Page 6294 – Christianity Today (2024)

Forecasting is usually a risky business, but book publishers remove most of the hazards. Before me lies a host of book tides, each with but gently tempered claims of its “uncommon values,” “unique approach,” and “significant treatment.” Although some books may offer less than their titles promise, and others fail to measure up to their dust jacket reputation, I “bravely” prophesy concerning the books to come. I rest on the promises of the publishers. What else can I do?

Since books come from the presses in a tumbling profusion of variety, I must create some order by placing them in categories. But let readers beware and authors be kind, for some books fit no category at all, and some fit five equally well. Charity is therefore in order, for the forecaster is to inform the reader concerning books he has not read, or even seen—these being the rules of the game.

Looking then to the future we have in the area of THEOLOGY Scribners promise of the late John Baillie’s The Sense of the Presence of God which takes into account existentialist movements in theology; Moody’s promise of The Future Life by René Pache; A. R. Allenson’s Biblical Words for Time by J. Barr; and Abingdon’s symposium on the theology of R. Bultmann by such men as W. Künneth, H. Diem, E. Kinder, edited by C. E. Braaten and R. A. Harrisville, titled Kerygma and History.

Although the nature of history is currently in question, there are ample offerings in HISTORICAL THEOLOGY with Oxford offering Grace and Reason, Brian Gerrish’s study of the theology of Luther; Sheed & Ward, Grace by R. W. Gleason, S.J.; Abingdon’s Man’s Faith and Freedom, G. O. McCulloh’s study of the theological influence of Jacob Arminius, and The Work of the Holy Spirit, L. M. Starkey, Jr.’s study of Wesleyan theology. The Augsburg Publishing House offers a translation of the doctrinal writing of Martin Chemnitz and Johann Gerhard, edited by H. A. Preus and E. Smits under the title The Doctrine of Man in Classical Lutheran Theology, and C. L. Hill and L. Satre’s translation, Melanchthon: Selected Writings. John Knox offers God Loves Like That, J. R. Taylor’s presentation of the story and theology of James Denney.

The category of ECUMENICS is occupied almost exclusively by Roman Catholics seeking to expand the “dialogue” on the theological differences which separate Protestants and Roman Catholics. Insisting on doctrinal agreement as a necessary basis for any possible union, Roman Catholics may thrust liberal ecumenists, who often prefer union on other bases, into a wholesome doctrinal confrontation and theological concern. Sheed & Ward promises the publication of The Council Reform and Reunion by Hans Kung—a book for which both Gustave Weigel and Bishop James A. Pike have a good word. Hawthorn Books promise The Second Vatican Council by Henri Daniel-Rops which tells the story behind Pope John XXIII’s calling of his ecumenical council, Scribners promise Paul Tillich and the Christian Message by Roman Catholic George H. Tavard, and Seaburg The Voice of the Church: The Ecumenical Council, by Eugene R. Fair-weather and Edward R. Hardy, an Episcopalian reaction to the call of the Vatican. Another bright promise is the John Knox production Beyond Fundamentalism in which B. Stevick calls conservatives and liberals to theological conversation. May this summons be heeded.

In the field of the OLD TESTAMENT spring will bring a translation of G. von Rad’s provocative Theology of the Old Testament (Harper, also Oliver & Boyd) in which von Rad does to the old Testament what R. Bultmann does to the New Testament. Harper will proffer Israel’s Prophetic Heritage, a discussion of crucial problems by eminent American and European scholars and edited by B. W. Anderson and W. J. Harrelson; Zondervan, J. B. Payne’s Theology of the Older New Testament, and Muhlenberg Press, Claus Westerman’s A Thousand Years and a Day. Also to come are The Old Testament Roots of Our Faith (Abingdon), by Paul and Elizabeth Achtemeier; Exile and Return (Baker), C. F. Pfeiffer’s history of Old Testament Israel 600 to 400 B.C.; and Distinctive Translation of Genesis (Eerdmans), by J. W. Watts. Sovereign Grace Publishers proffer The Moral Law by the principal of London Bible College, Ernest Kevan.

In Old Testament ARCHAEOLOGY Eerdmans will print J. A. Thompson’s The Bible and Archaeology and Nelson B. Rothenberg’s God’s Wilderness containing the findings of the first archaeological survey of the Sinai peninsula tracing the routes of the Exodus.

In NEW TESTAMENT studies the never-ending debate on infant baptism is continued by G. R. Beasley—Murray in Baptism in the New Testament (Macmillan); Nelson & Sons present an eight-version New Testament Octopla, edited by L· Weigle; Harper, Current Issues in New Testament Interpretation edited by W. Klassen and G. F. Snyder; and Zondervan presents M. F. Unger’s Archaeology and the New Testament. John Knox will produce C. F. D. Moule’s Worship in the New Testament, and the Herald Press, H. S. Bender’s The Body of Christ, and, what should prove an exceptionally interesting book, H. Berkhof’s Christ and the Powers. To this should be added D. Guthrie’s The Gospel and Acts (Tyndale), said to be an evangelical achievement which elicits the plaudits of liberals.

In the area of what I call CHURCH HISTORY AND ENVIRONS, spring and early summer will present to the lovers of history and historical theological writings The Growing Storm (Paternoster and Eerdmans) by G. S. M. Walker who traces the history of the Church from Augustine through the medieval papacy; Early and Medieval Christianity (Beacon Press) by R. H. Bainton; a Festschrift in honor of Bainton, Reformation Studies edited by F. H. Littell (Knox Press); The Gentle Puritan (Yale University Press) in which D. S. Morgan presents the life of Ezra Stiles as a key to the mind of latter-day Puritans. Also from Yale Press comes Revivalism and Separatism in New England; from the Nazarene Publishing House will come Called Unto Holiness, a history of the Nazarene Church and of some Wesleyan groups, by Timothy Smith. Cambridge University Press will publish St. Anselm and His Biographer by F. W. Southern and The Church in Anglo-Saxon England by C. J. Godfrey, while the Friendship Press will publish F. P. Jones’ The Church in Communist China. Sheed & Ward promise F. van der Meer’s Augustine the Bishop, a work hailed on the continent as a definitive study of the mature Augustine, which perhaps means it is more Roman Catholic than Protestant.

Under the category of PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION the following will soon be available: Nash’s Dooyeweerd and the Amsterdam Philosophy, a Christian critique of secular philosophical thought; On the Love of God (Harper), a philosophically oriented treatment by J. McIntyre; J. H. Vruwink’s treatment of Holy Communion in the context of Kierkegaard’s existential idea of the divine-human encounter: The Lively Tradition (Bobbs-Merrill); In Search of the Self (Muhlenberg), another application of Kierkegaardian thought, by L. L. Miller. Muhlenberg Press also promises the appearance of The Universe: Plan or Accident by R. E. D. Clark, and The World: Its Creation and Consummation by K. Heim.

Macmillan will issue the following three: Evidence of Satan in the Modern World by L. Christiani, Chad Walsh’s revised and enlarged Campus Gods on Trial, and a promising treatment by Hans Urs von Balthasar of Martin Buber and Christianity in which a competent Roman Catholic scholar looks at a competent and theologically significant Jew.

In They Asked for a Paper (Bles) C. S. Lewis looks with his usual perceptiveness at the matter of faith and morality; Eerdmans promises The King of the Earth by E. Sauer, and Baker, Another Look at Seventh-Day Adventism by N. B. Douty.

ETHICS AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS. Living in a time of social convulsions and universal threat, the Christian reading public should welcome Christ and Crisis by Charles Malik who always sees more clearly than most, and Communism and the Christian Faith by L. DeKoster. Both are from Eerdmans. Christians disturbed by the difficulty of living by a sacrificial ethic in a world dominated by power should welcome Common Sense About Christian Ethics (Macmillan), by E. Carpenter, and Nuclear Weapons and the Conflict of Conscience (Scribners), written by such men as R. L. Shinn, P. Ramsey, E. Fromm, and edited by J. C. Bennett. In the same area of ethical interest falls The Ethical Mysticism of Albert Schweitzer (Beacon Press) by H. Clark. The perennial problem of the conflict of Church and State is faced anew in W. G. Tillmann’s translation of P. Meinhold’s Caesar’s or God’s (Augsburg), and the question of racial discrimination is challenged in Some of My Best Friends (Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy) by R. B. Epstein and A. Forster.

On quite another level of conflict, trouble is met by Louis H. Evans in Your Marriage—Duel or Duet? (Revell).

The nature of modern troubles, and the peculiarly modern way in which their solution is sought is reflected in many of the titles that emerge in the area of PASTORAL THEOLOGY. E. P. Dutton promises Psychoanalysis and Social Change, edited by H. M. Ruitenbeek, which claims to show how and why existentialism aids psychotherapy; Augsburg promises Temperament and the Christian Faith by O. Hallesby; and Farrar, Strauss and Cudahy, Psychoanalysis and Religion by G. Zilboorg. Harper will publish Guilt and Grace by P. Tournier, and what should be of special interest is Knox’s production of Eduard Thumeysen’s A Theology of Pastoral Care. Abingdon will issue The Wisdom That Does Not Change by C. P. Robshaw and The Language of Faith by S. Laeuchli.

Every minister at times knows the need of being a lawyer; to meet this need Channel Press will issue the Minister’s Law Handbook by G. S. Joslin.

To meet the problems stemming from the blessing of longevity, R. M. Gray and D. O. Moberg have written The Church and the Older Person (Eerdmans).

SERMONS. There will be plenty for both layman and minister. Revell will issue The Parables He Told, a popular presentation of 40 parables, by D. E. Redding, and The Making of a Man of God by Alan Redpath; also Sermon Outlines on Favourite Bible Characters and Sermon Outlines on Women of the Bible, both by F. D. Whitesell. From Seabury will come Proclaiming Christ Today by W. Norman Pittenger; from Boardman, Biblical Preaching, by C. E. Faw; from Augustana, Old Testament Sermons by E. Munson; from Harper, The Audacity of Preaching (The Lyman Beecher Lectures of 1961), by G. E. Bartlett; from Eerdmans The Silence of God by Helmut Thielicke, and God Is Where You Are by Alan Walker; from Baker, Sermon Outlines on a Spiritual Pilgrimage (Israel en route to Egypt), by Jerome Dejong; Proclaiming the New Testament (Galatians and Ephesians by A. Blackwood, Jr., and Timothy and Titus by P. F. Barackman); and from Abingdon will come C. G. Chappell’s Living With Royalty. Baker will also publish My Sermon Notes on Special Days by W. P. Van Wyk, an excellent exegete; and Zondervan, C. H. Spurgeon’s eight-volume Treasury of the Bible.

LITURGY AND WORSHIP. Although interest in richer liturgical worship continues to grow, there are relatively few new contributions. Those who most need liturgical enrichment are perhaps least able to supply it. The Christian Education Press will offer Worship Services for Church Groups by F. Rest; Knox will present Pulpit and Table by H. Hageman, who points up the Dutch and Zwinglian contributions to worship patterns; Seabury will issue Fear, Love, and Worship, a Lenten book for 1962 by C. FitzSimons; from Oxford will come Mindful of the Love (instruction principally for laymen in eucharistic theology), by S. F. Bayne, Jr.; and Holt, Rinehart and Winston send forth Protestant Worship Music: Its History and Practice from the pen of C. L. Etherington.

COMMENTARIES, BIBLE DICTIONARIES AND STUDIES. Nelson will issue Peake’s Commentary on the Bible. This is a new commentary on the RSV text by 64 contributors from Protestant churches, and edited by M. Black. Macmillan will issue The Torch Bible Commentaries: Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, by J. H. Eaton; and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, by D. Jones. Eerdmans and Tyndale will publish an all new one-volume New Bible Dictionary and Eerdmans will also publish a biblical study: The Beatitudes of Jesus, by W. Fitch. Zondervan will publish Olaf M. Norlie’s The Children’s Simplified New Testament and Harold J. Ockenga’s Women Who Made Bible History. Knox will make available in English for the first time Barth’s commentary on Philippians.

In the category of MISSIONS, McGraw-Hill will issue The Missionary Nature of the Church, by Johannes Blauw, who offers the public a biblical theology of mission, and Hudson Taylor and Maria, a story by J. C. Pollock of the first Protestant missionary to penetrate the interior of China. Muhlenberg will publish Hope in Action by J. Margull, Eerdmans, Enter into Life by W. Fitch, and Harper will send into the world Frontiers of the Christian World Mission (1938–1962), W. C. Harr, editor.

Inter-Varsity Press will publish Commission, Conflict, Commitment, a compendium of messages and panel discussions of the Urbana Missionary Convention held recently at the University of Illinois. The report relates the missionary thought of, among others, Billy Graham, Clyde Taylor, Subodh Sahu.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. Though much is needed in this area, little is being provided. Sheed & Ward offer New Men for New Times, a rather dubious title carrying the more promising subtitle: A Christian Philosophy of Education; Eerdmans offers a popular treatment of church education, Teach or Perish by James DeForest Murch, and from Channel Press will come a history of Bible institutes and colleges in North America titled Education with Dimension from the pen of S. A. Witmer.

The above forecast is a selection from books scheduled to make their appearance between February and August of this year. It may be that some of the best were inadvertently bypassed and some of inferior quality selected. Even so it is legitimate to make some tentative observations on the basis of the titles, authors, and prepublication claims.

Now

The time is now—sealing

in the moment infinitely small

the riddle of time itself,

the mystery of life at all.

The time is fateful now—

unique, irreversible sum

of what has been that is

and what will be that’s come.

The sparrow’s fall is now;

now is the Father’s care;

now is the mountain moved

by grain of faith and prayer.

Work is waiting now;

now love lays claim on me

for whom some tiny instant

will spell eternity.

ELLIOTT KNIGHT

In many respects the time is now ripe for a great resurgence of evangelical scholarship. The irrelevance of the older liberalism is plain to see. The pressure of neoorthodoxy back to an underlying liberalism is increasingly apparent. Against materialism on the one side and false dogmatisms on the other, the only response is a strong evangelicalism. Church life, as shown by the wide conservatism of ministers and people, is waiting for it. The ground has been largely prepared by new developments in biblical, historical and dogmatic theology. The only remaining question is whether evangelical theology itself can rise to the occasion.

There are promising signs that it may do so. Evangelical schools are taking their places among leading seminaries. Books of a high quality are coming from the presses. The evangelical voice is being raised again in denominational and ecumenical debates. Thoughtful lay supporters are emerging for theological ventures as well as for the established pastoral, evangelistic and missionary work.

We deceive ourselves, however, if we imagine that the tide is necessarily with us or that all is being done that might be. In a recent article in this journal it was pointed out that the evangelical cause still goes by default at many levels. Two questions in particular demand attention, first, whether much of our effort does not stand under the famous military slogan “Too little, too late,” and secondly, whether there are not? certain inherent defects of posture or direction in much of the theological work.

The practical question is addressed primarily to evangelical congregations. While we recognize that scholarship is not the only concern, that tragic defections have occurred in this sphere, and that God can use the Davids to overthrow theological Goliaths, there are certain facts for which we still have a serious responsibility before God. The number of first-class seminaries is still too small. Many are not able to develop as they should for lack of adequate support. There are few scholars who can claim the academic competence or authority of their non-evangelical counterparts. The production of such scholars in the future depends on fuller concern for our seminaries. It also depends on the evangelical public providing the initial sales for worthwhile evangelical literature to be published and to attain to national stature. Theological work needs time to make its full impact, but it must have solid and energetic support if any real impact is to be made at all.

The second question is addressed more specifically to theologians, though it has a general relevance, inasmuch as they do their work in a common evangelical climate. Are there not inherent weaknesses of attitude and direction in much of the work done? We do not refer to content. If the material is biblical, it is good and sound. We refer to the way in which this good material is used. We refer to approach, to aim, to orientation, to the possibility of trying to do the wrong things with the right material.

For one thing, there often seems to be a preponderance of negative and critical work. Incorrect views obviously have to be studied and rejected or amended. But this is the easier part. It makes less demands, but it also lacks ultimate power even in criticism. The truth demands positive presentation, and only in this form does it have its sharpest cutting edge.

Again, much evangelical work seems to be overly dominated by apologetic concerns. There is naturally a place for apologetics, but a theology which is always concerned to meet some attack, to justify itself in relation to some trend, or to establish its own validity, is vitiated from the start and is unlikely to reach its goal. Real theology should stand unashamedly on its own feet with its own theme and method, not giving account to other disciplines but finally calling them to account. Our current failure to produce strong dogmatics is surely evidence of our weakness in this regard.

The result is a generally defensive attitude in relation both to other theological trends and to wider disciplines. We cling apprehensively to the promise that hell will not swallow us when we should be sounding the trumpet before Jericho walls. Our great themes are set in the context of other concerns when other concerns should be treated only within our own great context. It is suggested that our cause must be made intellectually respectable, as though God’s truth either could or should be made respectable by its advocates, or as though it did not have its own intellectual compulsion.

The final consequence is an intellectual abstraction which is partly responsible for the practical evils in this sphere, as also for the unwitting intrusion of alien principles in wide areas. True theology serves the ministry and informs the practice of the Church. It is not an intellectual game for initiates but of vital relevance to piety, evangelism and edification. To be this, however, it must shake off its apprehensions and defensive concerns, and become again a virile and a confidently positive declaration, exposition and application of the revealed Word of God which is the Word of life and truth.

Forecast Of Religious Books And Reading For Perspective

Elsewhere in this issue CHRISTIANITY TODAY presents its readers with a Spring Book Forecast. Such forecasts are offered twice a year, spring and fall, presenting a selection of the most significant of the legion of books that come from the religious press. “Significant” here means only that the selected books are thought to be important because they will, for better or worse, affect the cause of Christ. These forecasts are made to alert the reader of CHRISTIANITY TODAY and to aid him in his purchase of religious books.

A survey of the Forecast seems to indicate that the weight of significant scholarship still lies with the more liberal Protestant and with the Roman Catholic. There are signs that the scales are shifting and tilting increasingly in favor of evangelicals. This brightening of the situation seems to parallel the growing number of accredited evangelical colleges and seminaries.

Evangelical, conservative religious thinkers are turning an increasingly large amount of scholarly effort into the production of commentaries, Bible translations, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias. This is all to the good. These are all necessary tools requisite for theological advance. With the tools at hand, evangelicals should now increasingly turn to the task of dealing with the burning theological problems of our times. For too long it has been left to others to forge the theological concepts and positions which shape the religious life and thought of the Church. Too often in recent decades, conservative theological leaders have entered the theological debate at the point of the rebuttal. Let them now take the initiative and themselves set the form of the question and thus determine the direction of the theological debate.

A theological evangelical renaissance which employs its tools of scholarship to wrestle with the tremendous theological challenge of our day requires time and opportunity. Scholarship of any kind requires leisure. And it may be added that theological scholarship is no luxury. We know too well the damage wrought in the life of the Church when it comes under dominance of the wrong kind. May the evangelical community of churches and schools provide such opportunity and leisure as is necessary to produce theological writing which speaks not merely as protest or corrective but to our troubled time itself.

The reader will also observe the new feature, Reading For Perspective. The books spotlighted in this feature are again not necessarily evangelical but always, in the opinion of our editors, significant books which show the drift and indicate the shape of the current theological and religious situation. No one can read all the religious books. Nor is this necessary. The problem is to read the significant ones, the books which show in what direction the Church is moving, and what various influential sectors or scholars of the Church are thinking and doing. Titles of such new books will regularly make their appearance in Reading For Perspective.

An Unrealistic Analysis Of The Human Predicament

“How Natural Is Human Nature?” asks Eric Hoffer in a recent essay in The Saturday Evening Post (January 13 issue). He answers in effect that man is a half-animal who can become a half-God through myths which release his creative energies. Mr. Hoffer’s analysis is so replete with the black magic of private assumptions, and so lacking in authentic spiritual insight, as to require comment. His reliance on “incantations, myths and … illusions” to regenerate the weak and to make them the chosen instruments of history simply varies a well-worn theme: man can lift himself by (imaginary) bootstraps. To write of the “unique glory of the human species” and to ignore, as Mr. Hoffer does, man’s predicament and sin and Jesus Christ’s shaping influence in Western history is modern madness.

Religion Fifth In Book Titles; Fiction And The Sciences Lead

A total of 18,060 different titles were published in 1961—an all-time high in American book publication. New titles accounted for 14,238, with 3,822 new editions of previously published works. Books grouped under the general heading “religion” were a strong fifth, with a total of 1,290, according to 1961 statistics given by Publisher’s Weekly, a trade publication.

As might be expected, fiction led the parade, with nearly twice the total of the second-place classification, juvenile books. Fiction accounted for 2,630, with 1,626 in the juvenile field. “Sociology and economics” was the third-ranking classification with 1,613 titles. Leading “religion” by nearly 200 titles were the works on “science,” totalling 1,494. Books on “religion” outnumbered “art” two to one. “Language,” “law,” and “literature” combined had a total number of books published approximately the same as “religion.”

There was a day when the religious orientation stood first in the world of books, but on the modern scene even a strong fifth is significant. The next question is how many of these books serve the cause of pure religion, and how many are in the service of pseudo-deities? A further question is where scientific devotion leads in the absence of spiritual dedication.

In Glen Cove, New York, a nineteen-year-old genius, nationally acclaimed nine months ago for conceiving a working model of an atom smasher, was arrested and charged with stealing small sums of money from the desk of his high school principal. The youth claimed he needed the money to buy scientific books and magazines, but his father revealed that the boy had “about $400 in the bank” earned by caddying the previous summer season.

Has not the crisis of our time arisen largely through man’s devotion to scientific pursuits while neglecting the God of the atom?

Anglicans Have Second Thoughts On Banishing The Devil

Last year a Church of England committee, charged with preparation of a new version of the catechism, decided to discontinue the practice of referring to the devil by name. Strong protest arose promptly from Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals, united for once.

News has now come of the Anglican reinstatement of the devil—who rates 104 references in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, and who was once acclaimed by Bishop Latimer as “the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England”!

Modern theology tends to demote, or at least to neglect, the devil—unlike a former generation brought up on Mrs. C. F. Alexander which learned at church school to sing of “a wicked spirit hovering round you still.” Spurning such adolescent fancies, our own age fits rather the description of the old Scots poet who, in discussing the decline of preaching, lamented:

A saft an’ couthie tale they tell;

An’ tell it quick;

They’ve sell’t the guid auld brunstane Hell

An’ pensioned Nick.

This resuscitation which gives the devil his due may seem a paradoxical subject for rejoicing, but it would have evoked a fervent Amen from Charles Kingsley who once observed: “The devil is shamming dead, but he is never busier than now.”

Theological Journalism And The Contemporary Social Crisis

One sign of theological vitality is the multiplication of religious journals in our time. Long established magazines frequently harden into predictable champions of debatable causes or into denominational organs suppressive of constructive dissent.

The new quarterly journal Dialog has announced its staff, editorial council and contributing editors—committed Lutheran scholars, mainly neoorthodox or liberal, who span the Atlantic. Its summary of the Church’s proclamation is vigorous, except for ambiguity on the character of divine revelation. We wish Dialog well, and hope evangelical principles appear in its pages even more than among its editors.

While writing of religious journals we shall add a word about CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S series on the instability of liberal ethics. Nobody need construe this as an attack upon another distinguished journal (which we are indisposed to publicize to a reading audience five times its own). But The Christian Century in earlier decades was so widely honored as America’s authoritative Protestant voice that it became the show window on the liberal social frontier. Every decade or so a charismatic ecclesiast representing some new secular trend has knocked at the door of the doctrinally backslidden Church to get such ideals baptized as “Christ’s program for this age.” Only when it falters in crisis does liberalism recognize that such pious concern was really a secular masquerade. But scarcely is this confession voiced than it is muffled once again by another program calling once more for church support.

We are not desirous, however, of concealing the lamentable social inactivity of many Protestant conservatives. The writer protested this in The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. There may be more comfort, but no greater virtue, in acting on the maxim: “It is better to keep one’s mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt.” God’s messenger has no exemption from such slander; he has a mandate and a message, and he had better be true to both.

God calls every normal human being. He does this through the vocatio realis—realis because this general call comes not through words but through res (things), namely nature, history (of individuals and nations) and conscience (cf. Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15; Job 37:14; 38:1–42:6; Ps. 8:2, 4; 19:1–4; 46:11; 104).

However great and important the influence of this vocatio realis is, no one can ever come to a saving knowledge of the triune God through this general, external call. Through the vocatio realis man is rendered without excuse (Rom. 1:20) if he does not worship and obey Him whose majesty, eternal power, and divinity speak to all through his mighty works in nature, in history, and in human life and conscience. But the vocatio realis does not proclaim the good tidings of great joy (Luke 2:10) for all who believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as the divine Saviour.

For the salvation of sinners there is an urgent need for much more than the vocatio realis can offer. And now it is the glory of the Christian faith that it unequivocally proclaims that almighty God, who through the vocatio realis has called and is continually calling all to a realization of his divine majesty and omnipotence, through his Word calls sinners to repentance and to salvation. This calling to a saving faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord, through the authoritative Word of God is designated the vocatio verbalis. This external calling through the Gospel is to be proclaimed to all nations (Matt. 28:19; 24:14; Mark 16:15) as an earnest invitation and urgent summons that everyone should repent and believe in Him who is the all-sufficient Saviour.

But to have practical effect in the life of man, the vocatio verbalis must, as it were, break through into the mind, will and heart—the innermost being—of man. For this is needed the “effectual calling” (vocatio efficax).

Definition. The effectual calling must be clearly differentiated not only from the vocatio realis but also from the vocatio verbalis. God as the Lord of nature, of man, and of history most decidedly can and does use the vocatio realis and in a very special sense the vocatio verbalis in the life of men. The proclamation of the Gospel is used by him as a glorious means to bring us to a true faith in and knowledge of the triune God. The vocatio verbalis is, however, in itself not sufficient to achieve this. It cannot bring the spiritually dead to true life in communion with God.

For the lost sinner to become the reborn child of God, the effectual calling is needed—that calling of the living, sovereign, and almighty God which makes us partakers of the life eternal which Jesus Christ has earned for us.

By effectual calling we thus understand that mysterious divine and humanly inexplicable act of God through the Holy Spirit which brings us into living fellowship with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Exposition. Scripture and practical experience leave no doubt about the fact that of the many to whom the Gospel is proclaimed only a small minority accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour.

Our Lord himself said, “Many are called but few are chosen” (Matt 22:14).

Scripture teaches that all mankind is guilty before the holy, righteous God and that we are totally incapable of saving ourselves. Unredeemed man is spiritually blind and dead and unable to regenerate or truly to convert himself.

In this sense the teaching of the Bible is the most pessimistic and realistic teaching in the world. Fallen, sinning man is spiritually lost and completely incompetent to save himself.

How, then, can we, who are in ourselves helplessly lost sinners, ever be united to Christ in saving communion?

The New Testament leaves no doubt regarding the reply to this question. It clearly and consistently teaches us that through the sovereign and omnipotent power and grace of God we are effectually called to become the inheritors of the salvation wrought by God through Jesus Christ. Thus, for instance, Paul writes the following: “… the power of God; who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace” (2 Tim. 1:9). Compare also 1 Peter 1:3. And in 1 Corinthians 1:26–30 Paul emphatically dismisses any idea that Christians themselves deserved to become the children of God. He writes: “For behold your calling, brethren, how that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called … that no flesh should glory before God.”

From these and other New Testament declarations it is clear that by “calling” in these cases is meant not merely an invitation but that mysterious, glorious, and efficacious act of God through the Holy Spirit which brings man into true, dynamic fellowship with Jesus Christ. Therefore it is rightly called “a heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1)—God is the all-sufficient cause, origin, and executor of the calling. How God accomplishes this is beyond human comprehension and why he acts thus only in the case of some to whom the vocatio verbalis comes, is not within the limited sphere of human understanding. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).

In the gospels, “call” is often used merely in the sense of “invite.” But in the epistles the word is mostly used in the sense of “summoning, commanding” and at the same time “effecting, causing to be, prevailing.” To call (καλειν), in the epistles means in substance “to appoint one to salvation.”

When considering the teaching of the Word of God regarding the effectual calling of sinners by the power and grace of God, we are in a field where we stand with awe before the mystery of the eternal love, holiness, grace, and wisdom of God. We cannot precisely define or describe the work of the Creator which makes possible the existence of life even in the mere physical sphere. How much less can we explain or express in human words the wonder of that effectual calling of God through which he in his omnipotent grace and love makes us partakers of his eternal salvation in Jesus Christ! It is futile and even misplaced to try to analyze or describe this divine act. We must confess our total inability to understand this great, divine mystery. But as a tree is known by its fruit, we can also learn much regarding the divine act of God through which he calls lost and helpless sinners effectually to true life, by looking at the fruits of this divine calling.

Sin broke the bond of fellowship between the sinner and God. But through the divine act of God we are “called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9; cf. 1 Cor. 1:23, 24). The effectual calling is thus that divine act by which the spiritual blindness of the unredeemed is removed so that Jesus Christ is seen and embraced as the true Savior and Son of God. The intellect of man is freed from the bondage of sin and spiritual ignorance which formed an impenetrable barrier between him and Jesus Christ, and with renewed heart and will the called Christian is united with the Savior in intimate fellowship. Before God called us we wandered on our own way and revolted against Christ, but through his effectual calling we are enabled to obey willfully and gladly Him who as of old still calls every Christian: “Follow Me!” Through the divine calling which is not a mere invitation but an act of God that makes us listen to and obey Christ we thus become true disciples of the Son of God. And so the broken fellowship between us and the triune God is gloriously restored. Through His calling we are effectually drawn truly and freely by faith to accept, to love, and to serve Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.

So intimate is the fellowship between those thus effectually called and God that they are designated as people “beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ” (Jude 1), as “holy” (Heb. 3:1), “beloved of the Lord” (2 Thess. 2:13), “a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession” (1 Pet. 2:9).

This wonderful privilege of being so intimately united to God in his Son is in no sense our own doing or a right that we deserve. We do not achieve it ourselves. God bestows it. It is given to us unmerited through his grace and solely because “God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Cor. 1:9).

Through the effectual calling, God enlightens our minds to see and accept the truth of the Gospel (Eph. 1:18), changes our defiled hearts so that we come to him with sincere repentance and conviction of sin, and gives to our erring, sinful wills a new and Godward direction. Through the effectual calling man is not dehumanized, but his whole personality is freed and energized to enable him to live a new, sanctified life. Old inabilities are abolished and new abilities to love and serve God are given. The blinding effects of sin on our minds are removed so that our intellect no longer leads us astray but is recreated to be a trustworthy instrument for apprehending truth (cf. 1 Cor. 1:23, 24) and believing the Gospel (2 Thess. 2:14). Thus through the effectual calling our mind, heart, and will is regenerated to true holiness. And for this cause is Jesus Christ “the mediator of a new covenant, that … they that have been called, may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15).

The purpose of God with this effectual calling is, however, not merely to enlighten, renovate, enrich, and eternally save the lives of believers, but is in highest instance meant to proclaim the glory of God in Christ. Or to say it in the words of Peter: “that ye may shew forth the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9, 10).

We cannot know how or when God calls us in such an effectual way, nor can we exactly define the connection between the vocatio verbalis and this vocatio efficax, or the relationship between effectual calling and regeneration, but the New Testament leaves no doubt as to the fact that God is in no way, regarding the effectual calling, dependent on the merits, preparedness, or worthiness of man or of any human instrument. God “called us by his own glory and virtue” (1 Pet. 1:3). The triune God himself is the sole cause of and instrument in this calling.

For this reason the effectual calling has such a rich and wonderful meaning for time and eternity and gives believers the necessary assurance for the future, for “faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it” (1 Thess. 5:24).

The effectual calling of God is not an afterthought of the Almighty but is grounded in his eternal purpose. Paul gives classic expression to this truth in his well-known words: “… all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, … and whom he foreordained, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified …” (Rom. 8:28–30, cf. John 10:27–30).

The salvation of believers is “not of works, but of him that calleth.… that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also calleth …” (Rom. 9:11, 23, 24).

That the effectual, irresistible calling of God, however, does not annul or abrogate the personal responsibility of believers is clearly and consistently taught by the Word of God. Thus Paul writes to Timothy: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called …” (1 Tim. 6:12). And Jesus said: “Enter ye in by the narrow gate” (Matt. 7:13).

Belief that the effectual calling is grounded in the eternal purpose of God is not a pagan fatalism nor does it cause moral laxity, spiritual pride, or religious apathy. On the contrary, as Paul says of himself: “Not that I have already obtained or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. “… I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high [or upward] calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12–14).

Because the calling of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit imparts such glorious gifts to the elect (cf. Rev. 17:14), Christians are earnestly called upon “to walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye were called” (Eph. 4:1; cf. 2 Peter 1:10, 11).

Conclusion. Thus Scripture teaches that the effectual calling is the sovereign, free, and irresistible act of God in Christ, through his Spirit, by which guilty, lost sinners without merit of their own are brought into living and saving fellowship with Jesus Christ, our Lord. It proclaims equally clearly our grave, inescapable personal responsibility to cling in faith to and to obey Him who alone is the author of our salvation.

We cannot explain the mystery of divine calling and human responsibility, but with Peter we rejoice that “the God of all grace, who called you … shall himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you” (1 Pet. 5:10, 11). And with Paul we “give thanks … for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, that God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called you through our Gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:13, 14; cf. John 10:27–29).

And they that are, through the effectual calling, united to Him, the Lord of lords and the King of kings, shall finally triumph because they are “with him, called and chosen and faithful” (Rev. 17:14).

Bibliography: K. Barth, Kirchliche Dogmatik; J. Calvin, Institutes; C. Hodge, Systematic Theology.

Director of Publications

Dutch Reformed Church

Capetown, South Africa

America’s young people are being sold short, and with tragic results.

All of us are concerned about youthful delinquency, about a “lost” and “beat” generation, but wherever such is the case it is we of the older generation who must share the blame. Juvenile delinquency is a national menace but of even greater concern is that large group of decent young people who are looking at life aimlessly, so far not involved in crime, but without those moral and spiritual standards and restraints which are a vital part of Christian character.

We are letting these young people down in multiplied ways and the harvest of their neglect will be reaped in the years which lie just ahead.

They are being let down in our homes whenever the place where we live becomes just a house, and not a home. Parents have no right to expect more of their children than they themselves contribute towards their moral and spiritual upbringing. Parental delinquency begets youthful delinquency, and the economic and social standing of a family has nothing to do with it. Neither money nor social prestige is a substitute for right values, nor do the social graces do more than veneer a life devoid of spiritual perception.

Young people are being let down in our schools wherever the imparting of knowledge is considered an end in itself. Not for nought does the Bible tell us that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” An analysis of the curricular and extra-curricular activities of most schools today, be they high schools, colleges or universities—secular or church-related, indicates that the overwhelming majority of our young people are receiving an education completely divorced from God and His Word. In many places we are confronted by the tyranny of an infinitesimal minority who would eliminate from all schools even a prayer or the reciting of the Ten Commandments.

But far more reprehensible is the fact that so many to whom there are entrusted the duties of teaching have no faith in or concern for God who is the source of all true wisdom. Secularism and materialism are so thoroughly entrenched that a Christian boy or girl finds the school environment a battleground rather than a training ground.

By and large American education is so largely in the hands of secular forces that what once was the very bulwark of Christian ideals is today a force attacking and tearing down the institution to which it owes its origin.

The Church is letting down our young people wherever she is neglecting her primary task and responsibility in favor of secondary considerations.

The writer has examined the youth programs of some of the major denominations only to find them so diluted in their Christian approach as to be useless, while the emphasis is on a philosophy of one-worldism which may one day rise up to destroy us.

Apparently many who prepare these programs have a definite philosophy in mind by which they hope to influence the next generation. But the Christian message is not there. The Bible receives scant notice, if any, and young people are sent out into the “brave new world” with neither the shield of faith nor the Sword of the Spirit.

In almost all of these programs the authors have strong convictions regarding world problems—social, economic and political—while at the same time they have little but negative convictions so far as the verities of the Christian faith are concerned.

We are letting our young people down with reference to hard work. Rightly concerned about child labor in the past we have raised a generation of young people many of whom know little or nothing of the blessings and honor of hard work. Our laborsaving gadgets have contributed to this situation but our philosophy of as little work as possible for as much pay as possible has eaten to the very core of honest endeavor.

We let our young people down when we let them think our high standards of living are an end in themselves, rather than a means to an end. Man does not live by bread alone, nor can he subsist solely on cake. Only as spiritual values are given their rightful place can youth see the futility of life without Christ.

We have let them down by our example. On radio and TV they see the advantages of various brands of cigarettes extolled while apparently only those who use alcoholic beverages can enjoy “gracious living.” We have set before them the examples of sex obsession, so much so that many young people speak casually of things which should rightfully be reserved for man and wife alone.

A recounting of our shortcomings is of little value unless we face squarely up to the solution. To close our eyes to the situation magnifies the problem. To admit it and take constructive steps to meet it is the Christian, the only right approach.

We are here writing to Christians, for we cannot expect unbelievers to exhibit either concern or to lead in the way out.

There are three areas where effective counter measures may be taken: the home, the school and the church.

Christian parents, if they are to exercise their responsibilities as such, must make their homes truly Christian. Where Bible reading and prayer are a part of home life a foundation is being laid for our children which can sustain them all through life. Children are acutely aware of sincerity, or lack of it, on the part of their parents. Once the mother and father assert their rightful authority as priests of the family altar, and, along with Christian instruction, demand obedience and right living, a large part of the problems of youth are solved.

Again, our schools should cease to be purely secular institutions. Separation of church and state never envisioned the separation of children from worship. Where militant minorities try to use legal means to enforce their own will they should be confronted with a higher law—that of the good for the majority.

Where godless teachers scoff at the Christian faith or in other ways try to undermine religion they should be dismissed, for “contributing to the delinquency of minors,” if for no other reason. Teachers are paid to teach truth, not to destroy it, and where they are found actively engaged in anti-religious activities they rightfully deserve to be eliminated.

As a final resort Christian parents may find themselves obliged to set up private Christian institutions where their children can be taught and trained as they need to be taught and trained.

Finally, the Church needs to take a long, hard look at her own programs for youth. Take nothing for granted. Most of these young people do not know Christ as Savior. Therefore they are incapable of making Him Lord of life. By taking for granted a personal experience with Christ—or ignoring its necessity—the Church can let our young people down and in the process fail in the area of her greatest responsibility and challenge.

Censorship! Probably few words so readily stir emotion as does this word. And for good reason, so closely does it bear on our hard-won freedoms. We shudder to think of a day when we in America may lose the freedom of the press or the freedom of speech. Critics of censorship are therefore many and eloquent. They have contended, and perhaps rightly, that censorship lends itself readily to authoritarianism; that once adopted, it can become an effective weapon against minority groups and the suppression of ideas. Our generation is aware of the tragic effects of censorship in many countries; little wonder we shun it so.

Censorship is an effort on the part of some members of a society to protect themselves, as well as others, from certain materials or ideas which they regard as undesirable or potentially harmful. Certainly the licentious display of sex and immorality is offensive to many persons in contemporary society. Have these persons no right to protection against such things under our Constitution? Censorship would not be nearly so imperative if the distribution of this sex-laden material were confined to a small segment of society and were so isolated. It is the forcing of such material and ideas upon a defenseless and unsuspecting audience, subscriber, listener, or reader that is so objectionable. The receipt of unsolicited p*rnography by a child is an outrageous example.

One area of confusion concerns the censor’s motivation. Undoubtedly, many persons advocating censorship have the destruction of the thing censored as the ultimate objective. Because something may be misused by a person, however, does not necessarily mean that we should destroy or prohibit it. Many things would then be denied to us which in the hands of the right persons actually benefit mankind. Unrestrained “censorship” would undoubtedly result in the removal of much that could prove to be helpful or good in our society. The good would often be destroyed with the bad. There are precedents in our society for regulation rather than censorship for the protection of the social order. In many areas of social living we consider it wise and prudent to regulate the distribution of commodities (for example, drugs, poisons) that may serve a humanitarian purpose, yet are potentially harmful.

Is Obscene Literature Harmful

Some have contended that p*rnography and obscene literature are not actually harmful or offensive except to a small segment of society. Indeed, outside of an ethico-religious context, it is difficult to determine what is harmful in matters of morals and ideas. Science is not always able to provide answers to such questions. For example, scientific investigation into the possible relationship between specific criminal offenses and obscene literature has been inconclusive. On the basis of scientific evidence, such materials can only be regarded as being a contributing factor to criminal behavior and not a sufficient or necessary cause.

It has been shown, however, that there may be a detrimental or delinquency-producing effect upon some emotionally disturbed persons who may gain from such material suggestion, support, and sanction for acting out their own hostile and aggressive feelings. There is also reason to believe that the persons consuming the large portion of this type of material are the very persons least able to tolerate its suggestive influence.

It has been contended that the portrayals of such material are only fiction, and should not be regarded in the same fashion as educational instruments which must be realistic and true-to-life in their expression of things. Such a distinction is not always made in the minds of the viewers or readers, especially when confronted with a steady stream of this sort of thing. It has a kind of “brain-washing” effect after awhile. There is a general weakening of the means of social control. There is a tendency to find social approval for misconduct by identifying oneself with the principal character of the movies, novels, comics, and the like. Aside from any specific effect of p*rnography and sex-centered material, upon the person, there is the general deterioration of the moral structure of society and the weakening of social control, especially in the crucial areas of marriage and family living.

In defense of such novels as Lady Chatterly’s Lover, it has been argued that the book describes the way people live in our society, and we are being puerile to pretend that such things do not exist. If sex seems to be repulsive to us, we are told, it is because we are sexually inhibited, frustrated, or prudish. However, it is not sex that those advocating censorship wish to regulate, but the indiscriminate distribution and sale of material that tends to appeal to the baser interests in man. And even if this is the way a large number of our people do in fact live (a questionable proposition), does this alone justify the usage of such a theme in so unrestrained a fashion and with such uncouth language? Have we no ethical code above or beyond what people may do in real life? Can this justify indiscriminate and unlimited distribution of such material to the youth of our nation?

Some have attempted to defend p*rnographic and obscene material as a form of literature or art: a position that would seem difficult to support. Examination of the material reveals it to be uniformly lacking in theme, composition, and in general aesthetic quality. Furthermore, the photography is frequently poor and also in poor taste. The desired effect is quite obvious-nothing but lust.

Freedom Of The Press

The legal counsel for publishers of prurient matter have generally called attention to the safeguards for the freedom of the press that are a part of our Constitution and Bill of Rights. “If we open the door to censorship here,” they say, “then where will it stop?” They contend that censorship by any group whatever is an encroachment upon the freedom of both the individual and the press, and are joined by intellectuals who assert that each of us should have the right to decide for ourselves what we shall or shall not read.

It becomes apparent that we are not all using the term “freedom” in the same sense. It is by no means certain that such unlimited freedom on the part of members of a society is actually a good or desirable thing. We do not even pretend to live under such conditions in our society. We are not free to go anywhere we want, do anything we want, or say anything we want. We are hedged in on every side with restrictions which the sociologists call “folkways and mores.” Together with our enormous body of statutory law, they act as definite limitations to our behavior. Since most of us are rather well integrated into society and have internalized the moral codes, we never sense the potential conflict that resides in these cultural impositions upon our freedom. In fact, we rather like them and find them both useful and good, and almost never complain about our “loss of freedom.”

A doctrine of absolute freedom implies the ability to recognize values, to exercise some discipline and control of one’s own choices, and most important, to take responsibility for one’s choices. Not everyone has such discretion; the uninformed can be easily led astray in his thinking. Immature children cannot grasp the significance of certain concepts and are filled with fear and worry. Perverts and maladjusted persons are not able to handle material that inflames their distorted minds. Society has historically afforded some asylum for such persons. They have been protected by voluntary self-restraint on the part of the more adjusted or mature members of the society. Not infrequently the concept of protection has found its way into the legal codes of the society.

A Historic Decision

In a historic decision on June 24, 1957, the United States Supreme Court stated that “… it is apparent that the unconditional phrasing of the First Amendment (‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press’) was not intended to protect every utterance.… The protection given speech and press was fashioned to assure unfettered exchange of ideas for the bringing about of political and social changes desired by the people.… All ideas having even the slightest redeeming social importance—unorthodox ideas, controversial ideas, even ideas hateful to the prevailing climate of opinion—have full protection of the guaranties.… But implicit in the history of the First Amendment is the rejection of obscenity as utterly without redeeming social importance.”

The censorship of potentially harmful material is not the same as a restriction of free inquiry for scientific purposes, nor is it even closely related to the abolishment of academic or political freedom. A society that does not provide for the protection of its institutions will soon suffer the problems of social disorganization. Censorship should not be designed for the purpose of maintaining the status quo in morals or in any other realm. However, it should be discreetly employed whenever necessary to the well-being of the members of society in general.

The publishers of filthy books and magazines know that sex sells, and that sex means money. The only limit they observe is the saturation point: the amount of filth any particular community will tolerate. The Christian community must become alert to the need for more support of whatever legal means that courts devise for the regulation of the sale and distribution of this objectionable material. They should insist that rights to protection against the indiscriminate sale and display of this material are at least as important and valid as the “rights” of unscrupulous publishers who are unwilling to give up a lucrative business built upon the unwholesome aspects of sex and its perversion.

Peace and War (Part III)

Debate among American Protestant churchmen in 1940–41 on the question of U.S. intervention in the war was intense and at times bitter. But Pearl Harbor cut it short. Pacifism then receded, though not completely. Yet it was not replaced by the fervor of a holy crusade.

The stopping of Hitler seemed to many a more clear-cut and vindicable war motive than the Kaiser’s defeat. But whereas The Christian Century responded to America’s entry into World War I with enthusiastic support of what it felt to be a just and virtually holy war, it reacted to the second intervention as “an unnecessary necessity.” It would now stand dubiously with its country though it had opposed the course by which the administration “was taking us into a war which was not our war.” The nation had chosen the way of “doubtful morality.” Even at the moment of Japan’s treacherous attack, the United States was “engaged in an undeclared war” (Dec. 17, 1941, pp. 1565 f.).

Before Pearl Harbor, Charles Clayton Morrison had pronounced himself an agnostic on the question of absolute pacifism (Dec. 12, 1941, p. 1536), and with war’s arrival the Century was quick to point out that both pacifist and nonpacifist were “involved in guilt” because national solidarity prevented the escape of cither from the war. The soldier kills and the pacifist leaves the treasures and destiny of the community to be preserved by others. When war comes, the citizen faces three questions,

“and the question of righteousness is not among them: Do I want my country to live? Do I want its independence preserved? Am I willing to do the monstrous evil which war requires in order to maintain the power upon which the independence of my country now depends?”

These questions “define the issue between the pacifist and the soldier” (Dec. 31, 1941, p. 1632). To claim either that the war is righteous or evil, moral or immoral, is wrong—war is “a-moral” (Jan. 7, 1942, p. 6). Men like John Bennett and John Mackay who claim it to be God’s will to seek the defeat of Nazism are in effect adopting “the tribalistic conception of God.” Japan, Britain, Germany and America were all judged guilty by God (Jan. 14, 1942, p. 39).

The title of the following week’s editorial proclaimed a distinctive Century doctrine: “War Is Not Sin; It Is Hell.” “Hell is not sin; it is the punishment for sin. So war is not sin, but the wages of sin.” War was too vast and impersonal to be called sin. “Hell is that realm or condition or situation—call it what you will—temporary or enduring—here or hereafter—where good and evil have lost their distinction, where evil is good and good is evil” (Jan. 21, pp. 72–74).

A Christian soldier in battle could well give thanks that this view of war was exaggerated. And too, the view of hell was deficient. A Federal Council of Churches commission report would reject the Century thesis that war is hell (Jan. 24, 1945, p. 103).

But more immediately, the journal faced the trenchant criticism of Reinhold Niebuhr, in which Morrison saw an “unmistakable tone of contempt” (Dec. 23, 1942, p. 1590). Niebuhr characterized the Century view as “bad politics, bad religion and bad morals.” He found untenable the absolute distinction between peace and war—the one being governed by freedom and the other by necessity—for all history “is a curious mixture” of both. As to the declared “absolute impossibility of discriminating between the comparative justice of embattled causes,” this was an “obvious falsehood” which sees “no significant distinctions in history between enslavers and slaves” and results in “immoral nationalism.” (ibid. pp. 1589 f.).

In reply, Morrison contended the purity of the Christian faith was at stake in the distinction he drew between “fighting repentantly” and “fighting righteously.” The latter was said to involve “tribal theism” (Dec. 30, p. 1622). After all, one reason for the fighting was the maintenance of the white race’s “predominant position throughout the world,” Asia included (July 1, 1942, p. 830). The fall of Singapore to the Japanese was seen hopefully as the death of “white imperialism” (Feb. 25, 1942, pp. 238 f.).

The Century’s just war of 1917 had given way to its unblessed war of 1941. Stanley High saw the Century as chiefly responsible for the failure of the Church’s representative assemblies to endorse the war as being for a just cause (Sept. 23, 1942, p. 1143). Federal Council commitment to support of the war was subsequently attacked by the Century, which indicated such blessing to be betrayal of the church and its Lord (Dec. 23, 1942, pp. 1583–1585; June 17, 1942, pp. 773–775). The Century called upon Churchill and Roosevelt for a statement of war aims and declared inadequate the goal of disposing of the dictators (Jan. 8, 1941, pp. 47–49; Dec. 18, 1940, pp. 1574 f.). No socialist goals had been proclaimed, and, after all, Hitler had initiated a social revolution.

Then too, there was Stalin, who was sustaining a social revolution. The September 29, 1943, issue of the Century featured on its cover this editorial title: “LET STALIN TAKE GERMANY!” It had earlier conjectured that Stalin would “make terms with Germany before the Allies bring Germany to her knees’ (Sept. 1, 1943, p. 983). German thirst for communism was assumed:

“The surrender of Germany to the Western allies in preference to Russia is an incredible eventuality. The postwar intentions of the Western allies make it certain that Germany would infinitely prefer to place her fate in Russian hands.… Stalin can offer her a peace which the German people, defeated, will be only too glad to accept. Surrender to Stalin would insure not only the overthrow of Hitler, but, in all probability, a communist revolution.…

“[Stalin] could … offer Germany a place in the U.S.S.R. on the basis on which the republics of that union are now federated.… Let Stalin gain our postwar aims for us!… Let Stalin take charge of Germany’s future. He can do it without policing her … (Sept. 29, 1943, pp. 1095 f.).

The Century had trusted in Stalin’s pledge not to seek communization of eastern Europe—“Why should he?” (Mar. 10, 1943, p. 289). But a year later this question didn’t seem to matter so much. Stalin’s “latest revision of the Russian constitution” was thought to transform the Soviet Union “from a monolithic unit into a federation of sixteen autonomous republics.” Here Stalin held out to “the entire continent” of Europe a “concrete basis for federation,” which, if agreed to by the European nations, would “bring into being a true federation without military, economic or political rivalries!”

“Stalin is playing for great stakes. They are by no means all selfish stakes. Selfish considerations undoubtedly enter in, but these are lost in contemplation of the great ends which may be achieved. The boldness and concreteness of his proposal, as embodied in this reorganization of the U.S.S.R., reduces the piddling, niggling plans of the other Allies for dealing with the dire realities of postwar Europe to puny proportions.… Future peace in Europe depends upon the unification of Europe, and here is a way to unification that is wholly removed from the realm of abstract speculation. It leaves room—some room, even though not too much—for democracy in the system which it sets up” (Feb. 16, 1944, pp. 198 f.).

Liberal optimism indeed—gone collectivist! When British troops intervened against the leftist partisans in Greece to prevent establishment of, in Churchill’s words, a “communist dictatorship,” the journal attacked the premier for entering on the side of “social and political reaction” (Dec. 20, 1944, pp. 1470 f.).

In 1955 the Century would indicate that had Churchill possessed more power at Cairo and Yalta and not been ejected from Potsdam, “the world would be closer to peace today” (Apr. 20, p. 469). But in 1945 the journal voiced lack of confidence in him as a peacemaker (Jan. 31, pp. 134 f.) and later that year approved his defeat (Aug. 8, p. 903). As for Yalta:

“… it is better to have the strong mind of Stalin reflected in the decisions for liquidating the European war than to have more of the fumbling and botching that has gone on in North Africa, Italy, Greece and Belgium. Stalin at least knows exactly what he wants to do in Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia …” (Feb. 28, 1945, p. 263).

But in 1953 Yalta would be dismissed as a “booby trap” (Jan. 14, p. 41).

The end of the war in Europe found the Century keenly interested in the Nuremberg war trials, for Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief counsel for the U. S., announced he would prosecute the Axis leaders on the basis of the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

In “War Is Still Outlawed!” Morrison declared, “… the civilized conscience demands that these men be tried for the total massive crime with which they are charged.” He took the occasion to reaffirm his faith in outlawry of war. Confessing a “too ardent” optimism over the 1928 Pact’s immediate consequences, he yet maintained, “… of its long-range effects I have had no doubt, even in these years of international madness.… [War’s] outlawry will some day be taken as the foundation of a world order of law, justice and peace” (June 27, 1945, pp. 755–758). “The official and legal theory on which this war has been fought by the Allies is that Germany was the aggressor—she violated the Kellogg pact. She now suffers its penalty in the utter defeat which the nations in collective self-defense have imposed upon her.” Prosecution on the basis of the Pact “is legally sound, despite the lack of precedent which [Jackson] frankly acknowledges” (Aug. 15, 1945, p. 926).

But this was beginning to sound like the Century’s just war of 1917 rather than the unblessed, a-moral hell of 1941, where the question of righteousness had no relevance.

The redeeming factor seemed to lie in recourse to the Pact. “… These trials will lift international law to a status of authority over nations which has never before been recognized” (ibid., p. 927).

After the verdicts had been handed down, a Century editorial, “Majestic Justice,” declared the “nazi war criminals” were “given a fair trial.” Though they could have been exiled, “the stomach of mankind could not tolerate their continued presence in a civilized world.” “… The soul of civilization, of humanity itself, cried out for a chance to render its judgment upon the men … (Oct. 16, 1946, p. 1238).

This was strong language for a periodical which had opposed capital punishment through the years and later would not make an exception even in Adolf Eichmann’s case (Dec. 27, 1961, p. 1549). But in 1949 the Century indicated “legal and moral misgivings” about the trials, noting the absence from the bench of justices from non-belligerent states (July 13, p. 838).

After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Century spoke again of the unblessed war in condemning the “wantonness” of “America’s Atomic Atrocity” (Aug. 29, 1945, pp. 974–976).

The post-war Century thrust was toward world government, including the Communists, through the United Nations. The journal advocated speaking softly to the Russians and working for disarmament.

Late in 1942 the Century had looked toward the postwar world and seen three U.S. alternatives: (1) a world organization, which it favored, involving curtailment of U.S. sovereignty; (2) isolation leading to world anarchy; and (3) the Henry W. Luce “vision of a world gripped and ruled by America’s naked might,” which “is doomed to end in another world conflict and would lead to the destruction of the United States by the exhaustion of its resources” (Dec. 2, pp. 1478 f.).

The subsequent manifestation of the schism between Russia and the West revealed dangerous weaknesses in the U. N. and its Security council. But the Century fought against any reliance upon a balance of power. When Churchill, in his “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri, chose to declare publicly some of the realities of the period, the journal denounced “talking tough” to Russia (Mar. 20, 1946, pp. 358–360). Some doubt was implied as to there being a “world threat … of Russian expansion” (ibid., pp. 358–360).

As the Century later took note of Russian violation of the “political integrity of more than a dozen countries during and since the war,” it attributed this to nationalism and denied that Communist ideology had caused such expansionism (Nov. 6, 1946, p. 1333).

In 1960 the Century would affirm that President Truman’s “policy of military encirclement” “did save Greece” (June 29, p. 766). But in 1947 it harshly attacked what came to be known as the Truman doctrine, “the bolstering with American arms and personnel the military strength of Greece and Turkey against Russia.” “Mr. Truman has taken the road that leads to war.” His action was said to reflect “the militaristic ideology that has become ascendant in his administration,” which wants “to take the broken fragments” of the British empire “under the wing of the United States” (Mar. 26, pp. 389–391).

The year before, the Century had criticized the U.N. for not having advanced beyond the League of Nations on the matter of member nations giving up their absolute sovereignty. The journal found here the cause of the League’s failure and urged the U.N. to recognize the outlawry of war “as the fundamental law of the world and the cornerstone of its organization” (Oct. 16, p. 1240). Now in response to the Truman doctrine, the Century idealistically issued a manifesto for world government:

“Henceforth the item of highest priority in the foreign policy of the United States must be the preservation and extension of the United Nations.…

“The Truman policy should be rejected in full recognition of the fact that the United States has surrendered to the United Nations those elements of sovereignty which are involved in the present issue. Congress has forsworn nationalistic intervention” (Apr. 16, 1947, p. 487).

Congress should thus allow the U.N. the final decision for or against the Truman doctrine so as to act “on the new principle that ultimate sovereignty now rests in the world community, not in the nation.” For effective U.N. action, it was recommended the charter be changed to disallow a veto by a nation which is a major party in the case in dispute—even though it was recognized this would probably mean Soviet withdrawal from the U.N. “… Military assistance of the kind required would be forthcoming, but it would be given by the United Nations, not by a single nation. Freed from the Russian veto, that body would proceed to set up the world police force which is authorized in its Charter.” Such a course would provide “the beginnings of a real world government.” The U.N. “cannot hope to survive on any lesser terms than as an actual world government” (ibid., pp. 487 f.).

The Century had opposed the League because of its power to apply sanctions. Now the need of force, though international and not national, was granted. Thus had liberal optimism been tempered by the relentless pressure of world realities. Later, there would be uncertainty that “the idea of a U.N. armed policing of world peace can be made to work” (Apr. 25, 1951, p. 519).

The Century saw world government as the only alternative to doom and lifted the banner for church action: “We believe that the crisis of humanity demands that the churches … shall once again declare their faith in a world government as the ground and guarantor of peace, and shall throw themselves with all the resources they can command into the crusade to set up such a government” (Jan. 14, 1948, p. 39). Russia was to be invited to participate (Feb. 11, 1948, pp. 166 f.).

The Century noted the churches’ increasing caution on the subject of world government (Jan. 28, 1948, p. 104) as well as the “chilly silence” of the U. S. government. Such citizens as Reinhold Niebuhr, John Foster Dulles, and Eleanor Roosevelt believed that “the cause is hopeless and to espouse it is to be guilty of naiveté” (Feb. 25, 1948, p. 232). But with regard to the Century, liberal optimism had come through the wars breathing heavily and somewhat staggered—it was not dead.

Prior to each U. S. war of the Century’s lifetime, the journal has fought preparedness measures. Korea did not break the pattern:

“President Truman’s denunciation of Russia by name, coupled with his demand for conscription and his pledge of military aid to Western Europe, constituted a direct threat of war.…

“Conscription, either through Selective Service or [Universal Military Training], must be defeated. The war budget must be cut, not increased. And the one hope the nation has that this can be done is in the churches.… A deluge of letters from church members demanding the defeat of war measures is now our only hope of anything like a Christian foreign policy or peace” (Apr. 14, 1948, p. 324).

Two months later in the last of a series of six editorials urging world government, the churches were told they desperately needed a “great moral crusade” to show members and outsiders that the churches were not “fiddling about with petty concerns.” This could not be found in opposing the spread of communism, for this was too negative a cause “to release great moral energies” and would involve the churches with too many “reactionary allies.” The great cause then, was to be federal world government (May 19, pp. 469–471).

The Century fought the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty organization from the beginning, as likely to hasten war with Russia (Dec. 8, 1948, p. 1326), and predicted the military services would control U. S. foreign policy for NATO’s duration (Feb. 23, 1949, p. 230). The organization was seen bypassing the U.N. and constituting a return to balance of power politics, fatal to the conception of world organization. It carries “the seed of disastrous breakdown within it” (Mar. 30, 1949, p. 393).

Tragedy In The Far East

The latter judgment came on the heels of communism’s greatest postwar victory, the fall of China. In 1945 the Century had termed “unnecessary” U. S. unilateral intervention on behalf of Chiang, as advocated by Life magazine and its publisher Henry Luce and had thus begun its habit of urging referral of all such problems to the U.N. (Dec. 12, pp. 1342 f.). And less than two years before Communist take-over of China, the Century had declared that even if Chiang should drop out of the picture, China would be far more likely to return to the anarchy of the warlord period than become a Communist state (Jan. 21, 1948, p. 73). When Chiang did fall, no regrets were expressed (Feb. 2, 1949, pp. 134 f.). But the journal printed as an article a letter from T. C. Chao, dean of the School of Religion at Yenching University and a president of the World Council of Churches, in which he professed to rejoice in the success of the Communists, who “admirably” provided a needed shake-up of Christianity in China (Mar. 2, 1949, pp. 265–267). The Century lated described the conquest as “a people’s uprising” and a “popular repudiation” (Dec. 28, 1949, p. 1534).

In the field of atomic energy, the Century opposed U.S. development of the hydrogen bomb though Russia had achieved an atomic explosion. It now called upon the churches to begin yet another crusade—“the elimination of war” (Jan. 18, 1950, pp. 70 f.). (But it was also strongly critical of pacifism [Mar. 15, 1950, pp. 327 f.; see also Apr. 4, 1951, p. 423].)

Then came the Korean War. After some initial uncertainty as to the wisdom of U.S. intervention (July 12, 1950, p. 838), the Century indicated such naked aggression should be stopped, although U.S. bungling had led to the crisis (Aug. 30, p. 1014). “We must take the determination of our foreign policy out of the hands of the Pentagon … and place it in the hands of the United Nations” (July 26, p. 887). Universalization of U.N. membership was recommended before Red China had entered the war (Aug. 9, p. 942). Effort through the war to cement the U.N. into a cooperative body “is at least as important as checking Communist aggression” (Apr. 11, 1951, p. 451), and General Douglas MacArthur was seen to be blocking this. His dismissal was approved (Apr. 25, 1951, pp. 519 f.). Even after Communist China had gone to war against the U.N. forces, the Century seemed unsure as to the advisability of admitting her as a U.N. member (May 16, 1951, pp. 606 f.). And there were now misgivings as to effective U.N. use of military force, opposition being given Dean Acheson’s effort to put teeth in the charter’s military clause (Aug. 1, 1951, pp. 886 f.).

It was confessed that world government lay “far in the future” (Dec 10, 1952, p. 1431). No longer were the churches being called on to crusade for it. With disclosure of the cobalt bomb, the Century’s rallying cry to the churches was that they “take the lead in stirring up a demand from the peoples for atomic disarmament.” The U.N. was called on to establish a world authority to prohibit future production of nuclear bombs (Apr. 21, 1954, p. 487). The journal admitted that no inspection system would be foolproof. Thus disarmament had to be thrust into “the inner consciousness of every individual on earth.” It was a long road. Niebuhr confessed the “terrible position” the U.S. would be in had the President “followed the advice of some of us” and not proceeded with development of the hydrogen bomb (Aug. 18, 1954, p. 972). The Century resignedly recognized that widespread U.S. commitments probably meant continuation of conscription was necessary, and it opposed unilateral disarmament, which would leave the U.S. defenseless (Dec. 15, 1954, p. 1510), After “communist victory in Indo-China,” the Century called for “universalizing” of the U.N. membership which meant admission of Red China (Aug. 4, 1954, pp. 917–919), and later spoke slightingly of the Southeast Asia Treaty organization (Mar. 30, 1955, p. 390). Churchill, Truman, and Marshall had all come under Century attack for “talking tough” to the Russians. It was now Dulles’ turn, and he was criticized also for extending military alliances (June 1, 1955, p. 648). The Century suggested his ouster (Jan. 23, 1957, p. 100). This was shortly after the rape of Hungary, which showed the impossibility of “any true church’s adjustment to any part of criminal communism” (Nov. 14, 1956, p. 1318). And shortly thereafter the American churches were called on to “take up the appeal” for disarmament (Feb. 6, 1957, p. 159). Liberal optimism seemed sturdy enough in advocating the signing with Khrushchev of another pact to outlaw war (Jan. 1, 1958, p. 3), but it was later drooping with the prediction of the “likelihood” of nuclear war (Mar. 5, 1958, p. 267).

The Century called the 1958 U.S. intervention in Lebanon a disaster: “We shall long rue the day it happened” (July 30, p. 867). It advocated uniting of the Arab states, the resulting state to pursue a neutral course in the cold war (ibid. pp. 868 f.). The journal had previously indicated its approval of “neutralized zones of nations” in Europe and Asia (June 1, 1955, p. 648). It indicated that U.S. recognition and U.N. admission of Red China would be profitable (Nov. 5, 1958, p. 1261; see Dec. 3, 1958, pp. 1387 f.). As to Castro’s Cuba, the Century favored “persistent nonintervention in the face of provocation plus a positive program of mutual aid” and opposed those who favored using the economic weapon (Mar. 16, 1960, p. 308). Such liberality prevailed despite the firing squads—so unamenable to Century ethics, but it pointed strictly leftward. Less than a month later, the journal advocated a boycott on South African gold “to bankrupt the racist regime” unless the policy of apartheid were changed. No Communist country but rather South Africa was branded as “the country which currently threatens world peace more seriously than any other” (Apr. 6, p. 405).

In striking reversal of a previous stand, the Century advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament on the part of the United States: “Fifteen years of suspension over the fires of nuclear hell is long enough.” But still the liberal optimism: Such an act “would very likely result in the lessening of the threat from the communist side” and if they tried to enslave us we could “organize nonviolent resistance” and could conquer them in the end “by moral force” (Aug. 3, 1960, pp. 891 f.).

On the Berlin crisis, the Century’s answer was the durable and resilient “take it to the U.N.” Berlin could be made “an international city” under the U.N. (Aug. 2, 1961, p. 925).

Philosopher Karl Jaspers looks upon the U.N. as a basic untruth, its power depending not on the United Nations but on the policies of the sovereign powers alone. And he insists that world government could be set up only by conquest and sustained by despotism. For the Century, on the other hand, if world government is now but the distant hope, no issue in world affairs is currently as important as “keeping” the U.N. “free and strong.” Christians are urged to support it (Oct. 18, 1961, pp. 1227 f.). Truth is, the Century is facing a world of vanishing alternatives. For maintenance of peace it lacks confidence in balance of power, balance of terror, concert of free nations, a strong U.S. (ibid., p. 1228). Never a journal to refer the ultimate hopes of its readers to the biblical hope and the final solution to war—the return of the Prince of Peace in the power and glory of the Second Advent—the Century more often spoke of the greatness of the human spirit, neglectful of the biblical doctrine of man despite the lessons of recent and contemporary history. Seeing the need of the liberal wing of Protestantism for an enlivening cause, it baptized secular causes lacking biblical mandates, such as world government and disarmament. Its pacifism owns no biblical base as that of the historic “peace churches” but shifts pragmatically with the political currents of the day. In calling the churches to crusades, there was failure to give like attention to the crusade implicit in the Master’s Great Commission, embodied in missions and evangelism, toward making more of the earth’s peoples responsive to his unifying lordship. For world unity, the dominant continuing emphasis was not on the hymnist’s goal: “Ye nations of mankind, in this your concord find: May Jesus Christ be praised!”

Were not social ethics of such crucial importance to the theological liberal, contradictions from generation to generation and year to year could perhaps be passed off somewhat lightly. But the Gospel itself is at stake.

The almost mystical faith in the U.N. was somewhat disturbed by Goa and by Adlai Stevenson’s talk of the U.N.’s possible death. Said the Century, “If the U.N. cannot survive, can we?” (Jan. 3, 1962, pp. 5 f.). If men did survive, it seemed certain that liberal optimism would survive too, after yet another terrifying confrontation with reality.

Desperately needed was the biblical elevation of resurrection over survival, a trumpeting of the revolutionary cure for mankind’s ills: regeneration by the Holy Spirit, conversion to the King of kings—in short, a renaissance of the soul.

The best evangelical contributions of 1961, in the judgment ofCHRISTIANITY TODAY’Seditorial staff, are listed below. The selections propound evangelical perspectives in a significant way, or apply biblical doctrines effectively to modern currents of thought and life. These are not the only meritorious volumes, nor do they in every case necessarily reflect the convictions of all evangelical groups.

BLACKWOOD, ANDREW W.: Special-Day Sermons for Evangelicals (Channel Press, 448 pp., $4.95). Thirty-eight biblical sermons for special days.

BRUCE, F. F.: The English Bible (Oxford, 234 pp., $3.75). A tracing of the history of the various translations of the English Bible from its beginnings.

CADIER, JEAN:The Man God Mastered (Eerdmans, 187 pp., $3). Brief, readable biography of Calvin.

CLOWNEY, EDMUND P.: Preaching and Biblical Theology (Eerdmans, 124 pp., $2.50). Effective preaching is a proclamation of which Christ is the center.

CLARK, GORDON H.:Religion, Reason, and Revelation (Presbyterian and Reformed, 241 pp., $3.75). Faith and reason are brought under the purview of critical Christian reflection.

DROWN, FRANK AND MARIE:Mission to the Head-Hunters (Harper, 252 pp., $3.95). A story of bringing the gospel into a harsh jungle.

ELLIOTT, ELISABETH:The Savage My Kinsman (Harper, 160 pp., $5.95). Betty Elliott, one of the first to enter terror-ridden Auca territory and return to tell it.

FEUCHT, OSCAR E.; COINER, HARRY G.; VON ROHR SAUER, ALFRED; HANSEN, PAUL G., editors: Sex and the Church (Concordia, 277 pp., $3.50). A study of sex attitudes on the ground of a biblical ethic.

FRANZMANN, MARTIN H.:The Word of the Lord Grows (Concordia, 324 pp., $4). An introduction to the New Testament. Excellent for the general reader.

FULLER, DAVID OTIS:Valiant for the Truth (McGraw-Hill, 460 pp., $7.95). A treasury of evangelical writings selected from Paul to Machen.

HEWITT, THOMAS:The Epistle to the Hebrews (Eerdmans, 217 pp., $3). A compact, pithy commentary for both laymen and minister.

IRWIN, GRACE:Servant of Slaves (Eerdmans, 437 pp., $4.95). A novel of dimension and craftsmanship.

LASOR, WILLIAM SANFORD:Great Personalities of the New Testament (Revell, 192 pp., $3). Literary portraits of 15 key figures of the early church.

LATOURETTE, KENNETH SCOTT:Christianity in a Revolutionary Age: The Nineteenth Century Outside Europe, vol. III (Harper, 527 pp., $7.50); The Twentieth Century in Europe, vol. IV (568 pp., $8.50). One of the greatest modern historians here brings his masterly survey down to our own time.

LEITCH, ADDISON H.: Interpreting Basic Theology (Channel, 208 pp., $3.50). Explains the profound tenets of the Christian faith.

LOANE, MARCUS L.:Makers of Religious Freedom in the 17th Century (Eerdmans, 240 pp., $4). A popular treatment of four evangelical leaders in the 17th century struggle for religious freedom in Britain.

MACARTNEY, CLARENCE E.: The Making of a Minister, J. Clyde Henry, ed. (Channel, 224 pp., $3). The autobiography of a minister’s minister who had the heart of a shepherd for his flock and a mind that made him a prolific writer and a Civil War scholar.

MCNEILL, JOHN T., ed.: Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion (Westminster, 1734 pp., two-vol. set, $12.50). An accurate, readable translation.

MORRIS, HENRY M., and WHITCOMB, JR., JOHN C.:The Genesis Flood (Presbyterian and Reformed, 518 pp., $8.95). A new system for unifying and correlating scientific data bearing on the earth’s early history.

MORRIS, LEON:The Biblical Doctrine of judgment (Eerdmans, 72 pp., $2). Discusses judgment as a present reality and a future certainty.

OLSEN, PEDER:Pastoral Care and Psychotherapy (Augsburg, 144 pp., $3.50). Account of cooperation between physicians and pastors in Oslo, Norway.

PFEIFFER, CHARLES F.: Baker’s Bible Atlas (Baker, 333 pp., $7.95). A true atlas, in the sequence of the biblical narrative.

RAMM, BERNARD W.:Special Revelation and the Word of God (Eerdmans, 220 pp., $4). A book which will challenge the controlling ideas of liberal theology.

WHITE, REGINALD E. O.: The Upward Calling (Eerdmans, 202 pp., $3.50). Meditations on the Christian life.

WYNBEEK, DAVID:David Brainerd—Beloved Yankee (Eerdmans, 256 pp., $3.75). Biography of young New Englander who burned out his brief life as a missionary.

On the whole 1961 has not been characterized by many reprints of Old Testament works. There are, however, some notable exceptions. Zondervan has issued a one-volume edition of Matthew Henry’s Commentary. Dr. Leslie F. Church has abridged and condensed the work, preserving the best of Matthew Henry and so making it available in this attractive form. There is no need to praise Matthew Henry’s work. Suffice it to say the abridgment is most useful and its reading will truly bring blessing to a new generation of students.

Just ten years ago Prof. H. H. Rowley edited a volume, The Old Testament and Modern Study, and Oxford University Press has now put out this work in a paperback edition, thus rendering a helpful service to serious students of the Old Testament. The 12 essays which comprise this volume are a reliable guide to the study of various aspects of the Old Testament. At the same time, they are one-sided, for they practically ignore conservative scholarship. For a survey of archaeological research, textual criticism and recent negative higher criticism, however, these essays are very valuable.

Introductory Works

Two “Introductions” call for special mention. Curt Kuhl’s work The Old Testament, Its Origins and Composition (John Knox) has been issued in English translation, as has also the Introduction of Arthur Weiser, (The Old Testament: Its Formation and Development, Association Press). Both of these books (particularly the latter) give good surveys of recent literature; both are written from the standpoint of modern negative criticism.

Both are also characterized by a feature which calls for special comment, namely, the inclusion of the Apocrypha. This is distressing, for it creates the impression that the apocryphal books are a part of the Old Testament, and that between the Apocrypha and the canonical books there is no essential difference. Thus the distinctive character of the Old Testament as a special revelation of God is blurred. Weiser’s book even contains material on the Dead Sea Scrolls, but why this is placed in a section headed “The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament” is difficult to understand.

Archaeology And The Old Testament

Progress in archaeological research continues unabated, and those who make available the results of such research deserve the gratitude of all who are interested in the Bible. Archaeology and the Bible by G. Frederick Owen (Revell) is an excellent introduction, ideal for one who is making his first acquaintance with the subject. Furthermore, it is truly up-to-date, including discussions of Nuzi, Tepe Gawra, Mari, Hazor and the ever-present Dead Sea Scrolls. The book’s title is not accurate, however, for the work confines itself to discovery as it relates to the Old Testament. Practically nothing is said with respect to the relationship of archaeology and the New Testament, and there is no mention of the remarkable finds at Nag Hamadi. For Old Testament archaeology, however, this book may be warmly recommended. It is such a book as will strengthen one’s confidence in the trustworthiness of this portion of God’s Word.

As a result of archaeological research attention is more and more being focused upon the age of the patriarchs. It is a pleasure, therefore, to welcome a popular introduction to this subject, The Patriarchal Age (Baker) by Charles F. Pfeiffer. Dr. Pfeiffer has drawn on the vast resources of archaeology to illustrate the background of this period, and has produced a most worthwhile book. There are many questions, such as the location of Ur and the date of the patriarchs, which we wish he had discussed further, but what he has given is excellent.

The same may be said for Baker’s Bible Atlas, edited by Dr. Pfeiffer, in collaboration with E. Leslie Carlson and Martin H. Scharlemann as consulting editors. This beautifully printed and bound work is a pleasure to peruse. The text is broken up into well-spaced paragraphs, often provided with headings so that reading is a pleasure. 26 colored maps and 18 black and white maps, together with 75 illustrations make this a truly useful and valuable atlas. The photographs are clear and distinct, adding immeasurably to the value of the book, and helping to make it an altogether attractive volume and a real help to Bible students. Included is a gazetteer which supplies concise data on significant biblical locations.

For a number of years a little quarterly known as The Biblical Archaeologist has been making its appearance. Its articles have usually been popular, intended for the layman. A selection of these articles has just been published in paperback under the title The Biblical Archaeologist Reader (Doubleday). An amazing variety of subjects is covered, and this little work should prove to be a handy reference volume for those interested in archaeology.

Perhaps the most significant book in this field to appear during the year is The Bible and the Ancient Near East (Doubleday) edited by G. Ernest Wright and dedicated to William F. Albright. The various articles are rather technical and often reflect an approach to the Bible which would impair its supreme authority. Some of the articles are of unusual value, such as that of Albright on the Canaanites and that of Moran on the Hebrew language. This latter article may appeal only to specialists, but it is full of useful information.

Biblical Interpretation

Today one should perhaps no longer speak of Israel’s religion. Have we not been told almost ad nauseam that the barren study of the nineteenth century is past and that we have now rediscovered the Bible and its abiding message? Today it is Biblical Theology! But the nineteenth century has reached right down into 1961 to give us a book that reads as though its author had never heard of Biblical Theology. And what a refreshing book it is! Religion in the Old Testament (Harper) contains material left by the late Robert H. Pfeiffer of Harvard and edited by a former student, Charles Conrad Forman. This is old-line liberalism; no “biblical” theology, no enthronement festival, no amphictyony, no high-speed word studies with exaggerated “covenant” emphasis! Just old-fashioned liberalism. We disagreed with just about everything in this book but we thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It would be well if young theologians of today would read this work if for no other reason than to learn firsthand what was held by Old Testament scholars before the deluge of present-day nonbiblical “biblical” theology. For, wrong as it was, there was a forthrightness about old-fashioned “higher” criticism that is lacking in certain more modern approaches to the Old Testament.

There is, however, a true and proper science of Biblical Theology, one which does justice to the Scriptures as the absolutely authoritative Word of God. In Preaching and Biblical Theology (Eerdmans) Edmund P. Clowney has much to say about the use of the Old Testament in modern preaching. He is interested in a biblical theology that rests upon the firm foundation of Holy Scripture, not one that rests upon modern existentialism and irrationalism. And, although one must be restrained in praising the work of a colleague, we nevertheless venture to assert that genuine progress in the study of true biblical theology will be made along the lines laid down in this volume.

Two general works on biblical interpretation call for special mention. In The Interpretation of Scripture (Westminster) James D. Smart, writing from a neoorthodox standpoint, discusses the question of modern Scriptural interpretation. This book should be of value as an introduction to some of the questions that are in debate today. A conservative will feel, however, that the author’s basic presuppositions preclude any really satisfactory discussion of revelation, inspiration and genuine biblical interpretation.

A second work is the History of Interpretation (Baker), the Bampton Lectures (1885) of Frederic W. Farrar. This reprint contains a tremendous amount of information on the interpretation of the Old Testament. It is vitiated, however, by Farrar’s hostility to the Scriptural doctrine of inspiration, and hence, must be used with caution. Farrar’s strictures on Hengstenberg, for example, are certainly ill taken. This book is at its best in dealing with the prereformation period.

Particular Studies

Two introductory guides to Old Testament study call for special mention. John Patterson writes on The Wisdom of Israel and George Knight on Isaiah (both published by Lutterworth Press and Abingdon Press). Both works are written in popular style, designed to help the layman. Both guides are arranged in such a manner as to make them easy and attractive to read. But both show the influence of modern negative criticism. Patterson acknowledges that there may be Solomonic proverbs but thinks that we cannot identify them. Knight holds to the “three Isaiah” theory. Will these guides inspire confidence in the Scriptures as the trustworthy Word of God?

Herbert Lockyer has written a large work titled All the Miracles of the Bible (Zondervan). Although the work is popular in nature it is not superficial, and the author really believes in miracles. There are points at which we cannot follow Dr. Lockyer, but his book is eminently worthwhile.

Of an entirely different nature is The Genesis Flood by Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr. (Baker). This is a controversial work and it must be taken seriously. It evinces wide research and great learning. One need not agree with all the writers have set forth to realize that this is a significant book. The present reviewer does not believe himself qualified to pass judgment on all the scientific matters discussed in this volume, but what is most impressive is the earnest desire of the authors to be faithful to the Scriptures. No one can read this book without profit. We hope that it will receive the serious consideration which it deserves.

At the Foot of the Mountain by Dorothy M. Slusser (Westminster) bears the subtitle Stories from the Book of Exodus. This little book is full of practical wisdom and application and is a delight to read. Mrs. Slusser is an unusually gifted writer. She has been influenced by the negative approach to the Old Testament, however, with the result that one misses an understanding of the deep theological significance of Exodus and its position in the history of redemption.

We are not likely to have a clearer or more engaging presentation of Israel’s thought, written from a neoorthodox standpoint, than that of James Muilenburg, The Way of Israel (Harper). Kant’s distinction between the phenomenal and the noumenal seems to underlie the position adopted in this book that whereas the Exodus from Egypt is a meeting and a revelation, nevertheless the historian cannot say what actually happened at the Sea of Reeds. Only faith can answer “Our God delivered us from bondage” (p. 49). Until this approach, so widespread and influential, is abandoned, there can be no true progress in the study of the content of the Old Testament.

James Burton Coffman brings us face to face with the Ten Commandments as the moral law of God whose transgression brings death. The Ten Commandments Yesterday and Today (Revell) is a practical exposition of the law such as causes one to see both that the law is holy and also that its transgression is our undoing. Of particular value is the discussion of the eighth commandment and the seriousness of the sin of gambling.

An attempt to examine certain unifying themes, which bind the two testaments with particular reference to the Cross, is found in The Old Testament in the Cross (Harper). J. A. Sanders, the author, writes from the standpoint of modern negative criticism, and is unusually candid. He speaks of the resurrection as “—a victory over death about which there is not a shred of evidence from history past or present” (p. 12). Salvation is defined as “—the faith-perspective of God’s inevitability” (p. 67). How gloomy this definition is, for to realize “God’s inevitability” would only make one more aware of his sin. The wonder of the Christian message, however, is that God has done something about man’s sin. We are also told that “We do not, we must not, worship Christ. Apart from the God of Abraham, Moses, Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah there is no Christ” (p. 129). This is simply unbelief, but it is more candidly presented than in many works written from the same standpoint.

Commentaries

During the year two interesting commentaries on Genesis have appeared. The Message of Genesis (Broadman Press) by Ralph H. Elliott is not a verse-by-verse commentary but seeks to give a theological interpretation. The author has read the modern literature but his history of interpretation leaves much to be desired. In fact, this section should be rewritten. The work accepts the validity of the documentary hypothesis, and so we are told, for example, of the “double account of creation” (p. 2). Serious exegesis, however, will show that there is no double account of creation in Genesis. Revelation is said to mean “—God’s disclosing himself in mighty acts for salvation” (p. 14). There are many fine statements in this book, but the theological standpoint adopted is one which precludes a clear-cut presentation of the wondrous unfolding of this “history of revelation” actually found in Genesis.

The translation of Gerhard von Rad’s commentary Genesis (Westminster) is quite a significant event. But here is radical criticism. One has but to compare it with the masterful exposition of Keil, for example, to see the difference. Von Rad’s work assumes the documentary hypothesis—an untenable hypothesis, if ever there was one. The Yahwist, we are told, working with an old cubic credo and a number of loose compositions, forged the material into a basic unifying tradition in which one may see in all areas of life God’s divine guidance and providence. This is the Genesis of an imaginary Yahwist, not the Genesis of Holy Scripture.

In concluding this survey there are two thoughts which need to be expressed. If there is to be true progress in the study of the Old Testament there must first be a wholehearted abandonment of the unproved and untenable documentary hypothesis. When a scholar sets his own judgment above the express statements of Scripture, he cannot expect to arrive at a proper understanding of the Bible. Secondly, if the time devoted to reading neoorthodox works and seeking to impose a neoorthodox pattern upon the Bible were devoted to serious studies in Hebrew philology, genuine advance could also be expected. How rich and wondrous is the Old Testament! May those of us who have devoted our lives to its study first learn humility, that as little children we may approach the Old Testament ready to hear what the King of glory says!

Pride of place must be given in a survey of New Testament literature in 1961 to The New English Bible: New Testament (Oxford University Press; Cambridge University Press), published on March 14. As this work was reviewed by the present writer in CHRISTIANITY TODAY, March 13, it calls for no further mention here. Another version is the Simplified New Testament, by Olaf M. Norlie (Zondervan), a rendering “in plain English—for today’s reader” by a veteran Lutheran scholar, based on the Received Text. (It includes as an appendix a scholarly translation of the Psalms by Professor R. K. Harrison.) We welcome an old favorite in the reappearance of The Twentieth Century New Testament (Moody Press), first published sixty years ago. In the new edition the common order of the books is preserved (the original edition attempted to arrange them in chronological sequence), and some minor modifications have been made in the rendering. This may be regarded as a good translation, carried out by a body of thirty enlightened but non-specialist Christians.

General Works

Alpha and Omega, by S. H Hooke (Nisbet), presenting the substance of the “Speaker’s Lectures” delivered at Oxford between 1956 and 1961, is a study in the pattern of revelation to be traced in both Testaments, by a veteran English scholar now approaching his ninetieth year. It is a fresh exposition of the essential unity of all Scripture. New Testament Apologetic, by Barnabas Lindars (SCM), examines the doctrinal significance of the Old Testament quotations in the New Testament, and finds that the requirements of early Christian apologetic have in large measure dictated their use and application. Studies in New Testament Ethics, by William Lillie (Oliver & Boyd), is the work of a man who takes seriously the relevance of the gospel to ordinary conduct. After paying proper tribute to the ethical heritage of the Old Testament, he considers some ethical problems which the New Testament propounds, various spheres of behavior to which the New Testament has something important to say, and three elements which are fundamental to the ethical outlook of the New Testament—eschatology, self-denial, and love.

F. F. Bruce is Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis at the University of Manchester, England. He holds the B.A. from Cambridge University, M.A. and D.D. from Aberdeen University. He is Editor of The Evangelical Quarterly and of the Palestine Exploration Quarterly. Most recent of his books is The English Bible: A History of Translations.

For the general reader W. S. LaSor has written a fine book on Great Personalities of the New Testament (Revell). For the student M. C. Tenney has produced a revised edition of his excellent New Testament Survey (Eerdmans), containing illustrations and maps, new material on the Gospels and the Dead Sea Scrolls, and a new chapter on text and transmission. At a still higher level we have an English translation by R. W. Funk of A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, by the late F. Blass and A. Debrunner (University of Chicago Press). The translator has benefited by the help of the Cambridge scholar W. P. M. Walters (otherwise Peter Katz), who for many years was closely associated with Debrunner. The work is uniform with Arndt and Gingrich’s Lexicon, and is a worthy companion to it; both volumes ought to lie ready to the hand of every English-speaking preacher and theological student. The Text of the New Testament by Vincent Taylor (Macmillan) provides the beginner in New Testament textual criticism with a short and helpful introduction.

Translations And Expositions

The new English translations of Calvin’s commentaries on books of the New Testament appear with happy frequency; thus far we have welcomed four volumes: John 1–10; John 11–21 and First John; First Corinthians; Romans and Thessalonians (Eerdmans). The translators, T. H. L. Parker, John W. Fraser and Ross Mackenzie, have done their work well; we now have these commentaries in more readable as well as more accurate English. Further translations of Walter Lüthi’s homiletical expositions have come to hand; 1961 has seen the publication of The Lord’s Prayer and The Letter to the Romans (Oliver & Boyd). These volumes are highly recommended to the preacher; they set forth clearly the meaning of the biblical text and at the same time show how expository sermons ought to be preached. In this last respect they may serve as practical illustrations of Edmund P. Clowney’s thesis in Preaching and Biblical Theology (Eerdmans).

The Qumran Texts

The bearing of the Qumran discoveries on the Gospels receives quite distinguished treatment from Matthew Black in The Scrolls and Christian Origins (Nelson). Black draws attention to the substantial evidence for two main strands (a northern and a southern) of nonconformist Judaism before and during the life of Christ. The Qumran texts give us one expression of the southern variety, while the northern variety characterized the milieu into which Christ was born. By contrast with such a scholarly work as Black’s we may give a passing mention to The Essene Christ, by Upton T. Ewing (Philosophical Library), “a recovery of the historical Jesus and the doctrines of primitive Christianity” which makes the first phase of Jesus’ pathway begin at Qumran and treats the Qumran texts with the same freedom as it does the New Testament documents.

Special Studies

The Earliest Lives of Jesus, by Robert M. Grant (S. P. C. K.), gives a lively account of the place which the four Gospels hold in the thinking and writing of the early Christian Fathers—who, it appears, were not so critically naïve in questions of text, history and literary relationships as has too often been asserted. Paul Winter’s study On the Trial of Jesus (De Gruyter, Berlin), the first volume in a series titled Studio Judaica, is a work of high scholarship which takes account of all the available sources of relevant information; some of the data, however, lend themselves to a different interpretation from that reached by the author. This is so, for example, with his discussion of the Sanhedrin’s right to execute the death sentence in A. D. 30.

Commentaries On The Gospels

Two Tyndale New Testament Commentaries have appeared in the course of the year—Matthew, by R. V. G. Tasker, and Mark, by R. A. Cole (Eerdmans). Both of them maintain the high standard set by previous volumes in this series. Professor Tasker is general editor of the series, and Matthew is the fourth volume which he himself has contributed. He was a member of the New Testament translators’ panel for the New English Bible, and in an appendix he discusses some of the renderings of Matthew’s Gospel in the NEB A comparison of the two commentaries indicates that he and Dr. Cole do not see altogether eye to eye on some aspects of Synoptic criticism; it would be a dull world if all commentators—even all evangelical commentators—thought alike on everything! The volume on Matthew in the Epworth Preacher’s Commentaries has been written by A. Marcus Ward (Epworth). It will be of most help to the class of readers for whom this series is chiefly intended—Methodist lay preachers (and, one should add, non-Methodist preachers, whether lay or ordained). The exposition is practical and homiletical, but there is no mistaking its sound scholarly basis. On a larger scale, and of a much more radical temper, is Sherman E. Johnson’s commentary on Mark (Harper). This is a contribution to Harper’s New Testament Commentary series, and it is based on Dr. Johnson’s own effective English translation of the text. Recent work on this Gospel is summarized; the topographical notes are helpful; the parallels from other literature, especially rabbinical, are interesting. The conclusions reached on authorship and composition are the reverse of traditional. A very different kind of commentary is A Translator’s Handbook on the Gospel of Mark, by Robert G. Bratcher and Eugene A. Nida (Brill), Volume II in the series of “Helps for Translators” published on behalf of the United Bible Societies. The RSV text is printed, a verse or two at a time, followed by notes on exegesis and translation, and sometimes also on text and punctuation. It is not only translators who will find this work helpful.

Lukan And Johannine Studies

Two new works deal with a problem which has come much to the fore in recent years—the relation between “Luke the historian” and “Luke the theologian.” C. K. Barrett’s Luke the Historian in Recent Study (Epworth), the A. S. Peake Memorial Lecture for 1961, reviews some recent literature on this problem, and shows how real a problem it is in the minds of many New Testament scholars—especially on the continent of Europe, for the publisher’s blurb is quite right in saying that few English readers know that such a problem exists. Professor Barrett himself believes that Luke’s distinctive characteristics lie in the fact that he was consciously building a bridge between the ministry of Jesus and the life of the apostolic Church. Christ is the End, but for that very reason He is also the Beginning—the triumphant conclusion of His ministry contains within itself the germ of the historical process which began to unfold from then on. The Theology of Acts in its Historical Setting, by J. C. O’Neill (S. P. C. K.), is a stimulating work which labors under an unfortunate weakness—the author wants to date Luke-Acts about A. D. 130, largely because of resemblances which he finds between its theology and that of Justin Martyr. He thinks that Acts is the only book in the New Testament expressly addressed to unbelievers—that Luke wished to commend the Christian message to the educated and politically powerful as well as to the poor and outcast.

The Structure of the Fourth Gospel, by G. H. C. Macgregor and A. Q. Morton (Oliver & Boyd), is a novel approach to the Johannine problem, which it attempts to solve by means of the modern device of literary statistics. The Fourth Gospel, it is concluded, was composed in two stages: an earlier form, in length about two-thirds that of the present Gospel, was later expanded by means of insertions from another source. Whether the mind of the Fourth Evangelist was the kind of mind that can be analyzed in terms of statistical probabilities may be doubted. The Christ of the Fourth Gospel, by E. M. Sidebottom (S. P. C. K.), gets much closer to the heart of the matter. This author examines the key terms of the Gospel in the light of similar usage in contemporary literature, and arrives at refreshingly positive conclusions about its portrayal of Jesus. He has little time for the dictum in which a former generation of readers found comfort: “We must not ask whether John’s record is true, but what it means.” On the contrary, “the idea … that delusion is necessary for good in history would have got short shrift from the writer of the Fourth Gospel.”

Books On Paul

Paul has not lacked interpreters throughout 1961. Donald Guthrie’s New Testament Introduction: The Pauline Epistles (Tyndale Press)—the first volume of three which are to cover the whole New Testament—is a firstrate handbook for students, by a conservative scholar with an independent mind and a comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date command of the relevant literature. It can be unreservedly commended. E. E. Ellis has written a little book entitled Paul and his Recent Interpreters (Eerdmans) which deals not only with the general subject indicated in the title but also more particularly with Paul’s eschatology and the authorship of the Pastoral Epistles. Human Achievement and Divine Vocation in the Message of Paul, by W. A. Beardslee (SCM), No. 31 in the series “Studies in Biblical Theology,” helps us to learn from Paul a proper sense of the work to which we may severally be called by God. While he refused to boast of what he had received as though he had not received it, Paul yet derived a very real satisfaction from the contemplation of his apostolic achievement; and this note of satisfaction is not at cross purposes with justification by faith but is a consequence or complement of justification.

An English translation of Paul, by H. J. Schoeps (Lutterworth), makes available to a new public a highly important study of the apostle’s theology in the light of Jewish religious history, by a leading Jewish expert on the history of religion. In so far as Paul can be made the subject matter of an objective academic study this is one of the most successful attempts of recent years. But the central secret of the origin of Paul’s religion can be learned only by those who, like Paul himself, have the Son of God revealed in them. Thus Schoeps, for all his learning and sympathetic insight, does not come to grips with Paul so thoroughly as A. M. Flunter, whose Paul and his Predecessors has reappeared in a new and enlarged addition (SCM). The first edition, a casualty of the deluge in 1939, was largely a pioneer work in the study of pre-Pauline Christianity. An appendix to the new edition surveys the work done in this field during the past twenty years.

Commentaries On The Epistles

The late Bishop Handley Moule was well known in his day for his scholarly and devotional expositions of several Pauline epistles. Some years ago a manuscript of his came to light, containing an unpublished exposition of The Second Epistle to the Corinthians; this has now been edited by his nephew, A. W. H. Moule, and published at the end of 1961 (Pickering & Inglis). The basis of this exposition was a lecture course given by Handley Moule when he was Norrisian Professor of Divinity at Cambridge. The Epistle to the Ephesians, by F. F. Bruce (Pickering & Inglis), presents a verse-by-verse exposition of this epistle for the general reader. C. E. B. Cranfield has contributed the volume on First and Second Peter and Jude to the “Torch” Commentaries (SCM). The authenticity of II Peter, which Cranfield (for all his conservatism) is unable to accept, is examined afresh in a Tyndale Lecture by E. M. B. Green, Second Peter Reconsidered (Tyndale Press), and reasons are suggested for not abandoning the apostolic authorship too hastily. A Commentary on the Epistle of Jude, by Richard Wolff (Zondervan), should take a high place among conservative expositions of this epistle which, though small in size, is yet (as Origen said) “full of heavenly grace.”

WE QUOTE:

TEACHERS’ COMMUNIST MISSION—The strength and increasing influence of Party-member teachers play a great role (in convincing) most teachers to teach in the Marxist-Leninist spirit and to devote their energies to the formation of socialist schooling and in helping through youth organizations to merge the school with society, etc. It is necessary for Party members to have allies in their work and to bring (these allies) nearer to the Party. Building up the Party line within the teaching staff is, as in other fields, no easy task. By cooperating in daily political and teaching tasks, non-Party members will spiritually and emotionally come nearer to the Party and the ultimate goal: easier admittance into the Party.—Excerpt from Nepszabadsag, Communist Party daily in Hungary.

Reviewing the 1961 books in these fields is no easy task. Apart from the varying tastes and interests of readers, there are so many new volumes that selection is necessary. It should be understood, however, that this is not a personal selection of recommended Evangelical reading. It is a cross section of books which for different reasons seem to be significant, with brief comments where necessary or possible. Fuller reviews will often be found in the fortnightly book columns.

Textual And Historical

For students one of the basic needs is original texts, and we may begin with some useful additions in this area. First, we welcome a reprint of the invaluable Gwatkin’s Selections (Revell)—important extracts from the earliest Christian period in both the original and English. Another important selection is that of Danielou from the mystical writings of Gregory of Nyssa under the title From Glory to Glory (Harper). From the later Middle Ages three contemporary accounts of the Council of Constance (Columbia) are of particular interest. In the Reformation period two new editions of the Works of Sir Thomas More (Yale), a popular and a more scholarly, should also meet a particular need. The continuing additions to current series of texts hardly need specific mention.

Individual historical studies are also of great importance to students, and here again we may refer to some of the more recent volumes. The city and church of Antioch have attracted attention in two works, St. Ignatius and Christianity in Antioch by V. Corwin (Yale), and the more general History of Antioch in Syria by G. Downey (Princeton). The new phase in church-state relations in the Roman Empire is also studied in two works, first, Bainton’s translation of Constantine and Religious Liberty by H. Doerries (Yale), and secondly, N. O. King’s Theodosius and the Establishment of Christianity (Westminster). Augustine’s City of God will always stimulate thought, and for this reason we may note the new appraisal by J. O’Meara under the title Charter of Christendom (Macmillan). Another theme of great interest and significance is discussed in The Medieval University by L. J. Daly (Sheed & Ward). In Roman Catholic books allowance will be made, of course, for the standpoint of the authors, but this does not preclude sound historical scholarship in many respects.

When we turn to the Reformation period, a first book to catch our notice is The English Bible by F. F. Bruce (Oxford). This brief but informative study naturally covers a wider area of English translation, but it finds its center in the work of Tyndale and his 16th and 17th century successors. Another challenging study is Kooiman’s Luther and the Bible, newly translated by J. Schmidt. Also in the field of Luther scholarship the papers at the Congress for Luther Research on Luther and Melanchthon have now been published (Muhlenberg).

In the field of more general historical writing, Professor Latourette pursues his industrious and scholarly way in the monumental Christianity in a Revolutionary Age. The latest addition is Vol. III, The Nineteenth Century outside Europe, and with Vol. IV we are to move into our own century. The story of English church history is to be told again in the new and composite Ecclesiastical History of England, of which The Pre-Conquest Church (Oxford) by M. Deanesly is the firstfruits. It seems likely the general flavor will be Anglo-Catholic; how militantly so will no doubt emerge at the Reformation. Incidentally, O. Chadwick has given us a useful study of Anglo-Catholicism in his essay and anthology, The Mind of the Oxford Movement (A. and C. Black).

Biographical And Missionary

In the field of biography, the quatercentenary of the Scottish Reformation naturally focused attention on the dominant figure of John Knox. In addition to a reprint of the classic biography by Eustace Percy, there is a study of Knox’s teaching in the Croall Lectures by J. McEwen of Aberdeen, The Faith of John Knox. We may also refer to an interesting if not very profound reconstruction of the man himself from his speeches, letters and debates in Plain Mr. Knox (John Knox), by E. Whitley, wife of the present minister of historic St. Giles.

Two other important biographies call for notice. The first is a comprehensive historical account of Thomas Cranmer by J. Ridley (Oxford), in which good use is made of contemporary materials, some for the first time. The second is O. E. Winslow’s John Bunyan (Macmillan), which is particularly noteworthy for its setting of Bunyan’s life, character and work in the 17th century scene. More popular is M. Loane’s depiction of four outstanding 17th century figures in Makers of Religious Liberty (Eerdmans), which adds nothing new but is written with great warmth and sympathy. Another popular re-presentation is R. W. Albright’s Focus on Infinity, A Life of Phillips Brooks (Macmillan). Though not strictly a biography, F. H. Littell’s Tribute to Menno Simons (Herald Press) might be noted here. It consists of four important theological lectures on the great leader of the Dutch Anabaptists. Calvin students will be interested in O. R. Johnston’s translation of The Man God Mastered by J. Cadier (Eerdmans).

Of the many missionary books which might be mentioned, two in particular should be noted. The first is a reprint of William Carey’s famous Enquiry (Carey Kingsgate), which is always worth reading, or re-reading, as the charter of English-speaking Evangelical missions. The second is Evangelism-in-Depth (Moody Press), an account of the Nicaragua evangelistic efforts of 1960 and of the underlying principles and strategy. Whether the pattern is to be followed elsewhere or not, the basic principle of the mobilization of total membership can hardly be disputed, difficult though it may be of practical attainment.

Christ is Born

Let us now go to Bethlehem,

Let us not stop or stay.

Let us now see what God has wrought:

Christ is born today.

Let us not stop at the manger scene,

Let us go all the way.

Let us go up Golgotha’s hill:

Christ has died today.

Let us remove to Joseph’s tomb,

Let us some lilies lay.

Let us rejoice with hearts aflame:

Christ is ris’n today.

Let us now work and hope and serve,

Let us now watch and pray.

Let us toil on ’till the task is done:

Christ returns today.

PAUL T. HOLLIDAY

Pastoralia

While in the area of the actual discharge of the ministry, we might refer to three important volumes on the ministry itself. An important modern study is J. R. W. Stott’s The Preacher’s Portrait in the New Testament (Eerdmans). Consisting of the Fuller Payton Lectures of 1961, this little book examines the work of the ministry in terms of the words used to depict it in the Bible. The other two books are both reprints by the Banner of Truth Trust, tire first being the inimitable Spurgeon’s An All-Round Ministry, and the second Charles Bridges’ solid but rewarding study, The Christian Ministry.

An aspect of ministry which has taken a new turn in the last decade is pastoral consultation, and this has led to a spate of works on relationships with psychology. One of these, O. H. Mowrer’s The Crisis in Psychology and Religion (van Nostrand) sounds a healthy note in spite of the theological fuzziness typical of this whole sphere, especially when it suggests that ministers are being bedazzled by the very systems from which psychologists are painfully emerging. The insistence that issues are finally spiritual is good even if Mowrer’s use of terms like sin, atonement, etc. seems inadequate. Another work which points the need for atonement and regeneration, and which differentiates the special work of the pastor, is P. Olesen’s Pastoral Care and Psychotherapy, translated by H. E. Jorgensen (Augsburg), and G. E. Westberg is to be commended at least for his insistence on these very points in Minister and Doctor Meet (Harper). What is really needed, of course, is a full-scale dogmatic treatment of this whole field by a competent Evangelical theologian who is not obsessed by the supposed need to build apologetic bridges.

Whatever the function of psychology, worship and preaching will always be central in the service of God. Dr. Horton Davies has devoted many years to the study of worship, and he gives us the first part of a larger study in his Worship and Theology in England (Princeton), which is a valuable work in spite of some obvious weaknesses and predilections. So far as sermons are concerned belated reference may be made to the late W. E. Sangster’s fine collection Can I Know God? (Abingdon), as also to the reissue of Brownlow North’s 1859 sermons The Rich Man and Lazarus (Banner of Truth). An important voice from Germany is that of Helmut Thielicke in a new series of sermons on creation under the title How the World Began (Muhlenberg). These sermons are unfortunately weak on the factual aspects of Genesis, but in terms of theological understanding and living relevance they stand apart.

A challenge to national self-examination is contained in the small Letter to American Christians by M. J. Chen (Exposition), in which the author attempts the dangerous task of enabling us to see ourselves as others see us. If his view is not necessarily correct, it is a valuable corrective. Both an instructional and a devotional purpose is served by the anthology Valiant for Truth, ed. D. O. Fuller (McGraw-Hill). This is a selection of great Christian passages from St. Paul down to our own day.

Theological

One of the most interesting books in historical theology is J. Carpenter’s Gore: A Study in Liberal Catholic Thought (Faith Press). With his Oxford Movement-Liberal synthesis, and his incarnational theology, Gore exerted a great influence on modern developments in the Anglican world, and we are greatly indebted to the author for this objective survey. A book which comes even nearer to our own time is J. M. Connoly’s Voices of France (Macmillan). Here we have an analysis of the powerful movement in French Romanism which seems to hold out some hope of new things in Rome, though the author himself is convinced of the “orthodoxy” of the theologians concerned. In this connection we might perhaps refer to the new assessment of Emil Brunner (Inter-Varsity Press) in which P. K. Jewett considers with scholarly discernment the strong and weak points in this great contemporary figure.

In systematic theology this has hardly been an outstanding year. G. Clarke’s Religion, Reason and Revelation (Presbyterian and Reformed) is a valuable study in prolegomena, but more from the standpoint of theologically informed philosophy. In something of the same field B. Ramm has given us a theologian’s discussion of Special Revelation and the Word of God (Eerdmans), and those who appreciate the author’s work will not be disappointed by this latest volume. In relation more specifically to Scripture, the small study by K. Runia Karl Barth’s Doctrine of Holy Scripture (Eerdmans) is an important departure, for it marks a detailed wrestling with Barth from the orthodox standpoint in place of flimsy and often distorted generalizations.

The Word Goes Forth

Bethlehem, Nazareth, Galilee,

Capernaum, Gethsemane,

Calvary with that crushing load

Upon His back—how short a road!

Across the continents and seas,

And up the fleeting centuries,

To us of open hearts today,

And on, and on—how long a way!

CLARENCE EDWIN FLYNN

Barth himself has not yet added to the German Dogmatik, but III, 3 and III, 4 of the English Church Dogmatics (T. & T. Clark) appeared in 1961. The former is devoted to the themes of providence, evil and angels, and the latter to the ethics of creation, with discussions of such debatable matters as the Lord’s Day, marriage problems, suicide, war and euthanasia. A selection from the Dogmatics by H. Gollwitzer, who is to succeed Barth in Basel, has also been published in English, with the German editor’s helpful introduction.

In sacramental theology special mention should be made of F. Clark’s Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Reformation (Longmans). Though it deals with the English Reformation in particular, and is written from a Romanist standpoint, this work pinpoints the essential difference between the Reformed (Anglican) and the Tridentine teaching. Two works on the Ecumenical Movement should also be considered, namely, The Ecumenical Movement by N. Goodall (Oxford), and Is Christ Divided? by L. Newbigin (Eerdmans). Written from the missionary and theological angles, these give a refreshingly different perspective from that of so many NCC utterances. The Christology of Karl Heim is made available in a translation of Jesus the Lord by D. H. van Daalen (Muhlenberg), though this is a work which in some respects has plainly “dated.” A more solidly Evangelical contribution from Europe is the latest addition to the fine series by G. C. Berkouwer. This most recent volume is devoted to anthropology and the question of the imago Dei under the title Man—The Image of God (Eerdmans), and it is well up to the high standards of its predecessors.

We may close our survey with a reference to two important reprints in the dogmatic field. The first is a detailed study of a single doctrine in J. Buchanan’s very thorough Doctrine of Justification (Banner of Truth). The second is a more general treatment of the whole area of dogmatics in that earlier classic, Litton’s Dogmatic Theology (James Clarke). These reprints cannot take the place of modern work. But their republication is justified, partly on historical grounds, partly because of the abiding contribution which they have made, and partly because of the stimulus which they can and should give us to do work of like quality in our generation.