Absolute Demands From A Neutral Voice
Religion and the Schools: The Great Controversy, by Paul Blanshard (Beacon Press, 1963, 263 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by James Daane, editorial associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
Paul Blanshard writes again in a field that he knows well. This time he tells the story of the recent Supreme Court decisions on prayer and Bible reading in the public schools. He is a good writer, and an informative one. But even those who agree with the recent decisions may find his support of the court less than convincing, for he argues with a passion more characteristic of a trial lawyer pleading a case than of an objective, scientific student of constitutional law.
Blanshard seems not too sure of himself when he confronts the argument that the framers of the First Amendment intended only to prevent government from establishing a preferred church, not to exclude all religion from government. He admits that the former was their primary intent. But he feels that exclusion of all religion from government and public institutions lies within the framers’ secondary intentions, and argues weakly that in any event the burden of proof lies with those who deny it. Why this is so, he does not show. Nor does he trouble himself about the elemental principle that the law allows what it does not prohibit. He simply and blandly asserts that “the Court is not altogether bound by the intentions of the authors of constitutional words when these words are very broad and when new circumstances may demand new principles of application.”
Here the principles of the Constitution are downgraded to mere “constitutional words.” And what, forsooth, are “new principles of application”? The Supreme Court is indeed obliged to apply the constitutional principles to ever-changing circumstances of our national life. But is the court free to make decisions based on principles other than those contained in the Constitution, and thereby add new principles to the Constitution? If the court’s recent decisions are to be regarded as constitutional, they must have a firmer basis in the First Amendment than Blanshard here suggests.
The author favors elimination of all religion from the government and from public institutions; yet in his absolutism he at this point wholly ignores the fact that it is impossible for either the government or the public school system to be absolutely neutral in religious matters. Since absolute neutrality is impossible, there is no perfect solution to what Blanshard, in absolutistic language, calls “eternal issues.” The most we can hope for is a practical, working compromise. If life is not to be compartmentalized into secular and religious, education cannot avoid becoming wholly secularistic unless it at least reckons with the religious factor. Every attempt at complete neutrality will be in fact a concession to secularism. For this problem Blanshard seems to have little or no sensitivity, and he completely ignores it in his book. While he has a relativistic view of the Constitution, he is blindly absolutistic about the most crucial problem of all. It is his absolutism which accounts for the naïve judgment that if people would only remember that “secular” means a school “not under church control,” and “secularist” means a person “who rejects every form of religious faith and worship.” then probably “three-fourths of the angry exchanges in religion-and-school controversy could be eliminated.…” His argument here calls for a definition of “secularism,” and evidence that education devoid of religion is not secularistic.
The fact is that Blanshard—lawyer and one-time public official—is himself far from religiously neutral in his legal analysis of the constitutionality of religion in public Schools. He is pleading his case neither as an objective journalist nor as a lawyer when he injects his personal religious views into his argument. Blanshard speaks of “a stiff-necked Puritan God who had the sexual philosophy later incarnated in Anthony Comstock”; he asserts also that the Bible presents the child with “incorrect history and outdated savagery in morals” and “pictures the God of the Old Testament as a God living at a level far below that of the Geneva Convention.”
One of the most serious aspects of the religion-in-the-school controversy, says Blanshard, “is the controversy over the actual truth or falsehood of the contents of the Bible.” Even the reading of the New Testament ought not to be allowed in the schools because “it abounds in disparaging comments about Jewish religious leaders.” Unitarian Blanshard believes that the murder of a man for such reasons as the Jewish leaders had does not warrant “disparaging comments.” Moreover, the New Testament, says Blanshard, “includes the entire range of sectarian Christian history from the magical features surrounding the birth of Jesus through the miracles of Jesus to the crucifixion, the resurrection and the ascension.” He further contends that the “most fundamental issue in the whole controversy” lies in the fact that the function of the public schools is to foster critical thinking. “If,” he urges, “the analysis [of the Bible] results in judgments hostile to orthodox beliefs, the result may be utterly unacceptable to a large part of the population.”
Apart from the fact that he does not want our public schools to exercise the rights of critical thinking in this area, and apart from his personal judgment that Christianity could not stand up under it, it is well to observe that he is now arguing against teaching Christianity in the public schools, and not about mere Bible reading and prayer. The latter has not through long years led to the dire situation he envisions. Nor has it led, we may add, to establishment of religion, prohibition of which all admit was at least the “primary” reason for the First Amendment; reading and prayers have merely indicated that our government and our public schools are on the side of Christianity as against any other religion. At this point Blanshard is not speaking of an actual Great Controversy, but is engaging in special pleading for the absolute elimination of all religion from public institutions and from government, and for an absolutist neutrality in which the government and schools of America will so relate themselves negatively to Christianity that they will be able to relate themselves equally to atheism and Christianity, Buddhism and Ethical Culturism. Such a positive relationship is inherently impossible, for it is as empty as the negation on which it rests. Even the government and the public school, each in its own fashion, are caught in the necessity of being for or against Christianity. In either case the “fashion” will be a kind of practical religious compromise. In neither case can it be absolute. Failure to recognize this is the greatest weakness in Blanshard’s position.
The recent decisions of the Supreme Court permit a better defense. Blanshard’s special pleading, his absolutism, and his impassioned injection of personal views on religion—on Christianity in particular—do much to incite those fears and criticisms of the court’s decisions which he himself so much decries. Fortunately the religious views of the majority of Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State (for which Blanshard was formerly general counsel) are on another level. They are also less absolutistic. The critics of the Supreme Court and of POAU may well feel that having Blanshard as a friend, POAU does not need a foe.
JAMES DAANE.
Mirror Of Modern Thought
Encyclopaedia Britannica (Revised 1963 edition) (Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., 24 vols., $398), is reviewed by Carl F. H. Henry, editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
Whoever spends an evening with Encyclopaedia Britannica knows well that he virtually holds the classrooms of a liberal arts college in his hands. By any estimate the modern encyclopedia is a colossal catalogue of knowledge. Faced with the stupendous task of keeping pace with the swift gait of current scientific discovery and with the long sweep of passing centuries, no such literary effort can hope ever to produce an unrevisable work of unadulterated wisdom. But Encyclopaedia Britannica’s reputation as supreme among competitors was hard won and has long been held, and the 1963 revision of this 195-year-old reference set reflects a determination to maintain that distinction.
A colossal literary production, EB’s twenty-four volumes (averaging more than 1,000 pages each) would provide sixty-six years of reading at a page-a-day rate. The 9,000 contributing specialists are reputedly the equivalent of fifteen U. S. state universities. Staff editors do a minimum of writing and rewriting (now and then one finds that vexing initial X indicative of an anonymous contributor). Only about one-fourth of the content is not subject to change.
For three decades EB has practiced continuous editorial revision and annual publication rather than periodic new editions. In the last three years more than half the words in the entire set have been changed. The 1963 revisions involved ten million words (the equivalent of one hundred substantial books). For comprehensiveness and contemporaneity the revision claims a place in the minister’s library alongside the notable ninth edition of 1875–1889 and the eleventh and fourteenth editions of this century.
The very surface of EB reveals several characteristics of the world of modern learning. Ever-new scientific revisions are already calling for attention. If it is untrue that much learning has made us mad, it is patently true that this vast body of facts lacks comprehensive integration. EB inevitably reflects the breakdown of the unity of modern thought. The greatness of the ninth edition was in part a reflection of the light whereby Christianity illumines the range of human learning. Its editor, W. Robertson Smith, contributed almost fifty important articles on religious subjects. And there were evangelical giants like A. M. Fairbairn, Robert Flint, T. M. Lindsay, and William M. Ramsay to share the burden of religious scholarship along with mediating and liberal contributors.
Many of these early essays on biblical themes retained their relevance throughout the long night of liberalism, and even through the drab dawn of neoorthodoxy, the more so because intervening editions of EB conformed the exposition of central Christian concerns to the prevailing theological winds. But already in 1889 W. Robertson Smith had found it necessary to emphasize that no editor can possess the knowledge enabling him to control all subjects treated in an encyclopedia. And in his herculean task as editor-in-chief, Pulitzer prizeman Harry S. Ashmore faced a difficult problem in aligning a team of specialists to write in biblical-theological areas from firsthand knowledge. Very few evangelicals who have made their mark are, in fact, listed among the contributors, although Jaroslav Pelikan’s essays introduce a finer sense of historical objectivity into the treatment of several theological themes which, in recent editions of EB, had been colored and distorted by the nineteenth-century bias of speculative idealism. Where evangelical contributors are found, their assignments are mainly historical (as with Geoffrey W. Bromiley, Bruce M. Metzger, Donald J. Wiseman). It is probably accurate, moreover, to say that EB covers philosophy more thoroughly than theology. Contributors on biblical themes, furthermore, include such names from the past as R. H. Charles, G. R. Driver, A. E. Garvie, Adolf Harnack, and Baron F. von Hügel—their biases frequently shading essays.
To pick flaws in a monumental work of this caliber always poses the risk of understating its great and abiding values. One can assess its worth best by imagining one’s predicament if no such comprehensive reference set existed. But our task is to assess its adequacy especially from an evangelical Christian point of view, and its serviceability to the conservative clergy and thinking evangelicals generally.
If the modern secular man were to be confronted with the Christian claim for orientation of the whole of life to biblical priorities, the great themes of creation, incarnation, atonement, and resurrection would carry decisive significance in an encyclopedic work. Unless the Logos clearly appears as the divine agent in creation, revelation, redemption, sanctification, and judgment, the Christian arch-principle is presented only in a truncated manner.
In these respects EB 1963 both reflects and promotes the current uncertainty about historic Christian beliefs.
E. O. James contributes an essay on “Creation, Myths of” under which “Hebrew creation stories” are subsumed with special note of Babylonian affinities; far more space and credence are given the evolutionist expositions of “Cosmogony” (study of “evolutionary behavior of the universe and the origin of its various characteristic features”) and “Cosmology.” The age of the universe is put at 5,000,000,000 years (“if the universe was not created 5,000,000,000 years ago it was certainly very extensively reorganized at that time”). Most scientists now accept “an expanding universe” and not the “steady state cosmology” of Bondi, Gold, and Hoyle. Under “Adam and Eve,” James L. McKenzie writes that “the controversy between theologians and natural scientists … was the result of a tacit misunderstanding that the story was intended to convey historical and scientific information concerning human origins. Exegetes no longer understand the story in these terms.” These expositions of the biblical creation narrative not only adversely color the present theological situation, but also offer little effective roadblock to naturalistic views of origins.
Sewell Wright’s essay on “Organic Evolution” exhibits a great variety of theories, all ignoring the possibility of a supernaturalistic factor. Although evolutionary scientists have failed to come up with a theory that is universally accepted and that covers all the facts, they still ascribe a major role to natural selection and trial and error.
The theme of “Incarnation” is treated not under its own heading but under other headings (“Christianity,” “Hinduism,” and others). The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is presupposed in the essay on “Mary,” which now does fuller justice to Protestant reverence for the Virgin than did a previous essay. It is difficult to say where one would find a definitive statement of Christ’s death for sinners, although a few pointed yet guarded sentences occur in the brief essay on “Atonement,” which refers the reader for fuller treatment to the article on “Jesus Christ.” The revision of the latter essay is one of the bright gains of EB 1963; it both reflects a sounder historical instinct and advances beyond the idealistic bias in assessing the nature and work of Christ. Yet its contributor, Jaroslav Pelikan, comments that “Protestant theology in the middle of the 20th century was still searching for a doctrine of the Atonement to match its newly won insights into the doctrine of the person of Christ” (by which J. J. PN. means its replacement of “static categories of person, essence and nature” by an emphasis upon “actions and events”). No special essay appears on resurrection (the resurrection of Christ and of mankind are subsumed under other topics), but there is a brief essay on the near-eastern herb “Resurrection Plant.”
Under “Religion,” the section on the higher religions by George Galloway has been revised through three decades of exciting dialogue. It objectionably depicts all religions as emerging from primitive religion by a process of selection and development. There is no discussion of special revelation, and Buddhism and Christianity are treated alike as redemptive religions. A similar prejudice rules the essay on “Inspiration,” which A. E. Garvie thinks virtually synonymous with a state of religious exaltation or enthusiasm: the Bible’s inspiration is said to differ only in degree and not in kind from that of other sacred literature. The essayist finds objectionable any theory which involves correctness of theology and ethics in inspiration. The article does not reflect the debate since Barth over the inspiredness versus the inspiringness of Scripture. Garvie’s essay on “Miracle” is better. Yet even here the fact of miracle is supported by the evolutionary development of life, the connection between miracle-mode and miracle-fact is minimized, and the sign-character of biblical miracles is stressed at the expense of their seal-character.
The key essay on “Christianity,” however, represents one of the fine gains of EB 1963 over recent editions. The new essay by Pelikan is a welcome and long overdue replacement of the previous article, which showed the marks of Unitarian reconstruction and nineteenth-century liberal idealism in expounding the Christian religion. I he essay characterizes Christianity with full regard for the biblical data as a way of belief, a way of worship, and a way of life. Its slant is ecumenically open. Pelikan’s essay on “Protestant Reformation,” significantly, includes this comment; “Initially the Protestant Reformers maintained the hope that they could accomplish reformation of the doctrine and life of the church from within, but this proved impossible (again depending upon one’s position) either because of the intransigency of the church or because of the extremism of the Protestant movements or because of the political and cultural situation.” It is noteworthy to find an evangelical Lutheran scholar making the intransigency of the Roman church in Luther’s time a matter of one’s religious perspective. There are good survey articles on Calvin (by E. A. Dowey) and Luther (by James MacKinnon), although the former gets about one-third the space allotted Luther.
Stephen C. Neill’s essay on the “Ecumenical Movement” is well balanced and sound in its overall historical perspective. Its two sentences on “evangelical ecumenism” do not mention either the World Evangelical Fellowship or the International Council of Christian Churches, nor is any indication given of the vast missionary task force that remains unaligned with WCC. Although both this essay and that on the World Council of Churches stress that WCC is not a church, neither essay reflects the growing debate over whether it has genuine churchly attributes. Curiously, there is an essay on the Evangelical Alliance of Great Britain, but none on the National Association of Evangelicals (U. S.), which has a service constituency of ten million Protestants.
The modernist-fundamentalist clash is reflected only in terms of a generation ago. In his essay on “Modernism,” H. D. A. Major applies the term to all religious liberalism although some recent writers attempt to distinguish and contrast the terms. The article on “Fundamentalism” is by W. E. Garrison, who was professor of church history at the University of Chicago during its liberal-humanist era, and more recently professor of philosophy and religion at the University of Houston. The treatment is objective, but it finally dissolves fundamentalism into neoorthodoxy in the major denominations. (The term “liberal evangelical” is somewhat obscure, and the name of the American Baptist theologian should be corrected to A. H. Strong.) The content lags a half generation behind the neo-evangelical development, including the emergence of NAE, Fuller Theological Seminary, the Bible-college movement, and other phenomena. The context in which fundamentalism is characterized in the discussion of “Other Churches and Movements” under the essay “Christianity” is somewhat less than fair. Joseph Haroutunian’s essay on “Neo-Orthodoxy” is useful, particularly in its detailing of modernist emphases retained by neoorthodoxy, but it seems hardly appropriate to name Karl Barth (who deplored modernism as heresy) as one of its spokesmen, the more so when it is asserted that according to neoorthodox theologians (true as it may be of most) “Jesus was not born of a virgin.…” There are informative biographical essays on influential contemporary theologians including Barth (Hans W. Frei). Emil Brunner (Donald Day Williams). Reinhold Niebuhr (Will Herberg), and Rudolf Bultmann (Reginald Fuller), who has come to larger influence than the essay suggests. Curiously, there is no article on Paul Tillich, although the essay on Shailer Mathews (1863–1941) remains.
The essay on “Theism” (W. R. Matthews) holds that “several converging lines of thought form a cumulative argument which is difficult to resist,” but shifts prime support from demonstrative argument to “moral and religious experience.” Divine attributes like omnipotence and omniscience are treated in Schleiermacher’s mood. The exposition of pantheism and personality lacks a window on the Lotze-Bowne-Brightman personalistic tradition. Since the essay’s perspective is speculative rather than revelational theism, there is no reflection of the renewed neoorthodox emphasis on divine initiative, nor of the current theological debate over the relation of love and righteousness to the core of God’s being. Matthews lists creation as an essential divine attribute.
The exposition of biblical books varies in standpoint and mood according to the critical stance of the contributors. The Pentateuch is approached within the old J,E,P,D documentary hypothesis about which scholars like Cyrus Gordon have raised serious doubts in widening circles. The essay on Genesis (S. A. Cook) rejects Genesis 1–11 as genuine history, yet assigns the chapters “distinct value as human documents” that reflect “the ideas and thoughts of the Hebrews” and “relative moral and spiritual superiority” over Babylonian writings. Genuine “pre-Mosaic history” is arbitrarily ruled out. Under “Flood” (André Parrot) the deluge is catalogued with other legends and the Genesis account considered a fusion of two late traditions whereby the Hebrew writers (J and P) reshaped a Babylonian tradition and added a religious and moral meaning. In another of Cook’s essays, “Moses,” that person is conceded to be the founder of Israel’s nationality and of Israel’s religion, but we are told that details of Israel’s legal and cultural institutions were later “traced back to the great hero.” Elsewhere the character of the “Exodus” (J. C. Rylaarsdam) as a testimony of faith is stressed, based on escape from Egypt somewhere north of the Red Sea. But “this event was far less obtrusive in the ancient near eastern scene … than the biblical account seems to imply”; “a very ordinary occurrence” became for Israel “the event of revelation.” The article on “Prophecy” (W. A. L. Elmslie) brings ethical monotheism into existence through the eighth-century prophets, but leaves open the earlier possibility of monolatry (one God worthy of worship among many) in Moses’ time. The revelational factor in prophecy is highly obscured: “It is true that the Hebrew prophet says, never ‘I saw,’ ‘I know,’ but ‘the Lord shewed me,’ ‘Thus saith Jehovah.’ Explanation is found in the psychological ideas which he shared with his contemporaries.”
The New Testament books are sighted through a variety of critical lenses. The essay “Gospel of John” reflects the mystical idealism of Baron F. von Hügel (1852–1925), who tends to emphasize the pneumatic character of the book at the expense of the historical (the raising of Lazarus becomes allegory). He places its authorship at the end of the first century and attributes both the Gospel and Revelation to John the Presbyter (rather than the evangelist). There is here no reflection of the discovery of the Rylands fragment, or of the bearing of the Essene writings linking key concepts in this Gospel with them rather than with later Greek motifs, or of the recent reaction against late dating to a position which even nominates this Gospel as earliest of the four. Under “John, the Epistles of” James Moffatt assigns Second and Third John and Revelation likewise to John the Presbyter. P. Gardner-Smith rejects the Petrine authorship of Second Peter and dates it in the middle of the second century. Benjamin W. Bacon tells us that James is not from “the Lord’s brother” but, along with Jude, is a pseudonymous production which misnames the apostle as author to assure its authority. Bacon’s treatment of the Thessalonian epistles is much more acceptable, and shows a fuller interest in the actual content of the writings. Moffatt’s exposition of Romans does not adequately expound Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith alone, which comes through somewhat more clearly in M. S. Enslin’s essay on Galatians. For Hebrews, J. V. Bartlet suggests a date of A.D. 61–62 and comments that the letter “shares with Romans the right to be styled ‘the first treatise of Christian theology.’ ” The exposition of Bible content is less speculative than the development of authorship, and in not a few cases this exposition will be illuminating and rewarding even to the Bible scholar.
There are serviceable essays on off-beat religious developments including Adventism, Christian Science, Latter Day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Moral Rearmament (which W. H. Clark credits as “the most vital interfaith religious movement of the age”). No essay appears on Black Muslims, who now claim 200,000 members in the United States.
Theoretical atheism is today probably more widespread than the essay on “Atheism” allows (cf. the recent assessment by Ignace Lapp, Atheism in Our Time), though the contributor shows a wholesome awareness of the range of practical atheism in modern life. Just at this point of modern unbelief one may lament the fact that Christian realities do not shine through this momentous encyclopedia in fuller radiance. Just as the saving events of the New Testament were not “done in a corner,” but served notice on all generations to get ready for “that day,” so the claim of Christ, once taken seriously, must inevitably assert itself beyond isolated segments of an encyclopedia. The sounder historical exposition found in the revision of essays on “Jesus Christ” and “Christianity” holds promise that while a general encyclopedia cannot allow unanimous authority to any single theological perspective, it can put a premium on solid historical orientation above contemporary prejudices. The extension of this principle throughout the essays in the religious classification will greatly enhance a reference work which has become almost indispensable to the library of serious scholars.
CARL F. H. HENRY
Love Without The Person
The Finality of Faith, by Nels F. S. Ferré (Harper & Row, 1963, 115 pp., $2.75), is reviewed by Warren C. Young, professor of Christian philosophy, Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Chicago, Illinois.
This book consists of two sections: “The Finality of Faith” and “Christianity Among the World Religions.” The author, professor of Christian theology at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, begins by dealing with faith in a general fashion and then with Christian faith in the world today. Although the book may appear small, it contains a great deal of significant material.
Dr. Ferré shows, first, the importance of faith in every life. We all walk by faith, for no one is able to claim ultimate knowledge. Within the Christian framework, however, certain movements have not always recognized this fact. Indeed, he sees the desire for too much knowledge as the basic error of fundamentalism, creedalism, Catholicism, and liberalism.
All faith has three basic elements: it is (1) rooted in a heritage, (2) watered by history, anti (3) grown in hope. The author endeavors to show how faith may be distorted when these elements are not in proper balance.
Christian faith today finds itself engaged in a struggle with other faiths. A world tour brought home to Dr. Ferré the living reality of the struggle in which we are engaged.
Two very live options among world religions are challenging Christian faith—Hinduism and Buddhism. Both have become missionary movements, both are attractive, and both are gaining a considerable following. Dr. Ferré is not alone in pointing to the reality of the challenge confronting Christianity today.
This brings us to the heart of the problem and to the purpose of the book. To meet the challenge of these other faiths, Christian missionaries must understand and present the true Christian option.
But, we may ask, has not this been done for centuries? Not according to Dr. Ferré. Instead, what most Christian leaders seem to have been doing is challenging the world with a pseudo-Christianity.
What, then, must be done? To meet the challenge of today, Christianity, first of all, must give up its idolatry—the substitution of Jesus for God (p. 48). From that point on the discussion centers in the area of Christology. What is the true meaning of the Incarnation?
In order to understand Dr. Ferré’s point, one must understand his idea of the Incarnation. The Incarnation is not the personal Word of God (the Second Person of the Trinity) become flesh, but the very nature of God (Agape) entering in all fullness into a very human person, Jesus of Nazareth. Dr. Ferré is a monotheist, but not a Trinitarian in the usual sense of the term. His position, made very clear in The Christian Faith (pp. 99 ff.) and Christ and the Christian, is reemphasized here.
As he relates Christianity to world religions, Dr. Ferré pleads for a Jesus as the Christ who is normative for them all (p. 90). By this he apparently means that as men grasp the Agape truth (understanding the universal love of God), they become Christians. This central truth is denied, he thinks, by the doctrine of an eternal heaven and hell—a teaching not Christian at all, since it is contradictory to the Agape principle, though widely taught in contemporary Christianity.
Jesus, as a man, is subject to all experiences of sin, repentance, and victory (p. 102), but Jesus as the Christ is the symbol of God’s great work in history, for in Jesus is seen the fullness of Agape. The author writes that “Christ is also realized in others preparatorily before and consummatorily after Jesus and is to be realized in all men according to God’s eternal purpose in God’s eternal reaches of time” (p. 109). Today, the Christian missionary may go forth and proclaim a universal gospel; that is, he may feel free to accept the teaching of any religion which does not deny or contradict the universal love of God. Understanding and committing oneself to Agape seems to have completely replaced personal commitment to Christ.
We do not understand the mystery of the Incarnation. Yet, it does seem quite clear that Professor Ferré’s Christology falls far short of the “Vere Deus, vere homo” teaching of the Church. For most Christians Jesus, the Christ, is more than the symbol of Agape in history; he is the living God who entered into history to redeem it from its sin and corruption. We could wish for Professor Ferré more of the faith about which he writes.
WARREN C. YOUNG
A Good One
The Epistle to the Romans, by John R. Richardson and Knox Chamblin (Baker, 1963, 166 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by Robert Strong, minister, Trinity Presbyterian Church, Montgomery, Alabama.
No wonder Romans continues to attract the expositor, for it is the most important book in the Bible. Here in the series entitled “Proclaiming the New Testament” (Ralph G. Turnbull, general editor) is a study of Romans that is especially useful for the Bible-class teacher and the layman. One of the authors is among the ablest and most distinguished pastors of the Southern Presbyterian church, and the other a promising young scholar and candidate for an Oxford doctorate.
Each chapter of the epistle is treated in terms of the historical setting, the expository meaning, the doctrinal value, the practical aim, the homiletical form. The material in the last of these divisions constitutes the notable feature of the work.
The authors are crystal clear in their insistence that the death of Christ was a propitiatory sacrifice and that God declares believing sinners righteous on the basis of the imputed merit of Christ, a merit compounded of his perfect obedience in life and of his submissive obedience in an atoning death. The doctrine of unconditional election is set forth without reservation or equivocation when the discussion reaches Romans 8 and 9. Romans 11 is interpreted as predicting an eventual large-scale conversion of the Jews, but the clause “so all Israel shall be saved” is held to mean not all the Jewish people as a race, but all the Jews and Gentiles who come to repentance and faith.
The book is heartily recommended and should find wide use.
ROBERT STRONG
No Huckster Of Cheap Grace
He Speaks the Word of God: A Study of the Sermons of Norman Vincent Peale, by Allan R. Broadhurst (Prentice-Hall, 1963, 106 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by Richard C. Halverson, minister, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Washington, D. C.
This very readable book is an excellent refresher in homiletics. The preacher will find many usable ideas, some perhaps never gotten in seminary, which come from the broad experience of Dr. Peale, whose passion to communicate with modern secular man is thoroughly realized. For the man who aspires to preach without notes but has never quite dared, Dr. Peale’s counsel will be encouraging and helpful: “… the minister should speak extemporaneously whenever possible. He should carefully prepare a pattern or sequence of ideas and leave the exact expression of those ideas to the inspiration of the moment.” “Dr. Peale ‘picturizes’ the outline of his sermon rather than ‘memorizes’ it.”
Critics of Dr. Peale, who base their criticism largely on his best seller, The Power of Positive Thinking, will here discover that there is a great deal more depth to his ministry than is ordinarily assumed. His concern for relevance may at times cause over-emphasis on psychological rather than spiritual dynamics; this Dr. Peale himself acknowledges. Despite this, however, his ministry does confront the deep, basic issues of sin and redemption. Contrary to general opinion, he is not willing to pander “cheap grace.” This brief volume will help build a sharp edge of concern for pulpit and pastoral realism and relevance.
The author devotes one chapter to balanced evaluation of Dr. Peale’s ministry: by his critics and by his friends. The biographical material, though brief, is illuminating and inspiring. The critique of Dr. Peale’s sermons is based upon interesting criteria which may well serve the preacher-reader with some penetrating insights into his own preaching.
In this day of explosive social issues the reader will here find some direction which may save him from many of the tempting digressions which so often draw the modern preacher away from the basic concerns of the Gospel.
RICHARD C. HALVERSON
Book Briefs
Meet the American Jew, edited by Belden Menkus (Broadman, 1963, 164 pp., $3.75). Informative writings about the American Jew: his religion and religious divisions, his background, his outlook on social problems. Written by Jews (eleven), about Jews, for Christian readers. The editor is a Baptist.
Faith and Order Findings, edited by Paul S. Minear (Augsburg, 1963, 228 pp., $4.50). Book includes the four reports (Christ and the Church. Tradition and Traditions, Worship, and Institutionalism) presented to the Fourth World Conference on Faith and Order (Montreal, 1963)—the results of ten years of study. Should be of special interest to those concerned with the movements of theological thought within the World Council of Churches.
Mama Was a Missionary, by Charles Ludwig (Warner. 1963, 192 pp., $2.95). A well-written account of the author’s mother’s colorful life of missionary service in Kenya, Africa. With a jacket that may distract you.
Saint Augustine: The Trinity, translated by Stephen McKenna, Vol. 45 of “The Fathers of the Church, A New Translation” (Catholic University of America Press, 1963, 539 pp., $7.95). Augustine’s fifteen books on the Trinity; about them he wrote, “I began the books on the Trinity as a young man, but published them as an old man.”
Profiles of Church Youth, by Merton P. Strommen (Concordia, 1963, 356 pp., $5.95). A comprehensive Lutheran Youth Research effort which questioned 3,000 youths and discovered that the problems of youth are not necessarily what adults frequently think, nor the ones pastors are attempting to solve. A valuable study for youth leaders.
Moments of Meditation from Matthew Henry, compiled by Fredna Bennett (Zondervan, 1963, 384 pp., $3.95). Gems of devotional reading, one for each day of the year, gleaned from the commentaries of Matthew Henry. Religious meat in digestible form.
These Things I Remember, by Gerhard E. Frost (Augsburg, 1963, 127 pp., $2.95). Recollections of little experiences are used as points of departure for driving home spiritual lessons about the deeper levels of life. Sixty short, sprightly written vignettes of fine devotional character.
Faith for a Time of Storm, by T. Cecil Myers (Abingdon, 1963, 155 pp., $3). Warm evangelical devotional essays resting on some spongy theological foundations—a criticism which will little trouble the author, since he regards Christian experience as a more ultimate authority than the Scriptures.
In the Steps of John Wesley, by Frederick C. Gill (Abingdon, 1963, 240 pp., $5). To fill the gap of a comprehensive account of extant Wesley landmarks and relics, this books deals topographically with Wesley’s journeys. First printed in England in 1962.
The Renewal of the Ministry, by Thomas J. Mullen (Abingdon, 1963, 143 pp., $3). Author questions the traditional distinctive function of the clergy and challenges them to be the catalytic agent that sets the laymen to work. While some will question his remedy, he writes much about a sick ministry that makes good sense. Garnished with good humor and wit.
The Secret of Communion With God, by Matthew Henry (Revell, 1963, 120 pp., $2.50). Three essays.
Secrets From the Caves: A Layman’s Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls, by Thurman Coss (Abingdon, 1963, 171 pp., $3). Informative material presented by question-and-answer method. The author contends that the scrolls do not threaten the Christian religion. His reason—as the laymen (for whom he writes) had best observe—is not the absence of threatening material in the scrolls, but the contention that the Christian religion has no more basis in the scrolls than it has in the Old Testament. What the scrolls do not do, author Coss does.
24 Hours to Live, by Minton Johnston (Abingdon, 1963, 112 pp., $2.25). Light, fast-moving devotional messages, earlier presented on radio.
Growing With Your Children, by Ray F. Koonce (Broadman. 1963, 134 pp., $2.95). The author writes helpfully about children-parent relationships as he came to recognize them in the problems of college students with whom he counseled. The average parent could read this book with profit for the entire family.
Christmas in Bethlehem and Holy Week at Mount Athos, by Christopher Rand (Oxford University Press, 1963, 168 pp., $4). A readable and informative account of Christmas observances in Bethlehem by the several Christian communities, and of the Greek Orthodox Church’s colorful holy-week observance in northern Greece.
The New Testament: A New Translation in Plain English, by Charles Kingsley Williams (Eerdmans, 1963, 572 pp., $3.95). Said to be the simplest translation of the New Testament ever made. Uses few words not contained in the 1,500 common English words used in basic speech.
A Philosophy of God, by Thomas Gornall, S. J. (Sheed and Ward, 1963, 181 pp., $3.95). Written primarily, though not exclusively, for Roman Catholic seminarians. Jacket suggests that the author has an eye for Barth and Tillich, yet they are only mentioned—once, together, in one paragraph, in the Introduction.
The Biblical Doctrine of Virginity, by Lucien Legrand (Sheed and Ward, 1963. 167 pp., $3.50). For those interested in a theology of virginity as conceived and developed by one Roman Catholic father. Protestants may find this an interesting combination of ideas, and the book itself profitable, for there is a biblical teaching about virginity.
Schools of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, by August C. Stellhorn (Concordia, 1963, 507 pp., $6.75). The history of Christian schools in Missouri Synod Lutheranism. Of importance to Lutherans and to all who have or are interested in Christian day schools.
Secular Religions in France, 1815–1870, by D. G. Charlton (Oxford, 1963, 250 pp., $5.60). A survey of the revolt against the Bible and the Church, and the upsurge of social, scientific, metaphysical, and occult systems of faith—spawned by such figures as Darwin and Comte in nineteenth-century France. Throws light on the religious background and situation in America.
The Church as the Body of Christ, Vol. I, edited by Robert S. Pelton (University of Notre Dame, 1963, 145 pp., $2.95). Five lectures, three by Roman Catholics and two by Protestants, given at a colloquium at the University of Notre Dame. The three Roman Catholics discuss the Church as the “Body of Christ” as it appears in Scripture, patristic thought, and contemporary Roman Catholic thought. Franklin Little discusses the same subject from the perspective of the free churches, and K. E. Skydsgaard, a Lutheran, from the evangelical view.
