Book Briefs: March 17, 1972

For Sensitive Christians

Man in Transition: The Psychology of Human Development, by Gary Collins (Creation House, 1971, 203 pp., $4.95), and The Christian’s Handbook of Psychiatry, by O. Quentin Hyder (Revell, 1971, 192 pp., $4.95), are reviewed by Lawrence J. Crabb, director, Psychological Counseling Center, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.

Many Christians have tended to assume that their faith somehow provided immunity from psychological problems. A corollary assumption has been that the services of psychology and psychiatry are at best unnecessary for the Christian and at worst dangerously hostile to biblical beliefs. Two books, one by Quentin Hyder, a psychiatrist, and the other by Gary Collins, a clinical psychologist, should help clear away any vestigial remains of such thinking.

Dr. Hyder’s exceptionally readable book avoids the use of confusing technical jargon without sacrificing professional sophistication. After concisely sketching the development of psychiatry, Hyder devotes most of the book to a fairly detailed but understandable summary of the causes, nature, and treatment of the more common emotional disorders.

The particular value of this discussion lies in its sensible integration of basic psychiatric knowledge with biblical truth. Especially helpful is Hyder’s emphasis on the value of spiritual resources for the maintenance and restoration of general psychological health. He discusses forgiveness, security, guidance, fellowship, identity, and structure as factors in a Christian’s life that contribute to emotional stability.

Hyder does not oversell psychotherapy by urging anyone with problems to run to the nearest therapist; he rather suggests that observing some common-sense principles (such as: exercise, don’t overwork, get enough sleep) should help a person handle the less serious problems of daily living. One might wish he said more about the two important questions of when professional help is needed and when a Christian therapist is definitely preferable to a non-Christian.

After discussing mental illness within the framework of conventional psychiatric classification, Hyder strongly endorses a system of therapy (Reality Therapy) that denies the conception of mental illness upon which this traditional classification is based. Despite this apparent contradiction, Hyder’s advocacy of William Glasser’s Reality Therapy will please evangelicals (myself included) who like to stress the importance of individual responsibility and meaningful interpersonal involvement (real fellowship), the two cardinal features of Glasser’s approach.

Any Christian who is sensitive to the emotional needs of his fellow human beings will find Hyder’s book extremely helpful, not as a how-to manual for counseling but rather as an easily understood discussion, from a clear Christian perspective, of the broad and complex field of mental disorder.

Dr. Collins’s book, also refreshingly free from unnecessary technical language, offers an excellent overview of the particular problems and adjustments facing people during four stages of life: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and middle and old age. His book is scholarly yet simple, reflecting a broad knowledge of psychological research and an all too rare ability to communicate scientific findings to the average layman.

This author’s practical discussion of how the developmental needs of people in each age group can be effectively met within the church will make his book invaluable to Christians concerned about the role of the local church in today’s world. In a recent survey to which Collins refers, two reasons offered by young people for dropping out of churches were (1) they did not feel that the church was really concerned about their personal needs and (2) the Bible did not touch their lives. Rather than giving up on the church. Collins suggests that it can and should become a more meaningful framework within which persons in all age groups and circumstances can find the help and encouragement available through the person of Christ. Collins insists that church life should be based upon a clear understanding of the needs of people, an understanding that can be greatly enhanced by the insights of psychology.

If what Collins says about people and their problems were thoroughly digested and if his suggestions were tailored to individual settings and then carried out, the above stated reasons for dropping out of the church would soon lose their validity. Collins’s book is a clear must for Christians involved in any phase of church ministry.

The Broad And Narrow

Atlas of the Biblical World, by Denis Baly and A. D. Tushingham (World, 1971, 208 pp., $12.95), is reviewed by Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

A valuable and unique geographical reference has been prepared by Denis Baly with the assistance of A. D. Tushingham. Baly, author of the well-known work The Geography of the Bible (1957), is head of the religion department at Kenyon College in Ohio. He is well acquainted with the Middle East, having spent fifteen years in the Holy Land. In preparing the atlas Professor Baly traveled more than 30,000 miles in the Near East during 1966–67.

A. D. Tushingham, who contributed a short chapter on “Archaeology and Ancient Environments” and the chapter on Jerusalem, is the chief archaeologist of the Royal Ontario Museum and was a co-director with Kathleen Kenyon of the 1961–67 excavations in Jerusalem.

The title Atlas of the Biblical World is somewhat misleading, as in its scope the work is more restricted in one direction and more comprehensive in another than most biblical atlases. Italy is not included at all, and Greece is treated as a peripheral area. On the other hand, such areas as Syria, Anatolia, Arabia, and Iran are treated in considerable detail.

Baly has provided illuminating chapters on the geology, climate, and natural regions of the Middle East. Of the forty-nine maps, the fourteen in color are quite superb and give panoramic views of the Middle East, based in part on photos taken by space satellites. Baly himself took all sixty-nine photographs. The sixteen color plates are magnificent and provide some uncommon views of topographical features. Most of the black-and-white photos are unfortunately darker than one would wish, but these too offer some unusual vistas.

As in any work of this scope, some minor flaws can be noted. The maps for the New Testament period are quite inadequate. For example, there is no map of Palestine south of Neapolis for this period! The map of Palestine between the Testaments includes such sites as Machaerus and Masada but omits such sites as Bethlehem and Herodium.

Some of the historical statements in the text are questionable. To say that “Zoroastrianism seems to have been a driving force behind the amazing Persian conquests” is an unwarranted speculation. The greatest conquests of the Persians were made by Cyrus the Great, who was certainly not a convert of Zoroaster.

Baly adopts the lower dating of 1728–1686 for Hammurabi at one point (p. 106) and then a few pages later (p. 124) opts for the higher dating of 1792–1750 for the same king!

An especially valuable feature of the atlas is a sixteen-page index to the maps in which Baly has given the modern names of the ancient sites and has in some cases listed alternative locations. For example, he notes that Debir, traditionally located at Tell Beit Mirsim, has been placed at Khirbet Rabud by some recent studies.

A number of his identifications need to be questioned. The Sumerian city of Lagash can no longer be identified with Tello but must be placed at al-Hiba. Baly accepts the identification of Raamses with San al-Hagar rather than with Qantir (cf., however, E. Uphill, “Pithom and Raamses,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 27 [1968], 291–316; 28 [1969], 15–39). But the location of Raamses on his maps of Egypt is too far northwest to represent the location of San al-Hagar.

He identifies Succoth in Transjordan with Tell Deir Alla, but the excavator of the latter site, H. J. Franken, has rejected such an identification. The reader is not warned either in the text or on the maps that such identifications as Gath with T. Shari‘a are subject to considerable controversy; Aharoni and Rainey, for example, have presented a strong case for placing Gath at Tell es-Safi.

Baly has not incorporated the discovery of the Israeli surveys of the Golan heights made in 1967–68 that showed that the great highway from Egypt to Damascus passed south rather than north of the Sea of Galilee.

Although the atlas was published in 1971, Baly wrote his preface in March, 1969, and Tushingham’s article on Jerusalem includes no references later than 1968. Although the authors cannot be held responsible for developments since they submitted their manuscript, one would expect at least a passing mention of the Israeli excavations in Jerusalem under Benjamin Mazar begun in 1968.

Tushingham’s chapter on Jerusalem incorporates the important results of Kenyon’s excavations in Jerusalem conducted in 1961–67. He now suggests that the central Tyropoeon Valley is the Hinnom Valley rather than the more western valley that has traditionally borne that name. Tushingham is quite aware of the tentative nature of his proposed reconstructions of Jerusalem in Old Testament times. It would have been even more prudent if the hypothetical nature of these reconstructions had been clearly indicated on the maps.

For example, Tushingham holds that excavations have supported the conclusion that the western hill of Jerusalem was unwalled in the Old Testament period. In 1969, however, N. Avigad discovered a city wall dated to the eighth to seventh century B.C. some 200 meters west of the temple mount, which would indicate that the Mishneh (“The Second Quarter”) was a large area west of the City of David rather than a narrow strip east of the Ophel ridge as Tushingham envisioned. (Cf. N. Avigad, “Excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City, Jerusalem, 1970,” Israel Exploration Journal, 20 [1970], 129–34.)

I would conclude that this atlas is too broad to serve as the biblical atlas for laymen. On the other hand, it is an especially valuable supplementary reference for teachers and serious students of the ancient Near East, providing maps and discussions of areas treated only superficially, if at all, in more conventional biblical atlases.

What Makes Pentecostalism Tick?

People, Power, Change: Movements of Social Transformation, by Luther P. Gerlach and Virginia H. Hine (Bobbs-Merrill, 1970, 280 pp., $6.75), is reviewed by William J. Samarin, professor of anthropology and linguistics, University of Toronto.

Pentecostalism is the main topic of this book, and the goal is to explain the internal dynamics of this movement, how it developed, and how it has spread (p. 222). The result is a major contribution to the history of Christianity.

Its approach is fresh, because the authors come to their task unencumbered by religious tradition or bias. They confront what in my opinion is the only vital movement within Protestantism today, convinced that it is a revolutionary movement for both the people who participate in it and the churches that react to it.

The book shows how much can be learned about Christianity through social-scientific analysis. For this is what the book is: an examination of movements as mechanisms for social change. Social change is the scholarly topic the authors address themselves to, and Pentecostalism was chosen because it provided them with a dynamic example of change through a “transforming experience.”

What they wanted to know, in effect, was: “What makes Pentecostalism tick?” The answer, of course, is the book itself. (The reader is fortunate that the answer is not too long, nor too expensive, and not at all pedantically written.) They found five key factors: a decentralized organization, face-to-face (that is, personal) recruitment, personal commitment resulting from an identity-altering experience and a “bridge-burning” act, an answer-giving ideology, and opposition.

Other answers had to be rejected. The authors had started their research by trying to explain Pentecostalism as others had before them, in terms of social disorganization, deprivation, and psychological maladjustment. Unlike many detractors of Pentecostalism who continue to cite—without any critical perceptivity—early psychological and sociological studies, these authors find that such studies do not really account for the dynamics of Pentecostalism. (They do not stand alone. There is a growing body of scientific study showing that Pentecostals are, to put it simply, not aberrant people. My own Tongues of Men and Angels focuses on glossolalia but comes to the same conclusion.)

The authors tested the validity of the five factors by analyzing the Black Power movement (described in considerable length) and examining what had been written on several other movements, some political (Communism) and some religious (New Guinea cargo cults). I for one am convinced.

The book is very simply and neatly organized. After a comprehensive but down-to-earth introduction, the Pentecostal and Black Power movements are described in a general way in two separate chapters. Then follow chapters dealing with each of the five key factors. At the end the authors step down from their scholarly podium into the arena of life to answer the reader’s “So what? What has this got to do with real life?” This chapter is entitled “New Perspectives”; perhaps the authors really meant “Prophecies,” for they make some hair-raising speculations about what the effects on American society from the Black Power and radical youth movements might be.

They speculate very little about the effects of neo-Pentecostalism on Christianity, surprising in view of the book’s emphasis on Pentecostalism. Perhaps this is because they found it puzzling that Pentecostals are not trying to change the established church so much as they are trying to change themselves.

If this book has any weakness, it is only that it has very little historical perspective. There are a few references to the Reformation, the rise of Methodism, and such, but history is not used in developing the schema, in giving it diachronic validity.

Yet when I was reading the book, I felt I was reading about some people in Palestine who were taught a new way for a new life, a way to which they were won by personal testimony, a way to which they committed themselves after turning their backs on (repenting of) their old ways, a way that was opposed by the establishment but never suppressed because of its adaptive and decentralized organization. That was Christianity long ago. And that seems to be Pentecostalism today.

Newly Published

How to Build an Evangelistic Church, by John Bisagno, and You Can Reach People Now, by James Coggin and Bernard Spooner (Broadman, 160 pp. each, $3.95 each), Church Aflame, by Jerry Falwell and Elmer Towns (Impact [136 N. 4th Ave., Nashville, Tenn. 37219], 191 pp., $4.95), and Full Circle: The Creative Church For Today’s Society, by David Mains (Word, 217 pp., $4.95). Not all congregations of the “institutional church” are in decline. Here are the stories of four that are flourishing with suggestions on how others can do likewise. The first three are very big and Baptist, located in a suburb (of Oklahoma City), downtown in a large city (Fort Worth), and in a town (Lynchburg, Virginia). The last, the young Circle Church of inner-city Chicago, offers the most imitable example.

A Commentary on the Revelation of John, by George Eldon Ladd (Eerdmans, 308 pp., $6.95). Commentaries on the last book of the Bible are legion, but Ladd’s truly deserves wide circulation among laymen and ministers. Those who hold to amillennial views or to premillennial views at variance with Ladd’s own especially need to consult this work lest they hold an interpretation without due consideration of responsible alternatives.

Encyclopedia Judaica, edited by Cecil Roth (16 volumes, Macmillan, 12,000 pp., $500). A definitive, up-to-date work. Since the Jewish people have such wide distribution and pervasive influence, its reference value for students in most fields is obvious.

Ways to Help Them Learn and Ways to Plan and Organize Your Sunday School, by the International Center for Learning (8 volumes, Regal, c. 140 pp. each, $1.95 each, pb). Two series of four books each (for Early Childhood, Children, Youth, and Adults) that are filled with helpful suggestions and examples and solidly based. Highly recommended.

Military Chaplains, edited by Harvey G. Cox, Jr. (American Report Press [637 W. 125th St., New York, N.Y. 10027], 161 pp., $2.45 pb). An ably executed, pacifist-oriented critique presupposing “that the chaplaincy in the American military today … is a social fact that can and ought to be questioned.”

A Prejudiced Protestant Takes a New Look at the Catholic Church, by James C. Hefley (Revell, 128 pp., $3.95). The author reflects changes in the Roman church and in evangelical-fundamentalist attitudes toward it as he describes his own change of mind over the last few years; as a personal testimony, his account is not interested in theological precision.

My Brother Paul, by Richard L. Rubenstein (Harper & Row, 209 pp., $5.95). A twentieth-century Jewish theologian who does not believe Jesus was the Messiah writes about the greatest Jewish theologian of them all, who did.

Just the Greatest, by Carl Nelson (Inter-Varsity, 96 pp., $1.25 pb). An upbeat, energetic explanation of the greatest event in human history—the crucifixion of Christ.

The Reality of the Resurrection, by Merrill C. Tenney (Moody, 221 pp., $4.95). A reprint of a 1963 book explaining the uniqueness of Christianity’s teaching on the resurrection contrasted with the views of other religions and arguing powerfully for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Sex Education: The Schools and the Churches, by Harold W. Minor, Joseph B. Muyskens, and Margaret N. Alexander (John Knox, 80 pp., $1.95 pb). A useful study/action guide for those concerned with attacks against sex-education programs.

The Tabernacle: Camping With God, by Stephen F. Olford (Loizeaux, 187 pp., $3.95). The widely known pastor of Calvary Baptist in New York finds abundant meaning for Christians in ancient Israel’s holy tent.

Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies: Volume II, edited by Carl S. Meyer (Foundation for Reformation Research [6477 San Bonita Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63105], 118 pp., n.p., pb). The six essayists include Robert Linder on biblical authority in the writings of Pierre Viret and W. Stanford Reid on Calvinist psalmody.

Jewish-Christian Relations in Today’s World, edited by James E. Wood, Jr. (Baylor University, 164 pp., $4.50). A collection of essays that offers much thought-provoking and informative material, though the editor seems to exaggerate early Christian anti-Semitism and to overlook the fact that Jews as well as Gentiles must turn to Christ for “religious renewal.” Useful bibliography.

Is Revolution Change?, edited by Brian Griffiths (Inter-Varsity, 111 pp., $1.25 pb). Five authors, including two Latin Americans, assess the humanistic presuppositions behind the revolutionary ferment of our day. While they admit the seriousness of the social and economic conditions that revolution seeks to transform, they deny its ability to transform the human heart, and thus the possibility that it means real change.

The Conscience of a Christian, by T. B. Maston (Word, 157 pp., $3.95). Sixty short, sprightly essays on important moral and ethical issues, grouped under headings such as “Sex and Sex Relations,” “Life and Death,” and “Citizenship.”

The Ethics of Karl Barth, by Robert E. Willis (E. J. Brill, 456 pp., 68 guilders). A massive, detailed effort to present the ethics of the great Basel dogmatician in a systematic way, not as definitive, but as pointing the way for future development.

Help! I’m a Layman, by Kenneth Chafin (Word, 131 pp., $.95 pb). Paperback edition of an excellent reappraisal of the mission of the Church today and the layman’s role in that mission. Shows how religion relates to every phase of life—such as business, politics, war, peace.

Nevertheless: The Varieties of Religious Pacifism, by John H. Yoder (Herald, 142 pp., $1.95 pb). Pacifism is a multi-faceted philosophy; Yoder explores many of the facets, from “the pacifism of Christian cosmopolitanism” to “the pacifism of the Messianic community.” An excellent overview.

You Can’t Con God, by Tank Harrison (Abingdon, 64 pp., $1.25 pb). The refreshing, enthusiastic testimony of a Memphis, Tennessee, detective who discovered the truth in the title of this book.

Growing Old and How to Cope With It, by Alfons Deeken (Paulist Press, 103 pp., $1.25 pb). A practical, sensitive, and timely discussion firmly based on Scripture. His examples from literature are especially helpful for grasping the problem.

Has the Catholic Church Gone Mad?, by John Eppstein (Arlington House, 173 pp., $6.95). A convert to Catholicism in 1919, John Eppstein shares his dismay at the chaos he sees in doctrine and practice.

There We Sat Down: Talmudic Judaism in the Making, by Jacob Neusner (Abingdon, 158 pp., $2.95 pb). An abridgment by the author of his five-volume History of the Jews in Babylonia. It focuses on the character of Judaism in the age and place that saw the reshaping of the religion from what we see in the Bible to what has prevailed since the first century.

Ditt ord är sanning (Thy Word Is Truth), edited by Seth Erlandsson (Uppsala: Stiftelsen Biblicum, 285 pp., approx. $7). A festschrift in honor of David Hedegård, 1891–1971, the grand old man of biblical orthodoxy in Scandinavia. Contains numerous articles on the authority of Scripture.

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