Gentle Conflict

Conflict With Rome, by G. C. Berkouwer, transl. by D. H. Freeman, Presbyterian & Reformed, Philadelphia, 1957. 319 pp., $5.95.

As in The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth so in this volume Berkouwer has given us penetrating analyses on an even more important question with a clarity and ease of expression that leaves little to be desired.

The Conflict With Rome never mentions persecution in Colombia and Spain, avoids all reference to tax support for parochial schools and never raises its voice above a dignified discussion of theology. The subjects are, rather, the Roman claim to all inclusive authority, grace and assurance, Mariolatry, the incarnation, and the witness of the patristic writers.

In an exceptionally interesting and generously informative way Berkouwer shows how the Romish view of sin (which minimizes depravity and speaks well of man) and infused grace depends on a theory of the incarnation detached from the specific purpose of redemption and considered as a cosmic principle of union between God and man. This union is now most complete in the prolongation of the incarnation which is the body of Christ, to wit, the Roman church. Berkouwer succeeds most admirably in making even the hasty reader understand the coherence of the Roman system.

If it be the duty of a reviewer to search out something for adverse criticism, perhaps a few points may be found:

First, in rejecting Rome’s claim that the Reformation, as a revolt against all ecclesiastical authority, was too individualistic, Berkouwer judges that the recent excessive individualism is a departure from Reformation principles. The reviewer agrees that there has been a widespread departure from Reformed principles, but he believes that it has been toward an excessive totalitarianism, and so far forth toward something akin to Romish authoritarianism.

Second, at the end of the chapter on grace, he asserts that “the primacy of the intellect was rejected” by the Reformation and that “the Reformed concept of fiducia was not in the least [italics mine] intellectually founded.” This was not the view of Charles Hodge; and J. Gresham Machen in his What is Faith vigorously defended the primacy of the intellect.

Third, although Berkouwer presents some fine exegetical material in defense of the assurance of salvation, it seems that he does not quite answer Rome’s argument for “moral certainty” as opposed to “infallible assurance.”

Fourth and last, the great majority of Berkouwer’s references to contemporary Romish authors, with the exception of Cardinal Newman, are to Dutch writers. This produces the impression, unfounded and unfortunate, that the argument may suffer from a limited viewpoint.

But these criticisms are minor. The long chapter on grace is a masterpiece.

One comes to understand why the Romanists were forced to assert the freedom of the will and why Luther and Calvin were compelled to deny it. With great skill in the handling of detail he makes perfectly evident that this is no effete, academic, trivial quarrel about words; but rather that it is at the center of one’s deepest religious attitudes. On the one hand there is human merit, the insufficiency of God’s power, and the possibility of losing one’s salvation; on the other hand is total depravity, the perseverance of the saints, and the irresistible grace of the Sovereign God.

GORDON H. CLARK

Views On Preaching

The Way to Biblical Preaching, by Donald G. Miller, Abingdon, 1957. 160 pp., $2.50.

This book by the professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia, is a sequel to the author’s earlier volume, Fire In Thy Mouth.

Miller’s fundamental thesis is this: by definition all Christian preaching is worthy of that name only when it is expository. By expository, however, he does not refer to the traditional homiletical form so-called. In fact, he repudiates that form altogether, arguing that exposition sustains no relationship whatsoever to form, but only to substance.

From this perspective expository preaching-identical with biblical preaching—is the exposition of a scriptural theme which restricts itself to the immediate contextual framework on which it is based. The argument is buttressed with numerous illustrations of the abuse of Scripture by methods of approach other than this one, an abuse which the author concludes is inevitable. But the illustrations are all alike extreme and, therefore, unconvincing.

Again, Miller maintains that the sermon which is an intellectual discussion of biblical truth is unjustifiable. Here he fails to perceive that doctrinal errors and misrepresentations often necessitate such sermons and that such clarification of biblical truth is itself a vital means of nurturing, sustaining, and enlarging faith. A New Testament scholar ought to know that the pulpit of the early Church was committed to both kerygma (proclamation) and didache (teaching).

This author also makes much of keeping biblical truths in balance, a good observation. His primary example is the doctrine of election. But at this point he falls into his own trap. Failing to see this doctrine in relation to the doctrines of man, sin, and divine sovereignty, he divorces it altogether from God’s decree of salvation. In consequence, he comes up with an interpretation of election which is nothing short of nonsense and which indicates that his own Arminian background persists despite his present Reformed affiliation.

There are excellent insights in this book but they are enmeshed in a web of immature and erroneous notions. Whenever a man restricts Christian preaching to limitations which are not explicit or implicit in the biblical text, he only reveals his own prejudices. Miller’s restrictions eliminate the possibility of comprehensive doctrinal, ethical, and biographical sermons which derive their substance from the Scriptures as a whole instead of an isolated passage. His narrowness, evidenced by the presumptuous title of the book, involves him in a pharisaical denunciation of some expert biblical preaching by masters like F. B. Meyer, whom he brands “biblicists.” His argument further loses force when one encounters his neo-orthodox doctrine of the Bible. This book will be read with profit only by those who have powers of discernment and who realize that biblical preaching is best defined by the men who succeed at it week after week in their pulpits.

RICHARD ALLEN BODEY

Lectures For Clergy

Preaching the Christian Year, edited by Howard A. Johnson. Scribner’s. $3.75.

Here is a collection of essays on the theological implications of the major seasonal emphases in the annual Christian calendar, contributed by leading Episcopalians at the behest of Dean Pike, and collected by Canon Johnson. Hughell Fosbroke, Albert Mollegen, Theodore Wedel and others offer, in turn, their thoughts on the Advent, Christmastide, Lent, etc. The book opens with a brief “office” for preachers and closes with lists of recommended reading furnished by each of the authors.

These are not sermons, but lectures, first delivered in series before the Episcopal clergy of the greater New York area. They read, for the most part, like formal treatises written in the modern manner; suggestive, generally progressive rather than traditional in theology. Thus we are reminded that the Advent “centers on the coming of the King, rather than the coming of the Kingdom,” but it also means that “He is always here with creative power and yet ever and again he comes.” In other words, God in Christ is always at work in a sort of existential Advent—today even in a Nietzche or a Bernard Shaw.

The book covers a wide field of interests. Frederick C. Grant, writing on Holy Week, discusses the chronology of the Gospels and the synoptic problem from the viewpoint of higher criticism. Then he says, “The idea of an infallible record is both impossible to maintain and entirely unnecessary from the orthodox viewpoint.” Albert T. Mollegen, writing on Christmastide and the Epiphany, goes into liturgies: “The Prologue to the Fourth Gospel, originally chosen as the Gospel for the third and last Christmas Mass, seems the perfect choice for the Christmas Gospel. It was chosen in the West for a Christmas Gospel before the Advent Season arose so that Christmas began the Church Year.”

To me, the most satisfying essay is that of J. V. Langmead Casserley on Eastertide: “The Resurrection is more profoundly interpreted not as the divine exaltation of Jesus to a status which was not previously his, but rather as a divine affirmation of that status which was always and intrinsically his.” And “(The Resurrection) demands a metaphysical interpretation, but in good metaphysics the reality which demands and receives the metaphysical interpretation is always and necessarily a physical reality.”

Amen!

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

Doctrine Of Wrath

The Wrath of the Lamb, by Anthony Tyrrell Hanson, S.P.C.K., London, 1957. $4.00.

This volume provides a clear illustration of the way in which a scholar’s viewpoint toward higher criticism influences his biblical theology. The author’s purpose is to trace the doctrine of the wrath of God throughout the Scriptures. He comes to the task obviously well-equipped with a thorough knowledge of the Greek language as well as a familiarity with all pertinent literature. However, he accepts all of the radical positions of the higher critics regarding the dates and authorship of the various parts of the Bible. His analysis of the biblical position is as follows: The Old Testament contains two contradictory currents—the Deuteronomic school followed by the Chronicler sees the wrath of God as an impersonal process in history, while the earliest writers and the exilic and post-exilic prophets conceive of the wrath as God’s personal reaction against sin. In the Inter-Testamental period these two currents are continued, the Apocalyptists being heirs of the prophetic position, while that of the Chronicler is followed in Maccabees and Philo. In the New Testament, Paul, in keeping with the one stream of thought, also conceives of the wrath of God as an impersonal process in history. To the writers of the Synoptics, God’s wrath is likewise the arrangement which God has made whereby sin brings its own consequences. The Apocalypse carries Paul’s concept of an impersonal wrath to its proper climax, and connects the wrath of God to the cross where God triumphs by accepting suffering rather than by inflicting it.

Dr. Hanson certainly makes a careful study of the biblical material; but, due to his presuppositions, his position is one-sided. According to his viewpoint, the wrath of God is not an emotion or even an attitude of God toward sin. He says that while we must not think of the wrath as a human emotion, surely it is the wrath of God, and the biblical doctrine is one which depicts God as strongly antagonistic toward all that is sinful. The serious implications of the author’s position are revealed in his final chapter where he considers what modern scholars have written on the subject. Here it is that he expresses the basic opposition between his view and the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.

HARRY BUIS

Scholarly Treatment

The Mormons, by Thomas F. O’Dea, University of Chicago Press, 1957. $5.00.

This volume was written by a non-Mormon who is an associate professor of sociology at Fordham University in New York. A graduate of Harvard University and holding a doctorate from there, he is able to pursue the subject in scholarly and irenic fashion.

His presentation is an able one, the facts of which were developed after exhaustive research. His control of the primary and secondary source materials is excellent, and the literary quality of the work is good. There are those who will certainly take exception to his conclusion that Joseph Smith authored the Book of Mormon. This reviewer still entertains the suspicion that Smith was not equipped to write this volume around which Mormonism centers. But it is interesting to observe that if Smith did write the book then the foundation stones of Mormonism crumble instantly. Smith himself claimed that he found this “revelation.” If he did not, he was a liar and to suppose that a valid system of truth could be built upon such a foundation is hard to believe.

For those who are interested in Mormonism as a cult or as an expression of a religious urge, chapter six is invaluable. In this chapter the author discusses the theological foundations of the cult, and he does so brilliantly. The basic tenets of the cult are clearly delineated. The logic and precision with which this has been done is admirable. One need only run the gamut of Morman beliefs, as they are outlined, and he will be able quickly to ascertain wherein the differences lie between his own convictions and those of the Mormon. For those who are evangelical in viewpoint, the unalterable and inescapable conclusion is that Mormonism is a cult. Mormonism denies creation, holds that spirit is matter and that God “himself once was as we are now, and is an exalted man and sits enthroned in yonder heavens.” God is subject to the law of progression. The doctrine of the trinity has deteriorated to a conception of three separate gods. Man was in the beginning with God and thus is eternal. He is of the same race as God and will some day become God. Imputed guilt through Adam’s sin is denied and salvation is obtained by faith plus good works.

This volume is recommended reading for those who are interested also in aspects of Mormonism other than the religious.

HAROLD LINDSELL

“Religion Faces the Atomic Age.” This was the title of a conference called Feb. 2 and 3 by the University of Chicago through its Federated Theological Faculty to “consider comprehensively how the spiritual resources of this country must be mobilized to save us.” It was further stated that though we must meet the Soviet scientific challenge, science “can only offer us a protracted and exhausting armament race. Victory and survival will only come through a deeper understanding of the laws that govern the hearts and minds of men and the practical application of these laws in our national life and our international relations.”

Facing The Right Fears

For this purpose an outstanding array of speakers was gathered from the fields of religion, education, and business. The initial topic considered was “Facing the Fears of the Atomic Age.” Dean of the Federated Theological Faculty, Jerald C. Brauer, explained that it was felt best to build what should follow in the conference upon the “personality sciences.”

Delegates were told bluntly that one of America’s greatest failings today is that she lacks a proper fear of the right things. Dr. Gardiner Murphy, Director of Research of the Menninger Foundation, stated that the first psychological problem is “why apathy, hopelessness, irresponsibility, evasion, business-as-usual, or the most pathetic and trivial toying with momentary escapes or palliatives, should dominate the thought of the Western world.” He defended certain “rational fears” in an “age of potential devastation,” such as fears of smugness, hypocrisy, self-deception, and aimlessness.

Dr. Seward Hiltner, Professor of Pastoral Theology of the Federated Theological Faculty, pronounced our situation “unprecedentedly fearsome” and indicated paralysis in the face of enormity as one reason for our not facing up to the basic fear. “We are like Mickey Mouse—who finds some magic coming to his aid in disposing of the giant.” But if we continue this, “our civilization will perish—not as a society of brave men who tried their best and lost, but as mice, as Mickey Mice whose magic powers failed to appear on schedule.”

The Conflict Of Faiths

The conference next addressed itself to the problem of Communism—“Two Faiths in Conflict.” Dr. Alexander Miller, Associate Professor of Religion at Stanford University, warned against “the oratorical commonplace that the issue hinges on Communist atheism and materialism.… The trouble with Communism is not so much that it is godless, but that it … exalts a false god into the place of God.… Marxism is one modern form of the ancient natural religion … in which the natural powers and dynamisms on which man’s life depends are deified.…” Prof. Miller also cautioned against the “deadly danger” of identifying our enemy with antichrist, “partly because no human being and no human movement achieves such majesty of evil, and partly because it implies too much virtue in ourselves.”

Also speaking on the Christianity-Communism conflict was John Nuveen, president of a Chicago investment firm and former administrator of economic aid in Greece. The uncommitted nations will ultimately “tip the scales one way or the other” in the present world struggle, he said, by way of calling for an increase in economic aid to these countries. But at the same time he warned that foreign aid to a country is “interpreted as an endorsement of the government in power and helps to keep it in power. If it is a good government and bent upon the establishment of the free institutions which have been inspired by Christian principles, then our aid serves the cause of Christianity,” but if otherwise, we are building up explosive pressures that can be utilized by the Communists.

After a session on public education, Dean Brauer spoke of problems in educating ministers for the atomic age, noting that in this time of great need many men are leaving the ministry. He pleaded for a rigorous search “in the past and present resources of Christian faith for new goals, methods, and directions.”

Religion And Materialism

Next considered was religion’s role in the world of business. Edward C. Logelin, vice-president of United States Steel Corporation, spoke of ways in which religion can help the businessman, while Sears Roebuck Vice-President James C. Worthy pointed out dangers inherent in the secularization of business morality. Blame for this, said Worthy, former Assistant Secretary of Commerce, is to be laid more at the feet of the preachers and theologians “who have failed to make explicit the relevance of religious faith to business practice.” One result is the concept of self-interest as the generally accepted theory of business motivation. “Communists and socialists play up the symbols of human welfare but neglect, and often violate, the reality! The American business system emphasizes the symbols of self-interest, but actually operates with substantial concern for human values.”

Rescuing Religious Values

The final session, at the Palmer House, addressed itself to the general theme of the conference, religion in the atomic age. Dean Brauer denounced the misuse of religion simply to guarantee our safety. Rather it should provide motivation for seeking out God’s will in this world. Lawrence A. Kimpton, Chancellor of the University of Chicago, confessed that “we are sore afraid, and we know not where to turn.… The purpose of the conference we are concluding this evening is to suggest that we turn to the great resources of our religion.”

Distinguished chemistry professor Harold C. Urey noted that the battle between science and religion saw the former the complete victor. This revolution of the past century is permanent, he averred, and past customs and beliefs will not return. Through science man today “possesses the most magnificent view of a marvelous universe that he has ever had. Religions have attempted to do this in the past and their success has been anything but equal to that of modern science in this field.” However, Prof. Urey confessed that science tends to lead to a purely materialistic view of life, offering little to support a belief in the dignity of man; in this field religion has always made its great contribution. Today religion is challenged to maintain the old values, i.e. “give us a sound moral life and noble aspirations.”

Giving the concluding address in stirring fashion was Charles P. Taft, Cincinnati mayor and former president of the National Council of Churches. Concerning the cold war, he urged the clergy “to utilize all the psychological insight expressed in our ideal of the democratic process to proceed in ways that may get our opponents to move.” Secondly, he continued, the same means are to be used to persuade our own people to move. Giving mankind a consciousness and belief in values will be a long struggle and we must exercise much patience. The problem, he concluded, is the application of religion in an evil world, and ministers must help through continued counsel and guidance in preaching and teaching.

Christian Ambiguity

The Federated Theological Faculty is to be commended for recognizing the danger of the hour and for seeking solution in the area of spiritual principles. Yet it would be a bold spirit who would claim that the solution or solutions had been found through this “comprehensive” consideration of “how the spiritual resources of this country must be mobilized to save us.” Indeed, it seemed that the spirit of tentativeness stalked the conference. Chancellor Kimpton declared, “We have not sought the moral and spiritual answers nor do we have them in our time of great need.” Dr. Murphy counseled an active program against the threats of today but did not suggest its content, leaving his listeners with hope in a slowly maturing psychology. But would it be too slow for this age? Courage to face the danger was Dr. Hiltner’s counsel, but others were left the task of charting a pathway of action. In the final session Prof. Urey simply presented the problem religion faces, as he sees it, and wished the delegates success in their search for a solution. Mr. Taft, who conceived the convention as being more in the nature of a tribute to the Federated Theological Faculty, counseled psychological insight and patience.

If one looked for a serving of theological issues in this conference on religion, barrenness was his main fare. Dr. Murphy seemed to be chiding Protestant liberalism when he referred to “Main Street Christianity being responsible for having blunted and shallowed the normal capacity for fear as well as righteous indignation against injustice.” He also set himself against those liberals and humanitarians who say that the control of the atom is the only problem, forgetting the more basic problem of human nature. But then we find him employing an easy grouping of Gautama, Socrates, and Jesus, all of whom in their supreme moments grasped a point of wisdom for which Dr. Murphy was contending. Dogma, he said, in answer to a question, can be useful in disarming fears and is workable in some periods for some people, but tends to become the more precarious the longer it is held. In a similar vein Prof. Urey called for a religion unencumbered with “illogical dogmas.”

Dr. Hiltner called for an inquiry into our faith, while Dean Brauer asked for a search into the Christian faith, past and present, for new goals. It is possible, he contended, for a concentration on the present to rob the student of his rich heritage and even “the very ground of faith itself.” What this ground is or what elements Dr. Brauer would take from the history of the faith, he did not say. Likewise, Mr. Taft, in calling for theology and not just ethics, offered no elaboration as to the kind of theology needed.

The old liberal optimism was, of course, by the nature of the occasion somewhat subdued. There was some disagreement as to whether this is actually the most dangerous period of our history. What pacifist element there was present seemed confined to the delegates. None of the speakers questioned appeared ready to propose massive resistance through nonviolent means, but rather seemed relieved that we still were able to manage a balance of power.

Neglect Of The Vertical

So often the thought seemed pitched upon a horizontal plane with only the occasional breakthrough to the vertical. For example, with all that was said about fear, no mention was made of the fear of God. Again, Dr. Hiltner’s proposed source for courage was in mutual understanding and acceptance, his reference to God coming almost as an afterthought.

The evolutionary hypothesis was generally accepted, Murphy and Urey assuming this, the latter, albeit, pointing out it was not proven. Dr. Urey asked for a religion “without the miraculous.” He tended to view science and religion competitively, and seemed now to be asking that religion put itself on a naturalist plane along with science.

However, Mr. Taft emphasized that man is more than a machine, and moreover, is possessed of evil and perversity. This note was struck on other occasions in the conference, but there was lacking a prophetic call for repentance and conversion. Dr. Theodore Gill, an editor of The Christian Century, spoke of the need for evangelism, but a different sort from that generally seen in this country today. Mr. Taft asked for less emphasis on personal salvation and more guidance toward the “city with foundations.” He did not deal with the imposing problem of making nations Christian apart from the individuals who compose them.

Most all of this would appear to reduce to one question: What place was given to Jesus Christ in this conference? So far as the writer observed, the cross was mentioned once, obliquely, the resurrection not at all, and the “second coming” once in a humorous vein. Of the living Word there was nothing. The divinity of Christ was not mentioned, but the divinity of man was more than once—perhaps not too surprising a turn in view of the fact that one of the Federated Schools is Unitarian.

Mr. Taft called for more conferences and the expression of all viewpoints for thought and discussion rather than a prepared pathway to a preconceived conclusion. Many viewpoints, indeed, never found voice at this conference. Dean Brauer directed his challenge to preach the faith to both churches and synagogues. Elsewhere he quoted Augustine’s exalted declaration that we are restless until we find our rest in God. Would to God the Dean had proclaimed Augustine’s entrance to this rest—through Jesus Christ the risen Lord!

This special report was prepared by CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S newest staff affiliate, Editorial Associate Frank Farrell. The Rev. Mr. Farrell, a Baptist clergyman, holds the B.A. degree from Wheaton College, B.D. from Fuller Theological Seminary, and Ph.D. from New College, Edinburgh.

New Lutheran Center

A new half-million-dollar center, the largest Lutheran facility of its kind in America, has been opened in Minneapolis by the Lutheran Welfare Society of Minnesota.

The center houses the society’s staff of 51 social workers, chaplains and clerical workers and is believed to be the first office building erected by a private child welfare agency in Minnesota.

Lutheran Welfare is the official child welfare and chaplaincy agency of seven of the eight synods of the National Lutheran Council in Minnesota.

Latin America

Crusade Highlights

Highlights of Evangelist Billy Graham’s crusades in the Caribbean islands:

JAMAICA—Graham spoke at two evening rallies, climaxing two weeks of meetings led by associate evangelist Leighton Ford. Some 30,000 heard Graham the first night, another 20,000 were turned away, and thousands raised hands indicative of their desire to receive Christ as Saviour. It was the largest crowd ever assembled in Jamaican history. There were 1600 decisions the second night out of 25,000 in attendance.

PUERTO RICO—Even greater crowds turned out for the evangelist in San Juan. A Monday evening assembly of 40,000 withstood pelting rain to listen to Graham’s message. The response at the invitation was described as “overwhelming.”

BARBADOS—Attendances continued to skyrocket as 60,000, more than a fourth of the island’s population, jammed a crusade meeting held on the grounds of a race track. Decisions for Christ numbered 1180.

TRINIDAD—Crowds jammed another race track at Port of Spain to hear Graham say that mankind is engaged in suicide. He said that the H-bomb and earth satellites prove his point.

Junta Hailed

Venezuela’s five-man ruling junta received a standing ovation at their first joint public appearance in a Roman Catholic cathedral in Caracas.

They attended a solemn memorial Mass for victims of the January revolution which overthrew the government of Dictator Marcos Perez Jimenez.

El Pueblo, Roman Catholic daily in Buenos Aires, praised the dictator’s downfall and the restoration of Venezuela “to the community of free nations.”

Worship In The Clouds

A 17-year-old son of Plymouth Brethren missionaries from Canada was one of a trio of Argentinian mountain climbers who reached the 22,539-foot top of Ojos del Salado, second highest peak in the hemisphere. (The tallest, according to the National Geographic Society, is South America’s Mount Aconcagua, 22,834 feet.)

Said young Daniel Powell:

“We felt very small up there, and realized as never before the greatness of God. I carried my New Testament with me, and God’s Word was certainly a source of comfort and strength in the very difficult days we had to face. During the last lap, when we had to sit down and rest after every eight or ten paces, I had wonderful times of prayer and felt the Lord was very close.”

The mountain lies on the Argentina-Chile border.

—A.C.

Europe

Cinema Parson

The “Cinema Parson of London” observed his 76th birthday with some advice about reconciling religion in the science age.

Said the Rev. Thomas Tiplady, who attracted crowds at his London mission by using moving pictures as “Christ used parables”:

“The scientists are revealing God to man today, the stars, the tiny atoms. Take a speck of dust and think of the immense bustling power in everything—in the ocean and the air. But ask a scientist about religion and he will say he is concerned with pure fact. People fear atomic power, are bewildered and do not know what lies ahead. But they ought to be reconciling the spiritual with the material—all truth is one.”

Cullman, Barth, Pius Xii

Dialogue between Professor Karl Barth and Dr. O. Cullman on Cullman’s return to Basel, France, from a visit to Pope Pius XII at the pontiff’s invitation:

“What did you tell the Pope?” asked Barth.

“The Pope told me that ‘I should be very happy to be the colleague of the greatest dogmatist since St. Thomas,” answered Cullman, who is professor of New Testament at the University of Basel.

To which Barth replied, “If this is the meaning of the Holy Father, I begin to believe the dogma of the infallibility of the Pope.”

Wharf Revival

In Norway, the herring arrived late. On the shore waited 30,000 fishermen with the largest fleet of fishing vessels ever assembled there.

The Home Seamen Mission saw its opportunity and arranged evening services for the idle fishermen. Evangelical workers fanned out over the dock area and made personal contacts.

The result was reported revival on at last two vessels, Eliezer IV and Eliezer V. Fishers of men had netted eternal gain for the Kingdom of God.

—T.B.

Africa

A First For Africa

Guarantees of human rights were the immediate concerns of 200 delegates in the first meeting of African Protestant minds, the All-Africa Church Conference. The National Christian Council of Nigeria sponsored the gathering at Ibadan.

Representatives of 21 African countries adopted a resolution urging that guarantees set forth in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights be written into “any new constitutions for existing and emergent states” on the continent.

Middle East

Israeli Anniversary

A series of cultural events starting in April will mark Israel’s tenth anniversary.

Among the highlights are a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah near the Cave of Elijah in Haifa on June 28 and the Sea of Galilee Festival on October 1.

The Israel Government Tourist Office says tourist traffic to the country was up about 25 per cent for the last half of 1957 as compared with the corresponding period of the previous year.

Alarm In Lebanon

A wave of anti-Christian sentiment in Egypt caused alarm in Lebanon. Authorities feared an outbreak of Christian-Moslem disturbances might result.

A debate in the Egyptian parliament described Lebanon as a “hotbed of Christian intrigue against the Arabs since the Crusades.” Deputies charged Christians in Lebanon with being “instruments of Western imperialism against Arab nationalism.”

The Lebanese government protested the criticism, labelling it an organized and officially-approved campaign backed by press and radio to provoke religious strife in Lebanon.

Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East which has a Christian majority. A little more than half of the nation’s 1,500,000 residents are Christians. The remainder are mostly Moslems and some Jews.

India

Indian Evangelicalism

Expanding vision characterizes evangelical life in India.

A concentration of evangelicals is found in Bombay State, Madhya Pradesh, and surrounding areas. The region lies geographically between the United Church of South India and the Church of North India. While groups of evangelicals exist in both these church unions, the stronger though smaller evangelistic bodies work out of the central region.

Bible schools spearhead the advance of conservative Christianity in India. Outstanding are the South India Bible Institute of World Gospel Mission at Bangarapet and the Oriental Missionary Society school at Allahabad.

Denominational missions maintain a number of other top evangelical educational institutions. Union Biblical Seminary at Yeotmal was founded 20 years ago by the Free Methodist Church. The seminary now represents a co-operative endeavor involving 16 organizations. Dr. and Mrs. Harold B. Kuhn of Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, recently completed a term there as guest professors at the seminary.

Said Dr. Kuhn, “The seminary is contributing to nearly all the evangelical bodies and agencies in India. It not only expresses the growing self-consciousness of mission which these agencies feel, but it is making an active contribution toward implementation of that vision through the training of young men and women of deep dedication to the cause of decisive evangelism.”

Evangelicals in India are well aware of the need for cooperation. The need is largely met within the Evangelical Fellowship of India, formed out of a number of active missionary groups. I. Ben Wati is executive secretary of the World Evangelical Fellowship affiliate.

Last month EFI held its seventh annual conference on the campus of Voorhees College at Vellore, where the organization’s vitality evoked this reaction from the Rev. Frederick Ferris, EFI’s Overseas Secretary:

“I did not realize that you were doing such a tremendous work here in India.… I did not realize you had anything like this here. I had not expected it.”

EFI has a membership of 979 individuals from 52 missions. Registered conference delegates numbered 271, while some meetings drew record attendance of more than a thousand. Dr. Akbar A. Haqq directed evening evangelistic services that drew 200 inquirers for salvation.

“The spirit of co-operation which I have seen in Vellore has impressed me more than anything,” said a representative from the north.

“I am going back with a new vision of what it means to witness,” said another.

And still another: “I woke up to the fact that the day for the church in India has come. It is our job, and we can do it, and we will.”

Not organization, but fellowship, characterizes and shapes EFI. Not separation, but permeation, is her goal, that the first and foremost avowed purpose of her existence, spiritual revival in the church, may become a reality throughout India.

WORLD NEWS

Christianity in the World Today

Robert W. Ross And Sherwood E. Wirt*

“The gayest, lightest-hearted city of the Western continent.” So Will Irwin once characterized San Francisco; and so it is: a city whose magic is inescapable. Chinatown, the cable cars, Fishermen’s Wharf, the Embarcadero, the bridges, the Cliff House, Golden Gate Park, Civic Center, Union Square—where else than in San Francisco?

From the days when the first prospects sailed into her matchless harbor, San Francisco has attracted millions of visitors by her charm. To American troops stationed far across the Pacific in two World Wars, the very name “San Francisco” conjured up visions of all that seemed worth staying alive for. Joseph Henry Jackson speaks of “My San Francisco” as “a great and greatly loved city” whose “first response is always ‘Yes!’ ” (My San Francisco, Crowell Publishing Co., 1953).

Diamond In A Turquoise Setting

The city’s secret is mysterious. Part of her quaintness is due, of course, to the unique geographical location on the rugged tip of the peninsula. Seen from the air, she appears a glistening spiderweb, with her network of bridges and the numberless Mediterranean-type houses trimming the hills like beads on a string. Yet the true source of San Francisco’s magic lies not with her setting but with her people. Western, cosmopolitan, easy-going, pleasure-loving and hospitable, they have given her the reputation of “the city that knows how.” A never-ending procession of conventions, sports shows, stock shows and commercial exhibits has enhanced her fame as the place to go in the twentieth century. Those seeking lighter entertainment have no trouble finding it amid the nostalgic memories of the Barbary Coast.

Yes, a wonderful city, this diamond in a turquoise setting; yet there is an air about her that troubles many thoughtful people. It is not that she is friendly to the point of brashness, or aggressive to the point of cockiness. Any western city has these characteristics. What is distressing about San Francisco is that in her swagger she seems to have shaken off God. It is easy to sin in San Francisco, but it is not so easy to get rid of one’s sins. The fact that there is a respectable quota of churches, ecclesiastical institutions and clergymen within her limits makes no difference; they are politely ignored, for they are not in on the secret. One of the brighter stars in the church’s firmament, Francis of Assisi, gave his name to the city, and his followers built a mission on the site, but such facts are inconsiderable today.

If there is any city in the United States that is a candidate for revival, that city is San Francisco. It would be hard to find in any American metropolis such a spiritual vacuum. The evangelical Christian community is microscopic amidst the population of 800,000. More significant is the church’s sense of isolation, for the Christians of San Francisco know full well that they do not have the ear of the community. Among the Protestant clergy there has yet to emerge a single strong, prophetic voice. Nineveh had her Jonah, and Florence had her Savonarola, but San Francisco has her restaurants. The Christian people of San Francisco by themselves are an isolated pocket, struggling sometimes valiantly, sometimes in deep discouragement, against heavy odds. They draw for strength on the suburban cities fringing the bay, where the church life is more vigorous. Yet there is no city in the Bay Area which has been able to overcome the deadly fall-out from “the city that knows how,” and the Bay Area has been properly classified as “the graveyard of evangelism.”

History Tells Why

We can find some of the reasons for this perplexing situation in history. It was not the Franciscan friars who built San Francisco; it was the forty-niners. The gold-crazed men and women who fought, gambled and drank their way west made San Francisco their headquarters. The lawlessness and crime that raged unchecked through the city’s streets in the decades that followed have never been equalled in the memory of modern man in times of peace. The Kasbah of Algiers, the Shanghai waterfront, the back streets of Constantinople were as tot-lots compared to San Francisco in the days of the vigilantes.

In 1906, when earthquake and fire left the city devastated, the pulpits over the land proclaimed that a just God was now giving San Francisco the Sodom-and-Gomorrah treatment she so richly deserved. The stricken natives, not being theologically-minded to begin with, showed no humiliation whatever. There may have been ashes, but there was no sackcloth. They proceeded to build a bigger, brassier city than ever, with a bigger brassier Barbary Coast. The poet Vachel Lindsay took a look at the new city, boasting its magnificent recovery at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, and shook his head in a poem entitled, “The City That Would Not Repent” (General William Booth and Other Poems, Macmillan, 1924, p. 8):

God loves this rebel city,

Loves foemen brisk and game.

Tho’, just to please the angels,

He may send down his flame.

But no flame has come as yet. Today the new city stands before the world a gleaming masterpiece of human achievement, with all the sophistication, the loveliness, the abandon, and the superstitious paganism of ancient Athens. Now a modern-day Paul of Tarsus, the evangelist Billy Graham, is proposing to come to Nob Hill as Paul once went to Mars Hill. How will he be greeted? What will the cosmopolite San Franciscan of 1958 do with the message of Jesus Christ and the Resurrection? Can San Francisco be reached? Is it possible for the Number One Alcoholic City of the United States to experience a revival?

Only in the counsels of God are such questions to be answered. A spiritual awakening in San Francisco could be electric in its effect, for as does no other city, San Francisco speaks for the West. The birthplace of the United Nations is also the cornerstone of the Pacific Coast. That is a part of the city’s secret. It is true, furthermore, that while every city has its problems, there is no city that is beyond the reach of the love of God in Jesus Christ. Where there is life there is hope, and there is much in San Francisco to give cause for hope.

If the Christian forces of the city can be welded into an instrument fit for the Master’s use, and if in the surrounding area and all along the Pacific Coast a strong band of intercessors can be rallied, the spiritual fire that America has so long awaited may touch her western shore, and the visitation of the Holy Spirit may begin in San Francisco next May. A tiny band of Christians in Jerusalem faced odds that American Christians can scarcely appreciate; yet the revival came. “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?” (Jer. 32:27).

It is time to begin praying for San Francisco.

Honored In Death

The evening of February 1, Lieutenant Commander Peter Bol cancelled commercial airline reservations for a flight from California to Washington, where he was to receive the “Naval Chaplain of the Year” award from the Reserve Officers Association.

Instead he boarded a Military Air Transport Service plane heading east. The plane collided with another military aircraft over Norwalk, California, killing 48 persons. Chaplain Bol was among the victims.

Only days before, he had told CHRISTIANITY TODAY of his 15-month tour as the first Protestant chaplain ever assigned to the Antarctic.

“When men faced known hazards or dangers,” he said, “they responded in greater numbers and with greater interest and participation. Piety was evident among all of the men when we conducted memorial services. Life was valued more than normally in typical military operations.”

The chaplain said the lowest recorded temperature he experienced in Little America was 78 degrees below zero.

“Our work was unique in some aspects,” he said, “but for the most part it was merely the extension of the church to serve even men isolated in a remote region.”

Bol was a minister of the Reformed Church in America and a native of Grand Haven, Michigan. He is survived by his wife and a young son. He entered the chaplaincy in 1945.

Theological Fund

An International Missionary Council committee of 24 members is expected to meet by summer to plan distribution of a $4,000,000 theological education fund.

The fund got its start with a grant of $2,000,000, unprecedented in the history of Christian missions, from John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The amount is to be matched by gifts during the next five years from eight United States missions boards to aid theological schools in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Announcement of the fund’s beginning was made at the IMC Assembly at Ghana, where the committee of 24 was established. Some delegates voiced concern over American predominance and dominance because 12 committee members are Americans.

Dr. Charles W. Ranson of London and New York was elected executive director of the fund. Among those on the committee are Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen, president of Union Theological Seminary, and Dr. John A. Mackay, president of Princeton Theological Seminary.

Both Presidents Mackay and Van Dusen denied that there was any intention to give Americans the upper hand in supervising the distribution of the money. Actual administration of the Rockefeller grant is handled by Sealantic Fund, Inc.

Was apprehension over aggressive American participation due to earlier ecumenical emphasis on national leadership in missions which seemed now to be violated, or to fear of ultimate American control of thought and action through the maneuvering of large gifts and theological education? Some took this view, but President Mackay was inclined to a third view—that it is simply a reflection of anti-American sentiment inherited from the drift of world political sentiment over wide sections of the globe.

President Van Dusen acknowledged that there was some feeling among some delegates that the Americans had “planned it that way.”

“Of course there was no such plan,” said Van Dusen. “Here you are dealing with the subtleties of human psychology.”

Some 20 theological schools will receive direct grants from the fund and another 160 will receive textbook aid.

The eight boards which are to match the $2,000,000 put up by Rockefeller are: the Division of World Missions and the Woman’s Division of Christian Service of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church; the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.; the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society; the Board of Foreign Missions of the United Lutheran Church; the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (Congregational); the National Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church; the United Christian Missionary Society (Disciples); and the Board of International Missions of the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

Film Exports Scored

Two Methodist groups meeting at Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, called for more careful selection of American films sent overseas.

Certain film exports now carry “a detrimental influence on young people and family life” and give a false picture of American standards, according to resolutions adopted by the Methodist Board of Missions and the Methodist Woman’s Division of Christian Service.

Both organizations urged more pictures which would “portray better aspects of family life and higher standards of morality.”

The annual meeting of the Board of Missions commissioned 60 new missionaries. A report stated that Methodists gave a record $25,779,279 in 1957 for the denomination’s home and overseas missionary work. There are in the United States some 9,000,000 Methodists.

People: Words And Events

Marks Anniversary—Dr. Richard S. Beal completes his 40th year as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Tucson, Arizona, this month.

“Breach” Condemned—Dr. Geoffrey Francis Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, condemned artificial insemination by a donor other than the husband as a “breach of marriage.”

Undoubtedly Spirited—The Indiana University Alumni Club of Los Angeles held its first 1958 meeting in the Brown Bottle of the Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co.

Bishop Consecrated—The Rt. Rev. Jose Guadalupe was elevated to bishop in the first service of consecration for a Protestant Episcopal Bishop ever conducted in Mexico.

Advice to Pastors—To avoid a nervous breakdown, enlist the aid of your wife. That is what a Denver psychiatrist, Dr. Bradford Murphey, told members of the city’s ministerial alliance. “She knows more about you than you do, and she knows it sooner,” said Murphey.

Digest—Dr. Roland Q. Leavell, President of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, was reported recovering from a cerebral thrombosis.… Wheaton College will offer a Summer Institute of Missions for the second consecutive year, June 21-July 18.… The office of the National Association of Evangelicals’ Commission for World Evangelical Fellowship will be moved from Boston to Chicago April 1.… Theme of the 25 th Brotherhood Week February 16–23 is “The Family of Man.” … The Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tiburon, California, leased two railroad coaches for use as a Sunday School.… Baptist churches in 105 countries now have total memberships of 22,068, 058, a gain of 1,014, 165 in a year. The Churches of Christ will establish a new liberal arts college at Parkersburg, West Virginia.… The Wycliffe Bible Translators named their newest jungle base in Ecuador after the founder of The Navigators, Dawson Trotman.… Catholics and Jews tend to have most of their numbers in large cities, while Protestants still have the majority of their people in rural areas, a NCC study reveals.

Catholics Balking?

United States Roman Catholics came in for wrist-slaps from two members of their hierarchy.

Bishop John J. Wright of Worcester, Massachusetts, said there is “indifference to the Pope’s social teachings” whenever they run counter to “personal, partisan or national prejudices.”

Wright asserted that the American Catholic laity has “lagged far behind” the Holy See in recognizing the need for “international human community” and its “worldwide organization.”

In Minneapolis, Auxiliary Bishop-elect Leonard P. Cowley of St. Paul said Roman Catholic laymen are not “thinking with the Church enough.”

Catholic young men “can’t see why they can’t be best men in Protestant weddings, and people complain because certain movies are banned to them. They just aren’t thinking with the church,” he said.

“This doesn’t mean being submissive in all matters,” Crowley added, “but it does mean submission when official Church doctrine is involved.”

Editors Act

Some 86 editors attending the 10th annual Evangelical Press Association convention in Washington moved to arrest the current rash of obscene literature.

Delegates resolved to “inform” readers of their 110 member publications and to suggest “proper action” that may be taken against pornography at local levels.

Mel Larson, editor of the Evangelical Beacon and Evangelist, was elected president of EPA.

The association cited Moody Monthly as the outstanding evangelical periodical of the year.

As a special project for 1958, EPA voted to support missionary literature through a campaign to alert the reading public of the needs of such literature and its importance.

Building Gains

The campus of the proposed Alaska Methodist College in Anchorage will be dedicated during the week of June 29. The cost of the first church-related, four-year liberal arts college in Alaska is estimated at $5,000,000.…

The Baptist Sunday School Board plans the early construction of a $4,000,000 building, two blocks long, to house its Nashville, Tennessee, operations departments.…

The Moody Foundation granted the First Methodist Church of Galveston, Texas,$2,500,000 to erect a new building. The church eventually is to receive one-fourth of the estate of the late Mrs. Libbie Shearn Moody, wife of the late W. L. Moody, Jr., Galveston financier.…

Construction of the proposed $1,550,000 Bethel Methodist Home for the Aged began in Ossining, New York.… Work on another building for the aged, this one a $550,000 structure in Denver to be operated by the City’s Association of Christian Churches, also was to get underway this month.… The Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Florida plans a $500,000 expansion program.

VERDICT IN ECCLESIAN

Please ask your readers to be patient. It may be several weeks before those who have completed the first lesson in Ecclesian will receive their papers. I am still correcting the first one, where there is some confusion with Pennsylvania Dutch.

In the meantime, I am enclosing a supplementary exercise for advanced students. This remarkable document is the written verdict of a jury. The foreman happened to be an Ecclesiast with a strong background of committee work.

Translate from the Ecclesian:

Our community experience of common obligation in the preparation of a verdict has been profoundly enriched by a stimulating diversity of viewpoint. The values of the course of action urged by the prosecution have been shared with us by several of our number, while the problems inhering in such a procedure have been called to our attention by other members of our group. An arid conceptualism of formulation would have most divisive consequences, even endangering the unanimity of our response. However, only the fullest facing of the issues can remove the schismatic, not to say fissiparous, potential of dormant misunderstandings. In the dynamic situation of this confrontal, we of the jury became gradually aware of the emergence of a totally new factor. We found that we were bound together in the context of a full engagement with respect to our differences, and this context provided a fresh setting for our common appraisal of these problems. This climate of opinion, this atmosphere of togetherness, has proved decisive in the attainment of full unanimity in the presentation of our verdict. Since in his very innocence the defendant is guilty, and since we acknowledge our solidarity with him in this existential predicament, our verdict is that the defendant is guilty of innocence and therefore innocent of guilt. As implicated in this crime we recommend extreme clemency: sentence him, your honor, to life.

EUTYCHUS

FISHING WITHOUT BAIT

While reading D. W. Baker’s “Did Jesus Use Bait?” (Jan. 6 issue) I could not help smiling as I thought of fishermen trying to angle without bait. Does Mr. Baker also object to the fishers of men using hooks? Serious-minded Christians should think twice before turning over the ministry of healing to the Catholics and Christian Scientists and let them reap the converts.… Of course we need more power in our preaching, but while we are seeking it, let us use all fruitful methods to save men.

Assembly of God Church

Shawano, Wis.

GOLDEN CALF, PAPER SCRIP

Your seeming worship of gold as the only basis of money is as silly as the golden calf Aaron provided for silly Israelites. On the basis of your editorial our coins should have “In Gold We Trust”.…

Monmouth, Ill.

Although excellent on the moral implications of inflation, when it comes to the economic causes the article is confused and misleading.… What is a rise in prices if it isn’t a decline in the value of the dollar? The two are one and the same thing. If a rising price level isn’t inflation, then what is?…

Dean

Marion College

Marion, Ind.

I am not in favor of inflation; its evils are spelled out very well in the editorial. I am … objecting to the naive assumption that the gold standard is the answer.… If we had not abandoned the gold standard or made some other provision for the expansion of money and credit, our economy would have long ago ground to a halt; in other words, deflation would have resulted, and that is just as great an evil.…

Eastlake Orthodox Presbyterian Church

Wilmington, Del.

I must criticize … its unfair treatment of politicians and … its faulty economic reasoning.…

You have … taken one group of men out of society and inferred that they run our society by themselves.… Our government is still a Republic; … no matter what pressure groups may exert undue influence in it, these representatives … are elected … and are governing for the people. Since we still vote (no matter how little it may mean in the face of power wielded by various pressure groups) the whole people determine our governing organization, not just a group of “politicians”.… Hence … we all are responsible for conditions in which we find ourselves.

My second criticism has to do with your cure for inflation … a return to determining the money supply on a basis of the quantity of gold held in the country. You seem to think that use of such a convention … is an alternative to human control over the money supply.… The gold stock flow as a device is by no means a self-regulating means of control over the economic system.… The theory is that the flow of gold into a country increases the money supply and leads to price rises and deflation. This … has validity; however … conditions … in the American economy … render a free floating gold supply as a means of promoting stabilized prosperity by itself inadequate.… Most economists agree that control of the money supply by men has certainly helped to pull us out of depression and to maintain a prosperous economy.…

Princeton University

Princeton, N. J.

A copy of your editorials “Inflation and the Breakdown of Trust” and “Technicality A Vicious Device for Outwitting the Law” should go to every Senator and Congressman in Washington, and to every Governor, Mayor and Judge in the land.…

Northern Baptist Theological Seminary

Chicago, Ill.

Your editorial … reveals an exceptional degree of economic insight concerning the intricate nature of money and credit. It is a brilliant analysis of the ultimate effects of the government practice of debasing our currency.…

Economics Dept.

Grove City College

Grove City, Pa.

I have not read a better analysis on the subject of inflation.… I shall never forget the reprehensible act of our government at the instance of Franklin Roosevelt in debasing our currency by the abandonment of the gold standard. It was nothing more than legalized thievery, for it robbed many of our citizens of a great part of their savings and transferred to others who had not earned it the fruit of another’s labor and thrift. How many times I have heard people say in recent years, “I might as well go ahead and spend what I have because it looks like money won’t be worth anything anyhow.”

Continental Investment Corp.

Memphis, Tenn.

Overwhelmed as we are by all the balderdash written and spoken on the subject of inflation, it was a rewarding experience to read your cogent editorial.… In truth, it was a refreshing experience to read such a well-written piece which tersely viewed inflation in its historical perspective, gently debunked the word-mongering of the uninformed, put inflation in its proper place as “primarily a moral problem” involving elements of “lying, coveting and stealing,” and bringing into sharp focus the simple truth that the “cause is the increase in the quantity of money and credit” and hence “government must be held strictly accountable for inflation, because government, and government only, is responsible for the money supply.…”

Managing Editor

Christian Economics

New York City

Please permit me to express my appreciation for your vigorous editorials on inflation and outwitting the law.… Your courage and clear thinking are both admirable.…

Nazarene Theological Seminary

Kansas City, Mo.

I was delighted.… Labor is blaming business for high prices and business is blaming labor because high wages increase cost and thus force up prices, but neither of them seem willing to admit that the real cause of inflation is an increase in the money supply and credit expansion. Both result from government action which your editorial made clear.…

There is a moral problem involved in inflation and, therefore, a paper like yours is obligated to speak against it. Inflation appeals to men’s greed by promising them something for nothing. In the end it gives them nothing for something!

The recently announced policy of our administration to resort to more inflation means that our nation is sliding down a broad path to destruction. Thanks for your warning, but I fear that it will fall upon deaf ears. Most people will prefer “riotous living” hoping to escape the disastrous consequences which no nation in history has ever avoided.…

Christian Freedom Foundation

New York City

May I express my hearty approval of the editorial in your January sixth issue, “Inflation and the Breakdown of Trust.” It is an admirable analysis, both of the economic and moral aspects of inflation, and you are to be congratulated on your courage.…

Newsweek

New York City

MORE ON THE VIRGIN BIRTH

Dr. Douglass’ critics confuse me. They disbelieve our Lord’s virgin birth. Yet it is my impression that most churches endorse the Apostles’ Creed. What happens when their congregation recites that creed and reaches the phrase “born of the virgin Mary”? May I assume that the pastor remains silent, rather than affirm what he believes to be untrue? What about the congregation? Do they repeat it thoughtlessly or is there a moment of silence for a dead tenet?

Hyattsville, Md.

Is it not true that the Lord himself spoke of this matter in Matthew 22:42–45?

Chimayo, New Mex.

THE GOSPEL ON RADIO

The report on “Evangelical Broadcasting Outlook” (Jan. 6 issue) will be encouraging to those who, like myself, frequently dial in vain to find a religious broadcast worthy of the Christian Gospel. The airways are filled with what purport to be “evangelical broadcasting programs.” Of course, there are a few notable exceptions, but most of them are unholy compounds of jazz, hillbilly music, pleas for money “to keep us on the air,” and rambling harangues by countless “radio pastors.” Word that the going is getting tougher for these exhibitionist cowboys is very good news for which some of us have been hoping for a long time.…

The Methodist Church,

Deland, Ill.

CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 6 issue) quoted a “spot check” conducted by United Evangelical Action as follows: “In Columbus, Ohio, evangelical paid broadcasts were eliminated because of pressures by the Council of Churches which holds that ‘a disproportionate amount of time in religious broadcasting is given to that type of commercial programming which does not reflect the theology or the worship practises of the main body of the American people.’ ”

That “spot check” contains two major errors of fact.

First, the portion of the above quotation in single quotes was a conclusion arrived at by a committee of the Ohio Council of Churches after that body had conducted a state-wide survey.… The Columbus Area Council of Churches had no part in arriving at this conclusion.

Second, “evangelical paid broadcasts” have not been eliminated in Columbus. There has been no such influence exerted by the Columbus Area Council of Churches. One station did change its policy with regard to the sale of commercial religious time, but this was a matter of station policy and not because of pressure exerted by the council.

I was a member of the sub-committee of the Central Committee on Public Relations of the Ohio Council of Churches which conducted the survey … We were … concerned with programs conducted by people whose only claim to such time was the fact that they had money to purchase it.… Without doubt even Dr. James DeForest Murch would agree that commercial time should not be made available for religious “quacks” and charlatans any more than … for medical “quacks”.…

Third Avenue Methodist Church

Columbus, Ohio

You have been misinformed … about the Council of Churches here in Columbus … and their attitude regarding the paid religious broadcasting of fundamental folks.… We have been broadcasting here in the city for seven years and there has never been any threat whatsoever regarding our broadcasting.… Dr. Montgomery … serves in charge of the broadcasting commission of the Council of Churches.… We have had the privilege of serving on that committee.… Everything that he has done has been that of a most generous spirit, impartial as it could possibly be.…

Indianola Church of Christ

Columbus, Ohio

ECUMENICAL TENSIONS

Your editorial “Theology, Evangelism, Ecumenism” (Jan. 20 issue) is the most recent example of your typical lukewarmness.… The ACCC is dismissed with calculated indifference to … its radio and audio film commission, its commission on chaplains, its anti-Communist rallies and its protest against an ambassador to the Vatican.… The Free Press is characterized as a “semi-private” paper.… The paper is published by “The Committee for True Presbyterianism” which includes several ministers. That sounds more like a “ward” than “semi-private”.… As for the Bible Presbyterians … a dissident group … did withdraw. The majority … are affiliated with the ACCC through the Bible Presbyterian Church Association, and the latest ACCC statistics set this forth very clearly.…

Bible Presbyterian Church

West Chester, Pa.

Billy Graham is depicted as a superman … notwithstanding his blatant compromise with the enemies of Christ.…

If the Christian Beacon is a smear sheet, then … much of the Bible must be classified as smear sheets also.…

Pitman, N. J.

On page 38 of the recent issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 20) you carried an ad about one of Dr. Machen’s books. This of course is very good, for Dr. Machen was a great man of God, and a real contender for the Historic Christian Faith. Yet strangely … on page 23 … you deliberately smear one of Dr. Machen’s most outstanding students, and one of America’s greatest contenders for the faith, Dr. Carl McIntire. This indicates to me that you are not consistent.… You pretend to be a fundamentalist but you are not. Therefore you are in my opinion, either a hypocrite, a coward, or both.… I think you are also an outspoken liar.… If you are looking for a good fight—why not pick on some of the Modernist bums.…

Englewood, Colo.

You state: “The Christian Beacon was not simply an ACCC house organ; it became a religious smear sheet in the worst traditions of yellow journalism.”

No one with a sense of decency can deny the latter part of this statement and it is a matter of great embarrassment to us who have become identified … simply because we are members of ACCC churches. However, I should appreciate the opportunity of correcting the former portion.… Neither the Beacon nor any other publication was ever an official house organ.… The Beacon appeared to be such (and was de facto) and this was the fault of both Carl McIntire who wanted this and the other officers who allowed it.… This gave McIntire a tool to make the ACCC exactly what he wanted. In addition to the official ACCC statements (usually not too objectionable) he pushed personal hobbies and they appeared to be ACCC dogma.…

But the Holy Spirit hasn’t forsaken even the ACCC and we have been blessed in spite of some of us.… Perhaps we can make some headway if you don’t blame us for any more than we actually deserve—and God knows that there is plenty of that!

Grand Rapids, Mich.

PERSPECTIVE ON ECUMENISM

Particularly valuable are the four articles relative to the Greek Orthodox Church. I’m … grateful for the well-rounded, or at least varied, approach to the subject.…

The Navigators

Washington, D. C.

Episcopal Church missionaries went into Greece in 1829 and 1839 and established schools in Athens, notably the girls’ school. I refer to the Rev. and Mrs. John R. Hill, and Mrs. Solomon Bingham. These missionaries did not attempt to start a “new” church in Greece, but worked with and for the old Greek Orthodox Church of the country.…

Atlanta, Ga.

Dr. Paul Woolley offers ambitious … summaries of … various Eastern theologians, mixing in together Church Fathers and heretics, and laying all at the doors of the Holy Orthodox Churches. The implication is that these Churches have departed from Apostolic Faith. Let us remember the difference between the catholic consent of the Church (Orthodoxy calls it “sobornost”) and the privately held opinions of individuals.…

St. Luke’s Church

Eddystone, Pa.

The article “Orthodox Agony in the World Council” leaves me with the desire to see all churches in ‘agony’ until the 235 divisions of our Christendom find some firmer, wider basis for unity.

Winnipeg, Canada

One of the most stalwart co-workers of the prophet Isaiah was his eloquent contemporary, Micah of Moresheth-Gath. In that critical juncture of history when Judah stood at the crossroads, faced with the challenge of resurgent idolatry under the patronage of wicked King Ahaz, and menaced by the incursions of Syrians and Samarian Israelites from the north, the very survival of the realm was brought in jeopardy by the Assyrian thundercloud from the east. The Lord God was the only true resource for the beleaguered nation, and it was the task of his faithful messengers, Isaiah and Micah, to call the kingdom to a thoroughgoing repentance, in order that his deliverance might be properly claimed and bestowed upon them in their hour of need.

The town of Moresheth, from which Micah came, was located near Gath in Northern Philistia, about 20 miles west of Jerusalem itself. His father’s name is not mentioned, hence his family must have been obscure and of humble status. His prophecies show an especial awareness of the injustices meted out to the peasant population by the oppressive nobility, who were able to exploit the lower classes with impunity. His range of interest was perhaps more limited than Isaiah’s, for we find in his writings very little reference to international politics, except for one chapter (6) in which he appeals to the rapidly declining northern kingdom of Israel to repent and turn back to God before the final blow of judgment descends upon it. His actual preaching ministry may have covered a much wider scope, for all we know, but the brief summaries of his spoken messages collected in the seven chapters of his written prophecy are all we have to go on.

God’S Sentence Of Doom

1. (1:1–7) Jehovah is at hand to inflict judgment on both idolatrous kingdoms, Israel and Judah. He has spoken his sentence of doom from the very temple in Jerusalem where his holiness has been flouted. He will shake the 12 Tribes as with a devastating earthquake, and will shortly make Samaria into a heap of ruins. The images of the false gods with whom she committed spiritual adultery shall be smashed to pieces. (This was fulfilled in 722 B. C., when the Assyrians stormed and destroyed Samaria after a long and stubborn siege.)

2. (1:8–16) Lamentation over the Impending Desolation. With deep and earnest compassion, the prophet bemourns the devastation which is to overtake his guilty countrymen in the coming invasion of the Assyrian Sennacherib (which took place in 701 B. C.). The invader would advance to the gate of Jerusalem (but no farther, for Sennacherib was never able effectively to lay siege to the capital, even though he overcame all the other walled cities of Judah). Beholding in a prophetic vision the devastation meted out to Gath and Lachish and the other larger cities by the irresistible Assyrians, Micah bewails most dolefully the woes they are going to endure. As he presents these scenes to the mind’s eye of his hearers, he draws a sinister significance from the root meaning of several of the names themselves. For example, Beth-le-aphrah near Jerusalem contains the root for “dust” (‘aphar), in which the anguished mourner must roll himself in his grief. The root of the name Achzib (v. 14) is chazab, “to deceive”; therefore the idol-houses of this city shall prove a baneful deceit and disappointment to those who have trusted in them. Lachish (v. 13), incidentally, is stated in 2 Kings 18:14 to have been the first city of Judah after the death of Solomon ever to receive idol worship into its midst.

The Cause Of Doom

1. Condemnation of the Idle Rich (Chap. 2). The unscrupulous landholders who defraud the poor of their hereditary farms will some day lose all their own landed possessions to the marauding Assyrians and be stripped of their wealth. In their present arrogance they reject all correction from God through his prophets (translate v. 6: “Let those prophesy who will not prophesy of these things, for reproaches—i.e., the reproaches of God’s true prophets—are incessant”). In v. 7 Micah asks God if his spirit is straitened (i.e., is his patience short?), or are these wicked doings from him. God answers that his revealed Word brings benefit to the upright who heed them, but alas! His own covenant people have risen up against him and prey upon their brethren like highway robbers. Heartlessly they foreclose the mortgages of widows and sell poor debtors into slavery, thus besmirching the glory of the God who established Israel as a free nation in the Land of Promise. Ignoring his word they look to the liquor bottle for all their inspiration (2:11). But all the true believers in Israel shall be regathered in the land after the Babylonian Captivity is over, led out of their shattered prison-wall by their Divine King, their Shepherd who will conduct them like a flock of Bozrah sheep to their fold.

2. Condemnation of the Ruling Classes (3:1–4). The governmental officials and magistrates, charged with upholding the law, like bloodthirsty cannibals devour their own countrymen by their heartless exploitation of them. When the evil day of national peril comes upon them, the government will look in vain to God for deliverance.

3. Condemnation of the Corrupt State-Church (3:5–12). Though charged with the responsibility of faithfully preaching God’s Word, the prophets proclaim a false security for the nation, but viciously attack those who will not fatten their pocketbooks. When the evil day comes upon them, they will find themselves without any message from God to declare to the people, but only black despair. But the Bible-believing prophets like Micah himself have an empowerment from God (3:8) to proclaim the truth of Jehovah’s holy wrath upon a nation that ignores him. The terms of this message (3:9–12) are: (a) both government and hierarchy are guilty of perverting justice, perpetrating judicial murder, and staining their hands with bribery and corruption; (b) the clergy falsely proclaim the favor of God while they prostitute their holy office for hire and lead their people into disobedience of Scripture. (c) Therefore God will uphold his moral law by punishing these apostates who suppose he will never allow the holy city to be taken; it will some day be utterly laid waste by hordes of invaders (the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar). From Jeremiah 26:19 we learn that this fiery sermon of Micah produced a powerful impression on Judah and led them to a temporary mood of repentance. It is most significant that even to the present day Mt. Zion (as contrasted with the Temple precinct of Mt. Moriah) has remained neglected and covered with trees and scrub, even as 3:12 predicts.

Ultimate Triumph Of God’S Grace

1. The Victory of the Kingdom of God in the Church-Age and the Millennium (4:1–5). God’s Kingdom will become supreme over all earthly kingdoms, and even the Gentiles shall look to Zion as the place of true revelation and divine authority, yielding to that Messiah who will judge the whole world and teach it the ways of peace. He will usher in a new age in which all shall dwell in peace and secure possession of his own property (in a capitalistic society, therefore). Note that God granted to Isaiah (2:2–4) this same blessed assurance for this same generation.

2. Those who will Share in this Kingdom Blessing (4:6–8): the weak and despised of this world who are faithful to God. God will make them a mighty, conquering force who will win the world with their message and who will as a tower of the Lord’s flock constitute the glorious latter-day Kingdom of God.

3. When this Victory will Come: after the necessary conditions have been fulfilled (4:9–13). For the present there can be no deliverance for the people without a God-fearing government, but only the judgment of exile to Babylon (which is here mentioned by name, a century and a half in advance of the fulfilment). But later God will bring them back to their land in the last days and a converted and believing Israel will gloriously triumph over all heathen foes. Those hostile nations that now (like the Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites and Philistines) maliciously oppose Zion will be wiped out and forgotten (as came to pass in subsequent history).

4. The Victor Himself: a Divine-Human Messiah (5:1–15). The last human king or “judge” of the Davidic dynasty (Zedekiah) will be smitten in the siege of Jerusalem, but the Messianic David will be born in the humble town of Bethlehem (the prediction that directed the Magi to the infant Jesus), even though he will at the same time be the pre-existent God who has ever come forth to reveal himself to the faithful and deliver them. Israel will be given over to Gentile oppression until he comes, born of a travailing woman; then Christ’s brethren (by the adoption of faith) will return (i.e., by repentance join themselves in faith) to the true believers of national Israel—an implied prediction of Gentile converts who are going to be welcomed into the household of faith. As King of the Jews this Messiah will guard his flock and feed them as they spread the glory of Jehovah to the ends of the earth (fulfilling the Great Commission). Chapter 5:5ff. refers in the first instance to the stalwart leaders (of the Maccabaean family) whom the Lord will raise up to deliver Israel from the “Assyrian” of later times (i.e., the Syrian Greeks under Antiochus Epiphanes), and in the second instance to the faithful defenders of the latter days yet to come in the conflict leading up to Armageddon. In the preliminary Church Age, God’s people will be a blessing and refreshment to the nations of earth; but when the final world conflict is ushered in and their mighty David comes on his white horse (Rev. 19:11) at the head of his saints, they shall be a terror to all who rebel against the Lord. But the prophet makes it plain that Israel will never attain this supremacy until she has put away her trust in carnal weapons (horses and chariots, v. 10) and has been completely purged of idolatry. Not until then will the wrath of God be visited upon the disobedient world.

Summons To Repent

1. God Reminds His People of His Loving Care (6:1–5). The mountains and hills that witnessed God’s deliverance of Israel in bygone ages are summoned as witnesses against this thankless generation. They know of the tender love he showed their fathers in redeeming them from Egyptian bondage, frustrating the malice of Balak, King of Moab, and settling them victoriously in the Land of Promise after the plague had been halted at Shittim and the army had been circumcised at Gigal.

2. Acceptable Repentance is Marked by a Sincere and Living Faith (6:6–8). Here the repentant minority of Judah asks how they may best demonstrate their sorrow for ingratitude and sin. Will lavish material sacrifices and offerings please God? No, not by themselves, not even if one were to sacrifice his firstborn child upon the altar, as the brutal idolators do who try to appease their imaginary gods. Only a true and living faith that manifests itself in holy living can possibly please God. Note that this answer is given to those who have already entered into the covenant of grace, to those who have already made a profession of faith in the Lord. The issue at stake is a true faith versus a sham profession; in context v. 8 cannot be interpreted to describe a possible way of salvation by good works (as many have mistakenly supposed).

3. Self-Condemnation as the Necessary Prerequisite to Forgiveness and Blessing (6:9–13). As the chastening rod of the Assyrian power approaches Judah, the nation is bidden to examine their conscience and see what dishonesty in business, what oppression of the poor, what deceitfulness of tongue has defiled their soul. Inevitably they have been chastened because of their sins.

4. The Dread Consequences of Withholding Repentance (6:14–16). All your crops will be devoured by invaders and all your savings will be swept away, because you have chosen the idolatrous worship which Omri promoted in Samaria, and which his evil granddaughter, Queen Athaliah, sponsored in Judah as well (true to the example of her idolatrous mother, Jezebel of Tyre). The final result will be complete desolation and destruction.

God Will Fulfil His Promises

1. Attitude of True Believers during this Apostate Age (7:1–10). (a) Towards their misguided countrymen they will feel sorrowful compassion. The old-fashioned standards of decency and honor have under the impact of the new “broad-mindedness” in religion given way to an inevitable breakdown in morals. The ruling classes sell justice for bribes and have become devoid of integrity; all the modern generation are untrustworthy and treacherous, and the children despise and dishonor their parents. (Observe how this state of affairs is to recur in the Last Days, according to Christ’s prediction in Matthew 10:35.) (b) Towards God himself they will continue in confident trust, despite all hardship and persecution (7:7–10). The worldling will fall to permanent defeat, but the trusting believer is cast down only to rise the higher, using his tribulations as steppingstones to glory. All he endures he accepts with humility as due to such a sinner as he, and he waits confidently for the moment of vindication. God will demonstrate his covenant-righteousness by delivering him in the end, and bringing to well-deserved ruin those who have hated God’s people and ridiculed their faith in him.

3. The Final Triumph of Christ: Christians Supreme over all the Earth (7:11–17). The spiritual walls of Jerusalem will be built by the sincere faith and obedience of believers; when these are erected, then the decree of chastisement and exile will be revoked. “In that day,” i.e., in the day of Jehovah, converts shall come to him from the East and West (Assyria and Egypt), after Palestine has first passed through the desolation decreed because of Israel’s sin. At v. 14 Micah addresses directly to God a prayer to shepherd his people with the rod of chastisement and protection, restoring them from exile. God replies that he will manifest his miracle-working power as in the days of the Exodus, and bring to humiliation and confusion all the heathen, compelling them to fear and reverence his chosen people.

4. The Glory of the Lord Exhibited by these Dealings with His Covenant People (7:18–20). “Who is a God like unto Thee?” reflects the literal meaning of Micah’s own name: “Who is like Jehovah?” The prophet marvels at his wondrous grace and compassionate forgiveness, utterly wiping out the score of sin, and fulfilling the promise made to Abraham and his seed so many centuries before.

Thus Micah covers in the relatively short summary of his prophecies that has survived to us most of the salient features of God’s age-long plan for his covenant people. Cardinal facts concerning the first and second advents of our Lord and the end of the age are packed into these few eloquent pages, and they are worthy of earnest and frequent study. One should have recourse to scholarly commentaries.

Probably the most satisfactory commentary of all is that by C. F. Keil in the Keil and Delitzsch series: Minor Prophets, vol. 1 (Eerdmans). Another excellent treatment is that by Paul Kleinert in the Lange Commentary series: Minor Prophets (Zondervan). This last has the merit of dividing up the treatment of each passage into (a) textual critical matters, for students of Hebrew; (b) exegetical interpretation of a detailed nature; (c) doctrinal and ethical discussion; and (d) homiletical hints. Yet the discussion of the obscure points of interpretation is not apt to be so thorough and satisfying as in Keil’s work. An old stand-by dating from the middle of the last century is E. B. Pusey’s The Minor Prophets, vol. 2 (Baker). From a theologically liberal standpoint, the scholarly work of W. R. Harper in the International Critical Commentary series is worthy of mention, although characterized by the divisive criticism characteristic of his school of thought. A stimulating interpretation in popular style is that by H. A. Ironside: Notes on the Minor Prophets (Loizeaux). This, of course, is colored by a consistent dispensational standpoint, and does not always take the contemporary political scene into proper consideration. For a thorough and helpful treatment written in a simple, popular style, nothing can excel B. A. Copass and E. L. Carlson, A Study of the Prophet Micah (Baker, 1950). This goes thoroughly into matters of historical background and orientates the student into the milieu in which Micah found himself when God sent him forth to preach his matchless Word.

GLEASON L. ARCHER, JR.

According to a recent estimate of UNESCO, about 25 million people are learning to read every year. Schools, missions, governments and political groups the world over are encouraging people to master the technique of reading, and new literates are eager to read just about anything they can get hold of. But unfortunately, those in the more primitive countries tend to be too quick in accepting without question whatever appears in print.

Non-Christian agencies, both religious and political, have been quick to seize this opportunity for spreading their teaching. The Communists, anti-Christian ideologies, many cults and isms have exploited the literature approach to great advantage in recent years. Millions of their books and tracts have been printed, sold below cost, or given away. This widespread use of the printed page by enemies of the truth, nevertheless, shows the clear evidence of its tremendous value. To be certain of the true worth of anything, of course, one must ascertain the value that God places on it. This is particularly true of the production and distribution of Christian literature.

We read in the Old Testament that when long ago God looked upon this world and found it steeped in idolatry, he called Abraham of Ur of the Chaldees and informed him, first, that he intended to bring into being the Hebrew nation as a channel through which the Messiah, the Saviour, the living Word of God would come; and second, he desired to place in the world a depository for this truth—his written Word. In speaking of this, the Spirit of God says in Romans 3:2: “… unto them were committed the oracles of God.” This is true not only of the Old Testament but most of the New Testament as well.

When we realize that God placed such a high value on his written Word that he produced a special nation to receive and record it, we get just a little conception of the tremendous value he places on that Word. Perhaps it should not surprise us that the written message should be so vital. The spoken message has a way of changing, but the written story, reprinted or even carefully translated, will remain the same for centuries.

Since God raised up a nation to receive his Word, is it any wonder that he should raise up a means in our day for the dissemination of that Word? We have always been convinced that God raises up men and agencies to fulfil his purposes, and we are equally convinced that the Christian bookstore today is an agency with men and women called of God to do a special piece of work for his Kingdom. Men and women serving God today in the Christian bookstore field are just as completely persuaded of being called of God for their work as are missionaries in foreign lands. So great is their conviction of this that they would no more offer for sale a volume that is not true to Scripture than they would enter a pulpit and proclaim a false message.

Christians of any community should praise God if they have a good Christian bookstore in their area. Furthermore, they should pray for those responsible for such a store, should seek to support it, and should encourage others to do so as well. Had it not been for the written ministry, many of us would not be saved today. Moreover, our witness would be much less effectual were we without literature to pass on to others and to glean from for our own soul’s welfare.

Those who are in the Christian bookstore field know they must operate their stores on a business-like basis, learn all they can about modern merchandising methods, and take every opportunity to introduce and sell more Christian literature to the men and women of their community. Because books can often go where no missionary is able to go, and may be the sole means by which some will ever learn of the Saviour, enterprises which produce and sell them should be regarded as institutions raised up of God for a vital ministry. This ministry needs prayer that those who are now engaged in it may be blessed and may be a blessing, and that more will be established in coming years for needy communities.

This ministry of the Christian bookseller is not only the greatest deterrent to Communism and juvenile delinquency today, but is above all the message of salvation to men and women for whom Christ died.

R. Gordon Mitchell is President of the Christian Booksellers Association of the United States and Canada. He owns and operates a wholesale and retail book business under the name of Home Evangel Book Shop in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Far more than some realize, there is danger of making the Christian faith seem so complicated that it is not understood by laymen; or, it may be so attenuated as to become practically devoid of spiritual and practical content.

Many ministers, intrigued with the craftsmanship of preaching, unconsciously project their messages over the heads of their congregations. Others, particularly in their writing, keep the theologically elect in mind and write primarily to them. But when others, remembering the man in the street, express Christian truth in non-technical terms they are sometimes accused of an oversimplification of the Gospel.

It would prove a blessing to all concerned if it were recognized that the ordinary layman—the man in the office, in the shop, in the everyday pressures of work—needs a Christian faith which is vital but simple, concise but accurate, factual but practical.

One justified criticism of much of modern preaching is its failure to be specific. This can stem from taking too much for granted—assuming that those who listen are believers and instructed Christians. Again it can be a deliberate evasion of crucial theological truth. In either case it is the laymen who suffer, and through them the entire Church.

Unquestionably we who make up the congregations across the world need to know our duties as Christians, both as to personal living and corporate responsibilities. But it does little good to tell us what to do unless we have the power to carry out such responsibilities and that power is found in the living Christ. We need to know more about Him.

Christian ethics are desperately important, for only too often we belie our faith by the way we live and speak. But, it must never be forgotten that there can be no effective Christian ethic without the Christian dynamic and that is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ and his indwelling Spirit.

It may sound trite but it is everlastingly true that the Christian faith centers in a person—Jesus Christ. But this statement is adequate only as we understand its implications. We need to know something about him, who he is and what he does for us. Christianity embraces certain facts without which Christianity is little more than an empty term. And it is just that to many people. We are instructed as to the fruits of Christianity without knowing the Root, the source of the fruit.

But Christianity does not end with accepting certain great and eternal truths. God forbid! The exercise of faith is the door through which we enter into a fellowship with Christ that should affect us every hour of the day and night. A simple faith should lead to a practical application of that faith.

The average layman faces innumerable temptations and problems each day and he painfully muddles along because Christ has never become a personal or practical reality. He is neither the object of our praise nor is he our daily companion. He is neither the source of guidance nor the arbiter of our ethics. But a simple faith will lead us to appropriate the help and the blessings open for and assured to those who accept and know him.

Decisions have to be made; frustrations or triumphs come; there may be unexpected sorrows, or joys, but because we lack this simple faith we miss so much. We walk in loneliness because we neither recognize nor turn to the One who is there unseen.

There is not a problem that cannot be taken to Christ. This may be in the seclusion of our room, or in the crowded ways of life. How often there are circumstances which demand immediate help, guidance, strength. A simple faith will reach out and lay hold on Christ and receive from him the help and wisdom needed at that particular moment.

Temptations? Yes! And the strength to overcome, or the spiritual insight to see the escape route he has provided.

Problems? Yes, and the wisdom to sense the solution which the Holy Spirit will give.

Sorrow? Yes, and the comfort and strength so needed and so precious at such times.

Success? Yes, and the ability to see our good fortune in its relationship to eternal values.

This is not an oversimplification of either the Christian faith or of its practical aspects. The Scriptures make it abundantly plain that the essentials of the Christian faith are so simple that a little child may grasp them and so profound that the most scholarly never exhaust their depths. It is also clear that Christianity is not to be excluded from the so-called trivialities of life, or from its complicated problems.

A simple faith will maintain a vital connection with Christ all the time and under all circumstances. And with it will come a peace and joy which our Lord so truly described as being beyond understanding. We also begin to see sin for the distressing thing that it is, while forgiveness and cleansing become precious realities.

This is an appeal for a return to simple preaching, to Christ-centered preaching, to the authoritative preaching which has its source in the Book rather than in books.

It is our conviction that such can be great preaching for its very simplicity demands a profundity of understanding and a clarity of expression that comes from much prayer and from a saturation with the holy Scriptures. In such preaching the opinions and writings of men decrease as the profound affirmations of divine revelation increase—and the effect of the message becomes more profound on those who hear it.

In no sense of the word is this a plea for a trite recitation of orthodox shibboleths or phrases. But it is a plea to preach the Christian faith in terms of such simplicity that it becomes relevant for everyday and vitally connected with the living Christ.

For some this could require considerable adjustment, for it is an humbling experience to return to the ABC’s of Christian truth when one has long since passed on to its more complex depths.

For others it could require a complete re-examination of the essential factors of Christianity itself. Such examination could prove most rewarding.

From the standpoint of the layman, nothing could prove a greater blessing than to learn that Christ is a living reality, and that a simple faith in him has its issue in a daily fellowship which permeates every phase of life.

It is the lack of this simple faith that is keeping men outside the Kingdom of God. It is a failure to grasp the implications of this faith that keeps so many Christians from living their faith before the world.

And it is a lack of this simple faith that lessens the influence of the Church and causes many to turn from her unsatisfied.

L. NELSON BELL

A Review Article

Evangelism is confronting the Church with a renewed and stirring challenge. Both its nature and its methods of promotion are receiving increased attention. There is a deepening conviction that responsibility for evangelism is really the task of the Church rather than of itinerant and independent evangelists. There is present dissatisfaction over both content and methods. Some feel strongly that present-day evangelism presents a truncated Gospel that is unrelated to pressing social problems.

Indicative of the critical mood is a recent book by Charles B. Templeton, Evangelism for Tomorrow (Harper, 1957, $3.00). Its author has had wide experience in the field of evangelism and writes from firsthand experience.

Fosdick Versus Graham

Most evangelicals will be quite appalled by Dr. Templeton’s evaluation of the relative significance of Harry Emerson Fosdick and Billy Graham. He writes of Dr. Fosdick, “A strong case could be made for the assertion that the greatest evangelist of the past generation was Harry Emerson Fosdick.… There was an unmistakable evangelistic note at the heart of Fosdick’s sermons and real evangelistic passion. It may be that, though anything but typical of his predecessors, he will be seen to have been the outstanding evangelist of his day” (pp. 84–85). He “damns” Billy Graham with faint praise, adding that “Graham has a deficient understanding of the nature of sin, a strong tendency to present conversion as a transaction, a tendency to ally God with America in a common opposition to Communism, and a rather naive conviction that revival will resolve the world’s great issues. On the whole, his message typifies the strongly conservative, evangelical Protestant view, and though the majority of the clergy in the major denominations would not entirely concur with Graham’s theology or his methods, they are impressed with his earnestness and usually co-operate in his campaigns” (p. 87).

More appalling than this evaluation of Fosdick and Graham, however, is the insipid evangelism that Templeton presents as the “evangelism for tomorrow.” Templeton does not come to grips with the moral law, with sin, with guilt, with judgment. One must search diligently for even a hint of atonement. Yet he writes, “An adequate evangelism is impossible apart from an adequate theology” (p. 64). The discerning reader will detect here the book’s unwitting self-condemnation, inadequate is the descriptive adjective in evaluating the theology of Evangelism for Tomorrow. While the author does provide sharp, and sometimes justified, criticism of nineteenth-century evangelism and of formalism within the instituted church, no positive, constructive evangelism is advanced. One may find religious sentiments and pious utterances scattered here and there, but no vital message addressed to the needs of modern man.

The closest allusion which he makes to the Atonement comes under a concept of reconciliation. He writes, “What is Evangelism? Essentially, evangelism is ‘the proclamation of the evangel’—the bearing of a witness in any way and by any means to the good news that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself’ ” (p. 42). “The Church’s good news in the turmoil of time is Christ. At the heart of a world under judgment stands a cross. On that cross is to be seen the love of God in full and perfect expression.… This is the good news—that God has taken the initiative: that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (p. 126). The distressing factor about this presentation is that Templeton nowhere explains how Christ effects the reconciliation. What actually constitutes the “good news” is missing from the pages of his book. If an evangelist cannot explain to a troubled and convicted conscience how Christ has atoned for sin, he has no vital message.

The person of Christ receives emphasis, and rightly so. Templeton stresses the deity of Christ and maintains that the evangelism of tomorrow must be Christo-centric (pp. 122 f.). He writes, “Two thousand years ago the world turned a corner and came upon Jesus Christ. He is the message of the Church; not his teaching or his example alone, but he, himself” (p. 26). But how can one preach the person of Christ without giving Christ’s witness of himself or the witness of the apostles? Supposing that the world is confronted with the person of the God-man, would not the people say, “So what?” Why did God come to earth and assume human nature? What was the purpose of the Incarnation? Must not the evangelist firmly reply in the words of Christ that “the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28)? To preach the person of Christ indifferently to the Atonement is essentially wrong. Paul determined to proclaim not only the person of Jesus Christ, but him crucified. The absence of biblical definition of atonement vitiates the evangelism advocated by Templeton.

Scorns ‘Transaction’

We have already noted the criticism of Billy Graham for having “a deficient understanding of the nature of sin, a strong tendency to present conversion as a transaction” (p. 87). Graham, however, has sufficient understanding of the nature of sin to know that its evil affronts the holy God, needs the blood of Christ to remove its guilt, and supernatural power to eradicate its power. Templeton does not see, apparently, the heinousness of sin and its offensiveness to God. His quarrel about the concept of conversion as a transaction is not only with Graham but with Christ who said, “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” and with Paul, who stated this proposition to the Philippian jailor, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” A transaction is an action involving two parties mutually affecting one another. God has promised salvation to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

A greater service would have been rendered by Templeton had he pointed out the tendency of many evangelists to confuse conversion with regeneration. Often evangelists urge people to be born again as though that were within their power. As our Lord reveals in the third chapter of John’s Gospel, one is reborn from above through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the operation of the Spirit the soul is resurrected from the dead and becomes a new creature. To urge people to resurrect themselves and become new creatures is like demanding the dead to become alive. Jesus gave life to Lazarus before he came forth from the tomb. Regeneration precedes conversion. Genuine repentance and a turning to Christ for salvation mark a true conversion. Conversion may be either a sharply marked moment in life, or a very gradual change.

Confused View Of Conversion

Templeton’s misunderstanding of the biblical conception of conversion is revealed in several statements. For instance, he confuses sanctification with conversion. He writes, “There is seldom any mention of corporate sins or any awareness of the individual’s involvement in the great social ills of our time. Consequently, the converts tend to be converted only in certain areas of their lives” (p. 119); “Every Christian has areas in his life in which he needs to be converted. One of the major weaknesses of the Church is that much of its membership is only half-converted.… The verdict sought through preaching is not necessarily a first decision. Christianity is not a matter of making a single ‘decision for Christ’; it is a whole life of decision” (p. 140). Actually there is no such thing as being half-converted or partially converted. The Bible speaks of temporary conversion but not of partial conversion. Conversion that is the fruit of regeneration causes a radical change of mind, will and desires. A new and holy principle of life enters into the soul. This does not mean that one becomes perfect in a moment, but it does mean the beginning of his struggle against sin. If the decision be genuine one does not call for its repetition.

The responsibility of causing the convert to become aware of social ills cannot be placed upon an evangelist whose assignment is to reach the unchurched and the unconverted within the churches. Because the churches have failed on such matters of racial discrimination, economic injustice and commercial exploitation is no reason for making the evangelist the scapegoat.

Misconception Of Task

Yet Templeton maintains that “The goal of evangelism is not to make converts; it is to produce mature Christians” (p. 45). But how can one bring an infant to maturity with several feedings? The Scriptures recognize the necessity of feeding the new convert with the milk of the Gospel. Paul wrote to the Corinthian converts, “I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it” (1 Cor. 3:2). The Apostle Peter declared, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). The growth and maturity of the convert is a continual responsibility of the Church and quite outside the specialized work and limited time of the evangelist. The task of the evangelist is to call for decision—to urge conversion. The task of the pastor is to nourish and strengthen new life. Of course, the minister should do both and call in the evangelist only for special concentrated effort.

Role Of The Church

That evangelism should be church-related is without question. In calling attention to this, Templeton describes the Church as “the redeeming fellowship.” He writes, “It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of the Church in evangelism. The Church is not only the fellowship of the redeemed, it is a redeeming fellowship. The Church is at one and the same time the saved and the saving society.… When the Church speaks with uncertainty or fails to be a redemptive force at the heart of a society there is an inevitable moral decline” (pp. 111–112).

In the biblical sense of the word, however, the Church does not redeem. Christ has paid the full price of redemption once and for all, and it is the Church’s business to witness to the fact of completed redemption, to point to the Redeemer himself. With Zacharias the Church rejoices, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people” (Luke 1:68). This is the heart of the Gospel. Evangelism that ignores this accomplished redemption is surely not biblical evangelism.

‘Paper Pope’ Doctrine?

Disturbing also in Evangelism For Tomorrow is the denial that Scripture is the infallible rule for faith and practice. The statement is made, “Papal infallibility finds its counterpart in a view of biblical inspiration implicitly denying the real presence of the living God at the heart of the Church and substituting, in Luther’s words, a ‘paper Pope.’ The Fundamentalist, like the Romanist, tends to become the patron of Deity and presumes to state under what circumstances God is bound to act” (p. 67). One must ask, does not the author see that the fundamentalist does not formulate the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, but reflects the teachings of Christ and the apostles? And does the author ignore the fact that high views of inspiration are found in almost all of the creeds of the historic denominations?

Templeton also speaks in this connection of the historical method of criticism which he claims provides a better understanding of the Bible and a faith more firmly rooted in history (p. 33). It might be asked again, of course, why then has biblical preaching disappeared to so great an extent from the modern pulpit? The contribution of many higher critics has been to leave the minister puzzled as to how much is left of the Bible to preach. No one can deny that all successful evangelists in the history of the Church have been those who believed in the infallibility of Scripture. This is not the doctrine of a “paper pope,” but the doctrine of a reliable revelation made by the loving God.

The resurgence of interest in evangelism nevertheless constitutes a hopeful sign in this generation. But if the evangelism of tomorrow is that advocated by Templeton, then it will sound forth as a truncated gospel, a bloodless atonement, an unfinished redemption and an unauthoritative message—all adding up to a warmed-over, bankrupt liberalism.

A survey such as this is beset with difficulties, since it requires certain necessary and somewhat arbitrary limitations. In this case the bounds have been set by considering theological works of the more philosophical and apologetic nature. No attempt has been made to include books in the fields of biblical theology and Christian ethics.

The year showed evidence in several ways of a growing concern with the kerygmatic theology of Rudolf Bultmann. For a brief but clear and thoughtful introduction to Bultmann, Existentialism and Theology (Philosophical Library) by George W. Davis, is unexcelled. Bultmann is endeavoring to show the world that Christianity is not myth but “fact productive of a tremendous faith in God’s loving concern and activity” (p. 31). Yet, Bultmann believes that the “New Testament myth” obscures the Gospel for the modern, scientifically brain-washed mind. That is, the kerygma must not be confused with the mythical world view of biblical times in which it is clothed and expressed. For example, as Professor Davis points out, to Bultmann the death of Christ on the cross for our sins is biblical myth—meaningless to modern man; but the idea of the sacrifice of the cross being existentially present and breaking the power of sin in personal life is the good news of Christianity. You may not agree with Bultmann but Davis makes clear what he is trying to do.

Under the title, The Doctrine of God (Vol. II, Part 1, Scribner’s), another section of Karl Barth’s monumental Dogmatik has been made available to us in English. Without doubt that decision to make Barth’s magnum opus available in English represents a major theological event of our day. And whether or not one agrees with Barth does not alter the fact that for the last four decades he has stirred the theological world more than any other man.

In this section Barth begins with the problem of the knowability of God. God can be known in his activity. “He can be known of and by himself. In his essence, as it is turned to us in his activity, he is so constituted that he can be known by us” (p. 65). This God is known to us as “the one who loves” (p. 275). “God’s loving is necessary, for it is the being, the essence and the nature of God” (p. 280). God alone is a person. This God whose being is love exists in the three eternal modes, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Barth is not a modalist in the usual sense of the term). “For the Son of God who became flesh in Jesus Christ is, as an eternal mode of the divine being, nothing more nor less than the principle and basis of all divine immanence, and therefore the principle of what we have called the secondary absoluteness of God” (p. 317).

Because of this “absoluteness” Jesus Christ is the only true personality in history and in him we become persons by being adopted into fellowship with God’s personal being (p. 286). What Barth means is that sin perverts our true humanity and that we are only truly human when we respond to God’s love with reciprocating love. As one reads Barth’s long and often tedious discussions, it is hard to see why thousands of pages and millions of words are really necessary.

Tillich On Christ

The most speculative work, and least biblical in nature, to appear last year was the second volume of Paul Tillich’s Systematic Theology (University of Chicago Press), subtitled Existence and the Christ. Here he continues his symbolic or mythical approach to theology which has so characterized his understanding of the Christian faith. Those of us who have been accustomed to an historically realistic understanding of the Christian Gospel find it difficult to appreciate Tillich’s symbolism.

Tillich insists that man is a fallen creature in his very creation (p. 44). The primal perfection of man before the Fall is, for him, but “dreaming innocence” (p. 33). There is no point in time and space in which created goodness was actualized and had existence.

Man’s hope, the new age, is come in the paradox of the man Jesus as the Christ. This does not mean an historical Incarnation, “for the assertion that ‘God has become man’ is not a paradoxical but a nonsensical statement” (p. 94). “Much harm has been done in Christianity, he writes, by a literalistic understanding of the symbol ‘son of God’ ” (p. 110). Instead, Tillich insists, Jesus is a man, subject to every contingency of existence, but keeping himself in unity with God by constant self-surrender and, at the same time, giving up everything he could have attained by this unity. It is in this ideal of self-surrender that we find, not Jesus the man, but Jesus as the Christ. Christianity was born, not with the birth of the man Jesus, but at that moment when one of his followers was driven to say of him, “Thou art the Christ” (p. 97). Jesus on the cross brings the new age because he suffers the death of a convict and a slave under the power of the old age which he is to conquer. He brings the New Being, for he saves men from the Old Being, that is, “from existential estrangement and its self-destructive consequences” (p. 150). No system could be much further removed from the idea of personal redemption through Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, than this symbolic theology of Paul Tillich.

On Man And Sin

An interesting study of man comes from an Australian scholar, S. B. Babbage, entiled Man in Nature and in Grace (Eerdmans). This is an excellent survey, succinct and relevant. In fascinating fashion the author covers areas of Scripture, the classics, historical theology, politics, existentialism, literature, and finally man’s immortality. Throughout the study he shows the points of difference between the various views discussed and the biblical understanding of man. He does not hesitate to point out that Augustine “was neither consistently nor thoroughly biblical” (p. 44), and that he was indebted to Plato for many of his ideas. His frankness of approach and his willingness to re-examine long accepted ideas is needed constantly.

The best study on the work of Christ was William J. Wolf’s No Cross, No Crown (Doubleday). Since it has already been called the most useful and complete study of the Atonement available today (by a reviewer), it is likely that we will be aware of its emphasis for some time to come. Professor Wolf first covers the biblical teaching on the subject at the point where he rejects the idea of penal substitution. Christ atones by dedication of life, not by substitutionary death. In the second section he deals with the Atonement in history, and lastly, its meaning for us today. Christ redeems us from the past (guilt), in the present (justification), and for the future (sanctification). The author puts considerable weight on the Church as the atoning community today. Wolf places much stress on the suffering of God who gives himself for sin. A good point of emphasis is the suffering of Christ as God as well as man. Yet, it is evident that the atoning work of God is to be found more in suffering itself than in the suffering and death of Christ. Without the cross in life, there is no crown. We too in a sense atone for sin through our willingness to give ourselves. “In our best moments we are responsive to the claims of suffering redemptively for those we love, and yet we recognize that this is really due to the power of God working in us” (p. 199). Again we read, “Human love reaches its peak in costly sacrificial outpouring, or suffering for others. The perfect expression of this paradox is found in the God-man as atoner” (p. 200). Is this the biblical picture of atonement? Is suffering per se the atoning work of God in history?

Niebuhr And Carnell

Richard R. Niebuhr’s Resurrection and Historical Reason (Scribner’s) seems to be an exceedingly important work. Although primarily intended as a study in theological method, using the Resurrection of Christ as the key to the investigation, this book also provides us with one of the most penetrating apologetics for the Resurrection fact to appear in many years. The argument centers around “the contention that any attempt to give the Church status, as the Church, independently of its origin in the Resurrection must fail. Failure is certain because such attempts, in dissolving the historic background of the Church, dissolve the Church also, and with it, Jesus Christ” (p. 153). Throughout this thrilling work, as the author makes his critical evaluation of theologians of varying perspectives, he emphasizes again and again that “the excision of the Resurrection tradition from the fabric of the Gospel history is followed by the disintegration of the entire historical sequence of the New Testament” (p. 14). We must quote Dr. Niebuhr directly once again: “No amount of patching with the concepts of hero and of immortality can make a unity of the history again, once the passion and death are surrendered through the dissolution of the Resurrection as the key to the meaning of the New Testament” (p. 16). Strange indeed are the turnings in modern theology as a Niebuhr of a new generation argues for the historicity of the Resurrection from Harvard Divinity School! It is evident that this great name in theological discussion is going to be with us for many years to come.

Last, but certainly not least, is the work by Edward J. Carnell, Christian Commitment (Macmillan), also in the area of apologetics. The viewpoint of this work is fresh and somewhat unique. Professor Carnell’s thesis is built around the fact of the inadequacy of rational and empirical methodology alone in the area of Christian epistemology. The methods of acquaintance and inference give us ontological truth and propositional truth, but not the whole truth. There is also needed what Dr. Carnell calls the third way of knowing, “moral self-acceptance,” which leads to the truth of personal rectitude. To know is to be morally responsible for knowing. “Moral facts are never rationally known until they are spiritually felt” (p. 7). He rightly points out that “Ultimate reality cannot be grasped unless rational knowledge is savored by spiritual conviction” (p. 13). “The content of the imperative essence cannot be apprehended until one is spiritually transformed by the sum of those duties which already hold him” (p. 22).

Dr. Carnell is not afraid to accept truth no matte: where he finds it. The insights of great thinkers are accepted even though they may not stand fully within the evangelical tradition. Hence, he is quite ready to recognize the contribution of such men as Kierkegaard, but he is also just as ready to point out their inadequacies. While Kierkegaard, “using the cold steel of relentless dialectic, chisels away the very foundation of formalistic ethics” (p. 74), at the same time his methodology fails because of his unwillingness to undergird his existentialism with proper and reasonable support based on the sufficiency of evidence (pp. 75–79).

By uniting the three ways of knowing, Professor Carnell has been of real service to the Christian Church. Without the third way there is a definite emptiness. “We certainly dare not treat God as an object; he cannot be regarded as the conclusion of a rational argument. God must be spiritually experienced; he must be encountered in the dynamic of fellowship” (p. 127). God does not speak to abstract, universal man in rationalistic propositions, for such a man does not exist. But God does encounter John, Mary—you and me—in existential experience—in the act of living itself.

Hence, Dr. Carnell can point out that logic has its definite limitations in the presentation of Christian truth. There is something in the Christian faith that transcends the propositional structure of Aristotelian logic and the scientific method. “Whenever a systematic theologian becomes too systematic, he ends up falsifying some aspect of revelation” (p. 285). Our author is saying that revelation cannot always be stated and conveyed in propositional form, for God meets man in the personal, revelatory experience—if we understand him rightly.

While 1957 probably was not the greatest year in the area of theological publishing, it certainly has been most interesting in its developments. We may well be on the threshold of a new era in theological discussion. There are changes of emphasis evident among thinkers of all theological perspectives. The old lines of demarcation seem to be more and more intermingled, if not quite tangled up. There are definite suggestions in the air of exciting developments in the years immediately ahead.

Warren C. Young is a Canadian by birth, and is author of A Christian Approach to Philosophy (1954). He is Professor of Christian Philosophy at Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, and recently was elected President of Evangelical Theological Society. He holds the A.B. degree from Gordon College, the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Boston University.