitution Press, San Francisco, 1960). The volume contains a great deal of documentation, both from European and American sources. Some of it is unfortunately second-hand. On the other hand there are 69 pages photographically reproduced from the 1714 edition of John Locke. Locke’s social compact theory, still popular, is of course no more Christian than that of J. J. Rousseau. But this great English philosopher exercised a great influence on American government; his separation of the three powers is a great bulwark against statism and totalitarianism.

Books of this type are needed in these days, for the public school system often seems bent upon eradicating all memory of Christianity. A Pennsylvania parent complains that the public school in his town prohibits the pledge of allegiance to the flag because it contains the words “under God.” In Colorado a fifth grade teacher had his contract revoked a few days before the beginning of the September term because he had conducted a Christian camp during the summer. And these two are not isolated examples.

In such a situation many Christian parents seem more and more disposed to found and operate their own schools, and understandably so. They purpose to give their own children a good education, and to avoid a species of bigoted secularism that distorts history by omitting the most important factor in our culture. The American spirit cannot be grasped without regard for Christian traditions and dynamisms. Whoever deletes these from the chronicles of the past rewrites American history with an alien intent.

I Believe …

To interpret creedal statements as poetry as over against prose is a treacherous development in the life of the Church. By granting to them only a symbolic sense, theological dissenters may repeat the creeds but utterly reject their stated truth. Eventually laymen must surely discover that such clergy do not actually believe what they emote in poetry and song. By this devious procedure, what is sung has meaning and response only in personal, subjective terms; creeds as poetry offer escape from the objective claims of revealed doctrine. At Christmas a Unitarian may thoroughly enjoy singing the Messiah and a minister who disbelieves the Virgin Birth, the Apostles’ Creed. In fact, a humanist who denies the Living God altogether can sing the first article of the Creed with the same gusto as an Episcopalian bishop who, although he denies the Virgin Birth, sings the fourth and fifth articles. To set doctrinal truths to verse and music is one thing, to make poetry and song a covert for theological unbelief is quite another.

THE SEASON OF LENT AND CHRISTIAN DENIAL OF SELF

The season of Lent is a period of forty days extending from Ash Wednesday (February 15 this year) to Easter (April 2 this year)—a reckoning which does not include the six Sundays that fall within this season. The word Lent comes from an old English word for the season of Spring. For centuries the Church has observed the forty days of Lent in commemoration of the period of forty days spent by our Lord in the wilderness at the time of his fasting and temptation. By many it is used as an opportunity for self-denial and spiritual discipline. This can be of real value provided it does not become a mere formalistic observance. If Lent is no more than the endurance of an annual interlude in what is otherwise a life of self-indulgence, then it is no more than a meaningless mockery. If Lenten abstinence gives a boost to human pride and self-merit, then it had better be omitted altogether. The season of Lent, properly observed, is an occasion for reminding ourselves that our whole life should be one of self-abnegation in obedience to the Master’s admonition that he who will follow him must deny himself and take up his cross daily, just as the whole life of him whom we profess to follow was one of humility and self-emptying for our sakes. It should remind us, further, that Christ himself is no stranger to the feeling of our infirmities, in that he was tempted in all points as we are, though with this one important difference, that he did not yield to temptation and commit sin; and therefore that if we, weak and inadequate as we are, are to overcome the tempter, it will not be in our own power, but in the power of him who is our living and victorious Saviour and Lord.

Added significance is given to the season of Lent by the fact that, in the Christian year, it leads up to the solemn remembrance of our Lord’s passion and death on Good Friday. It is a period during which spiritual life may be enriched through literature written in contemplation of the Cross as the place of our redemption, and especially through the prayerful study of God’s Holy Word.

EVANGELICAL CONTRIBUTION WIDENS IN THE WORLD OF RELIGIOUS BOOKS

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S annual list of 25 choice evangelical books has the merit of calling special attention to some of the many volumes pouring from the religious press today whose evangelical worth might otherwise be underestimated. Not only are thousands of pastors today scanning this list for works falling into their particular areas of interest, but librarians in Christian schools and churches inform us that the nominations provide helpful guidance in making current additions.

It is heartening that the quality as well as the quantity of evangelical literature is on the rise. The need remains, however, for works of theological and literary merit, and major publishing houses today are open to them as seldom in our generation. Yet the restrictions employed annually in preparing our list are such that some works of merit fall outside its scope.

One thinks of the $100-a-copy limited edition of Don Norman’s The 500th Anniversary Pictorial Census of the Gutenberg Bible (Coverdale Press). At the other extreme, mention may be made of significant paperbacks, especially the Modern Thinkers Series (Presbyterian and Reformed) on contemporary theologians; Helmut Gollwitzer’s The Dying and Living Lord (Muhlenberg), a series of stirring sermons preached in the face of Nazi tyranny; the fine booklet Challenge and Response, under which title the Christian Labour Association of Canada reprints its 1960 convention address by Bernard Zylstra; the report of discussions at the Protestant Council on Roman Catholicism at Buck Hill Falls titled Revolt and Commitment (Stuart P. Garver, editor), issued by Christ’s Mission; and the bibliography for The Biblical Novel: A Checklist with an introductory essay, compiled by Arnold D. Ehlert.

Nor have the Editors listed contemporary biographical essays, such as Richard Gehman’s firsthand survey of the dynamic work of Evangelist Bob Pierce titled Let My Heart Be Broken (McGraw-Hill) and Ethel Wallis’ The Dayuma Story, a colorful glimpse of missionary fruit among the Auca Indians (Harper). In view of the 400th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation, moreover, note should be taken of J. H. S. Burleigh’s Church History of Scotland (Oxford) and A. M. Renwick’s The Story of the Scottish Reformation (Eerdmans), the two volumes gaining added interest from the identification of Principal Burleigh (former editor of The Evangelical Quarterly) with New College, and of Professor Renwick with nearby Free Church College, Edinburgh. The year 1960 also saw such additions to the New Tyndale Commentaries (Eerdmans) as R. P. Martin’s Philippians and R. V. G. Tasker’s The Gospel of John. No additional work has appeared in the New International Commentary on the New Testament (Eerdmans) since the first volume of John Murray’s Romans more than a year ago.

It is only in modern times that leaders within the Christian Church have assailed the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible. Over the centuries, of course, enemies have not been lacking who have assailed it from without; but today it has become fashionable in many church circles to deny the inspiration of the Bible in the classical sense. The Bible is, indeed, now widely regarded as a book of human, not divine, origin—inspired only in the humanistic sense that the Hebrews, who wrote it, had a genius for religion, just as the Greeks had a genius for philosophy, and the Romans a genius for government. The evolutionary interpretation of reality, which has so powerfully influenced the thinking of the Western world, assigned the Bible, in its different parts, a place within the supposed gradual development of religion from the crude apprehensions of primitive man in his cave-dwelling to the refined concept of ethical monotheism of our day. This viewpoint inevitably accords the Bible a position of purely relative significance, in radical conflict with the high conception of it as the inspired Word of God addressing a unique revelation of truth to fallen (not rising) man, and therefore absolute in its significance.

Again, it is characteristic of the so-called neo-orthodox theology of our day, with its emphasis on “encounter,” to define the Bible as a word of man which may, at certain times and under certain circumstances become the Word of God to me: that is, God may speak or reveal some truth to me through it, so that at that point in my experience it, or some portion of it, functions as a Word of God to me. Correlative with this outlook are the conceptions of the Bible as not in itself the Word of God, but as containing the Word of God, as conveying truth through the “kernel” of myth, independently of whether or not the “outer shell” in which the myth is enclosed is historically true, and even as—by a strange quirk of divine providence!—conveying truth through error. Conceptions of this kind are marked by a subjectivism which contrasts noticeably with the classical view of the Bible as an objective revelation given by God.

What, then, are we to believe about the inspiration of the Bible? Three main witnesses have a claim upon our attention: the witness of the Bible to itself; the witness of history; and the witness of God.

The Witness of the Bible to itself. Some people take exception to the procedure whereby the Bible is allowed to witness to itself. Certainly, the argument “the Bible claims to be the inspired Word of God, therefore it is the inspired Word of God” is not by itself admissible. But it is a commonplace of legal justice that any person standing trial has the right to engage in self-testimony. By itself—that is, in the absence of the independent witness of other persons or of circumstances—that self-testimony may or may not be true. The point is that it may be true, and so it must not be stifled. In the case of the Bible, it bears witness to itself in terms which, if true, are of the most vital consequence for the whole of mankind. Its witness must, therefore, be heard.

All who read the Old Testament cannot help being struck by the theme which so often and so extensively recurs that it may properly be described as the leading theme, namely, the assertion that it is God, not man, who is speaking. This impression is conveyed by the use of characteristic expressions, such as “Thus saith the Lord …,” and “The word of the Lord came unto me, saying.…”

The implication of such expressions is fully corroborated by the witness of the New Testament to the Old. Thus the Apostle Paul affirms that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (or, literally, is “God-breathed,” 2 Tim. 3:16); the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews declares that it was God who spoke in time past in the prophets (1:1); and Peter asserts that the ancient prophets “spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). And what could be more significant for the Christian than the attitude of Christ himself (with which, of course, the attitude of his apostles is fully consonant)? He emphasized not only that he had not come to destroy the law and the prophets but to fulfill them, but also that not one jot or tittle would pass away until all things were accomplished (Matt. 5:17 f.). The Scripture was for him something that could not be broken (John 10:35). In the temptation in the wilderness, the devil is on each occasion repulsed, without further argument, by a quotation from the Old Testament, “It stands written …,” the plain inference being that it is the absolutely authoritative Word of God (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10). It was the Old Testament Scriptures, viewed in their entirety—“the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms”—which the risen Saviour expounded to his disciples, emphasizing the necessity that all things written in them concerning him should be fulfilled (Luke 24:44 ff.). Throughout the New Testament, indeed, the whole of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is seen in the light of the fulfillment of Holy Scripture, and therefore as a vindication of the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

But, it may be asked, what of the New Testament? It, too, is not without its own self-testimony. If the Old Testament bears witness pre-eminently to the One who is to come, the New Testament bears witness to the One who has come. It testifies to him who, in his person and action as well as in his teaching, is the Word of God incarnate. The New Testament is the record of the imperishable truth which Christ brought and taught. Christ himslf proclaimed that heaven and earth would pass away, but that his words would not pass away (Matt. 24:35). Moreover, he promised to his apostles that the Holy Spirit would teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all that he had spoken to them, and would lead them into all truth and reveal to them things that were to come (John 14:26; 16:13). This is the very keystone of the New Testament and of the claims which it makes for itself. Accordingly it is a mark of consistency to find John affirming that the witness of his Gospel is true (John 21:24) or Peter classifying Paul’s epistles along with “the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15 f.).

The Witness of History. The witness of history to the Bible is the witness of the history of the Christian Church. Until modern times, as has already been said, the Bible was always acknowledged by the Church to be the inspired Word of God. The significance of this fact can hardly be overemphasized. The definition of the canon of Holy Scripture—and especially of the New Testament, since that of the Old was already established—in the period that succeeded the age of the apostles, so far from being the result of the assertion of an authority superior to the Bible (as though the books of the Bible became canonical because the Church pronounced them to be so), was in fact a recognition of this very principle of the divine inspiration of the Bible. It was a recognition of an authority vested in the biblical books which is unique and normative precisely because together they constitute the Word of God written. If there was one external factor which played a decisive role in the fixing of the New Testament canon, it was the equating of canonicity with apostolicity. Books which were not of apostolic origin were not admissible as canonical. In other words, the authority vested in the apostles is now vested in their writings, through which they continue to govern the Church.

But there was no question of this authority of the apostles being human authority; for, inasmuch as it was derived from Christ, their divine Master, theirs was a divine authority, and their teaching (handed down in their writings) again was not their own, but Christ’s, in accordance with his promise that the Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance all that he had taught them and would lead them into all truth. In defining the canon of Scripture, therefore, the Church, with the instinct of faith, was acknowledging and submitting herself to this authority, which, even more than apostolic, was dominical; for, ultimately, the authority involved is none other than that of the Lord himself.

Although the unanimous consent of the Fathers is in the main an ecclesiastical fiction, yet there was at least one doctrine in which they were united, namely, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. It was far from them to claim for their own writings the inspiration which they attributed to Scripture. And the same is to a particular degree true of the age of the Reformation, when, in the light of the biblical revelation, which then shone forth again after centuries of spiritual darkness, all pretended authorities were exposed as spurious except insofar as they were subject to the supreme authority of the Word of God. Also worthy of notice is the inconsistency of modern liberal authors who, while denying the objectivity of the Bible as the Word of God, nonetheless commonly seek to authenticate the theology they propound by adducing statements and quotations from the Bible, as though it were in fact objectively authoritative.

Mention may also be made of the history of persecution. Men and women from generation to generation have given proof of the inspiration of the Bible by the radical transformation which the reception of its message has produced in their lives, so much so that they have held the Bible to be more precious than any other possession, and have been willing to suffer torture and death rather than deny its truth by which they have been set free. Attempts also to destroy the Bible, to bum it, to ban it, or in any other way to obliterate it from society, have ever proved futile. Not only does it continue unchallenged year after year as the world’s best-seller, but it is beyond doubt the greatest force for good and blessing in every sphere of human society.

The witness of history to the inspiration of the Bible is indeed massive, and it powerfully confirms the witness of the Bible to itself. When, as at the present time, the Church is tempted to leave the old paths and to disparage this witness of her history, she should ask herself whether she is not in fact thereby in danger of ceasing to be the Church and bartering her heritage for something that is not of God but of the devil.

The Witness of God. Here we come face to face with that testimony which is absolutely conclusively and inexpungable. The witness of God is greater than the witness of man. It needs no support but stands firm by itself. Briefly stated, the position is this: if the Bible is in reality the inspired Word of God it must as such be self-authenticating; it is in no need of human sanction. God himself witnesses to the truth of the Bible. As its Author he also authenticates it to the heart and mind of every believer. It is by the operation of the Holy Spirit that we are brought to faith in Christ, and that saving faith is founded upon the Good News proclaimed in the pages of the Bible, and nowhere else. It is by the internal witness of the Holy Spirit that we acknowledge and appropriate the biblical message, and are assured daily and constantly that “all scripture is inspired of God.”

As the witness of the Holy Spirit, this testimony is objective; as an internal witness within the believer, it is subjective. As at the same time both objective and subjective, this witness is completely impregnable. He who experiences it cannot gainsay it. He who gainsays it has not experienced it and should search his heart as to why this is so.

In all charity and humility we would invite those to whom this internal witness of God the Holy Spirit is something strange to consider whether they are not lacking one of the essentials of genuine Christianity, and whether, consequently, they are in any proper position to assail the doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible. We would urge them to pray that God will grant them the witness of the Holy Spirit to convince and enlighten both heart and intellect.

Finally, let us ever remember that the primary purpose and function of Scripture is to lead us to Christ, that its proper place is within the framework of God’s plan for our redemption. Hence Paul advised Timothy that the Holy Scriptures were able to make him ‘wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15); Peter reminds his readers that “the word of the Lord abideth for ever,” adding that “this is the word of the gospel which was preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:25); and John, in describing the purpose of what was possibly the last in time of the biblical writings, asserts: “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31).

“The Scripture,” wrote the Reformer and martyr William Tyndale, to whom, more than anyone else, we owe the priceless treasure of our English Bible, “is that wherewith God draweth us unto him, and not wherewith we should be led from him. The Scriptures spring out of God, and flow unto Christ, and were given to lead us to Christ. Thou must therefore go along by the Scripture as by a line, until thou come at Christ, which is the way’s end and resting-place.” May God grant us to use this holy book for this holy purpose.

Bibliography: Loraine Boettner, The Inspiration of the Scriptures; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (I, vii); John Jewel, A Treatise of the Holy Scriptures; Carl F. H. Henry, ed., Revelation and the Bible; James Orr, Revelation and Inspiration; Cornelius Van Til, introductory essay, B. B. Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible; Warfield, The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible; William Whitaker, A Treatise of the Holy Scriptures.

Editor

The Churchman

London, England

There is a feeling of uneasiness in the air, a foreboding of pending disaster, shared by people in almost every walk of life.

When the 87th Congress convened, Speaker Sam Rayburn told the House that the world situation is more grave than at any time since Christ came.

A few months ago Dr. Wernher von Braun wrote: “In their constitutionally guaranteed pursuit of happiness many Americans seem to refuse to look at the dark clouds which are rapidly moving up. I fear it is later than we think, and our position in the world is gravely endangered.”

In January of this year a National Planning Association urged incoming President John F. Kennedy to “tell the country the stark, unvarnished truth about the national emergency” created by the challenge of Soviet communism.

Making full allowance for man’s myopic vision of that phase of history of which he finds himself a part, the fact remains that the small world in which we now live is torn by conflicting movements which seethe and erupt simultaneously in many parts of the world. Today it may be Cuba and Laos, the Congo and Berlin. Tomorrow other areas will be the scenes of unrest.

With all of its ominous implications—infiltrating, subverting, and taking advantage of every opportunity, is the world-wide Communist conspiracy which works relentlessly and successfully towards its goal of world domination.

Anyone aware of the current world situation, be he an intelligent analyst or merely a bewildered observer, is conscious of a sense of uncertainty—waiting for something to happen. And it will!

For the leaders of Communism see to it that the free world is kept off balance. Expanding populations, nationalistic aspirations, economic pressures all make for a spirit of unrest with mob violence and other precipitate actions adding to the opportunities of well-organized, disciplined Communist followers to further their plans of conquest.

These may not be the “last days” (while on the other hand they may be), but certainly the words of our Lord are being fulfilled today: “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.”

This sense of uncertainty and foreboding is engendering in non-Christians a grave instability. Even Christians are in danger of being confused, for no longer do we find convictions about right and wrong the controlling factor. Men and nations are resorting to expediency, looking for immediate gain rather than for ultimate righteousness.

Whether expressed or not, men are looking for escape, for a place to hide. Not long ago a news commentator recounted a number of world catastrophies and facetiously ended with this query: “Anyone know of a nice cave in which I may hide?”

Many are seeking escape in pleasure, sex, alcohol, material possessions. Others look for safety in the philosophy of Babel—organizations and man-devised panaceas—and hope by these to counter the acknowledged unrest and disintegration in every part of the world.

World uncertainty carries with it a longing on the part of men for someone to lead, a man with commanding personality, great ability, and recognized international sympathies.

Let some man appear on the world scene who has the magnetism to attract, a financial genius, a sympathetic administrator with an iron will, one who holds out hope of a “just and durable peace,” and the world as a whole will enthusiastically accept his leadership.

But in all of this, the unregenerate world is ignorant of or is wilfully ignoring the One in whose hands are to be found the answers to the world’s dilemma.

While the “whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now” few indeed, in terms of the world’s millions, look to the One who says: “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

One can sense the yearning of the Saviour who came to redeem us from hopelessness. To us, as to the people in Jerusalem in his day, he says: “How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”

Does not this situation present to the Church one of her greatest opportunities? The Church has the message of the One who came to seek and to save. She has the assurances which men need, and should emphasize the priorities which our Lord himself stressed, namely, a regenerated citizenship for a Kingdom which will stand forever.

Rather than look to organizational and ecclesiastical alignments (important as they may be), the Church should again emphasize the message of redemption and regeneration. Have we not been neglecting to adjust our perspective to eternal verities?

The apostle Paul leads the way when he insists: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews expresses this creation’s future in these words: “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.”

For the Christian there is the assurance of Isaiah: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Countless other promises in the Bible are directed specifically to the comfort and hope of the believer in the midst of world disintegration.

Against the dark background of a world in chaos there shines the clear radiance of the Christ who came to save not a dying world order but individuals involved in its system. That He is so obscured by those who profess his Name, and that both individual Christians and the Church are failing to rise to the challenge and opportunity which the present uncertainty engenders are the major tragedies of our time.

In the midst of confusion, people are looking for certitude. Confronted by a crumbling social order, they long for something that will endure. Subjected to the conflicting claims of ideologies and philosophies which rise no higher than man himself, they long for Someone who speaks with divine authority.

To those who believe, the hope of His coming will replace foreboding; assurance will supplant fearfulness, and primary concern will shift from the temporal to the eternal.

And while waiting, we serve our fellow men for their good and for the glory of God.

L. NELSON BELL

SAY IT WITH MUSIC

Thank you for your recent editorial about a prominent churchman who cannot recite the creed as prose affirmation, but is happy to sing it. Pastor Peterson was fascinated; at once he began an improvisation to a familiar tune:

Sing the creeds away;

Sing and smile and say,

“Since I’m low, and broad, and high,

I sing the creeds away!”

Chant the creeds away,

No matter what you say,

Music with the truth of myth,

Is perfectly okay!

Some questions remain, however. What about a singsong preacher’s tone? Does this permit unlimited indulgence in orthodox terminology? Could we have some discussion of demythologizing and singspiration? What do you suggest for a myth-minded monotone, like the chap in the picture? To borrow a term from a friend of mine, I am

Singcerely yours,

EUTYCHUS

A FATEFUL HINGE

“The Living Plus Sign” (Jan. 2 issue) … is a magnificent, moving, revelatory and biblical proclamation of the Christian message.…

We are very grateful for this welcome addition to an already outstanding Christian fortnightly.

T. R. SISK, JR.

First Baptist Church

Hogansville, Ga.

Above the confusion of many voices it is good to hear voices unashamedly affirming “the foolishness of God.” To what extent no one can determine, but it is an impelling conviction that unbelief must eventually feel the effects of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

WILLIAM L. BORCH

Salem United Church of Christ

(Evangelical and Reformed)

Columbia, Pa.

“… The first transcontinental railway was completed” when a golden spike was driven in Utah, 1869.…

LOUIS HIEB

Long Beach, Calif.

Bible preaching is indeed the hinge on which our evangelical future swings.

HAROLD F. GREEN

Parkview Baptist

Lake City, Fla.

The only way it is at all possible for me to appear weekly in the pulpit without suffering from “overexposure” is to stick to the Script.

RONALD H. LIND

Mizpah Lutheran Church

St. Louis, Mo.

THE ANGUISHED CRY

I am sure that if Brother Hoffman will forgive Brother Schulze for writing “modal monarchianism,” Brother Schulze will forgive Brother Hoffman for the tautology involved in “indispensable sine qua non” (Eutychus, Jan. 2 issue). Ever since it became necessary to shorten the name of “The Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States,” all true Missourians have been in favor of shortening names wherever possible. Here it is Brother Schulze who is riding the wave of the future.

Your readers should know that we in the Missouri Synod are wrestling with the real problems which led to the anguished cry of Brother Schulze. However, it would be more God-pleasing, I am sure, if the time and energy which is used to cover and to hide the problems were used instead to confess them humbly, to face up to them courageously, and with God’s help to solve them. I hope and pray that those who have come to love and to respect the Missouri Synod for its staunch defense of Lutheran orthodoxy in the past will say a prayer or two for a church that needs the prayers and the sympathy of all those who love the Lord Jesus Christ.

SIEGBERT W. BECKER

Associate Professor of Religion

Concordia Teachers College

River Forest, Ill.

THE ART THAT’S ALIVE

If in the field of painting, a medium that is almost dead anyway (Editorials, Dec. 5 issue), you want to find significant painting—don’t look at the New York galleries or their shirt-tail riders out in the universities. Look rather in the very small galleries around the country. Here and there you will find painters who are trying and to some extent succeeding in relating God and their work. But because they do not fit into the neat categories of the museum of modern art, their work will not be celebrated in the national magazines or other national media. But really, to carry on about modern painting is to flog a dead horse. The art that is really alive and really helping to bring God before the people is architecture. There are, of course, exceptions—but we are living in a new day of church architecture. A change like this—as deep as this—hasn’t taken place since Gothic times.

JAMES SWIFT

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

Crystal Falls, Mich.

INHERIT THE WIND

Thank you for your enlightening review of “Inherit the Wind” (Nov. 21 issue). It is a reflection upon the alertness and loyalty of evangelical Protestant folk that films such as this (as well as “Rain” and “Elmer Gantry”) are shown with almost no protest.

GEORGE WEISS, JR.

Sea Cliff, L. I., N. Y.

Contrary to Mr. P. E. H.’s opinion, the film follows very closely the factual account of what happened in Dayton, in 1925. “Purporting to reproduce the Scopes ‘monkey’ trial of 1925,” the film does exactly that, and does it well.

DAVID E. ENGDAHL

Mission, Kans.

CATHOLIC BUT NOT ROMAN

I feel I must draw your attention to an error in your article “Archbishop of Canterbury to Meet Pope John” (News, Nov. 21 issue).

There is no Roman Catholic Archbishop of London. He is Archbishop of Westminster, a quite different thing. The Archdiocese of Canterbury never was Roman Catholic. The Church in England was Catholic but not Roman.

WILLIAM DRAPER

St. Mary’s Rectory

Hillsborough, New Brunswick

It has always seemed to me that you were quite careful to check your statements of fact. But you assuredly let one get by you.… The simple fact is that Canterbury never was “Roman” Catholic. Beginning with the Norman conquest in 1066, indeed, the ancient British Church was forced to accept the jurisdiction of the Popes. But it was fought continually, and appeals to Rome were forbidden from time to time. In 1215 King John signed the Magna Carta, the great charter which guaranteed that “the Church of England shall be free, and have her rights entire and her liberties uninjured.” Under Henry, and again under Elizabeth, the English Church threw off the power and authority which the Popes had usurped so long: it did not secede from the unity of Catholic Christendom. Actually, the term “Roman Catholic” in English ecclesiastical history dates from the year 1570, when Pope Pius V deposed Queen Elizabeth and absolved her subjects from all allegiance. It was at this time that the recusants withdrew from the long-established Church, set up altar against altar, and organized into a mission on English soil to compete with the Church of England for the loyalty of Englishmen—all at the instigation of the Papacy. But it was the Roman Catholic Church which was the new body, not the catholic Church of England. To say that Canterbury was “formerly Roman Catholic” is not only to say what is not true: it is to misunderstand the whole history of English and Roman ecclesiastical relations.

FRED C. RUFLE

Wichita, Kans.

The “strong churchmanship” (Editorials Nov. 21 issue) which is supposed to be one of the blessings of liturgical worship as seen in the Church of England, is of dubious value as exemplified by either Dr. Fisher or the church which quietly permits him to open the door to unity without consideration of truth.…

ROBERT OVERGAARD

Immanuel Lutheran

Eugene, Ore.

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

In regard to Reinhold Niebuhr’s pronouncement of some time ago frowning upon the preaching of Christ to the Jews, … since Jesus Himself was a Jew, it was wrong for God to make Him the Christ. It was wrong for Christ to preach or proclaim Himself as Christ to the Jews.

MEYER MARCUS

Staten Island, N. Y.

RELIGION AT HARVARD

I fail to see any connection between the religious controversy at Harvard and the failure of Harvard to invite conservative American preachers to the Memorial Church pulpit (Editorials, Dec. 19 issue). I think it is rather the sincere thought on the part of the Board of Preachers that most conservative preachers either have little to offer an intellectual community or else would arouse much antagonism to the cause of Christ.

JAMES H. HORNSBY

Harvard College, ’61

Cambridge, Mass.

The regrettable thing about the situation at Harvard is that so much of what passes for Christianity bears little resemblance to the teaching of Christ and the preaching of the Apostles. Much effort is expended by professors, section men, et al. in demolishing what they take to be the Christian position. Students whose critical armament is insufficient to enable them to distinguish the true doctrine, on which the Christian faith must stand or fall, from fallacious or fanciful embellishments, often lose their footing in the deluge of witty but frequently irrelevant invective.

Unfortunately … only the exotic are welcome here. Even the Harvard Christian Fellowship went (Stott in 1957) and goes (Prior in 1961) abroad to find a preacher to bring the Gospel to Harvard.

The stumbling block for Christianity in Harvard’s religious revival is the widespread willingness to be interested in religion, opposed to a considerable fear of becoming personally involved. Since personal involvement is the heart of Christianity, no amount of “religious interest” will really further the cause of Christ. Memorial Church wants auditors, but not converts. Dr. Buttrick did convert several people during his tenure, and was rather at a loss as to what to do with them, since the Church really has no sacraments or fellowship life.

HAROLD O. J. BROWN

Second Congregational Church

North Beverly, Mass.

EXISTENTIALIST’S PRAYER

Source of all being, Who art the basis of reality, Hallowed be Thine objectification. Thy dominion enfold us. Thy will permeate existence, till existence realize its purest essence. Grant us daily sustenance. Accept us despite our essential distortions, as we accept those whose essential distortions tend to repel us. And lead us not into the objective-subjective dilemma, but deliver us from negation. For Thine is dominion, potential and actualization, forever. Amen.

PAUL B. BEATTY, JR.

St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Hamlet, N. C.

REPORT FROM TORONTO

Katherine Jansen says that nuns are teaching in public schools in some States “because the State has no schools in those communities” (Eutychus, Oct. 24 issue). This, surely, is strange reasoning. The schools in which the nuns’ teaching has been objected to are public schools paid for by the taxpayers. Since the R. C. church does not operate public schools, it must be that the schools operated “in those communities” are the state public school. What does she mean that the “State has no schools”?…

Beyond this queer argument is a more serious statement, which, for blind bigotry is hard to surpass. The same writer, in referring to orphanages, says: “Any knowing non-Catholic would know that they have no dedicated people to run orphanages.” In refutation of this undeserved insult, may we quote from a news report in The Toronto Globe and Mail of Oct. 3 covering a meeting of The Canadian Conference on Children. Five of nine provinces (Quebec did not report) had “an over-supply of Roman Catholic infants … and a shortage of Roman Catholic homes … an over-supply of Protestant homes willing to adopt children.” This reveals that there are more R. C. children (either illegitimate or from broken homes) and/or R. C. citizens prefer to have the State (including Protestant taxpayers) care for the products of Roman Catholic homes. This situation prevails in every large city, as in Toronto, where children’s aid work is twice as heavy for the R. C.’s as their proportion of the population would warrant; but how their church will exert legal and other influences to snatch a child of a mixed-marriage, while they have “an over-supply of their own infants and a shortage of homes for them.” Toronto, Ont.

LESLIE H. SAUNDERS

Rome’s real threat is religious, not political. While I fully agree with the many Protestants who continually point out the political threat of Rome and the danger of mixing Church and State, I believe that Rome’s false life and practices stem basically from false doctrine.

JAMES G. MANZ

Chicago, Ill.

In all the Protestant debate on the issue of a Catholic president, it seems to me that the most obvious point has been overlooked. That is, that the New Testament never suggests that the church of Jesus Christ can expect the political authority to show it any special favor.… The early church grew and flourished in spite of political hostility that often erupted into open violence.

ROBERT W. MEARS

Chicago, Ill.