Recent Books On Divorce And Singleness
Divorce in the Parsonage, by Mary LaGrand Bouma, (Bethany Fellowship, 1979, 156 pp. $3.95); When You Are a Single Parent, by Robert C. DiGiulio (Abbey Press, 1979, 94 pp., $1.95); Divorce and the Christian: What the Bible Teaches, by Robert J. Plekker (Tyndale, 1980, 137 pp., $3.95); Stepfamilies: Living in Christian Harmony, by Bobbi Reed (Concordia, 1980, 142 pp., $5.95); A Part of Me Is Missing, by Harold Ivan Smith (Harvest House, 1979, 142 pp., $3.95); Jesus Was a Single Adult, by Bob and June Vetter (David C. Cook, 1979, 160 pp., $3.95); Divorce and the Gospel of Grace, by Les Woodson (World, 1979, 80 pp., $3.95); are reviewed by C. E. Cerling, pastor, First Baptist Church, TawasCity, Michigan.
Divorce: everyone knows it’s a growing problem. It confronts the church as a great tragedy, and in its traumatic impact on a person’s life, divorce is second only to the death of a spouse.
The problems of the divorced population are being addressed in books, but evangelical books seem weak when compared with secular writing. Often they do little more than decry the problem, but say little that is positive. For example, Harold Smith wrote A Part of Me Is Missing largely out of reaction to Morton and Bernice Hunt’s The Divorce Experience, where they suggest that those singles who do not express their sexuality are abnormal, possibly even mentally ill. Based on both a questionnaire he shared with many singles and his own experience. Smith writes with insight and clarity about the problems a Christian faces and the ways in which many Christians are responding. He is alarmed that many Christian singles are expressing themselves sexually yet feel no serious conflict between what they are doing and their Christian commitment. He proposes to deal with this by showing how a Christian can cope with his/her sexuality—but his solution is almost as good as saying, “Go take a cold shower.” Smith breaks new ground by addressing directly the problem of sexuality among the Christian singles population, but he gives no solid answers to the questions they pose. Stay pure—yes, we all agree!—but the question that needs to be answered is, “How?” But Smith should be read. No Christian writer to date has described with such clarity the sexual problems and responses of Christian singles.
In the past, books on divorce have had little to say about forgiveness. Divorce, if not on acceptable grounds, appeared to put a person into a sort of limbo where no one quite knew how to react. Little by little changes are taking place. Robert Plekker, a layman, analyzes the biblical teaching on divorce in Divorce and the Christian: What the Bible Teaches, and comes to some conclusions that could have been drawn almost directly from John Murray’s classic, Divorce. Nonetheless, he goes beyond Murray and presents an excellent chapter on restoring the fallen Christian to fellowship in the church. He also speaks pointedly and compassionately on the matter of church discipline, not excluding the possibility of public confession as an aspect of restoration.
However, Plekker could have strengthened his case by dealing with divorce within the context of a theology of marriage. Unless one’s teaching about divorce is set firmly into the biblical teaching about marriage, unless it proclaims with God that man’s aloneness is not good (Gen. 2:18), and that people should get married rather than commit fornication (1 Cor. 7:1–6), it is easy to overlook the complexity of the subject.
The extent of forgiveness available to the divorced is described in Les Woodson’s Divorce and the Gospel of Grace. The author takes a nontraditional approach to divorce that is becoming increasingly popular among evangelicals. God’s will for marriage is permanence, but as with other standards God establishes, we often fall short. When we do, because we are his children we need not fear permanent condemnation, but we should turn to him seeking forgiveness. When we do, God will forgive us completely, which means the past is wiped clean, and we are given a chance to begin again.
In order to establish his position biblically, however, Woodson denies that the exceptive clauses in Matthew came from Jesus, claiming rather that they were scribal additions. If this position is going to stand it will have to stand apart from removing certain portions of Scripture when there is no evidence of textual corruption. This book has many practical suggestions, but is unfortunately too short to be of any great help.
Divorce is becoming a difficulty for ministers as well, and there are special problems the pastor faces. Mary LaGrand Bouma, in Divorce in the Parsonage, portrays a number of these, based on approximately 200 interviews she conducted with ministers and ministers’ wives. The book is heavily laced with quotes and case histories, which make it interesting reading. She places heavy emphasis on the unrealistic demands churches place on their ministers that contribute to divorce, particularly in creating the image that a minister is above or beyond temptation. She speaks pointedly about ministers counseling women alone in the church and doing visitation without their wives. She notes that a minister’s wife has heavy demands placed on her as well, which tend to keep her involved in the work of the church—but work that is entirely different from what occupies her husband.
While the book should be read by all ministers and their wives, it should be read with caution. It appears that only one partner was interviewed in most cases, which gives an unbalanced picture. Many times as I read the book I wondered, “How would the ex-spouse feel about that statement?”
One response to divorce has been the development of singles ministries, as evidenced by Bob and June Vetter’s Jesus Was a Single Adult. Since Bob’s wife had died and June did not marry until into her thirties, each had personal experience as a single on which to draw. There is little that is exceptional about their book, but they do a good job of outlining some of the basic problems singles face. Their chapter on singles and sex provides some answers missing in Smith’s work.
The most well-known singles’ group, Parents Without Partners, more or less brought singles’ work into national prominence. While in no way a Christian organization, it expresses a biblical concern for the “fatherless and widows.” Abbey Press has taken the lectures of Robert DiGiulio, one of the more popular PWP speakers, and put When You Are a Single Parent into book form. Though there is little distinctively Christian (but much that is good) about the book, it has one chapter worth exploring. DiGiulio says the school is one agency that can often give real help to single parents. Teachers and administrators who deal daily with children can quickly detect problems the children might have. The parent who admits to the school his/her divorce (or separated) status and asks for help and understanding will usually get it. A parent isolated in a single-parent household can gain needed perspective in a major area of concern.
Bobbie Reed has written an outstanding book in Stepfamilies: Living in Christian Harmony. Book jacket promotion is rarely worth much, but Dwight Small’s comment. “If I were to choose one book on stepfamily relationships … this would be my choice.” is well taken. At times Reed is brief to the point of writing in outline style, but she compresses tremendous amounts of material into a small book. She poses excellent questions (sometimes tests) to determine whether marriage involving stepchildren would be wise, faces the major problems confronting stepfamilies, including the problem of money, and other such practical matters. If there is a problem she has missed, I can’t think of it.
A Healing Ministry?
Christian Healing Rediscovered, by Roy Lawrence (InterVarsity, 1980, 133 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Nils C. Friberg, associate professor of pastoral care, Bethel Theological Seminary, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
This book arose out of the study leave of a Church of England pastor and the resultant teaching and practice in two successive parishes. Less than three years passed before he published one small book in 1976; another followed in 1979, and IVCF put them together.
Lawrence insists that this is a beginner’s manual, written by a beginner. He soon loses his tentativeness, however. He urges his reader to believe that if healing can happen under a pastor who doesn’t even claim a special gift, it ought to be happening across the Christian church. He asserts that this is “an idea whose time has come.”
One cannot but admire his open, expectant attitude toward the work of God. Lawrence invites people who come to his church to receive this divine operation in every area of their lives, and continuously throughout their spiritual pilgrimage. Reconciliation with God and other people lie at the heart of all healing; this is made possible by the creative energies of the Father, the saving mercies of the Son (healing in the Atonement?), and the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.
In support of Lawrence, his Christian holism makes laudable use of prayer and meditation on pertinent doctrinal ideas that promise imbuement of health. His work is quietly reverent and without public fanfare except for an initial campaign with George Bennett, whose practice and ideas have powerfully influenced him.
At times he works with medical people, and presents no dogmatic or competitive challenge to them. But though some cases are checked out by medical consultations, the reader is left to imagine whether or not the sudden breaking of a fever or perhaps a temporary remission of multiple sclerosis are strictly miraculous healing or medically explicable. He also neglects dealing with the possible effects of the power of suggestion on some cases.
Lawrence’s pragmatic approach needs a surer foundation in biblical hermeneutics. For example, he fails to explain whether there might not be any uniqueness to the healing miracles by Jesus the Messiah, as compared with gifts and their effects on the church in later days.
For many of us, there remains constantly the critical issue of balancing openness to the work of God in every area of our lives with careful research into the genuineness of our data. In spite of its shortcomings, Lawrence’s book is an excellent attempt to join these two.
Theology For Children
A Theology for Children, by William L. Hendricks (Broadman, 1980, 269 pp., $7.50), is reviewed by Rudy Antle, director, Denver Baptist Campus Ministries, Denver, Colorado.
How can a parent, pastor, or Sunday school teacher help children understand Christian theology? What can be done with the complicated language, thought forms, and models for communication that theologians generally use?
Hendricks, a professor of theology and philosophy at Golden Gate Baptist Seminary in San Francisco, has bridged the gap well. He has “used the games, learning experiences and larger dimensions of the imaginative world of children as a setting for a theology written on their behalf.”
This is a book for those who work with children. Hendricks’s intended readers are not children themselves, but those who stand as mediators between books and children. Employing such experiences as learning to write, using capital letters, and writing within the lines, Hendricks tells how a child can understand Creation, Providence, and even the existence of evil.
Miracles, often a controversial subject, are an excellent example of the way Hendricks shows how Bible study, common sense, and creativity can achieve the balance necessary to avoid the error of extremes in either direction. He calls them “special letters” (like the large, artistic letters in ancient manuscripts).
Speaking of miracles in this way, he says, “Children need to know that when God writes with a special pen he fits that writing into his larger purpose.… When children see that the special signs of God point to what God is finally going to accomplish, they will have a reinforced sense of his purpose.”
Hendricks is a Baptist, so the book is written from a Baptist perspective. Yet it treats other points of view with respect. His broad background of dialogue and interaction with other faiths is reflected in Hendricks’s desire to help children understand differences between faiths while they accept and love the people of other faiths.
Several typographical errors escaped the editor’s eye. They are a distraction in what is otherwise a superb book.
Whether intended or not, A Theology for Children has a serendipitous side effect. It communicates theology to adults—adults who will never study theology in a seminary class. And for those who have studied under Hendricks (or other able professors), the pile of systematic theology notes on the bottom shelf of the library will suddenly come alive.
The Tabernacle For Today
God Dwells with His People, by Paul M. Zehr (Herald Press, 1981, 232 pp., U.S. $7.95, Canada $9.20), is reviewed by R. K. Harrison, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
In past centuries many authors have written about the Hebrew tabernacle in an attempt to understand its place in the life and worship of the Wilderness and Settlement periods. Christian expositors were also at pains to interpret the various New Testament tabernacle references, especially where they related to the atoning work of Christ.
Paul M. Zehr is well qualified to write oh this subject, having been involved for a decade in a tourist ministry in Florida and Pennsylvania centered on teaching in connnection with models of the tabernacle. His book is thus a comprehensive study of the nature, structure, and history of the Hebrew tabernacle, for which he has utilized the available resources of scholarship. He accepts the antiquity of the Pentateuchal narratives relating to the tabernacle, and has little patience with the attempts of Well-hausen to reconstruct Hebrew history so as to make the tabernacle a late rather than an early phenomenon.
The book describes the setting of the tabernacle, which is followed by a thoughtful examination of each component. The nature and place of the priesthood receives careful attention, and this leads naturally into a consideration of Christ as the Word tabernacled among us, and his work as the institutor of a new covenant community.
The author is anxious to stress the meaning of the historical tabernacle for Israel, and also to avoid extremes in typological interpretation. His views on the latter are set out in two appendixes to the book, which make plain his rejection of all allegorism and extreme typology. The book is marked by a profound sensitivity to the work of Christ, our Great High Priest, and forms an excellent study on the nature and significance of the tabernacle.
Why Should I Believe?
Reason Enough: A Case for the Christian Faith, by Clark H. Pinnock (InterVarsity, 1980, 126 pp., $3.50 pb); Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Historical Evidences for the Christian Faith, revised edition, by Josh McDowell (Here’s Life Publishers, 1979, 387 pp., $5.95 pb), are reviewed by Robert K. Johnston, visiting professor of theology, New College, Berkeley, California.
Both of these volumes have in some ways a similar intention: to argue that the Christian message is a solid truth claim that can be tested. It would be difficult, however, to find two more diverse samples of evangelical apologetics than these books. Even the titles reflect the difference. The one seeks to build for the non-Christian reader a case for the Christian faith that is reasonable enough to risk faith. The other seeks to present for the Christian apologist data and argument so convincing as to demand of others their belief. The one is low-keyed and multifaceted in approach, appealing not only to academic argument, but also to the reader’s sensitivity and common sense. The other is more hard-hitting and singular, presenting in outline form scholarly data and opinion as argued by a profusion of authorities. Pinnock, in his book, seeks to win your confidence; McDowell wants to bowl you and your friends over.
Reason Enough presents briefly and in successive chapters five circles, or strands, of evidence (the existential, the intuitive, the rational, the historical, and the moral) that intertwine and together form a strong defense for the Christian faith. Pinnock’s sources are far-ranging, from literature to philosophy, biblical studies to motion pictures. He begins his discussion with experiential concerns, seeking a bridge to his readers. Only then does he move on to present philosophical reasonings and historical evidences. Even here, the focus on his contemporary secular audience is evident. Proofs of God’s existence are popularized and updated and modern historical sensibility concerning Jesus’ life is noted. Pinnock ends his presentation with a discussion of the problem of doubt, whether created through spurious means (e.g., Marx’s attack on religion, or the battle over evolution), or through real issues (e.g., the problem of evil).
Pinnock’s book will prove a useful alternative to C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity,the book you give to that thoughtful, non-Christian who is willing to explore the relevance of the Christian faith. At times the jargon is distracting (Do we still want to label everything according to “isms”?); at times the argument too brief. But more times than not the point is made.
McDowell’s focus, in contrast with Pinnock’s, is more narrow, limited to presenting historical evidence for the trustworthiness of Scripture and the divinity of Jesus. Only at the end are other forms of argument used as McDowell provides his readers with the personal testimonies of 58 people, with successful or unusual lives, for whom Jesus is Lord. McDowell’s stated goal is to provide resources for Christians to use as they “write term papers, give speeches, and inject into classroom dialogues their convictions about Christ, the Scriptures and the relevancy of Christianity in the 20th century.” Toward that end, literally thousands of quotations from a wide variety of sources are presented in outline form.
Flaws continue to plague Evidence That Demands a Verdict, even in this updated and expanded version. (The revision is actually minor with relatively few additional sources noted and no alteration in the detailed outline or argument.) First, McDowell does not differentiate between the value of his various quotations or quoted authorities. The reader is left to pick and choose from sources, some current, some out of date; some significant, some marginal. For example, is it important to his argument that the Bible was the first religious book taken into outer space? Should we still use Garstang (1931) on the excavations of Jericho?
Second, McDowell refuses to make even selective use of biblical higher criticism. The result is a certain anachronistic and doctrinaire quality to the presentation that undercuts its scholarly intention.
Third, there is a certain smugness in the volume that needs to be softened by those who use its contents. One senses, rightly or not, that the author believes all non-Christians (and at times non-Protestants) to be irrational and proud.
In spite of this, however, McDowell’s volume will continue to provide thousands of Christians with information useful to their faith and witness. The presentation on biblical lower criticism is helpful, for example, as is the compendium of arguments related to the Resurrection.
BRIEFLY NOTED
Women. What the Bible says about women is a subject that continues to exercise Christians. Stephen B. Clark has addressed the problem directly in Man and Woman in Christ (Servant); it is probably the best book yet written on the subject. Taking a traditionalist view is Women and the Word of God (Presbyterian and Reformed), by Susan T. Foh. More advanced though not extreme views are in: A New Testament View of Woman (Broadman), by Shirley Stephens; Speaking Out for Women: A Biblical View (Judson), by Philip Siddons; and Women and Ministry in the New Testament (Paulist), by Elizabeth M. Tetlow.
Helpful books continue to be written about women in ministry. The following have recently appeared from various points of view: Women in Neighborhood Evangelism (Gospel Publishing House), by Marjorie Stewart; Women in Ministry Today (Logos), by Helen Beard; Women in a Men’s Church (Seabury/T. & T. Clark), edited by Virgil Elizondo and Norbert Greinacher; Women, Change, and the Church (Abingdon), edited by Ezra Earl Jones; Your Daughters Shall Prophesy: Feminist Alternatives in Theological Education (Pilgrim), by The Cornwall Collective; and Every Woman Has a Ministry (New Leaf), by Regina Lambert.
More historical and biographical are the following: Feminine Spirituality in America: From Sarah Edwards to Martha Graham (Temple University Press), by Amanda Porterfield; Women of Spirit: Female Leadership in the Jewish and Christian Traditions (Simon & Schuster), by Rosemary Ruether and Eleanor McLaughlin; Great Women of Faith: The Strength and Influence of Christian Women (Baker), by Nancy A. Hardesty; and Why Doesn’t Somebody Do Something? (Victor), by Daisy Hepburn. These are all helpful books that fill in the gaps of our understanding as to what place women have actually played in the course of the church’s life.
Take Back the Night (Morrow/Quill), edited by Laura Lederer, is a book of readings by women on pornography.
A bit hard to classify but dealing with the general subject of being a woman are: Afternoon: For Women at the Heart of Life (Nelson), by Jeanne Hendricks, dealing with growing older; Woman (Revell), by Dale Evans Rogers, a personal testimony of sorts; I Am a Woman by God’s Design (Revell), by Beverly LaHaye, about the godly woman in the home; In Praise of Women (Harper & Row), by Robin and John W. Drakeford, a Christian approach to love, marriage, and equality; Simple Talks for Special Days (Word), by Marion Prather Hays, 16 devotional messages for women’s groups and personal reflection; and The Wise Woman (Broadman), by Joyce Rogers, which gives sound, practical advice on how to be “one in a thousand.”
The Revolt of the Widows (Southern Ill. Univ.), by Stevan L. Davies, argues that women’s liberation is not a modern movement, but actually began in second-century Christianity. The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and in Christian Theology (Northwestern Univ.), by Ann Belford Manor, attempts to bring these two systems into meaningful conformity.
The Pope. A careful study of recent Catholicism is The Utopia of Pope John XXIII (Orbis), by G. Zizola.
Two biographies of the current Pope are: The People’s Pope (Chronicle, 870 Market St., San Francisco, Calif.), by James Oram, and Pope John Paul II (Dell), by George Blazynski. A deeply spiritual collection of meditations by Pope John Paul II is Sign of Contradiction (Seabury).
Three well-written and nicely illustrated accounts of the Pope’s recent travels are: John Paul II in Mexico: His Collected Speeches (Collins); John Paul II “Pilgrimage of Faith” (Seabury), edited by the National Catholic News Service; and The Pilgrim Pope: A Man for All People (Our Sunday Visitor/Shepherd Press), by Francis X. Murphy.
An attempt to evaluate the sometimes paradoxical actions and statements of John Paul II is The Man Who Leads the Church (Harper & Row), by John Whale, Petter Hebblethwaite, et al.
