Text: “Whosoever would be greatest among you, let him be your servant” (Matt. 20:26).

In Margherita Sarfatti’s biography of Mussolini, she dramatically pictures Il Duce pacing his palace bedroom and saying, “I am obsessed by one wild desire. It consumes my whole being. I want to make a mark on my era with my will. A mark like this.…” With his fingernails he scratched the back of a chair, “like the claw of a lion!” We know the length to which this perverted ambition led him and the depths to which it plunged the world.

On a seminary campus recently a theological student asked me, “Is there any place in the ministry for a sanctified ambition?” He then dropped his head and, in a voice mixed with guilt and embarrassment, confessed, “You see, I want to be somebody. I want to be great.”

Whether right or wrong, this lust for greatness is certainly universal. If we are honest, we all must admit that we want to be somebody, to make the team or the club, to be in front, to get on top, to be the first, to be important, to be great. This compulsive desire to be first, to lead the parade, has been called the “drum major instinct.” Psychologists have recognized it as an instinct and have probed the depths of human personality in an effort to understand it.

Why Be Great?

Why does anyone want to be great? To be president of the class? To be captain of the team? To achieve above others? To be pledged to a secret society? To sing a solo? Or even to preach a sermon? The psychologists give varying answers.

Sigmund Freud, the father of modern psychology, says, “This is simply the expression of the ego.” Self-expression is one of the primary drives in human personality. Religionists have regarded this insatiable drive of the ego with suspicion. Someone has said, “The ego and the egg, both must be broken before they can be used.”

Freud’s pupil, the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung, disagreed with his teacher. He said it is the “hunger for power.” In the human personality there are two basic tendencies, one aggressive, the other recessive. Regardless of how passive and recessive a personality may be, there is still this aggressive instinct, the hunger for power and authority. Everybody wants to boss somebody. A man had his wife along while shopping for a suit. As he tried on the suits the clerk brought out, his wife found something wrong with each one. The color, the fabric, the cut—something was wrong. After the weary clerk had brought out every suit in the store, he pulled the man aside and said, “Excuse me, sir, but are you buying this suit for yourself?” The man answered, “Only the coat and the vest.” Jung says this is the “hunger for power” instinctive in every personality.

Then Alfred Adler, the father of modern psychiatry, said that this instinct is really something else—a “desire for recognition.” It is this that causes us to wear buttons and uniforms and insignia and to attach significance to where we sit at the table, or where we march in the parade. We want to be recognized!

And then John Dewey applied psychology to education. He saw in this instinct something else. He said it is a “drive for significance.” We all want to feel important, important to ourselves and important to others. We want to be a wheel. And if we cannot be a wheel, we will attach ourselves to someone who is a wheel in order to feel important. We want either to have a coattail or to ride someone else’s coattail in order to seem important. To illustrate this sense of personal significance, Lady Astor, while speaking at a banquet, said, “It is most amazing how the most learned, educated, brilliant men attach so little significance to their personal appearance. Even tonight at this very dinner, the most entertaining, cultivated, and charming guest here is wearing a carelessly knotted loose tie.” As though at a given signal, every man present slipped his hand up to check the knot of his necktie.

This is a natural instinct, the universal desire to be somebody. No one wants to be a nobody. An ex-convict sat in my study with tears streaming down his face saying, “I have been a number so long. Tell me how I can now be somebody.”

Jesus had to come to grips with this human desire in the story of our text. As his party was traveling toward Jerusalem, there were rumors that he would declare himself king. The crowds were pressing him to assert his power. The disciples expected him to claim the seat of David and wrest the authority of the government from the Romans. Then it was that Salome and her sons, James and John, came to the Master. She said, “Lord, my husband Zebedee and I have supported you from the beginning. We have given money and goods to your cause. We have given two sons who have been faithful and devoted followers from the beginning. Now that you are coming in to your kingdom, may I ask this one favor? When you are on the throne, let my sons, James and John, sit beside you, one on the left and one on the right. Let one be the secretary of state and the other secretary of the treasury in the kingdom.” And when the other disciples heard this request, they were angry. Not only were they angry with Salome and the self-seeking ambition of their two brethren: they were also angry with themselves for not having thought to ask for these positions first.

The Response Of Jesus

Jesus did not condemn this desire for greatness as ungodly or unworthy. The desire to be important in itself is not a sin. Jesus knew that this is an instinct planted in the human personality by God himself. As such it is not evil. No instinct in itself is wrong. The end to which we use the God-given instinct determines whether it is moral or immoral. This is true of the instinct of sex. Sex in itself is not evil; it is planted in the human personality as one of God’s good gifts to mankind. Inside the marriage relationship it is one of God’s great blessings. Outside marriage it is a destructive and damning sin. And so it is with this instinct for greatness: it is a good gift of God when channeled toward the right goals.

As Jesus did not condemn this ambition to be great, neither did he approve the false piety and humility that scorns and criticizes ambition. He would agree with the one who said:

I hate the guys

That criticize

And minimize

The other guys

Whose enterprise

Has made them rise

Above the guys

That criticize

And minimize.

Jesus did not commend the Milquetoast personality that scorns ambition and achievement with a pious “excuse me for living” attitude. A Methodist bishop examining a group of candidates for the ministry asked them if they had a “strong desire for pre-eminence” in their calling and work. To the last man, in humble and pious words, they confessed they were free from any such ambitious desires. The bishop then exclaimed, “Then you are a sorry lot indeed—not one of you worthy of ordination!” He went on to explain that no other person in all the world fired the ambitions of people like Jesus Christ. Christ helps little people to be big, nameless nobodies to be somebodies, by achieving real greatness.

Thus Jesus fires the ambitions of all of us when he says to the mother of James and John and to the disciples, “So you want to be great—wonderful! You ought to be great. How disappointed I would be if you were satisfied with littleness, insignificance, and mediocrity. But as you seek to be great, be sure that you seek the true greatness.” Whosoever among you would be great—let him seek it. But do not mistake the greatness of this world for true greatness.

Worldly Standards Of Greatness

Although Jesus did not condemn their desire to be great, he did condemn their worldly standards and measurements of greatness. The world measures greatness by false standards.

The world says you are great according to the power that you exercise over others. The more authority you have to dominate others, the greater you are.

In reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, I was impressed as never before with the realization that perhaps the major responsibility for World War II must be laid at the doorstep of a German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, who measured greatness in these terms. Nietzsche, ironically the son of a Prussian pastor, said Christianity is “the greatest of all conceivable corruptions, the one immortal blemish on mankind.” He said further, “Slavery is one of the essential conditions of a high culture.… The misery of the men who struggle painfully through life must be increased to allow a small number of Olympian geniuses to produce the great works of art.” To him there were only two classes of people, the supermen and the masses of dumb brutes who served them. Communism differs from this Nazi philosophy only in that the Communists veneer the exploitation of the masses with the promise of future democratic ideals.

Does not this same philosophy permeate the social, political, and business structures of the very communities in which we live? One of the most fascinating aspects of sociology is the study of the power structure of a community. One of the textbooks on this subject, A Sociological Study of the Power Structure of the City of Atlanta, reveals how twenty-five men at the top of the pyramid run the city and actually control the lives of more than a million people. The manipulation of politics, business and finance, government, institutions, and even churches is a cold and calculated science on the part of the “great men” who are at the top. A careful scientific study will reveal that every community has its power structure with a half dozen to a score of “big people” using everything and everybody in the community for selfish ends.

And what then is the measure of greatness, the ambition of the worldly? In this mad scramble in the huddle, it is to climb to the top of the power structure. The world says this is the measure of greatness—the amount of authority that you have over others.

The world also says that you are great by the position you hold. Recognition makes you great. During the administration of President Taft, a family friend of long standing asked the President to appoint her husband, who was a house-painter, to the position of secretary of commerce. She harassed the President daily, seeking this appointment. Finally the President, in an effort to explain the impossibility of her request, said, “For secretary of commerce we need a man of vast experience in this field. To fill this position we must have a big man.” This did not discourage the woman in the least. She replied, “Appoint my husband secretary of commerce and then he will be a big man!” This is the philosophy of the world. Position determines greatness.

Thus it was that the mother of James and John felt that if Jesus would put her sons in a big position, they would be big men in the kingdom.

The world says also that possessions make you great. Have you read the book The Status Seekers? It describes this false standard of greatness. It shows how ridiculous we are in measuring status by “things.” Your greatness is measured by the street on which you live, the size of your house, the kind of car you drive. You climb up the ladder of status as you drive cars in the following order: The lowest on the ladder are those who drive “used big cars”; the next level is a new light car; then a foreign car; then a foreign sports model; and finally the top status cars, the Cadillacs or the custom-made foreign cars. Big people wear alligator shoes, silk shirts, mink stoles. Thus we use this absurd standard of “possessions” and “things” to measure greatness.

Jesus’ Standard For Greatness

Jesus answered Salome, Greatness is not mine to give. Greatness must be earned. Neither can greatness be measured by the worldly standards of position or possessions or power. You want to be great? You were made for greatness! Pray to be great. Seek to be great. But he that would be greatest among you, let him be your servant.

In this single sentence Jesus turns the parade of the world around. In the parade of humanity, the world has put at the head of the column the kings, the military commanders, the rich, those who have positions of honor and recognition. Behind them come the great masses of humanity, followed by the servants at the very end of the procession. Jesus turns this procession around and says “The greatest of these are the servants.”

A man in his mid-fifties was dying of cancer. To his pastor, who was at the bedside, he said, “Pastor, ten years ago the church asked me to teach a class of nine-year-old boys in Sunday school. I told them I was too busy. And I was, with all the heavy demands on my time and energy. I was in the prime of my life and rapidly rising in business affairs. And now, ten years later, here I am, dying, with the greatest regret of my life being that I did not accept that responsibility. I am saved, and I know that when I die I shall go to be with the Lord. But if ten years ago I had taken time to teach that class of ten boys, by now perhaps 100 boys would have passed through my hands. I would have invested my life in the lives of 100 boys, and many of them would be scattered throughout the world, growing in service and usefulness as Christian young men. I would have made an investment in time and in eternity through them. But now I must go empty-handed before the Master. I can’t take any of my money or my business or my stocks or bonds with me. What a fool I have been.” He was simply saying what Jesus said, “He that would be greatest among you, let him be the servant.” The greatest joy, the greatest self-realization that your soul can experience is in being a servant to others in the name of Jesus Christ and his cause.

Atop Red Mountain, overlooking the city of Birmingham, is the huge iron figure of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. He stands as the symbol of the industrial wealth of the great city of Birmingham. For here is a solid mountain of red iron ore, and in the valley below are coal and dolomite deposits that feed the blast furnaces. Vulcan is the symbol of the booming steel industry, the banks, the places of commerce, the houses, and the other “things” that sustain a million people in this industrial center of the South. At the foot of the mountain is a circular parkway. In its center is a life-sized statue of a little man on his knees in prayer, his head bowed, and one hand lifted upward toward God. It is the statue of Brother Bryan. Just around the corner is the church of which he was the pastor for almost half a century, the Third Presbyterian Church, still called “Brother Bryan’s church.” Who was this little man? He was an humble servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he died, the city mourned: the flags flew at halfmast and businesses dosed. The city officials declared a holiday to observe his funeral. For he had gone about the streets of Birmingham day in and day out, stretching forth a hand in kindness. His congregation could not keep an overcoat on his back, for always he found someone on the street who needed it worse than he did. His pockets were always empty, regardless of how much money was thrust upon him, for he always found someone who was hungry, cold, in need of medicine. He was often seen kneeling on the sidewalks with one hand upraised toward God in prayer, in the exact position of the statue, with the other hand on another person—someone weeping in sorrow, perhaps, or drunk, or kneeling in repentance seeking the Lord. Without power, position, or possessions, Brother Bryan was one of Birmingham’s greatest citizens.

And when the winds and the storms of time have long since reduced the iron statue of Vulcan to dust and leveled Red Mountain to the ground and buried the last remnant of the city of Birmingham in the sands of time, the fruits of the life of Brother Bryan will still be standing. That which he did in the name of Jesus Christ in service to his fellow man will stand for all eternity. As Jesus said, He that would be the greatest among you, let him be your servant.—This sermon was preached at the First Baptist Church of Jackson, Tennessee, on February 14, 1965.

Samuel Turner, Jr., traces the effect of professorial skepticism on his thinking and ministry and his subsequent recovery of faith in the Bible (see opposite page). Elsewhere in this education issue, several key questions are discussed: What about the biblical illiteracy of most students from church-going families? How can college Bible courses be upgraded? Should there be more Protestant schools?

Our lead editorial considers basic planning for Christian education.

The advertising of a book in CHRISTIANITY TODAY does not necessarily imply endorsement of it. We reserve the right to review critically any book any time.

Education: Looking for Oneself

The Return to Self-Concern, by Allen F. Bray, III (Westminster, 1964, 142 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Cornelius Jaarsma, professor of education, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

This book is essentially a discourse on Christian education. According to the author, the focal point in Christian education is self-discovery, or the understanding of the true self, and the freedom to realize the true self as one’s birthright. The search for self-understanding and the freedom to seek it Bray speaks of as self-concern.

His contention is that there must be a return to self-concern if Christian education is to be genuinely Christian. Jesus in preaching and teaching made true self-knowledge the focal point. He sought out men in their needs and led them to the Source of self-understanding. The early Christian community found its strength in the communion of individuals who in genuine self-concern sought one another in their common search for full self-realization.

During the Middle Ages self-concern became submerged in an establishment of church and culture that made belongingness a substitute for self-fulfillment. The Renaissance was a reaction, a search for self on a purely human basis. The Reformation represented the search for self in personal encounter with the personal God who comes to man in Christ. During the centuries since the Reformation, the Church has increasingly adopted the patterns of culture to make her message in proclamation and teaching relevant to a changing world.

The result has been that the Church has failed extensively in her primary function: to constitute a holy priesthood, a peculiar people with a singular message in preaching and teaching that reaches down to the basic need of all men, genuine self-knowledge.

Only a message and work that meet the need of the individual for self-understanding can revive the true function of the Church in our time, Bray says. When the individual sees himself as estranged from the God who is his very life and in repentance relates himself to God as Person, he will find a communion and community that give him freedom for self-fulfillment.

How the Christian community can return to self-concern of the individual the author sets forth in three chapters: “Sources of Response,” “The Faces of Resistance,” and “The Hope of Resolution.”

“Christian education is charged with the communication of the truth of God in relation to the needs of man,” according to the author. This statement, taken in the context of his call for a return to self-concern, leaves us with a message we might well appropriate when it is understood in the light of an authentic, infallible revelation of God in Christ and in the inscripturated record of God’s message to man.

In this volume Bray expresses ideas that can be provocative guidelines for the evangelical Christian who ponders the problems of Christian education today. But the ideas will undergo some reconstruction when considered in a framework that views man as the image of God and as a fallen sinner, and that accepts redemption as substitutionary atonement and the works of grace and sanctification as they are taught in the Scriptures. These central truths of Scripture become obscured in the author’s attempt to make them relevant to modern thought.

In spite of its accommodation to current theological existentialism, this volume merits careful and scrutinizing study by all pastors and teachers and by all who seek a clearer insight in a Christian interpretation of educational theory and practice.

CORNELIUS JAARSMA

For The Sake Of Beauty

The New Orpheus: Essays Toward a Christian Poetic, edited by Nathan A. Scott, Jr. (Sheed and Ward, 1964, 431 pp., $7.50), is reviewed by Frank E. Gaebelein, co-editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

This book of essays, collected and edited by Professor Nathan A. Scott of the University of Chicago, is an invaluable source-book of contemporary Christian criticism. As such, it lives up to its subtitle, “Essays Toward a Christian Poetic.” The twenty-two essays are presented under five heads: I. The Problem of the Christian Aesthetic; II. The Nature of the Christian Vision; III. Moorings for a Theological Criticism; IV. Belief and Form; The Problem of Correlation; V. The “Silence, Exile, and Cunning” of the Modern Imagination.

Some of the essays are difficult reading. This is particularly true of those in the first two parts of the book. Here the reader has the feeling that ideas are struggling for articulation. Other essays, in the latter half of the collection, are refreshingly lucid. Among these are Walter J. Ong’s “The Jinnee in the Well-Wrought Urn,” T. S. Eliot’s “Religion and Literature,” Christopher Fry’s little gem, “Comedy,” D. S. Savage’s “Truth and the Art of the Novel,” and Amos N. Wilder’s “Art and Theological Meaning.”

A few quotations—of many that might be cited—will give something of the quality of the thought presented in the essays. Of modern literature T. S. Eliot says, “There never was a time, I believe, when those who read at all, read so many more books by living authors than books by dead authors; there never was a time so completely parochial, so shut off from the past.…” “My complaint against modern literature … is not that modern literature is in the ordinary sense ‘immoral’ or even ‘amoral’.… It is simply that it repudiates, or is wholly ignorant of, our most fundamental and important beliefs.” In speaking of the moral aspect of poetry, W. K. Wimsatt, Jr., remarks, “The greatest poetry will be morally right, even though perhaps obscurely so, in groping confusions of will and knowledge—as Oedipus the King foreshadows Lear.” And in her penetrating study of the imagination, Elizabeth Sewell says, “No matter at what level, the starved imagination is likely to run after aberrations.” Amos N. Wilder’s concluding essay, “Art and Theological Meaning,” contains this wholesome counsel: “It is necessary to introduce a caveat against misplaced aestheticism in the church. We should not encourage aesthetes in the pulpit, or ‘literary persons,’ or liturgical revivals inspired by false views of beauty.”

The evangelical thinker who is interested in aesthetics—and evangelicals ought to be interested in this subject—will gain much from this volume. He will also realize that most of the essays, with the exception of the one by Denis de Rougemont, who Writes out of a Calvinist background, reflect Anglican or Roman Catholic theology more than Reformation theology. In some of the writers there are Tillichian overtones. Of references to the Bible and to the theology of redemption there are comparatively few. To say this is not to derogate the value of this collection. It has much to say to evangelicals and should be a spur for evangelicals to enter the challenging field of Christian aesthetics.

The field is large. Professor Scott’s collection is devoted almost exclusively to poetics; there is only the barest minimum of reference to music and the visual arts. It may be that here evangelicals have a distinctive contribution to make. Bach, who shares with Beethoven the pre-eminence among composers, represented an utterly authentic evangelicalism, and some of the greatest of painters, such as Rembrandt, came out of the Protestant tradition. Or to turn to works of the literary imagination, there are rich fields to be plowed in the study of Bunyan and Milton from the biblical perspective.

It is regrettable that Professor Scott neglected to give the reader any biographical information. A page or two identifying the writers of the essays and telling something of their work would be of great help to the reader who is interested in further study.

FRANK E. GAEBELEIN

When Logic Has Gone

A Contemporary Christian Philosophy of Religion, by James A. Overholser (Regnery, 1964, 214 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Edward John Cornell, professor of ethics and philosophy of religion, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

The author of this rather pedantic volume is convinced not only that Christianity is in a sick condition but also that he is qualified to administer the needed medicine. As it turns out, however, the more medicine he administers, the sicker Christianity becomes.

The crux of the problem, as I see it, is the author’s tendency to suppose that by an appeal to the dynamic-existential approach to reality in the philosophies of Kierkegaard, Whitehead, and Heidegger, a genuinely contemporary Christian is delivered from the bondage of traditionalism, of Aristotelian metaphysics and logic, in short, of “substantialism.” It is openly assumed, but nowhere proved, that this experience of deliverance prepares the way for a new understanding of Christianity, rather than opening the door to religious skepticism.

In any event, the author castigates traditional logic with weapons supplied by modern philosophies of being; and he does this without showing any respect for the fact that logic and ontology are separate sciences. “The ordinary logical concept is not a true image of any actual object or experience, but is on the contrary the rudest semblance, lifeless and distorted, of the ever elusive instant” (p. 22). True being is born whenever truth is measured by act. “The most penetrating of contemporary thinkers now hold that being is personal, and that the being of any individual is commensurate with his personal action. His deed is the index to his true essence; his being is the correlate and construct of his authentic deed. And this being is superior to, and unassailed by, the object-world without. It is not substantial but historical and must be grasped by the categories of existence” (p. 27).

It follows that Christ is “existentially” equal with God, but not “ontologically.” Christ is God because he chose to be God. “Because He has taken upon Him God’s own ‘history,’ and made Himself one with the total dynamic of messianic occurrence (not for one ‘life-time’ but for its entire course), because, in a word, He has in His decision actually become God in history, and maintained this vital identity in the consciousness of His authentic destiny, we may with realism and scientific justification affirm that Christ is God” (p. 112). Since both classical exegesis and the categories of classical logic may be ignored, we are treated with what strikes me as a disturbing sleight of hand. Although existential ontology federates the divinity of Christ with a structure of being that is actually an event in the space-time continuum (shades of Whitehead), we are calmly assured that the concept of Christ’s pre-existence as God is safely intact. “The historic Christ is eternally God” (p. 116). All of this is accompanied by the novel notion that “Jesus was tempted to be God” and that he “succumbed to this unique temptation” (pp. 76, 77).

The whole book is sprinkled with examples of theological legerdemain such as this. Thus, the scriptural account of Christ’s resurrection may not be literally true. “It is, notwithstanding, to be maintained that the Resurrection is factually true and theologically meaningful” (p. 90).

As might be suspected, this liberty to revise the essence of Christianity traces to a rejection of Scripture as a source of infallible revelation. After dismissing what happens to be a pitiful caricature of the evangelical view of Scripture, and after attempting to be clever by contending that the Word became “flesh” and not “grammar,” the author then sets down his own position in the following ambiguous manner: “The important thing about the text of Scripture henceforth is not that it should be an unalloyed demonstration of factual accuracy, but that it should be seen in relation to the whole of the unique community of Revelation of which it is a part, and thus have divine meaning. To have been wrought within the fabric of this whole, in the living process of which Scripture is the completion, is sufficient to establish the part as Revelation. This is the criterion: it participates in the meaning of the whole” (p. 151). But what, we must ask, is the whole?

Curiously, the author ends his labors with the pietistic assertion that mental and emotional health can be enjoyed only by those who experience a sense of wholeness within theistic presuppositions. “It is the testimony of more than one practicing psychologist that they have never been able to straighten out and rehabilitate the crippled personalities of those who do not believe in God” (p. 188). This point is utterly unscientific, and it is strange that it appears in a book which takes such pride in showing how a revamped Christianity is harmonious with science; it is simply a plain fact that some of the most expert psychologists and psychoanalysts make no profession of faith whatever in the Christian God.

A number of fine, though inconsistent, points are made in this book—such as the manner in which Barth is challenged, and the high respect for the Apostle Paul’s development of the plan of salvation in the Book of Romans. But until the author’s cryptic language is translated into plain English, not even these inconsistent points will make much of an impact on the contemporary Christian scene. The following is a sample of what I mean, and with this I shall close this review. “The important thing to notice at this point is that the verbal enunciation of biblical events is a part of the system of meaningful relations which begin at the pre-interpretational level of dynamic structure” (p. 132).

EDWARD JOHN CARNELL

Tested In Life

A Businessman Looks at the Bible, by W. Maxey Jarman (Revell, 1965, 159 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by John E. Mitchell, Jr., chairman of the board, John E. Mitchell Company, Dallas, Texas.

Here is a book not just for businessmen but for everybody. Its author, W. Maxey Jarman, is a successful businessman, an officer in his church, a Sunday school teacher, and a trustee or director of many Christian national organizations.

He opens his book with the question, “Is the Bible the real Word of God? The answer a man gives to that question can have a lot to do with his life.”

Mr. Jarman had the privilege of being reared in a Christian family. The Bible was read every morning at breakfast. He accepted it without question, just as he accepted food, clothing, and shelter without question. Later, while he was a student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his faith was attacked by new acquaintances—skeptics, agnostics, and atheists. Even more destructive was the lukewarm testimony of so-called Christians who seemed to have little or no faith in the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. Yet he emerged from this period with a good, solid faith in the Bible and in the God of the Bible.

At twenty-eight he found himself the president of his company, and shortly thereafter he became a teacher of a Sunday school class of fourteen-year-old boys. He learned what all other dedicated Sunday school teachers have learned: the person who benefits most is the teacher himself. And he came to realize that the best way to understand the teachings of the Bible is to live by them. The Bible tells us that understanding will follow obedience and action.

About this time Maxey Jarman began reading the Word of God earnestly and systematically, putting it to the test in his day-by-day life in a practical, businesslike way. As he grew “in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,” he reached the point where, to use his own language, “I want to know, I want to do, I want to tell, I want to enjoy.” The Scriptures taught him how to know, how to do, how to tell, and how to enjoy.

Mr. Jarman concludes: “I have read [the Bible], studied it, believed it, and applied it to my own life, and I can recommend it to everyone.… You will find it offers far more benefits than those I have mentioned.… You will begin to know what it means only when you live it.… Then you will experience a new internal joy, a readiness to meet life’s burdens, and a willingness to look toward the future with serenity and assurance.”

If I were forced to offer a criticism of Mr. Jarman’s book, it would be that he does not emphasize, as much as I would like, the sayings and deeds of the Book’s Hero—namely, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Nor does Mr. Jarman quote Scripture as often as I would like. He tells us in his own language what the Scriptures say, but I would prefer to have him quote the Bible and let it speak for itself.

No one can read Maxey Jarman’s book carefully and prayerfully without gaining a great deal. I recommend it heartily. And I hope that many Christians in business may follow the example set by Mr. Jarman and write their own convictions in a book.

JOHN E. MITCHELL, JR.

Use Or Abuse?

The Use of Analogy in the Letters of Paul, by Herbert M. Gale (Westminster, 1964, 282 pp., $6), is reviewed by William E. Hull, associate professor of New Testament interpretation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.

Converging developments in three areas point to the importance of a book on this subject: (1) historical studies of the analogies (parables) of Jesus; (2) theological studies of biblical word-pictures; (3) philosophical studies of the analogical character of religious language. Appreciation is in order for this first comprehensive effort in English to survey the analogies of Paul.

Gale begins by limiting the scope of his inquiry to the “undoubtedly genuine” epistles, thus excluding Second Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals. He then arranges the seven remaining letters in probable chronological order and attempts a straightforward exegesis of thirty-four passages where analogies are to be found.

The conclusions of this analysis are largely negative. Again and again Paul’s illustrations are shown to be incomplete, only one element being valid for the immediate context. The point of comparison is often untrue both to the life situation from which it is drawn and to the theological argument into which it is thrust. Indeed, rather than the analogy’s illuminating the argument, the reverse is often true: the context must be consulted to determine the point of the picture! The chief value of these negative findings is to set the severe limits within which the Pauline analogies may serve as clues to the Apostle’s thought.

Inevitably, this pioneering attempt whets our desire for more than the book provides. Although Gale describes how Paul used analogies so clumsily, lack of detailed background studies prevents us from understanding why he did so. Again, the principle by which certain passages were selected for treatment and others omitted remains puzzling. Perhaps this will be answered by a later book in which the author promises to treat “the more crucial analogies” (p. 17). Finally, there are curious bibliographical omissions, particularly the biblical studies of analogy by Paul Minear and the many recent philosophical critiques of analogy which are of great help in clarifying presuppositions and terminology.

On the whole, the book suffers from a somewhat tedious and cumbersome style. In its present form, it may serve best as a reference tool for further study in this fruitful area of Pauline research.

WILLIAM E. HULL

The Christ And The Bible

Revelation, by Werner Bulst, S.J., translated by Bruce Vawter, C. M. (Sheed and Ward, 1965, 158 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by James Daane, assistant editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Protestants who have been intellectually jolted by the modern insistence that revelation is not—or is not merely—a word of God but divine action and events will find this a very helpful book. And they need such help. For while evangelical Protestants have insisted that the Bible is the written Word of God and that revelation is, therefore, capable of being stated in words and propositional statements, and have warned against the reduction of revelation to Event, few Protestant theologians have attempted to show how revelation as word and as event are related.

Roman Catholics have also been aroused by this modern (neo-orthodox) emphasis on the nature of revelation as event, for their classic formulation of revelation has been, locutio Dei attestans, i.e., “God speaking,” or more accurately, “attesting divine speech.”

The basic thesis of this book is that we must obtain our idea of revelation from the Bible. If we do, we then learn that “word” is the most comprehensive descriptive category of revelation. This being so, revelation is therefore capable of being communicated in preaching and teaching, and indeed in a Book. Yet, according to the teaching of this Book itself, this “word” is not a mere conceptual utterance; it is also event—and in heaven, vision.

The nature of revelation, says the author, is so complex that it cannot be reduced to a simple definition. “There is, however, one concrete formula which says everything that is essential in all brevity and accuracy: Revelation (in its definitive form) is Christ himself.” He is God’s act of coming, of God’s doing in history. But Christ is himself the Word, and since he speaks the word of God, revelation is not merely event any more than it is merely (conceptual) words or utterances. In Christ we are confronted with both word and act. “In him God has said everything to us and accomplished everything.” The Logos, the Word, is the work (ergon); the verbum, the opus.

Protestants will read with profit and, hopefully, with critical caution Roman Catholic Bulst’s inclusion of the Church within the revelation that is completed in Christ. But they will also read with considerable profit and agreement this Roman Catholic attempt to recognize the event-character of revelation without giving up the word-character of revelation as conceptual utterance and statement, which is to say, without giving up the Bible as the Word of God.

In view of the dearth of Protestant efforts to face the whole problem of revelation, this book can be highly recommended for Protestants who wonder how the Word of God can be both a book called the Bible and a person called Christ.

JAMES DAANE

For The Recommended List

Paul, Apostle of Liberty, by Richard N. Longenecker (Harper and Row, 1964, 310 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by James P. Martin, associate professor of New Testament, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, Richmond.

“There is,” as Dr. Longenecker remarks in his introduction to this impressive work on Paul, “a divinely inspired timelessness about his message which grips men and leads them on to their Lord.” If he would replace the word “timelessness” by timefulness,” he would better support the forceful picture of the Apostle’s life and faith that appears so clearly in this book. The weakest feature of the study is the title: Paul was not an apostle of liberty or of any other principle or “ism” but an apostle of Jesus Christ. To attach the concept of apostle to a principle is to misuse the word; it must be related only to a person.

The legality-liberty dialectic of the Apostle is the matter Longenecker investigates. Readers who know the eschatological structure of the Apostle’s thought will easily be able to orient themselves in the intricate argument. Those who think that the dialectic under discussion here is the be-all of Pauline theology might be confirmed in this if they do not study the Apostle from other perspectives not central to this study. Within the compass of the author’s purpose, however, we are given a solid, weighty study of the particular dialectic. The work is not light or easy reading, but it is richly rewarding to anyone who puts forth the effort to follow the debate. The format suggests that this study was originally a dissertation; it bears many marks of academic origin in its structure, method, and mass of footnotes. It is never pedantic, however, and the argument does not become dull. The advantage of the book is that it presents a good discussion of many points of apostolic history and thought, and it will serve as a useful reference work.

Longenecker carries through his dialectic in three major divisions: Paul’s background, his teaching, and his practice. A helpful distinction is made between a legalist and a nomist, in order to show that pre-destruction Judaism had a formalistic piety and an inward spirituality. This means that the essential tension of Judaism was not primarily that of legalism versus love, or externalism versus inwardness, but that of promise and fulfillment (p. 84). The earliest (Jewish) Christians found this tension resolved in Christ.

Several difficult and important problems are thoroughly aired in Dr. Longenecker’s discussion, such as the interpretation of Romans 7, the “in Christ” formula, the nature of liberty, and the consistencies or (alleged) inconsistencies between Paul’s theory and practice. The author solves the consistency question by unfolding Paul’s radical freedom—to be all things to all men, so that he could keep vows if he willed because he was free to act thus. The argument is always fair to opposing views and states clearly the author’s conclusions and his reasons for them. This book must be included in any recommended list of works on Paul.

Several errata may be noted: the first and second lines on page 165 have been mixed; the spelling of Buttenweiser in note 85, page 84, does not agree with the spelling in note 88, same page, or with the index. The page reference in the index (p. 299) to Schoeps should be ix, not xi. There are printer’s mistakes on pages 239 (marriage), 258 (that for than), and 264 (Christ, not Chirst). The inclusion of some lines of German quotation hardly seems necessary; since the German is not obscure, why not translate it all?

JAMES P. MARTIN

Book Briefs

Christianity in the Computer Age, by A. Q. Morton and James McLeman (Harper and Row, 1964, 95 pp., $2.50). The authors report how by the use of a computer they have proved that only five of the fourteen epistles attributed to Paul were actually written by him. To this they add their indictment of the Church on the basis of an unbiblical understanding of the biblical message.

How to Become a Bishop Without Being Religious, by Charles Merrill Smith (Doubleday, 1965, 131 pp., $3.50). A tongue-in-cheek satire that bites a lot of truth. Good reading for the minister and his wife; delightful, if the reader is neither.

War of Amazing Love, by Frank C. Laubach (Revell, 1965, 150 pp., $2.95). To eliminate war and poverty the author suggests that we combine the compassion of Jesus with the Pentagon and thus, hopefully, save the world from being covered with nuclear dust.

Sex and Racism in America, by Calvin C. Hernton (Doubleday, 1965, 180 pp., $3.95). The author believes that racism is shot through with sexuality and that this sexuality operates in both directions.

Wonders of Creation, by Harold W. Clark (Pacific Press, 1964, 134 pp., $4.95). Essays that show the marvels and mysteries of a creation viewed as the handiwork of God. With fine photography. Delightful and informative reading.

The Social Thought of John XXIII: Mater et Magistra, by Jean-Yves Calvez, S. J., translated by George J. M. McKenzie, S. M. (Regnery, 1964, 121 pp., $3.75).

Day of Resurrection, by Leslie B. Flynn (Broadman, 1965, 96 pp., $2). Eight sparkling essays on the Resurrection by a teacher of journalism who can write.

The True and Living God, by Trevor Huddleston (Doubleday, 1965, 120 pp., $2.95). Eight lean, hard, plain-talk “lectures” by a bishop from Tanganyika. If you are willing to be shook up, read them.

Tangled World, by Roger L. Shinn (Scribners, 1965, 158 pp., 83). A description of our changing society and its demand for decisions.

Generation of the Third Eye: Young Catholic Leaders View Their Church, edited by Daniel Callahan (Sheed and Ward, 1965, 249 pp., $4.95). Essays by intellectual laymen and clerics that are more sophisticated than critical.

Economic Harmonies, by Frederic Bastiat (Van Nostrand, 1964, 596 pp., $11.50). The book’s thesis is that all mankind can live in harmony and peace if all violence, or the threat of it, is reserved exclusively for the maintenance, by the state, of a free market. Of such dreams big books are made—and sold.

Theology for Renewal: Bishops, Priests, Laity, by Karl Rahner, S. J. (Sheed and Ward, 1964, 183 pp., $4). Roman Catholic theologian Rahner talks to laymen about current issues in the Roman Catholic Church. Equally informative for the Protestant who wants to know about Catholicism.

The Christian faith and way of life are personal matters if they are real. They cannot be depersonalized, for they have to do with a personal God and our personal response to him. We believe many people lose the blessings that should be theirs because they fail to realize and to practice this personal aspect of their faith.

The tendency to look at men in the mass, at society as a corporate group, and at the Church as nothing more than a corporate entity has increased the danger of depersonalizing man’s Christian experience so that God is left out in the limbo of unreality, far removed from our day-to-day experiences and needs.

A number of things are necessary for making Christ, and all that is implied in his Person and Work, real to us at the personal level. With many of these we have subconsciously complied, but we should be acutely aware of all of them so that through them Christ may become real and our faith personal.

For a genuine Christian experience there must be a sense of need. The depth of that sense of need will grow with the years, but it must be there at all times. Why turn to a Saviour if we do not need saving? Why seek healing if there is no sickness? Why look for help if we are able to solve our problems? Why ask for forgiveness if there is no offense? Why seek sight if we are not blind?

With the realization of personal need there must be confession of personal sin, not for one day but for an entire lifetime. Sanctification is the work of God’s Spirit in our hearts whereby we grow in our knowledge of and love for the Saviour and in personal righteousness; yet the fact remains that this side of eternity none of us can be perfect. We need daily washing of the Spirit, the application of the divine detergent—the blood of Calvary. Unconfessed sin erects barriers between God and us.

Faith is the hinge that holds the believer to a personal relationship with God. “Without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Heb. 11:6, RSV).

While God honors our minute faith, compared by our Lord to a grain of mustard seed, he expects us to grow mature and develop in our understanding of the object of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ. Maturing faith becomes increasingly personal as we comprehend something of the qualities of the one with whom we have to do. Nothing is more able to drive a man to his knees than meditation on the attributes of God.

The intertwining work of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is revealed from Genesis to Revelation, so that the Three appear at Creation and at the consummation of the age. The reality of God as the personal God enables us to join with the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear” (Heb. 11:3). We base our faith, therefore, on the God of eternity who is also the God of creation.

But such a God might seem impersonal and far off. And so his Son, the Christ of the Scriptures, intensely human and personal even while being God, has revealed the Father to us in terms we can understand by faith.

We all need to grow in our realization of the holiness of the object of our faith, for nothing is more able to bring us to confession of sin than a sense of the holiness of God. His character, expressed in human terms, is all that perfect purity, goodness, and righteousness might suggest to the mind—and infinitely more. Despite this fact, through faith in and the acceptance of Christ’s imputed righteousness, there can exist between us and God a personal relationship comparable to that of a child with a loving father.

Inseparably a part of such a relationship with God is an overwhelming sense of his love, a love that was seen at Calvary and that may be experienced in our day-to-day experiences. Tempted? He too was tempted and offers the way of escape. Troubled? He knows and understands and comforts. Perplexed? He offers wisdom and guidance. Overwhelmed by the limitations of the flesh? He knows all about it and offers strength and victory where they really count.

The nearness of God, described so beautifully by David in Psalm 139, verses 7–12, must become a reality for us. In no way is he more personal than in his searching and continuing presence with those who put their trust in him. He seeks us personally, longs for our loving response to him as persons to a Person. There is no place in which we may hide from his presence, no time of our earthly existence when he is not at our right hand to respond to us as individuals.

There have been those who in stressing the place of faith in personal salvation have overlooked the place of obedience. Faith is validated by obedience. Through obedience our personal relationship to God becomes a reality. There must be a personal response to a Person. And this response can never be casual. It is unconditional surrender to the Lord of life, this life and the next; and it means seeking and doing God’s will.

At no place is the personal aspect of the Christian faith more real than in the matter of our two-way communication with God. We talk to him in formal prayer and even more in that attitude of mind and heart that always keeps him at the very center of life. And God speaks through the Holy Spirit to our hearts. He speaks directly through his Word. He speaks through other people and circumstances. When we are willing to listen, he speaks to us at the personal level.

Just as we act and react to any number of stimuli, intellectual and material, so the Christian should act and react to the personal claims of the living Christ. A Christianity that is impersonal toward God is impersonal toward man. Reaction against evil and action for good are the results of a relationship with Christ that gives us his mind, his perspective, and his will—all in the light of this life and in the context of eternity.

When our Christian faith becomes a personal matter, our outlook on this world changes completely. Life becomes a matter of God-to-man and man-to-man relationships in which we are the participants but not the activators, the channel but not the contents of the channel, the instrument but not the end.

Many of us have stood merely on the fringes of a life surrendered to Christ. We have held back where we should have trusted. We have regarded him and our relationship to him in a completely impersonal manner. We have been Christians in name but not in reality. We have had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof—the Person and Work of the Son of God as they relate to us as individuals.

Unless he becomes personal Saviour of our souls and Lord of our lives, we are of all men most miserable.

What are some of the great themes on which Christ is found most frequently speaking? Are they not God, man, sin, righteousness, salvation, the hereafter? On all these topics we see how, on the one hand, Christ connects his teaching with what had gone before in the Old Testament, and how, on the other, he carries it up to a higher and more spiritual plane.

1. In Christ’s doctrine of God, for instance, there might seem little that is absolutely new. Christ never thinks, any more than the Old Testament does, of proving God’s existence. He takes God, with all his well-known attributes of eternity, omnipresence, omnipotence, holiness, and so on, for granted, and does not reason about them. Similarly, Jesus does not argue about a Divine Providence, but assumes it, and draws from it the lesson of trust in the Heavenly Father (Matt. 6:25 ff.). Yet what an incalculable advance is involved in this doctrine of a heavenly Father, interpreted as it is by Christ’s own consciousness of Sonship! And what an extension is given to the thoughts of God’s love and forgiving mercy!

2. Or, take the doctrine of man. Here again Jesus accepts the Old Testament view of the creation (Matt. 19:4–6), nature, and destination of man—a destination to a life of sonship, forfeited by sin, restored only by redemption. But how much more deeply does he penetrate to the core of man’s spiritual being, and assert for him, as an individual, an infinite value in God’s sight! Christ strikes down to that which is universal in man; looks at man in his capacity for spiritual and immortal life; drops wholly out of view accidental characteristics of rank, age, sex, nationality, culture; seizes only on the essentials in man’s nature. This is why his teaching endures, why it is adapted to every race and every stage of culture.

3. What, again, can be more penetrative or spiritual than Christ’s teaching on sin? Sometimes the assertion is made that Jesus has nothing to say on the origin of sin—knows nothing of a fall. But sin certainly was not to Jesus a natural, necessary, or normal state for man. If he appeals to the Genesis narrative of man’s origin on the subject of marriage (Matt. 19:4, 5), it is not likely he would ignore it on the subject of the origin of sin (cf. John 8:44). It is sometimes said, again, that Jesus knows nothing of hereditary evil—of original sin. But does he not? Is there not in his declarations the constant implication of universal sin? Is there not, further, a positive tracing back of sin to a foul fountain in the heart? “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts.”

4. Christ teaches the freeness of salvation, and connects this in well-known passages with his own person and redeeming death (Matt. 20:28; 26:25–28; John 3:14–16, and so on).

5. Reverting for a moment to the secular side of Christ’s teaching, it should be observed how, as in other things, Jesus takes over the Old Testament idea of the world. Jesus was no pessimist. He accepts the world as God’s world, God’s creation (Matt. 6:26–30); as, therefore, in itself good, though sin has so woefully defaced it. We see in the parables how he recognizes the whole wealth of natural human relations; the full variety of human talents, occupations, and interests. He sees it all, but has an infinitely higher mission than to occupy himself with its finite aims. His Gospel is the regulating principle of the whole.

It may now be seen in part what Jesus means when he speaks of “the Kingdom of God.” That expression, on his lips, is vast and many-sided in significance, but we appear to get to the core of it when we interpret it to mean simply the supremacy of God in human hearts and human affairs, and in every department of these affairs. The Kingdom of God begins within, in the new life imparted to the soul by Christ, but it is not intended to remain within. It is to work itself out into every department of human life, till the whole is brought under the rule of God. “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

This is the earthly aspect of the Kingdom, but there is the other—the eschatological, or, as some would now name it, the apocalyptic—on which, largely as it bulks in Christ’s teaching, only a word can here be said. Jesus does not look for the perfection of his Kingdom on earth, but sees its consummation in eternity, connecting this with his own Parousia, with resurrection, and with judgment. It is becoming customary to say that these are elements derived from popular Jewish apocalyptic beliefs—elements which enlightened Christianity must drop off. It might be shown, on the other hand, that they are elements which spring from the depths of Christ’s own consciousness, and which cannot be ignored in any just view of his teaching. The Jewish apocalypses could not have produced them. Jesus knew that he would die and would rise again. He knew himself to be King and Lord of the Kingdom he had founded. He confidently looked forward to a time of triumph and visible manifestation of the Kingdom with which he would be personally identified. However delayed by the slow course of providence, or by the unfaithfulness of the Church itself, that day will surely, in the Father’s good pleasure, come. It is for those who trust their Lord’s word to watch and pray for it (Matt. 24:45–51).—JAMES ORR

YOUR MOVE

A friend of mine was chaplain of a hospital ship during the last world war, and his ship was among those that steamed into Tokyo harbor for the signing of the peace treaty with Japan on the “Mighty Mo.” Thinking, quite naturally, that this was to be a great historical occasion, my friend decided to write down exactly what happened as the ship moved into the harbor.

He had the word from the bridge as to how he could tell exactly when the ship crossed the invisible line into the harbor, and at that moment he jotted down two things that happened. One, a cook came out of the galley and threw some garbage into the sea. Two, a little motorboat drew alongside and a man yelled through a megaphone, “What movies ya got?” Thus history passed.

Two days ago (as this column is being written), I was glued to the television set watching the flight of the Gemini. This highly serious business had to be interrupted by the people who pay the bills, and the first interruption was an advertisement for “Petticoat Junction.” Never having seen “Petticoat Junction,” I was at the least shocked by such an earthy interruption. The next interruption informed us all, “You are now the Pepsi generation,” which was illustrated by happy, carefree youth. If we are the Pepsi generation, those rows of men watching their dials to keep our precious cargo in flight didn’t seem to realize it. The third interruption had to do with “insured savings,” and we were assured that this sort of thing could keep a man safe for life. This was hard to believe in terms of the Gemini dreams.

Maybe the reason the Russians are out in front is that they don’t get lost in the suds of “Petticoat Junction,” the Pepsi generation, and assured savings.

PRESBYTERIAN TRENDS

Thank you for the fine April 9 issue. I especially want to add my word of appreciation for the letter by Edward W. Stimson, “The Threat to United Presbyterians,” and the reports on the march at Selma and the Chicago meeting of Presbyterian men.

Mr. Stimson has carefully described the decline of the United Presbyterian Church as it is occurring through seminars, committees, executives, and conferences. There are many laymen and pastors who agree with him and would stop the deflection from the Westminster Confession of Faith if possible.…

First Presbyterian Church

Jerseyville, Ill.

As I have observed in my lay leadership in UPC since 1955, the conservatives have too long compromised for the so-called “Presbyterian Peace” of the denomination. Now they have before them a piece of liberal legislation.…

The reported comments of the Rev. Louis Evans, Jr. (News, Apr. 9 issue), as to the losses in membership by the Presbyterian Church I can well attest to. When as Sunday school superintendent I voiced my vigorous disapproval of the neo-orthodox curriculum “Faith and Life” and resigned because of my convictions, my family one by one returned to an evangelical Lutheran congregation. The neo-orthodox minister got his curriculum, but he lost an active family in Sunday school leadership.

Brigantine, N.J.

Edward W. Stimson suggests that a neo-orthodox minority led by Eugene Carson Blake is presently engaged in a conspiracy to abandon historic Presbyterian standards against the will of the majority in the United Presbyterian Church. I hope the letter is not taken seriously by many readers; the argument is tenuous, depending upon several unproven assumptions and not a few half-truthful and even untruthful allegations.

Mr. Stimson’s treatment of the experimental “Service for the Lord’s Day” and the Joint Committee on Worship which drafted it is typical of his method. Since this is, allegedly, one prong of the “five-pronged steam-shovel scoop” employed by the conspiracy, one could expect the “Service for the Lord’s Day” to be the conspiratorial product of a minority within the church. Actually, everything in the service is in strict accordance with the “Directory for Worship,” a constitutional document agreed upon by a majority of the church through their representatives after free and ample public debate. The service itself was printed and distributed in order to determine the will of the church. Certainly the Joint Committee has shown good faith in preparing recommendations for the General Assembly.…

The placing of the sermon immediately after the lesson is neither new nor un-Presbyterian; … early Reformed Christians worshiped in this manner, and such practice is even one of the recommended options in the present (1946) edition of the Book of Common Worship! There is no inherent reason why such practice need reduce the sermon to an “expository homily” nor subordinate it to ritual prayers. The lectionary was produced in conformity to the constitution for optional use. Since its use is optional, neither the minister’s freedom to choose his text nor his freedom in the pulpit is in any way threatened. Mr. Stimson’s assumption that the Joint Committee wishes such freedoms to be abridged appears to have no factual basis.

Mr. Stimson further suggests that the recommendations of the various special committees are designed to accommodate “our polity to Anglican-Orthodox requirements,” and he suggests that we ought instead to retain “characteristics favorable to reunion with our Southern Presbyterian and Reformed brethren.” This criticism is especially inappropriate in relation to the Joint Committee on Worship, since the committee included Southern Presbyterians and since the changes suggested are not particularly agreeable to Anglicans.

I am not a member of the Joint Committee; but, as a Presbyterian minister, I have worked with the proposed service and on occasion have asked members of the committee for guidance. I am unhappy with many of the details of the service, but I have found the committee to be competent and loyal. Certainly the United Presbyterian Church is facing many problems, and everyone ought to be concerned with the course it is to take in the future; but irresponsible and misleading criticisms, and such Mr. Stimson’s appear to be, cannot but injure “our beloved Presbyterian Church.”

The Babcock Memorial Chapel

Ashaway, R. I.

I am grateful to Millard Schumaker for sharing his reply with me. Of course the session of each local church retains control of its worship service: the General Assembly cannot order the proposed “Service for the Lord’s Day” observed, and printed prayers remain optional. Yet if this order of worship is publicized and fostered by the General Assembly, some will feel they should adopt it.

So I ask, if it is used widely, and preachers make their sermons expositions of the Scripture lesson called for in the lectionary, early in the service, and have long ritual prayers as printed, or similar, in the later, more climactic position in the service, will it not actually tend to circumscribe their liberty in the choice of preaching subjects, and subordinate the sermon to ritual? And if we get seniors in every presbytery, controlling ministerial relations, may not the failure to conform in worship practice be noted as “uncooperative”?

Let me make it clear that I do not charge the Joint Committee on Worship with any insincere purpose or conscious conspiracy. The ablest way to precondition a committee is to handpick its members so that the desired result is a foregone conclusion. My main observation is that the Stated Clerk has either consciously or unconsciously suggested committee constituencies with a preponderance of people whose position he likes, or perhaps just has not sufficiently made himself observe the fair practice of suggesting committee memberships with balanced constituencies adequately representing the points of view he does not like. So we have a sincere Committee on Worship dominated by ritualists whose findings will not be used by the majority of churches. The same habit accounts for the new “Directory for Worship” in the constitution adopted a few years ago. The constitutional change was approved too easily by an assembly that went along with the committee recommendation without much debate, and by presbyteries whose members did not oppose it because they understood it was not compulsory and could be ignored by local sessions and ministers. It will be sad if the church spends all the money required for a new Book of Common Worship only to have its services of worship ignored even more largely than those in the present book.

My criticism on this score is late. I was too preoccupied opposing the Blake-Pike merger proposal at Buffalo, and didn’t want to oppose more than one major move at a time. Later I realized how the trend toward sacramentalism and ritualism fitted into the whole scheme of union. I hope current reaction to the “Service for the Lord’s Day” throughout the church may blunt one prong of the “steam-shovel scoop,” and that postponement of consideration of the “Nature of the Ministry” and “Regional Synods and Attendant Structural Changes” committee reports to 1966 evidences effective grassroots opposition.

Dundee Presbyterian

Omaha, Neb.

The fascinating aspect of Stimson’s [original] letter is not his concern for the neo-orthodox power-play which he thinks is rapidly taking over the United Presbyterian Church, but the impression one gets that he is really an Anglo-Scottish-American Puritan trying to thwart the intrusion of Continental Calvinism into the modern Presbyterian Church. This is evident both in his clarion call for opposing wings of Presbyterian belief to unite to fight contemporary Swiss heresy, and in several less theological areas where he chooses this Puritanism over Calvinism.…

Many United Presbyterians, like Mr. Stimson, are concerned for what they consider to be the abandonment of Reformed principles in the new “Service for the Lord’s Day,” with its prescribed prayers, the early sermon tied to the New Testament reading, its call for frequent communion, and its provision for a lectionary. But these provisions—except for the lectionary, which may be used or not—were at the very heart of Calvin’s theology of worship!…

Use of alcoholic beverages has been common to all Reformed Christians, except four generations of American Presbyterians. It became a thorny issue here only one hundred years ago, so to characterize it as “historic teaching” is a bit short-sighted. Now here the Puritan may be right for this indulgent age; perhaps this gift of God (Calvin’s term) must be rejected by socially concerned Christians.… W. FRED GRAHAM Department of Religion Michigan State University East Lansing, Mich.

I have been very thankful to your editorial staff for bringing us some information on the Presbyterian draft of a new confession. I hope that CHRISTIANITY TODAY will continue to keep the public informed. I am hoping soon that our elders will also subscribe to CHRISTIANITY TODAY in an effort to keep abreast with fast-moving developments.…

South Presbyterian

Syracuse, N. Y.

Cheers for courageous Edward W. Stimson for his gritty exposure of the tragic drift in the United Presbyterian fold.…

First Orthodox Presbyterian Church Sunnyvale, Calif.

Thank you for a periodical from which one can get the truth.

I’ve been concerned for some time about conditions existing in our church (United Presbyterian).…

Your last issue gave me some hope, because two articles indicated that there are a great many others concerned also.

Alton, Ill.

May the good Lord give us ten thousand men like Ed Stimson.…

Rockdale Church

(Evangelical United Brethren)

Rockdale, Ind.

Masterful analysis.…

Lake Street Presbyterian Church

Elmira, N.Y.

What concerns me is the tone … of the issue. I suspect it is too much like that of the modernist-fundamentalist era. It is a warlike mentality that has no place in the Church; namely, if you don’t agree with me you are a traitor; you have betrayed the Gospel and the Bible and have no right to lead in the Church.…

We are still reaping the bitter fruits of the hasty and personal abuse unleashed thirty years ago. I trust we have learned from that wretched experience how to talk about those things which are crucial, but of that I am not at all certain. In that unhappy time there was truth on both sides, a truth necessary to the other. The fundamentalist sought rightly to preserve the continuity and identity of the Gospel, a relevance to God. The liberal sought rightly to preserve a point of contact and the universality of the Gospel, a relevance to the times. To be forced to choose either/or is to sever a twofold truth which is the essence of the faith catholic.…

My own training and fellowship have involved liberal and conservative. We need each other, but we seldom talk together.…

The greatest evidence to me that the Spirit of God is in Vatican II is the invitation to Protestant observers to attend and to tell what they don’t like about the Roman Catholic Church.…

I am certain we need to recover a vital, living evangelicalism for our time in the Presbyterian Church. I mean, God willing, to work in that direction, and indeed already am. And there are many like me. But it will be in the context of responsible churchmanship and with ecumenical concern.…

Saint Andrew Presbyterian HUBERT BROM Iowa City, Iowa Professor Gordon Clark (“Two Religions”) certainly put his finger on what appears to be a most distressing anomaly among Protestant Christians today—the existence of two religions each claiming to be Christianity. At a time when the ecumenical movement is supposed to be in full swing, we are confronted with the specter of a cleavage more radical than that which separated the Reformers from the Roman church.

Clark correctly notes that it is no longer a matter of the issue of correct beliefs which divides Christians but the issue of the relevance of belief itself. On the assumption that change is both inevitable and good, reconstructionist Christians appear to be abandoning whatever remains of recognizable historic Christian beliefs. What was justified initially as an effort at improved communication and hermeneutics turns out to be nothing short of an abandonment of what it was that was supposed to be communicated.

I do not believe that this kind of Christianity can either produce new Christian conviction or revive old convictions. Instead it will probably lead to a kind of ineffective and inane eclecticism.

Department of Philosophy

Willamette University

Salem, Ore.

This is just simply to express my continued appreciation for CHRISTIANITY TODAY. YOU are intellectually respectable while being sound in the “faith once and for all delivered”—and also, while being conservative (if we must use terminology which does not always mean the same thing to each user) but not reactionary. In other words, for this middle-of-the-road Presbyterian, your journal has my continuing subscription, admiration, and respect.

Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church

Tampa, Fla.

In the March 12 issue a news item, “A Page One Debut,” dealing with the rewriting of the Westminster Confession of Faith, says, “The New York Times said last month that in considering a report from the United Presbyterian committee drafting a new statement of faith, the denomination’s General Assembly will be taking up a proposal ‘for the first major doctrinal changes in American Presbyterianism since its establishment in 1706.’ ”

And now, for the record, I have in my possession a copy of the Constitution of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, containing the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, and a Directory for the Worship of God. This Confession of Faith was adopted by the General Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1814 and by the General Assembly in 1829.

In writing of the Fathers of the Church, the preface of today’s Confession of Faith says, “In compiling the Confession of Faith, the fathers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had one leading thought before them, and that was to so modify the Westminster Confession as to eliminate therefrom the doctrine of universal fore-ordination and its legitimate sequences, unconditional election and reprobation, limited atonement, and divine influence correspondently circumscribed. All the boldly-defined statements of the doctrine objected to were expunged, and corrected statements were made. But it was impossible to eliminate all the features of hyper-Calvinism from the Westminster Confession of Faith by simply expunging words, phrases, sentences, or even sections, and then attempting to fill the vacancies thus made by corrected statements or other declarations, for the objectional doctrine, with its logical sequences, pervaded the whole system of theology formulated in that book.”

In the year of 1881, a committee was appointed by the General Assembly to revise the Confession of Faith and report to the 1882 assembly. The report was read and corrections made and unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in 1882 and transmitted to the presbyteries for their approval. The reports to the 1883 General Assembly showed that the Confession of Faith had been almost unanimously adopted. The General Assembly formally declared said book to be the Confession of Faith and Government of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and it carries the following admonition, “This book is now sent forth with the strongest convictions that it is in accord with the Word of God. Let it not be tested by tradition, but by the Holy Scriptures, the only rule of faith and practice.”

This for the record. Let us keep it straight.

Flint Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Cleveland, Tenn.

TO COUNTER THE REBELS

If you are aware of a pastor (sound spiritually) who is considering departing this life (unsound physically) and who would care to bequeath his library to a missionary who had to leave his books and seminary notes behind in the Congo where they were destroyed by rebels, please let me know. Africa Inland Mission

Box 49

Narok, Kenya

ASSASSINATION IN THE CLASSROOM

Thank you for your article in the March 12 issue, “Wanted: Christian Interpretation of History.” The author, Peter DeJong, so aptly stated the problem and the solution in the correct perspective.

I am a history major in college in California and am finding to my dismay that the great church leaders and reformers have been and continuously are being verbally assassinated in the classroom. My Western civilization instructor recently said, “We have no historical evidence that Jesus Christ was ever born.”

This is, of course, a plain lie. The clarion call of Mr. Dejong was quite audible to my ears, and his article renewed my confidence in the historicity of Jesus Christ and his Church.

Walnut Creek, Calif. RODERIC P. FROHMAN

BIBLE AND BULTMANN

This is a word of great appreciation for your “Let’s Return to God’s Word” (Editorials) in the February 26 issue. Increasingly pastors of my church … overwhelm me with their apparent … knowledge of Bultmann, Tillich, and others whose opinions, if valuable, are at best human. Increasingly I am concerned about their obvious lack of thorough acquaintance with the Bible itself.…

St. Louis, Mo.

It is my deepest conviction that the times of theological existentialism are gone. But I fear that Americans now take this nonsense over from Europe (as has happened in several earlier cases!). You should not do it. Our world needs a full-content Gospel, and not strange existential-Chinese language—as we call it here.

Tubingen, Germany

In a “world come of age” where everyone seems to think that he must demythologize and eliminate all “nonessential historical ballast such as the Incarnation and the Resurrection” (?), it is certainly refreshing to read the eternal scriptural truths reasserted dogmatically, and not reinterpreted existentially.…

Arlington, Mass.

Your magazine was first introduced to me by my father-in-law. After reading several “pass-along” copies, [a] special offer … prompted me to send for my own subscription.

God called me, about eighteen months ago, from the accounting profession and led me into the ministry. I am now attending seminary where (and I quote from a great theologian) “such heresies as Bultmann” are considered as authoritative. I have found that your magazine has come, to me, to be an oasis among the theological deserts.…

Adario Methodist

Shiloh, Ohio

TWENTY-NINE PALMS

I share the view of Paul S. Rees (The Minister’s Workshop, Mar. 12 issue) that to “palm off” someone else’s experiences as one’s own is plagiarism for the public speaker and sermonizer. I suspect, however, that many do not. Who has not heard the same illustration from several speakers told in the first person? Especially is this true of the humorous story.

It could be argued, I suppose, that since the first-person anecdote is much more effective, as Mr. Rees pointed out, to use a second-hand story as such is merely a recognized rhetorical device. I wonder how many preachers accept this reasoning? Perhaps a survey could be taken, but then we would be tempted to base our moral standards on a public opinion poll.

Director

Southeastern Wisconsin Youth for Christ

Racine, Wis.

AMPLIFICATION

On the daily radio broadcast from my study I read your March 12 editorial, “Meditation on the Moon,” to introduce the program for “The Pastor’s Study.” The program is a question and answer type whereby listeners call in questions or problems about the Bible, the Church, or some phase of Christian living and the minister at the microphone seeks to aid the listener. After reading your excellent and timely editorial I received a number of favorable calls indicating that the radio audience was appreciative of what you had written. I want to tell you this and encourage you to continue your fine work of Christian journalism.

Allen Avenue Christian

Reformed Church

Muskegon, Mich.

DEFINITION

Re “Confronting a Milestone” (News, Feb. 26 issue): Your statement that “Taylor (University), historically an evangelical school with an Arminian emphasis, has recently taken on a more ecumenical orientation” needs amplification.

The use of the term “ecumenical” is legitimate if it is meant to describe the spirit of fellowship enjoyed here among Christian scholars and students of most denominations and various theological backgrounds. What has been achieved and is cherished on the Taylor campus is not a unity based on the lowest common doctrinal denominator but a spirit of fellowship and mutual appreciation rooted in the supremacy of Christ which transcends less-than-essential doctrinal differences.

The strong Wesleyan tradition of former years has given way to an emphasis on the acceptance of the claims of Christ within the framework of the student’s own theological background, whether Arminian or more nearly Calvinistic. The college seeks transformation of life, not confirmation of any one “official” evangelical doctrinal position.

Taylor University

Upland, Ind.

Acting President

THOUGH NO RAISING OF HANDS

Charles A. Huttar deserves much praise for his scholarly and perceptive article, “The Church and Drama Today” (Feb. 26 issue). He openly and clearly faces an issue which has disturbed and is (unfortunately, in too many cases) still disturbing the evangelical church.

One comment, however, which Dr. Huttar makes disturbs me. “An indirect evangel rarely wins converts,” he states. “I should be surprised to hear of anyone’s being led to Christ by T. S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party.”

True, when the play is performed publicly, perhaps no hands are raised in the back of the theater as the curtain closes on the last act. Yet is it not possible that the experience of viewing the play could serve as the initial impulse that would cause one to seek out the things of the Gospel? Eliot, in the play, certainly presents the human problem of a sane existence in a somewhat mad world clearly, and he does provide two sources of salvation: mutual toleration of a bad situation, or death serving that in which one believes. Cold, indeed, must be the viewer who cannot respond in some way to such a play.

Assistant Professor of English

Nyack Missionary College

Nyack, N. Y.

FOR SERMONS: INFERIOR DECORATIONS

There must be material for “Eutychus and His Kin” in the recent rash of book titles involving expressions and take-offs on expressions—the most famous of course being Honest to God and its answer For Christ’s Sake. Now comes Hellbent for Election (Zondervan) and God’s Frozen People (Westminster).

Perhaps these will give rise to some other books or at least sermon titles, such as “For Crying Out Loud” (“And he wept aloud … Gen. 45:2), “Good Grief” (“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief …,” 1 Pet. 2:19), or “Holy Cow” (“But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep … they are holy,” Num. 18:17).

I predict these would be sensational!

I enjoy Eutychus’s column in each issue. First Christian Church

Bowling Green, Ky.

May I express my appreciation for the letter of Eutychus 11 in the March 12 issue entitled, “Don’t Look Now.” It rings a bell that should raise some resonant chords in some other areas as well.…

I think perhaps Lawing’s “What If …” is saying more about the foibles of the present-day situation of Protestantism than any other part of the paper (not to discredit any other contributions, but to pay this cartoon a compliment).

Church of Christ

Palestine, Tex.

In recent months something new has been added on the page that carries Eutychus and his Kin which I find most stimulating. It is the cartoon under the caption: “What If …” I am making a central collection of them to illustrate their respective truth to my congregation.…

Parkview Baptist

Lake City, Fla.

A POSITIVE NEGATIVE

It was brought to my attention that there is a translation … error in my review of Berkouwer’s The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism (Jan. 29 issue). The statement, “The question may arise whether Berkouwer has sufficiently articulated the witness of the Reformation.… I believe the answer should be a firm ‘No,’ ” should have read: “The question may arise whether Berkouwer should have more articulated the witness of the Reformation.… I believe the answer should be a firm ‘No.’ ” The Divinity School HEIKO A. OBERMAN Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

VIEWPOINTS VARY

I enjoy reading CHRISTIANITY TODAY and thank you for defending the Holy Scriptures so valiantly. Where the Bible is lost there also Christ is lost.

In a few weeks, God willing, I shall be eighty, and that means that one’s hopes are more and more set on the things in heaven.…

Concordia Seminary

Professor Emeritus

St. Louis, Mo.

May I tell you … how much I appreciate CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Personally, I feel that it is the best paper in the field. Some of the more liberal papers only suit me once in a while these days. CHRISTIANITY TODAY always gets to the heart of the matter and is a most valuable and helpful reminder to us of what the heart of the matter is.

Stevenson, Md.

I think CHRISTIANITY TODAY is a disgrace to Christian journalism.…

First Baptist Church

New Hartford, N.Y.

More strength to your elbow as you edit the finest, most liberal conservative magazine in the country.

The Methodist Church

Lakeland, Fla.

If CHRISTIANITY TODAY had no other value to me in my ministry, the poetry alone would more than make the paper worthwhile.…

Grace Church (Episcopal)

Ridgway, Pa.

It is not possible for me to express how much I have been inspired and edified by this outstanding magazine. Your articles are informative, inspiring, and objective. 1 have received the impression that you are seeking to inform and search for the truth, rather than become a bulwark for any particular religious viewpoint. I am convinced that you have one of the finest religious periodicals in print.

United States Air Force

Chaplain

New York, N.Y.

I would not give you 25ȼ for a carload of them [CHRISTIANITY TODAY].…

Our Fathers Church

Foxburg, Pa.

Thank you very much for your excellent magazine.… I have found it very instructive and useful in my university work. The constructive character, i.e., the biblical, evangelical orientation of the magazine, is of great importance—especially in these confused years.

Helsinki, Finland

CHRISTIANITY TODAY is our wonderful companion here in Japan, giving boost and power to our personal lives and to our ministry in missions.

Yamaguchi-Ken, Japan

Of all the magazines we get in our library—there are about fifty of them—we love and value CHRISTIANITY TODAY most.

Evangelize India Fellowship K. V. CHERIAN Kerala, South India Manager and Editor

Does this sound familiar: “The doors are opening wider and more workers are needed”? The cry is current, but it differs in meaning from the missionary appeal of forty years ago. Today the doors are those of Christian homes, and the field is the vast throng of internationals in our midst.

The missionary-minded saint of today is being asked not only for his financial contribution but also for himself—and the use of his home. What visitors from overseas desire more than anything else is to be invited into the American home, to see family life as it is. Here is the God-given opportunity of the mission-field-come-to-us. Representatives are here from every nation under heaven. When they return to their native lands, their opinions of America will be nearly unchangeable.

To make an international friend for the sake of Christ can be both simple and difficult. Opportunities for witness often come quickly; but conversions come slowly, just as on most mission fields. Those who are called to this task often feel frustrated in presenting their work because others do not understand it. These workers are not “home” or “foreign” missionaries. Would it not be wise for the Church to establish in its thinking the new category, “international missions”?

With many doors closed or closing to traditional foreign missionary work, and with thousands of students from these closed lands here among us, the Church should recognize and promote that which befits the apocalyptic nature of our era—eleventh-hour missions. This kind of endeavor has two features: it serves as middleman between the large number of international visitors and the American Christian home, and it promotes person-to-person contact between missionary and overseas visitor. Staff members of an agency administering such a program should have at least one term’s experience in resident, foreign missionary service. The constant demands of multiracial contacts can be staggering to one’s intellect, schedule, and spiritual stamina, and adequate preparation is of great importance.

A disarming feature of work among people from abroad is their appearance. Many seem awkward and bashful. They hardly look like leaders. Their English and their immediate financial position may both be poor. Yet most internationals actually come from the upper levels of their societies—the levels from which arise diplomats, governors, and top-flight businessmen. The high official who in 1980 will decide whether to allow missionaries to enter his country may well be the political science major now resident—and lonely—at an American university.

The Christian governor of a province in one of the closed Muslim lands is secretly witnessing for Christ. He found the Saviour while studying in the United States. A Japanese diet (parliament) member who faithfully testifies on behalf of his Redeemer in high places readily attributes his conversion to his days at Harvard fifty years ago. On the other hand, Prime Minister Nkrumah of Ghana was once a student in America, as was the man who triggered Red China’s first atomic blast. The testimony of lay Christians in the United States, therefore, can have worldwide consequences and can be effective in high places.

When an international returns home, his American experience will stay with him. Will he remember an effectual witness? Will he think of the love of Christ each time he recalls his sojourn abroad? One thing is certain: What he gained or lost he will not forget. His spiritual attitudes will develop accordingly.

Another unusual facet of eleventh-hour missions is the duration of contact. Follow-up correspondence from one who has gained the visitor’s confidence allows continuing opportunities for spiritual witness and encouragement from the Word of God. Why terminate a valuable friendship over so small a matter as a few hours’ flight or the sailing of a ship? In other lands people do not throw away old letters so quickly as we; they read and reread them. Quote the Scriptures and the witness lives on.

To show such loving concern is to plant a testimony, and perhaps ultimately a church, in foreign soil. For example, a tract enclosed in a letter in 1946 led to one established church and two related Bible-study groups near Manila. This is foreign missionary work by remote control. And visible results like these are probably only a small part of the total fruitfulness of international seed-sowing, as is true of most missionary work.

Here is personal evangelism that differs somewhat from the usual American idea of it. By and large the international has at best a vague notion of what Christianity is. In addition, his ideas of religion are usually set in a pattern totally foreign to the American. To get through to his heart, therefore, usually takes time. A former Hindu says that his countrymen require an average of two years of thorough, consistent witness before they will seriously consider Christ as personal Saviour.

A family in Iowa received a Muslim student into their home and hearts, gained his confidence, and began an effective ministry of sharing their faith with him. This went on not for weeks or months but for years. Just when all seemed hopeless, the Muslim came through gloriously for Christ. Was this struggle unusual? Hardly. Missionaries everywhere accept such struggles as part of their mandate. Here, then, was a total effort involving a farm family, the local church, the work among international students, one Muslim student—and much patience. The Master of time and tactic bids his servants, “Be not weary in well doing.”

Methods are not permanent; neither are mission boards nor the finest traditions of service, whether “home,” “foreign,” or “international.” Workers must still go to the hills of Kentucky and to all other parts of our world to reach the unevangelized. But the American Christian home must be recognized also as a vital point of international outreach.

Whether a decision for Christ is made in the blackest jungle of the Amazon by a primitive Indian or on a Kansas farm by a Persian Muslim, the end result is the same—the eternal salvation of a priceless soul. While many go abroad seeking distant converts, we should not forget eleventh-hour missions—international lifelines—right on our own doorsteps.

The Bible is the devotional book. Through it God ministers directly to our lives. Hence, no other book can supplant the Scriptures for the Christian who wants the character of Christ impressed upon him. Why then use any other devotional literature?

Devotional books have the quality of a testimony. Others have gone this way before and have recorded their experiences for our encouragement. Further, devotional books provide teaching. In them experience is compiled and principles are provided that help us walk more faithfully in the light of the Scriptures. Again, devotional books are a form of preaching. They declare the glory of God and provide a personalized exposition of the Word for the pilgrim’s use. We are urged to abandon our sins and to let God have his way in our lives. At its best, then, devotional writing is a sharing of the deep longings for the riches of Christ and a mutual rejoicing over what Christ does in the believer’s life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ knew the secret of devotional prayer. Apparently he felt it absolutely essential that he spend much time in prayer. The gospel records of his life show him not only the public figure declaring the truth but also the solitary figure engaging in prayer. The admonition of Jerome is helpful:

So take care of thy daily life and work that thou mayest bestow some time and leisure upon thine own soul. Let there be a study of the Divine Word, mingled with prayer and a solid meditation on eternal things, that by this leisure thou mayest balance all the business of the other time. But we say this not to withdraw thee from thy daily life, but that thou mayest learn, and there meditate, what an one thou oughtest to show thyself in thy daily life.

The following devotional books have been selected from a vast number. An attempt has been made to consider the variety of tastes among the users. The entries will thus need to be used selectively. There is here a lifetime of enriching reading for the serious Christian.

Devotional Classics

Scougal, Henry: The Life of God in the Soul of Man, 1677 (Inter-Varsity, $.60). Among the devotional classics, very few have such meaning for the modern reader as this book written by a young man of the seventeenth century who wanted to know God’s influence in his life. Other classics are: a Kempis, Thomas: The Imitation of Christ, 1441 (Moody, $.89).

Andrewes, Lancelot: Private Devotions, 1648 (Meridian, $1.95).

Athanasius: The Incarnation of the Word, 320 (Macmillan, $2.50).

Augustine: Confessions, 380 (Washington Square Press, $.45).

———Enchiridion, 421 (Allenson, $3.25).

Baxter, Richard: The Saints’ Everlasting Rest, 1650 (Sovereign Grace, $2).

Bonar, Horatius: God’s Way of Holiness, c. 1860 (Moody, $.39).

Bunyan, John: The Pilgrim’s Progress, 1678 (Moody, $.59).

———Grace Abounding, 1666 (Moody, $.39).

Calvin, John: Golden Booklet of the True Christian Life (Baker, $1).

———Thine is My Heart (edited by J. H. Kromminga; Zondervan, $3.95).

Drummond, Henry: The Greatest Thing in the World, 1894 (Revell, $1).

Edwards, Jonathan: Devotions of Jonathan Edwards (edited by R. G. Turnbull; Baker, $1.50).

Gordon, A. J.: In Christ, 1872 (Baker, $2.95).

Kierkegaard, Sören: Purity of Heart, c. 1850 (Fontana Books, $.35).

Law, William: A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, 1728 (Westminster, $2.50).

Lawrence, Brother: The Practice of the Presence of God, 1692 (Revell, $.50).

Luther, Martin: Meditations on the Gospels (Westminster, $3.75).

McCheyne, R. M.: Memoirs, 1843 (Moody, 2 volumes, $.89 each).

Rutherford, Samuel: Letters, 1624–1661 (edited by F. E. Gaebelein; Moody, $4.95).

Spurgeon, C. H.: Morning and Evening, 1866–1868 (Zondervan, $3.95).

Tauler, John: Signpost to Perfection, 1350 (Herder, $3.75).

Taylor, Jeremy: Holy Living and Dying, 1650 (World, 2 volumes, $1.75 each).

Growing In Faith

Thomas, Major W. Ian: The Saving Life of Christ (Zondervan, $2.50). A stimulating study of the sanctifying power of Christ in the life of the believer. Among books which clarify the biblical teaching on Christian growth are:

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich: Letters and Papers from Prison (Macmillan, $1.45).

Chadwick, Samuel: The Path of Prayer (Christian Literature Crusade, $1).

Edman, V. R.: Out of My Life (Zondervan, $3.50).

Fitch, William: Enter into Life (Eerdmans, $1).

Green, Bryan: Christians Alive (Scribners, $2.95).

Griffiths, Michael C.: Consistent Christianity (Inter-Varsity, $1.25).

Guinness, Howard W.: Sacrifice (Inter-Varsity, $.60).

Houghton, Frank: Faith’s Unclaimed Inheritance (Inter-Varsity, $1.25).

Merton, Thomas: The New Man (Mentor-Omega, $.60).

Meyer, F. B.: Present Tenses of the Blessed Life (Christian Literature Crusade, $1.50).

Nee, Watchman: The Normal Christian Life (Christian Literature Crusade, $1.25).

Pike, Kenneth: With Heart and Mind (Eerdmans, $1.75).

Sauer, Erich: In the Arena of Faith (Eerdmans, $3).

Stibbs, Alan M.: Understanding God’s Word (Inter-Varsity, $.75).

Taylor, Mrs. Howard: Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret (Moody, $.89).

Tozer, A. W.: Knowledge of the Holy (Harper and Row, $1.75).

Temptation

Lewis, C. S.: The Screwtape Letters (Macmillan, $1.95). This is the well-known collection of “letters” from Screwtape to Wormwood on the temptation of the Christian. Other works designed to help the Christian face the world, the flesh, and the devil are:

Babbage, Stuart Barton: Christianity and Sex (Inter-Varsity, $1.25).

Barnhouse, Donald Grey: Temptation and How to Meet It (Evangelical Foundation, Inc., $.10).

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich: The Cost of Discipleship (Macmillan, $1.45).

Durbanville, Henry: Three Deadly Foes (McCall Barbour, $.70).

Fitch, William: Enter into Life (Eerdmans, $1).

Hopkins, Hugh Evan: Henceforth (Inter-Varsity, $1.25).

Lewis, C. S.: The Four Loves (Harcourt, Brace and World, $3.75).

Owen, John: Temptation and Sin (Zondervan, $3.95).

Scroggie, William Graham: Tested by Temptation (London: Pickering and Ingles, 6s.).

Stott, John R. W.: Basic Christianity (Eerdmans, $1.25).

Thielicke, Helmut: Between God and Satan (Eerdmans, $2).

Van Ruler, A. A.: God’s Son and God’s World (Eerdmans, $2).

The Quiet Time

Anderson, J. D. C.: Quiet Time (Inter-Varsity, $.30). Anderson gives brief but helpful instructions on how to conduct personal devotions and discusses problems often faced in prayer and Bible study. There are many fine books in this area, including Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening (Zondervan, $3.95).

Baillie, John: A Diary of Readings (Scribners, $2.95).

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest (Dodd, Mead, $3).

Gaebelein, Frank E.: Looking unto Him (Zondervan, $3).

IVCF Guide to Campus Christian Life (Inter-Varsity, $3).

Kuyper, Abraham: Near to God (Eerdmans, $2).

Manley, G. T., and Oldham, H. W., eds.: Search the Scriptures (Inter-Varsity, $4.95).

Murray, Andrew: With Christ in the School of Prayer (Revell, $1.95).

Rees, Paul S.: Prayer and Life’s Highest (Eerdmans, $2).

Scroggie, William Graham: Method in Prayer (London: Pickering and Ingles, 6s.).

Speer, Robert E.: Five Minutes a Day (Westminster, $1.75).

Thielicke, Helmut: Our Heavenly Father (Harper and Brothers, $3).

Thomson, J. G. S. S.: The Praying Christ (Eerdmans, $3).

Whyte, Alexander: Lord Teach Us to Pray (Harper and Row, $2.25).

The Holy Spirit

Kuyper, Abraham: The Work of the Holy Spirit (Eerdmans, $5). This masterly work combines a life of deep devotion with the skill of the theologian. Kuyper’s volume can be used chapter by chapter as a worship exercise and as a reference volume on the Bible’s teaching about the Holy Spirit. The works below provide rich studies in this area:

Duncan, George B.: Be Filled with the Spirit (Moody, $.05).

Gordon, A. J.: The Ministry of the Spirit (Baker, $2.95).

Morris, Leon: Spirit of the Living God (Inter-Varsity, $1.50).

Murray, Andrew: The Spirit of Christ (Christian Literature Crusade, $4.50).

Owen, John: The Holy Spirit, His Gifts and Powers (Kregel, $3.95).

Pache, René: The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit (Moody, $3.50).

Thomas, W. H. Griffith: The Holy Spirit of God (Eerdmans, $2.25).

Torrey, R. A.: The Holy Spirit: Who He Is and What He Does (Revell, $3).

Great Literature

Great literature often assists us in the expression of our faith. Here are a few selections that might help you to compile a list of your own favorites:

Burns, Robert: “The Cotter’s Saturday Night,” Poems and Songs (Dutton, $2.15).

Donne, John: Sermons (Meridian, $1.55).

Eliot, T. S.: Complete Poems and Plays (Harcourt, Brace and World, $4.50).

Macdonald, George: An Anthology (Macmillan, $2.25).

Masefield, John: The Everlasting Mercy, 1923 (London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 6s.; and in his Poems, Macmillan, $10.50).

Milton, John: Paradise Lost (Rinehart, $.95).

Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse, 1917 (Oxford, $5).

Pascal, Blaise: Pensées, 1670 (Modern Library, $1.95).

Thompson, Francis: The Hound of Heaven (Morehouse, $.45).

Traherne, Thomas: Poetical Works (London: Dobell).

WILLIAM NIGEL KERR

Gordon Divinity School

Wenham, Massachusetts

There is some difference of opinion whether as a nation we are moving farther away from or closer to separation of church and state in education. The recently enacted School Aid Act straddles the fence. In the previous session of Congress, the vast assistance for higher education that went into effect included, on a matching basis, church-related as well as public colleges and universities. And the enactment of the school aid legislation leaves the door ajar for federal assistance to private and parochial schools.

That students of the subject disagree about the extent to which there should be separation of church and state is not surprising. In this short discussion, I have no intention of entering into various philosophical aspects of the problem. As a parent, as an educator, and as a Protestant (Methodist), I simply wish to consider certain practical problems.

We Americans tend to be pragmatic. If “pragmatism” is not too narrowly defined, it is probably desirable. There comes a time when we assume that little is to be gained by further talk. We want action. Thus it seems superfluous to continue to discuss whether the Becker amendment to the Constitution, presented in the last session of Congress, was desirable or undesirable. The fact is that the only sure way for Protestants to get around the problem is to set up more of their own schools. Apparently an increasing number of Protestants have come to this decision, and the element of “liberal” or “conservative,” theologically speaking, has virtually nothing to do with the matter.

As a teacher of teachers, I am aware of the many possible pitfalls of plans for Protestant schools. The main objection has usually come from those who believe that Protestants have a moral obligation to support public rather than private education. I think that such an admonition overly simplifies the issue. In any case, it is highly unlikely that there will be a great rush by Protestants to establish their own elementary and secondary schools. Those who believe it their duty to support the public schools—this will no doubt be a majority—will do just that. At the same time, it is probable that there will be a gradual turn toward experiments in Protestant parochial and parent-controlled Christian education.

Among the practical reasons for setting up more Protestant schools is to make better use of facilities. I admit to no formal research, but even informal investigations show clearly that church education buildings simply are not being used. Many of these buildings are first-rate in both beauty of design and utility of structure.

The question will inevitably be raised that, since most churches already have financial burdens, why add to these by setting a new course of action in uncharted seas? Actually, the seas are at least to some extent charted. Yet overriding these considerations is the matter of values. Christians cannot escape value judgments. And Protestants have a way of finding the money if they believe the program is important. Lutherans, among others, have proved that the job can be done.

Protestant philanthropists are presently giving millions of dollars to church-related colleges and universities. While nothing would be gained by cutting this financial pie into smaller pieces, it is possible that giving could be increased to include elementary and secondary schools. As for tuition, there are parents who surely would be willing to pay for the kind of schooling that clearly includes God in the curriculum.

Where will well-trained teachers be found? One answer is: where they are now being found for those Protestant day schools that are functioning effectively. These teachers apparently believe that any education that excludes God really isn’t worth the name of education. Do they receive smaller salaries than the public school teachers? Some do; others do not. Pay for teachers is not, however, the main criterion in determining whether Protestant day schools are worth the effort.

It has been asserted that, even though faith in separate Protestant education is founded upon desire—and the desire surely exists—state regulations complicate the establishing of such schools. Most states do have teacher-certification laws with the bachelor’s degree as the minimum requirement. And the curriculum for this degree must include courses in education as well as liberal arts. The number of term-hours required in education varies from state to state. On the other hand, provisional certificates are available for beginning teachers in nearly all states. Deficiency programs give time to make up what is lacked for full certification.

The question of state requirements is debatable. For the present, however, it would seem preferable for those in charge of Protestant schools to require their teachers to satisfy the same standards demanded of teachers in public schools. In those states where there is rigid control, the private schools have no choice. The point is that none of the problems of teacher-certification is insurmountable.

It is often said that Protestants have always identified themselves with the mainstream of American life, or that, more to the point, they are the mainstream. And if this is so, why, it is asked, should they undertake a plan that runs counter to public education, when the latter has been the great leveling force in our democracy? Furthermore, we are told that, since adequate private schools require rather high tuition rates, to increase their number would serve to build an undesirable class-structured school system.

Let us admit that this position has some validity. But let us at the same time remember that democracy does not rest upon a monolithic educational foundation. Rather, as we have been told time and again, we have a pluralistic society. Setting up new Protestant schools would simply add another element to a culture that eschews uniformity and encourages pluralism. Therefore a movement toward more Protestant-related schools would lead toward more, not less, democracy.

The justification for Protestants’ establishing elementary and secondary schools is apparent. There is really no other way to avoid confusion over constitutional rights for those who want God taught to their children with no ifs, ands, or buts.

Recently it has become quite the fashion to picture the Supreme Court as a great godless bogeyman. This was especially apparent in the efforts of proponents of the Becker amendment. As CHRISTIANITY TODAY pointed out at the time (June 19, 1964, page 21), no amendment to the Bill of Rights has ever been adopted. Clearly, then, it is virtually hopeless, and probably undesirable, to attempt to make over our great public school system in the image of a particular, God-inspired purpose.

It is an essential part of the Protestant tradition to recognize education and religion as two important sides of the same valuable coin. The Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony set the pattern with the Old Deluder Act in 1647. But since their socio-political system was a well-coordinated theocracy, they recognized no conflict between church and state.

Since the adoption of the Constitution, however, there has been this conflict. Yet Protestants still believe that there is a connection between the teachings of Jesus Christ and the moral and ethical practices of the individual and the group. If within recent years we have made little or no effort to show our youth the relation between Christ and moral behavior, then it is most emphatically contemporary America that is the loser. It is time—indeed, it is past time—for Protestants to utilize their educational resources more fully and to develop more of their own schools.