Page 6287 – Christianity Today (2024)

There are Christian truths which are a vital part of our faith, truths which are revealed, affirmed and confirmed and there is neither profit nor blessing in trying to explain them away.

During the past year the wife of one of America’s most prominent men died and he found himself in deep distress, not only because of his bereavement but also because he had no sustaining Christian faith and no assurance or understanding about the future.

In his desperation this individual (and this incident is confirmed by his own testimony) went to one of America’s leading clergymen, a man who has preached and written on Christianity from the extreme liberal position for many decades.

What did he get? For an hour he heard a dissertation on why Christ’s resurrection was not a physical one, only “spiritual.” Needless to say he received neither comfort nor hope.

Through God’s overruling providence this man had a chance (?) contact with another minister, strong in faith, possessing a personality warm with love and the ability to explain Christian truth with deep conviction.

The upshot has been that this bereaved man has turned to the Bible and to the hope to be found there through faith in the risen Christ.

The Resurrection is a cardinal doctrine having to do with the person and work of Christ. It, along with the doctrine of the Cross, is an essential of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul says in the beginning of 1 Corinthians 15, that great chapter on the Resurrection: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” (15:3–4).

In Romans 10:9 Paul gives the basis of salvation in these words: “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

To “spiritualize” the Resurrection is—and we speak bluntly—to say that it did not occur.

To “spiritualize” the Resurrection is to do violence to all rules of evidence, not only biblically but also historically.

To “spiritualize” the Resurrection is to deny statements of the Bible which are so clear that they cannot possibly lend themselves to any other than a literal interpretation.

In other words, to “spiritualize” the Resurrection is to rob Christ, and his written Word, of truthfulness and meaning.

To his troubled and doubting disciples our Lord said: “See my hands and my feet” (in which there were wounds), “that it is I myself, handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see that I have,” and to give yet further convincing proof that his was a physical body which had arisen he asked for food. Then we are told: “He took it and ate it before them.”

From a historical standpoint the Resurrection is one of the best attested of all events. The course of history was changed, the Gospel was now complete. Belief in the Resurrection, because of “many infallible proofs,” became the cornerstone of the disciples’ preaching. Again and again they bore testimony to the Resurrection in these words, “of which we are witnesses.”

Indirect proof of the actual Resurrection of Christ is found in the changed attitude of the apostles. Once fearful and scattered, these ordinary men, unlearned and lacking in all personal influence, went out to face the Jewish and Roman leaders without fear, bearing testimony to the one they knew to be alive because they had seen, talked with and listened to him. And this knowledge made of these simple fishermen, and their likewise unremarkable associates, flaming evangels who went out to preach Christ crucified, dead and risen, regardless of the cost.

Were these disciples deluded and misguided? Were they preaching about a dream, an apparition, a “spiritual” experience divorced from physical fact or actual observation? The evidence is so overwhelmingly against any spiritualization of their observations and subsequent actions that we must conclude that Christ rose from the dead with an actual body which could speak, walk, talk, eat and be touched.

Some have sought support for rejection of a physical Resurrection by taking Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:37 where he says: “And what you sow is not the body which is to be.” However, the entire thrust of this chapter is to show the actual Resurrection of our Lord and our hope of eventual resurrection to be with him.

That the body of our Lord seems to have possessed qualities not noted during his earthly ministry appears evident. After the Resurrection he passed through locked doors and appeared and vanished at will. Furthermore, his disciples did not at first recognize him. These aspects of his resurrection body, rather than confuse us should make us realize how little we understand of that which God has in store for us. But of this one thing we can be assured, Christ showed himself to his disciples—up to 500 of them at once—with a body which had physical characteristics of identification, and of action, which were incontrovertible.

It is not necessary to argue that the body in which our Lord appeared to his disciples is the glorified body in which he will again appear, but the witness borne at his Ascension is that “that same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

The Apostle Paul saw the risen Lord on the Damascus road. It was an overwhelming experience and he claims it as a seal of his apostleship: “Have I not seen the Lord?” he says to the Corinthian Christians. Later he speaks of the fact of the Resurrection and adds, “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”

The Cross is the determinative point of man’s redemption from sin while the Resurrection is the crowning and visible evidence of the efficacy of that redemption. One cannot “spiritualize” Christ’s death at Calvary in terms merely of a loving example, nor can one “spiritualize” his Resurrection in terms of an ethereal apparition by which credulous and frightened men were led to believe that they had seen the Lord.

Not only is the physical Resurrection of the Lord a glorious fact but in it lies our own hope of glorified bodies with which we shall appear in his presence. “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.… And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:14–17).

How shall we react to this? “Therefore comfort one another with these words” (4:18).

Thomas

Seeing is believing

Was his motto. Better,

Feeling is believing.

The scientific mind requires

Substantial evidence,

Controlled experiments,

With photographs and measurements.

And Thomas was no poet,

Nor would he credit women—

Or even ten apostles.

He required the touch

Of his ten fingers.

Like that other twin

Who saw the face of God

At break of day, he must

Prevail with his two hands

And not let go.

“I am a twin—there is another like me,

Perhaps another bears His image—

No, I must feel His wounds.”

Seeing is believing—

Can sight bring faith?

Will God appear

For cross-examination,

Show wonders on demand,

And give the Prince’s hand

For critical inspection?

If Thomas will not hear

Moses and the prophets,

Peter, James, and John,

Mary Magdalene,

Will he believe

One risen from the dead?

Seeing is believing—

Thomas saw him

And believed.

Before those wounded feet

Ten fingers clasped themselves

In adoration.

Through blinding tears

The twin saw God.

Seeing is believing,

And before His witness Thomas

Christ stood visibly

That he should see, and we

Be blessed in believing.

Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

EUTYCHUS

Disunity Anent Unity

Professor Leitch (“Painting Oneself Into a Corner,” Mar. 2 issue) quite rightly quotes me (The Minister and the Care of Souls, p. 131) as supporting the view that the Holy Spirit may create divisions even within Christendom. But I am concerned lest this use of my statement should suggest that I would support Mr. Leitch’s argument that theological discussion must always lead to disunity.…

The intent of my brief discussion of the Holy Spirit in the book quoted Was to envisage the churches as engaged in creating conflict, taking theology seriously and ever seeking that deeper unity which will illumine and transform all theological outlooks. Not all ecumenical discussion fulfills that purpose, but I believe that the World Council of Churches is the visible manifestation of Christian unity, and therefore, I give it my wholehearted support.

DANIEL D. WILLIAMS

Union Theological Seminary

New York, N.Y.

If it has not yet occurred to Dr. Leitch, there are some Protestants in the Reformed tradition who welcome: (1) the attempt of Christians to transcend Western culture and to maintain the witness of Christ’s Church under the influence of an unsympathetic state.… Perhaps this is the cross the American Church is unable to bear because it disturbs our easy cultural Christianity that is more often American than Christian; (2) the influence of a Church that has been Christ’s witness for centuries in many parts of the world where the Western Church has never been, and perhaps, in its present captivity to its way of life, could never be, a relevant witness; and (3) the “different total character” that may be the result of “this new heavily liturgical thrust.”

Finally, and even more seriously, is the kind of rationalism in the author’s thesis, namely: “Either unity without theology, or serious theology and disunity.” Apart from some kind of logic that is based on an “interrelatedness” of truth which would have difficulty with almost every major Christian doctrine, where is the theological foundation … that even suggests such a premise? Is it in Christ’s prayer “that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us” (John 17:21)? Is it in St. Paul’s treatise on the Church … (Eph. 4:5, 6)? Is it in the creed set forth at the Council of Nicea? Is it even in Luther who said, “I believe in one holy, common, Christian Church” and, “They are not members of the Church of Christ who, instead of preserving unity of doctrine and oneness of Christian faith, cause divisions and offences” (Luther’s Works, Vol. II, pp. 372–374)? Perhaps this is the author’s problem: In all his talk of theology, he says nothing of the doctrine of the Church, which if Christian must be expressed in essential unity—and which was surely the concern of many at New Delhi.

CHARLES E. TAYLOR

First Presbyterian Church

Waddington, N.Y.

Bravo! Leitch was willing to face up to theology and history, and able to set forth the facts lucidly and irenically. Philadelphia, Pa.

JAMES HAMILTON

A Choice Of Glasses

“Protestantism’s Amazing Vitality” (Mar. 2 issue) by Kenneth S. Latourette … is too comforting.… “United Nations … clearly of Protestant parentage” is a gross example of one’s peering through rose (?)—colored glasses. U. N. statements of purpose, etc., disclose that man and state are the two gods served.… Protestantism is … in a sad state if it can do no better than father a white horse on which we’re all (as good universalists) “to ride off in the sunset” towards a manmade milllennium with its classless, atheistic society.

WESLEY L. BAUM

Fairfield, Conn.

It is refreshing to hear the note of positive optimism from one so notable, among the “gloom and doom” prophets of negative pessimism.

WILLIAM H. OAKLEY

Trinity Baptist

Oak Grove, La.

Perils, Past And Present

“Into the Free World” (Mar. 2 issue) … has a positive and a negative side. The positive significance is the pointing to the fact that the power of God’s mercy is active and can be experienced in the lives of individuals and nations as well.

The negative side … is that it seems to be under the influence of the “After-World War II Spirit” practiced by many … who try to gain attention … by combining everything they say or write with references back to Nazism and stressing how they fought it.… At least we ministers should try not to become victims and disciples of that fashion. We rather should concentrate on the big tasks of the present time.

Another part of the positive significance … is that it reminds of communism, which with its philosophy of atheism is a living danger.…

RUDOLPH FLACHBARTH

Nativity Lutheran Church

Windsor, Ont.

Thank you so much for the soul-stirring message.… I bowed my head and thanked God for my freedom.

AUBREY F. WHITE

Asbury Methodist

Midland, Tex.

Charge Of Eisegesis?

In Mr. Mantey’s article (“Repentance and Conversion,” Mar. 2 issue) he states that eis “is used to denote cause at times in Greek of the first century and in the New Testament.” He makes reference to the discussion in the Journal of Biblical Literature (Vols. LXX, LXXI, 1951–52). However, … Ralph Marcus did not defend the causative use of eis, but instead re-examined the so-called examples put forth by Mr. Mantey and showed that none of the so-called causatives were causative at all. Mr. Marcus did not deal with the … New Testament examples but concluded his study by saying: “If, therefore, Prof. Mantey is right in his interpretation of various NT passages on baptism and repentance and remission of sins, he is right for reasons that are non-linguistic” (JBL, LXXI, p. 44).…

JAMES D. CLAYTON

Northwest Church of Christ

Chicago, Ill.

But A Single Purpose

The American Bible Society has received several letters regarding the paragraph from a letter by Dr. Henry Smith Leiper … published in CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 19 issue). The statement by Dr. Leiper, our representative for promotion of the Bible cause among members of the United Church of Christ, was not intended to represent—nor in fact does it—the official position of the American Bible Society.

As stated in its Constitution, the single purpose of the … Society is “to encourage a wider circulation of the Holy Scriptures without note or comment.” The Society takes no doctrinal position, but seeks only to serve all churches and denominations through the translation, publication and distribution of Bibles, Testaments and Scripture portions. In this task it has the endorsem*nt of over 55 denominations in the U.S.A.… Its record of impartial service to all churches, without regard to dogma or creed, is well known. As it has for more than 145 years, the … Society today stands ready to co-operate with all those who love the Lord and desire to carry His Word to the ends of the earth.

ROBERT T. TAYLOR

Secretary

American Bible Society

New York, N. Y.

• Dr. Leiper’s letter objected to CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S critique of the National Council and the World Council of Churches. He deplored what he called an “obsession with the supposed dangers of the ecumenical movement.” CHRISTIANITY TODAY will continue to evaluate ecumenical trends, in the future as in the past, on principle rather than bias; it will commend what is good and criticize what is bad, and will alert to its possibilities and perils.—ED.

For Fulfillment, Federation

The press has focused much attention on Dr. Blake’s proposal for a four-church merger [which] … has its good points. But many proponents of church amalgamation are building their case on a half-truth: the organic expression of unity. They would neglect the other half: the obvious need for an organic expression of difference.

The open way: federal union. The U.S. is an example.… The need for an organic expression of national unity is fulfilled: the federal government. The need for an organic expression of difference is fulfilled: local self-government—states’ rights.

Federal union of churches was first proposed years ago … by the eminent missionary E. Stanley Jones in The Christ of the American Road (pp. 190–198).…

ROBERT E. CRENSHAW

Laurens, S.C.

For Famine, Food

Re “Famine on University Campuses” (Feb. 16 issue): Five months ago we started here a new church program for students and townspeople … to meet the contemporary student needs with a biblically-centered presentation. We were told that existing churches were ministering to these needs; also, that our program could not expect much growth because of facilities (we have been meeting in the local “Y,” some blocks from the campus).

Within five months our total attendance at both services … has reached well over 200, with an interdenominational appeal.

A National Council of Churches report on student work stated that the “institutional student-center” approach was no longer effective. Could this be because either the message is not contemporary, or it does not present the Living Word revealed in the Bible?

CALVIN S. MALEFYT

University Reformed Church

Ann Arbor, Mich.

For Federalism, Fecundity

I was glad to read your position as stated in the editorial “Be Wary of Federal Loans and Grants to Church Colleges” (Feb. 16 issue).…

The attempt of the federal government to regulate education in the states, like every other piece of social legislation, … is a usurpation of power, not granted in the Constitution.

It is not only unconstitutional, it is immoral and a direct and intentional violation of the purpose for which the Constitution was adopted.

The purpose … in the minds of its authors and the people of the states which adopted it, was to secure the country against foreign invasion, insure the domestic tranquility … and maintain individual freedom for each citizen. The gargantuan role our federal government is playing is contrary to the purpose of God in government and the purpose of our Constitution.…

P. H. JOHNSON

Dayton, Ohio

For Flu, Felicity

I appreciate CHRISTIANITY TODAY, but not your twice using the word “Asiatic” (Editorials, pp. 25, 27, Mar. 2 issue). It is a word that should be thrown out … as obsolete.… “Asian” or “Asians” is accepted in the U. N. and all through Asia and by many papers and magazines. The word “Asiatic” is almost considered an insult by people in Asia. They don’t want to be tics, but ans as American, European, African, and many other ans. The RSV, Acts 20:4, uses “Asians.”

I had 42 years in Burma in missionary service and found a dislike by the Asians for being called “Asiatic.”

E. CARROLL CONDICT

Ely, Vt.

Through Gunkel’s influence, many scholars came to view the narratives of the Old Testament as folklore, myths, fairy tales, and legends. While they mostly assumed that some historical reality and truth underlay these tales, they generally accepted the premise that these are poetic and imaginative narratives incorporating vague speculation and deliberate fiction. The critical view has as yet not been discarded. This viewpoint still governs a large segment of Old Testament research. Moses, Elijah, and Daniel are considered mythological or legendary. The account of the patriarchal age, of Joshua’s and Samuel’s times, is believed to be full of aetiological tales and cultic legends. Above all, the contents of Genesis 1 to 11, the so-called Urgeschichte, are not assigned any historical value. On the basis of the creation myths and flood sagas of other peoples, most German Old Testament scholars judge the biblical stories to be sagas as well. At the same time, however, they stress that, compared with these foreign myths and legends, the biblical accounts have a distinct peculiarity.

Actually, there are good reasons for giving the biblical texts and tales more credence and for acknowledging their historical dependability also. The Dead Sea Scrolls found at Qumran have made it apparent that the holy texts were preserved and transmitted with special care and diligence. This indeed is generally recognized. But the conclusion is not drawn, as it ought to be, that much greater caution is required by those who swiftly assume that any Old Testament book arose as a composite from various sources and secondary interpolations. The Isaiah Scrolls, for example, have never been found as two separate books.

The excavations in Egypt, Palestine, Assyria, and Babylonia have continually brought to light new cultural products and written documents that corroborate a high standard of living and learning in the ancient Near East. Whether Moses could have learned the art of writing is no longer in debate. Many items of biblical tradition are attested by documents of secular history. The deciphering of Hittite documents threw new light on the business transaction in Genesis 23; it fits remarkably well the Hittite setting in which the Bible locates it. In the light of such facts we may well become more conservative in our attitude toward Mosaic tradition and proclaim its dependability also for historical purposes.

Three Theories

The distinction of different sources or documents in the Pentateuch is still a fundamental supposition, as if there were no alternative. Which of three hypotheses is right, however, is a matter of indecision: the Urkundenhypothese (that is, the different sources are traced back to written documents); the Ergänzungshypothese (the original document was augmented later with complementary material); or the Fragmentenhypothese (scattered accounts of heterogeneous content were combined in an edited collection). One very keen representative of the Urkundenhypothese, who plucks out even parts of verses by such criteria as the name for God, style, repetitions, continuity of narrative, and assigns them to their respective sources, is O. Eiszfeldt (Hexateuch-Synopse, 1922). The Ergänzungshypothese has been taken up by P. Volz and W. Rudolph (Der Elohist als Erzähler. Ein Irrweg der Pentateuchkritik, 1933), who think that Pentateuchal criticism is mistaken in calling the elohist an author. G. von Rad, whose interest is mainly in the origin and transmission of oral and also written tradition, has renewed and revised Fragmentenhypothese. Like so many rivulets uniting into one large stream, the individual small units of local tradition supposedly combine to make up a large quantity of literary material. According to von Rad, the outcome of this transmission process is the “Hexateuch,” which includes the Book of Joshua. But G. Noth (Kommentar, 1938, 2nd ed., 1953) and W. Hertzberg (1953) separate the Book of Joshua from the Pentateuchal documents and so lead the way back to the Masoretic tradition. Actually, the argument of divergency of style and of the names for God is no longer convincing. The old labels J, E, D, and P are still used. Their distinctive characteristics, however, are no longer found in peculiarities of style and diction, but rather in their theological and ideological perspectives. Actually, these lines of demarcation are drawn rather carelessly and with no regard for detail. Further, the documents J, E, D, P are in themselves not considered hom*ogeneous works, but conglomerates of disparate origin.

In the prophetic books, the discrimination between the first person and third person accounts often leads to the conclusion that the “I-passages” are authentic words of the prophet, while the “he-sections” belong to some anonymous writer, even though there are many instances even in secular literature where authors speak of themselves in the third person (Caesar, Napoleon). The introductory headings of the prophetic books are usually considered later additions, not to be ranged on the same level with the genuine prophetic words. Sometimes a psalm assigned to a certain author in the superscription may be dated in a later period together with the superscription. So little importance is attached to the superscriptions of the Psalms that A. Weiser (Kommentar, 1955, 3rd ed.) does not even translate them. Such disregard jeopardizes the interpretation of some psalms. In Psalm 51:1 the prayer for a clean heart and for deliverance from bloodguiltiness agrees with the situation of 2 Samuel 12. Without this context, the commentators face the problem of identifying an unclean heart with bloodguiltiness. In many psalms assigned to David, complaint of being harassed by enemies can be understood from a setting appears along with a collection of Messianic predictions, where words of Daniel are strung together with other passages of the Old Testament.

A new theological perspective is necessary. Formerly Old Testament research consisted for the most part of philological or literary criticism. After 1920, Karl Barth inaugurated a new interest in the theological relevance of the texts, which then expanded to include the exegetic disciplines. In his book Theologie des Alten Testaments (1933; 5th and 4th eds., 1957–60), W. Eichrodt chose the idea of the Covenant for a central topic. A christological perspective was vigorously recommended by W. Vischer. After 1945, the conviction gradually grew that true interpretation of the Old Testament required respect for its own claim as the Word of God. Das Alte Testament Deutsch (ATD), a modern series of commentaries, conscientiously strives to set forth and to appreciate the theological meaning of the books of the Old Testament. The same can be said for the Biblischer Kommentar, a series newly forthcoming.

Certainly it is a hopeful sign when scholars begin to realize that the Old Testament is more than merely a religious document or a book of history, and when they treat it more reverently as part of the Holy Bible. But this new tendency must still establish itself. H. J. Kraus, in his book Geschichte der historisch-kritischen Erforschung des Alten Testaments (1956), proposes of David’s flight before Saul and before Absalom. If we deny David’s authorship, we do not know how to ascribe these complaints to certain times and persons.

To date and interpret prophetic passages like Isaiah 40 ff. or Daniel’s prophecy concerning Antiochus Epiphanes is difficult because of the prejudice which holds that prophecy of the future, and certainly detailed prediction, is impossible. Yet we have examples of specific predictions, even of far-distant events as, for example, the announcement of the fate of Pashur and of Chananja (Jer. 20:6; 28:16 f.), or the prophecy of the 70 years of exile (Jer. 29:10). To call such prophecies declarations after the event, or to explain them as clever contrivances concocted when the coming events were already taking shape, is not quite honest. Some say, for instance, that dating the Book of Daniel earlier than the time of the Maccabees is warranted because among the Qumran manuscripts it turning away from a mere history of religion approach and pursuing a theological approach to the Old Testament. But Kraus himself does not see that this objective fails of realization because of a refusal to surrender the critical approach. Such scholars want to get “beyond” criticism without returning to a “pre-critical” position.

Bultmann’s way of proposing and facing the problem (cf. Walter Künneth, “Dare We Follow Bultmann?” CHRISTIANITY TODAY, 1961, pp. 25 ff.) has been adopted in Old Testament research as well. Things reported in the Old Testament are considered not as facts but as a mere witness to God’s activity past or present. The significance of events is stressed, but their historicity is denied or neglected, whereas interpretation should rest on facts and the significance of events should be stated accordingly. Baumgärtel replaces the facts of redemption with a history of faith and of piety. Noth and von Rad do, in fact, emphasize the divine deeds of redemption and the blessings of Israel; but the outlines of the history of Israel and of the gradual growth of the Pentateuch (or Hexateuch) they delineate in a rather arbitrary manner. The oldest set of traditions von Rad finds in accounts of the conquest of the Promised Land, to which a group of Sinai traditions was added, followed by the account of the patriarchs. Last of all, the Urgeschichte was supposedly constructed, like a porch, to introduce the whole book. There are divergent emphases according to theories of “Kerygma,” “Tradition,” and “Credo.” At the same time, the expressions “fairy tale,” “saga,” “myth” continue in use; to see their spiritual meaning one must “demythologize” them! This mixing of criticism and theology can only turn out rather badly. The critical view will rise up against the theological interpretation; and the theological view in crucial passages will either ignore the critical view or, if hampered by criticism, fail to realize its own intention.

The christological interpretation that has begun to reassert itself accords with one of Christ’s statements in John 5:39 and with a sentence from Luther, namely, that every part of the Holy Scriptures speaks of Christ. V. Herntrich, in his commentary on Isaiah 1:12 (1950), has distinctly marked the Messianic line. But there are many other prophetic passages that allow or even demand Messianic interpretation that as yet wait to be treated as such. The Messianic hope announced in the Psalms has not yet been recognized in its full extent, strength, and meaning.

In the present discussion, the question whether or not a typological interpretation is justified is important. (Essays in various periodicals and publications on this problem have been collected in a book Probleme alttestamentlicher Hermeneutik, 1960.) F. Baumgärtel passionately disapproves of typology; G. von Rad, H. W. Wolff, and W. Eichrodt support it. Typology has its roots and its model in certain ideas of the Old Testament (the tabernacle was made after a pattern proposed to Moses by God) and, more clearly, in the typological quotations of Old Testament passages in the New. Most scholars, it is true, refuse to adopt this method on the ground that its results assertedly come through retrospection only, no systematic relation being affirmed between type and antitype. W. Eichrodt, W. Hertzberg (ZAW 1936, and Kommentar Die Samuelbücher, 1956), and Cramer (Genesis 1–11: Urgeschichte?, 1961) say that the Old Testament has realized a Nachgeschichte, an after-history, in the New; on the other hand, some of the relationships claimed as typological actually belong to the category of outright Messianic predictions.

F. Baumgärtel (Verheiszung, 1952) refuses to state any relationship between the Old and the New Testaments in the way of prophecy and fulfillment. Like him, many scholars believe that the method of the New Testament writers of quoting prophetic passages in order to demonstrate their fulfillment in Jesus Christ is invalid today. But here, too, we should learn from the New Testament. The more carefully we explore how the Old Testament is quoted in the New and taken as a prophecy concerning Christ, the more clearly we see that this approach agrees with the very core of the Old Testament.

Neither are modern notions of how the prophets received their revelations nor modern evaluations of the sacrificial cult of Israel fully satisfactory. The prophetic phrase “Thus saith the Lord” is still too much regarded as a mere stylistic flourish, and the contents of the prophetic message interpreted as derived from their everyday experience. In presenting the accounts of the patriarchs, great importance is attributed to sanctuaries as the place of origin and of transmission. The Psalms are unanimously considered as stemming from the sacrificial ritual. The giving of the Mosaic priestly Torah is still depreciated. Too many German Old Testament scholars still do not adequately emphasize that the sacrificial ritual was a means of reconciliation instituted by God himself (Lev. 17:11).

Judas, One of the Twelve

Judas came,

He that betrayed the Christ,

And with a kiss exposed Him to the throng.

“Hail, Rabbi.”

Jesus stood,

Knowing his purpose well,

And said, “Do that for which thou art come,

Friend.”

Then Judas thought

To right the sinful wrong;

Brought back the bribe of thirty silver coins.

“I have sinned!”

The elders turned

Declining any part.

The chief priests spoke for all: “What is it to us?

See thou to that.”

And Judas went,

Casting the silver from him.

With noose in hand, he found a lonely place

And spoke no more.

DOROTHY D. MEYERINK

When mighty Pharaoh sat on the throne, the whole world bowed before him. He held in his hands the power of life and death over his subjects. Rich and poor paid him homage. But he grew older. And he died. People no longer honored him. People no longer feared him.

Never again will the mighty Pharaoh lead an army in victory. He will never command again. Of his vast kingdom, only the crumbling columns remain and the choking dust. Pharaoh is a mummy. While his facial features are identifiable, he can neither speak nor move. He is dead.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!

A man entered a theater just as the play was reaching its climax. The sound from the stage increased in volume and then came the unmistakable report of a revolver. The bullet sped into the body of the man and he fell to the floor. He was carried quickly to a nearby home where those closely associated with him maintained a long vigil. Every medical skill was used in his behalf. But he died. Abraham Lincoln had become a figure of the ages.

The mind that created, the lips that spoke the immortal words, “Fourscore and seven years ago our forefathers …” will never speak again.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!

Ships had been bombarding the little island in the Pacific. Planes dropped their payloads of destruction and it was zero hour. Men scrambled down the nets onto the LCVPs and LCMs. Wave after wave of the larger landing craft filled with tanks, and supplies headed for the beach. The enemy fought back. Shells exploded. Boats were upended. Steel decks twisted grotesquely. Supplies crashed crazily into the water. Bodies were broken. Men died. They fell on the wet sand in the shallow surf. There was the monotonous slap, slap, slap of the waves.

These men will never fight again. They will never serve their country again. Throughout the world American flags fly from flagpoles set on the flower-bedecked, carefully clipped acres of grass. Dotting the lawns are hundreds of white crosses.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!

The news told of a skating champion, a vivacious teen-ager. In many years no girl has so captivated the audiences with her winsomeness and flashing skates. She would be a champion of champions. One day she boarded a jet plane in New York City. Flying with her to an international meet were other members of the United States skating team. In Europe the plane was about to land. Suddenly it pitched into a steep dive. It crashed with a sickening exploding sound. Dust filled the air. Then all was silent. Time magazine noted that as it hung from a piece of wreckage glittering in the sun a partly melted twisted skate swayed slowly back and forth in the breeze. The young vivacious champion was dead. No more applause. No more flashing skates this winsome girl would weave. No more intricate figures on the ice. She was dead. The whole team was dead.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

Death On A Cross

Christ was born of a woman. He suffered the human lot of pain, thirst, hunger, discouragement. Then on a Friday afternoon about 3 o’clock from his position nailed to a Cross, he slumped forward. His head drooped to his chest. He was dead. There was no doubt about it. He was dead, dead, dead!

Those hands so white would never bless again. Those eyes now closed would never again see fainting multitudes. “Blessed are they that mourn,” those pale lips had said, “for they shall be comforted. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. I am the living water.” But now those lips would never speak again!

Soon he would take his place with the dead in the tombs. Time had ended for him.

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust!

But something wonderful, something amazing, happened—something that had never happened before. It occurred the following Sunday morning. The lifeless body moved and cast off its wrappings. Jesus Christ was visibly alive! The silenced lips now spoke again. Those torn hands were lifted anew in blessing. He taught. He blessed. He comforted. He reassured. He was filled with glory.

The hordes of darkness had done their worst. Not only had they humiliated him and caused him great physical pain. They killed him. Indeed they thought they had destroyed him. But he arose. Christ arose. He would never die again! He would live forever!

The disciples had been distressed and discouraged. Now they were energized. So glorious was the fact of Christ’s resurrection they went radiantly into the whole world to tell the amazing news.

The Destiny Of Man

How morbid is death! Man is dust and he is destined to die. Indeed life means nothing alongside this grim fact. The sands of Iwo Jima, a smashed airliner, a broken body punctuate the sad reality of death for all men. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. But somehow the Resurrection of Jesus Christ changes all this.

Emerson could truly call man “Enchanted Dust” because one Person did not return to dust. Man is enchanted dust because of the Resurrection. Christ lived on and he lives now. All men can do likewise through him. A strange unique power is available to men through Christ the Lord.

Richard Halliburton, the famed traveler of a generation ago, wrote a charming book called “The Royal Road to Romance.” Properly understood romance is nothing weepy and sentimental. As Halford Lucco*ck suggested, romance is what heightens and colors the commonplace quality of life.

We are in a sense commonplace creations of dust to dust. But the Resurrection heightens and colors this commonplace nature and touches life with eternity. Indeed, life becomes a Royal Road to Romance. Through Christ and the Easter message men may truly become “Enchanted Dust.”

While this is true, death yet remains. Tragedies and frustrations beset men. John Masefield in the “Widow In Bye Street” tells of a brokenhearted mother in prayer for a son about to be executed.

And God who gave his mercies, takes his mercies

And God who gives beginnings, gives the end,

A rest for broken things too broke to mend.

Yes, men have twisted backs, missing legs, blinded eyes—broken things “too broke to mend.”

Injustices and slavery to wrong causes are also too broke to mend. Christian people upset over the decline of morals, over the apparent success of communism often are inclined to say, “Brothers, let us weep.” Too broke to mend.

“Broken things too broke to mend?” Christ comes into life and proclaims that all things are still in the hands of the Mender of broken earthenware. Eternal life brings powers beyond those of earthly resources.

Several men stand before a window in a far eastern city. Suddenly one of them exclaimed, “Shiftuh, I have seen Him!” In the window was a picture made of ink spots. When seen aright the face of Christ would be visible. Above the picture a sign read, “For you to see the face of Christ is our hope.”

The world is a place of dark spots but the hope of the world is Christ. The Hope comes when men can say, “Shiftuh, we have seen Him. We have seen Him!” Christ could not have risen unless first crucified; the Crucifixion made possible the Resurrection. Only once in history was death truly overcome, but only because of the Cross which preceded it.

For every individual then, eternal life becomes a reality only as the Cross is appropriated through faith. No one becomes enchanted dust nor knows the romance of the Resurrection until he first receives Christ and his Crucifixion (Rom. 6).

Otherwise all the grim facts of death are still realities. Life is just ashes to ashes and dust to dust.

A pastor tells this true experience. The parents would not permit their children to attend Sunday School. He visited them one day and a boy answered the door.

“Hi, Mister,” he said with a big smile.

“Hi, Jimmy,” said the pastor. “I came to invite you to attend our Sunday School. I’m the preacher.”

The little boy called toward another room in the house, “Mom, what’s a preacher?”

The parents never came to the church but the boy came every Sunday. One Sunday he was absent. Two days before Christmas the minister received a phone call at 5 in the morning. “I’m Jimmy’s mother. Come quickly to the hospital. He has pneumonia.” The pastor hurried to meet the mother. But when he arrived it was too late. The disease had done its worst. Jimmy was dead. Said the pastor later, “I buried him on a hillside as the snow was falling softly. I went to the home and saw the toys wrapped in a box behind the stove. The calendar said, ‘December 25th.’ Would Christmas ever come again for this family?”

“It was the month of April when the mother and father came before the church to receive Jesus Christ and give themselves to him as the Risen Lord. And I could see outside the new leaves on the trees and blooming flowers. We went to kneel before a small grave now turning green in the spring time. And thanked God for the Resurrection!”

Tomb, thou shalt not hold Him longer;

Death is strong, but life is stronger;

Stronger than the dark, the light;

Stronger than the wrong, the right

Faith and hope triumphant say—

Christ will rise on Easter Day!!

For I determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and him as crucified (1 Cor. 2:2).

The ancients built the tower of Babel to scale the parapets of heaven. Athens erected her altars to gods known and unknown. Modern man acclaims six great religions as roads up the mountain to God. Today as yesterday, men are pinning their hopes on intellectual principles, survival values and ethical ideals.

On the other hand, the Christian faith is founded not on an idea but on a person. Paul presented that Person, Jesus Christ, and proclaimed him to us as crucified for our sins and as risen from the dead.

God came down for us and for our salvation in his only Son. In utter self-abnegation, he came all the way to the Cross of Calvary. He who was in the form of God took the form of a slave. The Most High became the most humble. Yet in that love and lowliness, God is still the Lord. For that man dying athwart the sky beyond the walls of Jerusalem is the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8). God revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ whose face can be seen only with the eyes of faith. Thus the apostolic procedure is to portray Christ as crucified for our sins, and to pray the Holy Spirit to bring men to faith by this testimony of God. It pleases God by the preaching of the Cross to save those who believe. As this Gospel is preached God puts us into Christ Jesus and makes him to be our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption.

Accordingly, this section of I Corinthians teaches us: first, how God does not reveal himself; secondly, how the Father of mercies opens the fellowship of his family to sinners; and thirdly, the applications thereof.

Not By Worldly Wisdom

First, God does not reveal himself to us sinners for our salvation by the wisdom of our philosophers, by the height of our worldly places, by the eloquence of our orators, nor even by his own majestic work of creation.

The Jew looked for a Messiah who would receive divine blessings without measure. But “he that is hanged is cursed of God.” Stumbling over the fact that Jesus did not present the portentous sign of a messianic warrior delivering Israel from her enemies, the Jews rejected the revelation that God made in him.

As the law was given to convict the Jew of sin, so was philosophy given as a tutor to the Greeks. Only let us be sure that we carry the analogy through.

Was reason given to make us wise? Just as little as the Law was given to the Jews to make them just. Rather, it was given to convince us of the opposite; to show us how irrational our reason is, that our errors may be increased through reason as sin was through the law (J. G. Hamann). Plato has some glimmering of the situation when he urges us to

… lay hold of the best human opinion in order by it to sail the dangerous sea of life as on a raft unless we can find a stronger boat, or some word of God, which will more surely and safely carry us (Phaedo, 85 Jowett, 1.434).

Luther understood that the world owes the Gospel a grudge because the Gospel condemns the wisdom of the world. Even when speaking of Genesis, Calvin begs us not to begin with the elements of this world, but with the Gospel which sets Christ alone before us with his Cross and holds us to this one point.

It is vain for any to reason as philosophers on the workmanship of the world, except those, who having been first humbled by the preaching of the Gospel, have learned to submit the whole of their intellectual wisdom to the foolishness of the Cross.

When the apostle looked at the Christians in Corinth, he found that God had not called into his fellowship many that were wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. Likewise Jeremiah (9:23), warns the wise man not to glory in his wisdom, nor the mighty in his power, nor the rich in his wealth; and the Psalmist (49:6–8) testifies that no man can give to God a rich enough ransom to redeem the soul of his brother. According to the Magnificat, God lifts the lowly to confound the mighty. Believers are born not of the nobility of bloods, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13). In Corinth, God chose the foolish things of the world to answer the wise, the weak things to shame the strong, the base-born, the things that are of no account, those that are not in order to put to nought the things that are. Yes, it pleased God that the world by its wisdom should not know God.

Accordingly, the apostle did not set forth to meet the wisdom of the world with a torrent of his own oratory. To have fought the world with its own weapons, would have been to betray the cause committed to him. The Gospel is like a trumpet “more powerful and penetrating when it does not follow the range of the scale but keeps to one penetrating note.” It is not a philosophy proved by the persuasive words of man’s wisdom, but a message from God to be attested and accepted. The good news of God’s great acts for our redemption needs and admits only of plain, straightforward telling, anything else is to empty the Cross of Christ of its power. Luther is sure that one does not need to shout or cry aloud in his preaching; for the power of the Gospel is not in the lungs of a man but in the might of the Spirit. Though the world counts the Gospel folly and weakness, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God to those whom he calls. This foolishness of God is wiser than men, this weakness of God is stronger than men. Though it be Paul, the apostle, who plants, and Apollos, the orator, who waters, it is only God who gives the increase. As the success of the Gospel is wholly of God, we may expect only his message to be honored:

Christ! I am Christ’s and let the name suffice you;

Aye, for me too, he greatly hath sufficed

Lo! with no winning words I would entice you;

Paul has no honor and no friend but Christ.

F. W. H. Myers, St. Paul

The vast diamond-studded milky way is but as dust from the Almighty’s moving chariot wheel. But he who measures the heavens with a span and comprehends the dust of the earth in a balance, the Most High, has revealed himself for our salvation not in his majestic might but in the weakness of the dying Saviour, who is the Mediator between God and men, the One by whom we come to the Father.

The Preaching Of The Cross

It pleases God to honor the preaching of Jesus Christ and him as crucified with the power of the Holy Spirit who brings men into the Father’s fellowship.

According to I Corinthians, preaching Jesus Christ means confessing as Lord this Jesus who has been raised from the dead (12:3; 15:5 f.). It means calling upon him for the grace and the peace which the Church needs (1:2–3). It means looking forward to his revelation in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ (1:7).

In the first and second chapters of this epistle, however, preaching Jesus Christ means preeminently preaching him as crucified. The Church has never found the symbol of her faith anywhere but in his Cross. Since the Cross met Luther everywhere in the Scriptures, the Reformer declared: “When I listen to Christ, there is sketched in my heart a picture of a man hanging on a Cross, just as my countenance is naturally sketched upon the water when I look therein” (W. A. 3.63.1; W. A. 18.83.9). Calvin is certain that only by the preaching of the Cross will any man ever find his way back to God as his Father (Institutes II. vi.l.). In their chorus, we unite:

“Our glory, only in the Cross,

Our only hope, the crucified.”

Paul preached Jesus Christ as crucified because there at the Cross, he consummated his work as the one Mediator between God and men. In his holy majesty God is justly offended with our rebellious race. And “whoever thinks he can smile at God’s wrath, will never praise him eternally for his grace” (H. Vogel, The Iron Ration of a Christian, p. 102). Without Christ, God and man are further apart than heaven and earth. But in Christ, true God and true man, God and man are much more intimate than two brothers. In him, sun and moon do not come so near us as he does, for Emmanuel has come in our flesh and blood. God the Creator of heaven and earth became true natural man, the eternal Father’s Son became the temporal Virgin’s Son (Luther on Is. 9:1). He became our flesh and blood Brother, one of us, standing where we stand, representing us before God, offering for us his perfect obedience. As our fellow, he became our substitute, the Lamb of God who took on himself the sins of the world. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. On that Cross, he was made a curse that we might receive the blessing of God. Thus he satisfied for us the demands of the law, averted from us the wrath of the holy God, delivered all those who trust in him from the thralldom of the devil and from the fear of eternal death.

God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself. As his ambassadors preach the revealing, reconciling, crucified Christ, the risen Lord Jesus puts forth the hand of the Holy Spirit and draws us unto himself. The Spirit takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto us. He works faith in us and thereby unites us to Christ in our effectual calling. In the covenant of grace, the Father gave unto the Son a great host that no man can number out of every nation and kindred and tribe. The Son became man and in his atoning death suffered and endured enough to avert the wrath of God from this world of sinners. Now God the Holy Spirit comes as the Inward Teacher to open our hearts to the preaching of the Cross, to Christ as our Saviour and our Lord. We halt and hold back, too weakened by sin even to decide … and indecision is the first evidence of frustration. Then the Spirit places our hands in the riven side of the Saviour and calls us into the obedience of faith.

The objective revelation of God in Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed in the Gospel, the subjective work of the Holy Spirit by which we receive Christ in faith, these are the two hands of God by which the gracious Father brings back the prodigal to his own forgiving bosom. Here God acts in his love, his righteousness, his wisdom and his power to save sinners. The Gospel is not the mere proclamation of man’s ideas. It is God’s mighty work by which he snatches the victim of sin and death from the thralldom of Satan and transports him into the Kingdom of the Son of his love. Preaching Jesus Christ and him as Crucified is the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation.

Life In Christ Jesus

Thirdly, the apostle calls upon us to realize the implications of this gracious action of God in our own faith and in our outward activities. By this preaching of the Cross, God has put us into Christ. “I have begotten you in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15). The Creator, who said, Let there be light, has shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). It is not our wealth, our wisdom or our might that has made us Christians. It is something greater and more wonderful than all these. It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30). Our faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (1 Cor. 2:5).

If we would know that we belong to God, let us find ourselves where God has graciously placed us in Christ Jesus. He is made unto us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. The Christ of God is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification and our redemption. He won all this for us by his human life of perfect obedience, by his death in our stead. He revealed it to us by his Word. He gives it to us, makes us partake of it by his Spirit. To lay hold of him by faith is to appropriate the wisdom, the righteousness, the sanctification and the redemption that comes from God. To find ourselves by faith in him is to see ourselves filled with wisdom, clothed with his righteousness, liberated from the thralldom of Satan, and transplanted into the Kingdom of Grace. To have him is to have forgiveness, peace, victory, the hope of glory! However manifold our sins, we were washed, sanctified, justified in the name of Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:11).

As we find our salvation in Christ Jesus so the apostle calls us to begin our thinking and acting in him. Begin intellectually where God has graciously placed you. Begin where the light is brightest, that is, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ. In the bequest that established our oldest university, John Harvard directed:

Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main ends of his life and studies: to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all knowledge and learning and see the Lord only giveth wisdom. Let everyone seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seek Christ as Lord and Master.

For, as the apostle adds, other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:10).

For when Christ is presented in his full-orbed grace and glory, the living God touches hearts and lives and saves them from drunkenness, fightings, selfishness, and race hatred. The Christian Church has no commission to reverse the process. Take God’s way and his Spirit blesses it. Try to reverse God’s way and the Church becomes no longer the ambassador of God, her preaching becomes merely the chaff of man and no longer the wheat which brings the bread of God to hungry hearts of men. The ambassador of the living God preaches the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the Crucified.

Preaching has a unique place in the world. Other forms of speech entertain, educate, direct. Preaching takes the message of God and Christ to men and in turn brings Christians to greater devotion and sinful men to God. By preaching over the last twenty centuries the Church has grown and spread through the Western world. Peter and Paul, Jerome, Abelard, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Ambrose, Paulinus, Ignatius of Loyola and other great Christian preachers first made the Gospel known around the eastern and middle Mediterranean.

Since their time Luther, Calvin, Knox, Zwingli, Melanchthon, John Donne, John and Charles Wesley and other great preachers have continued to build upon the foundation laid by Christ and his early disciples in the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles and in the wonderful book of Revelation. No century has been without its pulpit masters.

In our own time the ministry is largely divided into two groups as far as preaching is concerned. One large sector bypasses preaching to concentrate upon teaching and other functions of the Church. The other group consists of those who do the preaching. In other words, out of 231,000 clergy in the United States, about one-half carry all the preaching responsibilities of all of the different denominations. A few churches have no preaching at all; others, by contrast, place their emphasis on the sermon and only incidental stress on music and/or ritual.

In connection with my volumes of Best Sermons, I have sent invitations during the last 20 years to more than 120,000 clergymen who do preach. From the 15,000 to 22,500 sermon invitations issued for each volume, the average number of sermon manuscripts received for reading and consideration has increased from 5,000 for the first volume to 6,000, 7,000, 7,500, and now nearly 8,000 per volume. Ministers of 198 different denominations have been invited to submit sermons; men of 165 different denominations have responded with a total to date of more than 55,755 sermons. Sermons have been received in 15 different languages from ministers in 55 foreign countries.

These sermons have revealed several prominent patterns of preaching. First of all, the ministry is vitally concerned with the problems of everyday life. Thousands of messages dealt with matters of personal goodness, of love and marriage, of parents, children and the home, of community and national problems in education, race relations, war and peace. Ministers both discussed the problems and then indicated the relevance of the Gospel for the issues involved.

Some types of sermons have been hard to find—really good sermons on religious education, for example, and even evangelistic sermons that excel both in content and in homiletic quality. Too often evangelistic preaching becomes noisy rather than persuasive. I doubt that God wants us simply to try to frighten men with fiery descriptions of hell. Rather, we are to present the Christ who calls to decision and to discipleship. The best evangelistic preaching today is in churches where the dynamic and dramatic presentation of Christ draws men of intellect and will, as well as of heart, to follow him. Evangelistic preaching can be spiritually and theologically sound, and need not appeal one-sidedly to emotion and fear. Jesus condemned evil and evil doing. But he did not merely threaten those he wished to convert. He reasoned and led men on to belief. When he changed men, they became new men with new lives, new faith, a new outlook and zeal for the kingdom of God and the best things of life.

There are increasing numbers of philosophical sermons; also some biographical studies and book-review sermons. Every conceivable subject has been covered in the sermons of these last 20 years. The amazing thing is that so many men can find truth—for them—in so many different and divergent ideas! Thousands of sermons show a real effort to make the Gospel clear to the listener. Poetry is still used for illustrations in thousands of sermons. The greater the sermon, however, the shorter the quotation from poetry; the poorer the sermon, the longer the quotation. About one minister in each thousand preaches in blank verse; one younger man preaches in blank verse every Sunday of the year!

Today, the better the sermon, the shorter it tends to be—18 to 20, 22, or 25 minutes. Generally speaking, the leading ministers and best preachers use more short illustrations—rather than a few long stories. The best preaching is done in the great city churches of New York, Washington, Boston, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago. A distinct difference marks most northern from southern preaching. In the South long illustrations—perhaps three or four—are customary in a sermon, while northern sermons may have 30 to 40 short, pithy allusions. Strong preachers are not limited to any specific locale, however, but may be found anywhere.

The highest tribute I can pay to contemporary preaching—and this I say after reading thousands of sermons—is that almost every sermon shows careful preparation. Increasing numbers of men write out their sermons in full; most try to deliver them without reading from the manuscript. Sermons today indicate also that the better preachers are well read. I know men who keep 12 to 50 books on hand for ready reading in order to keep up with current ideas on religious and secular matters. Ministers today show a real desire to preach a spiritual message that is relevant to daily living. They try, too, to preach in an oral style that employs excellent form and word choice. Preaching today is a mature art and our great preachers are artists in the pulpit—the pulpit where God is proclaimed.

The Glorious Themes

What glorious themes the Christian Church has to proclaim! What all the other world religions desired and sought for 5,000 years Christ gave to his followers: salvation from sin, life eternal, resurrection to a life with God the Father. If we cannot preach sermons that lift our congregations we need to return to the New Testament and again read its immortal story, be it in the King James, Moffatt, the Revised Version, or the fine new J. B. Phillips’ translation. Preaching is something to be experienced. It is an experience of man with God, an opportunity to bring other men face to face with an eternal God who waits for them. If all our ministers took hold of this great fact they would never again lose time in getting at their desks to prepare their weekly sermons! Thousands of sermons every week, all in this spirit of purpose and responsibility, would bring a revival greater than all the annual revivals ever envisioned.

My search for sermons in conjunction with the Best Sermons volumes is, I believe, the widest that has ever been conducted. It is a great privilege to read the best sermons of thousands of ministers all over our country and all over the free world. In these sermons the men reveal their preparation, their reading, their attempt to bring the Gospel to the people. Several times I have had the thrilling experience of being the first to discover young ministers of ability in the pulpit and to give them their initial sermonic recognition in print. Hundreds of men write me that preparing a sermon for submission to Best Sermons puts them at their best, makes them write with particular care. Many appreciate the discipline involved and others then make a habit of such careful preparation and find they become better preachers thereby.

I am sometimes asked: “How can you tell about a man’s delivery from the written manuscript?” One can’t, completely, of course. Yet it is amazing how much of a man’s style and delivery are revealed in his word choice, sentence structure, his underlining or italics, and even in his punctuation! By his wording and statements you can sense, too, what a minister feels. In a manuscript you can’t see a man’s gestures, of course, nor the flash of his eyes, but you can almost imagine how he would react as you read and absorb what he says. Herein lies the importance of style, of oral style. Men need to practice this oral style, to hunt for words that are primarily for spoken expression rather than for written productions. The ideal, of course, so combines the elements of oral and literary excellence that the sermon both reads and delivers well.

Some Worthwhile Disciplines

Young ministers should work hard at sermonizing. In seminary they ought to read other men’s sermons, perhaps even copy and adapt the style of older ministers. As soon as possible, however, each man should faithfully develop his own style, form, and delivery. To write 1,800 to 2,500 words for his sermon every week of his life is a responsibility worthy of a man’s very best efforts. Some men are overwhelmed and give up. But those who go on, who in time sense the incomparable joy that their weekly sermons are taking hold, who see a response in the congregation, are uniquely rewarded for long hours spent alone in the study. Each man must develop his own study habits, even as he does his own style. He dare not neglect either if he wishes to be what he was called to be, a man of God speaking in the place and house of God.

Any man who knows preaching at all readily admits that the greatest sermons come through divine unction. Hundreds of men during the nearly 2,000 years of the Christian Church, Augustine at Canterbury, the Wesleys, George Whitefield, Dwight L. Moody and Billy Sunday—and men in every generation—have made the pulpit respected by their powerful preaching ministry. Thousands of sermons every week, however, by the patient, hard-working pastor-preachers of churches all over our country, in every city and village, in town and rural community, are the result of sheer hard work, study, meditation, prayer, careful outlining and/or writing. All ministers at times become discouraged. To these I would like to say: preach on, prepare even more diligently. Wait upon God! Men will hear your message if you bring it with fire in your soul and intelligence in your words and never lose touch with your people.

Inspiration is the gift of God, of the Holy Spirit, but “inspiration” in the popular sense, is a fantasy. Hunt and nurture your ideas in quiet study and meditation, in pastoral visiting and counseling, in steady, hard work with your pen or typewriter. This discipline will yield worthy sermons. Develop your distinct style, vocabulary, and pulpit delivery. You can make your own place in the pulpit. When a fine sermon electrifies a congregation with its message and conviction, we are wont to call it “inspired”; actually, it may mainly be the result of full and devoted preparation. What we term “inspiration” may combine many factors whether the sermon be by a Peter the Hermit, a Jonathan Edwards or a man of our own day. By this I do not mean to imply that I do not believe in divine stimulation. Rather, I believe we should do what we can and leave its empowerment to God.

After reading thousands of sermons during the last 20 years, I believe more than ever that effective preaching is the most vital function of our contemporary Protestant churches.

Elevate the pulpit in the church once more, in its zeal and its assault against hell. Station a Bible on that pulpit, an open Bible, and assert that whatever is heard elsewhere, in God’s house hearing shall be accorded the preached Word. Let this preaching be a curiosity and a persistent exposition of the Word: make it voluable, vociferous and violent.

The Church Aggressive

Inform the world that heralds are in it with clear words to call a people back from the abyss’ edge. Forget the sales pitch, abandon the soft sell, discard the grey flannels, pigeon-hole the pushed programs and incinerate the sure-fire charts. Let the minister confess it: soft talk is ridiculous in a hard world, meek answers do not fit ominous questions, dilettante dialogue does not guide bewildered souls, and entertaining wit generates no conviction. Ground the ecclesiastical ad men, the promotional experts, the organizational conformists and the itinerary executives: ground them to pulpits and pews. Pull the firing pad from under their mecurial feet before they have us all in orbit, dizzily wheeling in circles, reaching for goals no one wants and landing on moons nobody needs. Challenge men with the Word’s either/or, enthrone eternity’s message on the consciousness of all, raise the call to repent across the luxury-laden land, and lay comfort on the line where the knees bend, the fears coalesce and the tears fall.

Let preaching command the life of the Church, rock persons free from sin, uproot them from false securities and drive them to pursue conformity to Christ. Make the articulated impact of pin-pointed preaching block fallacy’s roads, blow the bridges on pride’s highway, close all self-saving bypasses, and leave no avenue traversable except the way to Him who is the Way.

Electrify peoples and pastors into dialectical societies reasoning around the Word: the weather can wait, the Word won’t. Companion with the men of courage who come with the Word, and wise thought, strong comfort and counsel deep. Force the world to know that liberty’s voices are rising and faith’s thoughts are flowing from the gushing up of the Gospel interpreted, heard, exchanged and applied. Command the pulpit voice to preach on, to sustain the weary with words, to provide reason’s medicine for the mind, and to give hope’s balm for the heart. And, let the peoples’ Amen punctuate the words from the Word.

When the voice from the sacred desk ceases and the Amens from the pews fade, remember: they have returned to Him who sent them, never void, but with long lines of the redeemed leagued in love to Lord Jesus Christ. Come Back, O Church, Come Back to the Preached Word!

The Church In Unity

Recall the Church to knowledge of itself as the body of Christ: summon persons to join Christ’s body. Tell it abroad that no one who belongs to Christ is alone but is member of all who are his; and, illustrate the fact through fellowship’s acts. Admit that he has imposed unity but we are reluctant to receive it. Declare that our one Head prays still for the cooperative efforts of his body, its oneness of heart and singleness of love.

Let response to the Word gain momentum. Stay it not for fear or favor. Dare the proponents of aloneness before God to repeat the Lord’s prayer in the first person singular. Provide people their one, last opportunity to quit majoring in minor distinctions and become the one mind and heart of Christ before a macerated world. While we are a spiritual unity before God, striving to serve him however varied the means, the world will note well that God’s encounter with man redeems from self-concern and builds the community of his will where none has been before.

Fire the technicians of togetherness and throw open the roof to the floods of grace requiring everything said to be WE, and everything done US. Outlaw all audiences and actors before God. Put a people of God before him and affirm that he is the only auditor of our worship, ever mindful of our response to his Word and our brother’s need. Make Christ’s Church, now, earth’s grandest joy and this life’s nearest touch on the things of eternity: a window on truth, an aperture to love and a bit of heaven on earth: Thy kingdom come!

The Church Aflame

This is the Church militant, allied to the cross and companioned to the resurrected Christ. Command it to march on, thrusting united praise to the ramparts of heaven, thrilling all with a rhapsody of trust, and hoisting a harmonic paean to Christ above the din of this world’s jarring noises. Oh for a singing Church, a knee-bent Church, a hallelujah Church, a Church orchestrated to the unity of the Holy Spirit!

Trumpet the call to regroup to Christ, and acknowledge that his is the glory that binds us in the circle of unrelenting effort and love unalloyed. Pray for a chill to set on us from Calvary, a blaze from the Upper Room and a thrill from Easter Morn. Magnify the worship of Christ’s Church: assemble the Church around the Lord’s Board and proclaim: This is the family of God, nourished by Christ, sustained by grace and vitalized by the Spirit. Come back, O Church, Come back to the worship of God, through the Saviour and by aid of the Holy Spirit!

The Church Alert

Give nerve and muscle to the decisions and convictions of a worshipping people. Let new knowledge grip us. Cease trivializing the loyalties of the redeemed by merely adding their names to committees, putting them to odd jobs and extracting portions of time and pieces of money from them. Can religious hobbies absorb the energies of a people in communion with the Lord and in communication with the Word? Society can protect itself against stacked committees and professional stances; but evil has no defence against Christians exercising 24-hour-a-day commitment to Jesus Christ. Let the results of preaching-worship materialize wherever the people go. Charge Christians to think and act Christianly in their cars, their homes, their jobs, their politics and their play. Have at home a little church, guided by forgiveness, correction and love. Make affairs of office, factory and field opportunities to unravel the meaning of the Gospel, and make the long hours of leisure targets for minds that have heard from the Word and hearts that worship the Lord. Let all life become live footnotes to preaching-worship. Deny the plea to do “something special” for Christ, deny it with the declaration that everything must be done for Christ. Say aloud that there is no protected niche for those who have preached, heard and worshipped; tell these favored ones that every facet of life must be brought captive to Christ, every act impelled by his will, and every attitude squared with his Lordship.

Are we so soon done with his mission? Eager ones, returning with report of having done the Christian task, stand at the foot of the Cross and see that ten lifetimes will not take you beyond its shadow! Bow before the empty tomb and understand that a hundred life-spans will not open all life’s crevices to its brilliant rays!

Remind those startled by this day’s leaping advances in science, and horrified by the same day’s plunge to new lows of immorality, that Christ reigns beyond the rocket’s final sputter, and that he still calls for the repentance of those who befoul themselves and all they touch. Say to those beguiled by the pretensions and idolatries of Left and Right that Jesus Christ is King. Assert that those purcased by his blood and pardoned by his life must be patriots to his purpose. Show that earthly loyalties are valid only when derived from homage to Heaven. Say to all that the day of all knees’ bowing to his personal and cosmic Lordship will come. Meantime, following him, it is ours, through evil days, to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God.

This is mission: to proclaim Christ’s redeeming grace to people where they are. There is little glamor here, but grace, not glamor, is our glory. There is small public favor here, but fidelity, not acclaim, is our goal. There may be meagre success here, but success is God’s to give or withhold: our job is to try where the trying is hardest. Our mission’s crown of success may be made of thorns: He whom we serve found it so. From dark nights, in due time, God splits the sky for the bursting forth of Easter Morn. Come Back, O Church, Come Back to the mission of Christ!

The Spring Of Our Hope

Soldiers of the cross! You may crumple under the crossfire of this world’s hell, but for you the security of an impinging eternity is infinitely greater than the calamities of earthly deviltry. While earth’s battles rage, the veteran Captain of our salvation trains all for destiny’s decision and eternity’s call through total loyalty to his Word, worship and work.

The last day comes when the bruised and broken body of Christ, target of satanic fury, becomes the Church victorious. Its stigmata shall be its glory, the scandal of its cross shall be its crown, and its shredded garment shall become its seamless robe clothing the redeemed of all ages. It shall keep only what it has given away in Christ’s name, and it shall enter Paradise, at God’s call, supported by those to whom it is the messenger of grace.

The Christ of God, long since returned from Calvary’s bloody victory, shall meet it and greet it and claim it as his own for ever.

Come Back, O Church, Come Back: the Master calls you to His preaching, His worship and His mission. Come back, bearing your shield of faith, or be carried on it, but come back!

The thoughtful reader must be perplexed by the frequent use of such terms as post-Reformation, post-Protestant, and post-Christian as they are used as designations of our times. This usage is indicative of certain types of perspective which the evangelical should be able to recognize if he is to understand what is occurring in the thought-world of the church today. It is proposed to note here some of the pluses and minuses of the trend toward viewing our day in terms of these “posts.”

To designate a period of time as coming to an end, so that another epoch can be distinguished as supplanting it, is to show a keen sense for history and for historical placement. That this is a relatively modern tendency is clear to those who study history, for our familiar divisions of history into such periods as ancient, medieval, and modern reflect something which has been judged well after history has hardened.

Along with indicating a sense of history and of historical context, the designation of epochs “on the spot” reflects a strong tendency toward placing of value judgments upon historical periods. It is not usual for one who thus handles history to lament the passing of an era, and to view with regret the emergence of a post-era. At times, the one who thus judges seems rather to feel a sense of relief that an epoch is over and done with. In other words, this tendency may signify a lack of historical perspective, of perspective and of rootage. To a degree far greater than is generally recognized, history is a continuum; and those who fancy themselves to have generated a genuinely new epoch often succeed only in reviving an ancient error or a passing vagary.

To get down to cases: there are those who feel that we are now entering a post-Reformation or post-Protestant epoch. There is no agreed-upon elaboration of the exact form which Christianity would assume in a post-Protestant time. It might be a totally new doctrinal form; it might be, as a result of the acceptance of the extremely numerous adherents of the Orthodox communions into the World Council of Churches, a form of church-community which would have lost the characteristics of the modern non-Roman Christian movement.

A more radical form of “post movement” suggests that we are moving into an era which will be distinctly post-Christian. This mode of thought may stem from a number of concerns: it may operate in terms of William Ernest Hocking’s assertion that the day of “private and local religions is over” (The Coming World Civilization, page 80). This way of thinking assumes that anything which hopes to survive as religion in the new age must divest itself of any claim to uniqueness and to exclusivenes, and take its place among the religious manifestations of the universal human spirit. If this is what is meant by a “post-Christian world,” then it is time that those who regard themselves as evangelicals should know that this is an actual objective sought by a certain type of missionary endeavor. In all fairness, they have a right to know what they are asked to support, and should be permitted to decide whether such endeavor reflects their convictions or not.

Much is said in these times about the world coming of age. It is obvious that modern technological advance is altering both the face and the image of our world. What is not so clear is, whether a world which is “coming of age” demands a nonreligious outlook, and an essentially secularized theology. It should be noted that those who suggest that Christian supernaturalism has nothing to say to a world that has attained to adulthood are not propounding anything essentially new. A century ago, such thinkers as Auguste Comte and Ludwig Feuerbach felt that the idea of God was no longer useful as a working hypothesis in any area of human life.

What is difficult to understand is, that modern man, who teeters on the brink of annihilation, and whose ego has been bruised by the events which have unrolled in the West since 1914, should be so certain of his own capabilities. It would seem that two World Wars, and the brute empirical facts of Dachau and Buchenwald and of the slave-labor camps of Siberia, would bring thoughtful men to ponder again whether the message of the God of the Bible, revealed as Lord of history, might not have a genuine relevance.

What is really at issue is this: is the secularization of modern life which the alleged coming-of-age of the world has produced really a value? Does intellectual honesty demand it? Can men of reflection point with pride to it? Is it really a discarding of all idolatries? Or is the modern secularization of life in itself an ambitious and grotesque program of massive idolatry?

This is not the place to discuss the details of the thought of Rudolf Bultmann, with his general denial of classical Christian supernaturalism. It is probable that his de-objectifying of the New Testament message will have its day and run its course. His tolerance of one once-for-all Divine event (i.e., the Death and Resurrection of Christ) hardly constitutes a basis for a vital kerygma.

It is significant that formulations of a so-called post-Bultmann theological, of which that of Schubert M. Ogden may be regarded as typical, lead in the direction of a “liberation” of Christian theology from any appeal to any act of God. This is based on the assumption that man’s universal and general position before God forms an adequate basis for an “authentic existence.”

“What shall we say then?” The contemporary desire for a tidy systematization of history into identifiable and label-able epochs is, seen from one point of view, an expression of a deep tendency in man to bring order and system into the whole of life. Man’s historical sense stands on good ground, and we rejoice to see it at work. One is made to wonder, however, whether its legitimate limits are not being passed when too many thinkers stand at their own personal junction of time, and hang up their parochial sign “Under New Management” at the portals of the future.

HAROLD B. KUHN

On Speaking Terms Again

Christianity Divided, symposium ed. by Daniel J. Callahan and Heiko A. Oberman (Sheed & Ward, 1961, 335 pp., $6), is reviewed by John Frederick Jansen, Professor of New Testament and Acting Dean, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Austin, Texas.

In a time when some factors have widened the breach between Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians (e.g., the dogma of the Assumption), it is heartening to see some signs also of increased openness and understanding. Not long ago appeared An American Dialogue, written by Robert McAfee Brown and Father Gustave Weigel, in which a Protestant interpreted Catholicism and a Roman Catholic interpreted Protestantism. The present volume brings together some significant Protestant and Roman Catholic articles under five major headings: Scripture and tradition, hermeneutics, church, sacraments, and justification. (A sign of the irenic spirit of the volume can be seen in the proportion of eight Protestant articles to five Roman Catholic articles in a book published by a Roman Catholic press.) The book aims to sample the kind of conversation that has been going on in Europe for some time and which only recently has begun in this country. The articles range in date from an early essay of Barth in 1927 to a recent one of Father Weigel in 1961.

(1) The discussion on Scripture and tradition is begun by Oscar Cullmann of Basel. First printed in the Scottish Journal of Theology, his article seeks to interpret the canon of Scripture in terms of the uniqueness of the apostolate and the manner in which the Church of the second century realized that tradition must be grounded on the witness of the “period of direct revelation.” Cullmann’s article is itself open to criticism (cf., the Protestant critique of Diem in Dogmatics, 1959), but he rightly insists that Protestantism does not mean to forget tradition or to isolate Scripture from Church.

Father Geiselmann of Tübingen undertakes to relate Scripture, tradition, and Church. His article will surprise many Protestant readers who assume that Rome teaches that Scripture and tradition have equal authority. Of particular interest is his analysis of the Council of Trent which, he holds, was going to take this “partim-partim” theory—only to avoid doing so at the last moment. He criticizes a good bit of catechetical training as a hindrance rather than a help toward a right understanding of Scripture and tradition. “God is no plumber who, so to speak, provides the Church with running water, letting the word of God flow out of two sources of faith, Scripture and Tradition, as out of two water taps marked hot and cold” (p. 48). At the same time, he criticizes a tendency in both Protestantism and Catholicism to adopt a theory of inspiration which “turned Holy Scripture … into a meteorite fallen from the sky, without relation to the life of the Church” (p. 50). The author reflects the increased openness of Roman scholarship to historical criticism. Throughout these two articles, the central points of difference are not blurred or overcome, but a great deal of misunderstanding is removed.

(2) Two Protestant scholars speak to the problem of hermeneutics. Ernst Fuchs of Marburg opens with a discussion of the “task of New Testament scholarship for the Church’s proclamation.” Many readers will be quite dissatisfied with his Bultmannian treatment of myth, but all will agree with his emphasis upon the necessity of adequate exegesis for authentic proclamation. “Measured against tradition, which immediately thrusts upon the preacher a settled interpretation of his text, New Testament scholarship may well be designated the theological conscience of the preacher” (p. 85). A. A. Van Ruler of Utrecht raises the questions posed by the development of dogma. If revelation is completed in Jesus Christ, how is the original apostolic witness related to the words of later dogma? In what sense are we the selfsame church? Throughout his discussion, the author emphasizes that the development of dogma needs to be related to our doctrine of the Spirit.

On the Roman Catholic side, Father Stanley, a Canadian Jesuit, deals with the Gospels as salvation history, and illustrates again the freer environment of Roman Catholic scholarship. He interprets the papal encyclical of 1943, holding that Roman Catholic exegetes are now permitted to voice opinions on many matters that even twenty-five years ago would have led to censure. Still, he allows that private interpretation may not conflict with Roman Catholic doctrine—and for a Protestant this is not yet freedom to follow the word of Scripture wherever it may lead.

(3) Karl Barth presents a Protestant interpretation of the Church by interpreting the Nicene phrase, “I believe in one holy, catholic, and apostolic church.” His discussion points up the measure of agreement and the measure of difference. “Now for us to have in her the one handmaid and bride of Christ depends on our not making her into a grand lady and thus—for we ourselves are the Church—making ourselves into lords” (p. 164).

Father Weigel of Woodstock, Maryland, is well known in this country. He deplores some of the older Roman Catholic ecclesiology and apologetic, pointing to Karl Adam’s Spirit of Catholicism as setting a new tone in which the image of the Body replaces the image of the Kingdom to describe the Church. As one expects, he sees the Church as the extension of the Incarnation and he points up the reasons why this understanding of the Church is difficult for those in the Reformed tradition.

(4) Coming to sacraments, Max Thurian of France contributes two articles that show how the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation has too often obscured the more central concern for both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians—the real presence of Christ. He points up the Protestant concern here by a description of Calvin’s view. Heiko Oberman of Harvard adds a chapter on “The Reformation, Preaching, and Ex Opere Operato,” which seeks to relate the word preached and the word enacted.

The Roman Catholic article on sacraments is written by Father Schillebeeck, now of Holland. His thoughtful essay emphasizes the sacraments as encounter with Christ. Christ himself is the Ursakrament—a statement that Protestants can certainly accept. Yet one senses a certain ambiguity in his thought reflecting again the view that the Church is the extension of the Incarnation, for the Church can also be called the Ursakrament. Nonetheless, the article is a valuable corrective to Roman Catholic tendencies to make the sacramental grace an “infused” stuff instead of seeing sacrament as a relationship of encounter.

(5) The doctrine of justification was the burning issue for the Reformation. Are we as far apart here as once we were? T. F. Torrance of Edinburgh gives us a clear essay that sees the Reformation concern best expressed in Knox’s Confession because it had no separate article on justification but saw it always and only as the cutting edge of Christology. Torrance suggests that this is brought out less adequately in the Westminster Confession of the following century. The Roman Catholic essay is a fine biblical study of justification and sanctification by Hans Küng of Tübingen. This is the kind of theological and biblical treatment that gives hope for the future.

What shall we say of the volume as a whole? Some will not be satisfied with the orientation of some of the Protestant spokesmen. Others will ask whether Roman Catholic practice sufficiently reflects what is here given as Roman Catholic conviction. But such criticisms miss the importance of the book. Basic differences remain—and they may prove irreconcilable. However, what is heartening is that responsible Roman Catholic and Protestant theologians are talking to each other, not past each other. What is significant is that the differences are not always where we think they are.

JOHN FREDERICK JANSEN

Pity And Criticism

John Wesley, by Ingvar Haddal (Abingdon, 1961, 175 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by James Dale, Lecturer in English, United College, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Mr. Haddal happily avoids both iconoclasm and idolatry, and presents us with a straightforward account which will probably be of considerable interest to those who know little of John Wesley. But the way of popularizers is hard, and there are a number of major defects in the book which are a direct consequence of the author’s simplified approach. There is no treatment of the great Methodist doctrine of Entire Sanctification, Wesley’s Calvinist opponents are dismissed too easily, the churchmanship of the Wesleys is not discussed, and the observations on the Evangelical Revival are inadequate and inaccurate.

It ought to be added that Mr. Haddal deserves our pity for the treatment accorded him by his translator, who turns his Norwegian into an English which is awkward and naïve.

JAMES DALE

Reading for Perspective

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S REVIEW EDITORS CALL ATTENTION TO THESE NEW TITLES:

* Christian Church Art Through the Ages, by Katherine Morrison McClinton (Macmillan, $6.50). Widely experienced art instructor (University of California) and critic (San Diego Sun) indicates how art may interpret faith and enrich the experience of worship.

* I Am Persuaded, by David H. C. Read (Scribner, $3). Sermons from the well-known minister of New York’s Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church encouraging the reader to surmount the hard facts of life by faith.

* Word and Spirit, by H. Jackson Forstman (Stanford University Press, $4.75). A Stanford professor investigates Calvin and concludes provocatively that he unconsciously held two conceptions of biblical authority.

Help Not Hindrance

Special-Day Sermons for Evangelicals, ed. by Blackwood (Channel Press, 1961, 448 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Lloyd M. Perry, Professor of Preaching, Gordon Divinity School, Beverly Farms, Massachusetts.

Books of sermons are sometimes dangerous tools for the preacher. However, this collection of 38 sermons arranged by Dr. Andrew Blackwood, the dean of American homileticians, makes a serious attempt to provide helps rather than hindrances. The book provides the reader with a survey of modern preaching by presenting 37 biographical sketches, sermon evaluations and sample sermons. The 38th sermon was written by John Wesley and was selected because of its judgment-day emphasis. The selected preachers represent 17 denominations and four countries. In some cases the preacher prepared the sermon for the particular day to which it was assigned. In most of the instances, however, the compiler and editor selected the sermon which he felt represented the appropriate type of message to meet the challenge of the particular holiday.

Preachers in the nonliturgical churches will gain an acquaintance with the demands made upon the preacher by the special days of the church and civil calendars. The preacher in the liturgical church will appreciate the additional help which is provided for improving his ministry to those who look constantly to him for special help on these special days.

The introduction of 25 pages by Dr. Blackwood provides seed thoughts for additional sermons. The page of comments with each sermon summarizes the positive factors pertaining to the type of illustrative material, use of imagination, the recognition of tone and local color and the value of the content in light of the special day. The sermons are evangelical but often stress the day more than biblical exposition. Textual and topical preaching seem to be more highly regarded by the writers and compiler for use on special days than expository preaching. Rhetorically the value of these sermons rests more in the area of invention than in the area of arrangement. Their style is conducive to reading, but lacks the quality which would be helpful in oral presentation apart from a manuscript.

Rather than including some of the messages where biblical exposition appeared to be a minor factor, the book would have been more helpful to me if messages had been selected not just because of their relevancy for our day but also because of their direct exposition of the Word of God.

LLOYD M. PERRY

Helpful Exposition

The Lord’s Prayer, by Walter Luethi, trans. by Kurt Schoenenberger (John Knox Press, 1961, 103 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by J. Theodore Mueller, Professor of Theology, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.

This winsome little book contains 12 short sermons on the Lord’s Prayer by a prominent pastor of the Swiss Reformed tradition at Bern, Switzerland, who has authored several books, among them The Letter to the Romans and St. John’s Gospel. The author is allied to a group of theologians around Karl Barth, but his sermons are brief, intelligible, and appealing, while at the same time they profoundly interpret the precious thoughts enfolded in the great prayer which our Lord has given to his disciples for all times. The Lord’s Prayer is sadly neglected by many Christians because they fail to understand its significance, while others abuse it thoughtlessly by “vain repetition.” In a masterly way Pastor Luethi expounds and applies the important essentials of Law and Gospel in the prayer under the heads: “The Father,” “The Name,” “The Kingdom,” “The Will,” “Our Bread,” “Our Debts,” “Our Temptation,” “Our Distress,” “His Kingdom,” “His Power,” “His Glory,” “Amen.” Careful perusal of these sermons will benefit both pastors and laymen. The sermons are well translated and only in a few cases does the translation approach the German idiom too closely. Since the addresses originally were delivered in 1946 some of the references are in line with the trials of that time, though the general truths which the writer stresses apply to all Christians everywhere. A very earnest and helpful exposition of the Lord’s Prayer!

J. THEODORE MUELLER

Sunday On Friday?

Space-Age Sunday, by Hiley H. Ward (Macmillan, 1960, 160 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by William G. Reitzer of CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S editorial department.

Because “the responsibilty of alleviating the blue laws controversies rests first with the church” (P. 102) Ward, Detroit Free Press Religion Editor, proffers the church a singular solution.

Beginning with a look at the latest encroachments upon the Sunday (e.g., rocket firing at Cape Canaveral), the author next discusses the foremost state versus blue law violator embranglements, the secular and spiritual meaning of rest, the origin of Sunday worship and laws, and the harmfulness of Sunday laws. Thereupon he advises greater flexibility upon the Church and stronger opposition to Sunday laws upon Christians. He concludes by propounding two imaginative but visionary propositions: (1) that in view of the significance of the Cross we ought perhaps to make Friday “the day” of the week, and (2) that perhaps we ought to spread the rest-and-worship obligation over a three-day period as not only much more utilitarian but also much less controversial for this eliminates the villain of Sunday legislation.

Ward fully presents his side, but overlooks strong arguments on the other side of the issue. He does not take into account that weekly (hebdomadal) cessation from occupation-work might be a “creation ordinance” which passes not away. He disregards the many strong Old Testament enjoinders to keep the Sabbath. He makes the New Testament abrogate the Fourth Commandment solely on the authority of Luther. Further, he ignores that America’s founding fathers in no wise viewed Sunday laws as unchristian or unconstitutional, and that doing away with them creates more problems for everyone than it solves. Finally, the author does not consider that Sunday might have been set aside not so much for Christians as individuals or families as for Christians as a church—to worship, to study the Word, to do good deeds as a body of believers.

WILLIAM G. REITZER

After Forty-Four Years

Brownlow North—His Life and Work, by K. Moody-Stuart (Banner of Truth Tust, 1961, 221 pp., 3s. 6d.), is reviewed by Donald English, Assistant Tutor, Wesley College, Leeds, England.

This book tells the remarkable story of a remarkable man. Of noble birth, converted at 44 years after a gay life, Brownlow North became an evangelist of great fame and influence in Great Britain during the nineteenth century. His personality, theology, preaching, zeal, are all impressive; as are his wide appeal and happy relationships with clergy. The book has its weaknesses. The pious phraseology of 1878 becomes tiresome, the author (awed by his subject?) seems reluctant to show North’s failings, and we never quite meet the whole man. Despite this the book and its subject have much to teach us.

DONALD ENGLISH

Religion: Good Or Bad

Christian Faith and Man’s Religion, by Mark C. Ebersole (Crowell, 1961, 206 pp., $5), is reviewed by Harold B. Kuhn, Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky.

The relationship between the nature of Christian faith and “man’s religion” or religion in general, is challenging today’s thinkers as never before. This is the result of several factors: first, the crisis of the times demands a more precise understanding of what is meant by Christian faith; second, non-Christian faiths are asserting themselves with new vigor; and third, alternatives to Christianity from within secular culture are making increasing claims to adequacy.

This author has chosen five writers in the field of recent religious study as expressive of the spectrum of thought with respect to the relationship between Christianity as distinctively understood on the one hand, and “religion in general” on the other. Erich Fromm, well-known author in the field of a psychological humanism, is analyzed by the author as expressing “Religion Without the Christian Faith”; and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, famous for his opposition to Hitler on spiritual grounds, is selected as representing “The Christian Faith Without Religion.” Friedrich Schleiermacher seems to our author the major exponent of the view that Christian faith fulfills man’s religion, while Karl Barth is seen to possess, as a major thrust in his system, the motif of “The Christian Faith as the Judgment Against Religion.”

True to the synthetic method, Dr. Ebersole seeks for a man who will do justice to the valid features which each of the foregoing lifts into prominence. This man he finds in the person of Reinhold Niebuhr, whose system he feels to be an assertion of “The Christian Faith as the Judgment Against and the Fulfillment of Religion.”

Throughout the work, the author is seeking to arrive at an evaluation of Christianity by which he may judge the contemporary revival of interest in “religion.” In this quest, he sees both Schleiermacher and Fromm as so preoccupied with the human that the divine loses its essential significance by virtue of the surrender of God’s transcendence. On the contrary pole of the matter is the work of both Barth and Bonhoeffer, who emphasize the transcendent reality of God to a point which renders the Christian affirmation irrelevant to the man of today’s world. Both dissociate God from man too sharply.

One can anticipate the conclusion: Reinhold Niebuhr avoids both of these pitfalls, and combines in his formulation of Christian faith the essentials of a correct statement concerning the biblical understanding of the relation of faith to religion. This relation is, naturally enough, a dialectical one, involving encounter and dialogue between God and man.

The body of this work has merit as containing succinct and penetrating analyses of the systems of thought of the men which it analyzes. These surveys, particularly those of Schleiermacher and of Niebuhr, are rewarding to the reader who will go to the heart of what the men concerned taught. From the point of view of Christian evangelicalism, however, there is a disappointing lack of concreteness at the point of what role Christian faith is to play in the life of the believer.

HAROLD B. KUHN

Westminster Confession

Faith For Today, ed. by W. Martin Smyth (Mourne Observer Press, 1961, 107 pp. 3s. 6d.), is reviewed by Martin H. Cressey, Minister of St. Columba’s Presbyterian Church, Coventry, England.

This is a useful exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith by some younger ministers of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. They commend it, especially to young people, by relating it to present-day thought and experience. The exposition is on the whole sound and lucid, though some parts suffer from over-compression and allusiveness (e.g., the discussion of the Genesis narratives, pp. 22–24). The Confession itself is printed at the end of the book.

M. H. CRESSEY

Kierkegaard For Today

In Search of the Self, by Libuse Lucas Miller (Muhlenberg, 1962, 317 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Arthur F. Holmes, Director of Philosophy, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

A variety of volumes have appeared on Sören Kierkegaard: brief introductions, critical studies, historical and philosophical works. The present volume, subtitled “The Individual in the Thought of Kierkegaard,” is noteworthy in several regards.

Sensitive to the style and intent of the Danish writer, it focuses on a well-chosen theme which effectively opens up the whole of his thought. Mrs. Miller faithfully expounds important segments of a large corpus of relevant literature, so as to confront the reader with both Sören Kierkegaard’s spirit and his thought and to suggest the excitement of reading him for oneself.

Beyond this, she suggests throughout Kierkegaard’s relevance for our day. The volume begins with a chapter “How to Learn Something from Kierkegaard.” It ends with “Concluding Remarks: Some Lessons for Today.” And such remarks range from the conscience of the intellectual to the poverty of modern humanisms, from parallels in recent personality theory to the popular American notion of the individual. The author ably but cautiously fulfills her Kierkegaardian role of social critic.

Finally, Mrs. Miller shows a wide acquaintance with Kierkegaard’s intellectual milieu, and a sensitivity to the theological issues of that day. Appreciative of historic Christianity, she employs the same kind of gentle severity she finds in her master. This is provocative and rewarding reading.

The author is the wife of a Kenyon College (Ohio) physicist, herself conversant with both physics and psychology as well as philosophy and theology.

ARTHUR F. HOLMES

Any Word For Today?

Prophetic Truth for Today, by John E. Dahlin (Beacon Publications, Minneapolis, 1961, 185 pp., $3.45), is reviewed by John F. Walvoord, President, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.

“Is there any word from the Lord?” for such a day as this asks Professor John E. Dahlin of Northwestern College, Minneapolis. As historian, pastor, teacher, and editor, the author has a wide experience to serve as a criterion for his judgment. The answer to the question is found in classical fundamentalism and the premillennial interpretation of Scripture. The author believes that the end of the present age is rapidly approaching and that the rapture of the church is imminent. His treatment of eschatology, presented in 23 short pungent chapters, runs the gamut of important prophetical themes including critiques of a millennialism, neoorthodoxy, and ecumenicalism. His convictions are stated forcibly though somewhat dogmatically and constitute essentially a popular exposition rather than a formal defense of premillennialism. Taken as a whole, the work is a solid contribution, helpful alike to pastors and lay students of prophecy.

JOHN F. WALVOORD

From The Right Perspective

The Preacher’s Portrait, by John R. W. Stott (Eerdmans, 1961, 124 pp., $3; and Tyndale Press, 1961, 111 pp., 5s.), is reviewed by Herbert M. Carson, Vicar, St. Paul’s Church, Cambridge, England.

This expansion of the 1961 Payton lectures, delivered at Fuller seminary, is a refreshing handbook to preaching by one who is clearly gripped by the task in which he himself is engaged. Its further merit is that it is essentially a biblical treatment of the preacher’s task. The author does not try to deal with preaching techniques, or, to use the hackneyed phrase, with the problem of communication. These questions are, after all, secondary; and so with him the primary aim is to expound from Scripture the nature, aim and method of the preacher’s work. In thus endeavoring to let us see God’s purpose in preaching, he lifts the task to a new level—indeed the only level where justice can be done to it.

His method is to take some of the New Testament word pictures, and to expound their significance. He deals with the conception of the steward, entrusted with stores by the householder for the good of his household. By contrast he sees the herald in terms of the public proclamation. We might criticize in passing his distinction on p. 30: “We are stewards of what God has said, but heralds of what God has done,” for surely God’s action in Scripture is never a bare fact. It is always act plus significance, action in terms of revelation.

There follows a treatment of the analogy of the witness, who, like one in a law court, gives personal substantiation of the facts; and in this case the witness focuses his evidence on Christ. The picture of “the father” is set in its true context. This is not the authoritarian fatherhood of an unbiblical sacerdotalism. It is rather the attitude of affection and earnestness which is seen in the true home, and should be reflected in the pastoral preaching of one who loves the flock. Finally the preacher is the servant who calls attention not to himself but to the Word preached.

For any man embarking on the solemn task of preaching the Word, or for any who are rethinking their position or trying to assess their work, here is a book to be highly commended. It draws us back both to the source of our commission and to the theme of our message, namely Christ crucified.

HERBERT M. CARSON

Ecclesiastical Business?

Man in Rapid Social Change, by Egbert de Vries (Doubleday, 1961, 240 pp., $4.50); and The Churches and Rapid Social Change, by Paul Abrecht (Doubleday, 1961, 207 pp., $3.95), are reviewed by S. R. Kamm, Professor of Social Sciences, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois.

These volumes present the results of approximately six years of study and observation on the part of two commissions established by the World Council of Churches after the Evanston Assembly in 1954. Egbert de Vries, a Dutch sociologist with international experience, endeavors to synthesize the findings of the Commission on Rapid Social Change in the first. In it he follows a methodological approach involving such concepts as “prime mover,” “catalyst,” and “inhibitor” in a sociological interpretation of social change in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Professor de Vries recognizes the force of spiritual as well as material forces in his delineation of “prime movers,” and is quick to admit the role of Christian conversion as an important factor in stabilizing social change.

The second volume, written by an American social scientist now residing in Switzerland, brings together the findings of the World Council study group on “The Churches in Rapid Social Change.” Mr. Abrecht conceives of the church as so identified with the forces of social change that it cannot avoid taking certain responsibilities in assisting the peoples of the newly established nations to solve the problems which are confronting them. He is quite clear concerning the challenge which Communism presents to the church in these premises.

Even though one is inclined to agree with the necessity of Christians being aware of their responsibilities in the area of social change it remains a moot question whether these responsibilities can best be undertaken by organized churches, as such, or by groups of Christian laymen and ministers that are brought together to deal specifically with public issues. If the latter procedure is not followed, how long can the church be said to recognize the line of separation between civil and spiritual issues which has long been championed by historic Protestantism? This is one of the problems of social change which neither of the studies recognizes.

S. R. KAMM

Book Briefs

“Adventuring with Christ” (Gospel Light Vacation Bible School kit, $2.59 regular kit, $5.50 special kit). This VBS series shows careful attention to pupil age-group, staff, and administration concerns. Scripturally sound and relevant content, presented by educationally valid materials and methods, enforces the overall ministry of the church. No detail has been overlooked to encourage a spiritually fruitful VBS.

A Cloud of Witnesses, by Asa Zadel Hall (Zondervan, 1961, 88 pp., $1.95). Pen portraits and character sketches of the Apostle Paul’s contemporaries, both friends and enemies.

Modern Viking, by Norman Grubb (Zondervan, 1961, 206 pp., $3.50). The fascinating story of the International Christian Leadership Movement and its founder, Abraham Vereide, known especially for its sponsorship of the annual Presidential Breakfasts in Washington, D. C.

Gleanings in Exodus, by Arthur W. Pink (Moody, 1962, 384 pp., $4.50). Spiritual comment on subjective religious experience by one who was vastly unaffected by his own times and was in some ways a “return of the Puritan.”

Baptist Foundations in the South, by William L. Lumpkin (Broadman, 1961, 166 pp., $4.25). Extensive treatment of the Baptist phase of the Great Awakening in the South.

Evangelistic Illustrations for Pulpit and Platform, ed. by G. Franklin Allee (Moody, 1961, 400 pp., $5.95). Anecdotes and illustrations to drive messages home and keep audiences awake.

The Golden Path to Successful Personal Soul Winning, by John R. Rice (Sword of the Lord, 1961, 314 pp., $3). An exposition of what the Bible teaches about the duty, the doctrine, and the method of soul winning.

The Hidden Remnant, by Gerald Sykes (Harper, 1962, 241 pp., $4). An exposition of the leading psychological movements stemming from Freud, Jung, etc., contending that the remnant that shall survive in our atomic world are those who “retain a sure sense of the best that is in them.”

The Companion of the Way, by H. C. Hewlett (Moody, 1962, 159 pp., $2.75). A devotional treatment of the experience of 12 biblical characters to whom the Lord appeared.

Thinking Out Loud About the Space Age, by Chaplain Melvin T. Ostlin (Dorrance, 1962, 144 pp., $3). On the basis of a curious mixture of biblical truth and shaky theological positions, the author thinks aloud about the adequacy of the Christian Faith for the Space Age.

Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, by J. H. Eaton (Macmillan, 1961, 159 pp., $3; SCM Press, 12s. 6d.). Brief, informative commentary; with introduction. Torch Bible Commentary series.

Letter to Philemon, by Frances and Winthrop Nielson (Thomas Nelson, 1962, 250 pp., $3.75). A novel of passion and spiritual insight; traces the tale of the runaway slave Onesimus’ adventure and his journey through disbelief and doubt to a triumphant faith.

A Century in the Madura Mission, by Harriet Wilder (Vantage, 1962, 352 pp., $4.50). Story of Madura mission work from 1834 to 1934.

Arnold’s Commentary 1962, ed. by Donald M. Joy and Lyle E. Williams (Light and Life, 1962, 328 pp., $2.95). Sixty-eighth annual volume of the International Sunday School Lessons.

Paperbacks

Kierkegaard, by Walter Lowrie (Harper, 1962, 640 pp., $1.75 for Vol. I, $1.95 for Vol. II). Biography and mental development of Sören Kierkegaard by a lover of Kierkegaard. First printing 1938.

A Study of History, by Arnold J. Toynbee (Oxford, 1962; Vol. I, 485 pp., $2.45; Vol. II, 454 pp., $2.35; Vol. III, 551 pp., $2.75). Volumes I and II deal with the genesis of civilizations and Volume III with the growths of civilizations. First printed in 1934.

Enter Into Life, by William Fitch (Eerdmans, 1961, 110 pp., $1.25). One message in six parts on the true Christian life.

Challenge and Response in the City, by Walter Kloetzli (Augustana, 1962, 156 pp., $2). A theological consultation on the urban church by the Division of American Missions of National Lutheran Council.

The Bible and Race, by T. B. Maston (Broadman, 1959, 117 pp., $.85). An examination of the biblical teachings on race relations. First published in 1959.

The Private Devotions of Lancelot Andrewes, translated by F. E. Brightman (Meridian Books, 1961, 392 pp., $1.65). Brilliant translation of F. E. Brightman (1903) and essay of T. S. Eliot (1926).

Marriage Guide for Engaged Catholics, by W. F. McManus (Paulist Press, 1961, 128 pp., $.75). Paulist Fathers present down-to-earth information for Roman Catholics about to marry, convinced that such “novices” need better schooling for marriage than they currently receive or really want.

Your God is Too Small, by J. B. Phillips (Macmillan, 1961, 126 pp., $1.10). Written to stretch our poor, nigg*rdly ideas of God that we may see that he is so much bigger than our small-sized ideas about him. Reprinted.

Good Grief, by Granger E. Westberg (Augustana, 1962, 57 pp., $1). Description of what happens to us when we love someone, or something important.

A Manmade Hell

CONCEDED TO BE LOST-The fallout against which fallout shelters can provide some protection is … one of four effects produced by nuclear weapons. The other three, as the civil defense literature makes plain, are the “prompt effects”: initial radiation, heat, and blast, in order of their emission from a nuclear detonation. Against the latter three, the civil defense literature and the announced plans of the government offer no protection. The lives of those “close to ground zero” are conceded to be lost; it is the others—“all the others,” the official handouts say—that may be saved from fallout.

In estimating the relative hazard of the prompt effects one must ask: How close is “close” to ground zero? It is curious to note in the civil defense literature the continued mention of the “initial radiation.” This is the pulse of gamma radiation emitted from the nuclear reaction in the first instant of its ignition. At Hiroshima this radiation was a hazard to all who were within the range of heat and blast; for the ranges of the three prompt effects of the “nominal” 20-kiloton fission bomb are the same—about 1 mile.…

Translating these ratios into numbers, one finds that in the detonation of a 20-megaton thermonuclear bomb the blast effect—the “ground zero” of civil defense imagery—has a radius of 10 miles. But the radius of the fire effect reaches out 20 miles farther. In other words, the result is not a disaster somewhere downtown, with time to get the suburbs into fallout shelters. The result is the obliteration of the central city by blast and a conflagration that sweeps the entire metropolitan area.

When the weapon is employed to achieve these results, there is no local fallout. The weapon is burst at a carefully calculated altitude above the ground, just as in the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (where there was no local fallout). For bombs of 20-megaton and larger caliber, the area embraced in the incendiary effect progressively overtakes and exceeds the area that can be covered by intense fallout.

The incendiary effect of a giant weapon can be greatly magnified by bursting the weapon at very high altitude. The thermal energy then needs to penetrate only the few miles of dense atmosphere closest to the ground on the way to its vast target. As footnote to this analysis, it may be mentioned that preliminary reports on the worldwide fallout from the 30-and 50-megaton thermonuclear bombs tested by the Soviet Union show them to have been relatively clean bombs.…

It has been estimated that the enemy would have to deliver a salvo totaling 300 megatons in order to knock out the 18 hardened Titan missile bases that surround the city of Tucson. By contrast, a single 20-megaton bomb, burst in the air over Chicago, would suffice to destroy the entire metropolis. The first conclusion pressed by this analysis is this: the civil population is far more vulnerable to prompt effect than are its defenders and is more likely to be exposed to these effects should it be chosen as the target of attack.

Each of the two sides in the present balance of terror is said to have a minimum of 30,000 megatons of weapons in readiness for use. This, in each case, is about ten times more than enough to kill the corporate body of the other. But, given the delivery systems presently available—still primarily manned aircraft—neither one is equipped to knock out the striking force of the other. The civil populations, therefore, constitute the target against which such forces would be directed and against which they could expect to deliver an attack with success. Such an attack by one side, however, exposes it to the certainty of the same kind of attack by the other. This is the essence of the present stalemate. A second conclusion, therefore, pressed by this analysis is this: if fallout is ever to be a strategic hazard and the fallout shelter a significant arm of civil defense, now is not the time. The fallout-shelter campaign makes sense only as a means for public education in—or public habituation to—the peril of thermonuclear war.

When the capacity for mutual annihilation mounts beyond the 30,000-megaton stage and as the number of contestants increases, the danger of war by miscalculation and accident must rise. At some point in the ever-less-distant future is the point of no return. As C. P. Snow has bluntly summarized it: “We know, with the certainty of statistical truth, that if enough of these weapons are made—by enough different states—some of them are going to blow up.”—Gerald Piel, publisher of Scientific American, “On the Feasibility of Peace” (1961 Duncan Memorial Lecture of the Mellon Institute), published in Science, Feb. 23, issue.

CREATION TO DOOMSDAY—I close with the analogy of a three-year movie, showing the earth from creation to the present, with every second in the movie equaling fifty years of time. The audience is bored for the first year of the film as it sees nothing but vapors floating about. It is not until the beginning of the second year that organic life appears. Half-way through the third year vertebrates are seen, and it is not until two years, eleven months, and three weeks of the movie have passed that man enters.

With two minutes and twenty seconds left, the movie arrives at the point where recorded history began. Then there is a terrific exhilaration of movement. Everyone seems to be supremely exercised. Tribes and armies invade and are pushed back. Castles are built and destroyed. Huge cities erupt onto the landscape. With forty seconds left, Christ is born, and with two seconds remaining, Lincoln frees the slaves. It is not until four-fifths of a second are left in the three-year movie that Communism makes its dramatic entrance. And then with one swoop, it covers one-third of the globe. In the last one-twenty-fifth of a second, man discovers the cobalt bomb, which scientists tell us can render the human race incapable of reproducing itself.

And then, suddenly, the lights are switched on. The members of the audience are sitting at the edge of their chairs biting their fingernails. ‘How does the movie end? What happens next?’ they ask.

The answer lies within ourselves. And the time is now.—Peter Grothe, To Win the Minds of Men, Pacific Books, 1958.

Please Print

In the last issue I wrote about writing, and to the distress of a friendly schoolmarm I expressed sentiments disloyal to Arm Movement. I hereby recant, on the ground that any movement that increases legibility strengthens democracy. To prove my sincerity I have founded a new right wing arm movement for writers of the Right. This new movement is to be known as the Society for Conservative Research in the Art of Writing Legibly (SCRAWL).

In order to investigate subversive tendencies in penmanship one of our first objectives is to analyze the writing of a wide selection of representative Americans. I have classified the signatures on the Declaration of Independence. John Hanco*ck’s well-known hand is a clear expression of the power of positive writing. So many others signed in a clear and elegant script that one is forced to conclude that good writing and patriotism are correlated. It is also rather obvious that none of the signers used a ball-point pen.

Of course I am particularly interested in theological calligraphy. It should prove much simpler to evaluate leading theoologians through their writing than through their writings. Renowned theologians may participate in this survey by writing a page or two to SCRAWL, in care of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. (This is the first time this offer has been made. To my knowledge, no article heretofore printed was originally submitted as a handwriting sample.)

From a full collection of scholarly autographa we propose to investigate the slant a man’s views give to his writing. Not long ago a leading evangelical editor suggested that certain temperaments are congenial to Calvinism and others to Arminianism. Does Presbyterian penmanship establish this thesis beyond reasonable doubt?

Dialectical script is particularly requested for analysis. Are horizontal and vertical strokes accentuated? A telling point.

Act now to support SCRAWL before handwriting becomes obsolete. Write, don’t print, “For depth analysis I prefer a blotter to a couch because.…” Please write plainly in black ink on white paper without concealing your slant. This will serve to simplify labeling you in our files.

Your pen pal,

EUTYCHUS

Music And The Evangelical

“Music in Christian Education” (Feb. 16 issue) certainly deserves warm praise as well as wide distribution. Our conservative evangelical contemporaries in the field of sacred music would do well to note that many of us wish to worship, not be entertained through our church music!

When one realizes that most orthodox Christian teenagers are exposed to and/or participate in superior sacred music in the public school systems in vivid contrast with our evangelical churches, something is radically wrong. Again, “The children of this world are wiser than the children of light.”

One cannot help but be disillusioned and disgusted when the Gospel is presented in night club “spotlight-and-gestures” style. Others who manage to achieve some sort of religious org*sm while singing from the keyboard need to be reminded that they are in church, not Greenwich Village.…

LEWIS P. BIRD

Grace Bible Church

Elmhurst, Ill.

Art And The Evangelical

Principally the creative process in art is a religious experience, whether it takes form as music, painting, sculpture, or poetry, in which the artist, especially when he is conscious of this—which only a truly Christian artist can be—is a “prophet” through which the Creator shows or speaks that which cannot be defined or described by mere words, but through the media described above.… We note the necessity of a definitive Christ-honoring witness in these fields, and … the practical impossibility for the serious Christian artist to engage in that to which he feels called, because of unacceptance by the evangelical “public” and the lack of an educational institution which deals adequately with the subject.

To insure a steady income many artists so burdened go into some sort of related work, such as commercial art, and so forth. However, and I know from experience, the compromise involved is too great a sacrifice.

Others find themselves totally unrelated work, but here are other aspects which make it practically impossible to devote time seriously to worthwhile creative work.… We do not know a solution to the problem apart from the kind of university you wrote about in CHRISTIANITY TODAY some time ago, which could support such a program.

The problem seems to be more acute in the visual arts than in music and even literature.

I am mainly speaking in terms of pure artistic accomplishment, yet even in the more applied forms, such as the printed page, illustration and such, but especially the monumental techniques (mural painting, mosaic, graffito, relief, sculpture, in cooperation with architecture) how little serious important work is currently being done, and what a waste of talents to the “world” which could be used more effectively for the glory of our Saviour.

HANK ZANDBERGER

Sansalito, Calif.

In Quest Of An Angel

Several times in recent issues I have read a plea for more evangelical writing, to compete with the secular and liberal literature of the day.…

Why has no one pointed out the reason that there is a shortage of such writing …? Why is most of our fiction coming from “ ‘Praise the Lord!’ exclaimed Mary fondly, as Ned went forward during the singing of the seventh invitation” type of writers?…

Writing, to be of quality, demands a fierce exclusion of other activities. The professional writer of the world is willing to pay this price.… He knows the public will exonorate his aberrations. He will abandon a wife, or several wives; will live on gin and crackers and slave at it. The result, a Lawrence Durrell or an Ernest Hemingway. But the evangelical writer, however willing he may be to labor, must also maintain a decent home life, be a father and a husband and a pillar of the community. He must earn a living to do all this, consuming time.

The only way I know out of the dilemma is for the evangelical writer to have money enough to support his family while he takes a leave of absence to do the writing. Alas, evangelicalism is almost synonymous with poverty in my experience.… The luxurious pastorates are in the hands of the liberals.…

There are sponsors at hand to help the writer of the world make his beginning. James Jones camped in the notorious boarding house for writers of his type, was supported and fed until he broke out into print. Houghton-Mifflin gives scholarships (in conjunction with Esquire magazine) to the types of writer they wish to develop. The evangelical writer has no help. Hence he works away his life, with the three or four significant novels or studies he might make waiting until his retirement, when it may be too late. Meanwhile the evangelical writers are represented by the descendants of Grace Livingston Hill (at best).

Why do not some of the fine evangelical businessmen sponsor some kind of fund which might alleviate this problem?

CARROLL R. STEGALL, JR.

Westminister Presbyterian Church

Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

On Matters Anglican

J. D. Douglas’ discussion of Anglicanism and the ecumenical movements in “Current Religious Thought” (Feb. 2 issue) reveals once more the basic misunderstanding, apparently almost universal among Protestant writers, of the position of the Anglican communion.…

Insofar as any change in the doctrine of the ministry and sacraments is concerned, the significance of the open letter to the archbishops by 32 Church of England clergy is exactly zero.…

The Episcopal Evangelical Fellowship has been saying the same thing in print for years, and with just about as much effect.

Regardless of the size of the group which is speaking, … its opinions cannot effect the doctrine of the Church. This was fixed by the interpretations of Holy Scripture in the tradition and General Councils of the Church during its first seven centuries, and only another General Council could change it.…

ROBERT V. LANCASTER

Trinity Church

Lancaster, N. Y.

I regret that the excellent articles demonstrating concern for the Gospel Faith in CHRISTIANITY TODAY are not always balanced by contributor’s regard for Christian Order.…

Mr. Douglas appears to draw comfort from his discovery that Scottish Episcopalians amount to only one per cent of Scotland’s population. I wonder if he would care to prove anything from the fact that evangelicals in Spain and Portugal comprise an even smaller ratio. The Anglican laity do not disguise their distress that our interdenominational-minded elements seem perfectly delighted to destroy Anglican unity to achieve their undefined ends.

EDMUND W. OLIFIERS, JR.

St. Boniface’s Church

Lindenhurst, N. Y.

The comment by Dr. Hughes (Jan. 19 issue) on my recent article “Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics” was timely and brought out the differences which exist despite our agreement on other matters. In two particulars, however, his statement about the Anglo-Catholic position is in need of refinement lest there be confusion with Roman theology. In saying … “The sacrament of Holy Communion is a sacrifice —the sacrifice of the Cross offered or reenacted through the minister in his priestly office” he has stated the Roman doctrine of the reimmolation of Christ in every mass. This is not the Anglo-Catholic position. Anglo-Catholics hold the Eucharist to be a continual pleading of the one sufficient sacrifice on Calvary, and not a reenactment thereof. Also, in saying … “To partake of it [the consecrated wafer] is to feed upon Christ in a literal as well as in a spiritual sense” the impression is given that Anglo-Catholics hold the Roman dogma of Transubstantiation. Such is not the case. The presence is held to be purely spiritual rather than carnal, but real none the less. Spiritually feeding on Christ is literally feeding on him, but is not the same by any means as the eating of dead flesh as the Romans claim to do. Dr. Hughes says that Anglicans would be powerful indeed if they “were united in loyalty to the worship and doctrine of the Book of Common Prayer.” It is the contention of Anglo-Catholics that their theological position is both implicit and explicit in the whole of all Anglican Prayer Books. The purpose of this letter is to let our Evangelical brethren know what Anglo-Catholics believe, to the end that there be better understanding among us and less suspicion of Romish tendencies.

FRANCIS W. READ

St. Columba’s Episcopal Church

Inverness, Calif.

Dr. Hughes’ article left a profound impression upon me. How grand it is to read where someone has written just what one wants said and in such competent fashion!

JEAN STONE

Blessed Trinity Society

Van Nuys, Calif.

The Missionary Call

I … would like to comment on the excellent report (News, Jan. 19 issue) of the “Urbana” Convention.

The reporter states, “At least one inexcusable letdown did occur, however, when a student asked a panel of eight recognized missionary leaders to define a ‘missionary call.’ For ten minutes … the panel talked around the question; none attempted a clear-cut answer.”

I feel this is not only inexcusable. It could be, in many a student’s life, a little less than tragic. I speak as a missionary.… As a young person, I myself was greatly concerned because I did not feel the urgency of some divine mystic call to a foreign land.…

I think we must distinguish between a call and direction. I would attempt it in this way: A call is what you are to be. Direction is where you are to go. In Acts 13:2 the Holy Spirit said, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”

We note that call is not to a geographic location but to a work.… God has given to every member of the body of Christ a gift of the Spirit. That gift determines his call. That gift enables him to fulfill his calling.…

My call does not change, but my direction often does. If the gift … given me is that of teaching, that gift can be used equally in Africa, China or America. I first seek from God to understand my gift and then check with him for direction as to where that gift is to be used.…

DICK HILLIS

General Director

Overseas Crusades, Inc.

Palo Alto, Calif.

One Kind Of Evolution

In your January 5 issue (“An Anchor for the Lonely Crowd”), … you imply that belief in evolution has influenced Western man to believe that he has no father save “a biological process.” It has not worked that way with me. I have a far greater proof of the reality and greatness of the God of the Bible … because I accept the evolutionary process of creation.… God the creator of these laws of nature must be far greater than these laws, unspeakably greater than any traditional fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible says He is.…

A. M. WATTS

Chester, Vt.