Words—Their Use And Abuse In Theology
The Semantics of Biblical Language, by James Barr (Oxford, 1961, 313 pp., 37s 6d), is reviewed by Berkeley Mickelsen, Associate Professor of Bible and Theology, Wheaton College (Illinois).
Here is a book which examines the use of linguistic evidence in theological argument. The investigation is very thorough. More than that, the self-imposed task of the author amounts to an extremely difficult assignment. Professor Barr “takes on singlehanded” biblical theologians, dogmatic theologians, and those linguists whose approach, so far as Professor Barr is concerned, resembles that of biblical theologians. Some very sound judgments are made. At the same time the critic opens himself to criticism by those who would differ from certain of his conclusions. He, like those whom he criticizes, is controlled by certain basic assumptions in theology. All of us are. Were he to write a fresh volume on any of the themes he discusses, he certainly would avoid etymological, atomistic, and artificial generalizations in linguistics. But his own selection and presentation of carefully-tested linguistical data would certainly show the basic assumptions of his own Weltanschauung. However, as a critic, Professor Barr is to be commended for a fine spirit.
The book is divided into 10 chapters. In chapter one the importance of the problem is discussed. The writer proposes “to survey and to criticize certain lines on which modern theological thinking has been assessing and using the linguistic material of the Bible” (p. 4). He makes plain that he is not criticizing biblical or any other kind of theology as such. He has one interest; namely, how does this theologian use linguistical data?
Next the author takes up the current habit of contrasting Greek and Hebrew thought. He feels that most of the contrasts are obtained by assuming a difference and then picking out examples to show that this is so. Evidence which does not fit the contrast is ignored. He discusses the supposed contrasts of static and dynamic, abstract and concrete, and the duality and unity of man.
Chapter three is devoted to the problems of method. Have theologians in their use of linguistical data examined the Greek and Hebrew languages as a whole? Have they related what is said about either language to a general semantic method which is the product of general linguistics? The author says, No. He also discusses whether there is a relation between thought pattern and structure of language.
From method the author turns to performance. Extensive discussion is given to verbs, action, and time. Theological arguments involving these syntactical elements are discussed. He feels that there is an undue dependence on older grammars which lack clarity on certain points of syntax. At these points the older grammars need the stricter method of modern linguistics. The author himself holds the older and newer emphases in linguistics in a fine balance. He is not against the older grammars; he is just for good grammar, be the work old or new.
He also discusses theological arguments involving the construct state in Hebrew, dynamism in numerals and number, and the excessive emphasis on the “root” of Hebrew words. This latter point broadens out into a whole chapter titled “Etymologies and Related Arguments” (chap. 6). Over 50 pages are devoted to this theme. Specific examples of theological argument based upon etymology are given. Such themes as Qahal-ekklesia (Assembly-congregation), dabar (word, matter), baptism, and man make for most interesting and exciting reading.
The examination of linguistic arguments centering in the Greek and Hebrew words for “faith” and “truth” (chap. 7) reaches a high mark of excellence. Professor Barr notes that usage cannot be ignored because of some supposed over-all etymological control. Where there is more than one valid linguistical possibility, these are noted. The author’s own preference is made clear. The lexical meaning of “trust” and “believe” for the hiphil he’emiyn is stressed and its neglect is regarded as “the basic error” (p. 175) in the type of theological argument being examined.
Chapter eight looks at some principles of Kittel’s Theological Dictionary. This was a difficult chapter to write. Professor Barr is on solid ground in examining what the individual writers do. He also seeks to give a critical analysis of the basic principles behind this monumental work. But though this reviewer appreciates his fine endeavors, he does not necessarily agree with his conclusions. The issues are far more complex than Barr’s analysis may lead some readers to believe. For example, much is said about “external” and “inner” lexicography. External lexicography is the type found in Bauer’s lexicon (in English, Arndt and Gingrich edition). It deals with word substitution. “Inner” lexicography, a term found in Kögel, Kittel, and utilized in Kittel’s Theological Dictionary, involves, according to Barr, the field of thought with which the words are related (pp. 216–217). Word histories are merged into idea histories. Barr rejects inner lexicography. “Words have no more than their semantic function” (p. 245). To this reviewer such a rejection seems arbitrary and is based on a formal descriptive-historical approach to lexicography. Barr is correct in saying that in theology the sentence ought to be the basic unit rather than the word (pp. 249–250), and that propositions are essential for thought (pp. 245–246). The fact that bad propositions exist does not imply that propositions as such are bad. Nevertheless, words which may be isolated as independent lexical elements by the grammarian do play an indispensable role as an organic part of ideas, themes, and teachings found in Scripture. To set forth in a theological lexicon these ideas, themes, and teachings is certainly proper. But it is foolish to claim that a single word carries a greater freight of meaning than it really does. Criticism of this common practice has been needed for a long time. On the other hand, to throw out “inner lexicography” because of serious abuses in handling the material is also unwarranted. Barr’s view of words and the realities signified by them certainly needs to be called into question on some points (pp. 211, 231). He insists that revelation itself has no effect upon language (just how Barr means this is not clear, see pp. 248–249). He also has an obvious antipathy to Bauer’s frequent use of the word “supernatural” (p. 255). Barr himself has a lot to say about the fact that in theology there are “good” words and “bad” words (p. 281). One wonders if “supernatural” is only a “good” word if not used too often!
In chapter nine the author proposes a better way to approach biblical language in its relation to theology. This chapter is a must for every theologian and has many helpful suggestions. Especially pertinent are the criticisms of a theological hermeneutics which neglects linguistics as a science.
The book concludes on the theme of languages and the study of theology (chap. 10). Here the writer makes a fervent plea (reiterated often throughout the book) for the study of biblical languages to be integrated with the study of general linguistics. He believes both in historical and descriptive linguistics. He is all for comparative philology of a contemporary variety. From a study involving these elements he is convinced that a sound philosophy of language will develop.
Since theology without language study is empty, and since language study without theology is blind to the full significance of lexicography and syntax, both theologians and linguists should work together. How tragic for the theologian to be a bad linguist and for the linguist to be a bad theologian or, even worse, to disclaim any interest in theology! It is the fervent wish of this reviewer that Professor Barr’s book will help both theologians and linguists catch a vision of “new worlds to conquer.”
BERKELEY MICKELSEN
Between Two Theologies
Emil Brunner: An Introduction to the Man and His Thought, by Paul K. Jewett (Inter-Varsity Press, 1961, 43 pp., $1.25), is reviewed by Anthony A. Hoekema, Professor of Systematic Theology, Calvin Seminary.
Written by a theological professor whose doctoral studies concerned Brunner’s view of revelation, this little book sets forth in competent fashion some of Brunner’s outstanding contributions. Brunner is characterized as a theologian who is equally opposed to both liberalism and orthodoxy. Revelation, for Brunner, is an event in which God encounters me. Biblical truth is not it-truth but thou-truth; it can never be contained in any system, but can only be expressed in paradoxes. The Bible is for Brunner neither verbally inspired nor inerrant; it is only a human word about the Divine Word.
While appreciative of much that is good, the author maintains that Brunner has not succeeded in providing us with an acceptable antidote to liberalism. At certain crucial points Brunner’s theology is shown to be pitifully weak; the historicity of Adam, the trustworthiness of our faith, and the normativity of the Bible.
Professor Jewett’s style is concise and clear. Though popularly written, this book is the work of a scholar and is highly recommended as a brief survey of Brunner’s thought.
ANTHONY A. HOEKEMA
Trial By Ordeal
Show Me a Miracle, by J. Jerry Cacopardo and Don Weldon (E. P. Dutton and Co., 1961, 220 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Henry W. Coray, author of Son of Tears.
This is a personal story of a Presbyterian minister who passed the best 15 years of his life in prison, “framed” by an uncle who headed a New York arsonic ring. Indicted and sentenced for a murder he never committed, Mr. Cacopardo does admit with commendable honesty that early in life he involved himself in evil companionships which contributed to the corruption of his morals. The events leading to his imprisonment, the dreary frustrating years spent in “stir,” the contacts made there, the law’s sickening delays before he was sprung, his subsequent trial by ordeal while preparing for the ministry, and finally his varied activities as a pastor, these are related with fine coloring, sly humor, and a realism that carries you right to the end and leaves you strangely moved. The tragic note in the book is the subject’s statement (p. 14): “I have found the most gratifying kind of atonement and self-realization in the pulpit, in hospital calls, in group therapy with jail inmates, in personal counseling, and in many other facets of a minister’s mission to exalt the dignity of the human spirit.” What, one wonders, becomes of the one atonement provided by Christ, or what about His exaltation?
HENRY W. CORAY
The Methodists Surprise
Methodism and Society in Theological Perspective, by S. Paul Schilling (Abingdon, 1960, 318 pp., $5) is reviewed by Harold B. Kuhn, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky.
This volume is one of a set of four, projected by the Board of Social and Economic Relations of the Methodist Church, and dealing with the general subject “Methodism and Society.” Professor Schilling seeks to combine in one volume two things: (1) a survey of what theological and social attitudes exist in modern Methodism and (2) a projection of what ought to be in the denomination’s approach to our social scene, today and tomorrow. To determine the rank-and-file attitude of Methodists toward Christian beliefs and toward social thought, the author has submitted a questionnaire. The results of this questionnaire have been set alongside the teachings of the major writers in the field of social ethics since the promulgation of the “Social Creed” in 1908.
Some of the results are surprising. Alongside major emphases upon the theme, “I believe in Man,” which have been projected by denominational leaders (and this manifesto is a slippery one, for in some sense each believes in his fellow man) there has persisted among rank-and-file Methodists the view that man’s worth is rooted in his relation to God, and that the improvement of society will be achieved, if at all, through essentially individualistic means and as a result of individual conversions. The tabulation of the results of the questionnaire, which is one of a series of useful appendices, is rather remarkable in that it shows that the essentially social orientation, which the official pronouncements of the denomination has embodied, has by no means eliminated from the thinking of the 5,000 Methodists polled the belief in the theological principles embodied in the Twenty-Five Articles.
The work is perhaps most ambiguous in its attempt to account for the manner in which the denomination’s Social Creed developed. The author does not explain how early Methodists, with no overt social program, brought to bear upon eighteenth-and nineteenth-century society powerfully reforming forces. He acknowledges tacitly that, alongside the half-century of the promulgation of a well-formulated Social Creed (projected without well-defined theological bases), there still exist vast areas of social inconsistency in the thought of Methodists, particularly at the point of race relationships. The volume does not undertake to present a complete account of Methodist activity in the social field. Nothing is said, for example, of the work of the Federation for Social Action.
The author himself seeks a middle way: he would suggest that Christian social ethics be undergirded by what he calls a “theology of salvation” by means of which the traditional theological categories of Methodist theology (and especially that of sanctification) be applied to today’s society. He envisions a form of “social sanctification” by which society in general may be delivered from unlovely attitudes and activities. To what extent he would espouse a personal and individual conversion and sanctification, along the general biblical lines proposed by historic Methodism, is a question. The reviewer was left in perplexity, particularly at the point of whether the transformed individual was to be the major point of reference in the achievement of “social holiness,” or whether the writer proposed some sort of social application of theological principles which he hoped would make a major reforming thrust into the social group.
The volume is interesting; it may seem to many ambiguous in that it does not distinguish sharply enough between what is and what ought to be. Should the Christian Church be a mirror which reflects the social moods of the day and adapts her theological categories to them? Or should the Church of the living God, in the name of her Head, challenge that which exists, in terms of that which ought to be?
HAROLD B. KUHN
No Axe To Grind
A Systematic Study of the New Analytical Bible, by Don Cleveland Norman (John A. Dickson, 1961, four books divided into 52 studies, each about 55 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Elmer Ost, Associate Professor of Christian Education, North Park College, Chicago, Illinois.
Here are four easy workbooks, to be used with The New Analytical Bible published by the same company, and containing true-false, multiple choice, fillins for a word or a passage. Factual answers are called for, which are to be checked by means of the page number where the answer is to be found. The lessons deal largely with the helps provided in the New Analytical Bible, but some deal with biblical material itself, also in a factual way. The danger of “doing” one’s study book by means of finding the word or sentence needed to answer a question is recognized in the introduction. There the student is urged to read the whole paragraph or page even though he has already found the answer.
The New Analytical Bible study aids strike this reviewer as most sane and as leading a student to a conservative middle-of-the-road Christian understanding of the Bible itself. It has no axe to grind; often it presents more than one view.
The devout reader of the Bible will find this an aid. He will gain the satisfaction of dealing with significant material in an easy way and the pleasure of checking his answers immediately for correctness. This is of course the limitation of a self-checking workbook; it cannot call for responses not already formulated. For this type of thoughtful response to the Bible one’s study should include the communal study experienced within the Church lest the facts lie dormant in informed but isolated Christians.
ELMER OST
Challenge Of Homemaking
Beautiful Homemaking, by Charlene Johnson (Augustana Press, 1961, 136 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by Thea B. Van Halsema, Author of This Was John Calvin.
In an intimately-written book geared especially to young mothers like herself, Charlene Johnson develops her conviction that “our Saviour wants each one of us to be at her best in every way.” One may question how much place things like party planning, decorating ideas, diet, and makeup rules should have in a book intended to emphasize the distinctively Christ-centered aspects of homemaking. But certainly many young women who confront this challenging role will be both warmed and inspired by what Mrs. Johnson has to share with them.
THEA B. VAN HALSEMA
Jerusalem In God’S Plan
Jerusalem in the New Testament. The Significance of the City in the History of Redemption and Eschatology, by James Calvin De Young (Kampen, Holland: J. H. Kok, 1960, 168 pp., f. 5, 90), is reviewed by Merrill C. Tenney, Dean of the Graduate School, Wheaton College (Illinois).
Written primarily for scholars, and presented as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Theology at the Free University of Amsterdam, this erudite work covers every phase of the teaching on Jerusalem in the New Testament. The subject is treated under four heads: The Name Jerusalem in the New Testament, dealing exhaustively with the two spellings in the Greek text and their significance; God’s Chosen City, including the relation of Jerusalem to the plan of God and the career of Jesus; The Rejection of Jerusalem, relating to the fate of the historical Jerusalem; and The Eschatological Jerusalem. The text is heavily annotated, and an index of authors mentioned completes the work.
The writer does not attempt any discussion of the archaeology or topography of Jerusalem, but confines his attention to the significance of the city in the teaching of the New Testament. Both the literal and figurative uses of Jerusalem are treated in detail, and corollary subjects such as Jesus and the Temple are treated at some length. The bibliographical references to English, German, and Dutch literature will be quite valuable to anyone who wishes to make a thorough study of the subject, and there are overtones in the book that should interest students of eschatology. The writer’s distinction between the heavenly Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem deserves attention. The author’s knowledge of the viewpoints on the subject and of pertinent literature is almost encyclopedic.
MERRILL C. TENNEY
Hope For The Disinherited
A Long Honeymoon Among Lepers, Outcasts and Aborigines, by M. P. Davis (privately published, 1960, 212 pp., $3), is reviewed by Harold Lindsell, Vice President, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.
The volume represents half a century’s labor as a missionary to the lepers of India. The account is autobiographical, and springs not so much from memory which is elusive, as from diaries, letters, mission records and memorabilia. The style leaves much to be desired but the account itself is fresh and compelling and springs from the heart of a man whose life was committed to the work of God among the outcast lepers. From the vantage point of cultural anthropology and its relationship to missionary work the book serves a good purpose. For light, interesting, and touching reading this will fill the bill.
HAROLD LINDSELL
Church Union By Liturgy
The Reform of Liturgical Worship, by Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. (Oxford, 1961, 118 pp., $3), is reviewed by F. R. Webber, Author of A History of Preaching in Britain and America.
To those of us who are not Episcopalians, a Book of Common Prayer of 1961 does not differ greatly from one of 1861 except in typography. However, Professor Shepherd, who teaches liturgies in Church Divinity School of the Pacific, calls attention to revisions, many of which have been made for the purpose of keeping the Book in step with the times. He gives special attention to the revisions of 1880 to 1928.
Many Episcopal writers leave the impression that today’s forms of worship began with Cranmer and the Prayer Books of 1549 and 1552. They seem to infer that non-Episcopalians, in recent years, are beginning to imitate Episcopal customs and forms of worship. Professor Shepherd does not follow this usual party line, for he mentions the fact that Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists have their traditional liturgical forms. Luther’s Formula Missae of 1526, based upon ancient pre-Reformation orders of worship, has been used unbrokenly by most branches of Lutheranism for 435 years.
In his closing chapter Professor Shepherd offers a plan of agreement and possible future union involving Episcopalians, Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Methodists. His suggested basis is liturgical agreement rather than the usual efforts at doctrinal unity. His book is most interesting, yet many of us believe more is needed than an interdenominational agreement that “we have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” A definite doctrinal understanding regarding the truths clearly revealed in Holy Scripture is more important.
F. R. WEBBER
Letter From Silas?
The Epistle to the Hebrews, by Thomas Hewitt (Eerdmans, 1960, 217 pp., $3), is reviewed by David H. Wallace, Associate Professor of Biblical Theology, California Baptist Theological Seminary, Covina, California.
The author of this Tyndale Commentary is secretary of the Church Society of the Church of England. Of the 217 pages in the book, 32 are given to a short and useful introduction to the epistle. He discusses the general critical problems of authorship, whether the readers were Jewish or Gentile Christians, the destination, date, occasion, and purpose of the letter. He rejects the thesis of Pauline authorship and makes an interesting case for the possibility that Silas (i.e., Silvanus) was the author. The Hebrew Christians of Rome were the probable original readers of the letter.
In the foreword Mr. Hewitt implies that his treatment of Hebrews 5:7 merits special attention. The heart of the discussion is the interpretation of the Greek preposition ek as it bears on the death of Christ. The AV and the RSV both render it “from” death, whereas Hewitt understands it to read “out of” death. If the translation “from” is adopted, it implies that Christ’s prayer was not attended by the Father, and that the prayers offered up by the Son were not in accord with the will of the Father. The author’s conclusion is that “out of” is to be preferred because of the willingness of the Son to face death for all men.
Acknowledgment is made of the debt of the author to three well-known scholars who have labored fruitfully over this Epistle to the Hebrews; they are Westcott, Moffatt, and W. Manson. It is curious that no reference is made to the great Catholic commentary by C. Spicq. Although the author usually footnotes his sources of citation, he is not consistent. For example, he quotes from Manson (p. 30), but fails to identify the source or page; the same is the case in a quotation from Wickham (p. 40); and on pages 43–44 James Denney is cited without specific reference. The Scottish scholar F. F. Bruce is incorrectly identified with wrong initials (p. 41). On page 44 the author affirms that Hebrews is “the only book of the New Testament which refers to the priesthood of Christ.” In a limited sense this is correct, but John 17 and several passages in the Apocalypse surely allow the function of Christ as priest. These are trifling details, however, and it must be added that the commentary is lucid in its style and dependable in its exegesis.
David H. Wallace
Inside Roman Catholicism
The Voices of France, by James M. Connolly (Macmillan, 1961, 231 pp., $5.50), is reviewed by Robert Preus, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Concordia Theological Seminary.
The title of this volume may be a bit misleading. The author, a Roman Catholic priest and presently teacher at Bishop Dubois High School in New York, reviews only the contributions of contemporary Roman Catholic theologians in France. This fact may also seem to indicate a lack of balance, for it would appear arbitrary and difficult to confine one’s studies merely to what French Catholics have done. But these limitations which the author sets do not in any way detract from the value of the book. His purpose is to inform Roman Catholics and Protestants alike regarding the productions of theologians who have been relatively unknown and neglected in this country. But more than this, he wishes to allay the fears of Americans that French theologians are radicals and hidden innovators. In both purposes he is eminently successful.
After preliminary discussion of the biblical revival, the liturgical movement, and the Patristic revival which led to our present era, Connolly offers excellent reviews of the five major theologians of France today: Albert Dondeyne, Henri de Lubac, Yves Congar, Piere Teilhard de Chardin, and Jean Danielou. The author is clearly sympathetic with those theologians who wend a middle way between strict Roman orthodoxy and that more liberal theology which has been touched by humanistic, existential, and scientific influences.
Many significant facts are brought out in the book. We learn how clearly Romanism has been affected by existentialism and the so-called “Biblical Movement.” We discern that the Roman church is plagued with the same internal skepticism and running after new winds of doctrine as Protestantism, and also by the same paralysis in coping with these problems. Ultimately Rome is forced to meet these threatening encroachments only by force and dogmatism. It is to the credit of men like Lagrange that the dangers in modernism and higher criticism were quickly seen. But it was papal encyclicals that finally settled these problems.
Any reader wishing to acquaint himself with contemporary Roman Catholic theology will find this volume an invaluable introduction.
ROBERT PREUS
Black Supremacy
The Black Muslims in America, by C. Eric Lincoln (Beacon, 1961, 276 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by L. Nelson Bell, Executive Editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
This book brings to light a movement of which relatively few Americans are aware, namely, of an angry group of militant Negro racists who make Negro supremacy a religion, and exploit current racial tensions in a way calculated to hinder rather than hasten the Christian solution of a difficult situation.
Dr. Lincoln has performed a real service in his exhaustive study. It is not pleasant reading. The name “Black Muslims” seems more a phrase of mystical appeal than of adherance to the Muslim faith. The movement is violently anti-Christian.
Probably the outstanding significance of the movement lies in the fact that it calls for complete separation of the races while it looks for ultimate Negro supremacy. This form of racial pride is something new, and again it is based on hate, not love, a hate so violent that the better-known Negro leaders turn from it and regard the movement as an evil comparable to anything found in “white supremacy.”
The value of this book lies in its careful study of a situation as far afield from the Christian approach as is the violence of KKK extremists.
L. NELSON BELL
Luke And The Moderns
Luke the Historian in Recent Study, by C. K. Barrett (Epworth, 1961, 76 pp, 8s 6d), is reviewed by I. Howard Marshall, Tutor, Didsbury Methodist College, Bristol, England.
Those who thought the question of the historicity of Luke-Acts was decisively settled by conservative scholars like Ramsay 50 years ago have a rude awakening before them. During the last 20 years there has been an intensified study of Luke and Acts and a proliferation of books and articles, mainly in German, which suggest that the question is very much open. Dr. Barrett’s compressed but very rich survey of recent research provides an indispensable guide for the student.
After discussing the current state of opinion on six questions (text, influence of ancient historiography, Hellenistic romances and Jewish thought, use of sources and Luke’s ecclesiastical background), Dr. Barrett summarizes the standpoints and contributions of six recent writers. These are M. Dibelius whose style-critical studies have inspired the new look in Lucan research; B. Gärtner, A. Ehrhardt, and R. Morgenthaler, all of whom represent a much more conservative and positive outlook; and two writers who follow the tradition of Dibelius, H. Conzelmann, who gives us “the outstanding modern assessment of Lucan theology,” and E. Haenchen, author of a voluminous commentary on Acts.
Finally, Dr. Barrett examines a number of questions raised by the work of these authors, but without directly discussing the validity of their conclusions. He thinks that Luke was primarily a preacher of the Good News who conveyed his message in the form of history. His purpose, which was dictated by the state of the church in which he lived, was to show the relation of the rise of the Church to the earthly life of Jesus. Luke completely rejected gnosticism, and introduced an element of history into apocalyptic; but his work cannot be called a specimen of Frühkatholizmus (E. Kasemann), in which the church has become an institutional agency for dispensing salvation.
The problems raised at present about Luke are different from those of a former period. The question now is whether Luke the theologian has given us a reliable history of the early Church. Dr. Barrett has given us a useful discussion of Luke as a theologian, but, although he throws out many sane remarks on the matter, he has not come to grips with Luke the historian, and with the question whether his narrative is essentially factual and accurate. In his commentary E. Haenchen has shown a degree of skepticism towards the narrative of Acts only rivaled by that of Bultmann towards the Gospels. It is a pity that Dr. Barrett has not done more to provide a corrective; perhaps critical scholarship does not feel capable of assessing Luke’s history until it has assessed his theology.
I. HOWARD MARSHALL
Colossus Of Bedford
John Bunyan, by Ola Elizabeth Winslow (Macmillan, 1961, 242 pp., $5), is reviewed by Clyde S. Kilby, Chairman of the Department of English, Wheaton College (Illinois).
The author of this book, a Pulitzer Prize biographer, says she has no new facts to reveal about the life of John Bunyan. Nevertheless she has written a substantial and significant biography. The feat it accomplishes is to set the meagerly-known details of Bunyan’s life against the vivid religious and political events of his time. Miss Winslow uses the rich treasury of documents in the British Museum to saturate her reader in the atmosphere of Bedfordshire in the turbulent seventeenth century. Picturing Bunyan’s neighbors and friends, and also enemies, she is able, for instance, to suggest the prototypes for many of the characters in Pilgrim’s Progress.
Most of Miss Winslow’s readers will be surprised to learn that Bunyan was the author of sixty volumes, Pilgrim’s Progress being the twenty-third in order. Several of these books are examined in some detail. Miss Winslow points out that Bunyan was neither ignorant nor uncultivated, as many have supposed, though the limits of his culture were deliberately narrow. Even though she constantly makes us aware of the weighty religious atmosphere surrounding the Puritans, she never treats them with disdain. We get a good conception of jails often crowded with dissenters who had violated the Conventicle Act and of the final victory of people who were determined at whatever cost to obtain religious freedom.
CLYDE S. KILBY
The Problem Of Evil
Love Almighty and Ills Unlimited, by Austin Farrer (Doubleday, 1961, 168 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Fred H. Klooster, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, Calvin Theological Seminary.
The author writes for Christians who are intrigued or tormented by the riddle of providence and evil. However, the entire approach of Farrer roots in a dichotomy between the natural and the supernatural. The first five chapters approach the problem “in the main by the light of natural reason,” while the remaining three contain allusions to Scripture. His view of man (somewhat resembling that of Reinhold Niebuhr, consulting editor of the Christian Faith Series in which this volume appears) is that of a beast who has culturally learned the art of speech and thereby acquired likeness to God. Man’s real need for salvation roots in this animal nature, a need which has simply been intensified by sin.
Farrer gives no consideration to Ephesians 1:11 or Romans 8:28 ff. The whole of history is not under the sovereign control of God: providence is essentially but the overruling of God who brines good out of the blackest evil. “I think that God’s creation begins from below with a chaos of non-rational forces, each acting of itself with inexhaustible energy; and I view the degree of order and the complication of structure which Providence has drawn from these beginnings as a miracle of patient overruling. The marvel is, the chaos is not more” (p. 130 f.). The scriptural account of Adam’s sin is regarded as a “fable,” and the Christian today is said no longer to need Satan except perhaps as an “allegorical convention.”
The solution which the author presents is a speculative one, but then so is the question, he suggests. A practical solution often found by peasants and housewives, however, is simply to trust in God’s mercy and thus to be led out of evil into a promised good. In faith such a person will feel the movement of the purpose of God, and rather than argue, he will love, “and what is loved is always known as good” (p. 64).
The evangelical Christian will not be satisfied with Farrer’s description of the problem, nor with his suggested solution. “How hard it is to please all parties!” he declares at one point (p. 119). His middle-of-the-road position is something of a neo-orthodox approach in which the old motif of nature-supernature reappears. At any rate, Farrer is always interesting reading.
FRED H. KLOOSTER
Wesleyan Witness
From Age to Age: A Living Witness, by Leslie Ray Marston (Light and Life Press, 1960; 608 pp., $6), is reviewed by S. Richey Kamm, Professor of Social Science and Division Chairman, Wheaton College (Illinois).
The year 1960 marks the centennial of the Free Methodist Church which began as a reform movement within American Methodism in the mid-nineteenth century. Central to its early protest against the growing secularism of the parent body was its insistence upon the primacy of the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification or perfect love and the necessity of a Christian experience which included a life disciplined to biblical precepts. As social and prudential issues such as slavery, anti-secrecy, free pews, and paid choirs became identified with the doctrinal controversy, the “Nazarites” were eventually dismissed from membership in their respective Methodist societies and conferences. In this crisis Free Methodism was raised up, as its founders believed, to perpetuate the distinctive doctrines and practices of early Methodism.
Bishop Marston is greatly concerned that the Wesleyan doctrine of entire sanctification be clearly understood. He devotes fully half of his study to a consideration of this theme as developed by both John Wesley and Benjamin Titus Roberts, the early leader of Free Methodism. Paramount in Marston’s thought is the stress that both men laid upon the radical change wrought at the core of a person who thus experienced God’s grace in sanctification and the consequent evidences of self-discipline and social concern in the life of the believer.
The bishop is at his best when he discusses the issue of “Disciplined Living” in the history of Free Methodism and its significance for twentieth-century Christians. He treads lightly when dealing with such controversial issues as fanaticism in Christian prudentials which sometimes characterized the church in its early years. The early insistence upon congregational singing in Free Methodist public worship to the exclusion of instrumental or choral music is justified as part of an effort to restore to the congregation an active part in the service.
What of the future for Free Methodism? Bishop Marston is quite sure that his church is no longer a sect but a denomination with an identifying message and a sense of community with those denominations and movements which are biblically-centered in their distinctive emphases. He is further assured that the role of Free Methodists must be to proclaim their historic Wesleyan position and to continue the protest against secularism in American society. The standards of faith and practice which he lays down for Free Methodists in the second century are well in accord with the peculiar emphases of evangelical Methodists and Bible-believing Christians in general. What may be of more than passing interest is the absence of the traditional term holiness in both statements of guiding principles (pp. 559, 572).
Bishop Marston has written a history of Free Methodism which will serve as a helpful guide to the members of his denominations and to spiritually-minded Christians in all evangelical communions.
S. R. KAMM
Evangelist Extraordinary
The Billy Sunday Story, by Lee Thomas (Zondervan, 1961, 256 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Faris D. Whitesell, Professor of Preaching, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary.
In evangelism more than 40 years, Billy Sunday was America’s leading evangelist for a full generation. At the height of his career, 1914–1920, he held notable campaigns in such great American cities as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, and Kansas City, and used wooden tabernacles seating up to 20,000 people.
The reviewer heard Billy Sunday preach many times and attended some of his greatest campaigns. He can testify that this book is a faithful, factual, and thrilling report of the work of Sunday and his party. Dr. Lee Thomas, pastor of South Hills Baptist Church, Covina, California, was authorized by Mrs. (Ma) Sunday to write this book. In addition to her own memories of those exciting years, she gave him full access to her private Billy Sunday materials. Written from a sympathetic point of view, and accompanied by over 20 pages of good photographs, this story dignifies evangelism and glorifies Jesus Christ.
FARIS D. WHITESELL
Land Of The Pharaohs
Ancient Egypt, by Hermann Kees, translated from the German by Ian F. D. Morrow (University of Chicago Press, 1961, 392 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Earle E. Cairns, Chairman of the Department of History and Political Science, Wheaton College (Illinois).
How the geography of Egypt affects the history of that land is the burden of this scholarly book by a famous German Egyptologist. The geography of Egypt is related to its predynastic history in Part I. The emphasis in Part II is on the overall impact of the geography of the Nile on ancient Egyptian politics, economics, religion, and social and artistic life. In the final part, the life and work of important ancient Egyptian rulers in relation to geography are explored chronologically by a study of cities and areas from Memphis in the north. All of this is done without recourse to the theory of geographic determinism.
The book is intended for the scholar or informed lay reader of geography and history. No attempt is made to relate any of the data discussed to biblical history.
EARLE E. CAIRNS
Dedicated Imagination
Unlikely Saints of the Bible, by William C. Fletcher (Zondervan, 1961, 144 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by Robert Boyd Munger, Minister, First Presbyterian Church, Berkeley, California.
The subtitle on the jacket of this rather unusual book accurately describes the content: “Surprising and dramatic character sketches of familiar and unfamiliar personalities in Scripture.” Presenting us with his first volume, the author portrays 11 characters from the pages of the Bible with arresting freshness and imagination. The late Clarence Macartney quoted Napoleon as saying “Men of imagination rule the world,” and then Dr. Macartney added significantly, “The preacher of imagination is the prince of the pulpit.” If the same holds true for a writer, here is imagination rising out of disciplined biblical scholarship and soaring far to quicken our own thoughts and to make people, long dead, live again.
The personality sketches are styled in popular story form, well written, and full of human interest. Each chapter is accompanied by a full-page illustration by the artist, Dirk Gringhuis. These are excellently done.
If you enjoy a good story, then this book will please you. If you are a scholarly type, you may find that this book leads you along another direction, but not without its values. I enjoyed meeting the “unlikely saints,” even if I seemed to find them at times in unlikely situations.
ROBERT BOYD MUNGER
Bohemia Holds Its Own
Answer to Conformity, by Perry Epler Gresham (Bethany Press, 1961, 350 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Vernon Grounds, President, Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary.
Eagerly I opened this book by the president of Bethany College. He is, so the jacket informs us, “a great contemporary philosopher” who in these Perkins Lectures gives us a “forceful, hard-hitting” work, “relentlessly piercing” in quality. So here at last, I thought to myself, we may have a helpful solution to the problem of our outer-directive, idolatrous crowd culture. But my expectations were disappointed. Gresham occupies a Christian position, to be sure, but what he offers us is merely a collection of 12 rather bromidic essays, urbanely written, psychologically sound, and sometimes commendably helpful, yet far from original or challenging. His major thesis is that the individual has the competence to manage his own life successfully and serenely if only he would utilize wisdom and faith—not, one must confess, a wholly novel proposition. Dr. Gresham too confidently assures us that fear, guilt, loneliness, money, time, grief, marriage, health, and sundry other aspects of human existence can be readily handled. How? Well, at one juncture he outlines a seven-point program, next he lays down six principles, again he suggests five simple rules, and so forth. In short, the complexities and ambiguities of life, which even a Christian faces, are dealt with too summarily and superficially. I seriously doubt, therefore, that Gresham’s pleasant though somewhat platitudinous version of nonconformity will win many converts from The Real Bohemia as Rigney and Smith designate the world of the true-blue “beats.” Something more radical than this answer is needed for the problem of The Lonely Crowd with its faceless anonymity.
VERNON GROUNDS
Blended For Laymen
The Word of the Lord Grows, by Martin H. Franzmann (Concordia, 1961, 324 pp., $4), is reviewed by Everett F. Harrison, Professor of New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary.
This volume by the Concordia Seminary professor is designed to introduce the New Testament writings to the general reader. To this end it strives for a blend between the scholarly and devotional approaches, touching critical questions lightly for the most part and proceeding without footnotes. The New Testament literature is treated in chronological sequence and is handled in a conservative spirit. A concluding chapter deals with the subject of the canon.
Due to the real literary merit of the book, the reader is carried along without appreciable effort. He has in his hands a streamlined production. To achieve this the author has been obliged to limit himself to essentials and to deny himself the luxury of more extensive treatment. This reviewer found the section on the Corinthians Epistles especially fascinating. Sunday school teachers have here an ideal book for providing background material, and pastors, as well as ministerial students, will also receive help from it.
EVERETT F. HARRISON
Call For Love
Herein Is Love, by Reuel L. Howe (Judson Press, 1961, 116 pp., $3), is reviewed by James O. Handley, Jr., Wanamassa Christian Reformed Church, Wanamassa, New Jersey.
“As the love of God required incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth in order that it might be received by us, so the Word of God’s love in our day calls for persons in whom it may be embodied.” That is Reuel Howe’s theme in this nontechnical study of the biblical doctrine of love. He points up and deals with the issues of love which arise in our lives from day to day. He is convinced the Scriptures reveal a Saviour who is present, involved, and addressing us through one another in those issues. Here is an example: “We all need encouragement to love, and hospitality toward human attempts to express love is one of the surest ways in which we can participate in the contemporary living of Christ in the world.”
This book talks to us where we are and shows the Spirit’s way toward renewal in this age for the individual, family, and church. Here’s a sampler: “People need help also in discovering what their affirmations and denials mean for their way of life. Only then will they be able to make strong and and enabling commitments.” Few books could be more revitalizing resources for adult discussion groups than this one.
JAMES O. HANDLEY
Stages Along Life’S Way
My Spiritual Pilgrimage From Philosophy to Faith, by Keri Evans (James Clarke, 1961, 127 pp., 10s 6d), is reviewed by Prebendary Colin Kerr, Vicar, St. Paul’s, Portman Square, London, England.
“I believe this little book … is worthy to rank with the classics of spiritual biography … alongside the Confessions of St. Augustine,” says T. Glyn Thomas in translating from the Welsh this autobiography written 20 years ago. J. D. Vernon Lewis in an introduction refers to “this rare and unique classic.”
These statements indicate a work of unusual quality, an evaluation certainly shared by the reviewer. “My Spiritual Pilgrimage from Philosophy to Faith,” coming from one who, as a philosopher and theologian, was a prince among his peers at Glasgow and Bangor, will gladden the hearts of ordinary believers. But it will do more. It will intrigue the more intellectual minds grappling with uncertainties ranging from pantheism to the most ecstatic spiritual experiences of mysticism or revival.
The book, easily read, must be carefully considered. Almost every page is about Evans’ conversion. This new experience led him into contact with the Welsh Revival of 1904.
As a philosopher studying facts before annunciating theories, though distrustful of all such revivalism, he went to see things for himself. He became convinced of its spiritual reality. For him it was nothing less than the descent of spiritual experience from realms of abstract realities into that of the most concrete order. God was laying hold of man in his entirety, body as well as soul.
This third stage of the “Pilgrimage” led from the personal acceptance of Christ into a fuller acceptance of his Lordship and then into a deeper mystical, at times overwhelming, experience of the Holy Spirit. The books which he quotes show the extremes of these sometimes ecstatic visitations: Thomas à Kempis Jeremy Taylor, Madame Guyon and S. D. Gordon, John McNeil (!) and Hudson Taylor.
The “Pilgrimage” passes through three stages. First came his search for beauty. Beauty in abstract conception, translated into poetry and music, gave him great satisfaction. He then turned to philosophy. Hence, secondly, his search for truth. Sensing himself as but an intricate part of the great Ultimate Whole (he would not say ‘God’) gave him something that approximated a sense of worship. Sensing the Eternal Consciousness in his own consciousness, he worshipped to that degree in the “Temple of Immensity.”
The third stage was largely brought about by his attendance at lectures given by Henry Drummond. Now began his search for holiness. He saw the necessity for a relationship which was more than creedal in his acceptance of the historic Christ. In establishing such, he passed through stages which he affirms should never be confused, namely awakening, conviction, and hesitancy.
Three cautions must be pointed out:
1. Care must be taken lest the author’s revaluation of the temporal things of life should give the impression that great gifts and opportunities such as he renounced are not a matter of supreme importance.
2. In cases of physical healing there should be a fair correlation with those recorded in the New Testament.
3. Lastly, concerning spiritual healing, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in ill health must not be forgotten.
Having thrown out this caveat, the reviewer would commend this book as undoubtedly outstanding and hope for wide publicity so that many may be led into the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s influence and activity.
COLIN KERR
Unity On British Scene
The British Churches Today, by Kenneth Slack (S.C.M., 1961, 176 pp., 5s) and The Hard Facts of Unity, by John Lawrence (S.C.M., 1961, 127 pp., 8s 6d), are reviewed by Ian Henderson, Professor of Divinity, Glasgow University, Scotland.
These two books deal mainly with the British setup. In some ways this is a pity. Thus when Mr. Slack finds mass entertainment to be one of the causes of the decline of the Methodist, Congregational, and Baptist churches in Eng land, one naturally wants to know why it has not had a similar effect in the United States.
But in a small book Mr. Slack gives us much valuable information, and he is specially good at conveying the “feel” of any particular church, and showing, for instance, the rather subtle changes which come over Anglicanism and Presbyterianism on the other side of the Irish Sea. He stresses the influence of the Tractarian Movement on the contemporary Church of England but notes and welcomes the increased part taken by the Evangelical wing in the councils of the church.
In Mr. Slack’s excellent account of my own church, I would only question the sentence on page 124: “The present temper of the Church is intensely national and even somewhat self-consciously Scottish.” It is not so long since the General Assembly rejected with something not far removed from contempt the proposal that the Stone of Destiny be returned to Scotland, and the only nationalism I have ever seen its members get worked up about is that of Nyassa-land.
Mr. Slack is secretary of the British Council of Churches and it would be unfair to expect him to talk freely about the power factor in British ecclesiastical life. He notes rightly that Anglican bishops work hard, and considers that a Methodist district chairman has more power than a bishop. Apart from that he is discreetly and tantalizingly silent about the Establishments of the various churches and their relations with one another.
Mr. Lawrence’s book presents the ecumenical position. In the first chapter he tells us that there is to be one visible church and that this is the will of God. On page 84 he laments that progress toward this goal is impeded by people who have dug themselves into positions from which they refuse to retreat. But Mr. Lawrence has done his own little bit of digging. On the next page he says that those who have episcopacy have no right to give it up. That is, there is only to be one church but it must be an episcopal one and if we don’t join it, we are against God.
Mr. Lawrence rewrites Scottish church history in terms of ecumenical categories. “Down to 1690 Presbyterians and Episcopalians co-existed in the Church of Scotland.… Neither party left the Church when the other was in power … Presbyterian unity did not long survive the separation of 1690. The Church of Scotland was weakened by various secession throughout the next hundred and fifty years” (pp. 82, 83). The pre-1690 period, described here in idyllic, almost Lausanne-like ecumenical terms, was in actual fact mainly a time of savage religious war. Those who lost power in the church did not leave it for the simple reason that those who held it were so enthusiastic about Mr. Lawrence’s ideal of the one church that they pumped lead into anyone who tried to found a second one. Has Mr. Lawrence never read of how the firing parties of Claver-house and Lag dealt with Presbyterian farmers? Or, on the other side, of the massacre the Covenanting army perpetrated at Dunaverty? And it would have been a lot less misleading to have pointed out that later Presbyterian secessions had nothing to do with the date of 1690 but a great deal to do with that of 1712, when a predominantly English Parliament broke the Act of Union between the two countries by introducing patronage into the Church of Scotland.
Just because I believe that our Lord’s prayer for unity means that we should love one another and not just that we should have common church offices, I dislike writing so sharply about any book. But the kind of Anglican imperialism presented in this one has already dragged my own church through the acrimonies of the bishops’ controversy. Do Anglicans really think they are helping the cause of Christianity by getting their ecumencial fellow travellers to start civil wars in every other church? A sentence of Mr. Lawrence’s on page 64 makes clear that the Conservative Evangelical wing of the Church of England is not working actively for visible unity. I think this is the most comforting statement in his book.
IAN HENDERSON
Christian Stewardship
Tall in His Presence, by George McNeill Ray (Seabury Press, 1961, 127 pp., $3), is reviewed by Walter W. Wessel, Associate Professor of Biblical Literature, Bethel College.
The title of this book, written by the Canon of Trinity Cathedral, Phoenix, Arizona, does not immediately suggest its subject. It is a book on Christian stewardship and proposes to answer three questions: “What does Holy Scripture say about stewardship? How can the Christian put these truths into operation? What can the local parish do about it?”
As is true of so many writers on this subject, Canon Ray is least successful in answering the first question. The treatment of Christ’s stewardship parables is particularly weak and some are included which could better have been left out. It is seriously to he doubted that the parable of the Prodigal Son “represents God as one who, without stint, gives an abundance of things to his own.”
The strength of the book lies in the practical good sense of the author in his approach to stewardship in the life of the Church. His impatience with bazaars and rummage sales as means of raising the church budget is most refreshing. “Any person or group that substitutes box tops and green stamps for sacrificial giving has lost the deep meaning of faithful stewardship of resources.”
What Canon Ray says about financing the church’s program ought to be given an attentive hearing. After all, he is pastor of the Episcopal church to which Senator Barry Goldwater (as reported in Time) contributes his $1100 monthly newspaper royalties!
WALTER W. WESSEL
Latin American Exemplar
Evangelism-in-Depth (Moody Press, 1961, 126 pp., $2.25), is reviewed by Leighton Ford, Associate Evangelist, Billy Graham Team.
“Nicaragua shall belong to Christ!” With this theme song on their lips, evangelical Christians of Nicaragua marched together during 1960 in an un-precedented effort to win their nation for the Saviour. In this volume, members of the Latin America Mission tell the remarkable story of “Evangelism-in-Depth.”
The plan was conceived by leaders of the LAM and of the churches of Nicaragua, who were troubled by the inability of drowsy and disunited Christian forces to meet the challenge of population explosion and the growth of non-Christian movements. After examining Latin America’s fastest-growing groups—Communists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and, on the Christian side, Pentecostals—they concluded that “the successful expansion of any movement is in direct proportion to its success in mobilizing and occupying its total membership in constant propagation of its beliefs.”
Operating on this thesis, LAM leaders brought into being “Evangelism-in-Depth”—a bold attempt to unite the churches in one over-all plan of saturating an entire nation with the Gospel.
The program had several distinct stages. First came a national Christian Workers Conference for instruction and spiritual preparation. Then there were long months spent in organization of prayer groups, training classes in personal evangelism, and house-to-house visitation. Next, a series of united evangelistic crusades were held in key cities and climaxed in the capital city, Managua. Finally local churches held their own preaching and visitation missions to conserve the results and initiate a continuous evangelistic thrust.
The story of this effort and a similar though briefer campaign in Costa Rica is told simply and well. Impressive statistics are included, but an honest appraisal of deficiencies is also to be found.
This book shows what can be done by Christians of one country under God. It is essential reading for those interested in missionary evangelism. But it also contains a message for us at home. Where is the city, state, or province in the United States or Canada where the churches will have the vision to unite in such an effort?
LEIGHTON FORD
The Problem Of Choice
The Context of Decision, by Gordon D. Kaufman (Abingdon, 1961, 126 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by W. Boyd Hunt, Professor of Theology, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
This is an exciting book. It focuses on the problem of decision making as the central problem in ethics. More particularly it probes the context of Christian decision, hence the subtitle, the theological basis of Christian ethics.
Kaufman, the associate professor of theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, is a Mennonite, and these are the Menno-Simons Lectures at Bethel College for 1959. Chapter 1 takes up the nature of Christian ethics in contrast to naturalistic and humanistic ethics. The remaining four chapters, visualized as concentric circles of decreasing radii, move from the widest context for Christian decision to a focus in the center point which is the present moment of decision. These chapters are titled “God and Man,” “The Church and the World,” “The Individual Disciple,” and “The Problem of Decision.”
An example of the vitality of Kaufman’s discussion is his treatment of the relation between the standards of love and justice (pp. 99–100). Taking exception to the position of R. Niebuhr, Brunner, and Ramsey, that while love is appropriate in personal, face-to-face relations, justice, because it is more abstract, is impartial and thus appropriate to large-scale social relations, the author argues that in reality justice is of no more help in the concrete problems of decision making than is the command to love. We still have to ask: How can I be just to everyone everywhere? How is it possible for me to deal impartially with every man when I do not and cannot have relations with more than a few?
For the sensitive Christian who, by reason of his immaturity, despairs of the imperative to decision, or for the uncommitted Christian who evades or postpones decision, or for the Christian with a deepening ethical concern this book will prove invaluable.
W. BOYD HUNT
Portrait Of Knox
Plain Mr. Knox, by Elizabeth Whitley (John Knox Press, 1960, 223 pp., $3), is reviewed by W. Stanford Reid, Professor of History, McGill University.
This work, which deals with the life of the Scottish Reformer, was written by the wife of one of his successors, the present minister of St. Giles’ Church, Edinburgh. Mrs. Whitley has endeavored to portray Knox as a personality, not as merely a rather difficult polemicist nor even as a counter foil to the seductive beauty of Mary, Queen of Scots. The result is a sympathetic consideration of the man and at the same time indirectly a searching criticism of the church of Rome.
Yet one must also acknowledge that at times Mrs. Whitley has not done full justice to her subject. For one thing, one feels that the period 1567–1572 has received much more superficial treatment than it deserved. At other times certain inaccuracies seem to have crept in. In some cases, difficulties which still provide matter for historical debate are ignored, one side only being given. One also finds that “baptism” is always referred to as “christening,” a point with which Knox would have taken issue (p. 93); and the wrong impression is given (p. 159) that the Book of Discipline received the same parliamentary approval as did the Confession. But even more misleading we are told that Knox’s efforts were directed to giving back the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper to Scotland. While this formed part of his objective, it can hardly be termed the whole, since he also sought the restoration of the true preaching of the Word and the upright administration of discipline.
The book as a whole, however, should prove very useful to many. Interestingly written, it gives a good picture of the Reformer.
W. STANFORD REID
A Memo On Menno
A Tribute to Menno Simons by Franklin H. Littell (Herald Press, 1961, 72 pp., $1.25), is reviewed by Leonard Verduin, Minister, Christian Reformed University Chapel, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
This little book gives the substance of four lectures delivered by its author in March of 1961 as the Annual Seminary Lectures of the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries, held at Elkhart, Indiana.
Like every other book this one is determined somewhat by the experiences of its writer. Franklin Hamlin Littell has been influenced deeply by three outstanding experiences in his life as a theologian: he has lived very close to the renunciation of old line liberalism that has taken place in our life-time, he has kept closely abreast of the flood of Anabaptist source materials that have come into print during the past decades, and he has been an eye-witness (and far more than that, having spent a decade on the scene as advisor to Lucius Clay) of the re-birth of Protestantism in modern Germany, a re-birth which he has described in his recent book The German Phoenix. These experiences contributed to A Tribute to Menno Simons.
The book has four chapters: “Menno and the Word of God,” “Menno and the True Church,” “Menno and the Doctrine of the Laity,” “Menno and the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit.” These were four areas of concern in Menno’s thought, and they occur as so many pulse beats in the German revival. In each instance Littell demonstrates, with copious quotations from Menno himself, how that in each of these four areas Menno has shown the way to those who in modem times “want to take the Bible, church, laity, and Holy Spirit seriously.” Littell indicates how failure to listen to Menno led the church to its deep disgrace as it fell readily into the Nazi pattern; and, how they who then rose to resist the paganized Volkskirche were walking in the footsteps of the Menno of four centuries earlier.
People who can still live with the ancient caricatures of the Anabaptist movement, “based solely on the oft-repeated charges of those who harrassed the little bands who were attempting a restitution of the New Testament church life” are in for a most uncomfortable session if they sit down with this little volume.
For all those minds still growing, this is a very good and useful little book.
LEONARD VERDUIN
Psychiatry And Clergyman
Minister and Doctor Meet, by Granger E. Westberg (Harper, 1961, 179 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Orville S. Walters, Director of Health Services and Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Illinois.
In contrast to many of the eager books on pastoral care that have deluged the market recently, this one has come to maturity over a period of 20 years, during which the author has been an acknowledged leader in the movement for collaboration between clergyman and physician. As professor of religion and health at the University of Chicago, he has a joint appointment on the medical and theological faculties that is almost unique. The chapters of this book are distilled from the author’s years of active work as a leader in hospitality chaplaincy training and from his ongoing research in collaborative effort.
While recognizing the beneficial impact of dynamic psychiatry upon the ministry, Westberg has refrained from embracing the currently popular psycho-analytic psychology. He thus avoids the brinkmanship that is required to reconcile Christian faith and experience with the Freudian system, which was atheistic in its earlier conception and is naturalistic in its basic assumptions.
This absence of identification with a sectarian psychology is combined with a concept of salvation that leads from a basic sinfulness through prayer and repentance to forgiveness and reconciliation with God. Where some in the field have achieved a reconciliation between religion and the sciences of man by trimming theology to fit a naturalistic psychology, Westberg has qualified his acceptance of the new psychology by reaffirming a clear theological position. In this context he offers well-proven guidance to the clergyman who desires to minister effectively to the sick and to collaborate increasingly with the physician.
ORVILLE S. WALTERS
A Thing Of Beauty
Adam to Daniel, edited by Gaalyahu Cornfeld (Macmillan, 1961, 559 pp., $13.95), is reviewed by David A. Hubbard, Chairman, Division of Biblical Studies and Philosophy, Westmont College.
This “illustrated guide to the Old Testament and its background” is as attractive a book in this field as has appeared in a long time. With not unjustified pride it recounts the exploits of Israeli scholars in the areas of history, archaeology, and Old Testament studies and serves as a repository for many of the finest fruits of their research.
Among its commendable features are the ample samplings from extra-biblical writings which illuminate the biblical documents. Though conservatives will find many of the connections between Scripture and other ancient texts tenuous, particularly in the discussions of the pre-Abrahamic period, the principle involved is a helpful one. A further aid is the practice of quoting biblical texts rather than merely citing references.
The format of the hook is excellent. The photography is commendable and some of it, notably the many color plates, is exquisite. Though the literary quality of the book does not match the beauty of its make-up, the text is lucid and readable. If one should venture a criticism of the format of so splendid a work, it would be directed at the quality of the cartography. The majority of the maps are line drawings, sometimes with rather amateurish lettering—an unhappy procedure when so many accurate and attractive maps are available.
This emphasis on the beauty of the book must not mislead us to think of it as another picture book. It is in many ways a survey of the life and literature of the Old Testament, including the Maccabean period (in which, to the chagrin of conservatives, Daniel is placed). Problems of introduction are dealt with, for example, the date of Deuteronomy. The lives and messages of the prophets are sketched against the background of their times, while the poetic portions, for example, Song of Solomon, and wisdom writings are compared with their near Eastern counterparts.
It would be difficult to find a more appealing summary of contemporary attitudes toward the Old Testament. To the conservative who keeps in mind the critical approaches of the editors this book will be a veritable treasure-house of information and, more important, insight.
DAVID A. HUBBARD
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
The Four Gospels As One, by David H. Yarn (Harper, 1961, 201 pp., $3.95) and A Layman’s Harmony of the Gospels, by John F. Carter (Broadman, 1961, 364 pp., $4.50), are reviewed by Robert H. Mounce, Associate Professor of Biblical Literature and Greek, Bethel College.
The first of these books is an arrangement of the four Gospels into a single continuous account of the life and ministry of Jesus. With the single exception of the anointing at Bethany, the chronology is that of Mark. In choosing the presentation of one Evangelist over another, Mr. Yarn has attempted to select the one which is most complete or best expressed. It is interesting that it is Matthew over Luke quite consistently at this point. The book is attractively produced, the paragraph headings are bold, the reference guide (pp. 189–201) is well organized and helpful. For the reader desiring a reliable and sensitively-arranged “Diatessaron” using the Authorized Version, this work will be more than welcome.
While the second book reproduces the four Gospels in parallel columns, its primary purpose is not that of a comparable study of the accounts. It is rather the framework, or occasion, for the some 278 added notes by the author. These notes, which according to the jacket are the “outstanding feature” of the book, serve a variety of functions. They give interesting bits of information, deal with problem passages, harmonize accounts, offer little word studies or topical presentations, and sometimes simply preach. The notes are well organized, simply stated and consistently conservative. The text is the American Standard Version.
The Layman’s Harmony will undoubtedly find its greatest usefulness in filling the need of the man in the pew or the Sunday school teacher who is searching for summary presentations and illustrative material. For this reason the omission of a subject index is greatly to be regretted.
ROBERT H. MOUNCE
Book Briefs
A Present Help, by Marie Monsen (CIM, 1960, 103 pp., 5/6). A translation from Norwegian by a retired missionary, now over 80, who recalls God’s faithful protection as she labored for the Gospel amidst Chinese brigands and corrupt warlords.
Makers of Religious Freedom, by Marcus L. Loane (IVF, 1960, 231 pp., 4/6). A British edition of Makers of Puritan History with further historical notes by Dr. J. D. Douglas, the work introduces us to seven teenth-century divines: Alexander Henderson and Samuel Rutherford from Scotland, and John Bunyan and Richard Baxter from England.
Jungle Doctor Panorama (Paternoster, 1960, 144 pp., 35/-). 172 photographs, some in color, plus a brief commentary make up this volume which commemorates the millionth Jungle Doctor book, and the fifteenth language in which these books have appeared. Superb photography ranging from wild life to the interior of a hospital—a pictorial window into Tanganyika.
Mr. Gandhi, by Ranjee Shahani (Macmillan, 1961, 211 pp., $4.95). Not a formal biography but a portrait of the man behind the public image.
