Africa News: May 27, 1957

Ambassador for Christ

Dr. Joseph Simonson, who recently completed a four-year term of service as U. S. Ambassador to Ethiopia, was given an unusual tribute before his departure by Protestant evangelical missions in the country.

James Luckman of the Baptist Mission expressed the conviction of all:

“Mr. Ambassador, it has been a great joy to have you in our midst as fellow members of heaven’s diplomatic corps. And we as missionaries have now no excuse for failing to understand Paul’s words to the Corinthians, ‘We are ambassadors for Christ.’ You, sir, have shown us by your example the meaning of a good ambassador.”

Dr. Simonson’s response revealed his humility and the truth that he was, indeed, a “fellow member.”

He said:

“I have often thought of this passage also, and as I have told you before, Mrs. Simonson and I have come out here with a sense of vocation. Most of you serve full-time as missionary teachers, nurses, translators, pastors, etc., and there will always be great need for such dedication of the entire life in Christian service; others of us believe that we can make our service in other fields just as directly unto our Lord and Master. After all, perhaps we should not divide our lives into the religious and the secular, but rather consider the fact that either Christ has all of us or he has none of us.”

Kanpur Campaign

Over 900 persons made decisions for Christ recently during evangelistic services in the industrial city of Kanpur, under sponsorship of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Dr. Akbar Haqq, who observed campaigns conducted by Billy Graham in the United States, preached to increasing crowds of 800 to 2,500.

Sixty-three per cent were first-time decisions for Christ.

The EFI aided churches in arranging the services. Preparatory meetings were held in all parts of the city. Counsellors were trained under the direction of Dr. Everett L. Cattell, EFI secretary.

Small prayer and fellowship cells are being formed by pastors engaged in follow-up work.

Middle East News: May 27, 1957

‘Act Of Injustice’

“Israel is founded on an act of injustice and nothing good can ever come of it,” an official of the Lutheran World Federation asserted in Copenhagen.

Axel Christensen made the statement as he left Denmark to become senior representative in the Middle East of the LWF’s Department of World Service. He will direct the organization’s large relief program in Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

“The Arabs have been living in Israel for a thousand years, just as we have been living in Denmark,” he said. “What should we say if some foreign country suddenly turned up and declared that it was their country?”

Mr. Christensen said he sympathized with the one million Arab refugees from Palestine who, he said, will not forego their right to return and to obtain damages.

He warned against letting oneself be “blinded” by sympathy for the Jewish people, a sympathy which he said he shared because of all they have suffered.

“I am not anti-Semitic,” he added. “I admire the Jewish nation, but I am opposed to the State of Israel because it is founded on injustice. This is also the opinion of many Jews, but we do not hear much about it here at home.”

Europe News: May 27, 1957

Fervor In Norway

Norway hasn’t seen anything since the 1930’s to match the religious revivals now under way.

The harvest in the Hoyland Church, Jaeren, (western Norway) has been going on for more than six months. People from surrounding towns and far-off countrysides are attending the meetings. From 14 to 80, they are finding Christ.

Another big movement has been surging through the valley of Audnedal in the southern part of the country, led by a young lay preacher, John Olav Larsen and assisted by local ministers of the Lutheran State Church.

Larsen also preached to overflow crowds in the largest halls of Oslo.

—T. B.

‘Air Raid’ Church

A church 50 feet below ground is being planned for the rapidly growing Swedish industrial city of Vasteras.

The project is designed to meet two major needs of the city—an A-bomb shelter and a new church. Vasteras, with 70,000 inhabitants, has only one state church, its 700-year-old cathedral.

According to plans, only the belfry will project above ground. The church, which will seat 500, will be reached by stairs and elevators.

Barth Hits Tests

Dr. Karl Barth, famed Swiss Protestant theologian, has called upon people in leading public positions to “take matters into their own hands” regarding atomic and hydrogen tests.

He urged them to “appeal to mankind and not be satisfied with political appeasing assurances.”

Dr. Barth said these leaders “must use all possible means to make their governments and press understand they wish neither to exterminate nor be exterminated—neither in defense of the ‘free world’ nor in defense of socialism.

“They should cry ‘Stop,’ to pierce the eardrums of men with responsibility in the West and East; to halt preparations for war with weapons making it from the outset senseless for all taking part; halt experiments which clearly imperil us already in peacetime.

“People in the West and East must oppose the current lunacy.”

The theologian said the matter was not one of principles, ideological systems or considerations of power but “of life.”

“Mankind must help settle the matter before it is too late,” he said.

New Russian Bishop

Archimandrite Anthony Bartochevitch, formerly of Brussels, Belgium, was installed recently as Russian Orthodox Bishop of Geneva and Switzerland.

He was elected to replace his brother, Bishop Leonty, who died last summer at the age of 42.

Bishop Anthony, whose family comes from Yugoslavia, is affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia which does not recognize the authority of the Moscow Patriarchate.

“Indifferent” New Yorkers Respond

WORLD NEWS

Christianity in the World Today

The time was 7 p.m., 30 minutes before the opening in New York’s Madison Square Garden of the biggest evangelistic crusade ever attempted. In nearby Times Square, crowds moved along in bee-hive proportions. But it was evident they were not on the way to hear Billy Graham.

Traffic seemed to thin with each passing block near the Garden. The thought of a syndicated columnist came to mind that indifferent New Yorkers might stay away by the thousands. Tiny darts of fear played around the edges of the possibility. Months of round-the-clock work by scores of people had gone into the effort. Unnumbered prayers had been offered. Members of 1,500 churches had studied faithfully the ways to tell people about Christ. Favorable publicity had been unprecedented.

Where were the people? A chartered bus rolled down the street. The riders were singing and the words rolled out of the windows for all to hear: “Everybody ought to know who Jesus is.”

Statues of pugilists dotted the entrance to the famous old arena. A number of policemen stood nearby with little to do. A step through the doorway provided the answer as the 1,500-voice choir boomed: “How Great Thou Art.” Over 18,000 were already there. Hundreds had been there when the doors opened at 6 P. M.

An estimated 250 reporters, columnists and photographers overflowed the huge press section, located near the spot where two circus tigers had tangled in a death fight a few days earlier.

After announcements and songs, the simple gospel of Jesus Christ was preached—in language a child could understand but one that gripped the attention of adults. The message was preceded by a prayer: “Grant that the speaker may hide behind the cross, and let the people see none save Jesus Christ.”

When the invitation was given, 704 of the “indifferent” New Yorkers arose from their seats, some in the top balconies, to walk the longest and shortest mile in the world. They came from every strata of society. (During the minutes of the invitation, 5,000 people from one town in India were on their knees praying. Tribesmen in Assam, who have never seen a two-story building, were praying for people in the concrete jungle of New York.)

The opening night was important. And the inspiring scenes were to be repeated nightly in following weeks.

Probably more important, however, was a meeting Mr. Graham addressed on the second morning of the Crusade. The theater marquee said “Cinerama: Seven Wonders of the World.” Inside were several hundred ministers from the greater metropolitan area.

“All the elements of successful evangelism are here,” he said, “and it will be a miracle if we do not have a spiritual awakening. Preaching is just a small part of the total picture. You are beginning to see for yourselves that it is not Billy Graham. It is all of us working together as a team, meeting certain spiritual conditions, that God is using.”

He then outlined several objectives of evangelism: “The Church needs to be revitalized. Dr. Frederick H. Olert said, ‘of every 100 enrolled members, 5 cannot be found, 20 never pray, 25 never read the Bible, 30 never attend a church, 40 never give to any cause, 50 never go to Sunday School, 60 never go to church at night, 70 never give to missions, 75 never do any church work, 80 never go to prayer meetings, 90 do not have family worship and 95 never win another soul to Christ.’ We are so familiar with this record of failure that we are in danger of accepting it as something to be expected.

“A new evangelistic emphasis is needed in the church. Dr. W. E. Sangster said, ‘The simplest way to embarrass a normal congregation is to ask them two ordinary questions: When did you last lead someone else to Christ? When did you last pray?’

“We have the un-biblical notion that it is best to live our religion and not say much about it. Actually, a silent discipleship is the first betrayal of a movement that began when 120 Christians filled with the Spirit of God took the witness stand to declare the wonderful works of God.

“Another objective will be to bring a new unity among the churches of New York. The New York Times in an editorial recently said, ‘The churches in New York have little influence and spend most of their time fighting each other.’

“Many ministers need to rededicate their lives and, in some cases, to accept Christ for the first time. In London we had ministers responding nightly to the invitation. Brian Green said, ‘The Church today cannot evangelize until she is certain of her gospel and recaptures something of that brilliancy and hope which the early Christians possessed.” We ministers need to catch fire. Nazism had fire. Fascism had it. The communists have it. Dr. John Mackay said, ‘It seems to be the Master deserves a more flaming allegiance than Marx.’ But he isn’t getting it.

“The primary objective of evangelism, however, is the conversion of sinners to Christ, both inside and outside the Church. Most church leaders recognize that there are thousands within the churches that need converting. If some of your church members come forward in the meetings and make a commitment to Christ, don’t be alarmed. Rejoice!”

Of the message to be delivered nightly at the Garden, Mr. Graham said he would preach sin and judgment. “I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified,” he said, adding: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of … Christ.”

The evangelist said he would discuss atonement, justification, adoption, resurrection, life after death, the elements of commitment and Christian responsibility.

He continued:

“Many people say, Billy, why do you give an invitation? Moses gave an invitation in Exodus 32–36 when he said, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side, let him come unto me’? Joshua gave an invitation, ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve.’ Jesus gave many invitations. He invited Zacchaeus to come down out of a tree. If Jesus did that, I see no harm in asking a man to come down out of a balcony.”

In speaking about the care of converts, Mr. Graham said: “In the average American church, of every two persons received on profession of faith, one has been dropped as a failure. If we treated newborn babes as carelessly as we treat newborn Christians, the infant mortality rates would equal the appalling mortality of church members. The whole early church was a communicants’ class.”

He urged the ministers to approach the meetings with an open mind, spend much time in prayer, engage in personal soul winning, to be tolerant and to sacrifice themselves.

“Let’s move our personal feelings aside and see what God can do,” he said. “The days are critical. The communist is almost winning the world with a lie, and we’re losing it with the truth.”

Worth Quoting

“It is very probable that more men participated in the Olympic Games than engage in foreign missions around the world. You could put all the missionaries of the world right here (Seattle) in your own city stadium several times over, and you would find that most of them are brave women and girls. There are hardly enough males in missions to man a couple of aircraft carriers, and we say we are trying to win a world for Christ. Where, I ask you, do we get the courage to stand up in church across this nation on Sunday morning and sing, ‘Like a mighty army moves the church of God.…?’ ”—Clay Cooper, president of Vision, Inc.

“We Christians ‘talk’ a good fight but too many of us have settled for coexistence with paganism. The future of the world is going to be decided either the totalitarian or the Gospel way. We hope it can be settled without a physical war, but it certainly cannot be won without a spiritual war.”—Dr. Samuel Shoemaker, Calvary Episcopal, Pittsburgh.

Protest On Colombia

Weary of Colombian persecution of Protestant minorities, the National Association of Evangelicals has urged Secretary of State Dulles to withhold recognition of the new regime there until the following conditions are met:

► Reopening of “mission territories” with complete religious and educational freedom to U. S. citizens.

► Freedom of press and radio to non-Roman Catholic religions.

► Approval of licenses to import non-Catholic books to all religious bodies, including Protestants and the Bible Society.

► Freedom to construct Protestant churches without hindrances after municipal approval of plans (49 such churches and chapels have been destroyed since 1947).

► Residence privileges for Americans for religious and educational purposes.

Racial Study

Less than five per cent of the Methodist ministers answering a questionnaire in an Indiana racial study favored a completely segregated local church pattern.

Nearly half the Methodist laymen answering a similar questionnaire said they would favor a segregated church.

Three-quarters of the ministers said they would willingly accept appointment to a racially mixed church. About 23 per cent of the 492 white laymen said they would accept the appointment of a pastor of another race.

People: Words And Events

Close Trimming—Grace before meals in public schools violates California constitutional provisions prohibiting the teaching of religion in schools, Fresno County Counsel Robert Wash ruled. He will leave it to school authorities for decisions in “borderline” eases. A borderline case is a familiar verse used by kindergarten children before milk and crackers: “Thank you for the world so sweet; Thank you for the food we eat; Thank you for the birds that sing; Thank you, God, for everything.”

Missionary Widows—All royalty income from the book, Through Gates of Splendor, will be channeled directly into missionary projects by the five widows of the Equador martyres. Mrs. Elisabeth Elliot, one of the widows, is author of the book, but all five will share equally in royalties. Harper & Brothers will publish it on May 29.

A Christian Mother—Mrs. Annie Laura Hale, a 70-year-old housewife who married in a pioneer buggy, reared 14 children and sent nine of them to college, has been named the 1957 Texas Baptist Mother of the Year. A Sunday School teacher for the last 56 years, she said: “If you are a Christian mother, you can always depend on the Lord to help you when you need him and the going gets rough. I couldn’t have made it without him.”

Meeting the Needs—Energetic Tom Young of Turlock, Calif., a former pastor and church magazine editor, saw two needs: Christian families, who need some stimulus to family prayer and service; non-Christians, who need tactful introductions to the Gospel. He came up with a single answer: a unique monthly periodical, Plus, which Christian families mail in their name to the unchurched. Participating families agree to pray for those to whom they mail the pamphlets.

Three Firsts—Dr. Frank T. Wilson, dean of Howard University School of Religion, Washington, D. C., has been named education secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. He is the first Negro to be appointed to the board’s staff.… William R. Robinson of New York City, recently arrived in Africa to become president of the Seventh-day Adventist Uganda Mission. He is the first Negro sent by U. S. Adventists to an administrative post in the denomination’s Southern African Division.… The Rev. Arthur F. Elmes has been elected president of the Washington (D. C.) Ministerial Union. He is the first Negro to head the group.

We Can Help—The voice of many leading American preachers are being heard today in small towns and villages—thanks to the efforts of an Oklahoma City couple. Five years ago Mr. and Mrs. Charles Hoefle took up tape recording as a hobby. Now they head a non-profit enterprise known as Spiritual Recordings Unlimited, which has sent 250 miles of tape recorded sermons to every state and several foreign countries. They travel around the country recording addresses at conventions and other meetings. The Hoefles recently were appointed official recorders of International Christian Leadership.

Alarm in Moscow—The Young Communist magazine has complained that many young people in the Murmansk region above the Arctic Circle are drifting away from communist moorings to become religious converts or juvenile delinquents. More alarm was expressed about converts than delinquents.

Sunday Closing—The United States Supreme Court has taken under advisement appeals challenging the constitutionality of Sunday closing laws in two states. One appeal seeks to overthrow a New Jersey ordinance banning the sale of new and used automobiles on Sunday. In another case, an Arkansas grocer asks the court to review a 1956 municipal law which prohibits grocery stores and meat markets from operating on Sunday.

Digest—Dr. J. D. Grey, past president of Southern Baptist Convention, observes 20th anniversary as pastor of New Orleans’ First Baptist Church.… Total of 233 missionaries sent to 17 countries in 1956 by American Lutheran bodies.

A Man Of God

Hundreds of pastors assembled in Chicago for a conference before the 100th annual session of the Southern Baptist Convention, May 29–June 1.

One of the challenging messages they heard was particularly timely, after a lot of recent national publicity about ministers suffering nervous breakdowns. The talk was given by Dr. F. Townley Lord of London, former president of the Baptist World Alliance.

His address follows, in part:

“The description of the Christian pastor as a ‘man of God’ is uplifting, heartwarming, challenging … and sometimes humiliating; for there can be few of us who do not realize how far short we fall of that great ideal. Once in my vestry in central London an actress came to discuss some personal problems. To my question, ‘Why have you come to me?’ she replied, ‘But aren’t you a man of God?’

“It is good to be reminded of the dignity and solemn responsibility of our high calling. Emerson told some divinity students that the minister’s function is ‘to acquaint men at first-hand with deity.’ George Herbert, once public orator in the University of Cambridge, defined a pastor as ‘the deputy of Christ for the reducing of men to the obedience of God.’

“These are great ideals; yet when I want to learn what it means to be a man of God, I turn to the Bible, for it is the Word of God that gives us a great procession of men of God, spotlighting their call, adventures, trials, successes, failures. In this biblical portrait gallery, one thing stands out with crystal clarity: its men of God were subjected to strain and pressure, generally from without, sometimes from within. The way of obedience to God was not for them the ‘primrose path of dalliance.…’

“You will not fail to observe that the strains and stresses felt by the Bible’s men of God were not unlike those we know and experience today.… How modern it all sounds! Working on unresponsive material, setting one’s course against popular demands, fitting a message of divine love and grace to a world embroiled in rivalries and war, battling against disappointment and frustration, keeping a brave face when tragedy gnaws at the heart.

“There is one figure in the Bible who seems to have combined in his own experience most of the discouragements men can conceive—Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. I mention him not just to add to the list of the Bible heroes, but because I think he had found the secret of keeping calm under pressure. He had critics by the score. They made fun of his appearance. They questioned his standing and authority. Sometimes he gives us an autobiographical passage, as when he writes (2 Cor. 11:26–28) of being:

‘In perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness; beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.’

“Yet, in the same letter from which this quotation is taken, he can say twice in one chapter, ‘I never lose heart.’

“That is the secret we want to know. Never to lose heart. Never to allow disappointment to cast a shadow of doubt on the great cause. Never to permit indignation to warp our judgment. Never to allow anything to obscure the one supreme fact that we are God’s men, representing him to the world.

“Paul gives us his own secret (2 Cor. 4:16–18):

‘But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.’

“His secret is two fold. Part of it is paradoxical. The man of God looks at something he can’t see. He keeps his vision of timeless realities. The other part is inward—the renewal of inner life day by day. I have never known a Christian pastor who put this recipe to the test without finding that it is the door to serenity and patience in ministry.

“To keep our eyes turned towards the unseen, to know so much of the daily presence of the Lord Jesus in the heart—this is to discover the power of calmness under pressure.”

Literary Needs

“More trained personnel and greater emphasis on distribution are the most pressing needs in missionary literature work,” Kenneth N. Taylor, director of Moody Institute’s Literature Mission, said recently after completing a tour of Christian centers in the Near and Far East. He added:

“The products of missionary publishers will have to be improved to meet the competition of western magazines penetrating the Far East. To be effective, Christian literature must be printed on good paper, with attractive art, layout and color. Communists have been making remarkable inroads with attractive literature at very low prices.…”

Parochial Funds

“Unalterable opposition” to the use of public funds for the support of independent or parochial schools was voiced in a special committee report at the 169th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (Northern) at Omaha, Nebraska, May 16–22.

In opposing public support of parochial schools, the report denied that these institutions are part of “community education.”

“Parochial schools, avowedly sectarian,” the report said, “are not amenable to the control of the community from which they seek support. There is a widespread and aggressive movement that asserts that the parochial school is really a part of public education. This contention confuses the public and is contrary to the fact that parochial schools and public schools are created upon entirely different foundations.”

The committee said that “confusion in the public mind can result in withdrawal of support from the public schools.”

The report also condemned “the practice of virtual donations of public school buildings, under the guise of sales, to parochial school systems below legitimately assessed evaluation regardless of lack of public school population or majority registration in parochial schools.”

Some 880 commissioners, lay and clerical, representing the denomination’s 250 presbyteries, attended the Omaha convention.

Rc School View

Archbishop William O. Brady of St. Paul, Minn., has spelled out the conditions under which Roman Catholics may attend or participate in public school baccalaureate ceremonies.

Priests may not participate nor Catholics attend if the rites are held in non-Catholic churches. And it is not permissable to hold public school graduations and baccalaureates in Catholic churches.

If the baccalaureate observances are held in a public place, there is no reason why Catholic clergy should not appear and speak, the archbishop said.

He traced the origin of baccalaureate observances to universities in Europe where “practically all education was religious and Catholic.… It is interestingly strange that now, when public education is more or less officially denuded of religion, how popular baccalaureate sermons remain.… Where baccalaureate day is no longer a religious occasion, but really a social event, it may be accepted and shared by all, even if it has no current meaning. But a difficulty will always appear in our pluralistic society as soon as our public schools attempt to crown the final days of the secular academic year with a religious sugar coating.…”

Christian Unity

Observers predict that the Third Assembly of the Lutheran World Federation in Minneapolis, Minn., August 15–25, will be one of the most significant religious meetings held on American soil in decades.

The Federation represents an estimated 50 million Lutherans from 29 countries.

Dr. Carl E. Lund-Quist, executive secretary of the LWF, said the Assembly hoped to make a major contribution to theological discussion on the question of Christian unity.

He said the question of unity will be considered with regard to the relation of the Lutheran churches to each other as well as to the possibility of church fellowship between Lutherans and others, particularly those in the World Council of Churches.

Dr. Hanns Lilje, Bishop of Hannover, Germany, Federation president, will preside at all formal sessions and will present the keynote address. Speakers on the program include Dr. Rajah B. Manikam, Bishop of Tranquebar, India; Dr. Otto Dibelius, Bishop of the Church of Berlin-Brandenburg and president of the Evangelical Church in Germany and Dr. Lajos Ordass, Bishop of the Lutheran Church in Hungary.

Redpath On Trip

The Rev. Alan Redpath, pastor of Moody Church, Chicago, will be away from his pulpit until August 29.

He will be a principal speaker at both the Irish and English Keswick. Also, he will visit in Austria before returning.

Mr. Redpath is chairman of the Mid-America Keswick to be held in Chicago October 12–19.

Fcc Rejects Protest

The Federal Communications Commission has rejected a protect by Dr. J. Richard Sneed, First Methodist Church, Los Angeles, against the action of Radio Station KFAC in dropping the church’s 34-year-old religious broadcast.

The Commission said it had been informed by KFAC that the station was consulting with the Church Federation of Los Angeles to find a different religious program to replace the Methodist service.

Accordingly, the FCC said it found no grounds for ordering a public hearing.

Dr. Sneed said he had been told by the station that “we are gradually eliminating all religious programs and replacing them with musical programs.”

(A number of churches have received broadcast termination notices since the Broadcasting and Film Commission of the National Council of Churches adopted an advisory policy against the sale of time for religious programs, but practically all such churches were members of denominations not affiliated with the Council—(CHRISTIANITY TODAY, April 1, issue). First Methodist in Los Angeles is affiliated with the NCC.

In a five-page letter to the Los Angeles clergymen, the FCC cited provisions of the Federal Communications Act and decisions of the Federal courts which limit its power to control the specific programming of a radio station. (Radio and television stations, in applying to the Commission for licenses, state the percentage of time that will be devoted to religious programs. KFAC, in its application for a three-year license renewal in 1956, informed the FCC that 1.9 per cent of its broadcast time was devoted to religious services.)

Meanwhile, in another broadcast development, Radio Station WGY in Schenectady, N. Y., said it was dropping paid religious broadcasts because it had an “imbalance of fundamentalist Protestant theology” in its religious programming. The station is owned by the General Electric Company.

The station said it would continue to provide free time for an “adequate, representative schedule of religious broadcasts.” Merl Galusha, WGY manager, said the station had declined to renew a contract for Billy Graham’s “Hour of Decision.”

Other programs that will no longer be carried on a paid basis after present contracts expire, he said, are “Word of Life,” “Bible Study Hour,” “The Lutheran Hour” and “Voice of Prophecy.”

It is “quite likely,” according to the manager, that some programs previously carried on a paid basis will be included in the free-time schedule.

Theology

Bible Book of the Month: I Thessalonians

William Hendriksen

Unless a thorough study of I Thessalonians has been made, one does not know Paul, “the apostle of the Gentiles.” Some students focus their attention on Paul, the theologian; others on Paul, the man; still others on Paul, the missionary. These three lines of interest converge beautifully in I Thessalonians.

To begin with the theological interest. Nowhere do we find so much source material for the doctrine of the last things (eschatology) as in the letters to the Thessalonians. In I Thessalonians every chapter ends with a reference to the second coming (1:10; 2:19, 20; 3:11–13; 4:13–18; 5:23, 24). As for Paul, the man, it has been well remarked that here he stands out “in all the charm of his rich and varied personality” (George Milligan, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians, London, 1908, p. xliii). The following passages may be regarded as windows that afford a look into Paul’s great heart: 2:1–12; 3:1–10; 5:12–24. And as for Paul, the missionary, studies devoted to this subject often refer not only to Acts 17:1–19, which contains a brief report of the work at Thessalonica, but also to 1 Thessalonians 1:8–10, which indicates the content and the amazing success of Paul’s missionary message.

The epistle contributes more than a triple primary source for the study of Paul. It manifests God’s glorious special revelation that comes to every believer with absolute divine authority; it indicates how one may enjoy real comfort in life, benefit his brothers and sisters in the Lord, and live to God’s glory.

Authorship of this epistle presents no great problem, as it is among those letters which even today are generally conceded to Paul. To be sure, some disagree with this well-nigh unanimous opinion, but they do so on wholly subjective grounds which, if pursued to their logical conclusions, would rob Paul of all his epistles. According to some of these objectors, the letter cannot have been written by the great apostle because it is too un-Pauline, and according to others it cannot have been written by him because it is too Pauline! In the hands of such men Paul simply does not have “a ghost of a chance.” But all the real evidence points directly to Paul. The epistle presents itself as his letter (1:1; 2:18), has the typical Pauline structure, is Pauline both in vocabulary and phraseology, reflects Paul’s character, and was ascribed by the early fathers to Paul. Even the early heretics are in agreement with this dictum.

There are those who believe that II Thessalonians was written before I Thessalonians (for example, Lyle O. Bristol, “Paul’s Thessalonian Correspondence,” Expository Times, Vol. 55, 1944, p. 223). But that 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 clearly points back to 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 can be seen by comparing the two (cf. especially 2 Thess. 2:1 with 1 Thess. 4:17; and note also the reference in 2 Thess. 2:15 to an earlier epistle).

A more difficult question is whether here in I Thessalonians the apostle gives an answer to a letter from Thessalonica that Timothy presumably had brought with him. Interest in this question has been revived by the article of Chalmer E. Faw, “On the Writing of First Thessalonians” (Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 71, December, 1952, pp. 217–225). Personally I believe that the evidence favoring the answer-to-a-letter idea is insufficient (see my Exposition of I and II Thessalonians, pp. 12 and 13, for detailed argumentation).

Historical Background

On his second missionary journey Paul, accompanied by Silas and probably Timothy, reached Thessalonica or Salonica, as it is called today. Situated in northeastern Greece, on what is now called the Gulf of Salonica, Salonica has become next to the largest city of Greece, with a population of about a quarter of a million. In course of time Thessalonica became the capital of the entire province of Macedonia. Because it had sided with him in the great struggle for supreme power, the emperor Augustus made it a free city. Hence, even in Paul’s day a great measure of home rule was enjoyed in the selection of magistrates, who were called “politarchs” (Acts 17:6).

Although the culture of the city was basically Hellenic, its population was cosmopolitan. In addition to Greeks and Romans, the city was “hometown” for many a Jew. It is not surprising, then, that Paul found not only pagan idol worshippers—Mt. Olympus, “the home of the gods,” was nearby—but also Jews and proselytes.

The missionaries seem not to have stayed long in this city, though the “three weeks” mentioned in Acts 17:2 probably indicates the period during which the apostle taught in the synagogue. For various reasons, the opinion of most commentators that the total duration of the Thessalonian ministry was longer than three weeks must be considered correct. Though the ministry was short, the amount of work the missionaries performed was amazing. Paul taught that the Messianic prophecies had attained their fulfilment in Jesus; that it was He who suffered, died, was raised from the dead, and will come again, all according to the Scriptures; that by his work he delivered from the wrath to come all those who trust in him; that idol worship is evil and foolish; and that those who accept Christ, having been called into his glorious kingdom, should live a life of sanctification so as to please God who saved them (Acts 17:3; 1 Thess. 1:9, 10; 2:12; 4:1–3). On one point—Christ’s return and the events that will precede it—Paul gave detailed instruction.

The great missionary’s heart was in his message. Deeply persuaded of the supreme importance of that message, he dealt with each person as a father deals with his children, teaching, exhorting and encouraging (1 Thess. 1:1–5; 2:4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11). There were many conversions, so that Paul later on mentions the joyful and enthusiastic manner in which the word had been taken to heart, and the fact that this congregation had become an example to all believers in Macedonia and Achaia (1 Thess. 1:6, 7). It is not surprising that Paul’s “success” made the unconverted Jews jealous and angry. In fact, their opposition resulted in the departure of the missionaries, who made their way to Berea. Here Silas and Timothy stayed for a while, Paul himself heading for Athens. It was there that Timothy found Paul, who, being deeply concerned about the young church, sent him back to Thessalonica.

When Timothy returned from his mission, Paul was carrying on his gospel activity in Corinth. So encouraging was Timothy’s report that Paul’s heart was filled with joy and thanksgiving. “Now I really live,” said Paul, as Timothy brought him the wonderful news of the undiminished faith and love of the infant church (cf. 1 Thess. 3:8). Yet there was also some bad news. Base opponents were casting slurs at Paul’s character and motives (1 Thess. 2:3–10) and were trying by this means to destroy his influence and the comfort his message had brought. And comfort was badly needed, comfort blended with further instruction. This was true especially with respect to one important matter. Some members of the church had “fallen asleep.” Were they going to share in the glory of Christ’s return? Moreover, if this coming again was imminent, why work any longer? Why toil for the things that were soon to perish?

Objectives And Content

Hence, Paul now writes I Thessalonians, having in mind the following objectives:

To meet head-on the whispering campaign with reference to his motives

To express his joy and gratitude for the good news Timothy had brought

To shed further light on the question touching those who had fallen asleep and on the related question of the manner of Christ’s return

To give exactly such directions as were needed by those who had so recently been brought into the kingdom of light.

In harmony with this four-point purpose Paul writes to the Thessalonians as follows:

Reminding them, in connection with his thanksgiving for them, how the gospel had come to Thessalonica, as a genuine work of God and not as a product of human deception (chapters 1 and 2)

Informing them how he rejoices over Timothy’s report of their continued spiritual progress even in the midst of persecution (chapter 3)

Instructing them how Christ will come again, namely, with impartiality toward all believers, so that survivors will have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep, and with suddenness, so that people will be taken by surprise (4:13–5:11); and accordingly

Exhorting them how they should conduct themselves, living sanctified lives with respect to all classes at all times (4:1–12 and 5:12–28).

Special Points

How gloriously the heart of God in Christ is revealed here: “Are you worrying about the dear ones who have fallen asleep [what a wonderful phrase!] in Jesus?” Paul seems to say. Well, God loves them. Hence, when he causes his beloved Son to return upon clouds of glory, these “dead in Christ will rise first,” and “then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:16, 17).

Just what further light does the epistle shed on the subject of the Rapture? Is it possible, after all, that Christ’s coming “with the saints” and his coming “for the saints” are two phases of the same Second Coming? And speaking about the eagerly awaited return of our Lord, how should one interpret that mysterious passage in which the apostle expresses the wish that with a view to that day “spirit, soul and body” may be preserved entire (1 Thess. 5:23)? Was Paul a trichotomist? In my Commentary I have devoted several pages to the problem of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 (pp. 141, 146–150).

Literature

I shall try to be very selective in mentioning works on Thessalonians. The older “sets” of New Testament commentaries are too well known, I trust, to need mentioning. Of the more recent works that strive to do justice to the Greek text two have long been considered outstanding: James E. Frame, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (New York, 1912) one of the best in The International Critical Commentary series, and George Milligan, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Thessalonians (London, 1908). Worthwhile information may also be gathered from the work I consider one of the best in The Interpreter’s Bible, namely, John W. Bailey and James W. Clarke, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians (New York, 1952, Vol. XI).

Other more or less important twentieth century titles are: Martin Dibelius Die Briefe des Apostels Paulus (in Handbuch zum Neuen Testament, Tubingen, 1913); George G. Findlay, ed., The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians (in Cambridge Greek Testament) (Cambridge, 1904); James Moffatt, The First and Second Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians (in Expositors’ Greek Testament) (London, 1910) William Neil, The Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians (in Moffatt New Testament Commentary) (New York, 1950) and G. Wohlenberg, Der erste und zweite Thessalonicherbriefe (in Kommentar zum Neuen Testament) (Leipzig, 1909).

- More from William Hendriksen

Eutychus and His Kin: May 27, 1957

IN AND OUT THE WINDOWS

Every preacher knows that illustrations in sermons are windows to let in the light. Some sermons are like railroad coaches, with windows regularly spaced throughout their length; others are ranch style, featuring one picture window. Homiletical architecture, taking its cue from contemporary building, is using more and more glass. Indeed, to change the figure, as every illustrator must, many sermons have so many windows and so little structure that they resemble not so much a greenhouse as a fish net, classically defined as a large number of holes tied together with string.

A window does not only function to admit light. Recall the experience of my namesake at Troas! (Let me here deny categorically that Eutychus fell asleep on the window sill because Paul’s sermon lacked illustrations.) Many a bemused hearer has been lost from a sermon via illustrationis, that is, out the window. Consider the folly of the young preacher who on a June morning is the victim of his repressed desires and pictures an approach shot to the ninth green to illustrate his second point. The greater his finesse with his homiletical iron, the more squarely he will loft fifteen per cent of his hearers over to the wrong fairway for the rest of the service.

Illustrative windows have also been known to admit dust, bugs and noise. Red herrings have been dragged through some; others are service ports from which thousands of canned anecdotes slide down an endless belt.

One preacher’s corrective is to compare illustrating to harness racing. That illustrative critter must be lean and fresh, it must move fast on the inside track, and most of all, it must be harnessed. Unless it carries the point down the homestretch, keep that horseflesh off the track.

Still better, board up those windows and distill a limpid prose like that of this letter, which is free of all illustrative additives.

EUTYCHUS

CHURCH AND SCHOOL

Modern Americans are inclined to see Jesus altogether as a teacher. As if to correct the imbalance, they have with careful determination stripped his church of most of its teaching authority. It is not uncommon to hear preachers who call themselves evangelical declare from the pulpit and elsewhere that the traditional Gospel is not relevant to modern life, and ‘public’ schools are our salvation.

The supposed reason for abandoning the Church as the great teaching institution is that we believe in separation of Church and State. The slogan has served well a long night of debauched ravishing, both of Christian schools and Christian knowledge. Thank God there is a streak of dawn light splitting the darkness. Church schools are appearing all across the land: they may herald the dawn of real revival in our time.

It is strange indeed that to separate Church and State, American Christians have separated church and school. There is neither precedent nor logic for this. Certainly there is no doctrine. From the time of the great commission the Church has taken to herself full authority to teach all knowledge in the Name of Jesus: the brilliance of her scholars and thinkers has overshadowed even the giants of every non-Christian civilization. The mighty Aristotle has been ‘brought up to date’, and Plato cut down to size.

One searches in vain in the past to find any serious view that learning is a function of civil government, not of ecclesiastical. Even pagan writers of ancient Rome recognized that men’s religious beliefs are not subject to the power of police. Religion and learning are almost synonymous. Poets and philosophers were the religious leaders of paganism: and, for the Jews, the beginning of wisdom was the fear of the Lord. The scholars of China pored over the religious teaching of Confucious. In frontier America the little red school-house was more often than not the neighborhood church. Even Marxist religion is equated with the ‘intellectuals’.

Recent developments in New York state have only clarified the oneness of religion and learning. Reports of investigations and hearings on the subject make it clear that the root of all controversy over what is to be taught in the schools is religious. It seems to be impossible to teach any recognizable morals in New York, because all morals must reflect a religious conviction of some kind. It seems to be overlooked at the moment that it also reflects a religious viewpoint called godlessness to teach no religion.

In the face of this dead-end, the Council of Churches in at least one major city has expressed itself through committee as being unalterably opposed to teaching any sectarian religion in public schools. One is entitled to ask what religion is not sectarian?

Christianity is certainly sectarian in the eyes of civil government: if, then, it cannot be taught in government controlled schools, what religion do Christians accept from government schools?

The Christian doctrine about civil government has been expressed straightforwardly since the preaching of Peter and Paul. Rulers exist to punish wickedness and reward virtue. That covers all civil government authority in both domestic and international affairs. There is no hint that the government also teaches the young. If it does, and if Christians have no schools of their own, then Christians are compelled to accept a strange doctrine that the government not only punishes and rewards, it teaches. When we see state schools in other lands, we cringe at the shadow of tyranny and compulsion.

So-called ‘public’ schools (a misnomer for tax-supported or state-controlled schools) are usually espoused with a passionate conviction that they are a bond of unity. This raises a fundamental religious conviction. Whatever gives unity to a people is that people’s god. Could it be that the real center of real American religion is the image of Caesar, or the power of taxation and punishment with the sword? Are we not really united in Christ?

Certainly it makes sense for those who worship civil government to give to government the religious authority to teach: for to such, government is a god. But one must search in vain for any other rationale. Those who, having other gods, make of Jesus only a great teacher are not espousing the Jesus who really lived, or who has ever been really worshipped by any Christian Church. But both Latin and Greek churches have been alert to the pagan’s ‘debauchery of learning’, or ‘lust for knowledge’ which accompanied his worship of Caesar. The comparisons are too easy to allow any rest to the conscience of any American Christian. Learning, as a tool and an arm of faith, has reached heights in Christian scholars never attained outside the fold: but when made an end in itself, it has been a corrupting debauchery, a vicious lust.

This realization suggests some startling possibilities for modern churches. At a time when local school costs have caused public outcry, as in Denver, and when the Federal government is straining to centralize all tax-supported schools through its already overloaded budget, these possibilities cry out for attention.

Cost wise there is an overwhelming argument for opening the doors of thousands of church ‘educational buildings’ for week-day schools. Most of them are dark and empty except for one hour on Sunday. They are available at no extra cost to the same community which otherwise will have to construct equal but separate facilities.

The administration for congregational schools already exists where a congregation is functioning. All that needs to be added is a teaching staff.

The educational philosophy is at hand with the glory of the ages stamped upon it—the high calling of Christian scholarship.

By relieving civil government of a chore it cannot perform, by returning to a Jesus of Incarnation, Atonement and Beatific Vision, modern American churches can speedily and easily take up once more their great evangelistic mission of being a teaching church. At the same time, they can leave civil government free to its natural and historic function of punishing wickedness and rewarding virtue. Perhaps peace is nearer and easier than we thought, if government can do its work because the Church is doing hers.

For those who are alarmed at Roman Catholic schools, one need only reply their is no fear of Roman schools among non-Romans who have their own. Certainly we need not turn to political action to curb the religious activities of our Roman Christian brethren.

T. ROBERT INGRAM

St. Thomas Episcopal

Bellaire, Tex.

PROPITIATION

The article “Propitiation” (Apr. 15 issue) is timely and commendable. I hesitate to raise any question concerning it because Dr. Nicole is no doubt already aware of what comes to my mind. But, if he is, I wonder why he fails to note it. He lists three appearances of the word propitiation in the English N. T. What he does not note is that while hilasmos is the equivalent Greek for the two appearances in I John, the word that St. Paul writes in Rom. 3:25 is hilasterion. Hilasterion is the LXX word in Exodus 25:17, which KJ translates as mercy-seat. Does not this translation and its concept better fit St. Paul’s thought than propitiation? Is not Christ the new way to the Father, apart from the Law, through the New Covenant? Would our author not wish to add another item (6) to his “relevant observations”?

EARL M. HONAMAN

Diocese of Harrisburg

Suffragan Bishop, Williamsport, Pa.

Bishop Honaman’s observation is welcome. His interpretation of the meaning of hilasterion in Romans 3:25 has the support of many exegetes (Origen, Luther, Calvin, Grotius, Tholuck, Olshausen, Lange, Philippi, A. Ritschl, Liddon, Gifford, and very recently Nygren, T. W. Manson, etc.). There are also many, however, who have favored another view (Hodge, Shedd, Godet, B. Weiss, Zahn, Sanday and Headlam, V. Taylor, C. H. Dodd, Lietzmann, O. Michael, F. Buechsel, J. Knox, etc.). This is obviously a keenly debated question, and it was our desire … to avoid as much as possible controversial issues, if merely incidental to our main contention.

In any case, whether the rendering mercy-seat be or be not favored in this instance, the fact that hilasterion, a cognate of hilasmos, is used implies an element of propitiation in this passage. If hilasterion is the mercy-seat, the root meaning of the word connotes that this is the propitiatory place, the place at which the propitiation of God with respect to his people is sealed and signified. If another translation be preferred, it should be one in which the idea of propitiation, etymologically and semantically implicit in hilasterion, comes explicitly to the fore.

ROGER NICOLE

Beverly Farms, Mass.

THE CHURCH AND VITAMINS

REGISTER STRONGEST POSSIBLE PROTEST AGAINST THE DISGUSTING HUCKSTER TYPE ADVERTISEMENT APPEARING ON THE BACK PAGE … MORE ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR MAGAZINE IS SAID TO BE DIRECTED TO A RESPONSIBLE LEVEL OF CHURCH AND BUSINESS LIFE.

S. D. MACKEY

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

Allow me to protest briefly the unsavory nature of the advertisement on the back page of your issue (April 29). I look upon this kind of advertisement … as on a plane with liquor advertisement.…

GEORGE G. HARPER, JR.

Grand Rapids, Mich.

I was very much astonished as well as shocked to find this ad in your journal.… The product is a simple vitamin preparation which can be purchased in any drug store at a fraction of the price. Even if prescribed by a doctor it would not cost as much as this.…

E. OSTBRGAARD, M.D.

Evansville, Minn.

I am writing … of my personal dislike of your lack of taste.… Referring to the blazing headline: “… increased income plan endorsed by leading Churchman”.… What ‘leading Churchman’? What Pastor who is faithful to his calling has time to degrade himself and his ministry by becoming a pill peddler?…

CHARLES L. KOESTER

Holy Trinity Ev. Lutheran Church

West Allis, Wis.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S advertising policy is still fluid, except for the basic requirement that advertisements be culturally constructive. Beyond this, CHRISTIANITY TODAY does not restrict advertising to items it approves, whether church publications or products in general. The vitamin advertisement in question was cleared by a reputable Christian physician in advance of publication. Publishing costs are high, and advertising is necessary to meet them. When the quota is met through advertising more natural to a religious magazine, CHRISTIANITY TODAY will adopt a more restrictive policy. Meanwhile, it can only hope that the balances of the magazine will assure that readers burdened for the Great Commission will not lose that concern even if and when they are attracted to the ministry of vitamins.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY sincerely regrets, however, the appearance of a hotel advertisement (May 13 issue) containing reference to a cocktail lounge, and straightforwardly apologizes to its readers. The advertisement in question arrived late, and was relayed directly to the printers (unfortunately) without proof-reading by our advertising department.

—ED.

CATHOLICISM AND LABOR

I would appreciate your correcting an error in my article “The Catholic Plan for American Labor” (April 29).… The reference at the very end was to Italian, not Indian history.…

KERMIT EBY

University of Chicago

Chicago, Ill.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S proof-reading department dozed at a strategic point in Dr. Eby’s article. His point was, of course that recent Italian history supplies a commentary on the operation of the corporate state toward which he thinks Catholic social action leads.—ED.

Cover Story

Operation Phenomenal

Lionel A. Hunt

The name of Count Nicolaus Ludwig Von Zinzendorf has come down in church history as the instrument which the Holy Spirit used to spark one of the greatest revivals the world has ever seen. Through his efforts prayer meetings started that continued for a hundred years. There were many evidences of a signal working of the Holy Spirit, and this Moravian revival originating in Germany began to affect distant parts of the world. Strange to say, however, although these basic facts are generally known, few theologians know what actually sparked this revival. Nor is it generally realized in circles of Christian leadership that the discovery of Zinzendorf’s secret might lead to similar spiritual repercussions today.

A Class Of Nine Girls

It was August 17, 1727. Count Zinzendorf was giving spiritual instruction. Was this to a church of a thousand wealthy and influential adherents? Far from it! The Count’s occupation would be disdained by many of today’s clergy. His instruction was to a class of nine girls between the ages of ten and thirteen. He had told his wife that although the girls gave outward attention, he could not perceive any traces of spiritual life among them. It is recorded that on July 16 he poured out his heart in effective prayer, and was in great anguish of soul for these girls. Then for ten days, August 17 to 27, this influential Count’s prayers were answered in a great outpouring of the Spirit of God upon these girls. As the hours passed, more girls, then the boys, then the adults of the refugee community of Herrnhut came under the Spirit’s influence. An eyewitness said, “I cannot ascribe the cause of the great awakening of the children of Herrnhut to anything but the wonderful outpourings of the Spirit of God.…”

Where God Begins

An exhaustive study of this great spiritual movement was made by Dr. Clay Trumbull, who in his Yale Lectures states that Zinzendorf and his co-workers took up an emphatic ministry among the children. They preached directly to them, gathering large numbers into the church fold. At the same time they arranged for the personal training of the converts individually by placing them in small classes under special teachers. John Wesley met Zinzendorf and went away persuaded that children can play a great part in any spiritual movement. Thus Wesley laid great stress on the work among the children and on the class instruction of converts. He said, “Unless we take care of the rising generation the present revival of religion will be res unius actatis—it will only last the age of a man.” And Dr. Trumbull stresses that in this statement Wesley touched the truth of truths concerning God’s method of giving permanent power to the work of his church. Lecky, in his careful review of the methods and influence of the Wesleyan movement, says, “The Methodists appear to have preached especially to children”; and he cites the words of Wesley when describing “among other cases, a remarkable revival among children at Stockton-upon-tees in 1784. Is this not a new thing upon earth? God begins his work in children.… Thus the flame spreads to those of riper years.”

Similar Pattern Of Events

Today in America and elsewhere there appears to be a condition much the same as the spiritual condition prior to the above mentioned revivals. There is also much evidence that the Holy Spirit is working in an unusual way among children. The need of today is for influential Zinzendorfs and fiery Wesleys to pour out their hearts for the children. The enemy of souls seems to be subtly busy doing all he can to keep our attention, our praying, our budgeting, our planning, on adult evangelistic crusades, because as Billy Sunday said, it is a miracle of God if a man over forty comes to him. We no longer remember that Moody and Spurgeon started their tremendous ministries among children, that Dr. Torrey said, “It is a well proven fact that no other kind of meetings bring such definite results in the way of conversions as meetings held for the specific purpose of bringing children to Christ. No revival is what it ought to be if a great deal of attention is not given to the children, and much prayerful effort put forward for their conversion. Whatever other meetings are held or omitted in times of special revival interest, meetings for children should not be omitted under any circumstance.”

God’S Heart For The Child

The above quotations are but from men, and some may question their authority. How wonderful, then, to find that they agree with Scripture. God’s heart is very tender toward the child. It is not his will that one of these little ones should perish. Christ commands us to suffer them to come to him. He promises reward to those who minister to the child. He also informs us that they have angels that appear before his face! Christ himself warns us not to “think down upon” (Young) one of these little ones, and his denunciation of anyone who would cause a child to stumble is indeed serious. It brings to mind the minister who gave an altar call and found his own six-year-old among the penitents. “Run along home,” he whispered, “this is no place for you.” But upon the father’s homecoming he found he had offended his little one as he heard his plaintive, “I wanted to come to Jesus but Daddy wouldn’t let me.” As father and son knelt together, a child’s angel appeared before the Father in heaven with the news that caused rejoicing among the angels, and a minister of the gospel found forgiveness for the tremendous transgression of “forbidding” a child.

Neglect Of The Young

Scripturally, historically, statistically, there is ample evidence that spiritual attention should be given to children in an aggressive and positive way. Too many churches are leaving the care of the children to the church school; hence we find but 20 per cent of the scholars converted and 80 per cent or more leaving in their teens. The church school has its important place; yet these spiritual statistics but emphasize Finney’s statement that the church does not advance by its routine program but by special spiritual efforts and “there will never be a revival till somebody makes particular efforts for this end.…” Such special efforts were not uncommon years ago, efforts in which hundreds or thousands of children were brought into evangelistic meetings specially adapted to the child. Space forbids mention of many such recorded campaigns, but an outstanding example is that of Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle.

The children’s evangelist was the Rev. E. Payson Hammond, and his book Early Conversions gives much insight into God’s workings among children. Of this campaign Deacon Olney said, “This building will seat six thousand adults, but there are today crowded into it no less than eight thousand.… I believe at least three thousand outside who came here to get admittance cannot do so.” A man of much experience said he believed that during those weeks’ meetings from two to three thousand were convicted of sin and brought to Christ.

When Mr. Hammond returned to London seventeen years after this children’s evangelistic effort, Mr. Spurgeon told him of the permanent result of those meetings. He thanked God for the great numbers that came into the church through the meetings, and told of many preaching the gospel then who had been converted in those meetings. Today it seems that one of our difficulties is that we have lost our belief in the conversion of children, and the church is suffering. Mr. Spurgeon once said that he was in the habit of receiving thirty to forty children into his church every year. He had “found it necessary to excommunicate one or two adults in that time, but had never yet found it necessary to dismiss one received in the early years of childhood.” In America, Payson Hammond had results similar to those in Britain. In one case from a united effort in Rochester 1,001 children joined the churches. Among these were some as young as nine years. Later Dr. Campbell wrote: “Six years ago Mr. Hammond held a similar series of meetings in this city and it is sometimes asked ‘What has become of the converts?’.… At the Central Church a careful investigation has been made.… As the fruit of the revival season of 1863 one hundred and sixty-three persons were received into Central Church.… Of these one hundred and fifty-three are either in good standing today or have taken a regular dismission to other churches, or have died in hope.… Of the 163 new recruits only ten missing at the end of six years.”

Evangelism Versus Entertainment

To get results like the above today we must alter our thinking. We must abandon the thought that child efforts must be addressed by a professional entertainer able to send the child into hysterics. It is time we realized that the child needs the same sane presentation of the passion of Christ that reaches the adult. We have got to look upon the child effort in exactly the same light as the adult effort, except that advertising and program are geared to the child. The adult campaign necessitates the seven P’s, and these must characterize the child effort. Unless Planning, Prayer, Preparation, Publicity, Program, Personal work and Pastoral work are conducted with the same enthusiasm and effort as for the adult campaign, we cannot expect God to fully bless.

But when these conditions are met the results are phenomenal today in America. The harvest field is thirty million unchurched children. It is a virgin mission field on our doorstep. These children are susceptible to gospel influence, but are passing into adulthood and into the sophisticated age at the astonishing rate of fifty thousand a week. The call of God is that Christian leaders face the challenge—and act.

Alongside his work as an electrical engineer, Lionel A. Hunt has carried on children’s evangelistic rallies for more than 20 years. Born in London, he completed studies as a professional engineer in British Columbia in 1932, and now resides in Toronto. He is author of Fruitful Child Evangelism.

- More from Lionel A. Hunt

Ideas

Published In Grand Rapids

“Published In Grand Rapids”

There was a time not so long ago when the phrase, “Made in Grand Rapids,” referred unmistakably to furniture, and in this connection the trademark slogan was known the world over. Things have changed, however, and in the last 30 years metal products and automobile components have come to overshadow furniture as the Michigan city’s chief output, and the world’s home furnishings market has become concentrated in Chicago.

The city’s name nonetheless remains famous, but nowadays when one mentions “Grand Rapids,” especially in religious circles, the reference is more apt to bring to mind the publishing of religious books, a field that has assumed considerable importance in the last quarter century. This remarkable advance of Grand Rapids to the forefront of religious book publishing was dramatically illustrated recently when one of the most widely known of the city’s book publishing firms celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. Significantly, the same week’s issue of Publisher’s Weekly listed no less than 40 new titles issued by the firm that month, and it was cited that more than 1600 titles had been issued by that organization in the last quarter century. This would be considered a good record of productivity even for a large New York publisher. And speaking of New York, little do the big city’s editors and publishers realize the major role they played in building up Grand Rapids as a publishing center.

The growth of the Grand Rapids complex of book publishers has been noted by many religious journals all over the world, as evidenced by the increasing frequency of the name Grand Rapids in their book reviews and credit lines. Today in addition to Eerdmans, Zondervan and Baker, there are several smaller firms: Kregel, Society for Reformed Publications, Gospel Folio Press and more recently, Grand Rapids International. It is interesting to observe that the first four named all got their start in the second-hand theological book business (although today only two still have used-book departments). Their familiarity with rare and out-of-print religious titles gave them a shrewd sense of the demand for many works of a generation or two ago—titles conveniently neglected or completely forgotten by the New York publishing offices. The Grand Rapids publishers simply picked up the fumbled ball and ran with it, and they are still running hard. For the largest and most important (and certainly the most profitable) share of the Grand Rapids publishers’ output consists of reprints of old religious and theological works that had been allowed to go out of print many years ago. Most of these are conservative, evangelical works that appeared in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, roughly the period 1875 to 1925, but the major part of these titles had been issued just before the turn of the century. Today these reprints—“second-hand” publishing, if you will—constitute the backbone of a flourishing Midwest publishing industry that supplies millions of volumes each year to bookstores and schools all over the world. And lest it be said that the conservative Protestant market was a marginal one, and thus understandably passed up as hardly worthwhile, it must be noted that many of these warmed-up titles sell several thousand copies each year in the Grand Rapids reprint editions—very likely more than they sold when originally issued, in many cases. So successful has been this postwar religious reprint phenomenon that it has spread to other publishing centers like Chicago and even back to New York itself.

Several elements combined to make it possible for the Grand Rapids publishers to make a bumper crop out of the gleanings left in the fields by the established New York houses. Some of these causes were religious and academic, others technical. First and foremost was the tremendous upsurge in religious interest and study after World War II, which sparked the mushroom growth of hundreds of colleges, Bible schools and seminaries, many of them newly founded and conservative, evangelical in character. The lack of suitable textbooks for these institutions was aggravated by the now-apparent vacuum of evangelical scholarship in the last thirty or forty years, and the preoccupation of the New York publishers with liberal religious thought in that period. Faced with an urgent need for books as working tools, the schools cried for reprints of recognized works of a generation or two ago—books by such solid scholars as James Orr, Philip Schaff, J. P. Lange, Patrick Fairbairn, J. B. Lightfoot, Charles Hodge and others.

The publishers in Grand Rapids responded. They were able to do so with a sure feeling, for they were being deluged with requests for these out-of-print works. And they were able to do so with alacrity, because the new process of photo-offset printing had now been applied to books on a production basis, so that they had only to select a good, well-printed copy of an old edition and hand it to the printer. No longer was it necessary to have the plates or stereos available in order to print a new edition—a copy of the book was all that now was necessary; modern methods of photo-lith reproduction would do the rest. This was the other major factor in making Grand Rapids a reprint publishing center—although almost all of the actual printing of this type of work was being done in another Michigan center, Ann Arbor, as the direct result of government war work and research.

In addition to being able to reproduce these titles by the simple new photographic processes, the republication of most of these works was also, in most cases, without any need for payment of royalties. Almost all of the material was in the public domain, and the original publishers very rarely tried to enforce any reproduction rights. This tremendous advantage, coupled with the big saving of not having to set any type, has made this reprint publishing business particularly lucrative for the Grand Rapids houses and it has, in fact, constituted the backbone of their business.

It is amazing that none of the established New York houses sensed in time the reviving or continued demand for the better religious and theological titles of a generation or two ago. Some, indeed, were engrossed with the products of the new liberal theology. Others simply let their religious lists die out. But, back around the turn of the century, prominent New York imprints appeared on the title pages of volume after volume of sermons by Phillips Brooks, Louis Banks, Alexander Maclaren, H. B. Liddon, De Witt Talmage and others. Books by J. Gresham Machen, Benjamin B. Warfield, Philip Schaff, J. P. Lange, James Orr, B. F. Westcott, J. B. Lightfoot and others were issued in New York, even some time after that. Firms like Funk & Wagnalls, Dutton, Dodd Mead, Lippincott, Doran, Harper, Scribner, Longmans and Macmillan devoted a considerable share of their activities to the issuing of religious books of a conservative stamp. Today a great many of these same titles appear over Grand Rapids imprints. These include such large and important multi-volume sets as the Nicene and Ante-Nicene Father, Lange’s Commentaries, The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, The Biblical Illustrator, Talmage’s Sermons and many others. The rights to some of these were purchased for a song; others, out of copyright, were simply adopted as out-of-print orphans and reprinted without any formal arrangements.

An examination of the catalogs of the Grand Rapids publishing houses shows a predominance of old titles in new editions, some of them billed as “Restorations,” others as “Reprint Classics,” and so forth. In some respects the reprint activity in Grand Rapids is not of recent origin. It started more than 30 years ago when the plates for several of the old George A. Doran properties were sold to Richard R. Smith, who resold most of them to William B. Eerdmans. These included such properties as The Expositor’s Bible, Maclaren’s Expositions and others still printed from the old plates. But the big boost came after World War II, when the advance of inexpensive offset printing and the entrance of new firms into the field multiplied the reproduction of old titles. No doubt some titles have been reissued that might just as well have been left out of print, but by and large the supplying of these reprints has been received and welcomed as a service by thousands of clergymen and hundreds of schools.

Several times in the last ten years it has seemed to appear, especially to book reviewers, that the reprint bonanza was about over, but each time there followed a new wave of warmed-up titles, many of them amazingly successful. True, and to their credit, most of the Grand Rapids publishers have also been issuing new titles in large numbers, even if in varying quality. But the outstanding characteristics of the religious publishing industry in Grand Rapids still are a conservative evangelical outlook, and the predominance of reprints. Certainly New York’s neglect of the conservative market, and its preoccupation with expressions of liberal thought, left the Grand Rapids publishers a golden opportunity to capture what is now a rapidly increasing market for books of a distinctively evangelical Christian viewpoint.

Mighty Potential Of New York Campaign

Speaking of Billy Graham’s mission in Madison Square Garden, one of CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S contributing editors, Professor Faris D. Whitesell, recently remarked that it carries the potential of being the greatest revival in all history. New York City is the first or second city in the world (depending upon the way suburban populations are computed), and is the center of the investment world and publishing business. With television and newspaper media open to the Gospel, and delegations coming by plane and train, the campaign makes Christianity an easy subject of conversation, will draw influential persons to the hearing of the Gospel, will encourage the clergy across the land to preach evangelistic sermons and to press the need for decision and will lift discouraged Christians to new confidence that God still works mightily in response to the prayers of his people.

The cause of evangelism in our day does not rest upon one person, as Billy Graham has so often pointed out. The Great Commission imposes the duty of Christian witnessing upon every believer. Let the Lord’s redeemed say so.

The Coming Great Church

J. Marcellus Kik

A significant book that has escaped conservative critical appraisal is The Early Church and the Coming Great Church (Abingdon, 1955) by John Knox, professor of sacred literature at Union Theological Seminary, New York. The author searches for a historical basis upon which to build and model the coming great church. The book takes on added significance in light of the September (1957) conference of the World Council of Churches on “The Nature of the Unity We Seek.”

The main thesis is that the united church of tomorrow cannot be modeled after the first-century church but must find its prototype in the Catholic movement of the second century. While Knox fully recognizes the importance of the life and faith of the church, his great concern is with its form and structure. He maintains that the church must be united in form as well as in spirit, and that all must participate in this comprehensive and fundamental structure (pp. 135, 136). The basic organizational structure finds expression in the historic episcopate, which the author insists must be fully accepted if Christendom is to be united (p. 142).

Diversity And Division

Professor Knox despairs of finding the model for the coming great church in the primitive church of the first century because of its alleged diversity and division. He marvels that it has ever been pictured as a model of unity. He claims that “there was wide diversity in both cult and faith, and signs of tension and of actual division, both within and among congregations” (p. 13). Yet he seems to contradict the existence of wide diversity of faith with this statement, “Thus, the common faith of early Christianity involved a considerable measure of agreement not only as to the significance of the event and the meaning of the community but also as to the nature and role of the person: Jesus was Lord and Christ” (pp. 68, 69). Consistency of thought does not characterize the book, when one section speaks of wide diversity of faith and another of considerable measure of agreement in the common faith of the early church.

Apparently the author is convinced that the first century lacked visible and outward unity, but he acknowledges the existence of inward unity. “The acceptance of the New Testament as our only authority—and as an adequate authority—has the effect of making us, to be sure, inescapably aware of our inward unity, but at the same time it confirms our more outward differences and divisions” (p. 134). Throughout the book complaints appear that in the early church there was no “comprehensive organization,” no “organic union,” no “inclusive and centrally administered organization,” no “one visible institutional church united under hierarchy or council.” To Knox no real union can exist without a comprehensive organization under control of a hierarchy or council.

Shared Life

Two chapters develop the theme that the early church was conscious of its own identity within a movement. The author writes, “This deeper identity of the churches, and therefore this deeper unity of the church, had a double character and ground. It had an empirical basis in a shared life and a more ideational basis in a shared faith” (p. 43). Great stress is placed upon the “event,” which is the coming of the Spirit. This seems of more importance than the advent of the person of Christ. The significant event was that “a new Spirit had come; a new love had been given; a new communal life had been brought into existence.… To share in this Spirit, this love, this life, was to belong to the church” (p. 62). More important than the advent of Christ there looms the event of new life entering into the community.

Jesus And The Event

The place that Jesus will possess in the coming great church is of utmost importance. For John Knox the historical person Jesus will occupy a subordinate place. The community and the event are of more importance. Actually, they give significance to the person of Jesus. Knox states that the person “was subordinate to the other two in the sense that the terms in which he was first defined were terms provided by the event and the community respectively and constituted hardly more than a reassertion of the empirical values that the event and the community had proved to have” (pp. 68, 69).

Jesus continues to be a symbol. The name of the person symbolizes the significance of the event and the church finds it impossible to minimize that significance (p. 80). Knox goes along with the World Council of Churches on the requirement of belief in “Jesus Christ as God and Saviour” not because it is a characteristic biblical statement nor because it is theologically adequate but because the name is a mere symbol of the significance of the event. The event and the church give significance to Jesus and not Jesus to the event and the church.

Apparently what Knox calls the event signifies more to him than the historical person Jesus. He writes that the event was the real ground of belief that Jesus was the Christ; the event was regarded as eschatological not because Jesus was believed to be the Christ, but rather Jesus was called Christ because he had been the decisive center of what was empirically realized to be the eschatological event (p. 70). To say Jesus was “Christ” was to say something about the event (69). The Christological question need not be construed as a question about the person; it can just as appropriately be thought of as a question about the event or community (pp. 65, 66). More startling is his statement that, “He is believed to overcome the world, ‘condemned sin in the flesh’ because the new community in principle overcame sin and broke the power of sin. He is believed to have ‘tasted death for every man’ because the community finds itself walking in newness of life. He is the ‘Savior’ because the event proved to be in fact the saving event and the community the saving community” (p 73). The creative power of the community receives the emphasis while Christ is reduced to a mere symbol.

What is this wonderful and significant event that overshadows the person of Jesus? Knox writes that “the event was, in its final issue, the coming of the Spirit” (p. 55). “The living reality of this Spirit was the real ground of the resurrection faith. To know the Spirit was to know Christ, and in the most vital parts of the New Testament the terms can be used almost interchangeably” (p. 61). Obviously he does not have the third person of the Holy Trinity in view. The Spirit seems rather to connote a new love and a new life as he writes, “to share in this Spirit, this love, this life, was to belong to the Church.” Where does this leave the person of Christ and what is his significance for the future?

Catholic Prototype

As Professor Knox would have it, the Catholic movement of the late second century is the great prototype of the modern crusade for unity (p. 17). This movement assertedly achieved a greater measure of sound unity than the early church. Knox states that the early Catholic movement had the same goal in view and was actuated by strikingly similar inner motivations and outward pressures (p. 84). There is no claim that perfect outward unity was achieved; nevertheless, it is stated, “it brought the church a larger measure of outward unity than it had before or than it had since” (p. 129). The unity of the first century was that of life and faith; the unity of the second century laid emphasis on form and common structure (p. 133).

Knox often draws back with one hand what he gives with the other. On page 17 he states that we must “invest the early Catholic movement with an interest and importance—yes, with an authority—which it deserves and which we must acknowledge, if we are ever going really to achieve the unity it sought.” Then cautiously he admonishes the present-day “Catholic” to acknowledge the soundness of the historic Protestant emphasis upon a distinction as regards normative values between the first century and any later century (p. 146). Something essential is lost, he feels, if the authority of the second century is raised to that of the first. He seems to compromise by implying that the second century should be recognized as authority for common forms of polity and worship and the first century as to life and faith (p. 149). He concludes that “the coming great church will be apostolic as well as Catholic, and Catholic as well as apostolic” (p. 155).

He insists that those who accept the sole normativeness of the New Testament are actually affirming the normativeness of certain decisions of the Catholic church. By accepting the canon and the ancient creeds we acknowledge the authority of the early Catholic Church. Here Knox follows the well known reasoning of the Roman Catholic Church that the church invested the Scriptures with authority. The historic Protestant position has maintained that the authority of the Scriptures does not depend in any degree upon the judgment of the church nor does her sanction give them validity. The Bureau of Standards may verify that a certain metal is gold, but such verification does not make the metal gold. The Scriptures are intrinsically authoritative and the church has recognized this on internal and external evidence. Again we accept the ancient creeds not on the authority of the second-century church, but because they conform to the Scriptures. Herein Knox reveals that he is far removed from the historic Protestant position.

Acceptance Of Episcopacy

The answer to unity of the church Knox finds in what he terms the historic episcopacy. He writes frankly, “I simply cannot conceive of the union of Christendom except on the ground of a polity which … involves the full acceptance of the historic episcopate” (p. 142); “I see no hope of a united church without the universal acceptance of episcopacy” (p. 143). He feels that on this matter we cannot agree to disagree. We may disagree on matters of faith and worship but not on form and polity!

However, the acceptance of the episcopate must not involve acceptance of either the fact of apostolic succession or any understanding of its meaning. The Catholic must not insist that the only sound reason for its acceptance is the belief that it was the primitive church order or that Jesus or the apostles instituted it (pp. 145, 146). The reviewer believes this to be divisive, for some in the “coming great church” would trace the order of the ministry and the episcopate to the authority of Christ and the Apostles while others would trace this to the authority of the second-century Catholic movement or to expediency. Within this “united” church a “Catholic” and a “Protestant” party would exist.

Evangelical Misgivings

The accusation has often been leveled at the evangelical that he has no concern for greater unity, that he is basically disruptive and incapable of seeking unity, and that he has no ground for opposition to elements of present-day ecumenicity. Let fairness prevail, however. If John Knox’s conception of Christ prevails, the evangelical is asked to give up his Lord and God for what he feels to be a superficial outward unity. Christ is not a symbol to which an “event” and a community have given significance. Christ is the event. He has created and given significance to the Christian community. The headship of Christ will not be easily relinquished.

On the basis of the views expressed by John Knox, the evangelical becomes apprehensive lest tradition share the authority of the Scriptures. Traditions of men cannot be allowed to supplement the Scriptures as a rule of faith and practice. The Catholic movement of the second century must be judged by Scripture. If the practice of the second-century church becomes normative, what about the church of the third, fourth, fifth and ensuing centuries? Giving weight to human tradition leads toward Rome.

The nature of the church looms large in the thought of the evangelical, and he has serious misgivings about the emphasis on the “institutional” character of the church. E. A. Litton (Anglican) wrote long ago, “Every theory of the Church, whether it profess to be Romanist or not, which teaches that its true being lies in its visible characteristics, adopts instinctively the Romish notes and rejects the Protestant” (The Church of Christ, p. 174). Edward Schweizer, writing in Theology Today, (January, 1957), says, “The Church is also most certainly not an ‘institution’ in the Roman Catholic sense, to which Christ has delegated certain of his tasks to a hierarchy of office holders who dispense his grace.”

Many evangelicals within historic denominations have not given up the Protestant position on the nature of the church. They do not feel that deeper unity will be achieved by an “inclusive and centrally administered organization.” They cling to the conception of the church taught by Christ and the Apostles.

We concur with Knox when he concludes that the coming great church “will not be the consequence of our shrewd planning, of our cautious concessions and careful compromises. It will be God’s building.…” (p. 153). Indeed, the evangelical rejoices in Christ’s statement, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18); and he knows that this church is built upon the apostles and prophets, Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.

We Quote

CECIL B. DE MULE

Distinguished Motion Picture Producer

… The decision we make at our desks in Hollywood may intimately affect the lives of human beings … throughout the world.… We are responsible as artists and as molders of men’s thoughts. We have a duty to our art and a duty to the audience for whom we make our pictures. We must keep those two responsibilities clearly in view all the time. If we do that we may be able to keep our industry free of the forces which threaten to corrupt it from within and the forces which threaten to cramp and stifle it from without. Our greatest danger from within the industry is the worship of the golden calf—the temptation to care nothing about what we put on the screen as long as it makes money.… Perhaps we think it is easier to draw a crowd by pandering to their lowest tastes than by inspiring their highest ideals.… But it is treason to the human spirit, and treason to the art we serve. And we are simply stupid if we have not learned that, in motion pictures, dirt is not necessarily pay dirt.… Who else in the world can go, as our pictures go, into every corner of the world—almost into every home and heart of the world? Who else—except the missionaries of God—has had our opportunity …?—In an address to 900 leaders in the motion picture industry at the Screen Producer’s Guild Milestone Dinner.

- More from J. Marcellus Kik

Cover Story

Incense and Salt

Christine Fleming Heffner

Western Society—particularly that of the United States—prides itself on its scientific agnosticism. But the “scientific” attitude of the ordinary layman is in no way like the attitude that has accounted for the advances made by the physical sciences in the past few decades. His agnosticism is not the questioning of the seeker, but the prejudicial disbelief of the skeptic. As a scientific agnostic, he is only playing a part, and one he understands no better than the football hero acting Socrates. The skeptic who prides himself on his scientific knowledge usually has no conception of the scientific method, but credits himself with knowledge of science simply because he uses its fruits in his daily living. He usually conceives of agnosticism as something like the viewpoint of a sophomore from Missouri. And, finally, he is quite capable of straining at religious gnats while swallowing technicological camels.

Beyond Dogmatism

There was a time when scientific men were likely to claim for their science the answers to all questions, or to discount any questions for which their science gave them no answers. But that was in the adolescence of science. Now that the physical sciences have reached the maturity that sees itself in proportion, more and more top-ranking scientists are convinced and outspokenly religious men. They seek in their own field only the knowledge that is inherent in that field, and know that there are realms to which their science gives no entry. As the social sciences reach the same kind of maturity, their top-ranking men will be found, no doubt, claiming for their own fields of interest only such things to which they actually do pertain.

To the usual layman, the scientific attitude is one of disbelief, but the true scientist is actually a man who believes any possibility until it is carefully ruled out. The skeptic pre-judges. The scientist suspends judgment. Far from being a doubter, he is a believer, albeit a cautious one. He may be a questioner, but his question is “what is the truth?” and he looks for the truth into whatever unlikely corners he may be led. Scientific discoveries are made by the painstaking examination of the most far-fetched hypotheses. To the scientist, anything can be true, and thus must be tried. Any other attitude would preclude all discovery, except by sheer accident. The real scientist attempts, above all else, to be an unbiased man, at least in so far as his science is concerned. He must not even allow himself to be biased in favor of his own working hypotheses. It is a point of honor with him never to claim knowledge that he does not have, whether that knowledge be negative or positive.

This is science in its mature state, and this is the stature and attitude of the scientist, by his own ideal,—a far cry from the layman exercising what he considers to be “scientific skepticism” and from the megalomania of the partially informed.

Beyond Skepticism

But true agnosticism also has nothing to do with prejudicial skepticism. A man is not an agnostic simply because he rejects certain religious dogmas which he finds unappealing or distasteful. Agnosticism is never so easy, so simple, nor so self-serving as that. The true doubter is one who, hearing news reports, or the expert opinions which rain down on us as the ashes of Vesuvius rained upon Pompeii, says, “Is this fact? or opinion? or prejudice? or propaganda?” In short, the agnostic greets every pronouncement, from no matter how official or awesomely professional a source, with three questions: Is this the truth? Is it all the truth? Is it more than the truth? An agnostic is not so much a man who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus as one who doesn’t believe in oracles.

Beyond Agnosticism

Agnosticism has been put in cold storage for generations by being confined to religion (where it is pointless) and thus kept isolated from politics, economics, education, social welfare, international relations, and community gossip—all places where it might render invaluable service to the state and the individual. We have, as a culture, developed a supreme and unquestioning faith in man and an impudent doubt of God. Do not the gentiles the same? But the present need is to combine a real love of our fellow men (a very different thing, and still in short supply) with a healthy skepticism about their perfection, moral or intellectual.

Agnosticism in religion is pointless because religion, like love, cannot be other than a matter of faith, anyhow. Here some sort of commitment has to be made, and without proof, even though it is best aided by the intelligence. Love that waits for proof is unlove, and the rejection of all creeds is a creed-of-rejection.

But the very man who struts his doubt of the tenets of the ecclesiastics will give blind assent to the tenets of the illuminati. The man who jests at the Law handed down from Sinai or the Grace handed down from Calvary will clasp to his bosom the wisdom handed down from a bureaucracy, or a philosophy, or a public lobby.

The man unmoved by the language of religious devotion will genuflect at the jargon of a technology. The man who looks down his nose at a religious explanation of his origin will meekly bow his neck to the yoke of any one professional explanation of his nature. Parents who refuse to indoctrinate their children religiously will rear them according to their own indoctrination in some infallibly-pronounced theory of child-training. The contradictions of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures are cited against their validity, but year after year philosophic and social and psychologic pronouncements contradict one another in bewildering succession, yet men’s faith in them remains unshaken.

Beyond Credulity

Is ours an agnostic society? And is the scientific approach the pathway of our culture? Hell, no! And hell is precisely the right word, for the pathway we really march runs through a hell of bewildering credulity for many and conflicting gods, an inferno of frustrating strain in trying to live by a thousand creeds. When intellectual enlightenment casts away religion, except as social convention, superstition in a new guise replaces it with the weight of many strata of religions called by new names.

Man doesn’t presently suffer so much from lack of belief as he does from belief in the wrong things, from reliance on gods that constantly betray him. The sickness of our society may well be chiefly nausea that result from swallowing too many things whole, in too rapid succession, without even the preservative and flavor of a healthy grain of salt!

The sore need now is not only for a new birth of religious credence to stabilize and keep sane a rising religious sentiment, but for the unlocking of agnosticism from its ecclesiastical prison, for its release into secular affairs. God, however he has been understood throughout the ages, has always been a jealous God, which only means that he has been a logical God. Any renewed belief in God has to include the thing he has in all religions demanded: disbelief in all rival godlets.

We should bring down the poor scientists and technologists from the Olympus to which we have forcefully elevated them, that they may simply work their own works in their laboratories, human and fallible and helpful as they really are. We should bring the social scientists down from Sinai, where the best of them never desired to be, and put them to work among men, in full recognition of the inevitable incompleteness of their knowledge, and of their own inevitable partaking in the weaknesses among which they work. For if the world ever has found or ever shall find a truly saving knowledge, it will come from beyond human intelligence, and it will be spiritual in nature. If the world has ever had, or ever does have, a saviour, he may be a man, but he must also be God.

Anything less than that demands the exercise of a healthy agnosticism. Any voice less than God’s demands the test of the three questions: Is it the truth? Is it all of the truth? Is it more than the truth? The world suffers enough, unavoidably, from human sinfulness. This much at least we can do to rid it of the primacy of the doctrinaire, the megalomaniac, and the demagogue.

END

Out of

Eternal

Dawn

came

the

Lamb,

To stride across the lightless wastes of temporality; Deeper were his footprints and bloody when he walked into

the

Valley

of the

Shadow

to die;

but yet

to live

again

and

rise

into

the

Dawn

leaving in his wake a lighted trail to his eternal home

GARY YOUREE

Mrs. Edward A. Heffner grew up on the campus of one of America’s foremost medical schools and married a medical student in his sophomore year. Now a priest of the Episcopal Church, ordained in 1948, her physician-husband practices his ministry full-time and his medical specialty (ophthalmology) part-time in Ellsworth, Kansas. Mrs. Heffner is author of The Way of Light, Intercession, With All Our Hearts, a devotional speaker and the mother of four children as well.

- More from Christine Fleming Heffner