Book Briefs: September 26, 1960

Fall And Winter Forecast

A dip into the titles of religious books projected for fall and winter reading by American publishers reveals a rich and tempting feast of good things. It is manifestly impossible to give a comprehensive survey of these titles, but the following sampler should whet the appetite of the bibliophile. There is no attempt here to pre-evaluate. In due time CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S 100 capable reviewers will report on these and other volumes, furnishing skilled guidance in their specialized fields.

The most tintilating announcement is the publication in March, 1961, of the New English Bible of the New Testament by the Oxford University Press and the Cambridge University Press. This translation of the Bible in current English sponsored by the major religious bodies (other than Roman Catholic) in the British Isles has long been awaited by Americans. It is the fruit of 13 years cooperative work on the original Greek texts by a group of top scholars and literary advisors. Interesting comparisons are bound to be made with the Revised Standard Version. Some are predicting a new British invasion of American church life as significant as that accomplished by the King James Version.

A classification by fields of interest may serve as the best framework for presenting the new titles:

In the field of SYSTEMATIC AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY, Eerdmans promises Special Revelation and Biblical Theology by Bernard Ramm; Westminster, Hermann Beem’s Dogmatics; Cambridge, Victor and Victim by J. S. Whale; Sheed and Ward, The Resurrection of Christ by Francis X. Durrwell; Abingdon, W. Russell Bowie’s Jesus and the Trinity; Inter-Varsity, Leon Morris’ Spirit of the Living God; and Baker, The Way of Salvation by Gordon H. Girod.

Books on APOLOGETICS, PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE include John Dellenberger’s Protestant Thought and Modern Science (Doubleday); J. B. Phillips’ God Our Contemporary (Macmillan); Stanley E. Anderson’s Our Dependable Bible (Baker); Arthur F. Holmes’ Christianity and Philosophy (Inter-Varsity); John McG. Krumm’s Modern Heresies (Seabury); and Jules L. Moreau’s Language and Religious Language (Westminster). Adrienna Koch edits Philosophy for a Time of Crisis (Dutton) in which leading philosophers express their views. John C. Whitcomb, Jr. and Henry M. Norris collaborate in The Genesis Flood (Presbyterian and Reformed).

CHURCH HISTORY AND BIOGRAPF seem to dominate the lists. From scores of titles the following seem outstanding: History of Religion in the United States by Clifton E. Olmstead (Prentice-Hall); The German Phoenix by Franklin H. Littell (Doubleday); An Era in Anglican Theology 1889–1939 by the Archbishop of York (Scribner’s); Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, edited by John G. McNeill (Westminster); The Calas Affair by David D. Bien (Princeton); The Birth of the Gods by Guy E. Swanson (Michigan); Man as a Churchman by Norman Sykes, and English Religious Dissent by Erik Routley (Cambridge); Constantine and Religious Liberty by Hermann Doerries (Yale); Story of the American Religions by Hartzell Spence (Winston); The Inextinguishable Blaze by A. Skevington Wood, and Makers of Religious Freedom by Marcus L. Loana (Eerdmans); Methodism and Society in Theological Perspective by S. Paul Schilling (Abingdon); The Kingdoms of Christ by Peter Bamm (McGraw-Hill); Newman the Theologian by J. H. Walgrave (Sheed and Ward); and Eivind Berggrav: God’s Man of Suspense by Alexander Johnson (Augsburg).

In this connection may well be recognized several WORKS OF REFERENCE. Putnam announces the first book of its 12-volume History of Religion—The Ancient Gods by E. O. James. Scribner’s offers Volume I of American Christianity prepared and written by H. Shelton Smith, Robert T. Handy and Lefferts A. Loetscher. Volume 2 is now being completed. Sovereign Grace is producing an Encyclopedia of Christianity edited by Edwin H. Palmer with John Murray as editorial adviser. Then there are A Dictionary of Life in Bible Times by W. Corswant (Oxford) and The Bible Companion, edited by William Neil (McGraw-Hill).

In the area of OLD TESTAMENT, Eerdmans has The Old Testament View of Revelation by James G. S. S. Thomson; Baker, The Gospel in the Old Testament by Don Brandeis; and Seabury, God and History in the Old Testament by Harvey H. Guthrie, Jr.

In NEW TESTAMENT, Westminster offers Paul S. Minear’s Images of the Church in the New Testament; Seabury, Oscar J. F. Switz’ One Body and One Spirit; Abingdon, Edward P. Blair’s Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. To the growingly popular Tyndale Series Eerdmans adds The Gospel of Mark by Alan Cole and The Epistle to the Hebrews by Thomas Hewitt. Ten volumes have already been published.

In GENERAL BIBLE STUDY: Baker will add two new titles to its Shield Series—The Gospel of John by V. Wayne Barton and The Epistles to the Corinthians by Herschel H. Hobbs. Eerdmans is readying Volume 2 of D. Martin Lloyd-Jones’, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount and two other titles, The Gospel Miracles by R. S. Wallace and The Stranger of Galilee by R. E. O. White. Concordia adds to its major opus, Luther’s Works, his Lectures on Genesis. And from Westminster will come Suzanne de Dietrich’s God’s Unfolding Purpose; from Knox, Walter Luthi’s Saint John’s Gospel.

Turning to PASTORAL PROBLEMS we find Making the Ministry Relevant, edited by Hans Hoffmann (Scribner’s); Efficient Church Business Management by John C. Bramer, Jr. (Westminster); A Theology of the Church and the Ministry by Franklin M. Segler (Broadman); Redemptive Counselling by Dayton G. Van Deusen (Knox); and The Ministry and Mental Health, edited by Hans Hoffmann (Association). In view of the growing interest of pastors in the field of PSYCHIATRY it may be appropriate to list here Christian Courage for Everyday Living by Andrew Kosten (Eerdmans); Toward Health and Wholeness by Russell Dicks (Macmillan); Why Did It Happen to Me? by David Belgum (Augsburg); Retarded Children: God’s Children by Sigurd D. Peterson (Westminster), and Secrets of a Happy Life by David O. McKay (Prentice-Hall).

And then there is SERMONIC literature: Westminster will issue Emil Brunner’s I Believe in the Living God and Biblical Authority for Modern Preaching by Charles W. F. Smith; Broadman offers Behold the Man by Walter Pope Binns; Scribner’s, This World and the Beyond by Rudolph Bultmann; Harper, Our Heavenly Father by Helmut Thielicke; Knox, A Theology of Proclamation by Dietrich Ritschl; Eerdmans, Stand Up and Praise God by Paul S. Rees; Abingdon, The Cross Before Calvary by Clovis Chappell, and Concordia its 1961 volume of Concordia Pulpit.

There is an encouraging resurgence in the areas of MISSIONS AND EVANGELISM. McGraw-Hill is featuring the story of World Vision and Bob Pierce in a new book entitled Let My Heart Be Broken. Richard Gehman, popular magazine writer, is the author. Then there are: Lady on a Donkey, the story of Lillian Thrasher, by Beth Prim Howell (Dutton); The Church and the Urban Frontier, by G. Paul Mussleman (Seabury); The Church Meets Judaism by Otto Piper, Jakob Jocz, and Harold Floreau (Augsburg); One World, One Mission by W. Richey Hogg (Friendship); Earth’s Remotest End by J. C. Pollock (Macmillan); The Church Apostolic by J. D. Graber (Herald); Focus by Malcomb Boyd (Morehouse-Barlow); The Gracious Calling of the Lord by Robert John Versteeg and The Christian Mission Today by 21 contemporary mission leaders (Abingdon); and The Battle for Souls by Owen Brandon (Westminster). Billy Graham’s tremendous following will welcome the story of the Australian Crusade in Light Beneath the Cross by Stuart Barton Babbage and Ian Siggins (Doubleday). The Dayuma Story by Ethel Emily Wallis (Harper) with its further light on life among the Aucas is already in the stores.

ETHICAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS offer a fruitful source of thoughtful books such as The Theological Foundation of Law by Jacques Ellul (Doubleday); The Biblical View of Sex and Marriage by Otto Piper (Scribner’s); In Place of Folly by Norman Cousins (Harper); Communism and the Churches by Ralph Lord Roy, and The Four Loves by C. S. Lewis (Harcourt, Brace); Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace by Roland H. Bainton (Abingdon); Safe in Bondage by Robert Spike (Friendship); Fights, Games and Debates by Anatol Rapoport (Michigan); The Proverbs for Today by Thomas Coates (Concordia); Danger Ahead: A Christian Approach to Some Current Problems by C. W. Scudder (Broadman); In Christ by John B. Neilson (Beacon Hill).

Of a GENERAL RELIGIOUS nature are such titles as: The Protestant Faith by George N. Forell (Prentice-Hall); A Believer’s Life of Christ by John C. Rankin (Wilde); Seasons of the Soul by Archibald Ward (Knox); The Gods of Prehistoric Man by Johannes Maringer (Knopf); The Religions of Tibet by Helmut Hoffman (Macmillan); When Hearts Grow Faint by J. K. Van Baalen (Eerdmans); Fact, Faith and Fiction by James Alfred Martin, Jr. (Oxford). Judson Press is issuing a new volume on Techniques of Christian Writing based on the Green Lake lectures on religious journalism. It is edited by Benjamin P. Browne. CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S Eutychus (E. P. Clowney) is honored by a volume of his letters under the title, Eutychus and His Pin, soon forthcoming from Eerdmans.

In the somewhat broader category of RELIGIOUS LITERATURE AND CULTURE we have Religions of the East by Joseph M. Kitagawa (Westminster); The Far Spent Night by Edward N. West (Seabury); Luther and Culture, a Symposium (Augsburg); The Gothic by Paul Frankl (Princeton); The Borderland by Roger Lloyd (Macmillan).

A number of substantial projects are under way in the field of evangelical literature, some as yet to be announced. A better balance needs to be achieved between liberal and evangelical in many works flowing from the presses of religious publishing houses. Many titles in this forecast will prove less than evangelical, and sometimes error will be clad in literary artistry more attractive than the truth. But the power of the evangelical pen is increasing in the race to meet the theological and social crises of our time. Better days are ahead.

JAMES DEFOREST MURCH

Niebuhr’S Political Philosophy

Reinhold Niebuhr On Politics, edited by Harry R. Davis and Robert C. Good (Scribner’s, 1960, 364 pp., $6.50), is reviewed by Theodore Minnema, Minister of South Olive Christian Reformed Church, Holland, Michigan.

The democratic process sometimes appears to be a flowing mass of unchanneled public whims and impulses. On the surface democracy seems to offer no permanent forms and structures, only ever-changing configurations and policies. Yesterday’s radical is today’s liberal, yesterday’s liberal is today’s middle of the roader, yesterday’s middle of the reader is today’s conservative, and yesterday’s conservative is obsolete. This changing of forms and policies while continuing to use the old categories can be readily seen if one compares, for example, the proposals of the socialist platform of a generation ago with what today is actually law and actually favored as law by the whole political community.

These continuous transformations in our democratic thinking and policy are a source of confusion. When the public is in a conservative mood, these transformations and changes can be politically exploited as evidence that we are losing our American heritage and succumbing to a “creeping socialism.” When the public is in a liberal mood, these same political and social transformations can be exploited as evidence of American progress and that our democracy is offering greater and greater opportunities to more and more people. In the midst of these conflicting judgments, the average citizen is practically forced into confusion, and, worse, lapses into indifference and cynicism.

Within our present political complexities and confusions, it is encouraging and heartening to listen to someone who has a political philosophy to offer that lends clarity and intelligibility to current democratic processes. Such a philosophy Niebuhr offers in this book. His philosophy is embedded in the selections which the editors have compiled and collated from Niebuhr’s numerous political writings. Though the writings have a theoretical unity woven through them, their major impact is that of relevancy. Niebuhr never theorizes apart from immediate circumstances. He forged and modified his political philosophy within the social tensions and political debates of the twentieth century. As a result, the book introduces the reader to all the significant schools of thought that have played a part in the political community of America. Soft Utopians or liberalism, hard Utopians or communism, conservatism, idealism, realism, and pacifism are some of the modern background movements which Niebuhr analyzes and evaluates.

The theoretical import of the book lies in Niebuhr’s interpretation of the total human community. It has been rightly subtitled Niebuhr’s “political philosophy” for it offers meaning and structure to all the diversified forces and vitalities in human society. Briefly stated, the human community consists of two dimensions. The first is the dimension of order, stability, and unity as expressed in law and government. The second is the dimension of freedom and dynamic diversity. The latter dimension consists of various centers of social power and vitality ranging from small groupings such as families on through classes, races, and nations. All these centers of power vie for existence and status. As social vying and competing for position take place, disorder and conflict are always a threat. Thus the human community must adjust to its nature by finding a creative balance between the two dimensions of order and freedom, unity and diversity.

Niebuhr defends democracy by demonstrating that it is a form of government most compatible with the nature and structure of the human community in contrast to totalitarianism and dictatorship. Democracy reckons with both communal dimensions. It sets up a political order of checks and balances within which the various centers of social power have the freedom of self-development and participation in the total order. Since power centers are dynamic, changing political policies and platforms are necessary. They are a means of warding off the inordinate rise and supremacy of one particular center of social power over others.

This book has special significance for the Christian of today. Niebuhr gives his political philosophy a Christian frame of reference. His definition of man as sinner is drawn from Christian sources. The concluding chapter with its eschatological perspective makes explicit the Christian commitments from which Niebuhr seeks to interpret political problems.

After a thorough study of such political writings, one may conclude that here are Christian assumptions debatable and subject to question. But the challenge that Niebuhr presents to Christians concerned about social and political problems is so relevant it cannot be neglected.

THEODORE MINNEMA

God Alive

God Our Contemporary, by J. B. Phillips (Macmillan, 1960, 137 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by Addison H. Leitch, Professor of Theology, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

The author needs no introduction. His Letters to Young Churches have elicited enthusiasm among all sorts and conditions of Christians. Since his translations he has added books of a more general nature from a rich background as pastor and churchman. With the present book, he once again satisfies those who have come to expect the best from his pen, for this is a work of wisdom and relevance, with the nice touch on every page.

The book is primarily an apologetic. The author’s method is not the classic approach but a popular and constant effort to describe the contemporary scene plainly and to show how the God revealed in Jesus Christ can and must be brought to bear on it. He presses his point in many ways. “Let us not concern ourselves about how this startling event (the Incarnation) has been smothered in decoration, blunted by over-familiarity, or overlaid by merely secondary considerations.… I believe that each one of us must eventually face the real issue, which is quite simply: do I believe after adult examination of the evidence that Jesus Christ was what he claimed to be, or am I prepared to assert quite definitely that he was wrong …” (p. 58). Phillips urges the Church to re-examine her methods to see if she is actually concerned with central Christian truths, and whether she is able better to communicate these truths and demand attention in a world like ours. He urges those outside the Church to listen for a moment to what the Church is trying to get said and then to take time for a fresh look—an adult look—not at the diversions of confused churches and confused Christians, but at Jesus Christ in his truth and in his demands and promises. He believes that the meeting ground lies in the compassion for humanity that marks essential Christianity (he makes the judgment scene in Matthew 25 foundational), a compassion among people generally, which the church could touch. He makes clear that there is much more to the Gospel than humanitarianism, and he is scathing in his denunciation of humanism alone as a way out of our difficulties.

Theologically the book is an anomaly. The author is solid on the Incarnation and the Deity of Christ and he makes the crucifixion central; but his only formal statement on the Atonement is quite superficial (p. 11). He gives the Old Testament the back of his hand in several ways. For instance he says, “This is one of the oldest questions in the world (the suffering of the innocent), far older, of course, than the Old Testament book of Job, which makes some attempt to deal with it” (p. 95). Nice try, Job! Of New Testament writers he says, “I have grown quite convinced of the substantial accuracy of their writing …” but he accepts enough accuracy to be convinced that there was “an actual awe-inspiring event” (p. 72), a conviction that makes him firmly oppose other world religions as false. Satan almost has to be a person to account for some of the things that happen around these parts, but Phillips can’t quite “despise the shame” and come out and say so (pp. 109, 124). One is reminded of the remark of a British M.P. who said, “That a thing is an anomaly we consider no argument against it whatsoever.”

In passing, Phillips slaps the “angry young men” good. What he says of “the clevers” and “the phony sophisticates” of our day (pp. 8, 9) is worth the price of the book.

ADDISON H. LEITCH

Graham ‘Down Under’

Light Beneath the Cross, by Stuart Barton Babbage (Doubleday, 1960, 168 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by Sherwood E. Wirt, Editor of Decision.

This book is “fair dinkum”! An authentic account by distinguished Australians of last year’s Billy Graham Crusade on their continent, it describes better than any American pen could the Crusade’s effect on the lives of the people of Australia and New Zealand. The authors, Dean Stuart Barton Babbage of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, and journalist Ian Siggins, have done their work brilliantly. They have traced the beginnings of Christianity “down under” with thorough research, and have painted the Australian character in vivid and realistic colors. Furthermore, they convey to the reader their own enthusiasm for the positive Christian results of the meetings. It was a remarkable campaign that led from Melbourne to Launceston and Hobart, Tasmania; to Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch, New Zealand; to Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane and even to Darwin. What is most remarkable, perhaps, is that authors in another country could, in this year 1960, write with such transparent enthusiasm of the work of American Christians in their midst.

The conversion story of the young actress in Stratford, who found a spiritual answer to a very real problem in judging a dramatic event, is alone worth the price of the book. As one who witnessed some of these events last year, the reviewer can testify that Light Beneath the Cross is a worthy and faithful record of a genuine work of the Spirit of God in a fabulous country.

SHERWOOD E. WIRT

Seminary Reading

A Theological Book List, by Raymond P. Morris (The Theological Education Fund, 1960, 242 pp., $6), is reviewed by the Editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

The list of about 5,400 books was prepared by the Professor of Religious Literature and Librarian of Yale University to assist the Theological Education Fund of the International Missionary Council in improving the library holdings of theological colleges and seminaries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It reflects a staggering amount of work. In its present form, the list advances beyond an earlier compilation by the inclusion of a modest amount of conservative or evangelical literature. There are still weaknesses in this area, which a comparison with CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S Evangelical Book List in this current issue will disclose. But the International Missionary Council does not present these titles “as a standard or even a recommended list of books” but simply to assist in the development of basic library researches, and for this purpose it merits commendation and appreciation.

CARL F. H. HENRY

Operation Auca

The Dayuma Story, by Ethel Emily Wallis (Harper, 1960, 288 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Abe C. Van Der Puy, Treasurer, World Radio Missionary Fellowship.

Those responsible for preparing a book on the life of Dayuma faced a formidable task. Dayuma’s life story reads stranger than fiction, and the whole Auca epic has so many dramatic facets that it hardly seems possible it has happened in real life. To capture, under such circumstances, the flavor and atmosphere of Dayuma’s experiences requires thoroughgoing skill. In the reviewer’s estimation, Ethel Wallace has carried out her difficult assignment with notable success.

The Dayuma story is told with simplicity and restraint. The total impression left with the reader coincides with things as they really happened. In many books the authors make the mistake of glamorizing, of dressing things up, of painting an exaggerated picture. The reviewer is well acquainted with the background of the Dayuma story, and can vouch for the fact that this book presents a very accurate portrayal of the material involved. It was my privilege to visit Hacienda Ila some months after the five men were martyred, and to witness first hand the patient linguistic work which Rachel Saint was carrying on with Dayuma during those days. The Dayuma Story account of all of this constitutes the next best thing to seeing it first hand in Equador.

As indicated previously, the book does a fine job of capturing the flavor of this extraordinary Indian woman’s life. The reader gets the feel of Auca language and psychology and understands something of the sad life of the Aucas before they were reached with the message of Jesus Christ. Repeatedly the author describes the struggles of Dayuma whose later victories shine most brilliantly when one realizes how many obstacles she has had to overcome.

It is expected of course that one would find it difficult to make a clear outline of the turbulent history of Dayuma and her people. In objectively criticizing the book, the reviewer would say that at times it is not easy to follow the thread of the story and to fit in all of the parts.

When the book ends, one is left with the feeling that there should be more, that the destination has not been quite reached. Undoubtedly the reason for this impression is that the Dayuma and Auca stories are continuing to unfold. The drama in real life has not yet been finished.

I commend the book, however, to the reading public without reservation. It forms part of the great series, not yet completed, of literary works which present various phases of Operation Auca. In that Operation the participation of Dayuma forms a vital part. The books already written and others still to come will be appreciated more completely when they are read with the helpful insight provided by The Dayuma Story. It is my hope that this book will not only satisfy curiosity but will make the impact upon our hearts intended by the author and those who are associated with the Auca Project. If we will allow it, the life of this Indian woman can speak effectively to all of us who have had more advantages than she has had.

ABE C. VAN DER PUY

Faith The Answer

International Conflict in the Twentieth Century, A Christian View, by Herbert Butterfield (Harper, 1960, 123 pp., $3), is reviewed by C. Gregg Singer, Professor of History at Catawba College.

The second volume in the Religious Perspective Series, by the famous professor of modern history of Cambridge University, is a provocative analysis of the present international crisis, and with his usual skill and facility he brings history to bear upon it. Believing that the past can shed light on the present, he finds in the development of religious toleration after the Wars of Religion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, an analogy between the present ideological conflict and that which existed between the church of Rome and the churches of the Reformation. Butterfield insists that the earlier conflict was the result of the fact that Christians on both sides had allowed their Christianity to become too closely entangled with the systems and vested interests of the world; that, if they had gone back to the first principles of the faith, they could have escaped 150 years of persecution and hate. In a similar manner, he argues that a solution can be found for the present tensions if Christians of the twentieth century would go back to the first principles of their faith. The revolutionary character of the present world situation calls for an insurgent type of Christianity that goes back to its first principles and measures the present order against them (p. 119).

The reviewer agrees that we must go back to the first principles of our historic Christian faith, but he also seriously doubts that such a return would ease the tensions between the East and the West. Rather such a revival of Christian thinking and practices would tend to accentuate the crisis. The analogy which Butterfield seeks to draw between Rome and the Reformation and the present tension between Russia and the West does not hold. Whatever the differences were between Rome and the Reformers (and they were many and vital), it is still true that both parties looked to a common God, to a common source of authority in the Scriptures, and were both supernaturalistic in outlook. This is not the case between the two parties today; here the issue is between supernaturalism and materialism, and between them there is no common ground.

In this small volume there are to be found many profound observations not only for the historian, but for the minister and his people as well.

C. GREGG SINGER

Rational Economics

Epistemological Problems of Economics, by Ludwig von Mises, translated by George Riesman (D. Van Nostrand Co., 1960, 239 pp., $5.50), is reviewed by Irving E. Howard, Assistant Editor, Christian Economics.

Epistemology is that branch of philosophy which deals with the problem of knowing. Economists have rarely given thought to the application of this branch of philosophy to their particular discipline, but Dr. Ludwig von Mises is a unique economist in that he is also a philosopher. Consequently, this internationally famous representative of the Austrian school of economics, and a visiting lecturer at New York University, has had a collection of essays, first published in German in 1933, translated into English which deal with this problem.

The central thesis of his book is that economics cannot be based on an appeal to experience, but must begin with certain a priori truths such as A cannot be non-A. He makes a strong case for rationalism and a devastating argument against empiricism. History, he points out, is always the result of a selection of facts from among a mass and the selection is determined by the historian’s basic philosophy. Charles Beard recognized this in his famous essay, “History, An Act of Faith.”

Dr. von Mises does not mean to imply that there should be no study of history, no gathering of statistics, no resort to experience, but that universally valid principles should be deduced as a priori truths before the induction phase of research in human action.

The Christian should rejoice in Dr. Mises’ defense of reason against a simple appeal to sense experience which, taken alone, always leads to skepticism; but when Dr. Mises states that human action is always rational, we come to a parting of the ways.

Man is capable of reason, but man’s reason has been darkened by sin so that much of his behavior is irrational. Freudianism is right in this insight, if not right in its explanation.

This dimension of epistemology, Dr. von Mises does not see. Nevertheless, his book makes a solid contribution in an area rarely—if ever before—explored, namely, the relation of epistemology to economics.

IRVING E. HOWARD

Wesley’S Christ

Wesley’s Christology, by John Deschner (Southern Methodist University Press, 1960, 220 pages, $4.50), is reviewed by Harold B. Kuhn, Professor of The Philosophy of Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.

Evidence of what Whitehead calls “the desire for a return to fundamentals” appears almost everywhere these days. Those of the tradition of Wesley are impelled by it to re-examine critically their eighteenth-century heritage, and the results have been surprising. The author of Wesley’s Christology seeks to discover the place of Christ in Wesley’s total system. He tries to go beyond the usual analyses of Wesley’s piety, and to discover the root of his theology.

In general, the author pursues his line of thought within the limits of Wesley’s part in the general evangelical stream, and finds that this eighteenth-century divine was thoroughly imbued with classical statements of the person and work of Christ. He notes that Wesley was in substantial agreement with both the Lutheran and the Reformed traditions at this point, and that the Chalcedonian Symbol is basic to his Christology.

The strength of the work is its emphasis upon the function of Christ’s priestly ministry as yielding a clue to the other aspects of the divine ministry, notably the kingly and the prophetic. Professor Deschner finds also a clue to Wesley’s doctrine of the Church. There are tensions within Wesley’s teachings at these points, as there are in his doctrine of Christ’s person. But he believes that when the whole of Wesley’s teaching is considered within the framework of the pilgrimage of the Son of Epworth, from Anglical legalism to evangelical piety, even the tensions find a partial reconciliation.

HAROLD B. KUHN

The Living Word

The Biblical Expositor, edited by Carl F. H. Henry (A. J. Holman Co., 1960, 3 vols., approximately 1300 pp., $6.95 per vol.), is reviewed by C. Ralston Smith, Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In his preface the consulting editor tells of the birth of the idea which resulted in this work, and which in 1957 was projected “an international, interdenominational exposition of the Scriptures by leading evangelical scholars, fixing its attention on the enduring message of the books, rather than losing itself in literary and critical disputations.” At the end of the third volume there, is a list of the contributors together with a resumé of the training and writings of each. A cursory review of the names reveals the world-wide scope of the scholarship. Different continents are represented which include well-known writers as well as those who have recently risen to prominence. The barriers of denominations are overleapt; men of the “Standard-brand” churches and the younger fast-growing groups unite in a magnificent common testimony to the written Word of God.

The reality of such unanimity of witness is possible, in the mind of the reviewer, because of one fact—these workers all begin with the same evangelical conviction that the Bible is true! Someone is credited with having said that he believed the Bible “as it is!” rather than “is it as?” The reader becomes aware in the first paragraph that this is the consecrated spirit of the authors.

In writing from such a viewpoint, the commentators are in perfect harmony with the great creeds of Christendom and the historic standards of faith in the denominations. If the fads in our day seem to be at odds with the position of these scholars, it is that the fads are at variance with the tested truths of classical Christianity.

We are told that the work was once considered being called by its subtitle, “The Living Theme of the Great Book.” The name would have been appropriate, for the relevance of the revelation is emphasized on every page. There is not a breath of mustiness about a single line. Rather, the ancient truths are seen to be as up to date as today’s telecast and the effective remedies for the maladies of our time. J. R. Mantey, in his article “New Testament Backgrounds” (III, 8) says, “Fortunately, through God’s providence and the impulsion of the Holy Spirit, some of the apostles, and other intimate associates who saw and heard them frequently, have given us written, authoritative and historical records of their knowledge of the most important fact in history as well as the unequaled and divine message which we have in Christ.” The same approach is made in the Old Testament section also.

Physically, the set is attractive, beautifully bound, and printed with good readable type. Concise and complete outlines introduce the many books, and the use of divisions and subheads within the text are a real aid. There is only a sprinkling of poetry and anecdotes; the writers seemed intent only upon opening up the written Word to reveal the living Word who is His own beauty and story. The devotional nature of the commentary is sensed throughout, perhaps symbolized by the absence of any footnotes, references, or subject-index. The size of the work precludes the possibility of its being exhaustive; yet it is both stimulating and suggestive. The reader is constantly aware of the familiarity of each writer with the fruits of research, and that each brings only the essence of the distillation. The 10 introductory articles are helpful. Especially informative is “Between the Testaments” by David H. Wallace.

The three volumes are indeed a major contribution to the religious literature of our day. It is a trustworthy and scholarly explanation of what God has said through men of old for the use of men of now.

C. RALSTON SMITH

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