The Church And The Race Problem

The human predicament involves all the races in insecurity. Trouble and turmoil, hostility and hate, are wide as the human race, and not a matter merely of dramatic sectional clashes between the white man and the American Negro, or between Israeli and Arab. The real human predicament, of course, is mankind’s condition in sin, and the universal need of redemption. A Christian view of the race problem must begin with this confession of wholesale racial rebellion and guilt. No man loves God and no man loves his neighbor as he ought. The fall has cheapened human worth; redemption restores man’s dignity. Jesus’ stress on the universal need of regeneration speaks to our own turbulent times: “Ye must be born again.” The possibilities of fallen human nature are fancifully romanticized by those who expect a full solution of the race problem while they neglect this dimension of life.

Every man is somebody’s neighbor, and God expects neighbor-love from every human being. Let no man think, because he has overcome some prevalent antipathy for Jew or Negro or some other victim of sectional feelings that merely on that account he has fulfilled the moral law. A white man may crusade for civil rights; he may sell his property to a buyer of another race; he may encourage social intermingling of all races—but he does not simply on this account fulfill the law of love. What passes for desegregation and even for integration, is often quite hollow alongside the biblical injunction of love for neighbor. The race problem dare not be detached, therefore, from the abiding requirement of Christian love.

It is a sad fact, however, that some circles recite these themes of the new birth and love of neighbor, yet do not actively promote the elimination of racial evils. They often fall below the lesser level of concern reflected by secular agencies that recognize race prejudice to be one of the ugly scars in American life.

Some observers today would add to Christian confession a pledge to desist from race prejudice as evidence of the genuineness of conversion. Why not a pledge against intoxicating liquors also? The liquor traffic is a serious social blight, blemishing every village in the land. And why not a pledge against driving in excess of the speed limit? Too many church folk, ministers included, leave their guardian angels ten or fifteen miles an hour behind them on the road.

The risk in all such proposals is in their tendency to shrivel the law of neighbor-love when Christian ethics is called on to sensitize in its fullness. Yet, while we do well to overlook such proposals, the Christian conscience had best face squarely the sins they aim to correct. For in each age and in every land the violation of Christian love falls into certain conspicuous patterns. And race discrimination is especially subtle. It is not externally measurable in the same way that sins of the flesh are: it cannot be gauged by jiggers or by speedometers. Race feeling is essentially a matter of false pride, an internal disposition to deny a fellow human’s equal worth and one’s own unworthiness also, before God. Nonetheless, it differs in degree, and not in kind, from other violations of the law of love for neighbor, which involves every area of life.

Evangelical and liberal churches alike are uncomfortable in the presence of the fact that segregation was not sharpened as an issue of social conscience in America through the preaching of the churches as firmly as through the secular ruling of the Supreme Court. The churches were not, of course, called on as churches to ajudicate all the delicate problems touching education and other spheres not directly answerable to church authority. But, as citizens, church members held a voice in civic affairs; if the Christian conscience was to find a mouthpiece, it was through them.

Christians are obliged to uphold the law of the land, unless they can show that law to be in conflict with Scripture. The Christian is called upon, therefore, not only to implement the spiritual rights of men, as equals in God’s sight, but their legal rights as well.

There is little comfort for the churches in the added fact that secular agencies like the military program, telecasting and sporting events have contributed as dramatically to desegregation as have many churches. Developments in the military and in the worlds of television and sports are more widely publicized, of course, than the hushed and reverent atmosphere of the churches. In entertainment and recreation, moreover, special competitive considerations of talent are operative, involving only a small and strategic segment of the population. Integration, even on the sports level, is not achieved merely by the assignment of team positions without regard to color, gainful though it be to end racial bias in such assignments. Nor is “integrated entertainment” achieved—at least on the level of genuine love for neighbor—because Negro and white voices are blended in the latest musical jive, and some white crooner slips his undisciplined arm tightly around a Negro female guest on television. Such demonstrations can involve as much a perversion of propriety when the races are mixed as when they are not. Even when due credit is given the military, the theatre and the arena for a measure of contribution, they have much to learn about a biblical concept of Christian love.

Nonetheless, churches in America surrendered something of their moral initiative in the life of the nation when they allowed other forces, in a partial and secular way, to implement the correction of one of the striking social wrongs. Granted we must not attach utopian expectations to the society of the redeemed in history; the Church, at best, travels the road of sanctification in this life, not glorification. This present age has much to learn about the subtleties of original sin, even from theologians whose expositions do not always go to the depths of biblical theology. But, in our day, the Church has more reason to fear a lack of moral insight and courage than an excessive moral achievement.

There are wrongs in the land, and the church had best be the Church, and cry against them; there is no biblical mandate to preserve the shaggy status quo. Community tolerance of violence; forced segregation in public transportation; tactics of fear and intimidation; snobbishness that looks down upon Negro Christians virtually as inferior believers; the indifference to discrimination against the Negro in America even by some churches calling for missionaries to lift the life and culture of the dark-skinned natives of Africa—these factors suggest the deep need for soul-searching and repentance in the churches.

The Church needs to recover the biblical point of view. The Church itself was born in the glory of a multi-tongued and multi-colored Pentecost. It moved swiftly to make Christian brotherhood a reality in the experience of the inhabitants of Africa and Europe, no less than of Asia and the Near East. It did not preoccupy itself with the adoption of strategically worded resolutions at the top level of councils and conventions; it put Christian love to work at the local level. The early Church unleashed a flood of kindness in a world of racial strife; the modern Church has too often unleashed a flood of resolutions.

This same biblical point of view, moreover, will keep the churches from falling into unrealistic and faulty programs of action. For instance, one misguided Christian spokesman recently told young people that the biggest contribution a white girl can make to the advancement of Christianity in our generation is to marry a Negro. But if interracial wedlock best preserves the biblical concern for equal yoking, the essence of Christian marriage in the mid-twentieth century has deteriorated sadly. Nobody will prevent the clergy from giving their own children in marriage across racial lines, if such is their ideal, but many Christian leaders will remain unconvinced that a universally valid rule has been enunciated. The early Church hardly made racial intermarriage the test of Christian love, nor dare we.

In its enthusiasm to do something vital, the Church falls easy prey to secular and socializing programs. It has no mandate to legislate upon the world a program of legal requirements in the name of the Church. Nor dare it disregard the existence of social rights in which the natural preferences of individuals may be expressed without compromising the legal or spiritual rights of others. Forced integration is as contrary to Christian principles as is forced segregation. The reliance on pressure rather than on persuasion has resulted in a marked increase of racial tensions in some areas. Christianity ideally moves upon the life of the community by spiritual means; the secular agencies, on the other hand, tend to resort to force, with the result that their achievements are continually endangered. Paul did not outlaw slavery legally, but he outlawed it spiritually; he sent Onesimus back to Philemon as a brother in Christ. He knew that the Church’s weapons are spiritual, not carnal; that Christian progress is not revolutionary but regenerative. And a recovery of the imperative affectionate neighbor relations, and of the Holy Spirit as the dynamic of Christian living, is still the best—and the only durable—hope for a firm solution of the race problem.

While some churches seem determined to continue with a program excluding other races, and others are thrown into internal tensions between member and member, and member and minister, still others, without fanfare and headlines, have long welcomed all converts to Christ with equal dignity and rights as members of the body of Christ. Any church should be open to believers of any race. Forced segregation, however, involves the abrogation of a citizen’s legal rights as well as his spiritual rights.

The Church by a true example of the equality of all believers may rebuke the conscience of the world. The fellowship of believers still holds a power to vitalize the fellowship of the community at large. What has compromised this power is the secularization of the churches. Let the church be the Church, and the sense of human brotherhood will be revived; the redeemed will find that their differences from each other pale alongside the fact of their unity in Christ, and that their differences from the unredeemed are less important than their common dignity and shame in Adam. The Christian is not without principles on which to base his personal relationships, and they are comprehended in the obligation of love for neighbor. A friendly smile, a kindly word, a courteous act, speak more eloquently than a press release.

A voluntary segregation, even of believers, can well be a Christian procedure. A church may be impoverished by the racial limitations of its membership and also impoverished through indifference to cultural ties. Churches in which integration is not practiced may be just as Christian as those where it is found. The determining factor is exclusion or inclusion because of race. Are the Chinese congregations of New Orleans or Chicago or San Francisco unchristian because they prefer such an alignment? Are all-Negro or all-White churches necessarily monuments to racial prejudice? And may not the publicity of the integrated church reflect an emphasis on spiritual pride as much as the unintegrated church?

The churches in America are on the advance. The searching of soul is a good sign. Little can be gained by organizational pressures; more will be gained from mutual respect and forbearance. The long sweep of history not only shows the church and individual Christians on the side of justice; it shows the content of justice itself lifted and purified by the conscience of the church. In the long run, it will be so in America also even in matters of race. Let us hope this is a decade of decision and deed.

Patriotic Memorial Observance Distresses Formosa Christians

Long before the Chiang regime left the mainland and established itself on Taiwan there existed a smoldering resentment against government demands for participation in the Sun Yat-sen memorial service each Monday morning in schools and public offices.

This resentment came from two sources: patriotic nationals who felt that genuine patriotism could not be fostered by a regimented form of hero worship, and from Christians who felt that China’s background of ancestor worship conferred a religious significance upon the required minute of silence and bowing before a picture.

Despite the government’s insistence that this was only a patriotic gesture, an act of devotion to the father of the Chinese Republic such as saluting the flag in America, nevertheless the conflict with Christian conscience and the imposed form of patriotism has continued.

There are disquieting reports of a stepped up tempo of demands within the Chiang government, making the observance of this memorial service mandatory in all recognized schools and government offices. This is causing acute distress to patriotic Christians who feel at the same time that loyalty to country should not involve any violation of Christian conscience.

It will take more than committee reports to the Legislative Yuan to allay the anxieties of these Christians. A wilful disregard of the spiritual sensitivities of loyal citizens can eventually destroy the very loyalities the government is trying to demand.

Christian Radiance A Question Of Priority

Many Christians, were they to search their hearts, would be forced to admit that God is incidental, or, at best, secondary in their lives—not first.

From this one tragic fact stems a multiplicity of problems—personal, family and national. From this great deficiency there emerges also a great weakness in the church.

Both the Old and New Testaments make it abundantly clear that God expects of his own that they shall love him with their whole beings. From this love for God come the inspiration and power to love our fellow men. God is a jealous God, unwilling to share his rightful place with any person or thing.

If he does not hold first place just what are the consequences? Instead of having him as the pilot of our lives, instead of access to his supernatural and infinite resources, we continue in our failures and frustrations and share the powerlessness of those who neither know Christ nor the power of his resurrection. When God is relegated to second place in our homes, our ambitions for our children center in secular and material success. Many of the tragedies in Christian homes today have their origin in seeking worldly advantage, rather than coveting that Christ may have the preeminence.

The weakness of the church today is not in the number of those admitted to her membership. Church membership in America is both numerically and proportionately at an all-time high. But the witness of the Church is woefully weak because so few Christians give Christ top priority in their lives.

In the concluding days of World War II there was much talk of “total surrender.” What of total surrender to the living Christ? Inconvenient? To some it would be fearfully inconvenient because it would necessitate a separation from secret sin. To others it would be embarrassing because it would demand clear-cut honesty in business practices. Others again would find themselves faced with a decision to let Christian love take priority over selfish or prejudicial interest.

But there is a wonderfully bright side. If and when we do give Christ first place in our lives, seeking honestly by his grace to be his slaves, we are released into a glorious freedom that the world can never understand.

The lovely story is told of a man confronted by a series of complicated problems. He conferred with his minister who suggested: “Sit down, put a chair in front of you and imagine Christ is sitting there across from you. Just tell him about your problems.” In later years this man died in his sleep. His daughter went back into the room to find him lying peacefully there. To a friend she remarked: “Father was lying there just as I had left him, only his hand was laid on the empty chair.”

There is a pressing need that the church shall use every effort to win others to become Christians. There is also a pressing need that those of us who have named the name of Christ shall give him top priority. When this is done the glory of God will shine radiantly through the transformed veil of our own human imperfections. He demands and he deserves first place. How can we give him less?

Federal Aid To Education A Program Full Of Risks

In five years there has been a gain of five million students in the public elementary and preparatory schools in the United States. Educators are concerned, quite properly, over the need for room to accommodate this enlarging number of school children, and for teachers to instruct them.

Pressures are mounting for federal alleviation of these shortages. Despite misgivings about federal aid, since education is now primarily a state and local responsibility, President Eisenhower nonetheless continues to urge a $2,000,000,000 four-year federal aid program to meet these school needs.

How the national government can become involved to such an extent without encouraging a continuing clamor for such aid and without reflecting some measure of interference and control in education is a moot question. Subsidizing the thought life of the intellectuals of the next generation has taken the necessary preliminary step to shaping that thought life.

Moreover, the United States already has a federal debt of nearly $300,000,000,000. Year after year slips by with virtually no progress in the payment of that debt. The need for paying debts, rather than continuing them, is a lesson a government had best inculcate in its citizens, by example no less than precept.

Something must be done to provide for the educational needs of the youth, especially in a democracy which prizes an informed public opinion. There is a growing feeling that public opinion has been somewhat misinformed about the connection between palatial palaces (as some colossal school buildings today are dubbed) and effective education. The problem of education runs far deeper today than that of enough class rooms and enough teachers; it involves the question of methods and abiding values. And the indoctrination of youth in a view of life which does not grapple realistically with moral and spiritual priorities may well contribute, by a curious turn of events, to the weakening of the nation. The more profound danger is not that the American youngster will be deprived a place to learn, but rather, that he may be told what he must learn and encouraged to ignore some things that matter.

We Quote:

CONRAD N. HILTON

President, Hilton Hotels

A man is standing at Fiftieth and Park Avenue in New York City; he is waiting for the light to turn. Who is he? To the statistician standing at the window high above he is one unit in a crowd. To the biologist he is a specimen; to the physicist a formula of mass and energy; to the chemist a compound of substances. He is of interest to the historian as one of the billions of beings who have inhabited this planet of ours; to the politician as a vote; to the merchandiser as a customer, to the mailman as an address. The behaviorist sees him from his office across the street and tags him as an animal modified by conditioned reflexes; and the psychiatrist in the next suite as a particular mental type deviating in one way or another from the alleged normal. Each science pinpoints the poor fellow from some particular angle and makes him look foolish, like the candid camera shot that catches you in the middle of a yawn. Let any one of these specialists pigeonhole you and get you to look at yourself through his single eye and what you see will not be a man, but a fragment of a man.… But what is man like?… What gives him a unique dignity? Beware of asking—that way lies religion. And religion, according to our communist friends, is the enemy of man.… The minimum reading of history will convince you that religion is the background of our modern democratic ideal and the two forces had better get together if democracy is to work.—Remarks at the fifth annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast of International Christian Leadership, Feb. 7, 1957.

SAMUEL G. CRAIG

Presbyterian Editor and Author

Let us not forget that bad as are existing social conditions throughout Christendom, they would be infinitely worse were it not for that leaven that Jesus cast into the meal of humanity. If Jesus should cease His activities, it is certain not only that we would fail to make further progress along these lines but that we would lose what we have already gained, as evidenced by that retrogression that has taken place in once Christian lands.… Jesus’ effectiveness as a social reformer lies in His ability to deal with sin. Other reformers have much to say about imperfect legislation, unfavorable environment and such like, but they have little to say about sin … notwithstanding the fact that sin … is the great root-cause of social misery.—in Jesus of Yesterday and Today, p. 153.

Eutychus and His Kin: March 18, 1957

LITURGICAL REVIVAL

We are pleased to announce that Eutychus Associates have now added to their services for non-discriminating ecclesiastics a complete Liturgical Division. Our motto: a new view from the pew. If you can’t convert the sinner, you can at least convert the sanctuary! We move pulpits; add or alter altars; install ecclesiastical picture windows factory-fabricated in full color, fused, fiber glass. Our representative in Rome keeps us informed on the latest medieval styles to guarantee your vestment investment.

For sample plans, request our illustrated booklet: A Divided Chancel for the United Church. A robed E.A. field man will meet with your vestry to outline our conversion plan for your liturgical revival: the Miter Quadrilateral, or Four Steps to the Sacristy.

You will be fascinated with Step One: a ten-lesson course (on unbreakable records) in Liturgical Linguistics. After three weeks faithful use of these records with our under-the-pillow speaker (learn while you sleep), you will be re-trained in correct liturgical usage. You will be able to enter the chancel from the nave, ascend into the pulpit, adjust your pallium, clear your larynx and intone, “Tickets for the junior auxiliary dance are on sale in the narthex.”

Note that this step requires no construction or remodeling. After some initial confusion, your people will follow your lofty example. Soon only the crude will call the narthex the “vestibule,” and your wife will know what you mean when you want help tying a Windsor knot in your pallium. Only one sacristan (a Scotchman) has resigned rather than give up the title of “janitor,” although many have requested an increase in salary.

Only the short-sighted are content with the linguistic step. Enthusiastic users of the full Quadrilateral are planning revolving cathedrals where every service is a TV spectacular and sermons have become quite unnecessary.

EUTYCHUS

ARTIFICIAL INSEMINATION

How long has it been since blood transfusion was first used to save a human life? Within the memory of many of us. Since then millions of pints of blood and blood plasma have been employed to save lives and will continue to be. If by artificial insemination a child can be brought into a home and a marriage be kept from resulting in divorce, I believe it is almost on a par with blood transfusion. Some one may say, there is no comparison. I am not so sure about that.… If the husband and wife are in complete accord about resorting to artificial insemination in order to have a child in their home, that is a matter entirely between them and God.

A. D. ANDERSON

Center United Presbyterian Church

New Castle, Pa.

The article by G. Aiken Taylor was very provocative. It asked a number of questions, but didn’t answer many. I learned by his article that he is against it.

PAUL T. BLIGH

Johnson Bible College

Knoxville, Tenn.

If you would have sanctioned this evil and unprincipled practice I would have been one to discontinue getting your publication.…

DELBERT W. WALKER

Bentleyville, Pa.

If artificial insemination is permissible from the standpoint of Christian ethics (and I feel it to be absolutely indefensible), why not go one step further and select outstanding physical specimens to raise the physical qualities of the next generation all along the line. Let us take our cue from one of the national Cattle Breeders Associations, not from any standards of human morality.

CHARLES P. ANDREWS

Detroit, Mich.

I have no difficulty in accepting the benefits of this scientific development. The Bible gives no answer to the problem Brother Taylor raised.… The more relevant approach, I believe, is to ask whether to resort to artificial insemination constitutes sin. To adopt a baby may be far worse, by the logic of tradition, than to have a baby which is known to be the blood relation of one parent.… A lady may wish to marry, but rightly refuses to marry those who propose to her. In her maturity, with adequate provision and preparation, she may satisfy her innate desire for children by artificial insemination out of wedlock. Some splendid spinsters do adopt children. How much better to have their own?

JAMES R. DUNCAN

St. Paul’s Methodist Church

Lowell, Mass.

It is my suggestion that childless parents see a good lawyer first, have him draw an agreement for the parents to sign plus a statement of intention, signed by both the parents and their doctor, then when the child is born, the lawyer would file a petition for adoption.… It is my firm conviction that no reputable doctor would impregnate a single girl.

MRS. HELEN REEVES

Ligonier, Ind.

Does not experience indicate that this feeling of the father toward his child is the most important factor he can contribute to the child’s total spiritual security. A child lacking that factor finds it difficult to believe God as Father can have a loving relationship toward him.

Does actual physical paternity guarantee that the father will love the child? Sad experience indicates it does not.

Does lack of physical paternity mean a greater risk that the “father” will not love the child? Certainly the experience of adoptions by childless parents does not indicate any greater hazard here than toward their own children physically.

MARCIUS E. TABER

Methodist Church

Pentwater, Mich.

I do not think we can define or connect artificial insemination with adultery. In adultery there is an obvious intent to be unfaithful to the other party.… There is no intent to deceive or forsake here. If both parents desire a child by this means, then I do not see how one can say that the child is born out of wedlock.… If one partner did not want a child by this means, then you would be faced with a true breaking of the marriage bond.…

ALLEN HOLLIS

Millers Falls, Mass.

SEARCHING FOR A FAITH

The extreme conservative literalist theology simply does not have anything to say to the modern man searching for a faith.… Ecumenical theology has made an excellent recovery, and we have left doth that extreme liberalism and your extreme conservatism far behind.…

CHARLES M. KNAPP

Almira Community Church

Almira, Wash.

As an Anglo-Catholic … I approached your paper with grave suspicions. I thought it might be scholarly; but, as with other Protestantism I had known, I thought it would be Satan’s instrument toward division and even self-destruction. But slowly—very slowly, because of prejudice on my part—I was forced to admit that it has values to offer which are not present in Catholicism (whether Anglican or Roman).… You stand for matters (knowledge of the Bible and definiteness of conversion) that might very well be found within the Catholic Faith (Anglican or Roman). And so I’ve been forced to conclude that I should have your paper. Here, then, is my subscription.…

CHARLES H. HARRISON

Society of St. Theresa

New York City

I am sorry to read … that the vicar of Hornsey is too catholic and too English to “see foreign protestant literature.” To a true catholic, as for the scholar, of course, nothing is “foreign”.… It is possible to be both catholic and protestant at the same time. For the commonly accepted meaning of protestant here is that one rejects the papal claim to have divinely given jurisdiction over all Christendom, and this we claim was never part of the original catholic faith.… To be truly catholic one must be protestant.

T. A. COULSON

St. Matthias’ Church

Torquay, Devon, England

I want to say how much I appreciate CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Of course there are many points in it with which I disagree; it would be dull reading if it were otherwise. But it is most important for us of the Church of England to keep in mind the trend of Protestant thought abroad or we shall get narrow minded; and after all we are Protestant in doctrine.

A. H. A. EMPSON

Ministerley, Shropshire, England

I don’t know how many of our isolated and impecunious country clergy are the fortunate recipients of your admirable magazine, but I would like you to know that I am one who is most grateful.… It lasts me a fortnight.

I am the more impelled to let you know this, by what I thought a most ungracious letter from a London Vicar. As a monastery-trained Anglican priest, I daresay I may have forgotten more of our version of Catholicism than he will ever learn, but when our Church Times prints an article by a leading Bishop, denying … eternal punishment and follows up with letters in approval, I say, thank God for CHRISTIANITY TODAY, by which American Protestantism safeguards for the world the sound, orthodox, Gospel truths without which we cannot be saved.

J. F. E. MORTON

Downholme Vicarage

Richmond, Yorkshire, England

NOTHING TO FEAR

Although I eschew the doctrines of the substitutionary atonement and the plenary inspiration of the Bible—at least as these doctrines are usually put forward—I am forced to wholeheartedly congratulate you on your publication. It is a much needed contribution to the field of Christian journalism, presenting a responsible, forthright, conservative point of view. I have read all of your issues so far, with profit, though with much disagreement.

I think that Mr. Yeaman’s letter to Gordon Clark entirely misses the point—the Virgin Birth cannot be disproved by scholarship, Bultmann’s or any other. The fact that it is in a pericope is not point, for so is the kerygma. The statement that it is in a less important pericope shows Mr. Yeaman’s theological bias, and not his scholarship.

All this granted, however, I think that Mr. Clark’s reply also misses the point. His enclosure of the word “discoveries” in quotes is also an expression of theological commitment and not of scholarship. As a matter of fact, there are various levels of certainty derived from historical scholarship.… When Mr. Clark dismisses the results of scholarship with a set of quotation marks, and the blithe statement that “Orthodox Christians have always known that this scholarship was mistaken,” he shows a closure of mind which befits neither a conservative nor a “modernist”.… Orthodoxy has nothing to fear from scholarship, for it rests in divine hands and is enriched, not impoverished by prayerful research and study. If it is destroyed by that study it cannot claim to be orthodoxy.

JERRY HANDSPICKER

Yale Divinity School

New Haven, Conn.

Professor Handspicker holds that I missed the point in my reply to Mr. Yeaman and insists that I should either prove the historical existence of the Hittites or keep quiet about the fact that orthodoxy has always accepted them as historical.

First, I disclaim any such obligation in a short reply to Mr. Yeaman. It seems to me legitimate to assume that the historicity of the Hittites is commonly acknowledged today. The evidence, on display in the Oriental Institute, cannot be put in this column.

Second, Mr. Yeaman assumed that a certain discovery settled the unimportance of the Virgin Birth; and his argument presupposes that the acceptance of discoveries is an intellectual obligation. I put the word discoveries in quotation marks to suggest that the alleged discoveries of scholars (in the past hundred years) often have been false conclusions. Professor Handspicker takes my quotation marks as evidence of shut eyes and a closed mind. On the contrary I have with open eyes seen clearly these nineteenth century blunders.

Third, when Professor Handspicker asserts that both Mr. Yeaman and I, at a certain point, express our theological commitment and not our scholarship, he makes a disjunction which, though common, is in my opinion faulty. The conclusions of scholarship are invariably related to the scholar’s theology. This is the reason, I believe, why the existence of the Hittites was denied.

Now, finally, if my faith were based on the changing opinions of scholars, then indeed it would have a shaky foundation. Since Professor Handspicker does not tell us what foundation he would identify as a rock, it would be inappropriate to embark on further speculation here, for I judge that he and I would not agree as to what the criterion of truth is. But can anyone doubt that the orthodox acceptance of the Hittites was correct and that the scholarly discoveries were false?

GORDON H. CLARK

Butler University

Indianapolis, Ind.

UNITED NATIONS DISUNITY

The spate of cynical lying and misrepresentation put forth by the Communist bloc and the so-called anti-colonial Afro-Asian group, Nehru’s lofty moralizing (though Pakistan now accuses him of colonialism and he does not implement U.N. decisions that he does not like) while accepting Russia’s statistics on Hungary and rejecting British statistics on Port Said, the utter cynicism of Russia’s use of the U.N. as a pawn in the cold war to be ignored when it suits her convenience, the fact pointed out by Professor Gilbert Murray that the voting strength of the U.N. is now so disposed that it can be used, and will be used unless stopped, to undermine the strength of Western culture and civilization by nations whose governments are not by our standards more than semi-civilized; all this makes it clear that the U.N. cannot take a genuine stand as a genuine whole.… The ineffectiveness of the U.N. was one of the causes of independent action by Israel first, and then by Britain and France. The U.N. will only oscillate in our lifetime between being an opportunity for international education and a platform for the cold war.…

H. GUNTRIP

Department of Psychiatry

Leeds University

Leeds, England

The lack in interest concerning observance of human rights is because, since the organization of the U.N., millions of people, starting with the Baltic States and the Balkans, have been denied all of their human rights by Russia.… Has the U.N. taken any steps to give rights to these people? Even after the Hungarian slaughter and the admission of Stalin’s crimes, Russia remains in the U.N. in spite of her numerous violations of the charter.…

RUTH S. PORTER

St. Petersburg, Fla.

VERY LIBERAL

I am very liberal in my thinking, save in a few profound religious truths.… But one thing is amazing—the unkind criticisms … from ministers of the gentle Christ.

In one recent issue a writer affirmed, at least by inference, that he knew the difference between theological positions before he was three. Jesus debated with the Doctors much later than that.… Bobby Burns wrote of these seminary boys:

A set of dull conceited hashes

Confuse their brains in College classes

They gang in kirks, but come out asses

Plain truth to speak.

JETHRO COBB

New Orleans, La.

CHRISTIAN FOREIGN POLICY

… Mr. Dulles’s statements have implied, and all but stated, that force is wrong in every case; that the only way of settling international disputes is by negotiation.… If the use of force is intrinsically wrong, we wonder why the United States maintains the world’s most powerful armaments? The answer is … they are necessary to safeguard the nation against those who … threaten the nation’s existence.… It is a case of determining at what point the use of force becomes necessary. Mr. Dulles has—so far as this Englishman knows—never admitted that the use of force might ever have been justified. But is he right in this?…

What has especially disappointed some of us is the failure of American evangelicals to question Dulles’s policies. To us, knowing his liberal Christian background, his policies have seemed an expression of emasculated Christianity at its worst.…

A. MORGAN DERHAM

Chenies, Rickmansworth

Herts, England

COMMENT AND COMPLAINT

I feel moved to write on behalf of the thousands of future preachers in seminaries who receive your final journal.… It is doing a lot to keep us true to the Lord Jesus Christ and the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And it is a clear indication that to be an evangelical is to be free, to be a scholar, in the fullest sense.…

RICHARD L. HEIM

Maywood, Ill.

I am a Priest of the Catholic Church in the Anglican Communion. It is astonishing that you are ignorant of the fact that the Catholic Church has no affinity with Pan-Protestantism.… Thank God for the Catholic faith which cannot be soiled or warped by the crass bickerings of Protestants.

M. V. MARRACOTT

Port Maria, Jamaica

I am not overstating my estimate, when I use the term peerless.

F. R. JENKINS

Central Kans. Meth. Conf.

Goncordia Dist., Clifton, Kans.

He Being Dead Yet Speaketh

WORLD NEWS

Christianity in the World Today

(Dr. Clarence Edward Macartney died February 20 at the age of 77 after many years of effective service. His influence reached far beyond the bounds of a church or city through his inspired writings, thought-provoking addresses and the well-trained assistants who spread out across America. The following article about Dr. Macartney was written forCHRISTIANITY TODAYby Dr. C. Ralston Smith, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma since 1948. After completion of his studies at Princeton, he served as Dr. Macartney’s assistant at First Presbyterian in Pittsburgh from 1937 to 1940—ED.)

For 40 years he had proclaimed the “glorious gospel of the blessed God” from two of the most historic of Presbyterianism’s pulpits—Arch Street of Philadelphia and First of Pittsburgh. Now, in death’s cold silence, his body lay in state upon the marble dais in the latter sanctuary.

Appropriately, Clarence E. Macartney was clothed in his pulpit gown, for he was primarily a preacher. The somber black was softened by the beautiful garnet velvet coverlet lying in soft folds across his knees, a little beyond the touch of those reaching hands.

The church was filled with a cross-section of the steel-city society. Government officials and business magnates rearranged tight schedules to attend the funeral. School children gave up lesser things on the Washington’s Birthday holiday to be present. Preachers and laymen from out-of-town made the early morning trip to be there. Poor families, whose tenement-house halls had known his footfalls, and tycoons, in whose salons he had discussed his worldwide travels, mingled before the bier. The group of church officers who sat together included those who had welcomed him as their new pastor in 1927 and many who were in that chosen company because of his ministry.

It was fitting that participating in the public services should be Dr. Macartney’s successor, Dr. Robert J. Lamont, and eight former assistants who came from New Jersey, California and intermediate points to honor their chief. Prepared by Dr. Macartney in great detail, the procedure was characteristically simple and strong in its dignity. The subjective song, “Amazing Grace,” and the beautiful tune, “Duke Street,” were used—the former as a reading and the latter as the medium of one of the congregational hymns.

The more intimate family services followed in the boyhood home, “Ferncliffe,” on the campus of Geneva College at Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. John Robertson and Albert Joseph, surviving members of the quartet of preacher brothers, joined a longtime friend and the minister of a local Presbyterian Church in the brief service of reminiscence and hope. Significantly, two Psalms were sung in metric version by a mixed octet of students from the covenantor college. At last the body was interred in the family plot, high above the Beaver River and in plain view of the eternal hills. Graven on one side of the granite marker are the names of the parents and hard-by nestled the bodies of an older brother, Ernest, and his wife. On the back of the stone seat, facing across the valley, are the words which epitomize the strong convictions of the whole family, “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

When, in the middle twenties, Clarence E. Macartney was elected moderator of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., he was one of the youngest men ever to occupy that high office. His methodical mind gave ready response to any issue before the church and his courageous spirit marked him early for great leadership. With forceful, deliberate speech, his simple, clear language proved ample conveyance for the dogmatic positions to which he gave quick allegiance. His conservative theological position was a source of encouragement and hope to many and a nettlesome bother to a few. He had the great advantage of finding strong allies for his opinions in both the Bible and the Constitution of the church within which he had taken his ordination vows.

A review of the life and work of this stalwart prophet ought to be of some ongoing benefit to the church in our time. Dr. Macartney would be quick to admit his own limitations and failures, but beyond these he made a contribution of lasting value. To three groups within the church he would, by example and precept, have something worthwhile to say.

To preachers he would speak concerning industry. He was a prodigious worker. His celibate life made more practical his intense study schedule. The time of day was of little significance when he was laboring on an important theme. Those who heard him as often as four times a week, year after year, testify that never once was there an iota of lack of preparation or shoddiness about his public utterances. Everything in life was grist for his sermonic mill, but it was finely ground and well beaten and baked before being sliced for public consumption. Second only to faithful adherence to the clear teachings of Scripture, I think he would advocate hard work in the study as a requisite for a beneficial ministry. The variety of his interests, even in his favorite field of history, witnesses to the scope of his knowledge. His illustrations were chiefly historic or literary and were always “meaty,” in contrast to those gaunt anecdotes and quips with which too many of us are satisfied. To a success-conscious group who people our pulpits he would say, “Many want to be known as great preachers. It is better to be a preacher who does some good.”

To leaders in the church generally the word this administrator would speak would be—“choose wisely.” It must be admitted that as presbyter our friend left something to be desired. In a day when the mesh of churchmanship was not nearly so entangling as now, he appeared on the floor only as “something important” was being discussed. To even close friends and devotees, this was a source of despair. However, his loyalty and untiring zeal were always available to causes of lasting value to the family of God anywhere in the world. One can recall the pertinent remarks which he made along this line in the recital of the story of that pathetic parabolic figure in the Old Testament who, concerning the great prisoner delivered into his hand, had only to report: “While I was busy here and there, lo, he was gone!” It is the “here and there” of lesser things that dissipates our limited strength and usurps the precious hours which might be spent on more important matters. The jingle,

If you can walk with crowds and keep your virtues

Or talk with kings nor lose the common touch

If neither foe nor loving friend can hurt you

If all men count with you but none too much

bespeaks the aloofness which was repulsive to the casual acquaintance of Dr. Macartney and frustrating even to his closest friends. Yet, the aloofness was the product of this very singleness of purpose which made him abhor the trivial and adhere to the timeless. The resultant life was one invested in great enterprises and its dividends were high and constant.

For the great body of evangelical Christians who make up the life of the church, there is a message, too. These uncommon folk represent the strong center of the army as contrasted to the wide flanks in either direction. Among them Dr. Macartney was a staunch fellow-soldier of Jesus Christ. This pivotal position is difficult to maintain when popular trends are disposed to tip the level. To both liberal modernists and rabid fundamentalists this man was disconcerting.

Asked to contribute an article along with other eminent clergymen in a magazine series emphasizing the change of view over a decade, he reversed the prevailing tide by underscoring the continuance of his confidence in the faith once delivered to the saints. Yet, at one time the church of which he was minister was picketed by a group in whose pulp paper much type was wasted trying to fabricate a case for his “compromise” because he would not join their walkout.

Thus he stood, not with mere stubbornness, but with intrinsic steadfastness. As has been said of another, “He was not intolerant, he was intransigent.” He had a firm hold on the root of the matter. Neither the blasting winds of frigid liberalism nor the siren songs of popular acclaim could move him from a sane, thoughtful acceptance of the glory and grace of the miracle-working triumphant Christ whom the Scriptures portray.

This attitude of avoiding the extreme while maintaining the strong mean is worthy of the imitation of all evangelicals in our time.

He was on many occasions the humble worshipper in other congregations. Whether in a cathedral of some metropolis or the clapboard chapel of a country village, he was at home upon hearing the eternal message of “Jesus and the Resurrection.” Conversely, the eminence of the pulpiteer or the ordinariness of the preacher failed to impress him in the absence of the great tones of the transforming truth.

A ministry world-wide through air wave and printed page he has now relinquished into the care of One who is answering an ancient, fervent prayer—“The work of our hands, establish thou it.”

To Dr. Macartney oneness with Christ was most important of all. That he attained to this enviable union might best be attested by his last words to a fellow-minister of the Gospel, “Tell the brethren that the anchor still holds.”

Bus Service Protested

Protests have been flying in all directions at Augusta, Maine, in a controversy regarding city school bus service for Roman Catholic students.

The Board of Education adopted a “hands off” policy and said, “It’s up to the city government to decide the issue.”

More than 600 parents threatened to transfer their children to public schools unless the city provided transportation.

Public bus service for parochial schools was approved in an advisory referendum at the city’s election last December, but the city council refused to provide the service.

The Rev. Shirley B. Goodwin, president of the Maine Council of Churches, supported the city’s position. He said the dispute involves the “old question of Church and State.” If parents want children to have a “special private education,” he said, “they should fulfill all the obligations.”

Public School Superintendent Perry F. Shibles declared that the city’s schools were overcrowded, but said that Roman Catholic students would be “welcomed.”

Supreme Court Rulings

The U. S. Supreme Court in recent weeks delivered two significant rulings.

In one the Court found that involuntary blood tests taken from unconscious suspects in drunken driving cases do not deprive liberty without due process of law.

By a 6–3 decision (Justices Warren, Black and Douglas dissenting), the Court upheld the legality of the decision of a New Mexico physician in extracting a blood sample from an unconscious man after an accident involving his truck and a car. Three occupants of the car were killed. Justice Clark delivered the opinion.

The Court pointed out that 47 states use chemical tests, including blood tests, to aid in cases involving driving under the influence of alcohol.

In the other case, the Court unanimously ruled unconstitutional a Michigan law banning the sale of any book deemed to contain “obscene” material tending to endanger the morals of youth.

Justice Frankfurter, who wrote the decision, declared that the legislation was “not reasonably restricted to the evil with which it is said to deal. The incidence of this enactment is to reduce the adult population of Michigan to reading only what is fit for children. It therefore arbitrarily curtails one of those liberties of the individual now enshrined in the due process class of the 14th Amendment.”

Eleven other states reportedly have laws similar to the Michigan statute. They are Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

WCC Membership

The Evangelical Lutheran Church has formally applied for membership in the World Council of Churches.

At its annual meeting in Minneapolis, the ELC’s Church Council, acting on a directive from the million-member church body’s biennial convention last June, authorized the president of the church, Dr. Fredrik A. Schietz “to take the necessary steps” to seek World Council membership “on a confessional basis.”

In a complete reversal of the position adopted by its 1948 general convention, which voted against WCC membership by 872 to 546, the ELC last June voted by 1,434 to 685 to seek “immediate” membership.

This action removed a major obstacle to the planned 1960 merger of the ELC with the American Lutheran Church-899,078 baptized members—and the United Evangelical Lutheran Church-59,832 members, both of whom are members of the World Council.

‘Sign Of The Times’

The major report, two years in the making, called attention to the “spiritual hunger” and “mass movement” of Americans to church as a “sign of the times” and then had this to say:

“Evangelism in our time must speak to the deep needs of men for radical healing—deeper than any conscious desire for comfort and success.”

The report was the work of a group of Protestant leaders and theologians for the National Council of Churches’ General Board.

“Like other mass movements,” the report said, “this one moves on many levels, from superficial quest of new emotional satisfactions or ways of escape from hard reality to the profound discontents of honest, vigorous, penitent men and women in revolt against shams and half-realities, truly crying out for the living God.

“All alike need to find themselves face to face with the God and Father of Jesus Christ in his unyielding judgment and infinite mercy—both those who already know the depth of their need for healing, and those who are trying to settle for something less than the radical surgery of redemption.”

Asserting that the nation’s spiritual hunger exists against a backdrop of a “world in turmoil,” the commission warned that “the driving forces of history … are now racing at top speed … long-repressed emotions and explosive desires—for freedom, prestige, power, vengeance.”

Modern technology, it added, is suddenly supplying “in dizzy profusion” for both good and ill tools “that make men giants in speed and strength” without making them gentle and wise.

Tight Money

Short, short story:

Sidney Frank, president of Schenley Distillers, told a recent New Orleans distributors’ meeting that tight money is helping “soft goods and hard liquor sales.” According to press reports, he said:

“The money market is getting tighter and people can’t get enough credit for homes and hard goods, so they’re using a lot of their money for soft goods and whisky.”

As a result, the report said, individuals, interest groups, whole peoples are haunted by loneliness, “corroding” anxieties, bewilderment and mistrust.

The cure for the sickness of such a time, according to the commission, is not to be found in more technical prowess, factual knowledge, economic or political realignments, but in effective proclamation of the Gospel.”

The document, presented to the General Board by Dr. F. Eppling Reinartz of New York, secretary of the United Lutheran Church in America, is expected to have a major influence on many of the activities of the National Council of Churches.

A Doctor Speaks

The distinction between abstinence and spiritual conversion has been underscored by a New York physician’s contention that many “cured” alcoholics become mental cases because they can’t adjust themselves to reality.

In other words, a man may lick the temptation to drink, but still lead an empty life, devoid of basic spiritual needs.

Dr. Curtis T. Prout, assistant director of the New York Hospital, Westchester Branch, in an address to the American Psychopathological Association, described numerous cases of alcoholics who stopped drinking and turned to such alternatives as overeating, gambling and narcotics.

Challenge On Tv

The right of Jesuit institutions to own and operate television stations has been challenged in an open letter to members of the Federal Communications Commission by Protestant and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Dr. Glenn Archer, executive director, said in the letter that the Jesuit order is “alien” in control and therefore ineligible to operate a TV channel.

The move was directed chiefly against Loyola University at New Orleans and St. Louis (Mo.) University, Jesuit institutions with applications for television channels pending before the FCC.

He said testimony of the presidents of these schools shows that their supervising boards are composed entirely of Jesuit priests who are subject to removal by a superior general who is not an American citizen and that ultimate control is lodged outside of the United States.

In a separate statement, Dr. Archer said his organization’s action “is a part of a counterattack against the sectarian pressure which caused the banning of the film ‘Martin Luther’ by a Chicago station.

“We are opposed to an increase of Catholic power over the air waves, because it now seems self-evident that Catholic policy is opposed to freedom of the air. One way we can curtail sectarian control of this important medium of information is to fight against alien sectarian ownership as a direct violation of the law.”

Hall Of Fame

Five Methodists were named to the denomination’s Hall of Fame in Philanthrophy at the annual convention of the Nation Association of Methodist Hospitals and Homes.

The awards, presented by Bishop William T. Watkins of Louisville, Ky. were received by the following for outstanding contributions of time, services and money to Methodist philanthropic institutions:

Dr. Karl P. Meister, Elyria, Ohio; Edwin O. Anderson, Jersey City, N. J.; Otto C. Pfaff, Fort Dodge, Iowa; James F. Stiles Jr., Lake Bluff, Ill. and Miss Dora E. Young, Sweetwater, Tenn.

Africa News: March 18, 1957

Empty Seats

The seats of church leaders on the official reception stand were empty as fetish priests danced and poured a pagan spirit libation on the ground at a ceremony in Accra marking the Declaration of Independence on the Gold Coast in Africa.

The rite was an offering to the gods asking their blessing on the Duchess of Kent, Britain’s official representative at the celebrations. Leading the boycott were the Right Reverend Richard Roseveare, Anglican Bishop of Accra; the Reverend G. Thackray Eddy, Methodist Church, and the Reverend E. Max Dodu, moderator of the Presbyterian Church.

In a letter to the Accra Municipal Council requesting that the libation rite be dropped from the program of welcome, the church leaders pointed out that it included prayers addressed to gods in whose existence Christians do not believe.

The Accra Council, in refusing to drop the rite, said a service conducted solely by the Christian Church Council was to be held on the following day as part of the official program.

Bishop Roseveare clashed with Prime Minister Nkruman last year when he protested the government leader’s attendance at a pagan sacrifice following a state church service.

Invasion Aftermath

A missionary looks at Egypt from the inside:

Since the schools of Egypt were permitted to resume their activities, late in December, there has been a steady hum of serious “nose-to-the-grindstone” work … to make up lost time during the recent invasion.

A quick survey of the school situation reveals that all private English and French schools are now being run by the government. Apprehensive parents have been assured that standards will be maintained and that they need have no fears about continuing to send their children. In spite of these assurances, not a few have changed.…

Losses of French and English teachers in expropriated schools have caused some scrambling and scraping for qualified replacements. Foreign wives of Egyptian subjects, in some cases even British and French, have been urged to accept teaching posts.

Meanwhile, the weeding-out process continues. Although most subjects of enemy countries have by now been eliminated, a sprinkling remains.

The recently-promulgated law requiring the Egyptianization of all banks and companies has given rise to widespread concern in all foreign communities. It is felt that this law only adds to the growing list of reasons why foreign capital and business interests refuse to come into Egypt; or, in case they’re already in, will look for the earliest opportunity to pull out. As the head of one American company said recently, “If I were being invited today to put my five piasters into Egypt, my answer would be a flat ‘No.’ But since my five piasters are already here, I can only wait for an opportunity to get them out.” Another American company has already ordered the transfer from Egypt of its once bustling regional office in downtown Cairo.

Other causes for apprehension in business circles are traceable to the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency with which to carry on normal business. Scores of businesses are reported to be closing out. In the same week that the local press reported the huge rise in deposits at the National Bank with the comment that this was proof of public confidence and sound business activity, one businessman was heard to say, “Business? Yes, we’re doing lots of business, if by ‘business’ you mean selling. We’re selling all the time. Our bank account is growing larger, and our shelves emptier, because we can’t import replacement inventories. We’ll soon be out of business.”

What are the implications of all this? Government statements on the general state of economic affairs are uniformly reassuring. There appears to be no shortage of essentials.… Unemployment is on the increase, due to the heavy exodus of foreigners and the slow pace of business. Stocks of drugs and medicines on which many relied are now exhausted. The increased interference of government in private affairs (as in the case of the newly-required identity cards) is resented. The sky-rocketing price of corn puts new furrows in piasterconscious brows.

Some see in all this nothing more than the dislocations and inconveniences attendant upon Egypt’s move toward political neutrality.

Little Words About Big Need

“If God called his Holy Spirit out of the world, about 95 per cent of what we are doing would go on and we would brag about it.”

This blunt statement about church programs by Dr. Carl Bates of Amarillo, Texas, was coupled with an equally blunt question to ministers at the annual Baptist Statewide Conference on Evangelism in Columbia, S. C.: “What are you doing that you can’t get done unless the power of God falls on your ministry?”

He added:

“If we are to stop the terrible overflow of godlessness in our generation, it will only be as the Holy Spirit fills and empowers us. Our churches are full of members; our denomination is flooded with preachers who have never been touched with an all-consuming desire to be filled with the Spirit.

“Baptists are ready to do everything else but repent. They will go to conferences, cooperate and cooperate, tithe their income and adopt programs, but repentance is something else again.”

Dr. E. N. Patterson, Professor of Homiletics at New Orleans Baptist Seminary, said as a young preacher he was “timid” about telling all he felt on the freshness and exuberance of preaching with the Spirit’s unction.

“I know there is danger in superficiality,” he said, “but there is greater danger on the other side. I’m not afraid of the brand that goes with dependence on the Holy Spirit.”

Dr. J. D. Grey of New Orleans, former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, urged Baptists to pray for Billy Graham’s New York Crusade, which begins May 15.

“You and I have an obligation to pray that God will come in miraculous power to do more for New York through Madison Square Garden than He did for London through Harringay,” he said. “We should feel toward that concentrated effort in New York as Paul felt when he wrote of his driving desire to preach the Gospel at Rome (the world center of his day).”

—T. M.

Others look with grave alarm on current trends and feel convinced that Egypt’s leaders are being advised or maneuvered into a situation in which their only recourse, without losing face, will he to align themselves with communist Russia. Such alarmists point to the flood of Red books and magazines which are now available everywhere; to the press, which never publishes comments or local news that is critical of Russia; to the enormous Russian Embassy staff, said to be the largest in this part of the world; to the hundreds of iron curtain citizens who are reputed to have come to Egypt in the capacity of engineers and technicians of various kinds; to the Russian Industrial Exhibition and the Russian Ballet which have enjoyed Cairo’s spotlight for several weeks; to the Red regime commodities which are now beginning to appear in certain shops.

It adds up to what? The average onlooker, trying to be impartial, is frankly non-plussed. The seriousness of the situation he knows and feels. The mutterings he may hear, if he has friends who are hold enough to speak. But even making allowances for the country’s rumor-making capacities, he can hardly believe that Soviet influence is anywhere near what the alarmists make it out to be. Then he remembers China, and Korea and Vietnam and reminds himself not to slide into any sort of complacency simply because he has such a distaste for any form of alarmism.

Result? He just goes on being nonplussed!

—W.A.M.

Britain News: March 18, 1957

Lectures In Belfast

Anglicanism was described as “the true and natural development of primitive Christianity” by Dr. J. C. W. Wand, former Bishop of London, in a series of lectures at Queen’s University in Belfast.

Speaking of the comprehensiveness of the Church of England, Dr. Wand, a noted theologian of the “High Church” school, said the rising generation wanted clear and definite dogmatic statements in religion, and that a strain of Puritanism often combined with a High Church view of the church and ministry. He said, in his opinion, the existence of parties in the Church was the salvation of Anglicanism as Anglicanism and that tension always existed where truth was strongly held.

He referred to the massive contribution of Anglican scholars—Lightfoot, Westcott and Hort—to New Testament scholarship, but said difficulty was faced in producing adequate scholars in the Old Testament.

“Anglican piety,” he added, “did not aim very high, but neither did it sink very low. It did not exhibit emotionalism, and moved over a long level road rather than one which mounted steeply.”

A Little Help

The Congregational Union reports that a determined attempt will be made to raise the stipends of ministers in Britain’s 3,000 Congregational churches.

Out of 1,300 ministers, 353 are on basic salaries of $1,050. This will be raised to $1,200 in July of this year and, it is hoped, to $1,500 in 1958. Additional payments of $75 a year are to be made for each child.

Membership of the Congregational churches in Britain totals 220,000.

Difficult Objective

The Komsomol (Soviet Youth Communist League, with claimed membership of 18,000,000) is in a bit of a mess, according to Radio Moscow.

Youth leaders have called for nationwide efforts to stamp out “widespread alcoholism, hooliganism and idleness” among young Russians.

With this noble objective in mind, Committee Secretary A. N. Shelepin scored Komsomol leaders for having failed to give Soviet youth moral training. He said their mission is “to imbue young people with selfless devotion to the socialist motherland by educating them in the spirit of the contemporary world outlook, atheism and the struggle against religion.”

An American parallel might be the man who is trying to borrow himself out of debt!

Continent News: March 18, 1957

Important Event

For the first time in Italian history, the government-sponsored broadcasting system recognized the event when Italian Protestants celebrated the 109th “emancipation” anniversary of the Waldensians.

The Waldensians, offspring of the medieval revival led by Peter Valdo (CHRISTIANITY TODAY, October 29, 1956), were held in a condition of subjection for centuries. But on February 17, 1848, King Carlo Alberto of Piedmont enacted the so-called “Patent Letters of Emancipation of the Waldensians.”

Commemoration of the date for religious freedom in Italy took place in the major Waldensian Church in Rome. It was packed to capacity.

Special speakers were the Reverend Guido Comba, a Waldensian; the Reverend Manfredi Ronchi, a Baptist; and Dr. Sante U. Barbieri, Bishop of the Conference of Latin America Methodist Church and one of the Presidents of the World Council of Churches.

Mr. Ronchi said the Italian Constitution clearly provides a wide degree of religious freedom but that cases of intolerance still occur. “We must persevere in the defence of religious freedom because it is fundamental to human dignity,” he added.

—R.T.

South America News: March 18, 1957

Auca Flights

Men armed only with the Gospel are again flying over the jungles of Ecuador where five young missionaries were slain last year by the Auca Indians, according to the Rev. Harvey R. Bostrom.

Mr. Bostrom has headed missionary work of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Ecuador for 12 years. He predicted that the barrier of savagery built by the Aucas would be broken down.

“Missionaries are again flying over the Auca district dropping gifts,” he said. “But it will take time to gain their confidence. One missionary, his wife and child are living on the rim of the jungle inhabited by the Aucas. This family has not been molested.”

Mr. Bostrom headed base operations for the party that entered the jungle and recovered the bodies of the martyred five.

The Alliance leader said there were two theories as to why the Aucas had turned from apparent friendliness toward the missionaries and had become bitterly hostile.

“One theory is that the Aucas wanted to present a young girl to the missionaries as a gift,” he said. “The girl, a woman and a tribesman had spent a day with the missionaries, radio messages from the mission band had indicated. When the proffer was refused, it may be that the Aucas became infuriated.

“The other theory is that the Aucas became convinced the missionary party, bearing camp equipment, was setting up permanent quarters. The Aucas may have feared a trick.”

Mr. Bostrom said the martyrdom of the five young men had proved a great stimulus to mission work.

China News: March 18, 1957

Voice From Within

Foreign churches in Red China are “doomed … because the Reds have their own brand of religion which ignores God.”

These words were spoken recently in Hong Kong by an American woman after her arrival from Shanghai on a British freighter.

The woman, Mrs. Juanita Byrd Huang, formerly a missionary of the Southern Baptist Convention, said her husband, a businessman, arrived in Hong Kong a month earlier. She was free to leave 18 months ago but waited until her husband was safely out of the country.

Mrs. Huang, 53, said she had been in China since 1929, when she was commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention for evangelistic work in the Shanghai area. This continued uninterrupted until her marriage in 1946.

She reported that she had taught English at St. John’s University and Shanghai University until these schools were “reorganized” by the communists.

‘Forced To Confess’

(The following item is taken from a sermon preached by the Rev. Robert W. Young, North Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh—ED.)

I remember seeing Dr. Albert Einstein walking Princeton’s streets as a refugee from Germany. He said, “Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came to Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but no, the universities were silenced.

“Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers, whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom, but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks.…

“Only the church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the church before, but now I felt a great affection and admiration because the church alone had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.”

Digest …

► Methodist Church to build $4,000,000 theological seminary near Delaware, Ohio.… Southern Baptists contribute average of more than $1,000,000 daily during 1956 for all-time high in total giving of $372,136,675.

► Station WBKB, Chicago affiliate of ABC, to show “Martin Luther” on April 23.… Msgr. Edward M. Burke, chancellor of the Chicago Roman Catholic archdiocese, denies that archdiocese in any way responsible for same film being cancelled by WGN-TV last December.

► Three-and-half acre hotel property, with private ocean beach, acquired in Carlsbad, Calif., as home for aged by Lutheran Services, Inc., of San Diego. Purchase price, $450,000.

► Bill proposing to make Ten Commandments part of Arizona law introduced by Rep. L. S. Adams (D-Phoenix). Other 20 volumes of laws meaningless without Ten Commandments, he says.… Wheaton College hosts seventh annual Theological Conference May 3, with “Eschatology for Today” as theme.

► Dr. John R. Cunningham, president of Davidson College since 1941 and former moderator of Presbyterian Church in U. S. (Southern), named first executive director of Presbyterian Foundation. He will resign college post September 1.

Worth Quoting

“We need Bible-saturated preachers, whose very manner of life is involved in the language of Scripture.”—Dr. Dale Moody, Professor of Theology, Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville, Ky.

“All originality and no plagiarism makes many a dull sermon.”—Dr. J. D. Grey, First Baptist Church, New Orleans, La.

CHRISTIANITY TODAYis a subscriber to Religious News Service, Evangelical Press Service and Washington Religious Report Newsletter.

Books

Book Briefs: March 18, 1957

Biblical Preaching

Protestant Preaching in Lent, by Harold J. Ockenga. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. $3.95.

The spiritual vitality and fruitfulness of Boston’s famed Park Street Church are undoubtedly traceable to a number of factors. Certainly among the chief of these elements would be the priority given here to the foreign missionary enterprise and the program of solid biblical preaching which is characteristic of this pulpit. The book under review provides a good taste of what this congregation is fed, and in that respect gives us a fresh insight into the importance and the possibilities of the preaching ministry in any church.

Dr. Ockenga is convinced that we Protestants do not make enough of Lent, in the sense of using this season to direct the minds of men toward the meaning of the passion of our Lord. For twenty-five years he has devoted the Lenten season, and especially Holy Week, to series of sennons dealing with Christ and his Cross, and in the current volume, he presents seven such series, of varying lengths. Obviously, the complete sermons are not given here, but on the other hand, neither are these brief outlines. The substance of each sermon is here, together with some of the illustrative material. In addition, each series is prefaced by an introduction, which in some cases gives suggestions as to other sermon themes which might be developed under the same general topic.

This is careful, thoughtful preaching, thoroughly based in the Word. (Many of the sermons preached today in evangelical pulpits are doctrinally sound, yet lack a strong biblical foundation.) Dr. Ockenga’s work shows all the marks of thorough study. His outlines are helpful, and they consistently present a logical development of thought. A whole series of messages on Isaiah 53 comes out of a careful exegesis of the Hebrew text. On occasion, he takes a phrase of Scripture and allows it to be the starting point or the presentation of an important biblical doctrine. An example of this is his sermon on the Kingdom of God, based on the text “Art Thou a King?”

These presentations of scriptural truth are scholarly, but in no sense academic, in the unfavorable sense of that term. Dr. Ockenga is preaching to the needs of his congregation and he is ever insisting on a human response to Divine truth.

The book commends itself for devotional reading, but it should have a further ministry in quickening pastors and other Christian leaders to a more thorough study of the Book, and a more adequate presentation of its truths.

H. L. FENTON, JR.

Lenten Sermons

The Seven Words Front the Cross, Ralph G. Turnbull. Baker, 1956. $1.50.

This compact volume of sermons under the headings of Forgiveness, Assurance, Comfort, Desolation, Suffering, Triumph and Committal contains much source material of value to preachers and teachers. The outlines are homiletically correct and reveal considerable originality and imagination. “The Word of Suffering,” for example, is developed around three simple but striking points: it was Natural; it was Unnatural; and it was Supernatural. Strongly doctrinal in its orientation, the volume abounds in telling illustrations. Certainly the author leaves no doubt as to his own understanding and appreciation of the historic Christian faith. Yet the volume leaves something to be desired from the point of view of finished expression of these ideas. At times Dr. Turnbull’s sentence structure is rather choppy and his choice of words not too discriminating. Greater precision of expression might have enhanced the book’s worth, though the sermons were obviously prepared to be preached rather than read.

ERIC EDWARD POULSON

Antithesis

Speculation in Pre-Christian Philosophy, by Richard Kroner. Westminster. $5.75.

This is the first of three volumes in which Professor Richard Kroner, lately of Union Seminary, now at Temple University, will attempt to explain the entire history of philosophy on the basis of an antithesis between impersonal, objective speculation and practical, personal revelation.

While this antithesis at first sight seems eminently applicable to medieval philosophy, one wonders whether it can contribute to the understanding of the Greek period.

In defense of the thesis that Greek philosophy is a compound of speculation and revelation, Kroner begins with the somewhat enthusiastic assertion that Thales’ speculation is “an analogue to the revealed truth on which Christian thinkers later relied” (p. 10).

After Thales, “from the perspective of the relation between revelation and speculation it is of supreme importance that Anaximander, though on the level of cosmotheism or pantheism, thus approached the biblical conception of the Supreme Being. He anticipated what the Bible and Christian theology mean by the infinite” (p. 83).

Here Kroner tries to argue that Anaximander’s Infinite is not something potential, but a mysterious Actual; and that the ordinary interpretation which views the boundless simply as the reservoir of physical stuff out of which our cosmos developed, “as if only the language were imaginative … is extremely arbitrary and ‘unscientific’ ” (p. 85). Yet the doxographical material supports the usual interpretation, as does the matrix of pre-Socratic philosophy from which it comes. Even if Anaximander’s boundless were infinite in space (a view against which Cornfed has raised sober objections), and still more if the boundless is infinite in the sense of having no definite quality, it would be hard to see any resemblance to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

When further it is said that the stories about Socrates (drinking the rest of the crowd under the table?) “immediately put us in mind of the gospel stories” (p. 133), one is reminded of the Platonic thesis in the Phaedo that that which stimulates the memory need have no resemblance to what is remembered. Here Kroner has given himself over to pure impressionism; and his other assertion that “all historians of philosophy agree that he (Socrates) is the greatest figure in the history of philosophy” (p. 151) is simply false.

A number of times Kroner modifies his first breath-taking statements. “Socrates was a Greek anticipation and counterpart of Jesus Christ” (p. 133); but then adds, “the difference between the Son of God and the Athenian … is so enormous that it makes any comparison absurd and ridiculous.” Quite so! And therefore his prior assertion is absurd and ridiculous.

The constant aim seems to be to picture Greek philosophy and the Christian Gospel as essentially the same. In one place it almost seems as if the New Testament contributed nothing to Christianity. “In Philo, Greek speculation and biblical revelation met … The whole movement of pre-Christian speculation, directed toward a more holy and ethical conception of the divine being than that offered by Greek religion, culminated and terminated in this great event …” And Kroner refers with evident approval to another author who held that “without Philo there would be no Irenaeus, Athanasius.…” Again, “He taught that the ideas are the thoughts of the living God.… Through this simple device Philo threw a bridge across the chasm dividing two spiritual spheres” (p. 237–238).

Aside from the fact that in these lines Kroner denies that Plotinus and Neoplatonism are the culmination and termination of Greek philosophy, this interpretation not only ignores the New Testament as a prerequisite for Athanasius, but it also minimizes the role of the Old Testament for Philo. It pictures Philo’s philosophy as arising, not altogether, but predominantly out of Greek themes. This is most clear in what I take to be a serious failure to grasp the significance of Philo’s making the ideas thoughts of God. This is no superficial transformation of Platonism, no simple device to bridge a narrow chasm.

In the Euthyphro when piety is defined as that which is dear to the gods, Plato asks, Are pious things pious because they are dear to the gods, or are they dear to the gods because they are pious? Now, it is not surprising that Plato chose the second alternative, but it is extremely instructive to note that he does not bother in the least to give a single reason for rejecting the first. Usually Plato gives reasons for rejecting a proposal; but not here. Does this not indicate that Plato was unable even to conceive of a God on whose will morality depends? Instead of a God who legislates, Plato could conceive only of a God subordinate to independent laws.

Philo therefore, rather than having been the culmination of a tendency already in paganism, broke completely with its deepest convictions and insisted on the totally different biblical conceptions of sovereignty and transcendence. No doubt there are similarities between Philo and Plato or the Stoics; but they are superficial. (Cf. my Thales to Dewey, pp. 183–210.)

But perhaps the major defect of the book is its hazy notion of revelation. Kroner’s characterizations are as follows: “Revelation is the work of God; the truth of revelation is practical, personal, and indemonstrable; God does not incline himself to man in order to inform him, but to command, advise, and redeem; such divine actions do not provide theological information; theological information is incompatible with the true relationship between the Creator and the creature.”

These representations partly depend on an incomplete disjunction and partly on a neglect of biblical themes. Of course it is true that God commands and redeems; but this is not incompatible with his giving information to man. When God said to Abraham, “Thou shalt be a father of many nations,” it was information; and when John wrote, “the World was made flesh,” it was information. Now, it may be true that God’s redemptive acts do not of themselves inform; but in addition to the act God has provided us with its explanation. ‘Christ died’ is the act, but ‘for our sins’ is the informative theology. Far from theological information being incompatible with the true relationship to our Creator and Redeemer, this true relationship is impossible without a minimum of information; and the more the better. Like the Athenians we cannot worship an unknown God.

Existential anti-intellectualism is no contribution to Christianity or to Greek philosophy, either.

GORDON H. CLARK

Careful Scholarship

The Life of Our Lord upon the Earth, by Samuel J. Andrews. Zondervan, Grand Rapids. $5.95.

The sub-title of this volume gives an accurate summary of its contents—“considered in its historical, chronological, and geographical relations.” Students of the life of Christ have long treasured this work of careful scholarship. This printing makes use of the revision done by Andrews in 1891. It contains a new feature, a biographical introduction by Wilbur M. Smith which puts readers for the first time in possession of information about a man who deserves to be more widely known. Dr. Smith makes the observation that this is the only scholarly life of Christ produced by an American.

Andrews was well acquainted with continental and British literature in the field, as his bibliography amply attests. His revision necessitated the consideration of a vast amount of material which had appeared in the thirty years which had intervened since the first edition was published. This was carefully appraised and sifted. One must not get the impression that the work is a mere compilation of diverse scholarly viewpoints. The considered judgment of the author is regularly brought forward and presented with modesty and discretion.

The question will inevitably be raised as to the wisdom of printing once more a book which is now more than half a century old. But the truth is that no recent book does for the reader what Andrews does, for modern works are concerned for the most part either with questions of critical methodology or with details of the narrative. Andrews provides a factual, comprehensive approach, with special help in the area of chronology (the book begins with an essay on this subject). With the aid of this volume one is in far better position to evaluate the modern works, for he will understand the basic problems of the text.

EVERETT F. HARRISON

Sources Of Power

Six Mighty Men, by W. J. Smart. Macmillan. $2.00.

Every minister and witnessing Christian longs to experience the life-changing power of God in his life and service, yet all too many of us are conscious of the lack of spiritual power in our running to and fro in the name of Christian service. What is the secret of being effectually and powerfully used by God?

In these short biographies, W. J. Smart has sought to point his finger clearly at the spiritual secret of the passion and power of six men whom God has used in a mighty way. Declaring his aim in the preface, the author says, “My aim in this book has been to catch the passion of the six men about whom I have written, and to locate, as far as possible, the secret of their power and their message for today.”

Lest we fall into the error of longing for the good old days or into the modern mood of seeking something entirely new and different, the lives of these six outstanding evangelicals span the past century. Whether we look at George Mueller, Dwight L. Moody, Hudson Taylor and Samuel Chadwick of the past or at Hugh Redwood and Billy Graham in the present—the answer is basically and fundamentally the same for God does not change.

Variety of calling is seen here—a missionary, two evangelists, a founder of an orphan’s home, a teacher and a newspaper man—but the principles and passion for Christian service are the same. Will these principles work today? These lives remind us that they will as long as the Holy Spirit works to keep the promises of God, and the spirit of God will always work to supply material and spiritual needs when out of earnest, believing hearts anyone seeks to do what God wants him to do.

These biographies are too short to tell much about the lives and labors of these men. If we want that we must turn to other sources. These stories are told with a minimum of well chosen words yet with a maximum of piercing insight focused on their sources of power. What is told of their lives is realistic, free from excessive overstatement, in good taste and characterized by an authentic note.

In our day, masses of people are giving attention to religion yet so many of them do not know what it means when they hear talk about people being surrendered and powerfully used. This small book of 151 pages would be very helpful for general reading by these people or for use as the basis of devotional talks to any small groups.

W. G. FOSTER

New Life

Christian Maturity, by Richard C. Halverson. Cowman, Los Angeles. $2.50.

This is a devotional essay addressed to all that is shallow and superficial in the church and in Christians; a plea that we let our religion “grow up.” In his foreword, Louis H. Evans describes it as a “thrilling answer” to the frustrated longing of multitudes on the spiritual frontier for a Christianity which will bring real power.

The author declares that he is not writing for those outside the fellowship of the Christian faith but to those who, though belonging and participating, may be “fed up” with their inadequate apprehension of those resources which they had expected to offer much more than they are getting. He begins by suggesting that there are—within evangelical circles, indeed—many who are “frankly bored with it all. Their Christian experience has worn thin, the spontaneity is gone, Jesus Christ himself is unreal most of the time, the lift and thrust of a new life has vanished.”

That, we must say, is quite a beginning. And if there is a major flaw in this book (which does not really suffer for having such a flaw) it is that the author does not, after all, address himself to the condition he describes, but rather to the original longing of any life without Christ. It is one thing to point out that “new life” in which there is a stirring “lift and thrust;” it is another to write to those in whose new life the lift and thrust has vanished. The author does the former. And he does it well.

The answer to any inadequate spiritual experience, explains Mr. Halverson, lies altogether in opening the door of one’s life to Christ. Spiritual growth involves progressively opening hitherto unyielded areas of the life over which Jesus Christ must be given control. If the emphasis be put on the imitation of Jesus, he continues, then let it be put upon the central control of his life, not the outward effects. Receive Christ, yield to Christ, walk in Christ. This is spiritual maturity.

This book is a delightful treatment of the golden promises of the Gospel, especially as these may be contrasted with any approach to religion which seeks the answer in anything man can do for himself or anything which can be found anywhere but in Christ. It is the kind of book of which a busy pastor wishes he had more to put into the hands of confused and hungry people.

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

Careful Exposition

Studies in the Book of Jonah, by James Hardee Kennedy. Broadman, Nashville. $1.75.

Dr. Kennedy, who is professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, has written this book out of the conviction that “for many serious and capable students of the Bible, Jonah offers a study of distractions. Engrossing questions bring positive teaching into eclipse and side issues become dominant” (p. XII). As a result, the author’s paramount concern has been to present the basic teachings of this Old Testament book and to show their relevance for Christian living. He has been eminently successful in accomplishing this aim.

Dr. Kennedy is thoroughly familiar with the various interpretations of Jonah, and he does not hesitate to quote scholars whose point of view differs with his own. But he is thoroughly convinced that here we have a trustworthy historical narrative that has much to say for our own day. His book is a good example of how a careful exposition of the Word of God may meet the needs of the people in the world.

The author has a real gift for sensing the underlying significance of each section of the book. In bringing forth these truths, he does not hesitate to introduce elements of exegesis of the Hebrew text, and while not every preacher will be able to follow him in the fine points of Hebrew grammar, all will appreciate his thoroughness. Many a pastor could learn much from Dr. Kennedy about how to present the Old Testament in the context of the twentieth century. Many a layman will find here that which feeds his own soul and stimulates his further thinking concerning timeless truth.

HORACE L. FENTON, JR.

Theology

Review of Current Religious Thought: March 18, 1957

John H. Gerstner

In the numerous periodicals read in preparation for this column, we found one sequence of articles to be among the most interesting and easily the most significant. We refer to Professor James R. Branton’s “Our Present Situation in Biblical Theology” and its several replies. Religion in Life (winter 1956–57) had the liberally-inclined Millar Burrows and the Barthian-inclined James D. Smart and Robert McAfee Brown respond to this lead article. Together these four articles provide something of a mosaic of the non-orthodox or nonconservative or non-creedal or non-evangelical or non-fundamental, or whatever term you use, theology of our day. Their importance is so great that we give the whole column over to a summary of this discussion.

Colgate-Rochester Seminary Professor Branton first speaks of the liberal developments of the last century which listed Harnack and Bacon among its champions and interpreted Christ as merely a social reformer. Albert Schweitzer later pointed out that the liberal school had overlooked some historical aspects of Jesus such as his consuming interest in eschatology. This “new biblical approach moved onto the stage, and accused the older of posing as objective, but of actually being so culturally bound as to involve more eisegesis (reading teachings into the Bible) than exegesis (bring out the Bible’s own teaching).” Barth and Brunner followed this new approach to the Bible itself, trusting its message versus the dictates of culture and reason. G. Ernest Wright, C. H. Dodd and Rudolph Bultmann are also cited as part of this movement which “has placed the Bible back in the center of our thoughts” and made faith, not reason, the faculty by which it is understood and its unity, rather than its diversity, of teaching, a chief characteristic. “For several years now the Old Testament and the New Testament scholars have fallen into step with this school of thought.”

Times are now changing, Branton continues. “But by now this popular revival of biblical theology is itself calling for a serious evaluation. Indeed it has been weighed in the balances of some competent scholarship and, like the liberalism it repudiated, it too has been found wanting.” Professor Branton urges the following criticisms: 1., “It has lost its real rootage in history”; 2., is guilty of some poor exegesis; 3., often approaches the Bible with its own idea of biblical unity; 4., has overworked the mythological idea in the Bible; 5., found a kernel of doctrine in the message (kerygma) of the church that was not always there; 6., did not ground its Christology in sufficient history; 7., has a tendency to cut the nerve of ethics by the knife of theology; 8., has a wild growth of subjectivism; 9., has an “exaggerated emphasis upon eschatology.”

“Already there are signs that the needed changes are on the way. Oscar Cullman in Time Magazine (May 2, 1955) says that ‘there is a trend away from Barth … and there is a tendency on the Continent, as in the United States, toward neo-liberalism in theology.’ ”

A statement to the same effect by Harvard’s Amos Wilder is cited in which we find an interesting contrast between neo-orthodox and orthodox Christology, both of which Wilder rejects: “ ‘The Man Christ Jesus preached by the neo-orthodox is a kind of symbol X, an unknown entity—Christ is preached but it is unreality. The old orthodoxy preaches Christ, a supernatural figure, God himself—’ and neither is biblical.” (We cannot help noting in passing that orthodoxy has not merely affirmed Christ to be God, but equally emphatically has affirmed his humanity.)

Branton then suggests some necessary features of the new emerging theology. It must be thoroughly scientific. It cannot have preconceived notions and see systems where they do not exist. It must not live on an island of irrationality.

In our opinion, Professor Branton politelv kissed neo-orthodoxy good-bye. Yale’s Professor Burrows must have thought the same thing: “Let me say first that I am in complete sympathy with his (Branton’s) main position and applaud his vigorous statement of it.” He proceeds to mention various criticisms, the most interesting of which is this: “The only thing wrong with it (the older liberalism)—was that it did not go far enough. The remedy was to go all the way, not go back again to the beginning.”

Dr. James D. Smart (formerly Editor-in-chief of The New Curriculum for the Presbyterian [U.S.A.] Board of Christian Education) spoke for the theological viewpoint which Branton had described as on its way out. Branton’s position, as Smart sees it, is plain liberalism.

Branton would be justified in rejecting the new orthodoxy, he concedes, if it were guilty of all the sins Branton lays at its door. But Branton was battling a man of straw. “Any use of the term ‘biblical theology’ should take account of the wide variety of phenomena that are to be included within it.” Branton has viewed only one phase. Smart then cites a Jew, a Jesuit, an Anglican and others who are examples of “biblical theologians.”

Dr. Smart criticizes the oversimplifications of Branton’s account of the rise of biblical theology. He then retells the whole story with much more detail and comes to the conclusion that the new theology was not a break away from the old but the adding of a new dimension, the insistence that the Bible scholar had to be a theologian as well as, not in lieu of, being a research scientist. This functioning as a theologian was what led to the discovery of unity in the Bible. “A science that had eyes only for the human phenomena of religion had lost the clue to the unity of Scripture. On the purely human level nothing could be found except the widest diversity. But a science that approached the Scriptures as the record of both divine revelation and human religion began to hear one voice in both Testaments.…”

Union Seminary’s Robert McAfee Brown’s “Is There ‘Biblical Theology’ ” throws its weight, very cautiously, on Smart’s side. He questions the assumption that there is a biblical theology in the Bible and the wisdom of asking the Presbyterian ordained, “Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith of this church as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures?” His comment on this shows the uneasy conscience of such thinkers in conservative denominations: “There are ways by which this question can be answered in the affirmative but the lurking sense of inquiet remains unstilled in many a Presbyterian heart: ‘is Scripture really for the purpose of giving us a system of doctrine?’ ” He refers to (but does not attempt to prove) the “breakdown of fundamentalism” which believed there was such a system of doctrines taught in the Bible. Disposing thus lightly of the traditional orthodox position of the church, Dr. Brown seeks to find some other type of biblical theology.

The problem of authenticating of the Bible is the central problem. Brown considers three answers. First, there is the “encounter” test of the Bible (Brunner). When the Bible speaks to me it is the Word of God. When reading it I have an encounter with God: I know it is God’s Word.

But Brown seems to be disturbed by Tillich’s criticism of this “encounter” view that it leaves no room for the fact of despair about the meaning of life. Tillich suggests “absolute faith” which has no special content. Brown, seeming very unsure of himself, “hopes” that this “contendess faith” can contain the “God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Third, there is Reinhold Niebuhr’s notion of “self-authenticating” faith. This turns out to be the self-authenticating faith in parts of the Bible only. And what parts? Well, it seems to depend entirely on the individual whose faith it is. The slaying of the Amalekites, the Second Coming of Christ, for example, cannot be authenticated, according to Brown, who seems not to know that there are millions of people who think they can. Dr. Brown quaintly concludes: “in other words, there is certainly a high degree of discrimination involved in selecting those elements of the biblical perspective which we find to be self-authenticating.” Brown tries to escape the charge of complete subjectivism by saying that men learn something from some of the hard passages of the Bible too.

Still trying to escape this trap of subjectivism, or more accurately, trying to extricate himself from it, Dr. Brown introduces what he calls the principles of the Reformers. The first is the testimony of the Holy Spirit and the second is the doctrine of the Word. The Word turns out to be only the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, “the Word within words.” Acceptance of the words as authentic is bibliolatry, he says. So the reliance on Christ apart from the authority of the words of the Bible is still pure subjectivism in which anyone can make Christ what he pleases.

And the testimony of the Holy Spirit, independently of the words of the Bible, is pure subjectivism in which anyone can make the Holy Spirit what he pleases. So, we say sadly, all those who would reject the Bible theology, which has been historically expressed in the creeds of Christendom, must end up as Brown does, with no “authenticated” saving theology at all.

- More from John H. Gerstner

The kingdom of God is near.

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