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Cover Story

Universalism

G. C. Berkouwer

Theological problems sometimes have a way of rising with urgent contemporaneity without any specific way of accounting for them. Many historical factors can contribute to their rise; the underlying spirit and mentality of a given era can form a point of contact with various specific ideas that are thrown out at that time. Recent discussions about universalism present a theological problem of this sort. The doctrine of universalism is also called the doctrine of apokatastasia, the restoration of all things and redemption for all men. This doctrine is at present high on the agenda of theological debate. It is urgent, as always, because it is a genuinely existential problem. Since it is concerned with all men, it includes us. This is why universalism has a certain compelling quality that touches us all.

Salvation for all men: this is the thesis of universalism. One day the bad dream of sin will be over. We shall all rise and go back to our father and home. There is, to be sure, a powerful resistance to the grace of God in the world. There is rebellion and a hardening of hearts. But sin’s rebellion shall be done away. This is not to suggest that sin and unbelief are not taken seriously in universalism. It is not to say that according to universalism man has not earned God’s judgment. It does mean, however, that the grace of God shall triumph in the end and break down all resistance. Universalism proclaims the glorious victory of divine grace. This is the thought that will not down. Though ancient forms, such as given by Origen, are rejected, the main motif continually returns to brace the human spirit. Contemplating the final end of the ways of God, universalists cannot imagine that there can be any other than this good ending for the human drama.

Palatable To The Heart

It is understandable that this doctrine recurrently exercises strong influence in theological thought. It is palatable to the human heart. For our hearts find it hard to take the judgment of God upon human sin with complete earnestness. With a kind of universalistic optimism, it is considered unthinkable that God’s love should not triumph. Dr. J. A. T. Robinson, for example, ended an article which he called “Universalism—Is It Heretical?” with these words: “Christ, in Origen’s old words, remains on the Cross as long as one sinner remains in hell. This is not a speculation: it is a statement grounded in the very necessity of God’s nature. In a universe of love there can be no heaven which tolerates a chamber of horrors, no hell for any which does not at the same time make it hell for God. He cannot endure that—for that would be the final mockery of his nature—and he will not” (Scottish Journal of Theology, 1949). This statement drew a reply from Dr. T. F. Torrance for whom the argument of Robinson seemed too simplistic. “Dare we go behind Calvary,” asked Torrance, “to argue our way to a conclusion which we could reach by logic, and which would make the Cross meaningless?” What, he asks, must we think of the Scripture passages “which declare in no uncertain terms that at the last judgment there will be a final division between the children of light and the children of darkness?” This is typical of the kind of discussion that universalism arouses: it is never abstract, but is always charged with emotion, for it has to do with the love of God. Is universalism not “the very necessity of God’s nature?” asks Robinson. And is it not self-evident and forced upon us? Is God’s love not almighty and triumphant even over the dark rebellion of the human heart? “Its will to lordship is inexhaustible and ultimately unendurable: the sinner must yield.”

The discussion of universalism has also been carried on in Germany and Switzerland. Wilhelm Michaelis wrote a book in 1950 called, Universal Redemption: The Good News of the Grace of God, in which he attempted to give universalism an exegetical basis. But perhaps the weightiest discussion about universalism has centered around Karl Barth. Barth has insisted many times that he rejects the doctrine of universalism. Yet, Emil Brunner has declared that Barth teaches the most radical form of universalism that has ever been proposed, more far-reaching than that of Origen. This is not the place to enter into this discussion, but it is enough to remind us how minds are being moved by the doctrine of God’s final purpose.

Significance Of Unbelief

We will limit ourselves here to one question: the relationship between universalism and the preaching of the Gospel. This is the urgent question that concerns every one who would preach. For what is the significance of preaching, granted the truth of universalism? If we can reason from the “necessity” of the nature of God to the conclusion of the universal triumph of divine love, what must we preach? This is the decisive question that is asked more and more frequently within the contemporary discussion of universalism. Must we, in preaching, inform the people of this “logical” conclusion; is this the preaching of the Gospel? According to universalism, we are driven to ask, is preaching a factual communique instead of an urgent message which places aweful responsibility on the hearer and calls him to a decision? It is not surprising that certain Scripture passages are much in the discussion. For example, the word of our Lord in John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Thus, the discussion concentrates on the character of the Gospel message.

Universalism does indeed attempt to show that its doctrine also has room for a kind of preaching that sets men before responsibility, but it is not clear how the communique regarding the necessity of God’s nature leading to universal redemption can bring man to feel the need for making an important decision. Is the human choice—belief or unbelief—really important in universalism, if God in his love actually cannot be anything else but merciful to all men?

Urgency Of Decision

It is natural that there is also a good deal of discussion about the teaching of Scripture regarding the future, about the final judgment and the coming of Christ, in short about the eschatological message of the Gospel. But what was the message of the evangelists of the Kingdom of God? Was there not a tension in their message, an urgent appeal to a decision, a call to a decisive choice? Is there really not the terrible possibility of both belief and unbelief according to the Bible? Is there not a danger that we draw conclusions out of the well of human optimism which are really totally different from the original Gospel? When the Church rejected the teaching of Origen, it was not prompted by a lack of feeling or a failure to appreciate the love of God or the power of the Spirit. It only refused to tone down the command to go into the world with the Gospel of the cross and the resurrection, a Gospel full of responsibility, calling and pleading. No, the Church was not calloused in the regions of its heart. Pharisees exclude people because they do not fit into their categories of righteousness. But the Church preaches a broad Gospel, Christ as a door that is really open. It preaches the seriousness of the Gospel whose content is the Cross, a stumbling block and an offense. This was the seriousness that Simeon saw when, filled with the Spirit, he said, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against” (Luke 2:34).

Earnestness Of Preaching

Thus, the Church upholds the earnestness of preaching which demands a decision concerning the “kindness and love of God our Saviour toward men” (Titus 3:4). It will not be led to a conclusion that, dislodged from the historical cross, proclaims a divine “necessity” which is self-evident and which ultimately takes the edge of reality away from redemption. The Church is not to speculate but to preach. For “how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard; and how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14).

It is no accident that the discussion about universalism is concentrated on the preaching of the Gospel. For here is where it must appear whether or not the Church has understood its command. Its command is not to investigate into the secrets of God, not to soften the Gospel into a communique informing the world that everything is going to come out all right in the end. Its command is to let the voice of the Cross resound through the world with its summons to faith and repentance. This is the only “necessity” which is allowed in our preaching, the “necessity” which Paul felt when he said: “for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is me if I preach not the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16).

When the Spirit was poured out on all flesh, when Peter preached and thousands turned to the light, an urgent appeal went out: “And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this untoward generation’ ” (Acts 2:40).

G. C. Berkouwer is the peer of evangelical theologians in our day. Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam, he has provided our generation with the most extensive theological effort next to Barth’s Church Dogmatics. Berkouwer’s Studies in Dogmatics are now in process of translation in 18 volumes. In his most recent work, The Triumph of Grace in the Theology of Karl Barth, he deals fully with the universalistic tendencies of Barth’s theology.

Cover Story

Can Billy Graham Slay the Giant?

Edward John Carnell

Billy Graham has made elaborate preparations for the New York Campaign. This is only natural, for New York City is the cultural and economic center of the world. It is the home of the Metropolitan Opera and the vast financial interests of Wall Street. Name anything essential to the human venture and it seems that New York City can boast of it in a superlative degree. This complex metropolis is a veritable Goliath. Billy Graham has his sling and his smooth pebbles from the stream, but what are these against the granite towers of Manhattan?

But more exciting for the Christian community, the New York Campaign brings Billy Graham to the very doorsteps of Reinhold Niebuhr. This leads to an interesting question. If Reinhold Niebuhr has not succeeded in stirring New York City for Christ, what chance has Billy Graham? The issue is not academic. It involves the very essence of Christianity.

Billy Graham defends Christian orthodoxy, while Reinhold Niebuhr defends Christian realism. Orthodoxy mediates problems of man and history from the perspective of Scripture, while realism mediates problems of Scripture from the perspective of man and history. This is the difference between these two positions, but how does this difference work itself out in practice?

Modern Man’S Need

Since Reinhold Niebuhr restricts himself to issues arising out of modern life, he enjoys a provisional advantage over Billy Graham. Realism subjects theology to very severe tests. Unless a doctrine answers to the religious and moral needs of twentieth-century man, it is cast into the fire and burned. This is one reason why young seminarians often find realism intellectually more stimulating than orthodoxy. Judged by the contemporaneity and dexterity of realism, orthodoxy seems unimaginative and vapid.

Reinhold Niebuhr’s theological abilities were verified when he delivered the celebrated Gifford Lectures. The Lectures called for a critical interaction with issues which concern cultured people in an age of great anxiety. Reinhold Niebuhr rose to the occasion with acceptable skill. He succeeded in challenging human pride on every level of life. His finished work The Nature and Destiny of Man is now the systematic theology of Christian realism.

Problems Of Relevance

It is this prophetic defiance of religious and moral complacency which keeps Reinhold Niebuhr in the forefront of theology. Orthodox theologians often become so devoted to hallowed forms that they shrink from participating in the modern Christian dialogue. They rarely succeed in relating Christianity to the peculiar difficulties rising out of contemporary life. Furthermore, orthodoxy’s reliance on revelation tempts it to overlook, if not forthrightly defy, the relative insights of science and philosophy. This partly explains why orthodox scholarship is often a full generation behind the times. It also helps explain why the theological leadership has been caught up by Christian realism. While orthodoxy is distracted by such questions as whether there is any common ground between Calvinists and Arminians, or whether the Church will be raptured before or after the tribulation, Reinhold Niebuhr is quietly constructing a systematic view of sin, mercy and the total creative and destructive possibilities of man.

Since he is such an astute observer of human nature, Reinhold Niebuhr has developed a rather profound insight into the polarity tension between law and grace. Orthodoxy usually supposes that the law of love is only a convenient summary of the Ten Commandments. Reinhold Niebuhr scores this as a capital theological error. He properly contends that Jesus Christ gave substance to ideal human nature by actuating the terms of love. Only love can comprehend the self-transcending limits of human nature. Reinhold Niebuhr’s insight into the essence of love is so broad in scope and so exact in detail that the dialectic of law and grace impinges on every area of human experience. The total enterprise of man is simultaneously inspired and judged by the heights of love in Christ Jesus.

I cheerfully acknowledge a personal indebtedness to Reinhold Niebuhr. It was only as I studied Christian realism, long after I graduated from seminary, that I began to sense the power of pride and pretense in my life. Orthodoxy has an easy conscience about its own sins because it does not understand the connection between Christ’s active obedience and the total creative and destructive possibilities of man.

The Relevance Of Realism

But back to the problem of the New York Campaign. Since Billy Graham defends the traditions of orthodoxy, it would seem that his prospects of stirring Manhattan for Christ are not very good. But this need not necessarily be the case and for a very convincing reason.

When the man on the street asks about the plan of salvation, he receives very little precise guidance from the theology of Reinhold Niebuhr. This, I assert, is the grand irony of Christian realism. Reinhold Niebuhr can prove that man is a sinner, but man already knows this. Reinhold Niebuhr can develop the dialectical relation between time and eternity, but this is beyond the tether of a dime store clerk or a hod carrier. When it comes to the acid test, therefore, realism is not very realistic after all. A concrete view of sin converts to an abstract view of salvation. And all of this is a direct fruit of realism’s decision to mediate problems of Scripture from the perspective of man and history. For example, Reinhold Niebuhr does not speak about Christ’s literal cross and resurrection at all. He speaks, at most, of the “symbols” of the cross and the resurrection. But of what value are these symbols to an anxious New York cabby?

The Relevance Of Orthodoxy

Billy Graham has no fear of New York City. Like David of old, he confronts his Goliath in the name of the Lord God of Israel. His sermons are drawn from the clear teachings of Scripture. He deems human speculation as flax before the flame. When Billy Graham rises to speak, he patterns his words after those of the Apostle Paul. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve” (1 Cor. 15:3–4, R.S.V.).

Billy Graham may not succeed in relating the biblical message to the total life of modern man, but he does succeed in telling a sinner how to go to heaven. God made a covenant with Abraham, and the blessing of this covenant is Christ. “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many; but, referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ which is Christ” (Gal. 3:16, R.S.V.). Since God found none with whom he could enjoy fellowship, he began a new race of righteous men through the resurrection of Christ. Christ invested human nature with perfection by living a sinless life. He offered up this perfection as a vicarious sacrifice. The cross of Christ makes it possible for a holy God to receive penitent sinners into fellowship. “It was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26, R.S.V.). Here, perhaps, is the clearest line of demarcation between orthodoxy and realism—and Billy Graham knows it. Orthodoxy teaches that Christ propitiated an offended judicial element in the character of God. Realism does not. Moreover, orthodoxy contends that this difference decides the gaining or losing of the Christian gospel.

If a student of theology wants to examine the complex relation between law, grace and human freedom, he may find Christian realism more rewarding than Christian orthodoxy. After Billy Graham has reviewed the plan of salvation, he has very little to add. Billy Graham has not been to seminary. He has no criteria by which to measure the shades of better and worse in the complex systems which vie for the modern mind. And his weakness pretty well sums up the weakness of orthodoxy itself. Orthodoxy tries to relate Scripture to the more technical phases of science and philosophy, but its efforts are seldom very profound. Orthodoxy does not know enough about modern presuppositions to speak with authority. Publishers confront such a paucity of first-rate orthodox literature that they must fill out their lists by reprinting the works of older apologists and divines.

Let us bear one thing in mind, however. When we say that Billy Graham does nothing but make the plan of salvation clear, we intend to pay him a gratifying compliment. As one studies the Book of Acts, one finds that the apostles devoted most of their energies to this same task of clarification. Thus, if orthodoxy is naive, so were the apostles. What is the work of an evangelist, if not to tell sinners how to be saved? Billy Graham preaches Christ in such clear and forceful language that even a bartender can find his way to the mercy seat. This is why the multitudes discover a power in Billy Graham which they miss in Reinhold Niebuhr. Billy Graham may know little about the inner technicalities of theology, but he does rest in the full and undoubted persuasion that Christ was delivered for our offenses and was raised for our justification. And this is the good news that repentant sinners are waiting to hear. The common man is weary of theories; he is hungry for the gospel; he craves a firm note of authority. And Billy Graham meets this need. He stands before the anxious multitudes and thunders, “Thus saith the Lord!”

Despite its anachronisms and inconsistencies, therefore, orthodoxy remains a stronghold of biblical Christianity. It puts first things first. It preaches that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22, R.S.V.). If the church fails to tell sinners how to be saved, of what final value is anything else that is said?

Realism’s diagnosis of human sickness is profounder than that of orthodoxy. No one can safely question this. But it so happens that sick people are more anxious to get well than they are to learn how sick they are. And since this is the case, it may turn out that Manhattan’s granite towers will offer little final resistance to the message of Billy Graham. There are no giants in the sight of God.

Edward John Carnell holds the Th.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard Divinity School and Boston University respectively. He is author of The Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr and other works, and contributed a chapter on “Niebuhr’s Criteria of Verification” to the Niebuhr volume in The Library of Living Philosophy. His latest work, Christian Commitment, will soon be published by Macmillan. Since 1954 he has been President of Fuller Theological Seminary.

Theology

Review of Current Religious Thought: April 29, 1957

John H. Gerstner

In the current issue of Pastoral Care attention is called to the centennial of the birth of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939). The Rev. Kenneth H. Rogers, Ph.D., tells something of the life of the famous Austrian Jewish psychoanalyst and his present significance for religion. Freud was a man of deep feeling who seldom revealed it, although control was often difficult for him. He was a good husband and an exemplary father of his six children. Professionally, he began as a neurologist and achieved distinction before he turned his attention to hypnotism in 1895. “This led to the use of the method of ‘free association’ as a cathartic technique in working with neurotic patients. The great turning-point came with Freud’s intuition that ‘free association’ was not really free, but determined in every possible respect.”

The above experience led to his first fundamental principle in psychoanalysis, namely, that all mental phenomena are completely determined. All abnormal behavior was but an inhibition or distortion of this normal deterministic pattern; this was his derivative second principle.

The nature of this psychological deterministic pattern as being oriented in the libido, which is usually taken as basically a sexual drive, has been regarded as uncongenial to Christian thought. Certainly Freud himself was hostile to religion. But Dr. Rogers feels that we may distinguish between the man and his method and use the latter for religious purposes. (One cannot help feeling that the religious Freudians are betraying a “sacred” trust of their dead master.) In any case, the enlightening article is rather provoking in not explaining quite what this area of cooperation between psychoanalysis and religion (especially Christianity) is. A system developed by an intelligent man who used it in lieu of, or against, religious theories, cannot now be taken captive by religion without some more convincing justification than is here given.

The question of the nature of God and gospel makes the brilliant analysis of the present trend to religion on college campuses, by Lewis W. Spitz (“Jerusalem and Athens: A Tale of Two Cities” in The Lutheran Scholar, January 1957) all the more intriguing. After a survey of considerable evidence of a return to religion in the colleges, Dr. Spitz warns: “There is, it should now be obvious, no cause for a premature celebration of Christendom over the return to religion on the campus. But therein lies the challenge.” A return to religion may be good, depending on what religion. The professor then makes some suggestions especially appealing to Lutheranism which he calls American Protestantism’s “secret weapon” (quoted from Professor Sidney Meade).

Speaking of Lutheranism reminds us of a strong statement that this theology, though it has sometimes adopted episcopal government, has never regarded it as essential (Ragnar Askmark, “The Lutheran Church and Episcopal Succession” in The Lutheran World, September 1956). At the same time the Episcopal Church organ, Living Voice, gives notice that the Church of South India is in danger precisely because it is apparently playing free and loose with this essential of the church (April 7, 1957). “A warning that the Episcopal Church is faced with decisions that might well lead to serious rifts was expressed by the Rev. Canon Albert J. du Bois, executive director of the American Church Union. Canon du Bois … said he was referring specifically to recommendations concerning the relationship of the Church to the pan-Protestant Church of South India.…” In the ensuing report, evidence of departure from the Episcopal view of the bishopric plus laxity in doctrine are the chief grounds of the present anxiety. [The Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer requires unequivocal adherence to Christian doctrine, belief in Catholic sacramental doctrine and belief in Catholic Orders—requirements which the C.S.I. ministry did not fulfill.] Canon du Bois said his criticism was offered along the lines of the purpose of the ACU “to uphold the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church; to extend the knowledge of the Catholic faith and practice of the Church,” and “to maintain unimpaired the position of the Episcopal Church as an integral part of the whole Catholic Church of Christ.”

These two notes, a Lutheran insistence on the dispensability of episcopal order and an Episcopalian insistence on its indispensability, point up the fact that the acids of modernity have not eaten away this ancient bone of contention.

Books

Book Briefs: April 29, 1957

Historical Apologetic

Thales to Dewey, a History of Philosophy, by G. H. Clark. Houghton Mifflin, 1957. $5.00.

A sound scholarly text on the History of Philosophy in the light of the Word of God has long been desired by Christian teachers and students. The present work by Professor Gordon H. Clark is admirably suited to meet this need. Solid scholarship and biblical faith appear in this volume, not in juxtaposition, but fused into a unified whole. Chapters five and eleven, titled respectively “The Patristic Period,” and “Contemporary Irrationalism,” are representative of the book as a whole in this important respect.

The discussion of the Patristic period opens with the drawing of a clear-cut contrast between Paganism and Christianity. A careful analysis of the logic of the terms “transcendent” and “immanent” serves to clarify the contrary opposition between Greek Immanentism and Hebrew Transcendence. The Scripture doctrines of Creation and Revelation stand out sharply against the background of Greek Philosophy even at its best in Platonism and Stoicism. Alleged resemblances between the latter philosophy and the New Testament are exposed as superficial and attempts to find Pauline theology in Paganism are weighed and found wanting. The cogent argument brought against the claim that Paul taught ascetic dualism is the apostle’s opposition to the heretics at Colossae who lived by the evil maxim “Touch not, taste not, handle not”. Equally pertinent in relation to the assertion that Paul was a mystic is the observation that Paul’s visions, unlike those of Plotinus, were full of subjects and predicates. “And the things known, the doctrines revealed are not echoes of Greek philosophy or mystery religions” (p. 194).

The distance between the first and the twentieth century may appear immense. Yet modern irrationalism re-enacts the “failure of nerve” that marked the closing centuries of antiquity. Professor Clark sketches the line of development from Hegel the last great Rationalist of modern times, to Marx and Kierkegaard on the one hand, and on the other, through French positivism to Pragmatism culminating in the Instrumentalism of John Dewey.

No attempt is made to present an exhaustive account of the development since Hegel. Any presentation of living philosophers is disclaimed, although an exception is made by way of a reference to the dialectical theology of Emil Brunner and its kinship with the atheistic Existentialism of Sartre and Heidegger. Heidegger, incidentally, disclaims this label which Sartre vaunts. A future edition of the book would be enriched by a fuller discussion of Existentialism as the most radical expression of Irrationalism. At the same time, many contemporary readers would appreciate some reference to a more rationalistic thinker, Ludwig Wittgenstein and the movements of linguistic analysis dependent on his work which exercise a predominant influence in the English speaking philosophical world today.

A sacrifice of breadth was no doubt required for the achievement of a measure of depth in a necessarily limited study of a number of difficult thinkers. Post-Hegelian German thought is illustrated by the views of Schopenhauer, Strauss and Feuerbach. In reference to Strauss, the mythologizing theory is timely in view of the discussion of de-mythologizing the New Testament stirred up recently by Bultmann under the influence of Heidegger’s philosophy. Unbelief can attach itself as readily to an irrationalist as to a rationalist philosophy.

More detailed treatment is reserved for Marx, Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, as befits the stature and influence of these thinkers. Hegel’s dialectic with its repudiation of fixity in the world or in thought profoundly influenced the three notwithstanding their violent antagonism to Hegel’s rational absolute. Marx shares Hegel’s collectivism, which is anathema to Kierkegaard and also to Nietzsche, whose Superman is explained to be a type of superior individual such as Caesar of Napoleon. Marx and Nietzsche are avowedly anti-Christian, while Kierkegaard champions Christianity to the extent of condemning the established Church for its satisfaction with externals without the life of the cross. Yet Kierkegaard’s intensely Christian feeling embodied itself in the language of Hegel’s dialectic. The result was the extravagant identification of truth with subjectivity which has inspired dialectical theologians and existentialist philosophers in the twentieth century. The logical incongruity of such sceptical subjectivism is pointed out together with the religious consequence that an idol would be as satisfactory as God, if objective truth were indifferent in relation to subjective feeling. The critique of Kierkegaard’s subjectivism is an application of a general principle which Dr. Clark wields against every form of Scepticism. The principle is that as soon as Scepticism makes any assertion, it destroys itself, since its essence is the refusal to assert anything. Dialectical materialism is thus refuted by pointing out that if thought is the natural product of the brain, there is no reason to believe that ideas of dialectical materialism are more natural or more true than others. Nietzsche’s theory of evolutionary rationalism is disposed of by showing that if it is true, it must be false.

The logical law of non-contradiction likewise discredits Pragmatism as developed by James, Schiller and Dewey. Yet, the reader will find himself spared any sense of monotonous repetition. The same principle is variously applied in accordance with the variety of forms that irrationalist thought assumes and the argument is rendered charming by ironical turns, of which the remark that “solipsism is pragmatically indistinguishable from pragmatism” (p. 512) appears to be one of the most subtle instances.

The analysis of John Dewey’s philosophy is an appropriate termination to the work, not because of any reason for holding Dewey to be the ultimate in the history of philosophy, but rather because of the uncanny influence for evil that his philosophy has exercised in education. Dewey’s disciples have been superficial in comparison with their master, but Dewey himself, despite the delicacy of his dialectic, is as devoid of foundations that endure as any other irrationalist thinker.

This chapter reminds the reviewer of the late J. Gresham Machen’s analysis of the anti-intellectual character of modern liberalism in philosophy and religion. In professing Protestantism today, Modernism and Neo-orthodoxy alike rest on philosophical foundations which are destructive of the intellect. Conservative theology which subjects man’s reason to the authority of the infallible Word stands alone also in ascribing to the intellect its God-given dignity. The present volume, therefore, is no mere textbook of the history of philosophy. It is a masterpiece of historical apologetic for the faith once delivered to the saints.

WILLIAM YOUNG

Five Martyrs Of Acua

Through Gates of Splendor, by Elisabeth Elliot. Harper Brothers. $3.75.

“September, 1955, was the month in which Operation Auca really started, the month in which the Lord began to weave five separate threads into a single glowing fabric for His Own glory. Five men with widely differing personalities had come to Ecuador from the eastern United States, the West Coast and the Midwestern States. Representing three different faith missions, these men and their wives were one in their common belief in the Bible as the literal and supernatural and perfect word from God to man. Christ said ‘Go ye’; their answer was ‘Lord, send me.’ ”

So begins chapter nine in this moving portrayal of the lives of the five young missionary martyrs of Ecuador. Through the first eight chapters, Elisabeth Elliot (herself one of the five missionary widows) has skillfully traced the events in the lives of these consecrated young men that led up to this time when the “five scattered threads” began to draw together to form the picture that, in January, 1956, focused the attention of the world on a little sandy beach in Ecuador beside a river called the Curaray.

In the 10 chapters that follow she describes the careful, prayerful preparations leading up to the first personal contacts with the savage Aucas; the encouragement that came when the Aucas responded with gifts to the friendly overtures of the missionaries; and finally the “Silence” (chapter 18) of that fateful day when radio contact ceased.

Skillfully written, fast-moving, Through Gates of Splendor is more than just a book; it is a spiritual experience. Writing with dignity and restraint, never descending to a level of self-pity or excessive adulation, Mrs. Elliot draws on her own intimate knowledge of the details of Operation Auca, along with that of other widows, as well as the heart-outpourings from the diaries and letters of martyred missionaries Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, Nate Saint and Roger Youderian. One almost feels that he stands “on holy ground” as he is allowed to look into the diaries—and indeed into the hearts—of these missionary heroes and see their devotion to Christ, their utter death to self, their compassionate desires to reach those who have never heard the Gospel.

Complete with 64 pages of pictures, sparkling with vivid descriptions of native speech, dress and customs, Through Gates of Splendor is 256 pages of engrossing reading. But always the reader is gripped with its deep spiritual message. Between its lines and behind its pages there seem to ring out five strong young voices with the words they sang only a few hours before they laid down their lives for Christ and the Aucas for whom He died:

“We rest on Thee, Our Shield

and our Defender,

Thine is the Battle, Thine

shall be the praise

When passing through the gates

of pearly splendor

Victors, we rest with Thee

through endless days.”

LARRY WARD

Fertile Ideas

Prayer and Life’s Highest, by Paul S. Rees. Eerdmans, 1956. $2.00.

The six chapters of this slender volume by the Pastor of the First Covenant Church of Minneapolis discuss prayers of the Apostle Paul under the headings of Mastery, Excellency, Consistency, Sanctity, Expectancy and Serenity. These are not ordinary devotional readings, designed to preface periods of prayer but solid materials which ought to be read and reread by those in quest of the deep things of the Spirit of God. Nearly every page suggests fertile ideas for sermons or discussions concerning prayer, but not in the neat outline form that can be utilized with scant preparation. Rather by suggesting fresh interpretations and applications, the chapters will stimulate the reader to further study by which he can develop his own exposition of these important topics. Though the reputation of Dr. Rees as a preacher and writer has long been an enviable one, this book even surpasses his usual excellence. It may well have taken form during the London crusade, when the author as special preacher to British pastors, witnessed anew the great power of prayer. At least it reflects a liberty and freedom that a pastor seldom enjoys to this degree within his own parish. A master in the use of the English language, Dr. Rees writes with facility and spiritual power, revealing a breadth of knowledge and penetrating insight into the best literature, both sacred and secular. The volume abounds with fresh and telling illustrations, choice quotations and exegetical and expository passages, all presented without the moralistic or didactic tone that mars so much writing in this field.

To indicate the intellectual and spiritual vigor of this book one paragraph is quoted from the initial chapter, dealing with the prayers of the apostle for the Ephesians:

“Prayer for masterful living—that’s what we have here. Prayer for Christians that they may find in Christ, since they cannot find it anywhere else, the ability to cope with life, to beat down the ‘principalities and power,’ to turn back the onrush of temptation, to outwit the machinations of the devil, to subdue and regulate the instinctual drives of human nature, to fasten to the Cross the false ego that so stubbornly resists its doom—what prayer for mastery this is!”

This is a book that should win an honored place in prayer literature. To the present reviewer, at least, it seems destined to become a classic and perhaps some day to be numbered with the writings of Alexander Whyte, Andrew Murray, A. J. Gordon and John Henry Jowett.

ERIC EDWIN PAULSON

Pulpit Master

500 Selected Sermons, by T. DeWitt Talmadge. Baker, 1956. $4.50.

A reading of the sermons of great pulpit masters of the past serves forcibly to remind us that timely preaching is always that preaching which is concerned with the timeless themes.

Though preached during a stirring period of great conflict and change, the sermons of T. DeWitt Talmadge still today seem to be speaking to our contemporary situation. Some of the themes of the sermons in this volume under review are “The Gospel of Health,” “Surgery without Pain,” “A Helpful Religion” and “The Dangers of Pessimism.” These sound almost like some of our “peace of mind” and “power of positive thinking” sermons today, yet they are all presented within the framework of real, solid, enduring theology.

In Talmadge’s heyday evolution and the new critical views of the Bible were to the fore in the thinking of the popular man. Talmadge took up his cudgels and went to work in behalf of the “splendors of orthodoxy.” How he fought the battle in his day is seen in such sermons in this volume as “The Monarch of Books,” “The Guess of Evolution,” “Revision of Creeds,” “Expurgation of the Scriptures” and “Slanders Against the Bible.” Something of his approach can be understood from these words with which he opened his sermon, “Splendors of Orthodoxy”:

A great London fog has come down upon some of the ministers and some of the churches in the shape of what is called ‘advanced thought’ in biblical interpretation. All of them, without any exception, deny the full inspiration of the Bible. Genesis is an allegory, and there are many myths in the Bible.

Still relevant to our day of revolution in biblical theology, is it not?

One of the great problems facing us today is the matter of communication. How shall we communicate the truth of God to modern man? The scholars are seeking to find a new vocabulary that can speak in the dimension of revelation. These sermons of Talmadge unveil the secret of communication. It is not in new words, but in preaching the old words in a down to earth, practical, everyday way that will help people. Rather than preaching in precise theological terms, Talmadge painted word pictures of truth that impressed themselves on the hearts of men.

T. DeWitt Talmadge was one of America’s most influential preachers around the turn of the century. He preached to great crowds in “The Central Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn, N. Y. and millions more were reached through the printing of his sermons in the newspapers. Five hundred of his best sermons are now being printed in ten double volumes by Baker Book House so that Christians of today may be guided and inspired by the successful pulpit message and methods of this great preacher of the last century. This double volume III–IV contains 54 sermons of the series and the themes with which they deal are all very much to the fore in the Christian life of our day.

The rhetoric of this pulpit master loses something by being printed rather than preached, and the style is not what our newspaper type minds are used to, but these messages still have meat and will nourish us in our stirring times which are not so far removed from those of Talmadge.

W. G. FOSTER

Scholarly Commentaries

The Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, by Lightfoot. Zondervan, $3.50. St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, by Lightfoot. Zondervan, $3.50. St. Paid’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon, by Lightfoot. Zondervan, $4.50.

Scholarly commentaries on the Greek text of the letters of the Apostle Paul are not being produced by British and American scholars today. Because of this the serious student of the Scriptures is forced to turn either to the works of German and Dutch scholars (if he is able) or to the works of past generations. It is to supply this latter type of demand that the Zondervan Publishing House has reprinted these three commentaries of the Cambridge scholar, J. B. Lightfoot.

Dr. Lightfoot was a colleague of the well-known New Testament scholars Westcott and Hort, and his commentaries in the “Macmillan Series” on the books of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers have been in constant demand from the time they first appeared 90 years ago right down to our own day. In the books before us we have a good deal more than just a commentary, and this is perhaps what has made them so valuable to serious students. The questions of Introduction are made to live. Exactly who were the Galatians, where and in what condition was Paul when he wrote to the Philippians, what was the nature of the heresy at Colossae? Lightfoot’s style is energetic, arresting and lively as he considers these matters that in some commentaries are as dry as dust.

In the body of the commentaries there is full and ample discussion of the exegetical problems involved, and the thoroughness of the author’s acquaintance with the Greek classics, as well as the language of the New Testament, is soon apparent. If one is interested in knowing what the Greek text of the Apostle Paul says, he won’t find many who know and sympathize with the language and thought of the apostle better than Lightfoot.

But not the least interesting part of each commentary is the appendix where one finds in the Commentary on the Galatians two long dissertations, one on the Brethren of the Lord, and one on Paul’s relationships with Peter, James and John. In the Colossians and Philemon is an appendix on the Essenes and their relationship to Christianity, a subject that will be increasingly discussed in the light of the new knowledge of the Qumran community. And in the commentary on the Philippians there is a brief comment on the relations of Paul to the Stoic philosopher Seneca, and then a 90 page essay on, “The Christian Ministry.” This latter has been bound separately in past years and has been highly prized by those whose persuasion in matters of church polity is Episcopalian. It is definitely of a “low-church” character and could be read with profit by all those who seek light on the nature of the ministry and priesthood in the early church.

It should be clearly stated that Lightfoot’s commentaries are not of the homiletical, sermon-starter variety. But the student of the New Testament who is interested in knowing exactly what the Apostle Paul had to say will find these books invaluable.

JOSEPH C. HOLBROOK, JR.

Splendid Tool

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, translated and edited by W. F. Arndt and F. W. Gingrich from W. Bauer’s Griechischdeutsches Worterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments und der ubrigen Urchristlichen Literatur 4th ed. 1952. University of Chicago Press, 1957. $14.00.

The publication of this lexicon will make a major contribution to the study of the Greek New Testament text among present-day scholars. For many centuries earnest students of the scriptures have felt compelled to go back to the original text to ascertain their true meaning. To do this the best possible tools are essential. Basic to the study of the Greek text is a sound lexicon. The older lexicons leaned heavily on the classical lexicons to find their meanings. But the inspired authors of the New Testament did not write in the same vein as the classical authors. The Greek of the New Testament is the language of the people, the so-called koine Greek of every-day life and usage.

Those contributing to this lexicon have availed themselves of the vast archeological discoveries which have thrown so much light on the meaning of New Testament Greek words. In addition to giving a competent translation of Walter Bauer’s Greek-German Lexicon, they have extended it and revised it. There has been some re-arrangement of entries, corrections and the inclusion of more irregular verb-forms—all to render this work a splendid tool for every student who wishes to “search the Scriptures” in the original.

STILES LESSLY

Practical Epistle

Make Your Faith Work, by Louis H. Evans. Revell, 1957. $2.50.

The Epistle of James is the least technical of all the Epistles. It is full of strong, practical sense and has a message for Christians of every degree of attainment. James insists that the Christian’s religion must show. There are certain marks by which people can recognize a Christian. With remarkable skill Dr. Evans shows us that if we want to be real followers of Christ, the Epistle to James is a good guide.

There are many theories as to the authorship of the Epistle of James. Dr. Evans is persuaded that the best evidence favors the view that the author was James, the brother of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this assumption, Dr. Evans writes,

If the brother of Jesus was the author—and we proceed on that well-established premise—then the Epistle he wrote becomes something more than merely interesting, for it contains the conclusions of a brother about a divine brother. What could be more intimate, more revealing? Brothers are always hypersensitive to what their own think and say about them. ‘What does your brother think of you?’ is a question that goes into your heart like a knife. So what James says about Jesus, about his faith and works, would go deep.

After the Resurrection James became an ardent believer in the deity of Christ. He served as the pastor of the Church at Jerusalem, and it was to him that the Christians of the day flocked for fellowship and counsel. James, says Dr. Evans, saw in the life of Christ not only a faith but a force. As a result of what he saw he has given us a practical way of living and realistic power to match the problems of the day.

The nine chapters in this book all deal with soul-searching questions. The topics are, “How Do You Face Life’s Trials?,” “Is Your Religion Words or Works?,” “Are You Prejudiced?,” “Is Your Tongue Converted?,” “Do You Own a Peaceful Heart?,” “Are You Conceited?,” “Is Your Money Converted?,” “Can Your Faith Heal?” and “Are You a Soul Winner?” The author tells us that if the reader can answer these questions in the proper way, then his brothers and family may catch the vision of the divine brother, too. Many a doubting Thomas may be arrested by the evidences of the reader’s Christian life, filled as it can be with workable, practical power.

While in no wise minimizing the value of the healing of the body, Dr. Evans shows in this book that men are far more interested in the healing of the body than in the healing of the soul. With this observation, he comments,

Would to God it were possible to arouse as much interest in the healing of a man’s soul as we have in the healing of his body! Regrettably, it has never been thus, in human society.… People flock to the spectacular. They come with little urging to pray in intercession for the healing of physical man. But suppose you tell these same people that ‘the prayer of faith will save the sick’ and inform them that you are using this word ‘save’ in a strictly spiritual sense—how many will flock together for such a purpose? To promise to heal the body brings crowds; to promise to save the soul brings a blank stare. We spend millions on hospitals, on medical research, on efforts to cure cancer, polio and tuberculosis—and who would not thank God for that? But in comparison we spend pennies for the cure and salvage of the human soul.

With a high sense of final values, Dr. Evans calls Christians to regain a Christian interest in the spiritual equation of human beings. To see what happens to the soul of man is of supreme importance in the mind of God.

Dr. Evans is a wise counsellor. His style is unpretentious and pungent. The inescapable conclusion that the reader reaches as he comes to the end of this book is that in all the major areas of human interest, the Christian faith works. This is evidence that no clever unbeliever can rule out of the court of honest judgment.

The pastor will find this book of value to make practical applications of the Gospel message. The layman will find inspiration to manifest his Christian life that it may exert an influence over those outside of the church.

JOHN R. RICHARDSON

Tools Or Crutches

Master Book of New Illustrations, by Walter B. Knight. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. $6.95.

The publication of a volume of sermonic illustrations is always both an asset and a liability for the preacher. On the one hand, it provides him with a wide assortment of materials to which he can turn for the purpose of illuminating most any propositional truth of Scripture. And only an insignificant few would challenge the value of illustrations wisely selected and used with discretion. They add to the impact of a sermon and often make a lasting impression upon the minds of the audience, thus aiding the memory in recalling the principles they elucidate. On the other hand, a book of this kind by its very nature is a common storehouse. When employed by a large number of preachers the freshness of the materials is lost to congregations through repetition. For this reason certain classic illustrations have merited the label “canned.”

While insisting that the best illustrations are those which the preacher personally garners from a great variety of sources, we also admit the desirability of publications of this sort. Whether in an individual case they become tools or crutches depends entirely upon the manner in which they are used.

This is the second massive volume of illustrations to come from the pen of Mr. Knight. It consists of 760 double-columned pages. One finds it difficult to name any major topic overlooked by the author. The materials are arranged according to subjects, which in turn appear alphabetically. The one weakness at this point is the omission of an index with cross-references. Many illustrations admit of several applications, but, except in the few instances where Knight records them under several classifications, this factor has been neglected.

On the whole, the illustrations are lucid; however, occasionally one meets with obscurity and ambiguity. As for quality, one must allow the right of personal taste. In the opinion of the reviewer more than one-half of the materials are unsuitable. Some have long ago lost their novelty. Some seem pointless. Some are stereotyped. Many others lack polish, hut can be made effective if the minister rephrases them, drops old cliches and dresses them up in more dignified language. Notwithstanding these defects, preachers, teachers and Christian workers will profit from the purchase of this book. The ordinary layman will find inspiration, instruction and delight of soul in its pages. We therefore commend the author for his contribution to this field, a contribution horn of much reading and research.

RICHARD ALLEN BODEY

Challenging Call

James, Your Brother, by Lehman Strauss. Loizeaux Brothers, 1956. $3.00.

The warmly devotional and practical meditations on the Epistle of James in this recent book by Dr. Strauss provide a fresh and challenging call to Christian living. The Epistle of James is itself, of course, an eminently practical book which should be an unfailing stimulus to the performance of the duty which God requires of man. But to be best understood and most profitably used it should be interpreted in the context of the whole revelation that God has given us in the Scriptures. Dr. Strauss constantly endeavors to bring the light of other parts of the Bible to bear on the understanding of his text. A most welcome and wholesome feature of his approach is his high view of the Bible as the inspired and infallible Word of God and his consequent realization that the part has relevance to the whole and the whole to the part.

The author’s experience as both pastor and teacher has unquestionably made a contribution to the clarity, simplicity, directness and effectiveness of his presentation. He is concerned to reach his reader; he is not averse to addressing him in a warm-hearted, earnest, pastoral way; he labors that the practical Epistle of James may bring forth practical fruits in the reader’s faith and life.

The reviewer does not agree with all the positions taken in the book but is grateful for its devout and heartening summons to the service of our great God and Saviour.

JOHN H. SKILTON

Far East News: April 29, 1957

Indonesia Crusade

The Rev. Dave Morken, well known evangelist in the Far East, will hold special meetings in four cities of Indonesia during May under sponsorship of Orient Crusades.

Many churches are uniting for the meetings. Working with the evangelist will be Norman Nelson, soloist. Roy Robertson of the Navigators will be in charge of follow-up work. Ais Pormes is secretary of the Indonesian committee.

Resurgence In Asia

A revival of every major religion of Asia is in process.

The changes taking place over the vast expanse, where over half the world’s population lives, have been described as “revolution.” These changes have to do not only with politics, but also with economics, culture and religion.

With the advent of the new independent nations—India, Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Vietnam and Korea—a renewed interest has naturally been manifested in culture and history. As the culture of these nations has been closely related to native religions, there has been a resurgence of religion in most lands.

In some sections where native religions have not been very active, they have been stimulated by the Christian Church—their revival, to some extend, has been in self-defense. Some branches of Buddhism in Japan have built auditoriums, where they have worship services similar to Christian practice. Shintoism also is showing rapid growth. In Formosa, where Buddhism has been somewhat decadent, there have been signs of new activity. A Buddhist church has been erected, with pews, a pulpit, organ, choir and Sunday School. The only observable difference in the building is that, instead of a cross on the roof, there is a swastika resting on a lotus flower.

Representatives of theological institutions in east Asia met in Bangkok recently and made plans for a study institute to be held at Singapore from July 1 to August 30. Because of the importance of understanding these native religions and the new developments taking place within them, the institute is to be devoted entirely to the study of such religions.

The Christian religion also is in the midst of a great expansion.

War Loss Claims

One hundred and two claims totaling $26,713,000 have been filed with the U. S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission by Roman Catholic, Protestant and non-Christian bodies asking compensation for war losses sustained in the Philippines.

Protestant groups filed 44 claims amounting to $3,508,000. Roman Catholic organizations filed 34 claims totaling $14,221,000.

A single claim of $6,002,000 was made by the Universal Theomanistic Association for the alleged death of 3,000 members.

Europe News: April 29, 1957

Revival Of Confession

The League of Reformed Churches in Germany has criticized what it said was a movement inside the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKID) toward a general revival of individual confession of sins.

A statement issued by the moderamen, or top management body, of the league said, “We must warn against the false view that the confession of sins to a preacher or another brother necessarily brings forth absolution by virtue of the confession itself or by virtue of a supernatural authority of the preacher.”

The Evangelical Church in Germany comprised Lutheran, Reformed and United Churches. The reformed League represents about 450,000 persons and embraces most of the country’s Reformed parishes.

The moderamen stated:

“It is not without reason that the fathers of the Reformation fought against auricular confession—against the priestly claim to power and judgment which manifested itself in the medieval practice of confession and against the false security which men drew from the priestly word, which was not the word of God.”

Individual confession was abolished by the Protestant Church in Germany around 1700. The practice was reintroduced formally in Bavaria in the middle of the 19th century but was observed only in isolated cases.

Birkeli Resigns

Dr. Fridtjov Birkeli has resigned as director of the Department of World Missions of the Lutheran World Federation to become general secretary of the Norwegian Missionary Society.

Balked By Sentiment

Popular sentiment has balked plans to tear down remains of the war-bombed Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.

The church’s board of trustees approved the proposal, but changed the decision after their announced plans created a storm of protest. A communist East Berlin paper joined the clamor.

Trustees compromised by announcing they will retain the blackened 350-foot tower and probably erect a small church adjacent to it.

A symbol of postwar Berlin, the tower stands in the center of a traffic circle at one end of the Kurfuerstendamm, the city’s most popular shopping and hotel thoroughfare.

Known to Berliners as the Gedaechtniskirche, the Memorial Church was dedicated in 1897 to Kaiser Wilhelm I, who died in 1888. Mosaics in the west lobby depicting the Hohenzollern rulers surviyed the Allied air attacks which shattered the building on Nov. 23, 1943.

Church Offerings

Widespread consternation throughout the Christian community of Egypt greeted the “Fatwa” (legal opinion) by the government that collections should not be taken in churches or mosques.

Mosques do not take up a collection at weekly services.

The opinion said all contributions toward the support of such institutions should be systemized under the supervision of the Ministry of Social Affairs.

While a “Fatwa” does not carry the force of law, the announcement is interpreted as a prelude to the issuance of specific legislation. Observers cannot predict, however, how the government can reconcile such a step with the clear-cut guarantees in new Constitution with respect to free and unfettered worship. Christianity holds offerings to be an integral part of the total act of worship.

The announcement, according to Christian leaders, is but one more link in the chain of evidence which shows the determination of the present regime to restrict the freedom of minority religious groups, whether local or foreign.

Nigerian Broadcasts

A Baptist Clergyman has been named first chairman of the newly-formed Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation. He is Dr. J. T. Ayorinde, pastor of First Baptist Church, Lagos, and a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance.

His appointment has been hailed in Nigeria as an indication that the broadcasting corporation will encourage religious freedom.

“I see this as an opportunity to make a civic contribution,” said the 49-year-old former president of the Nigerian Baptist Convention (1950–1955).

Return To Egypt

Less than 48 hours after the announcement by the U. S. State Department that the five-month ban on Americans traveling to Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Israel had been lifted, wives and children of American diplomatic, business and missionary personnel began returning to Egypt—the land they had left so hastily when the fighting began last October.

Some 40 men, women and children of the American (United Presbyterian) Mission were expected to return on a single KLM flight from Europe. Together with others, on extended furloughs in the United States, these returnees have done much to relieve the pressure of work for those who did not evacuate or were permitted earlier returns.

Lifting of the ban was regarded as a healthy sign, looking forward to continued improvement of the political situation in the Middle East.

With expectations of a huge influx of tourists during the spring and summer, Israel has rushed plans to make the visitors more comfortable.

“Pent-up desires to visit the land of the Bible have been building up in America at a tremendous rate,” said Joseph Ilan, director of the Israel Government Tourist Office in New York.

Air lines are adding new equipment and more schedules to the run. Air-conditioned hotels are being opened and others are modernizing.

Sign In Capetown

Anglical authorities erected a sign on the steps of St. George’s Cathedral in Capetown:

“This cathedral is open to all men and women of all races to all services at all times.”

The cathedral is a stone’s throw from the House of Assembly which approved, upon its second reading, the Native Laws Amendment bill, giving the government the right to prohibit Africans from worshipping with whites.

The measure has been denounced by leaders of most major religious bodies in South Africa. Some served notice on the government that they will defy the bill if it becomes law.

Dr. Richard Ambrose Reeves, Anglican Bishop of Johannesburg, told parishioners they could not in good conscience obey such legislation.

The very Reverend T. J. Savage, Dean of Capetown, said the cathedral sign was “not put up as a protest against anything, but as a positive statement of where we stand and have stood in the past. It represents the policy of this church since 33 A.D. We thought it a good time to remind people of it.”

British Isles News: April 29, 1957

Festival In Moscow

The Youth Department of the British Council of Churches has advised young people against participating in the communist-sponsored Youth Festival to be held in Moscow this summer.

Recent criticism has suggested that Christians, by refusing to take part in the Moscow festival, are losing an opportunity of witnessing to their faith and of creating a better understanding between Christianity and communism.

The Rev. O. Fielding Clarke, a member of the Christian Commission for the festival, claims that many young people, from Roman Catholics on the one hand to Quakers on the other, are ignoring the British Council of Churches and registering as delegates. He said, “Let the young people on both sides of the so-called Iron Curtain meet freely. A Christianity that has to be kept in cottonwool is of little value in the world today and had scant appeal to young men and women of spirit.”

Replying to this, the Rev. Howard H. Patey, secretary of the BCC Youth Department, said the major voluntary youth organizations in Britain have “warmly commended” the Youth Department statement and are agreed “it would serve no constructive purpose for any British youth organization to send representatives to this festival.” These organizations include the YMCA, the YWCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Associations, National Boys and Mixed Clubs Associations.

F. C.

Problem In Ireland

The emigration of a number of young Presbyterian ministers to Canada since last summer has aroused much comment and concern as to the future of the ministry in Ireland.

Among reasons given for the emigration were the lack of opportunities in the smaller country congregations and the fact that many ministers had to live on inadequate salaries. Other ministers are considering the same action.

‘Bigness And Power’

Clergymen “should look inwardly … and see if we’re on the right track, if we’re emphasizing the right things,” according to Episcopal Bishop Dudley B. McNeil of Western Michigan.

He told the Grand Rapids Ministerial Association that one reason for the continuing “man-made catastrophes” might be that the Christian Church has come to worship “bigness and power” instead of fostering the “primary tenets of love and charity” laid down by Christ.

He added:

“Perhaps million-dollar churches, beautiful rooms, new parish houses, church secretaries and assistants are not the primary concern of Christ so much as that all men and women live the best possible Christian life.

“While we seem to be satisfied with the way things are, the amount of money and number of people we send to other areas of the world on missionary efforts are so small compared with what we spend to keep up our own standard of living that the results of missionary work are negligible.”

Calling upon Christians to “put first things first,” he said that, “if we believe it’s important to spread the doctrine of Christ, we should put an appropriate amount of time and money into doing that.”

Churches other than the Irish Presbyterian also have been affected to a lesser extent.

The supply of students for the ministry of the larger Protestant bodies continues to be substantial and the spiritual quality high.

The Board of Evangelism of the Methodist Church in America is sending a group of ministers to conduct a mission in Ireland next autumn. Arrangements are being made by the Irish Methodist Evangelistic Agency.

S. W. M.

Political Pressures on Church in Philippines

WORLD NEWS

Christianity in the World Today

(Ellsworth Culver, foreign secretary for Orient Crusades and correspondent in the Philippines forCHRISTIANITY TODAY, closely observed developments in the wake of President Magsaysay’s shocking death. He has written the following special report containing instructive background and the shape of things to come—ED.)

More than 7,000 islands, in this archipelago, are spread over an area which is roughly the size of the area from Chicago to New Orleans, from Kansas City to Cleveland. Some 20,000,000 people occupy about 3,000 islands, the others being nonarable. If all the islands were compressed, the total area would be the size of Arizona and only 15 per cent of it under cultivation.

The island of Mindanao is the new frontier of the Philippines, with industrious people migrating from the north to the south. With this migration, many of the age-old restraints and social barriers are breaking down—particularly in the area of religion. Protestant missions find Mindanao an area of great opportunity for the Gospel.

Following the close of World War II, the Philippines were granted independence after being under the control of the United States since 1898. The first leader of the Commonwealth, President Quezon, was a great man who did much in helping to shape democratic principles for the young government.

Later, communist infiltration in the form of the Huks began to take control of the countryside. In 1950 the situation had deteriorated to such an extent that many feared an open revolution at any moment. It was then that President Quirino appointed a young Congressman, a former guerilla fighter by the name of Ramon Magsaysay, to the post of Defense Secretary. In the next three years, Magsaysay so successfully led the fight against the Huks, not only in open warfare but in resettlement of the dissidents in new land areas, that he broke the back of the Huk movement in the Philippines. It is estimated today that there are some 600 armed Huks, with some 25,000 sympathizers, who have retreated to remote mountain regions. A steady but little-publicized campaign is being waged against them by government forces.

As a result of his success in saving the country from the Huks, Magsaysay was acclaimed throughout the world. The next step was easy. He was elected President of the Philippines. It is difficult to imagine the popularity of this man in the Philippines; he was truly a man of the people.

The President’s fatal airplane accident occurred on the threshold of the 1957 national elections. Magsaysay had only one opponent, Senator Claro Recto, and everyone considered the contest to be an easy one for the popular President.

Now, however, the political climate has completely changed.

During his administration, Magsaysay definitely played politics with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Three incidents took place which lost for him the support of the Protestants: (1) the banning of the Martin Luther film; (2) the bill establishing compulsory religious education in the public schools; and (3) the dedication of the Philippines to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the recent Eucharistic Congress.

It was on the issue of religious education where Protestants felt that Magsaysay had endangered the principle of religious freedom and democracy in the country. The Secretary of Education, Hernandez, was known to be a militant Roman Catholic, a Knight of Columbus. Hernandez perished with the President in the airplane crash on March 17.

Vice President Garcia, a liberal in his religious views, has taken over. A member of the “old guard,” which means that he is pro-American and anti-communist, Garcia inherits a difficult situation. He is not a strong administrator and does not have the popularity of the people. Most doubt that he can gain enough strength in the next few months to win a national election.

Two leading candidates are expected to be Senator Recto and Senator Jose Laurel, Sr.

Recto is known to be anti-Roman Catholic and is bitterly opposed by this church. Several outstanding leaders of the Protestant Church are backing his bid for the Presidency.

He has been accused of being anti-American and pro-communist. In an interview I had with him recently, Recto vigorously denied such charges as “pure concoction.” He feels that the U. S. State Department has been influenced against him by Carlos P. Romulo, Philippine Ambassador to the United States and Philippine representative on the United Nations’ Security Council. According to Recto, Romulo is not the Philippine ambassador to the United States but rather the American ambassador to the Philippines.

(Contrary to much public opinion in America, Romulo does not have great stature in the Philippines. The public has little interest in him, because of the fact that he is seldom in the country. Political leaders resent him, partly because of jealousy due to his world prominence and partly because of assertions that he is concentrating on improving his own resources in rich America.)

Laurel, also a member of the “old guard,” was provisional President during the Japanese occupation of the islands. Many feel he would make a good President.

From these speculations, it appears that the new President will be more liberal minded and will be able, perhaps, to stand against the pressure of the heirarchy in the Roman Catholic Church—an encouraging sign to evangelical Christianity in the Philippines.

Worth Quoting

“Be serious! Be earnest! Be little in your own eyes, and God will order all things well.”—John Wesley, in counseling fellow-minister. A hard-riding horseman himself, Wesley spurred on a circuit rider: “I am glad you are going into North Carolina; and why not into South Carolina, too?”

“Religion is a big story—big in terms of the number of readers who are directly touched by religion; big in terms of the intimacy between the reader and religion; big in terms of religion’s unique role in stabilizing and upgrading our local communities and undergirding our national way of life.”—C. A. McKnight, editor of Charlotte Observer in message to National Religious Publicity Council.

Wave Of Indignation

The United Church of Canada has called upon President Eisenhower and the National Council of Churches in the United States to stop “the shocking, sadistic character assassination” of innocent men by politicians and members of the U. S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee.

The plea was made in a statement issued after E. Herbert Norman, Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, and son of a former United Church missionary in Japan, had allegedly killed himself by leaping from the roof of a building in Cairo.

He was reported suffering from the strain of overwork and extreme depression over the reviewing of charges by the Senate subcommittee that he had once been a communist.

The statement said the old charge that Mr. Norman was a communist “had been thoroughly investigated by Canada’s External Affairs Department and by the U. S. State Department and he had been completely vindicated.”

(Virtually every foreign embassy and legation in Cairo was represented in the crowd that overflowed tiny St. Andrew’s Church of Scotland for the funeral of the Ambassador. The Rev. Roy A. Stewart, pastor, while paying tribute to the services of the deceased to his country and humanity, pointed out that Christianity could not condone such an act but neither did it give free rein for judgment.

(“We do well, in commiting the departed to God’s love and mercy, to look to our own standing in his sight,” he said.)

Control Of Colleges

A total of 744 of the 1,886 colleges and universities in the United States are controlled by religious groups, the U. S. Office of Education reported.

There are 474 Protestant colleges and universities, 265 Roman Catholic and five Jewish, the agency said.

An additional 481 are under private control but have no religious affiliation. Some 661 institutions of higher education are publicly controlled, including 282 municipal institutions, 360 state colleges and universities and 10 Federal institutions.

Co-educational institutions number 1,414, while 223 colleges enroll only men and 249 only women. About 500 are not fully accredited four-year colleges.

NAE Convention

“How do you go about putting on a prayer meeting?”

The question was asked by a reporter in the press room for the National Association of Evangelicals convention at Buffalo, New York. He was referring to the nationwide prayer meeting that night, when several hundred convention delegates would join spiritual forces with over 1,000 churches to pray for the Billy Graham New York Crusade.

Dr. Gerald B. Smith, church editor of the St. Paul Dispatch, who gave up part of his vacation and did a superb job of running the press room, provided an explanation. Later, the reporter looked on as various members of the group prayed, from 10:45 p.m. until about 2 a.m., that the Holy Spirit would take over each phase of the N. Y. campaign.

People: Words And Events

Camera on Congregation—Dr. Theodore H. Palmquist, pastor of Foundary Methodist Church, Washington, D. C., says he is thinking of buying a TV camera “to keep it turned” on his congregation all the time. After a recent telecast at his church, he remarked: “I was amazed at the difference it made … Nobody wanted to have a neighbor say ‘I saw you sleeping during the sermon.’ Why can’t we all behave as though the television cameras were turned on us? After all, God is with us any time we are at worship and isn’t what he sees more important than what the neighbors see?”

Address by President—President Eisenhower has tentatively accepted an invitation extended by Dr. Billy Graham to address the So. Presbyterian Men’s Convention at Miami in October. Dr. Graham also will speak.

Ministers Visit Congress—The number of ministers visiting Congress this session has been extremely high, compared to similar periods in other years. Several have been asked by the regular chaplains to give the opening prayers. Among those who have opened the Senate are Dr. Perry F. Webb, First Baptist Church, San Antonio, Texas; the Rev. William K. Penn, St. James Evangelical and Reformed Church, Haverton, Pa., and the Rev. Martin D’Arcy, Society of Jesus, London, England.

Razing of Landmark—“The Church Built From One Tree,” in Santa Rosa, Calif., will be torn down to make room for a city parking lot unless a campaign to raise $15,000 is successful. Built in 1873 from 78,000 feet of lumber cut out of a single giant redwood, the church was one of the few buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake. It was sold to the city by the First Baptist Church. The razing will start May 19 unless $15,000 is available to pay for moving it.

Clergymen and Surgeons—Physicians and clergymen are co-workers of God as a healing team with common goals and mutual concerns in their service to the sick. This was the consensus of a panel discussion on “The Impact of Religion on the Surgeon” at the 25th annual assembly of the Southeastern Surgical Congress at St. Petersburg, Fla. “There can be no doubt,” said Dr. R. L. Saunders of Memphis, Tenn., “that the impact of religion on the surgeon himself has a great influence on the patient. God is the one who can help the patient the most.”

Looking Ahead—An American-Dutch medical missionary in West Borneo and his wife have adopted the three-year-old son of a Dayak headhunter and hope he will become a Christian leader some day among his own people. Dr. John G. Breman, 51, sometimes called the Albert Schweitzer of West Borneo, nursed the boy back to health after he had been given up for dead by his father and witch doctors. The doctor is now in America raising funds for the hospital where he has worked for 30 years.

Handicapped Layman—Hugo Deffner, crippled Oklahoma City layman who conducted a one-man campaign to have architects design churches and public buildings with street-level entrances, has been named recipient of President Eisenhower’s trophy as “Handicapped Man of the Year.”

Bombardment in May—Balloons containing 250,000 portions of the Bible will be launched into Russia and satellite countries during the first two weeks in May by Billy James Hargis, Tulsa Evangelist. He says over 1,000,000 Bible portions have been floated into communist-dominated territories in the last four years.

Digest—Disciples of Christ to launch $5,000,000 campaign July 1 to expand Butler University’s School of Religion.… Oklahoma Governor Raymond Gary presented first Texas Baptist Sunday School Award of Recognition. A deacon, he recently opened mansion for cottage pray meeting.… Dr. Joseph Simonson, former Lutheran clergyman, resigns as U. S. Ambassador to Ethiopia.… Ground broken for new $1,000,000 Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board headquarters building at Richmond, Va.… Bishop Reuben H. Mueller, Indianapolis, United Brethren Church, elected president of General Commission on Chaplains and Armed Services Personnel.

Not much of a story in people praying for baptism of the Holy Spirit, the reporter figured. This prayer meeting may well have been the most important event at the schedule-jammed convention, which offered many excellent speakers.

‘The Whole Gospel’

The speaker asked a question at the Pre-evangelistic Conference, General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U. S., in Birmingham, Ala., April 25–May 1:

“What was it that made Paul say ever afterwards, ‘… for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I preach not the Gospel.’ ”

Then the speaker, Dr. John F. Anderson Jr., First Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas, submitted his case concerning the answer.

It is presented, in part:

“I submit to you that two inner drives made Paul the evangelist that he was. They are two sides of the same coin perhaps, yet two distinct thoughts that ever warned him to warn others.

“When Christ’s love became operative in his heart, he responded to that love by turning his whole being to pleasing the object of that love.… Paul took it personally when Jesus said, ‘Do you love me? Feed my sheep; If you love me keep my commandments; This is my commandment, that you love one another; Go into all the world and preach the gospel.’

“Paul believed it; let us say it: an unevangelistic Christian is a contradiction in terms. Christ gave his followers no choice.… There are only two kinds of people: those with him and those against him. There is only one kind of Christian; we are either a force for evangelism, really Christian, or we are still a field for evangelism, not yet Christian at all.

“… when the preacher really loves his Lord, it ‘sticks out all over.’ No one, hearing him preach, has the feeling that he has pulled his chair up to a fire that has gone out; the warmth radiates to every part of the congregation. When the session establishes this rapport of love, they do not have a committee on evangelism; they are a committee on evangelism!

“Dr. A. J. Gordon has testified, ‘I used to say, Lord, have compassion on this lost world. Then one day came his answer, I have had compassion. I gave my heart. Now you give yours.’ That is exactly what Paul did—exactly what we must do … We are evangelists first because we are controlled by Christ’s love.

“Paul was also filled with evangelistic fervor because he felt an obligation to men that compelled him. He felt a singular debt to all who had not heard, to all who were bound to ‘this body of death’ as he once had been … In the same spirit of his Saviour, whose earthly ministry exemplified the fact that he always had a mission for all and a message for each. Paul pushed on, never satisfied to rest on laurels.… He was tremendously concerned by what was happening to them, both here and hereafter. Nothing but the whole Gospel was strong enough medicine for such a malady.

“The church is always in danger of two heresies that stifle its evangelistic voice: a false idea of man and a false idea of God. Equally dangerous is it to say, ‘Man is all right’ or ‘God is all love.’ How simple is Satan’s snare! If there really is no such thing as sin, if man’s difficulty is nothing but lack of education or social adjustment or some other rationalistic nonsense, there is no need to alert the body of Christ. How strange that we fall for it.…

“Equally erroneous is the idea of God that paints him as a kindly and naive grandfather type that would not harm a hair of any of his mischievous charges. There is a dark line in God’s face, and fatal it is to forget it. God without his righteous holiness would not be God. In commenting on the fact that Christ clearly stated, ‘For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind (John 9:39),’ Dr. John Barlow in his forceful book, God So Loved, writes, ‘… the decisive fact to keep before us is not that Christ is our judge no less than our Saviour, but that he is our Judge in order that he may be our Saviour. The judgment of God is not outside the sphere of grace, but it is at its very heart. The God who was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, could not but judge sin if sin were ever to be fully forgiven, which is an entirely different matter from condoning it. Many a wrong is condoned which is never forgiven’ (page 49, Fleming H. Revell, Publishers, 1952).

“All of the seriousness of this whole Gospel explains what kept Paul going.

“This whole Gospel we must have if we would be the whole Christians that Christ would have. The very nature of our faith is that we must give it out or we will give it up. And we will give it out if we are controlled by the love of Christ above us and are concerned about the condition of men around us.”

The idea of importance was ably pinned down in the final convention address by Dr. J. C. McPheeters, president of Asbury Thelogical Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.

He said, in part:

“The dropped stitch, the missing link, the lost chord in the modern church is emphasis upon the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. We will not recover this lost heritage for the modern church in an agreement on theological terms concerning the experience of Pentecost but rather in an agreement upon the fact of the experience and the necessity … of being baptized with the Holy Ghost.

“I am not pleading for a sacrifice of theological conviction. We must maintain our theological convictions concerning Pentecost. But while maintaining our theological convictions, we should realize that others have come to a personal Pentecost over a theological highway which bears a different number than the one on which we are traveling.

“I came to my personal Pentecost over the highway of a Methodist theological terminology. However, I have known others who have come to a personal Pentecost over the highway of a Calvinistic terminology.

“Dr. Jesse O. Van Meter was for many years an outstanding leader in the Presbyterian church in the state of Kentucky. He was for 20 years president of the Lees Junior College at Jackson, Ky. After reaching the age of retirement, he accepted the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Wilmore, Ky.… He captivated the community within a short time.

“It was my high privilege to know Dr. Van Meter as an intimate, personal friend. I recall a conversation which I had with him one summer when he talked to me freely concerning a spiritual quest of his own heart. He said: ‘For some time I have had a deep concern for the baptist of the Holy Ghost. I have recently been reading the old authors on this subject, including Finney, Torrey and Moody. I have even spent some days in fasting and prayer. There is a great outreach in my heart for this spiritual enduement in my personal life.’ Six months had passed following that conversation, when I met Dr. Van Meter on the street in Wilmore. A new radiance and joy was reflected in his countenance as he greeted me.

“He said: ‘You will recall that last summer I confided to you concerning a spiritual quest.… My hunger was renewed within recent days. I had been praying and waiting upon the Lord daily for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Two days ago while I was praying and meditating in the early morning, the inner voice said to me: ‘I am coming soon.’ Yesterday morning while I was praying, at 9 o’clock, the blessed comforter came in his mighty baptism. I am now rejoicing in the fullness of his Spirit.’ Tears of joy clouded my friend’s eyes in a rhapsody of praise. In quietude we prayed and praised God together on the street. Dr. Van Meter’s church was crowded to overflowing during the few remaining years of his ministry.…

“No group of God’s children holds a monopoly on the way to Pentecost, by virtue of a distinctive theological interpretation in order to unite together in a common bond of unity and prayer, for a mighty baptism with the Holy Ghost in our modern churches and for the spread of a great heaven-sent revival throughout the nation and around the world.”

Other convention highlights:

Dr. Paul P. Petticord, president of Western Evangelical Seminary, Portland, Oregon, re-elected to second one-year term as president of NAE. Dr. E. R. Bertermann of St. Louis, Mo., executive director of The Lutheran Hour, elected president of National Religious Broadcasters, Inc. Dr. J. Palmer Muntz, pastor of Cazenovia Park Baptist Church, Buffalo, named chairman of American section of World Evangelical Fellowship.

Resolutions: Strong stand taken against Federal aid to education.… U. S. Information Service (Voice of America) praised for “forward steps now being taken in the handling of religious information.”.… Recognition of Red China opposed on grounds “it would be unquestionably immoral and un-Christian.” … Billy Graham assured of “united prayerful support” in New York Crusade.

Suspension Of Aid

A request has been voiced that American economic aid to Spain and Colombia be stopped until the State Department “is convinced that religious liberty for all faiths has been restored.”

Dr. C. Stanley Lowell, associate executive director of Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in calling attention to millions of dollars in economic and technical aid going to both countries, stated:

“We concede that our aid should not be used as an instrument for political or economic domination of any country. It is not for us to tell a foreign government which receives our aid that it must establish religious liberty, but we do have a moral obligation to state our belief that it ought to establish religious liberty.”

Dr. Lowell charged that 200 Protestant schools have been closed in Colombia since 1948, some 47 Protestant churches have been destroyed by fire or dynamite and 77 Colombia Protestants “have been killed because of their religious faith.” He said many Protestant churches remain closed in Spain and that Protestants have been placed under civil disabilities there because of their religious beliefs.

Eutychus and His Kin: April 29, 1957

Christianity Today April 29, 1957

THE S.T.D. AND D.S.T.

The brand new preacher in Mulchmanor Acres is young, learned and so self-conscious that he thought the bulletin notice, “D.S.T. begins next Sunday” should be corrected to get the letters of his doctor’s degree in right order.

His problems with Daylight Saving Time are only beginning. How should a young preacher walk four blocks through suburbia to a Sunday service at 7:30 p.m. D.S.T.? Should he ignore the roaring chorus of motor mowers? Does he have an appropriate greeting for Mrs. Wesley, who is painting garden furniture in the breezeway? As he passes Mr. John Knox and his son Calvin pulling the lawn-roller would it be best to appear wrapped in meditation?

I offered the obvious answer to his problem—drive the four blocks. Only a young minister would think of walking that far!

When that failed to satisfy him, I described the two usual plans for meeting D.S.T. (His doctor’s degree was in practical theology; you would think he would know that sort of thing. But his dissertation was on the pastoral theology of Chrysostom!)

Plan 1. Strategic retreat. Suburban gardeners are motorized, invincible. Cancel evening service immediately. Second stage: summer union services. Final stage: post on bulletin board, “Happy gardening! Will re-open for Harvest Home Service—Standard Time.” Preacher then dons putter pants, establishes good neighbor relations over picket fence.

Plan 2. United front subversion. Announce garden fete for June. Establish Sunday evening garden clinic in church social hall. Secure free movies from chemical companies: “Garden Sprays

and Fertilizers.” Stimulate rivalry in pulpit bouquets.

He seemed unimpressed. He did visit at the Wesley’s this week and I found they have invited the Knox’s to church with them next Sunday evening. This new pastor is preaching on the miracles of Jesus.

EUTYCHUS

U.N. TOWN MEETING

It is easy to compare the New England town meeting with the U. N., and then dismiss the latter as a failure.… But … early American democracy had the advantages of a common language and predominantly British culture.… The real tragedy of our time is not the U. N. as such, but the anarchy and insecurity of the nation-state system, which causes every member … including the United States to compromise the purposes of the U. N. Charter. The moral courage … required of us is to reckon with the tragic nature of world politics and to work from within the limitations imposed upon the U. N. rather than to scorn it.…

VERNON H. HOLLOWAY

Geneva, Ohio.

It is not the U. N. that is bringing the world to catastrophe, but the cold war, the passion of Israel and the Arabs and the many other passions of the nations. These forces are making the U. N. a weak instrument.… It is a marvel that the U. N. can do as much as it is doing. It needs our prayerful support.…

R. LEHMANN

St. Paul’s Evangelical and Reformed

Your remark that the New England Town Meeting had a “respect for law and for the rights of others … established upon a reverence for Almighty God” makes me think of the New England witchcraft trials.

We are living in a time of experimentation and learning in the matter of world government. Surely the U. N. is not the final word just as colonial government was not the final word, but please, let’s practice sympathy and understanding on a world-wide basis as well as on a community basis for we too have sinned and come short of the glory of God.…

W. THOMAS KEEFE

Minister of Christian Education

Central Presbyterian Church

Buffalo, N. Y.

For three years I lived in Maine and attended town meetings and found … a number of occasions on which “courtesy and common decency” were not evident.… If people who speak the same language, come out of the same culture and have the same basic religious influences can call each other names over the noise of chickens in a New England town meeting, it does not seem strange to me that people of different nations should sometimes resort to name calling when the issues are as great as the hydrogen bomb. In town meetings I have seen much that is good, but I have also seen times when there was irresponsibility, dishonesty and indecision.… Stop comparing the U. N. in practice with the New England Town Meeting in Theory.… Despite its failings the New England Town Meeting has been a constructive force. The same can certainly be said for the U. N.…

ALLAN MCGAW

Chesterland Baptist Church

Chesterland, Ohio

I have read your editorial: UN: Town Meeting? or Tragedy? with a great deal of interest and I am glad that you have selected the refusal of the U.N. to define aggression as significant. I wish to express my approval of your isolating … the reason why collective security will not work: the members of the United Nations will never agree upon a definition of an aggressor.… I fear the identification of UN with a New England town meeting, which you prove to be a false identification, is something that is being propagated by left wing influences in the hope that they can eventually make the UN a world government. A “town meeting of the nations” is a pleasant phrase which Americans will be inclined to accept.…

IRVING E. HOWARD

New York City

Your editorial on the U.N.… is also exactly the way I feel about it. I have been trying to keep faith in the U.N. ever since its organization, but today the road the U.N. is traveling seems to be farther away than ever from the principles upon which she was founded. Miltona, Minn.

JOHN W. OLSON

BEFORE AND NOT AFTER

Reading your article, “The Offense of the Blood” with interest and appreciation, I have found two errors in an otherwise “sound” presentation: you state that the Prayer of Humble Access, which you quote in part from the Book of Common Prayer, comes “after” Communion in the Liturgy of the Anglican Communion. In all Anglican Prayer Books it has always been placed before Communion; the 1662 English Book has it before the Consecration, but some subsequent Revisions in other Anglican provinces, including the American Church, place it just before the celebrant’s own Communion.… Further, you attribute “most humbly beseeching thee … and all other benefits of his Passion” to the Methodist Book of Discipline. The primary source for this is the Prayer of Consecration in the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Churches.

ROBERT E. EHRGOTT

Grace Church

Hinsdale, Ill.

THE FULL RICHNESS

In the discussion of “Current Religious Thought” (March 18) my characterization of neo-orthodox, orthodox and liberal views of Christ is somewhat abbreviated as cited from the article by Professor Branton under discussion. This abbreviation going back, I believe, to the original article, was entirely understandable, but I would like to quote in full the paragraph bearing on orthodoxy.

“The man Christ Jesus preached by the old orthodoxy is a supernatural figure, a God, or God himself. The truth of the incarnation is acknowledged but not taken with full seriousness. Again [i.e., as in the case of much neo-orthodoxy], Christ is preached, not Jesus Christ.”

The comment of your reviewer that “orthodoxy has not merely affirmed Christ to be God, but equally emphatically has affirmed his humanity” seems to me to be formally correct. My meaning was that in actuality orthodoxy often misses the full richness of the high doctrine by giving only formal recognition to the humanity of Christ. Where does this inadequacy appear? If I can give one example, it seems to me that the conservative critical approach to the Gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels, tends to obscure the real sense which the early Church had that the power of God manifested itself in the Incarnation through weakness and that Christ “emptied himself.” I would be as fearful of subjectivity in the understanding of the Word and of the testimony of the Spirit as your reviewer, but I believe that the authority of the Word in its fulness is weakened by what seems to me to be a somewhat defensive approach to criticism.

AMOS N. WILDER

Cambridge, Mass.

Professor Wilder’s correction is most welcome. While my remark was pertinent to the truncated form in which the quotation appeared, it is impertinent and unfair to the true and full statement.

With respect to the conservative deemphasis on the Incarnation, as stated by Professor Wilder himself, I can admit that it is true only in a sense. Professor Wilder will not deny, I am sure, that the Church has always rightly felt that the deity of Jesus is far more significant than his humanity. But that is not to de-emphasize his humanity. To rate humanity second to divinity is no reflection on humanity, surely. At the same time, orthodoxy has insisted, articulately since Chalcedon, on the full (against the Apollinarians), distinct (against the Monophysites) and inseparable (against the Nestorians) human nature of Jesus Christ. So far as I have been able to see it has not been forgotten in the criticism of the synoptic gospels. Professor Wilder feels that it has; but, since he gives no examples, I am at a loss to know quite what he means. So far as I have been aware, Zahn, Warfield, Machen and Stonehouse have been as careful and objective New Testament critics as Harnack, Cadbury, Grant and Knox.

JOHN F. GERSTNER

Pittsburgh, Pa.

THE ETERNAL VERITIES

Mr. Kelso was not expressing the voice of the Presbyterian Church U. S. A. when he expressed “… no truck.…” Ministers who conform to the orthodox creed in our beloved church happen to be in the majority rather than in the minority as it has been falsely supposed. This note is just to keep the record straight.

JOHN N. DIGIACOMO

First Presbyterian Church

Augusta, Ill.

My impression is that you are endeavoring to keep some existant theology as a final formulation of spiritual truth and I feel that static orthodoxies as rigid as the Arctic ice are a menace to the Christian Gospel.…

ELMER W. ROY

First Presbyterian Church

El Monte, Calif.

Please keep us informed as to what disposition of the Thomas Kelso case the Presbytery of Pittsburgh makes.…

ROBERT L. VINING

Nottingham, Pa.

• CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S inquiry to The Presbytery of Pittsburgh has elicited this information:

In response to a previous inquiry I conveyed the information to you that the Presbytery placed the matter in the hands of its Committee on Ministerial Relations; and perhaps the best reply I can make to your present inquiry is that the Committee on Ministerial Relations continues to have the matter in hand, and can be expected to report from time to time to the Presbytery. One interim recommendation from the Committee, which is a matter of public knowledge in the Presbytery, is that the request that Rev. Mr. Kelso be installed as Associate Pastor of the church he is serving be tabled at this time.

JOHN K. BIBBY

General Presbyter

Presbytery of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, Pa.

MINISTERIAL BREAKDOWNS

At the risk of creating the impression that we ministers don’t always agree in every important respect, I want to take issue with the author of Dear Charles (who is largely responsible for the recent furore): ministers don’t have to crack up. And Wesley Shrader himself knows why. It is because they should avoid the example of his fictional character, Charles Prince—who cracked up.

Ecclesiastical “success” may dangle its tempting allures before all of us, but it isn’t fair to generalize when the perils described relate largely to the temptation of “bigness.” Many of us, after all, are quite small. Yet, I hasten to add, the problem does exist. Some preachers are indeed cracking up. Consequently, everybody is becoming self-conscious about the allegedly inhuman load carried by today’s overburdened pastors.

In most circles, the general opinion prevails that the servant of the Lord is overloaded because the people of the Lord thoughtlessly add to his normal burden entirely too much that doesn’t pertain to the Lord’s business. If the general public would leave the poor man alone—one hears—and if his parishioners would refrain from getting themselves unnecessarily into his hair, he would be able to fulfill his primary ministry to the mutual advantage of all concerned.

Now all this may well be. And no doubt where there is smoke, can fire be far behind? But when I compare the routine schedule which allegedly ruptures staunch ministerial hearts with that of clergymen of my acquaintance (and with my own), I find little in common. Take one particular friend, for instance. He assures me that he does not average five or six funerals weekly and that his last wedding was nearly a month ago. He has three or four members in the hospital on any given day, but the sick are seldom so numerous that he cannot make his rounds within a reasonable time. His telephone rings occasionally at 2 A.M. but not every other night.

True, his evenings are mostly taken and he is keenly aware that his family suffers neglect, but he doesn’t have three or four conflicting engagements at the same time. Committees and boards take up their due proportion of his time but he doesn’t dash madly from one committee meeting to another. And although he certainly could use much more time for study, he manages to keep a few hours weekly to himself and still make himself available to those who want to see him—besides making those extra house calls that must be made.

What is his secret? Superman? By no means. He simply is not the minister of a small city of several thousand souls, boss of an administrative staff of a dozen or two, manager of a full-time cafeteria, janitor of a $3,000,000 plant, supervisor of eight choirs, principal speaker for thirty-six congregational organizations and presently trying to repair one hundred forty-one broken marriages.

He just is the pastor of a one-man congregation of maximum effective size: 600. And because he is not trying to hold down a job big enough for five or six full grown men, he and his congregation get along fine: they don’t have the feeling that they are being rude when they come to him with matters they fear he may think foolish, and he doesn’t go around cracking up.

An astute observer of the ecclesiastical scene once remarked that “the idea of a church of over 1,000 members may well have been invented by the Devil.” The observation no doubt has merit.… The complaint that ministers are being overworked often comes from ivory towers too big for anybody’s good. If a laboring man breaks down, after trying to hold down an eight-hour job as a mechanic, another eight-hour job as a welder and then pick up some extra money fixing cars at home in his spare time, he certainly should not complain that he cracked up because his family bothered him with too many demands. The illustration, however wild, applies to the problem at hand.

Furthermore, I don’t believe that today’s minister can retreat behind the comfortable theory that being about the Lord’s business requires one only to pray and preach—and the size of the listening audience doesn’t matter. There are too many personal consequences attendant a preaching ministry which involve the expenditure of time and effort. The preacher cannot avoid these if he is to be a pastor, which he cannot avoid being if he is fulfilling his ministry out of a good conscience, in the words of the Apostle to young Timothy.

For the conscientious pastor of a large church, there is little actual relief in hiring additional specialists for specific tasks. He still is the pastor in the eyes of his average member and each of these expects him to be his pastor although he readily acknowledges that no single man could minister to all. And it is the pastor who breaks down, not the minister of music who can set up his eight choirs and go home occasionally.

Moreover, what about the popular solution which compartmentalizes large congregations into smaller “cells” under the oversight of assistant or associate ministers? Doesn’t this set up wheels within wheels much like our larger universities with their sub-colleges? No doubt it does. And each little congregation busily preoccupies itself with its assigned portion of the affairs of the Kingdom, within the larger prototype of the City of God: a colony within a colony, fellowshiping with all others whose last names begin with A through G.

But there is little to support this as a desirable extension of the New Testament concept of Communion for mutual edification in the Lord and for service. The lonely member who comes looking for life-giving fellowship in the Body of Christ seldom gets the feeling that he, after all, really counts, except in the card-file of the Treasurer.

Another friend of mine, the pastor of a huge church, not long ago complained that he did not even know all of the men on his Board of Deacons. That should not have been a complaint: it should have been a confession in sackcloth and ashes. My friend further indicates that his calls never even catch up with the current emergencies: he only attends to those which simply cannot be ignored. I don’t see how he sleeps at night.

One or two things are going to happen to my friend. Either he will continue to try to make his limited capacities spread as far as possible, in which case he may well break down; or he will pat his conscience to sleep, perhaps by taking up so many denominational and civic responsibilities that he can say to his troubled soul that, after all, he is too busy about good things to have time for the innumerable little details of parish lives and loves.

It was the Apostle, I believe, who indicated that we could always expect to have with us the poor; silly women; and those men whose disruptive influences will give ministers the jitters to the end of time.

Each of us, therefore, must examine himself and accept his field of responsibility accordingly.

But I must bring this time-consuming monograph to an end. My doctor tells me that if I cannot find a way to reduce my load, I can expect to crack up.

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

First Presbyterian Church

Alexandria, La.

Ideas

The Spirit Of Foreign Policy

The Spirit Of Foreign Policy

There is rising criticism of the pattern of American foreign policy and growing demand for a realistic reappraisal of foreign aid; for the foreign aid program has led the nation into many vexing dilemmas.

After World War I, extensive voluntary relief for suffering and impoverished Europeans was sponsored by benevolent organizations and individuals. Herbert Hoover’s leadership of that effort, and the magnificent response of the churches and humanitarian agencies, brightens American history immediately after the war years. As a voluntary program, foreign aid emphasized individual responsibility, enforced human brotherhood and stimulated benevolence. Moreover, it reflected the nation’s Christian idealism, baring an attitude of forgiveness, good will and sympathy in the aftermath of the Great War.

When World War II projected America to world leadership, new conceptions of foreign aid arose. The federal budget now includes staggering sums for military support, economic aid and technical assistance to non-communist countries. Foreign aid totalling $4,400,000,000 for the coming fiscal year is being debated. Its announced objectives are the containment of Communism, stabilization of free world economy and solidification of allied military strength. More than half goes for military purposes, including bases on the periphery of the Communist orbit (Korea, Formosa, Viet-Nam, Pakistan, etc.)—our main advantage in a world in which Russia controls more territory, manpower and resources—at savings over what it would cost us to man these bases ourselves.

This program is no longer voluntary in the highest sense but tends to be legislated as an inevitable tax burden; it is seldom justified to conscience in terms of personal responsibility; it is sustained by motivations of self-interest rather than benevolence.

Doubt is widening over the utility and propriety of the present foreign aid program. Leaders are vexed by government agencies that propagandize at taxpayers’ expense to keep themselves in the foreign aid business. They are distressed by proposals to delegate control over these expenditures to the United Nations. They are troubled over amounts of aid, kinds of aid and the philosophy of aid. One governor, Lee of Utah, has refused to pay part of his income tax to test the legality of foreign aid, and the last election spawned an independent presidential ticket with abolition of foreign aid as a plank and the former U. S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue as candidate.

Foreign aid is usually justified by an initial appeal to “the national interest.” To disclaim the mere commercializing of diplomacy, collective security is added swiftly as a second reason; for regional stability backward countries require economic aid without which they are forced to depend upon the Soviet sphere. The third justification is the supposed contribution of foreign aid to international stability.

In actuality, foreign aid has permanently insured neither national interest, regional harmony nor international stability. Except in England and Greece, evidence of enduring gratitude for foreign aid is scant. In some places, observers report that recipients think the Roman Catholic Church, not the U. S. Government, has been the donor. In India, bags of grain were altered to conceal the fact of American shipments. Despite America’s vast assistance to Israel, and huge investments in NATO, Britain, France and Israel spurned American policy in the Near East. Yet Britain expected America nonetheless to undergird a domestic economy imperiled by the closing of the Suez Canal. In most lands, foreign aid has not cemented lasting friendships; in some, it has provoked enduring criticism.

Doubtless foreign aid has somewhat succeeded in containing Communism. But it is not an adequate counter-offensive. Some observers are unpersuaded even of its serviceability as a delaying action. It has not solidified international goodwill; it has not dramatically enhanced America’s reputation among the nations of the world; it has not noticeably quickened sensitivities of the citizenry that make for geratness of character and conscience. Many leaders urge a reappraisal of the philosophy of foreign aid (except perhaps on its military side) as a government rather than a private industry affair, a legislative rather than a voluntary activity and as a diplomatic weapon. Among their questions are: Is a government already deeply in debt obliged to venture such a program? Does foreign aid involve a socialistic substitution of government assistance for individual responsibility? Are the preferences of the citizenry adequately reflected? Although the Point Four program has indirectly furthered some aspects of Christian missionary effort, some Christian leaders complain that it impedes missions, because American funds are now used for enterprises such as education (which missionary agencies have long sponsored) divorced from religio-ethical commitments in global areas threatened by the aggression of naturalistic irreligion.

New favor is found for shifting much of the foreign aid program from a gift to a loan basis, and beyond that to private industry, to encourage nations to develop their own economy. Many persons insist that humanitarian relief should be segregated from the state and referred to benevolent organizations on a voluntary basis. While evangelical believers are unpersuaded that Christians are debtors to correct the economic imbalances of other nations, and also that the Church has the primary task of a relief operation in the wake of calamities provoked by unregenerate men, yet they do find a biblical basis for moving toward refugees and others in need as part of the Christian impulse to share one’s faith in Christ with others and as special objects of neighbor-love. Critics of federal economic aid point out that a revision to private industry would deprive vascillating foreign powers of temptations to blackmail America in the mood: “If you give us aid, we’ll help preserve freedom; if not, take your chances!”

American state affairs still reflect the outworn optimism of the liberal social gospel. There remains an idealistic confidence in unregenerate human nature, a deep trust that human brotherhood will outwear all differences and disputes, and that rational persuasion and changed externals (especially economic) supply the decisive factors in international relations. The program of foreign aid is largely shaped in the absence of distinctively Christian principles.

No doubt some ecclesiastical spokesmen now and then appear to bestow the church’s blessing on the whole foreign aid program. They lack a mandate, of course, for doing so. The question of how far the church is divinely authorized to intrude as a Church into politico-economic problems is always relevantly addressed to them. Certainly in an ideal world government and economics will be placed in the service of eternally valid principles of action, and the initiative of devout men in all grades of vocation is desperately needed today. But apart from the regeneration of both leaders and citizens such an ideal world cannot even be approximated, and even a regenerate society will still be threatened by dark dimensions of sin in human life. Neglect of the redemptive Gospel, and hasty invocation of Christian principles as ground rules for unregenerate schemes of earthly utopia, has now deteriorated to the widespread notion that secular programs are Christian simply because they seek world peace and are anti-totalitarian. America’s foreign aid commitments actually have ranged her more than once on the side of dictators through an expediency of power balances aimed to prevent the Communist threat from flaring into world terror.

International security, stability and fellowship today are defined with distressing diffidence of spiritual criteria. Economic and political concerns are dominant, and spiritual and moral fundamentals are repressed. Has Hebrew-Christian religion, as the West’s distinctive view of life, no specific implications for national and international interest? Is the struggle against Communism shaped effectively while the antithesis of Judeo-Christian revelation is neglected? Is the biblical conception of man as responsible under God and requiring regeneration irrelevant to the social and political drift of our times? Can national interest, regional security and international stability really be actualized in the absence of objective moral and spiritual agreement? And if not, dare a nation which professes to bear a spiritual witness to the world fail to emphasize their priority? Dare it neglect their precise exposition?

The tragedy of foreign aid is its virtual detachment of American dollars abroad from an overarching philosophy of individual and international well-being. Too often the ugly dogma of materialistic priorities is ineffectively challenged. Only when foreign aid is placed in the service of truth, morality and the world of spirit, does it exercise a permanent ministry.

President Eisenhower has declared it unnecessary to agree with a country philosophically and religiously in order to cooperate for mutual advantage. Within limits, this is true enough; self-interest and the wider interest sometimes coincide quite obviously. Yet the President on other occasions has emphasized also that genuine mutuality requires recognition of objective law and morality. Only a full exposition of these mutually binding principles guards foreign policy from concession by default to materialistic diplomacy. Neglect of controlling principles led to independent Israeli-British action in the Middle East in dramatic demonstration of the ambiguities of foreign aid centered in politico-economic factors. It is plain as day that lasting allies are not made by bread and military bases alone; dollar diplomacy must always contend with two dollar diplomacy. Nothing in the sphere of statesmanship today is as desperately needed as a rebirth of spiritual and ethical earnestness and a new sensitivity to the objectivity of truth and right. In a time when Communism flouts the supernatural, imperishable truth and morality and the importance of spiritual decision, a vigorous diplomacy will emphasize and exemplify their crucial importance. One distressing turn in contemporary diplomacy is its neglect of religious freedom. Marginal interest in spiritual-moral priorities will lead to indifference and violation. The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights commendably recognizes religious freedom as a basic human right. Already in apostolic times Christian leaders resisted government authorities who interfered with their preaching of the Gospel. Totalitarian powers, recognizing no authority superior to the state, are hostile to religious freedom; they tolerate religion, if at all, only in a form that places religion in the service of the state. Religious freedom doubtless has its risks; it can deteriorate into a secular desire for freedom from religion. Yet it provides society with an escape from the false gods of totalitarianism.

Demands are growing that the United States curtail foreign aid (except for humanitarian relief) to nations not guaranteeing religious freedom. These pressures have mounted in view of Roman Catholic persecution of Protestant minorities in Colombia, now getting attention from the foreign relations committee of the U. S. Senate. In the past, religious freedom has been tied to every American treaty with a foreign power, covering citizens of both lands abroad, but not nationals. Many recent treaties stipulate freedom of religious activities for Americans in foreign lands. Sometimes this phrase proves ambiguous, since by religious freedom Christians mean both the right to worship and to propagate religious views. Distressingly, however, the recent treaty with Haiti omits even the abbreviated provision covering citizens abroad. This American trend in the matter of foreign aid and religious freedom needs careful scrutiny. Impediments to freedom of religious activity of Americans in Saudi Arabia have provoked protests against treaties omitting religious guarantees.

The neglect of spiritual-moral priorities in foreign policy declines easily into an insensitivity to the value of religious freedom; enthusiasm for religious liberty cheapens to the acceptance of mere religious tolerance. The next step is indifference to religious rights.

There is another step: esteeming religion for sheer purposes of propaganda.

The official propaganda voice of the United States abroad is the United States Information Agency, of which the Voice of America is the broadcasting arm. In recent years U.S.I.A. libraries throughout the free world have given a “slanted” impression of American religious life through the virtual exclusion of evangelical literature. Happily the U.S.I.A., at long last, is slowly moving to rectify this misimpression by approving literature more reflective of American religious life. The Voice of America also currently shows a fairer measure of evangelical participation. The Voice has made commendable gains over days when its staff included left-wing writers (some were holdovers from the era when Russia was an ally) who were naively expected to forge an effective case against communism, although they were themselves naturalists.

This is not to say that the U.S.I.A. satisfactorily mirrors spiritual-moral priorities in its current crusade for freedom. Reflecting the growing diversification of American outlook, it is concerned with proportions more than with priorities. Moreover, its nebulous religious policy specially disadvantages the Christian heritage, America’s cherished tradition and the major religious factor in its contemporary life. A temperament that exalts all religions indiscriminately and blurs out genuine distinctions between religions, inevitably neglects the Hebrew-Christian heritage.

The Voice of America has even been guilty of serious transgression in its handling of religion. On one occasion at least it has cheapened religion to an instrument of diplomacy. An illustration of this retrogression appears in the Voice of America Bulletin in Persian for October–November 1956. Its inside front cover, in observance of Mohammed’s birth, states:

“… Dr. Trueblood, the distinguished American writer and speaker [Chief of Religious Information for the U.S.I.A. in 1954, Professor Trueblood assisted in shaping its present religious policy—ED.] writes …:

“ ‘… It is fitting that we in America, from the standpoint of Christianity, which is the religion of the majority of the people, should speak of the prophet of Islam. Following the religion of Christ does not prevent us from considering the life and teachings of the prophet of Islam with amazement and praise. It is suitable that in our own society which includes the followers of various religions, we should glorify [original: “salute”—ED.] the prophet of Islam.

“ ‘If we bear in mind that all the great religions of the world essentially encourage people to the worship of God and to good works, and that every individual person of the human race sees truth only from his limited viewpoint, we discover how much better it is that the truth should shine forth from different shrines and become lamps on the path of God’s humanity. On this account we have spiritual delight in seeing the beautiful mosque of the Moslems in the city of Washington and rejoice in looking on that great and splendid building. I as a Christian especially praise sincerely two points in his teachings: … his insistence on the unity of God and … his rejection of all sorts and forms of idolatry.…

“ ‘… On the eve of the birthday of the prophet of Islam we glorify [original: “salute”—ED.] him and send congratulations to all the Moslems of the world.’ ”

While features common to the monotheistic faiths must not be neglected, Dr. Trueblood more than disappoints us in this handling of Christianity and Islam. Since in Persian the term “Prophet” is used theologically, his words are the equivalent (to the Persian reader) of a declaration of faith in Mohammed’s claim to be sent from God and to be the seal of all other prophets including Jesus. When such utterances are published at public expense, as officially reflective of American opinion, they call for rebuke. Director of U.S.I.A. Arthur Larson has said: “It is up to us to see that the truth about what we stand for … is at all times available to interested people around the world.” That truth will not bypass America’s Christian heritage from the past and its Christian vigor in the present. Dr. Trueblood’s statement, fortunately, is unrepresentative of Voice of America policy and pronouncements and constitutes a glaring exception. Even when allowance is made for changes in the translation of Dr. Trueblood’s remarks from English to Persian and back to English [the Voice of America is always in the market for abler translators], the deference to Islam for political propaganda purposes is undeniable. Non-Christian religion is flattered and encouraged, and the tax-supported policy of the American government casts weight against the Christian witness of American foreign missionaries. Dr. Trueblood’s remarks deteriorate American propaganda to a hypocritical level. In fact, they stand condemned by U.S.I.A.’s own stated policy that “religion is debased when used as a weapon.…”

The drift of ambiguous foreign policy and foreign aid should be plain. The neglect of spiritual priorities sooner or later accommodates a mood in politics in which the disposition of religion is governed by what is diplomatically serviceable. This is merely one notch above the mood in which religion is despised, and irreligion prized, because this too is expedient.

American policy-makers, unfortunately, agonize all too little over spiritual-moral realities. The nation, happily, can still profit from its mistakes. If it does not, exceptions may some day become the rule. What foreign policy needs most of all is a rebirth of spirit.

Evangelism: By Isolation Or By Participation?

The modern evangelical like all his contemporaries finds himself in a world of turmoil and chaos, but if he knows anything about history, there continually recurs to him a number of searching questions. In the past, Christians seem to have wielded a strong influence on the world for good, but today their impact seems often to be practically non-existent. Why should this be? Where today are the Augustines, the Calvins, the Knoxes, the Wesleys, the Wilberforces and men like them? Has Christianity lost its power? Or is it that the Church has failed to fulfill its obligations? Why does Christianity appear to so many to be irrelevant?

As one looks back over the past two thousand years of Church History for some answer, one is impressed by the fact that the Christians of bygone days made their influence felt in and on the world by going down into its midst. Paul was not afraid to argue with the philosophers in the Athenian market place; Calvin struggled with the political, social and economic problems of Geneva; Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect fought hard in and out of parliament to destroy the slave trade. They entered the world in order to overcome it, to bring a Christian influence to bear upon it and so to turn it to him who is its true Lord.

During the nineteenth century, however, partially as a result of Puritan and Pietist tradition and partially as a result of the great economic and intellectual upsurge of the time, Christians seem to have developed a somewhat different attitude to the world. “The world” was evil, and the Christian, born again by the Spirit, should have as little to do with it as possible lest he be defiled. The result was a type of “separated life” thinking, both individual and corporate, which resulted in the attitude that while one had to work in the world in order to live, in all other activities of life one’s contacts with non-Christians should be as limited and infrequent as possible.

For the world and for the Church the result has been near disaster. On one hand Christians, particularly since the days of Darwin, have largely avoided the field of secular scholarship. Biblical learning, they feel, is quite respectable, but the fields of science, art, the humanities or social studies being “worldly” are to be avoided. Thus any Christian influence on scholarship has been almost entirely lost.

On the other hand, social and personal relationships have also ceased to feel the impact of Christian thinking and principles. Politics are “dirty” so the Christian must keep clear of them. Trade unions are “secular” so no Christian should take a part in their activities. That the Christian is in the world but not of it, unfortunately, comes to mean that the Christian is to hand the world and all God’s gifts in it over to unbelief.

By adopting this attitude the Christian has lost contact with the world. He seems to feel therefore, that all he can do is stand over against it and preach at it, for if he should come too close his hands might be soiled. What a contrast to the attitude of Christ whose friends were “publicans and sinners!”

What is needed then, is that Christians should go into the world. It is of little use to “throw out the life line” unless we are prepared to go over the side to lay hold upon those who are too far gone to grasp the rope for themselves. “Worldliness” is not going into the world and taking part in the moral or amoral activities of the unregenerate man. “Worldliness” is fundamentally an attitude to life in which one exalts the world to the position of the ultimate good. If, however, one is in the world for Christ, to live and wield an influence for him, one will certainly treat the world in the proper Christian manner.

Evangelization is not by isolation but rather by participation.

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