Eutychus and His Kin: November 12, 1956

OLD GRAD

At our homecoming grid classic I was attracted to an Old Grad type who was blocking my view of the field. Several contacts were made during the game, mostly by his elbows, but I established rapport—after the winning touchdown—when he embraced me and then helped find my glasses under the stands.

When that old boy pulled off jersey 66 in ’26 he lost not only his glory but his identity. Homecoming was the annual climax of his quest for community.

The pathetic Old Grad is a rare bird, but the species is plentiful in different plumage. There is the lodge member variant; in business men’s clubs the cultic backslap is the mark of the order. The most ominous mutation has the widest distribution; the Old Grad Patriot. At a political rally he cheers the American Way of Life with the Old Grad’s compulsive zeal. Secretly he yearns for a Big Game (with survivors, of course, to celebrate V-R day).

The Old Grad is an idolater. He seeks the meaning of life in communities which are only means in life. Loyalty to a group or a nation, made supreme, becomes a curse. Modern nationalism from the French Revolution to Hitler and Stalin has been a pseudo-religion feeding like a heavy-bellied vulture on the corpse of the Christian faith.

We dare not offer the American eagle that diet. To insist in the name of democracy that a man’s religious creed makes no difference if he is a “good American” is to make Americanism the sole creed that is religious. Christ’s disciple is a loyal citizen for conscience sake, but he has one Master to Whom alone he renders that which is God’s. Over all his loyalties is the cross he took up when he denied the world to follow Him. The citizen of heaven is not an “Old Grad” but a new creature!

EUTYCHUS

PEACE IN OUR DAY

Most men and women want peace, first because war hurts them and secondly because it hurts other people. Few—if we are honest—hate war because it hurts God! And so we desire and maybe pray for peace.

Now I never pray for peace, not because I want war, for I hate war as much as anybody else, and have had my fill in two world conflagrations. But I don’t pray for peace: I pray for righteousness, for the simple reason that if individuals and nations were righteous, peace would inevitably follow.

The Bible is so clear on the point. “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah 32:17). In Romans 14:17 and 2 Timothy 2:22 the order is righteousness, peace; and note how peace comes second in James 3:17, “The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable.” And so the Christian motto is “Righteousness at any cost” and not “Peace at any price.”

LT. GEN. SIR ARTHUR SMITH

Pres., World Evangelical Fellowship

London, England

AUTHORITY OF BIBLE

Some day—25 years from now—you will write what we liberals have been preaching for years … Jesus Christ is the word of God to man … You conservatives still distrust the Holy Spirit and want “word” authority in place if the Pope. The early church had no “Bible” in the sense you speak … The basic authority of Bible truth is found in experience …

VERNON T. SMITH

First Presbyterian Church

Holt, Mich.

• Evangelical theology asserts, on the authority of the biblical witness, that Jesus Christ is the Word of God to man. And it notes that Jesus provided, in his regard for the Old Testament, a precedent for the view that there exists an authoritative canon of revealed truth.—ED.

STUDY OF MATTHEW

In the outline of Matthew’s Gospel (CT, Book of the Month, Oct. 15) the writer states: “Resurrection and Ascension, chapter 28.” Matthew does not mention the ascension of Christ. It is a studied point … that he leaves the Christ with us.… In the beginning of his Gospel he writes, “Immanuel, … God with us,” 1:23; in the middle, he records Christ’s words, “there am I in the midst of them,” 18:20; at the end, he records “I am with you always,” 28:20.… The error detracts from the meaning of the endings of the Gospels—Matthew with the Resurrection, Mark the Ascension, Luke with the promise of the Spirit’s coming, John with a word of the coming again of Christ.

DR. ARTHUR PETRIE

Seattle Bible Training School

Seattle, Wash.

EBB AND FLOW

First issue good, but anemic—not militant enough.…

LEROY VICTOR CLEVELAND

Henniker, N. H.

It’s nice, it is even crickett and I’ll be doggone if it’s not religion—not this modernistic kind but this plain old Jesus died up for us. Hold up you’ han. Make money for de lawd.

CENTURY LOVER

New Orleans, La.

I had no idea that something so vital would ever be coming onto the American scene … Much encouragement, and my subscription.

HERBERT A. SCHULZE

Immanuel Ev. Luth. Church

Bristol, Conn.

Theological Liberalism has no appeal for me but neither has condemnatory Fundamentalism … Your effort to lead ministers to true Bible preaching ought to bear rich fruit.

F. J. MONSCHKE

Alhambra, Calif.

Right now I don’t see how you can remain true to your announced outlook and aims without a major conversion of your announced staff. The first issue reads much like a “must.” But I am still a “Thomas” for the time being.

H. LOUIS PATRICK

Westminster Presbyterian Church

St. Louis, Mo.

It is what a young pastor needs to keep up with the trend of thought and to receive inspiration.

BOB MARSH

Spring Hill Ave. Baptist Church

Mobile, Ala.

Are Evangelicals Literalists?

Literalist and evangelical are considered in some circles to be synonymous terms. Deep concern has been expressed that the growing strength of the evangelical movement may initiate a “return to literalism.” Reinhold Niebuhr, for instance, has warned of the tendency toward literalistic orthodoxy encouraged by Barth and of the danger of simplifying the Gospel in either literalistic or individualistic terms as typified by Billy Graham. A recent book baldly states, “Protestantism’s ugliest feature has been its frequent relapse into literalism, usually caused by making a fetish of biblical authority.”

The Use of Terms

Are evangelicals literalists? The question cannot be answered with a categorical yes or no because of the different ways in which the two terms are understood by their users. To some, “evangelical” conjures up the picture of an unlettered extremist who takes every word of the Bible literally. Without deprecating such an individual—for a naive faith is not the greatest of evils—the historical definition of “evangelical” brings to view a different conception. The term “literalist” is often applied to those who interpret all the words of the Bible literally. But those who hold steadfastly to the doctrines of the Scriptures are on that account often called literalists.

Historically, the term “evangelical” designates one who holds to the absolute supremacy of the Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice, and to justification by free grace through faith. Webster’s New International Dictionary defines “evangelical” as “designating that party among the Protestants which holds that the essence of the Gospel consists mainly in its doctrines of man’s sinful condition and the need of salvation, the revelation of God’s grace in Christ, the necessity of spiritual renovation and participation in the experience of redemption through faith.” In accord with this definition the evangelical follows in the succession of Augustine, Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, Whitefield, Spurgeon, Hodge, Moody, Kuyper, Warfield, Machen and men of like caliber. Not the aberrant but the normal evangelical should supply the meaning of the term.

If literalist designates one who follows the literal sense of construction evidently meant to be figurative, the evangelical emphatically denies the applicability of this term to him. However, if literalist designates one who retains the literal sense of Scriptural teaching concerning the virgin birth, the deity of our Lord, the bodily resurrection, and who holds to such doctrines as the vicarious atonement, justification by faith and plenary inspiration, then the evangelical acknowledges the appropriateness of the term, even if it is employed beyond its dictionary sense.

Principles of Interpretation

No serious student of the Word maintains that all Scripture is literal or that all is figurative. The evangelical is cognizant of the fact that the Bible employs metaphor, metonomy, simile, synecdoche, personification, hyperbole, irony and other figures of speech. Anthropomorphic descriptions of God are not understood literally. What evangelical is unaware that God is spirit?

The evangelical is not so naive as to interpret every passage of the Bible in a literal sense. His exegesis is guided by hermeneutical principles. He has sufficient literary sense not to confuse James, Cephas and John with literal pillars when they are styled pillars of the Church. Nor does he look for a literal door or lamb when Christ is so titled. A literal beast with seven heads, a literal lamb with seven horns and seven eyes, and a literal scarlet woman are not envisaged as he reads the Book of Revelation. Only a naive critic would believe otherwise of the evangelical.

The conservative scholar avails himself of the grammatico-historical method of exegesis. The knowledge of grammar and of the facts of history helps determine his exposition. In this he is not awed by the external authority of the Church, nor moved by his own feelings, nor enslaved by any prevailing philosophical system, nor subject to contemporary higher critical presuppositions. Higher criticism is applied without the subjectivity that has brought it into such ill repute. The evangelical restrains his imagination in dealing with the problems of age, authorship and sources. By the use of painstaking scholarship he seeks to obtain from Scriptures and history the exact meaning the writers intended to convey.

Spirit Against Exegesis?

Some modern scholars, on the other hand, find no satisfaction in this simple exegesis. The evident meaning of a verse often seems distasteful to a twentieth-century mind. He, therefore, takes the “spirit” of the verse or interprets it with the “mind of Christ.” This methodology can change white to black and “infer” meanings the very opposite of those intended by the writer. The modern scholar’s “omniscience” enables him to determine that the writers of Scripture would do a volte-face if they lived in this enlightened generation.

How often “the spirit” has been invoked to kill the “letter.” For instance, it is claimed that the scriptural teaching of the bodily resurrection of Jesus must not be taken literally. The letter killeth, we are told. The spiritual resurrection of Jesus must have been intended. But the vocabulary of New Testament writers included the word “spirit,” and they would have employed it if that had been their intent. The letter on occasion may kill, but in the twentieth century the critical spirit more often is the murderer.

The envisioned “spirit and mind of Christ” are frequently summoned by the modern scholars to harmonize the Bible with twentieth-century denials of supernatural intervention. The wider context supplied by the growth of human knowledge must be considered, they insist, rather than the context furnished by the Scriptures. For instance, to express the uniqueness of the Son of God, Matthew and Luke related the story of the virgin birth. Modern theory does not recognize the possibility of supernatural conception. Only a literalist, it is claimed, takes the account of the virgin birth seriously.

The historicity of Adam furnishes another illustration. Jesus in the Gospels and Paul in the Epistles regard Adam as a literal man living in history. So does the evangelical. Those who claim the modern mind of Christ, however, state rather dogmatically that Adam belongs to fable and folklore. The Interpreters Bible asserts:

Obviously the book begins in that misty region of tradition and transmitted myth in which imagination precedes knowledge. Few will suppose that Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden belong to factual history. Cain and Abel and Lamech and Nimrod and Methuselah and Noah—these also come down to us as legends rather than as persons identifiable in the literal history of a particular time” [Vol. 1, p. 460],

This view is in direct opposition to that taken by writers of the Gospel and the Epistles. Thus the twentieth century contradicts the first century.

Bultmann’s Demythologizing

A recent example of compressing the New Testament into the modern mold is Bultmann’s program of “demythologizing.” Contemporary culture and science form the solid existential mold into which biblical revelation must be poured. The miracles become extraneous as does all that is judged mythical. The inflexible mold excludes among other teachings the incarnation and resurrection of Jesus, the vicarious atonement and justification by faith. The final product of the mold is a pitiful human figure poorly adorned with existential wisdom and bearing the inscription: created by Bultmann.

Literal and Figurative

We do not seek to exculpate individuals who take every word of the Bible literally; yet we would take issue with those who affirm that Protestantism’s ugliest feature has been its frequent relapse into literalism. To say the least, the literalism that has ignored the figurative has not robbed Christ of His deity nor the Church of her vital redemptive message.

What is forgotten is that one cannot wave away truth because it is expressed in figurative language. Figures of speech often express truth and reality more vividly than prosaic language. Truth stands out more boldly, for it is the nature of pictorial language to proclaim strong, clear impressions of the reality defined. Figurative coloring aids in the appreciation and understanding of truth.

Christ utilized the metaphor to express truths of his kingdom. The radical change of nature demanded of those who would enter into the kingdom was expressed by the metaphor of the new birth. If the evangelical is called literalist because he holds fast to the necessity of being born again, then lie bears that yoke gladly, for it is light and easy. The metaphor of the strait gate was used by Jesus. If the evangelical is termed literalist because he insists that the wide “liberal” gate will not gain entrance into the kingdom, he accepts that designation as part of the price of walking the narrow path. Jesus employed the vivid metaphor of plucking out the eye to escape perdition. If the evangelical by urging separation from lustful enticements is called a literalist, he bears that title with patience and long-suffering.

Truth in Metaphor

One of the beautiful metaphors describing Christ is that of the Lamb. The evangelical accepts the biblical content of the term. Through knowledge of Old Testament revelation he learns the significance of John the Baptist’s cry, “Behold the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” The apostle Peter sharpens the content of the metaphor in writing that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of the lamb without blemish and without spot. The evangelical recognizes both the figure of speech and the truth expressed by it. He does not take the lamb literally, but he does take literally the truth portrayed by it.

The rewards and punishments of the other world are described by the sacred writers in vivid terms and phrases usually employed to signify what physically affects us in this present life. The rewards mentioned in the second and third chapters of Revelation are these: fruit of the tree of life, crown of life, white stone, white garment, pillar in the temple. These are figures of speech signifying spiritual realities. Punishments are portrayed by such vivid terms as Gehenna of fire, weeping and gnashing of teeth, fire unquenchable, chains of darkness, lake of fire burning with brimstone. Figures of speech? Yes, but portraying fearful and awful punishment. Acknowledging them to be figurative does not do away with the reality. If these are but the figures, how terrible is the reality!

Spirit and Scripture

The evangelical considers the Bible to be authoritative in faith and practice. He continues the formal principle of the Reformation. This position has been clearly and adequately stated in the creeds of historic churches. With the Reformers he accepts the authority of the Scriptures. He does not invoke an authority of the Spirit that contradicts the Scriptures. The Westminster Confession of Faith well states of the Bible that “our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the word in our hearts” (Chap. 1, Sec. 5).

Because the Scriptures are authoritative the evangelical labors to obtain the precise meaning that the sacred writers intend to convey. He acknowledges his dependence upon the Holy Spirit but not in the sense of certain Pietists who disregarded rules of grammar and the common meaning and usage of words because of inner light claimed to be received of the Holy Spirit. The same principles, the same grammatical process, and the exercise of common sense and reason are applied to the Scriptures that are applied to the interpretation of other books.

Are evangelicals literalists? If the historical and dictionary sense of literalist is meant, the answer must be an emphatic no. If the loose sense is accepted that a literalist is one who accepts the teachings of the Bible as authoritative, then the answer is an emphatic yes.

J. Marcellus Kik is associate editor of Christianity Today.

News Report: Conflict of the Gospel with Paganism, November 12, 1956

Mechanized March By Children Of Israel

A history of conflict, dating back to the time of Moses when the Israelites were enslaved by the Pharoahs, erupted again in recent days when the mechanized children of Israel used only a few hours to cover much of the same territory over which their ancestors wandered for 40 years.

The push into Egypt by Israelis was made through the Sinai Peninsula—a barren waste of land inhabited mostly by nomads. But for centuries it has been an important corridor linking Egypt with Asia. The distance from Israel’s border to the Suez Canal is 130 miles.

A variety of reasons have been given as the cause of the conflict. The Israeli foreign office said Egypt had remained in a state of war despite provisions of the Egyptian-Israel armistice, had sent murder gangs into Israel and had encompassed the land with a ring of steel. The Syrian-Jordan-Egyptian military command had been set up under the Egyptian military chief, with Russian arms for support.

The issue, according to Israel, was stark and simple—plain survival. She was a tiny nation of 1,600,000 set in a sea of 50,000,000 Arabs.

As the Arab nations looked at it, Israel was an aggressive intruder who had seized lands controlled by Arabs for more than a thousand years. The Arabs feared that Israel, with western support and technical superiority, would dominate Araby economically and destroy its ancient way of life.

Many in Christendom, although sympathetic with the plight of Israel, were grieved over the aggression. Whether this was a spontaneous action or one instigated by outside sources probably will be clarified before this appears in print. Christian leaders of western nations appealed to Israeli Premier David Ben-Gurion against the use of force. The appeals were rejected by Ben-Gurion, who has been described by Time as “testy … volatile … visionary.”

Some evangelical Christians look at the conflict from the standpoint of prophecy, as well as politics. Many feel that Israel will be converted to Christianity and will possess Palestine. Others feel the conversion of the Jews does not involve the possession of the land. All feel that blessings will descend upon the Jews only when they recognize that Jesus is the Messiah revealed to the prophets.

Undoubtedly, there are prophetic enthusiasts who will see in this new crisis specific fulfillment of prophecy. Such may be the case, but many observers feel that Christians will be wise to refrain from hasty judgment while centering their energies more on praying for all concerned … that God’s restraining hand may be in evidence and that even in this conflict the wrath of man may please Him.

Christian Vision

The ordinary people of two southern cities, Richmond, Virginia, and Louisville, Kentucky, are sending $49,000 to New York so the teeming millions of the famed city can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by Billy Graham.

Richmond is giving $28,000 and Louisville $21,000 toward expenses of the biggest crusade ever planned by the evangelist. None of the money will go to Graham. Rental of Madison Square Garden will cost $7,500 each night for the period of eight weeks, beginning next May 15.

Roger Hull, noted New York business leader and chairman of the New York crusade committee, said the generosity of Christians in Richmond and Louisville was a great factor in encouraging New York leaders to face the almost insurmountable problems.

Hull visited Louisville during the final week of the recent successful campaign there to express his appreciation to the people.

Louisville, in many respects, was among the greatest campaigns ever held in the United States by Graham. The exact attendance was 493,850, an average just under 19,000 for the 26 meetings at the Fairgrounds Coliseum and Stadium. A total of 8,189 made decisions for Christ.

Only two four-week Graham campaigns in American cities topped the one in Louisville. At Nashville in 1944 there was an attendance of 660,000 and 8,860 decisions. In 1953 at Dallas 513,00 attended and 5,869 made decisions.

A crowd of 38,600 overflowed the stadium for the final service in Louisville. When the invitation was given, 1,167 streamed from the stands for Christian commitments.

The impressive attendance and decision totals, however, were not the most outstanding results of the crusade to some observers. Ora Spaid, religion editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, said the greatest accomplishment, in his opinion, was the spirit of unity it brought among the ministers of different denominations.

“The ministers have worked together in spite of their theological differences,” he said.

In commenting on this phase of the crusade, Graham said:

“We have sort of forgotten that we are Baptists and Methodists and Presbyterians, and we have been followers of Christ. It does us good to forget our denominational differences and just be Christians.”

Hate In Hungary

The rebellious people of Hungary, fighting to rid themselves of communist domination, took their cue from the inscription on the war memorial in Budapest University:

“Endure everything: sorrow, pain, suffering and death; but do not tolerate one thing—the dishonor of the Hungarian people.”

One victory for insurgents in the fighting, which brought death to hundreds on both sides, was the election of Imre Nagy as head of the new government. At press time, however, there was no way to determine the permanence of this victory.

The rebels demanded full religious freedom from the new leader.

Nagy was ousted as premier in April, 1955, after an 18-month rule during which Hungary was said to have enjoyed more religious freedom than under any previous Communist leader.

The premier, 60, was born of a peasant family of strict Calvinist faith. Although a convinced communist who had fought in Russia at the outbreak of the Revolution, he apparently raised no objections when his daughter married a Protestant minister.

During his previous term as premier, he followed the Malenkov economic line, stressing greater output of consumer goods, and inaugurated a series of concessions to public opinion.

A Hungarian broadcaster in Moscow during World War II, Nagy came back to his homeland with the Soviet Army in 1944. Before becoming premier, he held various government posts.

Jerusalem + Judea + Samaria

Answers From Israel

The “dollar diplomacy” of missions to the Jews will never take the place of genuine and active Christian love for the Jew next door.

This was the summary of Donn C. Odell, correspondent for CHRISTIANITY TODAY in Israel, after a revealing interview with a leading Israeli Zionist, who preferred to remain anonymous. (The interview was inherited after Professor Joseph Klausner, one of Judaism’s noted figures, had to break an appointment with the Zionist attorney).

Odell found that distrust of Christian missions often runs as deep as distrust of Arab politics.

The frank questions and answers are as follows:

Q—Do you feel that the establishment of Israel is a fulfillment of prophecy?

A—Yes. This is part of the Zionist vision.

Q—Should Israel be an all-Jewish State?

A—Yes. However, minorities have a right to live in Israel. But the leadership should always be Jewish.

Q—Do you look for a personal Messiah or a symbolic Messiah such as the Jewish State?

A—We do not know who or what the Messiah will be. We do know, however, that he will not be a Christian Messiah.

Q—Do you think it is possible for a Jew to believe that Jesus is the Messiah and still remain a Jew and loyal Israeli?

A—No. This is a contradiction of terms. Jesus represents a foreign, non-Jewish religion. To believe in Jesus means a renunciation of Judaism.

Q—What is your definition of Judaism?

A—All the spiritual values created by Jews that have come to an expression in Jewish life.

Q—On the basis of your definition of Judaism, would you say that communists and other atheists born of Jewish parents are Jews?

A—No. Judaism is an incorporation of spiritual values. To disbelieve in these values is to cease being a Jew.

Q—Does the average Jew believe in a self-conscious life after death?

A—No. There is no doctrine of immortality in the Jewish faith. Besides, every generation of Jews has been forced to give its full attention to just staying alive and has not had time to reflect on the hereafter.

Q—Why does the average observant Jew keep the law? Is it connected with a better relationship with God?

A—We keep the law because to do so is part of being a Jew. Judaism is not a theology. Therefore, we cannot give systematic answers to theological questions.

Q—Would you say that the unhappy historical relations between Jews and Christians are the bases for the Jewish fear of Christianity?

A—Not only this. There is a vast difference in philosophies and moral standards.

Q—Do you mean by this that Christianity is less moral than Judaism?

A—I mean that Jews have undergone terrible suffering at the hands of Christians. They talk about love but they have beaten us with the cross in their efforts to convert us.

Q—I understand that there is a fear of a possible encroachment of Gentile political influence in Israel through their foreign missions. However, there are a number of Jews in Israel who believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but who have no connection with any of the missions and who are loyal Israelis. Do you believe that they should be granted freedom of open worship and employment even though they are Jewish-Christians?

A—Yes. No one should lose his job because of what he believes.

Q—Do you recognize a basic difference between world organized Christianity and the simple message of the New Testament?

A—No. Christianity could not have expanded the way it did without its organization. Even though you say that the ministry and life of Jesus have been contradicted in history by acts of the Church, every Jew can find in Judaism the love and security he wishes.

100 Years Of Trying

Evangelical churches in Iran celebrated the 100th anniversary of their founding this month at festivities in Rezaieh, formerly known as Urumieh.

Plans were made at the celebration to carry the message of Christ to 18,000,000 Moslems in Iran.

The first missionaries of the American Board of Foreign Missions arrived in Persia in 1834. In 1835 they began to work among the Nestorians (now usually called Assyrians), who lived near the borders of Turkey and Russia. Purpose of the missionaries was not to form a Protestant denomination, but rather to revive the dying Syriac-speaking Nestorian Church and enable it “through the grace of God to exert a commanding influence in the spiritual regeneration of Asia.”

The Bible was translated into modern Syriac. Books were printed and schools opened. There were schools for the clergy as well as for boys and girls. Christians and Moslems received medical attention. Earnest prayers for revival were offered.

After years of waiting and working, the revival came. Hundreds of Assyrians were converted and became witnesses for Christ.

The evangelical Christians gradually united for fellowship and, in 1854, began to take communion together. Ministers were former Nestorian priests who had accepted the evangelical teachings.

Prior to World War I, the Evangelical Church in Urumieh numbered more than 3,000. After the war the Assyrians scattered, leaving about 1,000 members there. They are now part of the Evangelical Church of Iran, established in all the larger cities.

Less than 100 Protestant foreign missionaries are active in Iran.

W.M.M.

Opportunity Unfolds

Bud Schaeffer, two-time Little All-American basketball player at Wheaton College and now serving in the Far East with Orient Crusades, is scoring with athletic evangelism as coach of the Nationalist China Olympic basketball team.

The team has been training for two months in Taipeh, Formosa, for the Olympic Games at Melbourne, Australia, in December.

Since practice began, Captain Tang and little Mr. Chu, a jet-pilot with 20 missions over Red China, have received Christ.

The opportunity unfolded like this:

In 1954 the Chinese Olympic committee needed a basketball coach for the Asian Games. The officials, on a visit to Manila, found one—Chuck Holsinger, Orient Crusades missionary. Holsinger led the team to runner-up honors.

This year, with the international games approaching, the committee again turned to Orient Crusades for assistance and found a man, Schaeffer. The Wheaton grad had attracted wide attention in the Far East as a player with the “Venture for Victory” basketball team—young Christian men who played hard and then gave testimonies at half-time. Thousands were reached at the games and school coaching clinics.

Schaeffer has requested the prayers of Christians around the world for the Olympic opportunity.

Concerning the decisions already made, he said:

“Holsinger planted, Schaeffer watered, but God gave the increase!”

Too Much Of Good Thing

“Perhaps we have had almost too much of a good thing” is an opinion being voiced in fast-growing New Zealand about “the great spate” of evangelistic activity by visiting Americans and Englishmen.

Remarked the Rt. Rev. A. K. Warren, Bishop of Christ Church:

“In the past year there have been several evangelical missions which have arrived in the country, unheralded and uninvited.

“It is not surprising that those who are anxious to get hold of people who have strayed, or who have never committed themselves to the Christian way of life, should frequently turn to these missions as a way of solving their problems. But I am convinced that we err greatly if we look upon mass evangelism as the one and only solution to our problem. Indeed, there is a great risk in doing so … mass evangelism requires long, careful and prayerful preparation.”

Condition Of Welcome

Political leaders in West Africa are keeping their eyes on the way churches and missionary societies adapt themselves to national progress.

“As long as you show that you are in sympathy with our aspirations, we shall welcome you missionaries in our country,” a Nigerian official told Dr. A. D. Helser of the African Challenge, leading religious publication. “When you cease to show that, we shall cease to welcome you.”

The British Colonial Office announced last month that the Gold Coast will receive full independence on March 6, 1957.

—W. H. F.

Country’s Fame

The South African rugby team was beaten badly in New Zealand recently because of its “failure to observe Sunday properly,” according to a Netherlands Reformed Church clergyman.

The Rev. J. H. Lange recalled that the team devoted the Sunday before leaving on the trip to having passport photos taken, being inoculated and making other arrangements.

“Would it not have been much better,” he said, “if these men, as envoys of a Christian land, had quietly visited some church on that Sunday?

“If our churchmen, statesmen and sportsmen continue to desecrate God’s day on the pretext of advancing our country’s fame, the day will come when we will have no fame left.”

Digest …

Dr. Ralph E. Dodge, 49, formerly of Ridgewood, N.J., elected Bishop of the Methodist Church for Central and Southern Africa.

Dr. Robert G. Cochrane, London, technical advisor of American Leprosy Missions, cited by the government of India for outstanding service in the field of leprosy treatment and control.

Prime Minister Jussein S. Suhrawardy of Pakistan refutes report by Peiping Radio that he said there was religious freedom in China.

Eight-member delegation of top Australian Anglican churchmen visiting China as guests of Chinese Episcopal Church. First representative group of religious leaders to visit China since communists took over in 1949.

Reorganization of National Christian Council of India, aimed at disassociating group from foreign influence, approved at meeting in Allahabad. Foreign missionary societies, not integrated with Indian churches, will be limited to associate memberships. Dependence on foreign funds to be reduced gradually, according to vote of delegates at triennial conference of the Council.

Prime Needs Of Christianity Cited

Four Protestant clergymen of as many denominations sat down in Oklahoma City to summarize the needs and faults of preachers.

The findings came out like this:

“More forceful presentation of hard-and-fast biblical rules with a ‘thus sayeth the Lord’ emphasis, instead of man’s opinion, is needed to meet modern world needs. People have heard the word of man. Now they want the Word of God, because they’ve tried everything else and it hasn’t worked.”

Among the faults pinpointed were:

Vague rambling in sermons with no clear-cut point—often done to please congregations instead of enlightening them.

Pretentious and highly-colored delivery, either with little or no feeling, or an ostentatious amount of it.

Increased cutting of sermon length to “make it easy on the congregation.”

“Toning down” of the spiritual message to “please people” or make the Word of God “flexible.”

Timidity in stressing the harder demands of religion in action.

Members of the congregations didn’t get off entirely free. “Greater consecration” was urged by the ministers.

Signers of the statement included a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Disciple.

Britain And The Continent

World’s Fair Plans

Wide-awake Protestants in Belgium, numbering only 75,000 in a population of 8,500,000, are making determined plans for God to have a choice spot in 1958 at the Brussels World Exhibition, which is expected to attract 25,000,000 visitors from 50 countries.

The small minority has commissioned construction of an aluminum brass church and hall in the center of the Exhibition. A series of 12 exhibits, showing various aspects of the life and work of the Protestant Church around the world, will be displayed. Total cost is expected to be about $100,000.

Exhibition officials have approved the church and hall plans. One official described them as “the best of all projects submitted until now.”

The church will be constructed so that it can be moved to a new location for continued use after the fair.

(The United States Congress has authorized $4,000,000 for an American exhibit).

A Man’s First Words

What is the message of a minister when he returns to a pulpit for the first time after being imprisoned in Hungary on a false charge of black market currency dealings?

An estimated 1,200 showed up at the 400-capacity church in Budapest recently to hear the words of freed Lutheran Bishop Lajos Ordass, a man who seemingly had lost everything.

This was the message:

“When everybody deserted me and I shook with fear, my Savior called me and took me in His strong arms. He led me through a burning flame and showed me the beginning of a new life.

“I knew then that if nothing is constant in this world, God is unchanged; and to Him, that which was sin yesterday remains sin today, and that which was holy yesterday remains holy today.”

Stott Visits America

The Rev. John R. W. Stott, evangelical rector of All Souls Church, London, and one of the contributing editors of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, will arrive this month for a four-month visit to the United States and Canada.

He will conduct a series of evangelistic missions for students at Yale, Harvard, Illinois and Michigan universities in the U.S. Students at Toronto and Montreal in Canada will hear him also.

The young Church of England clergyman is a Cambridge graduate with an outstanding academic record. To an exceptional degree, he combines gifts of Bible exposition, evangelistic preaching and church administration. His church in central London is packed to capacity twice each Sunday.

Money Plan Hit

The British Government’s new plan for premium bonds has come under fire from churches on grounds that it is a lottery.

Under the plan, people are invited to purchase bonds which will pay no normal or regular interest. A “draw” will be held from time to time and holders of the lucky-number bonds will receive a special bonus. No gamble is taken on the capital sum invested.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Geoffrey Fisher, in his diocesan letter for November, describes the plan as “a cold, solitary, mechanical, uncompanionable, inhuman activity,” with “nothing to redeem” the element of chance.

Dr. Fisher said Christians deplore the ever-increasing pressure of irresponsible money-making. “I believe,” he said, “that the best course is to leave the whole thing alone—if you like, severely alone.”

Evangelical opinion, generally, backs Dr. Fisher.

The Christian remarked:

“Christians should have nothing to do with gambling in any form, not even when it is presented in the guise of patriotism.”

F.C.

Historic Church Rebuilt

The new Pilgrim Fathers Memorial Church in London, said to be the oldest Congregational Church in Britain, was dedicated recently by U.S. Ambassador Winthrop W. Aldrich.

Queen Elizabeth II sent a message saying the work performed by the church members “cannot fail to strengthen the bonds between Great Britain and America.”

The Pilgrim Fathers prayed in the church before sailing for America in 1620. It has been rebuilt three times since the original structure was built in 1616 by martyrs from the adjoining Clink Prison.

Minister Of State

Zoltan Tildy, Hungary’s new Minister of State, is a clergyman of the Reformed Church who was the country’s first postwar President.

Tildy was appointed by Premier Imre Nagy after the anti-Soviet armed revolution.

The new cabinet minister attended a Protestant school at Pappa and later went to Ireland, where he studied at Belfast Presbyterian College.

Elected President after World War II, he was under constant pressure from the communists.

Digest …

Dr. George Fielden MacLeod, founder of Ionia Community (laboratory of Christian living) and chaplain to the Queen in Scotland since 1954, elected moderator of General Assembly of Church of Scotland for 1957.

Among last words of Lasclo Rajk, former Hungarian communist leader executed during purge, were prayers to God for forgiveness, Radio Budapest reports.

Religious groups in Soviet Zone protest to East German authorities against intensive atheistic propaganda campaign said promoted among members of newly-formed East German Army.

Lutheran Church of Sweden appoints two new bishops—the Rev. Gert Borgenstierna, Bishop of Karlstad, and the Rev. Ivar Hylander, Bishop of Lulea.

Training intensified in Geneva for colporteurs (traveling evangelists of Bible societies) at John Knox House.

Church publications in West Germany total 492, with circulation of 16,906,402. Largest circulation in pre-Nazi Germany—10,300,000 … Alcoholism alarming in Sweden. Church says “one no longer dares to hope this is only a passing phenomenon.”

Moscow Radio complains that lack of cultural opportunities throughout Soviet Union making young people “turn to Church for consolation.”

A sect of Islam has initiated missions venture in Sweden aimed at winning converts … In Copenhagen, Roman Catholic has, for first time, been appointed principal of Danish primary school, in which religious instruction, by law, “must be in accordance with teachings of Evangelical Lutheran Church.”

Josef Cardinal Mindzenty set free by Hungarian insurgents after eight years as prisoner of communists.

CHRISTIANITY TODAYis a subscriber to Religious News Service and Evangelical Press Service.

Christian Labor Union

The Christian Labor Association, an independent union which includes prayer and Bible reading in all meetings, has won a foothold in western Minnesota against the giant AFL-CIO.

CLA’s highway-construction Local 78 defeated AFL-CIO engineers Local 49 in National Labor Relations Board elections among some 120 employees of two highway contractors.

AFL-CIO leaders were disturbed before the elections.

“We know how to whip a dual union,” one commented, “but how can you do it if they claim God is on their side?”

More Than An Anthem

Men for Missions, not content to sing an anthem for the five young missionaries who were killed by savages in Ecuador, will establish a base from which trained nationals can evangelize the unreached tribes.

In announcing the project, the laymen’s voice of the Oriental Missionary Society said the headquarters building will be located in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Keeps On Keeping On

Dr. John S. Wilder, in his 50 years as pastor of Calvary Baptist Temple in Savannah, Georgia, has preached 6,128 sermons, made 141,138 sick calls, raised $1,110,759 for church purposes, performed 6,505 marriages and conducted 6,271 funerals.

In addition, he has led 5,908 meetings, written 5,403 published articles and served as president of the Georgia Baptist Association. He is continuing.

Fair Enough

The First Baptist Church of Little Rock, Arkansas, has offered to refund the money of any member who isn’t satisfied after tithing for three months.

Klansmen In Church

Ku Klux Klansmen, known mostly for angry cross burnings, have been making peaceful church visits lately around Mobile, Alabama.

About 50 of the Klansmen, hooded and robed but with faces unmasked, attended services at two Baptist churches. As they entered, the organists played “Onward Christian Soldiers.” After one service, they filed up the church aisle and left contributions.

Mobile Baptist Pastors Conference promptly adopted a resolution decrying “the presence or financial contributions” at worship services of any group “whose purpose in coming may be to glorify itself.”

Postcard Tracts

A new U.S. international postcard, which will carry a message first class to any part of the world for four cents, will feature the national motto, “In God We Trust.”

An eight-cent postage-paid reply card, carrying the same motto, can be returned free from anywhere.

They will be placed on sale November 16 in New York City.

Worth Quoting …

“It is heartening to see so many Americans supporting the faith which lies at the bedrock of our society.”—President Eisenhower.

“I believe the most patriotic thing a man can do is to give his life to God.”—Dr. Billy Graham.

“Deeper life conventions are a dime a dozen these days, but yet we do nothing bout crucified living.”—Dr. A. W. Tozer, Christian Missionary Alliance pastor in Chicago.

Digest …

“The highest fee ever expended for the outright seduction of youth” was $50,000 paid Elvis Presley for appearing on Ed Sullivan TV show, charged the Rev. William J. Shannon, Syracuse diocesan director

Dr. Geoffrey Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, to attend Jamestown (Virginia) Festival next April, celebrating 350th anniversary of first successful English colony in America.

Rep. Thomas J. Dodd (D.-Conn.) member of House Foreign Affairs Committee, urges President Eisenhower to insist on “positive guarantee” from Marshal Tito that full religious freedom be restored to Yugoslavia before further military and economic aid.

Country churches, because of population shifts, closing at rate of about 1,000 a year … Lutheran home for elderly people to be built in Sioux City, Iowa, at cost of $3,000,000 … Plans made for $20,000,000 project to re-create biblical Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth near San Diego, Calif. Announced by American Foundation for Preservation of Christian Heritage.

Liquor establishments outnumber churches better than four to three. FBI says 60 per cent of 2,945,216 arrests during first six months of ’56 related to alcohol.

Gideon Bibles soon to be available in waiting rooms of many Connecticut industrial plants. Said to be first Bible-in-industry movement in America.

Shipment of 52 heifers and three bulls, investment in peace, sent from Houston, Texas, to Russia by Heifer Project of New Windsor, Md.

Book Briefs: November 12, 1956

No Happy Ending

The Old Testament Since the Reformation by Emil Kraeling, Harper, New York, 1955. $5.00.

“Should the Old Testament have any authority in the Christian Church, and if so how is that authority to be defined?” So Kraeling formulates what he calls “the master problem of theology” (pp. 7, 8)—not too difficult a problem if one bows the knee before Christ the Lord. He regarded the Law and the Prophets as His Father’s infallible word—for man to hear gladly and by it to live.

Our author, a Lutheran clergyman, endorses the majority opinion of his fellow specialists in Old Testament and Oriental studies, that the Old Testament teems with heathen myth and legend, falsified history and fraudulent claims of authorship, and sub-Christian theology and ethics. He thinks there are “terrible and shocking things contained in that book” and “the most monstrous contradictions” (p. 162). To modern theology informed by this negative criticism the Old Testament is understandably an annoying relic in the Church’s heritage. Inextricably entwined in Christian beginnings and deeply ingrown in Christian traditions, it cannot be dispatched forthwith and outright. And though it be crucified and buried quietly—for fear of the people who in their simplicity take it for the Word of God—it rises again to confront its executioners anew whenever they open their New Testaments. Hence the Modernists’ quandary, “What to do with this Old Testament?” Actually, the implication that this is a distinctively Old Testament problem for Modernism is misleading, for Modernism regards the entire Canon of the two Testaments as error-ridden.

Kraeling claims this question “runs through the whole of Christian history like a scarlet thread” (p·7). It certainly has been a live issue in the modern ecclesiastical scene, but hardly “through the whole of Christian history.” Such anachronism springs from anxiety to secure for Modernism’s defamation of the Bible (which has created this authority dilemma) the prestige of ancient and legitimate ecclesiastical lineage. Of such it is devoid. Within the confessing Church it is a bastard of recent intrusion. To be sure the Church has always struggled with the difficult task of determining normative demand from mere historical description in the Old Testament and beyond that, of distinguishing within the normative demand between the temporary and the permanent. Such investigation, however, does not call in question the fact or degree of the Old Testament’s authority. It rather originates in the full recognition of the divine authority of the Old Testament and is motivated by hearty commitment to the divine Author’s will.

In surveying critical thought on the Old Testament since the Reformation, Kraeling shows himself as accomplished in philosophical profundities as he is in antiquarian technicalities. His compendium of scholarly viewpoints provides a useful introduction and convenient reference to the essential ideas of a long array of the famous and the less known in the modern theological parade. Especially helpful is his unfolding of the still developing existential approach.

Unfortunately, the historic Christian doctrine of Scripture is largely ignored and appears only as the butt of inuendoes concerning the enlightenment or integrity of its defenders. In the case of Luther the common attempt is repeated to make him a forerunner of Modernism by quoting the worst of his less circumspect remarks. Even Paul does not escape Modernism’s genealogy mania. “The radical line” in his thinking is identified with Hirsch’s interpretation of the Old Testament as the very antithesis of Christianity (p. 239)! With Orthodoxy thus all but unrepresented in Kraeling’s survey, modern man’s reaction to the Old Testament appears there as a wearisome circling about an unsolvable problem—a phantom created by his own unbelief. “To this development,” Kraeling frankly confesses, “there is no happy ending” (p. 284).

MEREDITH G. KLINE

Heresies

The Rise of the Cults, Walter R. Martin, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1955.

The Christian Science Myth, Walter R. Martin and Norman H. Klann, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1955.

Jehovah of the Watchtower, Walter R. Martin and Norman H. Klann, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1956, revised edition.

Here are three books which deal with various cults. The first one discusses a number of cults such as Mormonism, Christian Science, Theosophy, Unity, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Father Divine. The latter two are devoted to two specific cults, Christian Science and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

The Rise of the Cults is an elementary book which is designed primarily for the layman. The author himself reveals this in the introduction, and in the light of his objectives he has produced an interesting and informative volume. The material is limited in content and a minimum of facts are presented. This serves to create an impression of sketchiness, but it does not hurt the interest. The movement and description are rapid and dynamic. The intrusion of the author into the book does not lend to its stature, but it creates a note of personal experience. One can rightly question the two dollar price of a book which runs less than 30,000 words and which has in it fewer than 115 pages. One awaits with interest the larger and more authoritative volume on cults which is yet to appear and on which the author states he will have spent ten years of labor. At the moment there is no really first class treatment of the cults in detailed form within the evangelical framework.

The Christian Science Myth is a larger volume and reflects good use of primary and secondary sources. The authors do a thorough job of unmasking the errors of this extraordinary cult, and the analysis is penetrating and solid. Adherents of the cult will find it difficult to answer some of the compelling objections raised here and in numerous other exposes of the movement. The picture of Mary Baker Paterson Glover Eddy reflects the general consensus of opinion by those who have studied her life. It is an unhappy picture.

Of all the cults this is the most illogical and difficult to appreciate from any normal standard. Psychologically, Christian Science baffles the normal mind when it tries to grasp Mary Baker Eddy’s ungraspable, for she reverses all of the processes of reason, logic, and common sense. How otherwise normal people can embrace this cult is a deep mystery. It is unfortunate that the book is marred by two noticeable defects. One is the less than irenic and objective fashion with which the material is handled, lending the impression that the authors are biased beyond scholarly limits, and the other is poor proof reading as evidenced, e.g., by gross error on page 22.

Jehovah of the Watchtower presents a first rate indictment against this cult which admits no logical answer. The authors did justice in delineating the leading figures of the cult and indeed, could have added additional information of a more damaging nature. The analysis of the leading deficiencies of the cult over against the historic Christian faith is excellent, and the examination of key passages of the Bible which are distorted beyond recognition by Jehovah’s Witnesses strikes a telling blow.

One of the most difficult jobs—and it has not yet been done—is that of discovering the true reasons why people embrace this or other cults. The authors do offer suggestions which are helpful, but an outstanding contribution could be made to the field of study by a Christian psychiatrist who has the biblical background and the scientific training.

The authors are to be commended for undertaking a difficult job and for creating what is the beginning of a substantial apologetic against these heresies. We can look hopefully for further additions to the literature about the cults in the days ahead.

HAROLD LINDSELL

Realized Eschatology

Many Things in Parables, by Ronald S. Wallace, Harper, New York, $3.00.

This is a book of stimulating sermons on the parables of Christ. If the reader can manage to make due allowances for the author’s eschatological viewpoint, he will find page after page of fresh, arresting and pertinent observations.

The language is strongly evangelical and delightfully Christ-centered. But as most of the parables of our Lord abound in eschatological references, the reader of this book cannot help but notice that the author’s application is all too often without any other-worldly frame of reference.

Mr. Wallace, who is a minister of the Church of Scotland, clearly belongs to the school of C. H. Dodd and others, which is “realized eschatology.” However, according to Mr. Wallace, his is a “modified” form of realized eschatology. He acknowledges the prophetic element in the parables, interpreting it futuristically in the sense that it is taken to apply to “the present extension of the eschatological tension.” In other words, Wallace sees in the parables not only a contemporary application for the Lord’s day, but a continuing one for our own day.

But this variation upon the theme of realized eschatology in no wise frees Mr. Wallace from a view of history and eschatology which is essentially the religious equivalent of existentialism. To the extent that Wallace modifies C. H. Dodd, it is only in that “the whole sphere of the world today is being disturbed by Jesus Christ,” as was His own day—and this is the fulfillment of the prophetic element in the parables.

Thus in connection with the parable of the Pounds, we read that Christ has “gone to be in heaven” and now “sits at the right hand of God, controlling all things and awaiting the good pleasure of the Father till He shall return.” But, at the same time, the day of reckoning takes place whenever “Jesus comes to face men and reckon with them about their lives.” Then it is that “the truth about men’s attitude to the Lord comes out,” and “men begin to read their own hearts aright in the presence of Christ.”

Again, one reads appreciatively of the “living” Christ to our day until one suddenly discovers what Mr. Wallace means by “living.” He means that Christ must become as real to each of us as though we were among those who actually knew Him when He was living. In other words, for us to “take the living Christ into our lives” means that we must project ourselves backwards 2,000 years and walk with Him there. This, to me, is a new one.

This book vividly illustrates the danger facing historic Christianity today in the form of those modern theologies which blandly appropriate all of the thought-forms and phrases of Scripture but with an interpretation which makes eschatology into an ideal, history into poetry, and the other-worldly frame of reference only an attitude of the mind and heart. The untrained seeker after truth falls flat on his face before he realizes the ground has dropped from under him.

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

Luke Paraphrased

St. Luke’s Life of Jesus, by G. Aiken Taylor, Macmillan, New York, $2.75.

A translation has to do with the transfer of the exact thought expressed in one language into another. A paraphrase is a restatement of a text giving the meaning in another form, usually for clearer and fuller exposition. It is more a free rendering than a translation. The volume under review must be categorized as a paraphrase rather than a new translation. Dr. Taylor has gone to the original Greek to express Luke’s meaning in each verse, but has exercised considerable latitude in order to be more intelligible to the reader. His purpose has been to retell the gospel narrative in the language of our day. The author writes, “I offer this story I think Luke told. Taken from his writings only, it is a modern version of what I believe he wanted to convey through his story of Jesus Christ.” Again he states, “Mine is not primarily the story of what Jesus said and did, but what Luke intended to say about what Jesus said and did.”

The first section is called, “The Prelude.” The paraphrase reads as follows:

Thus, Theophilus, the Lord came; no stranger, not secretly, but with His credentials openly in His hand and unmistakable from the very beginning. As a matter of fact, they knew He would be someone special before the beginning as men count time. Wherever God’s invasion of Time through the miracle of the Incarnation touched the human sphere, those who stood at the points of contact knew they had been touched. We say this because among us today live those who felt it. Make no mistake: no mere man walked Galilee’s rolling hills and died on Judea’s barren Place of the Skull. He who did so bore in Himself that radiance the pale reflection of which shines from each human heart lately brought to Life by a Power greater than itself.

It is safe to say that for years to come this volume will be helpful to all who desire to appropriate more fully the Gospel as recorded by Luke. This lucid and penetrating presentation of the person, life, ministry and words of Christ is needed today and into the end of time. It should prove suggestive to ministers, Bible students and laymen. No thoughtful reader will leave this book without a deep and rich Christian experience.

JOHN R. RICHARDSON

Without Footnotes

Ecclesiastical History, by Eusebius, Baker, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1956.

This is a reprint of a great classic. No one familiar with the field need be told anything about the significance of this early church history which has come down to us.

Anyone interested in the history of the early church must sooner or later have recourse to Eusebius. It is an extraordinary document and contains much important information about the progress of the Christian faith. Persecutions, heresies, leading ecclesiastical figures all find their way into the pages of the volume. Contained therein is a mine of useful information about the life and times of Constantine.

The most serious defect of this popular edition is not what it does but what it fails to do. It lacks the notes which one can find in the Second Series of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers which appeared under the editorial supervision of Schaff and Wace. The profusion of notes is precisely what makes this other edition so valuable. These notes are lacking in the popular edition which is limited to the Eusebian text. And the text without the footnotes is far less valuable.

HAROLD LINDSELL

Salient Mission Facts

A Survey of World Missions, by John Caldwell Thiessen, Inter-Varsity Press, Chicago 10. $5.95.

It is one thing to lament the existing gaps in various fields of evangelical literature; it is quite another to do something about it, and not many choose this latter alternative. The author of this work, the Professor of Missions at the Detroit Bible Institute, was deeply concerned about the lack of an up-to-date text book on the growth of the missionary enterprise, and he set himself to remedy the situation.

The result of his labors, and they must have been prodigious ones, is seen in A Survey of World Missions. Prefacing his consideration of present-day conditions by a brief treatment of the missionary movement through the ages, Mr. Thiessen goes on to consider the salient facts concerning the present-day situation in all the nations to which the Gospel has been taken.

He accomplishes his purpose by dividing the world into major areas, then considering each country within a given area as to the land, the people, and the religious situation. This is followed by a treatment of the political history and the missionary history of each nation. In each major section a chart is given, offering a comparative presentation of the more significant facts concerning the countries within the area.

In his description of the missionary history of the various lands, the author has endeavored to be scrupulously fair and inclusive in his treatment of the various missionary organizations that have labored in them.

It all adds up to a tremendous piece of work, which makes a real and much-needed contribution to the field of evangelical literature. Nowhere else is this material available in such accessible form, and it would seem incontrovertible that this book would be much desired, and much used by any missionary-minded pastor; or by any layman who is concerned for the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Because of the scope of the work, and the obvious necessity of making use of secondary sources, it is inevitable that there should be deficiencies in such a book. There are minor errors of fact, which will probably be remedied in a later edition. By choosing to make his survey nation by nation, the author is unable in any one place to treat major factors which influence the current situation in large areas of the earth. It is possible, for example, to read the whole section on Latin America without getting anything like an adequate picture of the effects of the amazing population expansion and the rise of nationalism on the missionary enterprise there. The proportion of space given to some organizations over against others is debatable, to say the least, and the occasional mention of the missionary work of the various sects is not adequate to convey their tremendous influence on some mission fields. The subject of evangelical literature does not seem to get the prominence it merits.

While these criticisms are significant enough to mention, they should not be allowed to obscure the great value of Mr. Thiessen’s work. He has remedied a serious situation in the realm of missionary literature. There will be many who find not only helpful information and a stimulus to intercession, but cause for thanksgiving in the pages of this book. It represents a difficult task well done.

H. L. FENTON, JR.

Distaff Side

How to be a Preacher’s Wife and Like it, by Lora Lee Parrot, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, $2.00

Here is a volume which can be read with profit. Mrs. Parrot has prepared a thorough and well-organized manual for the minister’s wife, based upon broad experience as daughter and then wife of a minister.

She gives practical hints on efficient and economical home management which would be helpful to anyone on a limited budget. But even more valuable are her discussions concerning problems peculiar to ministers’ wives. She analyzes reasons for criticism and ways to deal with it. Procedures to overcome nervous exhaustion are suggested. She is excellent on the subject of the parsonage, including the parsonage telephone and church-owned furniture! She discusses appropriate dress for the minister and his wife.

While some of the material is admittedly based upon Mrs. Parrot’s personal preferences or prejudices, the great bulk is based upon sound principles of psychology and domestic science and all in accord with scriptural attitudes.

NORMA R. ELLIS

Review of Current Religious Thought: November 12, 1956

In some fifty current periodicals, one theme paces the field: neo-orthodoxy. Qumram takes second place; church union, third; and the ordination of women, “also ran.” We restrict our observations to this topic.

Theology Today has devoted virtually its whole issue (October 1956) to an American literary celebration of Karl Barth’s seventieth birthday. Princeton Seminary’s president, Dr. John A. Mackay, honors the Basler as his deliverer from the traditional view of biblical inspiration. “How liberating it has been for Christian faith—mine and that of a multitude of others—that a high view of Holy Scripture and the reality of biblical authority is not bound up with the genetic or historical problem of the composition of the books!”

Dr. Norman F. Langford (Secretary of the Board of Christian Education of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.) finds Barth still more liberating. “He has shown me that theology can never come to repose in a fixed orthodoxy—not even a neo-orthodoxy!—but must ever be moving on with no knowledge of where the journey will lead.”

¶ Some able articles on Barth, as well as additional testimonies to him, are found in this issue. Of special value for the sheer understanding of Barth is Arthur C. Cochrane’s summarization of Kirchliche Dogmatik, Vol. IV, Part 2, entitled “The Doctrine of Sanctification.” One general emphasis found here and elsewhere is that Barth’s theological shift in recent years has been from transcendence to incarnation (or transcendence viewed in relation to man).

This “shift” has led some to think Barth is becoming more evangelical, and that thinking in turn led Dr. Cornelius Van Til to write an article, “Has Karl Barth Become Orthodox?” (Westminster Theological Journal, May, 1954). This he not only answers with a documented negative but concludes with these words which Van Til’s friends say he believes today more than ever. “No heresy that appeared at any of these times [referring to times of Nicea, Dort and Westminster] was so deeply and ultimately destructive of the gospel as is the theology of Barth. Never in the history of the church has the triune God been so completely and inextricably intertwined with His own creature as He has been in modern dialectical thought.”

While Interpretation (July, 1956) was in no sense dedicated to Karl Barth, at least two important articles show the master’s stamp. Joseph Haroutunian, of McCormick Seminary, in “The Doctrine of the Ascension” writes that Christ “did not rise bodily, so as to be confined to the space of the creatures. He did not rise in spirit, so as to be the ghost of the man who lived among us. He himself arose, in his humanity as well as his divinity, and he ascended to heaven as Jesus Christ, and he is the Head of the Body … This is … the same revelation and hiddenness in the Ascension as it is in the Incarnation.” Edinburgh’s T. F. Torrance in “The Israel of God” gives a view of Israel’s rejection (which involves election.) (For a clear statement of Barth’s view, the final issue, February 1956, of The Calvin Forum, to which we say a regretful farewell, may be consulted). But getting back to Dr. Torrance, we hear him saying: “… within the Church of Christ, the Israel of God, there will be a special place for Israel as a people, and that even in its present blindness or rejection, Israel has a unique mission in the world, for by his election of Israel God has once and for all bound the salvation of mankind with Israel.” He cites Paul’s analogy of a root with its branches lopped off (Israel) and the new branches grafted in (Gentiles) as showing that even rejected Israel is tied up with the elected people!

¶ America’s most famous neo-orthodox theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, also continues to be in the theological and popular limelight. While The Union Seminary Quarterly (May 1956) was holding a quiet symposium on his thought and influence, he was soon to ring a bell-rope all his own by telling the world in general and New York City specifically that Billy Graham was not the answer to their ills. Liberal Van Dusen had previously chided Niebuhr for this type of thing. This time neo-orthodox Homrighausen and conservative Carnell did so. Carnell tried to point out that Graham was doing the best he could, and that Niebuhr too was morally peccable (Christian Century, Oct. 17, 1956). But Homrighausen hit where it must have hurt most, and Eternity magazine in its September issue was pleased to quote these words which would test neo-orthodoxy by its ministerial fruits: “Where are the new orthodoxy evangelists? I have frankly been disappointed in [neo-orthodoxy’s] inability to lead the way in the revival or rebirth of a relevant Protestantism in the local church.”

¶ As proof of the adage that whales do not get harpooned except when they spout off, Niebuhr had to take a sharp rebuke from John Paul Roth (The Lutheran Quarterly, August 1956). This was for his censure of the Lutheran Church for its censure of the heresy of the Rev. Mr. Crist. Niebuhr had said in that connection that doctrines needed to be taken seriously but not literally. Roth asks if the incarnation should not be taken literally? Showing a degree of exasperation with the symbolism of Niebuhr, Roth observes that “When Thomas bowed at the feet of the risen Jesus he did not confess ‘You are the event which clarifies the mystery of the divine and gives meaning to the human situation!’ He confesses that Jesus was Lord and God.”

¶ “Two Conflicting Trends in Protestant Theological Thinking” by Deane W. Ferm (Religion in Life, Autumn, 1956) refers to the old liberalism and the new orthodoxy. As a person who will take his orthodoxy straight, the writer stands on the sidelines, but by no means uninterested, in watching the pot calling the kettle black. Ferm laments that “The Neo-orthodox theologians are in the majority—or rather, in the positions of influence and power—as have been the orthodox down through the centuries. The reconstructionists (liberals) are evident throughout the Church and are particularly strong among the laity. Neo-orthodoxy is the general temper of almost all the leading theological seminaries today. One indication of this is that the course in Philosophy of Religion is rapidly disappearing from the theological curriculums. The substitute course is Philosophical Theology, the philosophizing about Christian Theology; the faith seeking an understanding. Present-day reconstructionists such as Bixler, Ross, Germ, Enslin, and Moehlman are almost unknown to seminary students.”

Cover Story

The Reformation and the Common Man

How we began to remember that all humans are basically and fundamentally equal.

‘The Century of the Common Man” is the title that we of the twentieth century, in our complacency, frequently bestow upon our own remarkable age. We have the feeling that in our day, or that of our fathers at the earliest, the “common man” for the first time gained recognition and standing. This we attribute to many factors: the Industrial Revolution, the growth of science, the studies of the sociologist and psychologist, or even the two world wars. We seldom stop to think that our idea of the importance and the value of the “common man” has much deeper roots, roots reaching back to the Protestant Reformers of the sixteenth century, and from them directly to the New Testament.

Souls of little worth

In the Middle Ages society had been divided, under the guidance of the Church, into three main classes: those who worked, the peasants; those who fought, the nobility; and those who prayed, the clergy. Those who traded, the merchants, were also recognized but were often regarded as parasites with somewhat uncertain futures beyond the grave. Of all the classes, the clergy were regarded as being on the highest level, for they dealt with the realm of grace, dispensing through the sacraments salvation to the laity, whose chief duty was to receive and to obey. Although the aristocracy was regarded as next in importance, the rest of the laity were counted as of relatively little significance.

The “common man” held a position in the scale of human existence lower than the clergy or aristocracy. Although his soul was of eternal value, on this earth he counted for little as an individual. His importance consisted almost entirely of being part of a group of “common men.” If he were a farmer, he was probably a serf or a freeman on a manor; if he lived in a town, he would be a member of a craft or a merchant guild. When he attended church he listened to a Latin service he did not understand, and he took no part in the political life of his own time. His whole significance was in the fact that as “mass man” he provided for the economic and social needs of the upper classes. If he fulfilled his responsibilities faithfully in this life, then heaven, after a period of purgatory, would be his ultimate end. In medieval thinking, “the common man” counted for little.

Renaissance gave no relief

Even the coming of the Renaissance did not alter the status of the common man. The principal social change was the loss of supremacy by the clergy, whose position now fell to the lot of the feudal nobles, the wealthy middle class, and the aristocracy of learning. Castiglione’s Courtier and Machiavelli’s Prince make it only too clear, however, that the “common man” received little consideration. Rather it was the man of virtu, the “virtuoso,” who dominated the scene. The “common man” was simply the reservoir of labor from which the member of the “elite” drew his sustenance in order to manifest his virtu in art, literature, government, or trade. Wherever the pattern of the Renaissance imposed itself, in Italy, France, or Spain, this social philosophy was manifest.

Change by the Reformation

The social landscape of the Protestant countries in northern Europe presents a somewhat different scene. It is true that for some thousand years the Roman Church, as in the south, had dominated the life of man, feudalism had shaped society, and trade—except in the Netherlands—had not expanded to anything like the same degree it had in Italy. Yet out of these Protestant lands come forth a new concept of the “common man,” the concept that lies at the base of modern democratic ideals. The reason for this would seem to lie in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation.

That there is very good reason why this should be the case becomes clear when one makes even a cursory study of the Reformers’ teachings. For one thing, by re-emphasizing the Scriptural doctrine of sin, they insisted that ultimately all men were on the same level in the sight of God. Luther’s Bondage of the Will laid down the basic principle that all men are sinners, worthy of God’s wrath and judgment. Calvin worked out even more consistently the logical and biblical consequences of this doctrine, by pointing out that no man can do anything for his own salvation. Sin made all men·equal before God—equal in guilt.

Yet the Reformers were not pessimists, for they also held strongly to the New Testament doctrine of grace in all its fullness. Here again Calvin proved the more thorough and consistent thinker, although the others were· in complete accord with him. Since salvation is beyond man’s earning power, he taught that it must be the free gift of God bestowed upon those to whom He chose to give it. God’s grace is always imparted freely and sovereignly. Moreover, He has graciously made His Grace effective by Himself bearing man’s sins in Jesus Christ. Thus, since salvation is indeed “of the Lord” and of the Lord alone, again all men are equal.

How does man receive grace? The Reformers’ answer was not a sacramental system, by which one was saved through performing certain sacramental acts. Man comes to a knowledge of his sinfulness and God’s graciousness, according to the Reformers, by hearing and believing the Word of Scripture. Thus one attains salvation by faith alone, and this faith is the gift of God worked in the sinner’s heart by the Holy Spirit.

Thus, all men, whether within or without the Church, were basically and fundamentally equal, for even the redeemed and justified sinner had no claims that he could advance on his own behalf. His whole salvation was the gift of God. Therefore, the medieval and Renaissance concepts of the orders in society were as ephemeral as the morning dew. They meant little or nothing in ultimate terms, since all men weighed the same in God’s scales of justice and grace.

Divine orders of society

But what about the differences in society? Did not the Reformers talk much about submission to magistrates and pastors? Did not Luther attack the revolting peasants for their attempts to overthrow their rulers? The answer to all these questions is, of course, yes; for the Reformers did indeed believe that there were orders of society established by God for the benefit of society. There had to be those who ruled and those who obeyed. Yet these differences exist entirely according to the calling of God, Who chooses men for different positions in life. Basically, however, this only proved more conclusively that there was no fundamental difference in the worth of men, since differences in position were all determined according to the plan and purpose of God’s sovereign will.

Such a position was as different from the medieval and Renaissance points of view as is summer from winter. The Reformers ruled out any idea of there being an abstract or mass “humanity” whose sole interest was in the next world, with only a few individuals enjoying themselves upon this earth. Moreover, although scholars and teachers themselves, they also rejected the Renaissance attitude that it is one’s intellectual, rational capacity which determines one’s worth. Instead, insisting that each individual is a unique personality, they held that all men stand as sinners under judgment or under grace before the sovereign God. Moreover, everyone in this life is called to some activity, no matter how humble, whereby he may glorify God.

Individual role in worship

This was no matter of mere theory. One of the first steps that the Protestant leaders took as a result of their theological views was to change the’ form of public worship. The Roman mass had been in Latin with the congregations understanding little of what was taking place, and preaching had largely disappeared. Luther, therefore, very early in the Reformation prepared a German vernacular service, in which he included German hymns along with preaching. Zwingli, Calvin, Cranmer, and others followed the same plan, in order that all men might intelligently praise and serve the Lord their God. The “common man” began to take part in the services of worship.

Even this innovation was not enough to satisfy the Reformers. The church service was of little value unless each individual had enough knowledge to grasp the meaning of the sermon and to understand what he was singing. For this reason the Reformers insisted that the Bible must be open to every man in his own language. They believed that although such freedom contained dangers the Holy Spirit would keep even the “common man” from going too far astray. Moreover, in order to give the common man guidance in the understanding of God’s Word, increased individual instruction of the rank and file of the congregation became an important part of the pastor’s work. Catechisms appeared in rapid succession in Wittenberg, Zurich, Geneva, Edinburgh, and other centers of the Reformation. Even the Roman Catholic forces gathered at Trent soon found it necessary to prepare a catechism also for their own protection. The “common man” was to receive every opportunity to gain an understanding of his faith, so that he might be a strong, active Christian.

A place in church leadership

The Reformers’ interest in the “common man” was not limited to worship and understanding. Reformers such as Calvin and Knox should take part in the government of the church. Luther and the English reformers, owing to their movement being closely bound up with contemporary national politics, were not able to carry out this type of organization. The Reformed churches following Calvin’s teaching and example have always insisted that since all believers enjoy the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they should be able to choose those who are to rule over them in the faith. This they do by electing delegates who will represent them in a hierarchy of church courts. For the first time the “common man” could help in directing the church’s life and work.

Not just for a few

That man might be able to serve God adequately in this life, the Reformers insisted on the need for education, whether academic or technical, for as many as possible—not just for a few. Luther, Calvin, Knox, and others spent much of their time preparing educational programs, founding schools, and teaching. For those in poverty or ill health places of refuge should be provided they believed. They did not believe, as many later writers seem to think, that poverty and misfortune were signs of some signal sin or that they showed the victim to be of the reprobate. Calvin and his colleagues knew that trials and difficulties come upon men in this life through no fault of their own and that they should therefore receive all the help other Christians are able to give.

Even in matters of government and politics some of the Reformers gave the “Common man” a new place of importance. It is true that they did not produce a full-blown idea of democracy, but they were like the first rays of the rising sun after a long dark winter’s night. Although many have deprecated the influence exercised by Calvin in Geneva, it would seem to be true, nevertheless, that Geneva was one of the principal seed beds from which came many Western democratic flowers. The formerly forbidden area of government now opened its gates to the “common man.”

A new concept of society

The Reformation brought a new concept of society to the world. It laid the foundation for a world in which the “common man” was recognized as an individual, for the first time in at least fifteen hundred years as a unique personality in the sight of God. Based upon the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, it brought man back to the fact that all men are God’s creatures, whatever their position in life.

Modern danger of obscurity

Since the sixteenth century, many changes have come in Western thinking, but this stress upon the importance of the “common man” remained well-nigh intact until the eighteenth century. Then Rationalism, followed by romanticism, which in turn gave way to materialism, gradually pushed the individual “common man” back to his old subordinate place. The French Revolution, Bolshevism, Nazism all participated in this attack on the “common man.” Only in lands where the Reformation has maintained its firm hold has this not happened, although even there the idea has been weakened.

George Orwell in his 1984 has shown us what may happen if the “common man” is destroyed as a personality. We talk of him much today, but if the modern materialistic and existential forms of thought continue to flourish, his end is not far off. When we forsake the ideas of the Reformation, we tend to cut ourselves off from the roots of our democracy, and if we are not grafted back into the main stalk, the “common man” in Western society will once more become the “faceless one,” without personality or identity.

W. Stanford Reid is Professor of History, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

Steadfast Taper

“His candle shined upon my head.…” (Job 28:3).

His candle shines upon my head.He trims the wick and guards the flame,And though the darkness creeps in closeThe steadfast taper shines the same.

The flower of flame sways in the air.Wine-fingers snatch and try to snuffThe stalk His careful hands protect.The light shines through; it is enough.

His candle shines on me in love.(Protective circle in the gloom.)And through the dreadful night I knowThat He is with me in the room.

Throughout the weary waiting-timeThe liquid flame shines thin and pure,When tiredness dims my faith, I lookAnd see His light, and I am sure.

We Quote: October 29, 1956

Recent comments of note.

BERNARD W. WISHY

Instructor in History, Columbia College, and Editor of the forthcoming work, A PROLOGUE TO POLITICS ESSAYS OF JOHN STUART MILL

Twentieth-Century life certainly seems to confirm the opinion that our times are characterized by a revolt against traditional standards of decency and the possibilities of creative intelligence. Deliberate brutality, enslavement and murder, gas ovens with six million dead, and slave labor camps with fifteen million degraded human beings color our political life and imaginations. Our political vocabulary is apocalyptic: “total war”, “unconditional surrender”, “massive retaliation”, “agonizing reappraisal”, “meeting at the summit.” (“Is There a Revolt Against Reason?,” in Political Science Quarterly, Vol. LXXI, No. 2 [June, 1956], p. 244).

ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD

Professor of Preaching, School of Theology, Temple University

Here I rest my case, with the plea that the reader lay the matter before the Lord in prayer. For the sake of Christ and His Kingdom, for the sake of the home church and community, for the sake of your own growth and happiness, give yourself to the mastery and preaching of Christian doctrine.—in Doctrinal Preaching for Today, p. 208 (published 1956).

D. M. MACKINNON

Contributor to a series of studies by members of the Anglican Communion

… For Christians, the methods whereby war is waged today raise problems which must be faced.… In the light of the revelation of the divine love, … we must ask ourselves whether in this hour we are not compelled, be the consequences what they may, to say no to such things as the napalm and the atomic bombs. If we repudiate the morality of the Kremlin, it must not be simply in order to embrace that of the Pentagon.—in Christian Faith and Communist Life (London, MacMillan & Co. Ltd., 1953).

CHARLES W. LOWRY

Chairman, Foundation for Religious Action in the Social and Civil Order

When the Congress of Vienna in 1815 issued its Treaty Document, it inserted … the words: ‘In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity.’ It went on to assert the encompassing and uniting reality of Christian brotherhood. Since then, Europe has changed, drastically and catastrophically What country today would invoke in an official document the name and being of God? Yet … the Supreme Court of the United States, in a momentous decision, said: ‘Our institutions presuppose the existence of a Divine Being.’ The State Papers of the United States, from the Declaration of Independence and the addresses of George Washington down through Abraham Lincoln and up to the present, mark her as unique among s modern nations in public adherence to religion.—in an address on “The State of Christian Civilization Today” in Florence, Italy, as United States delegate to the International Convention on Peace and Christian Civilization.

Cover Story

The Integrity of the Nations

Never in the long history of national and international affairs have the nations of this earth faced a situation comparable to that which prevails in this twentieth century.

Because this is true, it is axiomatic that those whose decisions determine national policy and govern international relationships have a responsibility without parallel in previous generations. Never before was there an age or a situation in which so much hinged on the wisdom of national leadership and on the integrity of nations whose influence in world affairs can tip the scales for either good or ill.

To appreciate the magnitude of this new individual and national responsibility, we must take cognizance of the two major factors responsible for creating the present set of circumstances.

The Extension of Science

The first is the cumulative knowledge man has acquired in the fields of physical science. In ancient times peoples and nations were separated one from the other by the natural barriers of time and space. What happened in one area of the globe was unknown to those of other areas until long afterward, if ever. As long as the barriers of time and distance remained unbridged, what the people of one tribe or nation did or how they lived or what they thought made little or no difference to the people beyond the limited sphere of their influence and interests.

Even after the more attractive land surfaces became populated and the people of those areas were thrown into closer association, the oceans remained effective barriers between continents. When conflicts did arise, they were limited in scope and the destruction occasioned by an entire war, fought with bows and arrows and spears, was insignificant compared to the devastation wrought by one modern bomb.

With the onward march of time all this has changed. Scientific knowledge has pyramided with the passing years until in this twentieth century we witness not only the amazing results of this accumulated knowledge but an acceleration in the rate of progress in the fields of physical science that staggers the imagination when we try to contemplate what the future holds.

The new set of circumstances, which the application of this scientific knowledge has produced in world affairs, has become a matter of gravest international concern. Gone are the ancient natural barriers of distance, time, and space. Modern methods of transportation and communication have reduced this once big world to a small orb on which peoples and nations, once far removed from each other’s influence, now are thrown together in a close and inescapable association fraught with new problems and unprecedented dangers

World news encircles the globe in a matter of seconds. Modern air transportation ignores oceans and brings each nation within quick and easy access of all others. Guided missiles probe the secrets of the stratosphere and herald an age in which no area of the globe is beyond the reach of any modern nation bent on the destruction of another.

Over all is the shadow of a mushroom cloud that has become the symbol of the atomic age and of man’s ability to release destructive forces so great that the annihilation of civilization at last has been brought within the realm of possibility.

In this new set of circumstances, the decisions, the actions, and even the philosophy of the people of each nation are of vital concern to all others. The position and integrity of each nation are no longer matters of mere national import but have become of fundamental importance to civilization as a whole.

The Accumulation of Depravity

The second factor responsible for the existing situation in human affairs is of even greater significance but unfortunately is less readily acknowledged and accepted. It has to do with human nature itself. To many it is repugnant to be told that in this twentieth century mankind is reaping not only the results of his accumulated scientific knowledge but also the accumulative consequences of six thousand years of human depravity. Nevertheless, the fact is irrefutable and must be acknowledged and faced before we can hope to make realistic progress toward a solution of the problems it presents.

The biblical record of the event through which man acquired a nature prone to evil is clear and definite. God had created the original parents of the human race in His own image and righteousness and placed them in the Edenic paradise to enjoy fellowship and communion with their Creator and the glories of the earth which He had prepared to be their home. Of their own free will, they chose to violate God’s expressed will and through their fall not only become separated from God by their sin but were rendered sinful by nature, which condition by the universal law of heredity they transmitted to their descendants. The consequences of their spiritual death and of the sinful nature they and their descendants acquired through their fall have pyramided with each successive generation until in this twentieth century they have reached crisis proportions on a world-wide scale.

Need of Spiritual Renewal

Whether we like it or not, the fact is that beneath and behind every individual problem and every national and international problem in the field of human relationships lies the bigger basic problem of man’s severed relationship with God and of the evil tendencies of the fallen nature of what the Bible describes as the “natural man.” Every effort toward moral reformation is a tacit acknowledgment that there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature. All religion, pagan or otherwise, stems from man’s inherent consciousness of his separation from God. The very word “religion” is made up of the prefix “re” meaning “again” or “to return to a previous state” and the root “ligio” implying “to bend or to turn back.” The word “religion,” therefore, presupposes that man has become separated from God and is in need of a way by which he again can turn back to his original state.

Unfortunately, in analyzing our problems, we are prone to focus our attention on the effect rather than the cause. We view with consternation innumerable acts of selfishness and deception and violence on the part of men, and acts of subterfuge and aggression on the part of nations, and we conclude that such actions should and can be prevented by physical deterrents. Our conclusions would be different if we would look beneath the surface and recognize the basic evil tendencies in human nature that are responsible for evil thoughts, evil desires, and evil philosophies that in turn express themselves in the individual and national and international attitudes and actions we deplore.

Summary of Present Situation

Taking these fundamental facts into account, we may summarize the situation presently confronting men and nations under three conclusions:

First, man’s accumulated knowledge in the fields of physical science has created a new set of world circumstances in which peoples and nations no longer are separated by the natural barriers of time and space and in which man possesses powers of destruction so devastating that any nation aggressively inclined is a threat to the security and even the survival of other nations.

Second, these new physical circumstances are reasons for international tensions and concern not because they are dangerous in themselves but because of the evil tendencies inherent in human nature, which cause both individuals and nations to incline to evil rather than to good.

Third, integrity requires that individuals and nations face and acknowledge the facts responsible for the growing crisis in human affairs and then act rightly and decisively in accordance with what those facts dictate.

Defense and Cold War

Most observers will agree that at the present time national leadership in most nations is on the defensive and is concentrated on two aspects of preparedness. The first is the field of military defense. Almost without exception, nations are strengthening their military defenses against any eventuality while keeping a watchful eye on those nations whom they have reason to believe are a threat to their security.

At the same time, all nations who exercise any influence in world affairs are engaged in a grim war of nerves in the field of international diplomacy where each is maneuvering to gain a more advantageous position. In this so-called “cold” war, all nations participating are subjected to the constant pressures of expediency.

So important have military and psychological and political advantages become in the present global struggle that frequently they are gained at the price of national integrity. The national concern has shifted from what is right to what is expedient. The question no longer is, what does national integrity dictate, but what will best improve the nation’s position from a military standpoint or psychologically, or be to its political advantage in the grim struggle to guarantee its national security and survival?

Compromise Of Integrity

If such advantage can be gained without the sacrifice of national integrity or the violation of principles, once regarded as inviolate, everyone is pleased, but if the advantage cannot be gained without violation of those fundamentals which constitute our national standards and ideals, too often expediency wins on the grounds that the end justifies the course adopted.

It is encouraging rather than surprising that an increasing number of people are asking privately and publicly where this line of reasoning will lead us if followed to its ultimate end. There is a growing conviction that the time has come when individuals and nations should make an honest reappraisal of the whole problem of human relationships in the field of international affairs.

Present Course Inadequate

As a starting point, we must try to define clearly the present course, which is to do everything humanly possible to avert world conflict and the catastrophe of a global war in an age when war means possible annihilation.

To that end, nations desirous of preserving peace are feverishly building up more and more military might as a deterrent to would-be aggressors.

They are working ceaselessly to ease world tensions through the channels of international diplomacy and seeking to neutralize disruptive propaganda and create a better understanding between nations by the free exchange of factual information and by mutual aid and other gestures of good will.

The United Nations Organization has been established to provide a world forum at which it was hoped disputes between nations could be resolved around the conference table and united action taken to curb aggression on the part of those refusing to substitute reason for force.

Realism requires us to acknowledge that the results of all these far-reaching efforts make two conclusions inescapable.

The first is that all these efforts have at best resulted in a deferment of a world crisis rather than a solution to the basic problems with which we are faced. The world situation as it appears on the surface fluctuates from week to week and year to year but beneath the surface, despite all the efforts that have been made, the human attitudes and philosophies responsible for the existing international tensions have undergone no fundamental change nor is there any reason to believe that they will be changed by further efforts along the same line.

Divine Intervention Needed

We, therefore, are forced to a second conclusion. If the existing situation is to be changed and a world crisis averted rather than merely deferred, some entirely new factor potent enough to be effective must be discovered and introduced into individual and national and international affairs.

Such a factor is available to all men and nations if they are prepared to recognize and accept it and meet the requirements of its effective application. That factor is the divine intervention of God.

Surely such a statement should not sound fantastic to the people of nations that are professedly Christian. The fact that many dismiss it as absurd and impractical is evidence of how wide has become the gap between our professed Christianity and our knowledge of God’s sovereign grace and power from the standpoint of personal, spiritual experience. The time has come when not only our individual peace and security but national and international peace and security hinge primarily on our willingness to restore realism to our Christian profession.

God’S Concern with Nations

The testimony of Holy Writ is explicit. The God of the Bible is not one of a number of competing deities. He is supreme, the only true God, eternal and self-existent, omnipotent, omniscient and immutable, and indescribably holy. The magnitude of His love and mercy and divine grace is beyond the measure of our finite minds.

It is the testimony of Scripture that “by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” He is concerned with the present welfare as well as with the eternal destiny of men. That He is concerned with the affairs of nations is evidenced by the declaration of Scripture that He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: for in him we live and move and have our being.”

Provision for Man’s Recovery

The greatest proof of God’s concern for mankind is the divine provision he has made for man’s recovery from the position into which he fell through his willful violation of God’s expressed will. God has provided not only a way by which men can be delivered from the cumulative consequences of human depravity but a supernatural spiritual new birth through which men are enabled to become possessors of a new spiritual nature that delights in good rather than evil.

To that end, God sent his pre-existent Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to become a substitute sin bearer in the place of guilty men. “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved.” It is the record of infallible Scripture that Christ bore the sins of all mankind in His body on the Cross and that He shed His divine blood in atonement for the sins of the world. Through His substitutionary death and vicarious atonement, He satisfied every demand of the eternal laws of divine justice and opened the way for guilty men to be granted divine forgiveness and restored to eternal fellowship and communion with God.

Twentieth-Century Tragedy

It is a world tragedy in this age, when all the evidence points to man’s utter hopelessness apart from divine intervention, that man’s concept of Christianity has become so distorted that multitudes, even in so-called Christian lands, have no knowledge of the fundamental difference between supernatural spiritual regeneration and a mere religious profession or mental assent to a religious philosophy of life that they mistakenly think entitles them to call themselves Christian.

The supernatural spiritual new birth, which is the heart of true biblical Christianity and the starting point of all genuine spiritual life, is something much greater than any mere religious philosophy of life. It is the divine intervention of God into the life of an individual resulting in a personal, spiritual experience that not only restores him to fellowship and communion with God but creates within him a new spiritual nature that changes his entire attitude of mind and outlook on life. Men in ignorance and spiritual blindness may scoff at the idea of the lives and thoughts and attitudes of men being altered and lifted to a new and higher plane by a literal spiritual “conversion,” but the fact remains that not in all this world is there a material power or earthly influence known to man that can remotely compare with the transforming power which genuine supernatural spiritual regeneration exerts in the souls and minds and lives of those thus born again from above.

Urgency of Individual Decision

It is the good news of the Christian Gospel that this divine regeneration is available to all men who will receive it as a gift from God. It is not bestowed on the grounds of merit but of grace. It is an integral part of a present and eternal redemption purchased for mankind by Jesus Christ through His death on the Cross in man’s stead. Man cannot appropriate it through reformation or profession or earn it by good works. It can be his only by receiving the living Christ into his heart and life as his personal Saviour and divine Lord. In the words of Scripture, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed on his name.”

The Scriptures emphasize the individual and personal nature of man’s acceptance of Jesus Christ and of the spiritual new birth that accompanies a genuine acceptance. God’s mercy and forgiveness and redemption are not extended to mankind collectively but to each individual. Each is held personally accountable to God for his acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ. In the life of each individual who receives Him as Saviour and Lord, the supernatural spiritual new birth is a sacred personal experience. This divine recognition of each individual is in striking contrast to the doctrines of collectivism so widely advocated and accepted in this twentieth century. It underscores the fundamental difference between God’s approach and man’s approach to the issues responsible for the developing world crisis. It indicates the key to the solution of our problems.

Myth of Collective Security

Nations have become imbued with the philosophy of man-made collective security. The individual has been relegated to a less and less significant position as man’s approach to the problems of life has become more and more universal in scope. We have come at last to the place where, having expanded our collective human efforts to the greatest dimensions to which they can be enlarged, we stand amid the growing evidences of our failure to solve the real problems confronting us and ask where we should go from here.

In the light of our experience and the eternal facts of life revealed in Holy Writ, it is folly to continue further on our present course.

It remains to be seen if men and nations will recognize before it is too late that there can be no effective solution apart from the divine intervention of an omnipotent and merciful God.

That divine intervention comes through the spiritual regeneration of individual men and women. If sought and accepted by individuals, it will reflect itself in the attitudes and actions of nations. This is the road down which the solution to our problems can be found.

God and Modern Gomorrah

It is not a matter of all men being converted before the impact of God’s divine intervention will be felt in national and international affairs. God delights in mercy and He is the same today as when He was willing to spare the entire civilization of Sodom and Gomorrah if even ten righteous were found within their borders.

The immediate need is twofold. The first is for individual men and women to respond to the invitation of God’s grace and yield themselves unreservedly to Jesus Christ. The second is for professing Christian nations to restore realism to their profession by placing allegiance to Almighty God ahead of human judgment, and obedience to His divine council ahead of surrender to the pressures of expediency. When this is done, the dubious rationalizing now so frequently employed to justify surrender to such pressures will give place to firm new standards of national integrity based on the absolutes of divine revelation and the immutable principles of eternal truth.

The Hon. Earnest C. Manning, LL.D., is premier of Alberta, Canada, since 1943 and president and conductor of Canada’s “Back to the Bible Hour.”

Cover Story

Admit Red China?

No more critical issue faces American leaders in the days ahead than the one of admission of Communist China into the United Nations. As in all major phases of international relationships, Christianity itself has a deep interest in the moral overtones of this issue. It seems apparent that the self-interest of the United States would not be served by permitting our defense barriers to fall back to the Pacific Coast states of Washington, Oregon, and California. The previous administration as well as the present one, on the basis of the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, determined that our own security would be jeopardized by any weakening of the defense line running from Japan and Korea to Formosa to the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand in the south and to Okinawa in the north.

The economic life of Korea and Japan is dependent on sea lanes into Southeast Asia, and unfriendly control of these waters would determine to a considerable extent the political life of the inhabitants of those countries. The recent war with Japan demonstrated how closely a military offensive can come to the continental limits of the United States through a lapse in our defensive guard in the Pacific. Every American should ask himself whether he wants to take this risk again as a probable consequence of recognition of Communist China.

The Record In Korea

An argument has been submitted at times that the United States should lodge its future security with the United Nations and depend on that organization’s collective security forces for protection against any hostile actions from the Far East. However, the lessons of recent history are a cold reminder of the unswerving objectives of world Communism, which in the ten years since the end of World War II in 1945 has taken over 600 million once-free people behind the Communist Iron Curtain. Americans will not, I believe, soon forget that the present Chinese Communist regime is the same regime that committed aggression in Korea in violation of a United Nations indictment and was responsible for inflicting 140,000 casualties on us, including 35,000 dead. The United Nations record in Korea was not effective collective security in a military action wherein the United States furnished 90 per cent of its manpower and only 17 out of 60 United Nations members supplied any manpower at all.

The Record In China

Turning to the interests of Asia itself, this country is staunchly committed against the principles of colonialism. Chou En-lai, Peiping’s premier and foreign minister, has asserted publicly and frequently that Asia must be for the Asians while at the same time he builds his military forces and war-making potential through the receipts of supplies from Communist Russia. In other words, what is intended is Asia for the Communists. Since actions speak with the force of conviction, the record of Communist China in Asia to date shows the following: (1) brutal persecution of religious and missionary organizations on the mainland; (2) colonialization of North Korea and the deliberate violation of the United Nations armistice negotiated in that country; (3) inciting and supplying Communist aggressive activities in Viet-Nam and Communist guerillas in Malaya, Burma, and Indonesia; (4) institution of blood purges of the Chinese people, which have been estimated by our Assistant Secretary of State, Walter S. Robertson, as resulting in approximately 15 million deaths. What can the people of Asia expect in the future from this record?

Foreign Policy And Freedom

The foreign and defense policies of this country need to be the people’s business. The decisions made in the months ahead may well determine whether we have a free world of free men. There is no easy solution to the unpleasant facts of today, which we must meet as other generations have had to meet the critical issues of their time.

The United States has provided the world with the greatest exposition of liberty and protection of the rights of man the world has known to date. Our foreign policy should manifest no less an ideal. The recognition of Communist China would subvert the principle long adhered to in this country—the dignity of free men. It would amount to a Far Eastern Munich. To bring our relationships with Communist China up to the time of this writing, an American military plane has recently been shot down with a loss of 16 lives.

We must not forget that Communism is a worldwide conspiracy against freedom and independence and that the objective of the men in the Kremlin was pointed out many years ago in Lenin’s statement that “the Road to Paris is through Peking.” The remaining free peoples of Asia are watching the actions taken by our government, and any compromise of moral principles in this area by the United States would move our defense barriers and influence back to the Pacific Coast for generations to come.

The Record In Russia

There appears to be little reason to expect that the recognition of Communist China would be productive of any greater performance than has resulted from the recognition of the Communist government of Russia in 1933. When that government was recognized by this country, certain pledges leading toward peaceable relations were made and soon broken.

Since all Communists are committed to the destruction of persons and institutions that stand in the way of world domination by Communism, there is no legitimate reason to hope that Communist China would pursue a different mode of operation.

Since foreign policy should be based on the concrete, not on the abstract, perhaps it will be illuminating to look at the question of recognition of Communist China from, first, the point of view of our own self-interest and, second, the interests of Asia.

Diplomatic Recognition?

Another closely related problem is that of affording diplomatic recognition to Red China. Although it may seem ironic, it is nevertheless true that the British government has not yet received recognition from Peiping even though she accorded recognition to Communist China on January 6, 1950, over six years ago. It is understood that the main obstacle to full reciprocity is the insistence by the Chinese Communists that Britain give full support to the seating of Chinese Communists in the United Nations, and that she sever all ties with the government of the Republic of China on Formosa.

If we show the same courage and common sense that motivated the men who sat at Philadelphia and gave us first our Declaration of Independence and later our Constitution, there are none of our great domestic problems we cannot solve and there is no foreign foe we need ever fear.

The Hon. William F. Knowland is minority leader of the United States Senate and was United Nations delegate to the United Nations session in November.

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