Page 5774 – Christianity Today (2024)

W. Ward Casque

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My nomination for the outstanding book on the New Testament last year is A Theology of the New Testament by George Eldon Ladd (Eerdmans). No one in North America has done more to enhance the reputation of contemporary evangelical scholarship than Professor Ladd, who teaches at Fuller Seminary. Hence it is fitting that he be the one finally to publish a conservative alternative to Bultmann’s classic work on the same subject. Here is the product of more than three decades of scholarly research and classroom teaching, material that has been shared, in part, with his students for many years and is now for the first time made available to the general public. It is a masterly work, lucidly written and carefully documented. This volume ought without doubt to be the standard textbook on the subject in evangelical seminaries and colleges for many years to come.

A more modest work is Chester K. Lehman’s Biblical Theology: New Testament (Herald Press). It is the work of a Mennonite scholar who writes in the tradition of Geerhardus Vos, the Princeton theologian of an earlier generation. It will prove to be a useful handbook, but it lacks the breadth of scholarship and polish of Ladd’s work. Early last year a milestone in translation was passed: the final volume of the monumental tribute to German biblical scholarship, the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich (Eerdmans), was translated by G. W. Bromiley and appeared in its English edition simultaneously with the German original. Those who are familiar with the earlier volumes do not need to be told that it is an essential reference work for the exegete of Scripture. A supplementary volume of indexes is forthcoming.

COMMENTARIES The past year saw the appearance of some excellent commentaries on the New Testament. Three especially outstanding deserve to be mentioned first. William L. Lane brings the New International Commentary on the New Testament series closer to completion with his Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (Eerdmans), without doubt one of the finest in the series. There are several other excellent commentaries on the Second Gospel; Lane’s takes its place alongside them as a major contribution by an evangelical scholar. It is especially good in making use of Judaic studies to illuminate the text. The more recent additions to the Anchor Bible series tend to be longer than the earlier ones. The record to date is two thick volumes on a six-chapter book: Ephesians by Markus Barth (Doubleday). Whatever one may think of the inordinate amount of space given to this book in comparison to the others, one cannot gainsay the quality and evident value of Barth’s commentary. It is not always easy to read, and the arrangement is a little confusing, but the comments are careful and to the point. Users will appreciate the balance between head and heart, the blend of careful historical-grammatical exegesis with theological concern and application to church life today. The author defends the traditional view of Pauline authorship. A Commentary on the Second Epistle to the Corinthians by C. K. Barrett (Harper & Row) concludes Barrett’s many contributions to the Harper’s New Testament Commentaries series. As we have come to expect, his book is a model of both scholarship and Christian piety.

Other important commentaries include Mark: A Portrait of the Servant by D. Edmond Hiebert (Moody); Colossians and Philemon in the New Century Bible series by Ralph P. Martin (Attic), briefer but more exegetically oriented than his exposition on Colossians, which was mentioned last year; The Gospel of Luke by Leon Morris (Eerdmans), the final volume in the Tyndale New Testament Commentaries; A Commentary on the Johannine Epistles by J. L. Houldon (Harper & Row); Commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians by R. A. Ward (Word), a noted Anglican preacher and scholar; The Freedom Letter by Alan F. Johnson (Moody), who gives a practically oriented analysis of Paul’s letter to the Romans; Romans: The Law: Its Function and Limits by D. M. Lloyd-Jones (Zondervan), the fourth in this well-known preacher’s series of expositions on Paul’s letter (here treating chapters 7:1–8:4); and Ralph Earle’s Word Meanings in the New Testament, Volume 3 (the first to be published) (Baker), dealing with key words and phrases in Romans.

JESUS AND THE GOSPELS 1974 seems to have been the year for scholars to write down their thoughts about Jesus and the origins of the Christian faith for the supposed edification of the educated general public. If the “quest of the historical Jesus” is dead, as some say, many people have not yet heard! Jesus: The Fact Behind the Faith is the title of a bit of popular apologetic by C. Leslie Mitton (Eerdmans), the editor of the Expository Times. His purpose is to answer the historical skepticism of some biblical scholars on the basis of sound historical and critical principles. His audience is believers rather than fellow scholars, and he gives them very good reason to continue to accept the Gospels as historically reliable accounts of the story of Jesus. Jesus: Inspiring and Disturbing Presence by M. de Jonge (Abingdon) is the work of a mildly iconoclastic Dutch scholar who attempts to interpret the person of Jesus as man and God in terms that can be understood by the proverbial modern man. Many will find de Jonge’s views more “disturbing” than “inspiring.” Jesus the Jew by Geza Vermes (Macmillan) is the work of a distinguished expert in the literature of Judaism. His goal is to place the story of Jesus in its true historical milieu, namely, first-century Palestinian Judaism. The book is more about the historical setting of the life of Jesus than about Jesus. His interpretations of the titles of Christ and even the virgin birth are nothing if not stimulating, but few of them will prove acceptable to believing Christians. Still, this is a worthwhile book. “An Essay Toward a New Testament Christology,” the subtitle of a new book by Bruce Vawter (described by a blurb on the cover as “author of the Four Gospels”), distinguishes This Man Jesus (Doubleday) from the other works mentioned in this section thus far. Although popular in form, it is the work of a careful scholar who is a devout Roman Catholic believer and a critical historian. Not all believers—Roman Catholic or Protestant—will be happy with his positive use of the categories of myth and legend, but all must recognize his serious attempt to wrestle with the data of Scripture and the implications of the faith. People Around Jesus by Walter A. Kortrey (Pilgrim) and Behold the Man by George Cornell (Ward) are popular approaches to Christ that focus on the people and events surrounding him.

In his creatively original study In Parables: The Challenge of the Historical Jesus (Harper & Row), John Dominic Crossan attempts to combine insights from contemporary literary criticism with those of biblical criticism and theology. His thesis is that Jesus’ message consisted of “what might be termed permanent eschatology, the permanent presence of God as the one who challenges [the] world and shatters its complacency repeatedly.” Jesus and Christian Origins Outside of the New Testament is F. F. Bruce’s contribution to this area and is available in an inexpensive paperback from Eerdmans. He discusses the references to Jesus and the early Christians in pagan writers, Josephus, the rabbinical tradition, the apocryphal gospels, the Qur’an and Islamic tradition, and also the evidence of archaeology. As is typical of Bruce, he packs a lot of information into a small space. Of interest primarily to the New Testament specialist are the following: Norman Perrin, A Modern Pilgrimage in New Testament Christology (Fortress), a collection of essays published earlier that may be said to represent the development of the author’s thinking (hence the “pilgrimage” of the title) concerning the Christology of the Synoptic Gospels during the past decade of scholarly endeavor; Gospel Studies in Honor of Sherman Elbridge Johnson edited by Massey H. Shepherd, Jr., and Edward C. Hobbs (Supplement, Anglican Theological Review), seven essays by a group of well-known Neutestamentler who are friends and colleagues of the recipient; John M. Hull, Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition (SCM), an examination of the Gospels in the light of the references of Judaism, Gnosticism, and elsewhere to Jesus as working magic; Gerard S. Sloyan, Jesus on Trial (Fortress), a study of the Passion narratives that leads to the conclusion that the Romans rather than the Jews should bear the chief blame for the death of Jesus; M. D. Goulder, Midrash and Lection in Matthew (SPCK), an attempt to substantiate the twin hypothesis that Matthew is the work of a Christian “scribe” who used only Mark (“no Q, no M, and very little oral tradition”) and who wrote his Gospel with liturgical purposes in view, according to the pattern of the Jewish lectionary; and J. Terence Forestell, The Word of the Cross (Rome: Biblical Institute Press), an attempt to understand the death of Jesus in John’s Gospel in terms of revelation rather than sacrifice or vicarious suffering. Matthew: His Mind and His Message by Peter F. Ellis (Liturgical) offers the minister or theological student a survey of recent interpretation and seeks to understand Matthew’s literary method and theological emphases.

PAUL The Apostle Paul was not the subject of nearly so many books as usual this year. Still, a few offerings are well worth mentioning. Boasting in the Lord is a study of the phenomenon of prayer in the letters of Paul by David M. Stanley (Paulist). Deceptively simple in format, Stanley’s small book is a careful and even profound exposition of this very vital force at the heart of Paul’s life and ministry. F. F. Bruce explores the relation of the Apostle to his Lord in a brief monograph entitled Paul and Jesus (Baker). In contrast to both popular prejudice and some scholarly opinions, Bruce argues for a close theological link between the two. Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology by A. T. Hanson (Eerdmans) is a collection of related essays that illustrate the theological method of Paul and his interpretation of the Old Testament. The serious student who has the patience to plow through these essays will find them a definite aid to understanding both Paul and the relation between the two testaments. Paul’s Intercessory Prayers by Gordon P. Wiles (Cambridge) was originally written as a doctoral dissertation at Yale University and is much more technical than that by Stanley mentioned above. Not only does Wiles give us a helpful study of the very center of Paul’s existence; he also provides a series of useful appendixes classifying the various types of prayers in the Pauline letters. Equally erudite but of a quite different nature is the monograph by John J. Gunther entitled St. Paul’s Opponents and Their Background (Brill). It is primarily a study of apocalyptic and sectarian Jewish doctrine. In contrast to some recent scholars, Gunther finds a basic unity of theology among Paul’s adversaries, judging them closer to Essenism than to any other school or sect of Judaism.

GENERAL Three quite substantial collections of essays on the New Testament appeared during 1974. New Dimensions in New Testament Study is an impressive volume of twenty-four papers read at the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in December, 1973. The editors are Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C. Tenney and the publisher is Zondervan. Among the writers are F. F. Bruce (on the Canon), Robert H. Gundry (on the genre “gospel”), Harold H. Hoehner (on the date of the crucifixion), Philip E. Hughes (on the languages of Jesus), George Eldon Ladd (on the parable of the sheep and the goats), I. Howard Marshall (on “Early Catholicism”), and Everett F. Harrison (on Acts 22:3). These and other essayists have produced work of exceptional quality: here is evidence of North American evangelical scholarship’s coming of age. Christ and Spirit in the New Testament edited by Barnabas Lindars and Stephen S. Smalley (Cambridge) contains twenty-seven studies written in honor of Professor C. F. D. Moule of Cambridge. The authors represent a more diverse ecclesiastical heritage than those in the ETS volume, but a substantial number of evangelical scholars are included. The work is divided into three parts: (1) Christ in the New Testament, (2) The Spirit in the New Testament, and (3) Christ and the Spirit Today. The essays are scholarly and a number of them are in German or French, but all of them contain real dividends for those who have the patience to work carefully through them. Perhaps the most widely appealing essay will be “Conversion and Conformity: The Freedom of the Spirit in the Institutional Church” by C. K. Barrett. Reconciliation and Hope edited by Robert Banks (Eerdmans) is dedicated to the well-known evangelical Anglican scholar Leon Morris. Among the internationally famous contributors are B. Gerhardsson of Sweden, F. F. Bruce of England, E. Earle Ellis of the United States, H. N. Ridderbos of the Netherlands, G. Bornkamm of Germany, and R. N. Longenecker of Canada. All in all, the nineteen essays bring suitable honor to one who has meant much to the cause of Christian scholarship in our day. Three other collections are of various essays by single prominent scholars: The Crucified Messiah and Other Essays by Nils Dahl (Augsburg), and Belief in the New Testament by Rudlof Schnackenburg (Paulist), and Jesus and the Gospel: Volume 2 by Pierre Benoit (Seabury).

In a less technical vein are Norman Perrin, The New Testament: An Introduction (Harcourt), and Robert G. Gromacki, New Testament Survey (Baker). Both are intended for use as college texts, but it would be difficult to imagine more contrasting points of view. Perrin represents the most radical of contemporary New Testament scholarship, while Gromacki walks in a very conservative evangelical tradition. Encountering New Testament Manuscripts by Jack Finegan (Eerdmans) provides the serious Bible student with a first-rate working introduction to the subject of textual criticism. Unlike the authors of other standard introductions, Finegan is not content just to describe the work of textual criticism and to allow the students to work simply on the basis of modern critical texts; rather, he takes them back to the actual manuscripts that contain the variations and has them weigh the evidence personally on the basis of firsthand study. This is bound to be very useful in the classroom. A Lawyer Among the Theologians by Norman Anderson (Eerdmans) is an apologetic on behalf of the faith of the early Christians and its relevance for today. Of interest to the student of the New Testament are his chapters on “The Jesus of History and the Christ of Faith” and “The Resurrection.”

BACKGROUND Three major (and expensive!) works on Judaism in the intertestamental and early Christian periods were published last year. Pride of place belongs to the much needed and long awaited revision of Emil Schürer’s famous study of The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (T. and T. Clark). Volume one, focusing on the sources for the history of the period and the history proper, has been revised by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, and an international team of scholars. The work has been extensively revised; many parts were substantially rewritten and some entirely replaced, and the bibliographies are full and updated. It should therefore be added to all theological libraries, even those containing the original work. Two volumes are to follow. Judaism and Hellenism by Martin Hengel (Fortress) is the English translation of another massive work in the same general area. This one, however, focuses on the encounter between Greek and Jewish cultures during the period immediately prior to the birth of our Lord. The Jesus People in the First Century (Fortress) is the title of volume one in a projected multi-volume series, Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. It is edited by S. Safrai and M. Stern, in cooperation with a committee of Jewish and Christian scholars; they are concerned not only for the historical and religious study of the period but also for Jewish-Christian relations.

Also throwing light on the same period but extending down into a later time is A. F. J. Klijn and G. J. Reinink, Patristic Evidence For Jewish-Christian Sects (Brill). This includes not only a discussion of the major Jewish-Christian sects mentioned by the fathers but also the appropriate texts from their writings, in Greek or Latin with English translations. Other works in this area are The Maccabees by Moshe Pearlman (Macmillan) and The Kings Depart by Alyn Brodsky (Doubleday), readable histories of this famous era in Jewish history (Pearlman’s is well illustrated); The Nabateans in Historical Perspective by John I. Lawlor (Baker), the story of the people whose famous capital, Petra, has been visited by thousands of tourists in modern times and whose king Aretas IV receives a mention in the New Testament (2 Cor. 11:32, 33); A. A. Long, Hellenistic Philosophy: Stoics, Epicureans, Sceptics (Scribners), an account of an aspect of intellectual life in the Greek cities visited by Paul and the other early Christian missionaries in their travels; and a commentary on I and II Esdras by Jacob M. Myers (Doubleday) in the Anchor Bible series. One need not reckon Esdras as inspired in order to acknowledge that Myers has presented a work of major scholarship that makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of the environment of both intertestamental Judaism and early Christianity.

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Carl Edwin Armerding

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The big news in 1974 was the arrival of the first volume of the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament edited by G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (Eerdmans). This Old Testament counterpart to the famous Kittel work on the New Testament is considerably more international and interconfessional than Kittel, but more important is the selection of words and the approach taken. Studying words as a basis for theology has been sharply criticized, notably by James Barr. Nevertheless, Kittel has been found very helpful by a host of pastors and teachers, and I predict the same usefulness for this new venture. Among the most important articles are those on ’abh (father) by H. Ringgren, ’adham (man) by F. Maass, ’ish (man) by N. P. Bratsiotis, ’el (name of God) by F. M. Cross, and ’elohim (God) by H. Ringgren. The last two articles, covering a wealth of ancient Near Eastern as well as biblical material, provide the reader with a masterly summary of Hebrew and cognate concepts of God. Three more volumes are projected, all in the clear translation of John T. Willis of Abilene Christian College. Each of us will remain in the debt of the authors, editors, translators, and publishers for this worthwhile and momentous venture.

COMMENTARIES Especially notable was Brevard S. Childs’s The Book of Exodus (Westminster). Childs, a Yale professor, has in recent years broken new ground with his much publicized call for a return to studying Scripture in the context of its canonical form as received by the Christian Church (see his Biblical Theology in Crisis, Westminster, 1970). Now, in a massive new volume, he has applied his own principles to a theologically important Old Testament book. In a sharp break with recent practice, Childs approaches his task in a sixfold way: (1) textual and philological notes, (2) literary and history-of-tradition problems, (3) Old Testament context (the canonical shape of the text), (4) New Testament context (how the text became the Word to the Church), (5) history of exegesis (including Jewish and classical Christian interpretation), and (6) theological reflection (a contemporary model of how the text speaks to theological issues in the Church today). Childs claims that sections three, four, and six are the heart of his commentary, and anyone familiar with scholarly exegesis in the past century will immediately recognize here a re-emergence of a largely forgotten emphasis. Here is a major contribution, both as to method and as to content.

A second major commentary is Robert G. Boling’s Judges in the Anchor Bible series (Doubleday). Scholars will follow with interest his greater confidence in and dependence upon the Septuagint text as represented in Codex Alexandrinus (contra the Massoretic, and justified by Dead Sea evidence), while the more popular audience, for whom the series was intended, will find a wealth of archaeological illustrations for this little-known period. Also from Westminster comes a continuation of Otto Kaiser’s major work, Isaiah 13–39. While relegating the important chapters 24–27 to “late apocalyptic,” Professor Kaiser characterizes much of the rest of Isaiah 13–35 as “proto-apocalyptic,” an intermediate stage in the eventual removal of Israel’s hopes from the realm of history.

A major forty-year-old work on Genesis (Ktav) by B. Jacob, a pre-Nazi German rabbi, was translated and considerably abridged by his son and grandson, also rabbis. Jacob’s rejection of the documentary hypothesis is noteworthy. Two crucial portions of Genesis are the focus in Creation by Claus Westerman (Fortress) and The Drunkenness of Noah by H. Hirsch Cohen (University of Alabama). Like Jacob, Rabbi Cohen rejects JEDP. The flood was God’s means of cleansing earth from gross sexual depravity. The effects of the eruption of an Aegean island are portrayed as having a key role in shaping the biblical flood narrative.

A long-awaited volume is Hans W. Wolff’s Hosea (Fortress), the first entry in the Old Testament section of the prestigious Hermeneia series. Although rich in grammatical helps and replete with extensive footnoting, this commentary will be of value to a broadly constructed audience. The author, a noted German form critic, has given us the first extensive technical commentary on Hosea in recent years.

In a smaller volume projected as the first of a series, British evangelical J. A. Motyer deals with Amos under the title The Day of the Lion (InterVarsity). Although there is little detailed help on the technical aspects of text and composition, this short book brings to life the person and message of the prophet with a scholarly clarity that will speak volumes to the contemporary reader. We look with keen anticipation toward the forthcoming offerings in this series, The Voice of the Old Testament.

Six brief but important volumes were added to the growing list of Cambridge Bible Commentaries based on the New English Bible. Deuteronomy by A. Phillips, Joshua by J. M. Miller and G. M. Tucker, Jeremiah 1–25 by E. W. Nicholson, and Ezekiel by K. W. Carley are joined by two commentaries on apocryphal books: Ecclesiasticus by J. G. Snaith and The Wisdom of Solomon by E. G. Clarke.

Study guides and short commentaries continue to come from a variety of sources, attesting to the widespread interest in study of Scripture. Of all that I have seen, only Bernard L. Ramm’s His Way Out: Exodus (Regal) is a full commentary. From Victor comes How God Can Use Nobodies, studies of Abraham, Moses, and David by James M. Boice, and Staying Off Dead End Streets, a look at Ecclesiastes by R. W. De Haan, while from the pen of Don W. Hillis comes Jonah Speaks Again (Baker). Out of the Depths (Westminster) offers a form-critical (and generally helpful) introduction to various Psalms by B. W. Anderson.

SURVEYS Last year saw the first full-length treatment of Old Testament theology by a noted American Roman Catholic. A Theology of the Old Testament (Doubleday) by John L. McKenzie will show how little distance there is between the Catholic and Protestant biblical communities, and will also spark a healthy debate among practitioners of this discipline. McKenzie’s outline for doing Old Testament theology reflects his strong conviction (contra Brevard Childs et al.) that any attempted unity between Old and New Testaments will be artificial. His categories are: cult, revelation, history, nature, wisdom, institutions, and the future of Israel. Under these rubrics he attempts to extrapolate a common “encounter with Yahweh” theology, with more indebtedness to von Rad, Heidegger, and Bultmann than to traditional Roman Catholic dogmatics.

The Gospel of Moses (Harper & Row) is really an overview of the thought of the entire Old Testament. For the author, veteran Wheaton don Samuel J. Schultz, Deuteronomy’s relational covenant of love, as reformulated by Jesus in Luke 10:25–28, is the key to all Scripture. The People of Ancient Israel (Harper & Row) by J. K. Kuntz is yet another well-written college text offering standard critical positions. By contrast, W. W. Steven’s A Guide For Old Testament Study (Broadman), designed for high school students, avoids any mention of critical issues. Two other volumes, also largely school-oriented, are D. B. J. Campbell’s The Old Testament For Modern Readers (John Knox) and F. W. Jarvis’s Prophets, Poets, Priests and Kings (Seabury). The former is better informed, though neither will have great appeal for conservative audiences.

ARCHAEOLOGY Significant both for its own merit and also for the subject covered is Kathleen M. Kenyon’s Digging Up Jerusalem (Praeger). Fine line drawings, 122 plates, and an unusually lucid text make this the best choice for a clear understanding of the noted author’s important excavations during 1961–68. Those interested in Christian history will find her support for the traditional site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre stimulating reading. A second major offering in this field comes with publication of the 1959 Schweich lectures by Roland de Vaux in a volume descriptively entitled Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls (British Academy). These lectures, published for the first time in English (from a newly revised French text), cover in detail the site of ancient Qumran and the surrounding area. A third chapter contains the late archaeologist’s personal statement on the authenticity of the Dead Sea material and reaffirms a probable Essene provenance for the scrolls. Also published recently is R. Harker’s Digging Up the Bible Lands (Walck), a popular, Jewish-oriented survey of archaeology in the Ancient Near East and Israel.

SPECIAL TOPICS A fine contribution from Asbury professor G. Herbert Livingston comes in The Pentateuch in Its Cultural Environment (Baker). The author, at home in the worlds of archaeology, Near Eastern history, and biblical studies, sets forth the books of Moses in their cultural, linguistic, and historical environment. A valuable critique of contemporary Old Testament views of composition of the Pentateuch is supplemented by an extensive alternate analysis of a positive nature. This balanced, creative, and informed book should become a standard conservative text in its field.

Proclaiming the Promise (Fortress) by F. R. McCurley, Jr., is an application of the “promise and fulfillment” motif to the question of contemporary Old Testament preaching. In The Ten Commandments For Today (Harper & Row) prolific Glasgow scholar William Barclay calls for a reemphasis on law as the necessary and desirable basis for any kind of nation or community. Two volumes from Behrman House will help Protestants respond to the current revival of interest in classical exegesis. Jewish Biblical Exegesis by L. Jacobs begins with selections from Rashi in the eleventh century and documents the exegetical method of eighteen other Jewish scholars down to our own time. The Rabbi’s Bible, Volume 3: The Later Prophets edited by S. Simon and A. Rothberg is a school text on rabbinic method.

Old Testament Form Criticism edited by J. H. Hayes (Trinity University) is a most substantial series of essays. Six younger American scholars discuss what form criticism is and is not, where it has come from, and where it is going. Chapters on narrative, law, prophecy, Psalms, and wisdom show a wide variety of applications and limitations inherent in the method. Equally useful is Rediscovering the Traditions of Israel by D. A. Knight (Scholars’ Press, Missoula, Mont. 59801). In more than four hundred pages the development of “tradition-history,” especially in Scandinavia, is traced and evaluated. R. W. Klein’s short but useful Textual Criticism of the Old Testament is another in Fortress Press’s series of Guides to Biblical Scholarship, which provide the best laymen’s introduction to various aspects of technical research. In The Desert Bible (St. Martin’s), Morris Seale contends that the Old Testament can best be understood in the light of the nomadic origins of the people. This book is likely to provoke controversy. B. A. Levine’s In the Presence of the Lord (Brill) is a splendid study of the biblical terminology of sacrifice. Also from Brill comes J. Neusner’s The Idea of Purity in Ancient Judaism. Lectures by a noted Jewish historian who is convinced that regulations about purity were basic to biblical and post-biblical Jewish law. The Meaning of ’bama” in the Old Testament (Cambridge) by P. H. Vaughan is a short but definitive treatment of the cultic “high place.” Biblical archaeological and ancient Near Eastern sources are carefully evaluated with the conclusion that bamoth were of two types. Both were platforms, but (contra W. F. Albright) neither was associated with a cult of the dead.

A dissertation by Ontario Bible College professor D. A. Leggett is entitled The Levirate and Goel Institutions in the Old Testament (Mack Publishing, Robin Lake Drive, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034) correlates laws of Deuteronomy with the practice of Ruth and sees both as reflections of the central love command. Another dissertation gives us the first English-language book on The Spirit of God in the Old Testament (Augsburg). Although the study is designedly technical, it can be read with profit by anyone interested in this vital subject. A third dissertation, With Wings as Eagles (Biblical Scholars Press) by F. Holmgren, explores the inner life of “Second Isaiah.” The author concurs with Snaith and Orlinsky that second Isaiah is an intensely nationalistic prophet and paints an attractive picture of that elusive being.

MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS The Law and the Prophets (Presbyterian and Reformed) edited by J. H. Skilton mixes thirty technical articles with a score of personal tributes to Oswald T. Allis. The venerable divine, veteran of years of teaching at both Princeton and Westminster seminaries, died in his ninety-third year just prior to publication of the Festschrift. Although the quality of the articles is mixed, the long list of evangelical contributors is a testimony to Allis’s influence. A second Festschrift honors Jacob M. Myers on his seventieth birthday. A Light Unto My Path (Temple University) edited by H. N. Bream, R. D. Heim, and C. A. Moore brings together articles from a cross section of notable Old Testament scholars. Most of the articles directly concern biblical studies, unlike the twenty-seven contributions in Approaches to the Study of the Ancient Near East, a volume dedicated to cuneiform scholar I. J. Gelb on his sixty-fifth birthday. Editor G. Buccellati and an international team of scholars have given us a splendid series of articles on various ancient Near Eastern topics.

Essays in Biblical Culture and Bible Translation (Ktav) collects twenty-four stimulating essays by Reformed Jewish scholar Harry M. Orlinsky. He registers his opposition to finding universal salvation in Isaiah or an amphictyony in the period of the Judges and to anything written or said by Arnold Toynbee. None of these and a host of other reflections will bore the reader, and some are sure to infuriate him. Of special interest is Orlinsky’s personal account of his role as go-between in the amazing purchase of some Dead Sea Scrolls in 1954.

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THE BIBLE AS LITERATURE A central concern of many books published this year was the relation between biblical interpretation and the literary forms contained in the Bible, or, to use the technical jargon, between hermeneutics and literary criticism. Bible scholars have long been concerned with what they call literary, or “higher” (in distinction to “lower,” or textual), criticism, but we have in these new studies something different. Here is the application of the principles and techniques of general literary criticism, rather than of narrowly confined “biblical criticism,” to the study of the Old and New Testaments. And the result is, as a rule, a very happy one.

Pride of place goes to The Literature of the Bible by Leland Ryken (Zondervan), a work far superior to any other on the subject with which we are familiar. The author is a professor of English at Wheaton College; what he says shows a degree of theological sophistication rarely present in books of this nature. The categories are not the theologian’s “form criticism,” “redaction criticism,” “traditio-historical criticism,” and the like, but rather such things as “the story of origins” (Genesis), “heroic narrative” (the patriarchs, judges, David, and Daniel), “the lyric poetry of the Psalms,” “biblical satire” (Jonah, Amos, and the parables of Jesus in Luke), and “the gospel as a literary form.” Ryken’s work will doubtless serve as a useful text for college courses on the subject and also as a guide for high school teachers, who now are having increased opportunities to teach in this area. It will also give fresh insight to pastors and theological teachers, who are all too accustomed to looking at the Scriptures in a narrowly professional manner. Rather more loosely connected but also helpful is Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives edited by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis (Abingdon). Arising out of a series of summer courses for high school teachers of English literature held at Indiana University, this symposium contains articles on “The Rabbinic Method and Literary Criticism,” “Some Fallacies Concerning Literary Criticism of the Bible” (by Ryken), and “The Two Kingdoms in Matthew’s Gospel,” and essays on Genesis, Judges, Ruth, Kings, Jonah, Isaiah, Job, Mark, and the Apocalypse. A third volume in this area is by a theologian, but the point is similar: The Eclipse of Biblical Narrative by Hans W. Frei (Yale). Frei traces the change that took place in biblical hermeneutics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, leading to a loss of the sense of realism in reading the biblical text. Focusing mainly on the creation story and the gospel accounts, Frei writes a very insightful account of the influence of general culture on the theological enterprise. His work will be of interest primarily to the specialist, who cannot afford to ignore Frei’s thesis even if he is unconvinced by all his suggestions.

Of a very different character are two books written from the perspective of modern linguistic principles. Translating the Word of God by John Beekman and John Callow (Zondervan) is the fruit of years of labor and reflection by two missionary linguists with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. They discuss fundamental principles of translation and then give many specific illustrations of how these basic principles are applied to a variety of translation problems. This study will be of supreme service to those who serve the Lord as translators of the Word of God, but it will be of value also to the ordinary Bible student who wishes to understand why various translations differ with one another. Discourse Considerations in Translating the Word of God by Kathleen Callow (Zondervan) is designed to be a companion to Beekman and Callow and deals with a relatively new field in linguistics, one that is concerned with reclothing the meaning of a text in the words and syntax of the new language. How to Understand Your Bible (InterVarsity) is an elementary handbook to Bible study by a veteran student worker in India, T. Norton Sterrett. Though not concerned with the modern science of linguistics, the author is vitally concerned with such basics as words, grammar, context, figures of speech, Hebrew idioms, and other matters that fall into the traditional category of linguistics.

THE BIBLICAL WORLD Certainly the outstanding new volume in this category is Great People of the Bible and How They Lived (Readers Digest), a cooperative venture of journalists, scholars, and artists. Richly illustrated with color photographs, line drawings, and paintings of ancient scenes, this coffee-table book provides a wealth of background to the study of the Bible. The editorial assistance of the Old Testament scholar and biblical archaeologist G. Ernest Wright of Harvard assured a degree of technical accuracy not always received in works of a popular nature. Discovering the World of the Bible by LaMar C. Berrett (Brigham Young University) is a Bible student’s guide to Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey. Apart from an occasional betrayal of the author’s religious perspective—Mormon—and the necessarily brief nature of the work, this paperback guide is the ideal companion for a Christian traveler in Bible lands. Biblical references are included in the text where appropriate.

Two major revisions of important geographical tools appeared in 1974. In The Geography of the Bible (Harper & Row), noted author Denis Baly has completely rewritten the standard text in the field. Much new light has been shed by the seventeen years of research since the appearance of the first edition, and we can thank Professor Baly for taking the trouble to thoroughly rework his already fine work. Another standard work, H. G. May’s Oxford Bible Atlas (Oxford), has also appeared in a new edition. The revision is not quite so extensive as Baly’s, but the revised maps, photographs, and texts of archaeological interest will make the new edition even more useful as a textbook. The Oxford Bible Atlas is by far the best, handiest, and most accurate work of its kind and is available in both hard and soft cover.

BIBLICAL THEOLOGY The relation of the two Testaments to one another has been of perennial concern in the Church, if not always in the thought of modern theologians, who have often tended to isolate the two parts of Holy Writ from each other. Henry M. Shires’s Finding the Old Testament in the New (Westminster) offers, at a level that the thoughtful layman as well as pastor can appreciate, a first-rate introduction to the way the New Testament uses the Old. The author does not blaze any new trails in biblical research, but he does lay out the data in a way that is very useful and certainly clarifies many obscurities. It is heartening to read a writer who is not embarrassed by the way the authors of the New Testament handle the Old Testament but who instead forthrightly identifies with their distinctively Christian reading of the Hebrew Scriptures. This book can be commended both for the information it contains and for its theological understanding of the subject. Especially helpful are the eleven appended tables classifying the ways in which the Old Testament is used in the New. Creation and New Creation by John Reumann (Augsburg) and Behold My Servant by Gaetan Bourbonnais (Liturgical) provide the serious Bible student with paradigms of reading the Bible thematically. Both authors—one a Lutheran and the other a Roman Catholic—approach their subjects in a scholarly and devout fashion, as “under the Word of God,” and therefore offer edification and illumination to the believer.

God’s Strategy in Human History by Roger T. Forster and V. Paul Marston (Tyndale) is rather awkwardly written and arranged, and is therefore a little difficult to read; nevertheless, it is a stimulating work that will encourage Arminians, alienate Calvinists, but perhaps instruct ordinary Christians. For the thoughtful person who has been troubled from time to time by the apparent moral difficulties in the Bible—How can a good God condemn sinners to hell? What about the holy wars and cursings in the Old Testament? Why does God allow, sometime even appear to use, moral evil in the world?—John W. Wenham has written a wonderfully helpful little book, The Goodness of God (InterVarsity). No easy answers will be pawned off on the reader, but he will be helped to see reality more in keeping with the focus provided by the biblical perspective. This book will not be of help to believers but could prove to be of real service in the task of evangelism among thoughtful and sensitive non-Christians. Finally, The Gospel and the Land by W. D. Davies (University of California) is a heavyweight monograph dealing with the significance of the land of Palestine in the Old Testament, Judaism, and (principally) the New Testament. This is a very important study for all those who seek to understand the relation of the two Testaments and also of Israel to the Church.

GENERAL Unger’s Guide to the Bible by Merrill F. Unger (Tyndale) combines a book-by-book survey, a dictionary, and a concordance.

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Inflation may have upped book prices last year, but recession certainly did not “down” the number of new titles. Publishers Weekly reports an admittedly incomplete total of 1,458 new American books classified under religion in the Dewey system, an increase of 84 over the 1973 figure. (Many other titles of religious significance would be classified under such topics as biography, history, and sociology.) This means that our surveyors had to be selective, and the editors had to cut even more because of space limitations. (We also added a few titles that appeared very late in the year.) Any praises for the coverage go to the surveyors, but blame for omissions and terseness might belong instead to us.

We have aimed these surveys at the reasonably mature Christian. We do not necessarily identify the books as evangelical (except those in our “choice” list page 45); they are books that evangelicals, among others, can find to be of help.

Thanks go to the publishers who cooperated in sending review copies. Readers who find the number of titles we mention mind-boggling should meet the publishers’ representatives, who cannot understand how we could mention so few of their wares!

Harold B. Kuhn

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In a classic passage in his Psychology (I, 479 f.) William James lamented the existence and persistence of the universal and the structured in the thought of his day, and longed for a world-view that would focus attention upon particulars and concretes. Had he lived until our day, he would doubtless have been more than satisfied with the contemporary emphasis upon the particularistic, the individualistic, and more especially the relational.

Relationalism is without doubt a reaction to the depersonalization and the alienation of our time. But like most reactions, it tends to be extreme. Many feel that we are being caught up in a maze of irrational and irresponsible interpersonalism in which relation and interaction replace all forms of structured thought and behavior.

Many are accepting uncritically the so-called relational theology. One is tempted to wonder whether this acceptance is not too largely the result of reaction—a product of an age of sloganeering, of grasping at any formula that sounds plausible.

It seems to me that the so-called relational theology strikes squarely at the heart of important theological matters, and that its implications for these matters are not often articulated. Space does not permit a discussion of its implications for the biblical view of revelation. But there are also profound issues at stake in relationalism for the Christian understanding of man, the biblical understanding of Christ’s atoning work, and the biblical norm for ethical behavior.

There is constant and studied resistance in our time to any view of “human nature” as a fixed and constant thing. It is frequently asserted that the “image of God” as biblically understood involves nothing structured in man. Rejected is the view that there exists in man a traceable and identifiable pattern of qualities given by God and subsequently perverted and wrongly structured.

More acceptable, it seems, is the view that human evil is a result of a loss of one or more elements in the pattern of “vertical-horizontal” relationships. The identification of fixed elements in human nature is rejected in favor of, for example, Barth’s view that “human nature” consists primarily in the unique relation between God and man by virtue of creation.

In his Man in Revolt (pp. 102 ff.) Emil Brunner holds that the imago dei consists basically of being-in-relation. This cuts squarely across the Old Testament view of human frailty and human perversity—of man as a creature who cannot stand before God’s holiness. True, man does manifest a unique relation to God, one not shared by the rest of creation. But it seems clear that man continues to express a structured dispositional form, even when his relation to his Maker is fractured.

Some have argued that biblical descriptions of man are always functional, never metaphysical. Now it is true that the Christian Scriptures, particularly the Old Testament, have a certain concreteness because of the non-analytical quality of Hebrew thought. But such passages as Jeremiah 17:9 seem to suggest clearly that sin and evil are actual distortions of a patterned humanity. Walther Eichrodt in his Theology of the Old Testament (II, 389, 396, 407) seems to express Christian realism at this point with persuasiveness.

It is to be expected that in grasping for self-understanding some should find it convenient to reject a view of human nature that sees evil as a persistent distortion of the human structure. But to do so in the name of Christian faith is to overlook a major strand in biblical teaching, beginning with the Hebrew assertion of the “evil inclination” or yetzer hara, continuing through the insights of the Prophets, and finding poignant expression in the New Testament, particularly the Pauline writings.

Neglect of the structured and fixed in human nature has led, of course, to views of redemption that vary widely from what historic Christianity has long understood to be God’s offer. If man’s entire moral and spiritual problem is simply one of relation, then what is needed is really a revision of man’s attitudes toward God, toward the self, and toward others.

Some will hold that this is what “having the mind of Christ” is all about, suggesting that this is a phenomenon that springs rather naturally from a change of attitude toward God. But Christian realism seems to suggest that the bent toward self-will and self-assertion is far too strong to permit this.

Implied in the sinful distortion of human nature is the need for something greatly more than a purely relational atonement. It is not surprising that with a rejection of substantiality in humanity there has come a spate of subjectivistic views of Christ’s atoning deed. Abelard’s “moral influence” theory has been revived in terms of “republication” and the “dramatic” theory.

Here the accent has fallen, not upon what our Lord has done in “being made sin for us” and in bearing the curse of sin, but upon Christ’s dying as an expression of what has always been true, that God is always disposed to accept man, to “forgive and forget.” Little is heard of Jesus Christ’s dying a substitutionary death, by which God might consistently be both “just, and the justifier.”

Granted that there are deep mysteries in the dying of our Lord. But it belongs to the very heart of the Evangel that God, in the cross, cleared a path to himself, removing thereby real and formidable obstacles to fellowship, obstacles that are rooted much more deeply than in the attitudes of sinful men and women. It seems much more in keeping with such a statement as “For our sake he [the Father] made him [the Son] to be sin who knew no sin” to say that Christ’s dying had for its purpose the removal of something that stood between men and God, an out-of-jointness in the moral structure of the universe.

Relationalism has permeated the understanding of the moral life of man. In place of strong confidence in the objective and intrinsic quality of the Christian moral imperative, relationalists tend to hold that acts are neither good nor evil in themselves but only in relation to the persons performing them. This means that moral values inhere, not in acts or things, but in the way persons evaluate them. This is, of course, a nominalist view that rejects structure and system. Even love is not regarded as having constant content.

Praising 75

When the Southern Baptists introduce a new hymnbook they do it in a big way. To herald the release of the denomination’s new Baptist Hymnal (replacing a 1956 edition), church leaders have booked Nashville’s 11,000-seat Municipal Auditorium for four nights and a half-dozen church and college auditoriums for morning and afternoon segments March 10–13.

The event, billed as PraiSing 75, will feature some 10,000 members of choirs and musical groups from across the country, name performers, and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra in programs ranging from concerto to country. Concurrently, beginning early the third afternoon, the hymnal will be sung through from cover to cover (512 hymns) in a round-the-clock thirty-hour marathon, with visiting choirs and other groups serving as leads in half-hour shifts at the denomination’s headquarters auditorium.

Officials say they made an interesting discovery in getting ready for PraiSing 75: the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board, publisher of the hymnal, is the largest music publisher in the land.

BOB BELL, JR.

Mexico: Property Problems

Evangelicals in Mexico are among those concerned about a new law that would permit confiscation of private property that is used for religious services.

Since the Mexican Revolution, all church property has legally belonged to the government. This measure was aimed primarily at the Roman Catholic Church, which before the revolution owned between one-third and one-half of all the arable land in the country. In practice, government ownership of church property has worked reasonably well. Each church must buy its own property, then donate it to the government. The government in turn permits the church to use the property, including any buildings on it. But the possibility exists for the government to deny use of a building by the group that built or bought it in favor of another or to decree its use for non-religious purposes.

The new law, which could seriously affect new churches that still meet in borrowed or rented facilities, and could even threaten home Bible-study groups, is seen by some observers as an attempt to control religious life. Mexico permits a wide range of religious freedom. Some restrictions do exist in areas like broadcasting, however, and foreigners are prohibited from serving as pastors.

STEPHEN R. SYWULKA

A Proposal

Committees of five Presbyterian and Reformed denominations with a combined membership of some 425,000 have proposed the formation of a cooperative and “advisory” alliance to be known as the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council. The five denominations are the Christian Reformed Church, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Evangelical Synod), and the Reformed Presbyterian Church in North America. Approval of the joint proposal by the major assemblies of the churches could be completed by September. Membership would be based on “full commitment both to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the infallible Word of God and to their teachings as set forth in the [historic Reformed statements of faith].”

On Top

Pastor George Prentice of the First Church of the Nazarene in Joplin, Missouri, promised months ago he would “preach from the roof top” if attendance at Sunday school ever reached 200. It finally happened: attendance hit the 201 mark. On the next Sunday Prentice climbed onto the roof of the church with a microphone and preached to his parishioners, seated on chairs on the parking lot.

Deported

Lazlo Toth, a Hungarian-born geologist from Australia who vandalized Michelangelo’s Pieta in St. Peter’s Basilica two years ago, was recently released from a mental institution in Italy and deported to Australia.

Tooling Up

The Good News Movement, an organization of evangelicals within the United Methodist Church, is tooling up for the denomination’s General Conference in Portland, Oregon, next year. The Good News board members at their annual meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida, last month passed a resolution opposing “ordination of those who practice hom*osexuality and their employment in positions of responsibility in the United Methodist Church. We do not reject persons, but we do reject a lifestyle which is clearly condemned in the Bible.” (Several groups earlier said they intend to lobby for a more liberal attitude toward hom*osexuals by the denomination, including the right of hom*osexuals to be ordained.)

The board also voted to publish confirmation-membership materials “in the Wesleyan tradition of Scriptural Christianity” after denominational officials turned down an appeal for an alternative confirmation study book.

Pastor Paul Morell of the 3,400-member Tyler Street United Methodist Church in Dallas was elected to a second term as chairman of the group. Associate Professor Paul A. Mickey of Duke University Divinity School was elected first vice chairman.

The board, made up of twenty-four pastors and laypersons from fifteen states, discussed ways of injecting evangelical influence into the denomination’s 1976 conference. It was reported that work is underway concerning petitions and the development of “a cadre of supporters, both on and off” the floor.

In his keynote address, Chairman Morell observed that “we are still dismissed as fundamentalists—which we are not. Holiness groups are now joined by a beautiful and large group of charismatic United Methodists in receiving uncharitable reception in our church circles. Pluralism, to date, has been further justification for a shift to the left and for radical social agitation, rather than charitable embracing of all who desire to serve Christ earnestly.”

Virginia pastor R. Fletcher Hardy, III, chairman of the group’s Task Force on Evangelical Renewal Groups, reported the existence of fifty Good News-aligned groups, with steady growth.

Lamenting A Misconception

Canadian Protestant leaders of twelve denominations this month publicly demanded in a signed statement that Canadian hospitals adhere strictly to federal abortion legislation. They expressed dismay at the way the law is being distorted to ensure a virtual abortion-on-demand policy. They also lamented “the misconception that the anti-abortion position is merely a sectarian stance of the Roman Catholic Church. The Protestant community also views abortion as a moral issue, not just a medical one.”

In 1969 the government eased the Criminal Code to permit therapeutic abortion at the discretion of three-member hospital committees of doctors “where the continuation of the pregnancy … would be likely to endanger [the woman’s] life or health.” Debate over interpretation of the law has raged ever since. Justice Minister Otto Lang, a Catholic, said he intends to enforce a strict view, evoking criticism from those favoring a liberal policy. Some critics accuse him of bias based on his Catholic faith. That charge sparked the reaction by the Protestant leaders.

Those endorsing the statement acknowledged that they were not officially representing their denominations but rather were speaking for “a growing body of anti-abortion sentiment” within their churches.

The group included Editor A. C. Forrest of the United Church Observer; Editor J. R. Armstrong of the Evangelical Baptist; Christian and Missionary Alliance executive Melvin P. Sylvester; Bishop Donald N. Bastian of the Free Methodist Church in Canada; Executive Secretary John M. Zimmerman of the Lutheran Church in America (Canada Section); General Superintendent Robert W. Taitinger of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada; and President Victor Adrian of the Ontario Bible College (Mennonite Brethren).

Grapes: The Hidden Cost

The consumer boycott of California table grapes and head lettuce organized by the United Farm Workers (UFW), led by Cesar Chavez, has been escalating in Canada. Church and synagogue groups are in the forefront of the campaign. Prayer vigils have been held in a number of supermarkets, several clergy have been charged with petty trespass, and eighteen clergymen and nuns were forcibly evicted during a recent sit-in at the head office of Dominion Stores in Toronto.

Both T. E. Floyd Honey, general secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches, and priest Brad Massman, director of the Toronto Catholic social-action unit, are among the leaders.

Reaction has been building up. Last month Ernest Howse, former moderator of the United Church of Canada’s general council, criticized the campaign as ill-advised, irrational, and likely to do more harm than good. “Nowhere,” said Howse, “was it made clear that the migrant workers of California (among the most highly paid in the world) were so excessively oppressed that their wrongs laid on us a more immediate obligation than those of other such workers elsewhere—including those much nearer home.”

He lamented the “destruction” of perishable food, but Honey argued that grapes were a luxury food and that the boycott in no way added to the world’s hunger problems.

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

During a recent week of “revival” meetings at the seventy-five-member Southwest United Pentecostal Church in the Houston suburb of Missouri City, two policemen entered the church and asked the congregation to be quieter. They said the church’s next-door neighbor, Wayne Cousins, was complaining about loud noise. Legal charges would be filed, they warned, if the singing, shouting, and instrumental music were not muted somewhat.

The warning apparently went unheeded. A complaint was filed the next night, a jury of six found the congregation guilty of disorderly conduct, and municipal judge Richard A. Mayhan levied a $50 fine.

Pastor Edward A. Fruge, claiming the meeting was “a regular Pentecostal service,” says the church will appeal. A new soundproof building will be constructed later this year, he adds.

Union Blues

Union Seminary in New York has fallen on hard times. Faced with a deficit of more than $750,000 for the next academic year, Union’s directors approved cuts of nearly $600,000 in programs, services, and personnel, reducing the budget to $3.8 million.

Alumni, placement, development, and communications offices will be eliminated as separate operations, secretarial and maintenance costs trimmed, the library staff reduced, an audio-visuals library phased out, the Union Quarterly-Review terminated, and funds for faculty research and travel cut. Also, the faculty of the practical field will be reduced by six full-time persons through non-replacement of professors who have recently left or will soon retire.

Some bitterness over the faculty cutbacks surfaced in Union circles following the disclosure of the financial settlement made with Episcopal bishop J. Brook Mosley, whom the directors fired as president last year. The amount, reportedly $103,000, is to be paid over a number of years, and it includes housing, pension, and insurance allowances as well as cash severance.

Tuition is up (about $2,000 per year), but student enrollment is about 400, down from 550 in 1971. Also down is the value of the school’s investment portfolio, estimated to have dropped from $30 million to $22 million last year.

Rated

In a recently published Columbia University survey, eighteen categories of professional schools—including schools of theology—were rated according to reputation and professional accomplishments by deans in each area of study. Admittedly based “merely on the opinions of these experts” (the deans) and on factors difficult to measure, the survey ranked the theological schools in the following order:

1. Harvard Divinity School

2. Yale Divinity School

3. University of Chicago Divinity School

4. Princeton Seminary

5. Union Seminary (New York)

6 School of Theology, Claremont, California; Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta; and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas

9. Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley

10. Union Seminary (Richmond, Virginia)

11. Vanderbilt Divinity School

12. Duke Divinity School.

Aglow

Growing quietly at the rate of a new chartered chapter a day is Women’s Aglow Fellowship, a charismatic and interdenominational organization for Christian women founded in 1967 and headquartered in Seattle. The fellowship, with more than 300 chapters in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Holland, Nigeria, and New Zealand, is involved in such activities as ministries to prison inmates and their families, home Bible-study groups, evangelistic luncheons, and spiritual-life retreats for women and married couples. Aglow (P.O. Box 55089, Seattle 98155), the fellowship’s quarterly magazine, has a circulation of more than 100,000. President Margaret Moody is a former missionary to Africa and the wife of an ordained Baptist minister in Seattle.

Religion In Transit

Another church has found that the Parable of the Talents works. Pastor Ben Hodder of the Kew Beach United Church in Toronto, which has 700 active members, borrowed $3,000 from a bank and handed out 550 envelopes containing $5 bills to his congregation. The members used the money to finance money-making projects, from concerts and dinners to producing goods for sale. Sixty days later the envelopes were returned, stuffed with nearly $12,000. A chunk of the “profits” will be given to hunger relief. The rest will augment the church budget.

United Methodists gave a record $55.4 million for denominational causes in 1974, a 12 per cent increase over 1973. In addition, more than $900 million was given for local and regional work.

Pastor J. Daniel Joyce of Houston’s Bethany Christian Church, a past president of the world organization of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), says his denomination is becoming more conservative in its theology and is reemphasizing personal dimensions of faith. Between 5 and 10 per cent of all Disciples are now neo-Pentecostals, he estimates.

Mrs. William Matz, wife of the dean of Moravian Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was appointed to a part-time pastoral position at Central Moravian Church in Bethlehem. She is the first woman seminary graduate ordained within the Moravian Church in America (which has 57,000 members in two regional provinces). A Wisconsin church also has a woman on the pastoral staff, but she was ordained by the United Church of Christ.

Eight of the eleven denominations belonging to the Canadian Council of Churches have gone on record against capital punishment for any crime. There have been no executions in Canada since 1962, and the country is in its second five-year moratorium. The Greek Orthodox Church, Armenian Orthodox Church, and Salvation Army have not taken a stand.

President Eugene Carson Blake of Bread for the World, an ecumenical relief organization, appealed to the White House for an immediate commitment of four million additional tons of grain to feed the starving. “Let’s get the wheat that was destined for the Soviet Union and China to Bangladesh or India instead,” urged Blake.

About 900,000 legal abortions were performed in the United States during 1974, according to Planned Parenthood estimates. About 750,000 were reported in 1973.

Prominent Methodist clergyman Franklin H. Littell, a Temple University professor of religion known for his liberal views, is urging the United States to get out of the United Nations, a view liberals condemned as irresponsible when conservatives were advocating it. Littell says the U. N. treatment of Israel prompted his call.

American moviegoers spent a record $1.9 billion at the box office last year, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. The Sting brought in $68 million, and The Exorcist accounted for $66 million.

Americans aged 65 and over increased by 486,000 last year (to 21.8 million), and youngsters under 5 dropped by 404,000.

“I think marriage should be on the basis of a renewable contract of three to five years.” The speaker? Charles Templeton, a former Canadian evangelist and Youth for Christ leader who drifted away from orthodoxy. He is separated from his second wife.

Nearly $24,000 for famine relief in Africa has come in as a result of an appeal to teen-agers by Youth for Christ’s Campus Life magazine. Leaders had expected the appeal, made in cooperation with Medical Assistance Programs of Wheaton, Illinois, to net less than $7,000, said Editor Philip Yancey.

Three national religious magazines announced 20 per cent reductions in advertising rates for automobile companies as a means of expressing appreciation to the industry for offering temporary rebates for new-car purchases. Until now, however, the Catholic Digest, the Lutheran (Lutheran Church in America), and A.D. (United Church of Christ-United Presbyterian) have not carried any auto ads at all.

AUTO RECALL

Late in November Rabbi Jacob Katz, 61, an administrative officer of an Orthodox Jewish seminary in Lake-wood, New Jersey, was fatally injured when a car struck him as he and a group of students were walking back from an evening sabbath service at a nearby synagogue. The driver stopped and talked with police but sped away after telling them he was going back to his car to get his registration.

When the officers could not recall what the car looked like or its license number, the police department hired a hypnotist. Under hypnosis, one of the policemen gave a description of the late-model Cadillac and enough of the license number to lead to the arrest recently of local shoe salesman Samuel Cohen.

Personalia

James McCracken, former director of Church World Service (the overseas relief arm of the National Council of Churches), was appointed executive director of Coordination in Development (CODEL), an ecumenical agency providing aid and guidance to people in developing nations.

Controversial Yale University chaplain William Sloane Coffin, Jr., 51, says he will resign next year to seek new challenges. Coffin, a former Central Intelligence Agency employee who gained national attention in the civil-rights and anti-war movements, has been at Yale for seventeen years.

Navy chaplain Andrew Jensen, the American Baptist clergyman who was court-martialed three years ago in Florida and found not guilty of seducing two officers’ wives in motel rooms, was promoted to captain. Jensen, the first military chaplain in history to be court-martialed, said the promotion was a way of expressing justice. He had waged an unpopular campaign to ban go-go girls from a Florida base when the morals accusations against him, later proven false, were made.

Resigned: A. Ray Stanford, 57, as president of the 1,400-student Florida Bible College, after confessing marital infidelity. Son Lee succeeds him as president and as pastor of the 2,000-member Florida Bible Church in Hollywood, Florida.

New Testament professor Simon J. Kistemaker of Reformed Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, was elected vice-president of the Evangelical Theological Society at its recent national convention in Dallas. The vice-president normally succeeds to the presidency, a post now held by Bruce Waltke of Dallas Seminary.

World Scene

Two recent evangelistic campaigns conducted by the Sudan Interior Mission-related Evangelical Churches of West Africa in predominantly Islamic cities in Nigeria met with “remarkable” response, according to the SIM. In Sokoto, nearly 800 made professions of faith in Christ, and thousands attended meetings in Ilorin. ECWA evangelist Moses Ariye was the main speaker.

Inflation is bringing the Church of England to the “brink of crisis,” according to a London Times story. The report says studies are being made to determine what programs can be shelved in order to cut or eliminate salaries of headquarters personnel. Some parsonages may be sold to bolster sagging investments. Meanwhile, says the story, many pastoral families stay afloat only because of the earnings of the wives.

A proposal to pay a salary of $17,220 to the new appointments secretary to the archbishops of Canterbury and York raised a storm of protest in the Church of England. It was pointed out that the average diocesan bishop’s salary is only $9,350, and that the new secretary will be paid more than the archbishop of York himself (he gets $16,585) and not much less than the archbishop of Canterbury ($20,660).

President Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire has threatened to close down all Catholic churches in the country if the clergy persists in “commenting” on Zairean politics and opposing government policies. Of Zaire’s 23.8 million inhabitants, an estimated 9.6 million are Catholics.

The Interior Ministry of Spain has fined four Catholic priests a total of $37,700 for speaking out in their churches about recent labor strife. The priests were being held in a prison hospital.

The 100,000-member Methodist Church in the Ivory Coast, at its annual assembly, referred the issue of missionary moratorium to a study committee, but not before reaffirming the unity and universality of the Church and affirming its ties with its African partners. The denomination has twenty-four pastors and 1,200 lay preachers.

Emmanuel Abraham, 61, president of the 210,000-member Evangelical (Lutheran) Church Mekane Yesus in Ethiopia and minister of mines in the government of deposed emperor Haile Selassie, was released after eight months in prison.

Times and conditions are increasingly difficult in South Viet Nam, but the Christian community continues to grow. Christians in a 100,000-resident refugee settlement in the Da Nang area now number about 4,000, up from 200 a short time ago, say mission workers.

About 1,000 Quechua mountain Indians attended a recent Bible conference in northern Ecuador. The number of persons at the conference, organized by the Quechuas themselves, indicates the scope of the spiritual movement that began among the Indians several years ago, say missionaries.

In a joint conference in Cairo, Islamic and church leaders in the Middle East condemned Israel’s alleged policy of changing the architectural features of Jerusalem, called for Israel’s expulsion from the United Nations, asked the United States to suspend aid to Israel, and denounced the recent conviction and imprisonment of Melkite Catholic archbishop Hilarion Capucci on charges of smuggling weapons.

After fifteen years of work, Wycliffe Bible translators Richard and Aretta Loving have completed and published the New Testament in Awa, a language spoken by 1,500 people in eastern Papua New Guinea. This project is one of the 105 under way in the country; about 400 languages there are still without translations of the Scriptures.

With a record pay rise of 25 per cent for its ministers, the Church of Scotland minimum stipend this year will top the $5,500 mark, a 250 per cent increase since 1965.

Despite opposition by anti-union church members, agreement was reached on the formation of a United Theological College in Sydney, Australia, involving Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians who will become part of the Uniting Church in Australia when it is launched in June, 1976. A large minority of Presbyterians opposed to the merger plan to form a continuing Presbyterian church.

DEATHS

SHELDON BARD, 64, principal of the French-language Bethel Bible Institute in Lennoxville, Quebec, which trains pastors for work in evangelical Baptist and Plymouth Brethren churches in French Canada; in a Quebec highway accident.

HAROLD A. BOSLEY, 67, prominent United Methodist clergyman, retired pastor of Christ Church in New York, and a founder of Conscience Foundation, an organization formed in 1966 to help Soviet Jews; in Beach Haven Terrace, New Jersey, of a heart attack.

D. WILLIA CAFFRAY, 95, retired United Methodist preacher and evangelist who in 1920 became the first woman to be licensed to preach by the Methodist Church; in Oskaloosa, Iowa.

JOHN T. MCNEILL, 89, ordained Canadian Presbyterian instrumental in the formation of the United Church of Canada, and prominent church historian who taught at Union Seminary in New York and at the University of Chicago Divinity School; in Chicago.

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Edward E. Plowman

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Soviet Baptist leader Georgi P. Vins, 46, was sentenced last month during a closed trial in Kiev, Ukraine, to five years in prison and five years of exile, He was found guilty of using religion to cloak illegal activities. The charges lodged against him (see December 20, 1974, issue, page 26) were recognized by church leaders around the world to be the kind Soviet authorities have used repeatedly to harass believers.

News of the verdict reached the West through Andrei D. Sakharov, the dissident Soviet physicist who has been speaking out about violations of human rights in his land. Vins was not represented by a lawyer at the five-day trial, said Sakharov. The clergyman reportedly rejected a court-appointed attorney on the grounds that an atheist was not qualified to handle a case involving religious matters.

Earlier, Sakharov and several Soviet Christians had written to the World Council of Churches on Vins’s behalf, requesting a Christian lawyer from the West to represent him. WCC president Philip A. Potter wrote to Soviet authorities, asking for the text of the indictment against Vins and for provision of a Christian attorney to represent him. The Soviets did not reply to Potter’s letter. On January 30 Potter and the WCC’s top officers issued a statement urging the Soviet government to “contribute toward international understanding” by permitting a WCC legal observer to attend the trial. Again, the Soviets did not respond. It was already too late: Vins was convicted and sentenced the next day.

It is believed to be the first time the WCC has publicly confronted the Kremlin in a case involving persecution of Baptist leaders. “We have reason to believe … that the charges against Mr. Vins are made primarily because of his religious convictions and activities,” the statement asserted. The leaders said their appeal was made “in view of the commitment of the World Council of Churches and its member churches to the fundamental right of people to live according to their own chosen religious convictions.”

Six prominent Norwegians, including three members of Parliament and a judge accredited to represent the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, applied for permission to attend the trial. The Soviet embassy, however, returned their visa applications without comment. This drew a stern protest from Bishop Monrad Norderval of the Church of Norway (Lutheran), chairman of the denomination’s mission work in eastern Europe, who vowed to continue to fight for Vins’s freedom.

Appeals came from many other people. Directors of the New York-based Research Center for Religious and Human Rights in Closed Societies, including several denominational heads, asked for Vins’s release. Former U. S. Senator Harold Hughes, who last year explained his faith in Christ to four United Nations ambassadors from the U. S. S. R., asked Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to look into the matter. Church, high school, and college groups engaged in letter-writing campaigns.

The Academy of Parish Clergy, an alliance of 1,100 Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish clergy, condemned the sentencing. The Academy is led by Illinois pastor F. Dean Lueking, a leader of the moderate-liberal forces in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

“Let the entire world know that there is no religious freedom under Communism,” declared the Illinois-based All-Ukrainian Evangelical Baptist Fellowship.

“The repression of Baptists in the Soviet Union is no less outrageous than the denial of religious freedom to Jews in the Soviet Union,” said the Synagogue Council of America.

Vins was arrested last March and held incommunicado ever since. Reportedly being held in a hospital in poor health, partly the result of a previous three-year prison term, Vins is executive secretary of the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (CCECB), the ten-year-old breakaway Baptist organization the government refuses to recognize.

The chairman of the CCECB is Genady Kruchkov, father of nine school-age children. He has been in hiding since his release from prison in 1969. His children have not seen him since then, and his wife Lydia sees him only occasionally. Lydia in a recent letter tells how her family discovered a listening device in a newly replaced electric meter inside their home. The transmitter was American-made, she notes. The police warned her not to tell anyone about the bug, and they hassled family members, but she alerted other Christian leaders, who presumably embarked on search missions around their own homes. Lydia says that Vins was arrested after visiting a home where the electric meter had just been changed. He was hiding from authorities at the time.

Kruchkov and Vins were among leaders who in 1961 began working for reform within the All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists (AUCECB). The reform movement led to the founding of the CCECB in 1965.

In December, the AUCECB held its forty-first congress in Moscow, a conference that is convened every five years. Nearly 500 delegates attended, along with 150 observers, including sixteen foreign guests (among them American Robert S. Denny, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance). AUCECB head Alexei Bichkov read a sixty-seven-page report. Among subjects discussed were the charismatic movement, the possible service of women as pastors (rejected), excommunication (some 4,000 have been excluded from the churches in the last five years), Bibles and other Christian literature, theological education (200 students completed two-year Bible correspondence courses), and relationships with the CCECB.

Concern was expressed over the bitter attitude of some CCECB leaders toward the AUCECB. It was reported that about 3,500 CCECB members had returned to AUCECB churches in the five-year period, with some drifting back to the CCECB. The AUCECB listed 535,000 members and more than 12,000 baptisms in the five years. (There are no firm estimates of CCECB membership: 100,000 is the figure mentioned most.) There are registered (government-recognized) and unregistered congregations in both bodies.

Clergyman Andre Klimenko was elected president of the AUCECB, succeeding Ilja Ivanov.

Following the congress an international delegation of Baptist leaders (including Denny) met for more than two hours with government leaders. They discussed church-state matters, especially the situation regarding the CCECB. The visitors inquired about believers in jail, and they asked for clemency for Vins and others. A government spokesman said that the AUCECB had made such a request last fall on behalf of 180 imprisoned dissidents and that sixty of these had been released.

Current reports reaching the West, however, indicate that arrests and other harassment of CCECB members are still occurring. The Soviet Union has not changed its policy toward believers, insist critics, and ailing Georgi Vins is Exhibit A.

Moon’S Marriages

More than 1,600 couples were wed this month in a mass ceremony in Seoul, Korea, presided over by Korean cultist Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church. Marriage has special religious significance for members of the sect, and Moon has a necessary role in approving—and even selecting—the partners, who must serve the church for three years before becoming eligible for the rite.

Many of the couples did not know each other before the week of the wedding. As a matter of discipline, they are required to wait for forty days after the ceremony before consumating their marriages. Core workers are expected to work as missionaries for the first three years of their marriage, separated from their mates.

A number of Japanese parents formed a group to protest the mass wedding, but to little avail. An estimated 500 Japanese couples took part. (The Moon followers, who believe a Korean Christ will soon appear on the scene to finish the work of salvation, have made Japan a special target of their evangelistic endeavors this month.)

Meanwhile, Moon’s church has been buying up hundreds of acres—about $5 million worth so far—near Tarrytown, New York, apparently to build a major center or university.

Jungle Jingling

Christians in Liberia’s jungle region recently held their first “faith promise” missionary conference. More than 700 believers gathered in Tournata Village for the eight-day conference. Evangelism minister Elmer McVety of Toronto’s Peoples Church was the main speaker.

The total faith-promise (pledges) offering of $8,721.51 hardly seems comparable to the $711,000 that was pledged by The Peoples Church in Canada at its 1974 missionary conference. But McVety points out that the average yearly income in the jungle is $125.

The Association of Independent Churches of Africa, headed by Liberian Augustus Marwieh, will use the funds for missionary outreach to unevangelized tribes. The Liberian churches plan to make the “faith promise” offering an annual event.

LESLIE K. TARR

Scientology: No Case

The Church of Scientology of Toronto withdrew libel suits against two public library boards in southern Ontario. The cult had charged that the Hamilton and Etobico*ke libraries were circulating defamatory books about it. Specifically mentioned were Scientology—The Now Religion by George Malko, The Mind Benders by Cyril Vosper, Inside Scientology by Robert Kaufman, and Scandal of Scientology by Paulette Cooper. In a letter to the executive director of the Canadian Library Association, Philip McAinly, a Scientology minister, wrote: “we have decided that libraries should be free to circulate whatever literature they please, providing all viewpoints on the subject are presented.”

The Canadian Library Association had urged libraries to keep the books on shelves despite threats of legal action by the Scientologists. It had underscored its support by advancing $1,000 to help the libraries with legal fees.

Earlier, a Missouri court threw out a million-dollar Church of Scientology suit against the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and a team of reporters for a series of articles on Scientology last year.

Cops And Krishna

Members of the Krishna Consciousness sect, known for their “hare Krishna” chants, orange robes, and shaved heads, are in trouble in West Germany, according to German news sources. Temple president Peter Kaufman, 24, and vice-president Stephen Kress, 27, were arrested at their castle retreat in the Taunus mountain region. They were apprehended along with nearly eighty other members in the castle. Police say they found a number of weapons and about $25,000 in cash.

Kaufman was charged with fraudulent begging and violations of the gun law. Kress was also accused of fraudulent begging and of kidnapping his two-year-old daughter from her legal guardian, possibly smuggling her into a foreign country.

Police officials claim records found in the castle showed the group had an income of some $90,000 per month. Of that, about $2,000 monthly went to sect headquarters in Bombay, India, and more than $1,000 went toward rental of the castle. The average daily income from begging and peddling (books, incense, tape recordings, and the like) was approximately $175 per person, say the police.

WILLIAM SHUSTER

Decline In France

All is not well with the Catholic Church in France. While 90 per cent of the French are baptized Catholics, polls show only 20 per cent or so attend mass weekly (50 per cent of American Catholics do so). The number of priests has declined from 41,000 in 1965 to 37,000 this year, and it is expected to slump below 32,000 next year.

REPORTING FOR DUTY—AS ALWAYS

Retired Salvation Army major John Jay Shearer of suburban Atlanta celebrated his 104th birthday a few weeks ago, and he’s still going strong. He told Atlanta Constitution reporter Alice Murray he “got saved” in a Salvation Army meeting in Chicago in 1894 at the age of 23, joined up two years later, and has been evangelizing for the Army ever since.

“You can’t get into heaven unless you have been born again. [Jesus] is coming again, and he’s coming soon,” the feisty, blue-eyed patriarch tells almost everybody he meets.

At one time Shearer served as aide and barber for General William Booth, who founded the Army in London in 1865. The general had long white hair and “a great white beard,” recalls Shearer.

A typical day for Shearer begins with breakfast at 5 A.M., a half-mile walk around the neighborhood, a long ride on an exercise bicycle, and a period of prayer and Scripture memorization.

White House Welcome

Thirty-five leaders of the National Council of Churches, representing all thirty-one member-denominations of the NCC, met with President Gerald R. Ford for about an hour following the evangelical-oriented National Prayer Breakfast on January 30. It was the first time in more than a decade that NCC leaders were welcomed at the White House, off-limits to main-line church leaders during the Johnson and Nixon administration because of NCC-led criticism of the Viet Nam war.

The meeting was in response to a telegram NCC general secretary Claire Randall sent Ford after his inauguration requesting that he meet with religious leaders, according to NCC press secretary Warren Day. A White House spokesman said other meetings were planned with Catholic leaders, Jewish officials, and heads of religious groups not included in the other gatherings.

Both Ms. Randall, the only woman in the delegation, and NCC president W. Sterling Cary commented favorably on the meeting, which was closed to the press. They and others indicated the meeting’s greatest value lay in the channels of communication it opened. The NCC leaders discussed their concerns in the areas of human rights, the world food crisis, and the economic and energy situations. Questions concerning Southeast Asia were not raised. At one point Ford and the churchmen exchanged views on national priorities. Ford said he would designate aide Ted Marrs to act as his personal liaison with the NCC for ongoing matters. Be specific when raising issues, he urged.

Cary thanked the President for his “openness” and for his “willingness to enter into dialogue with those he didn’t necessarily agree with.” He closed the session with a prayer for guidance for the President, “who does not have the luxury of simplistic solutions,” and for a “day of healing, not only for our land but for the world.”

Leon The Lobbyist

Black Baptist clergyman Leon H. Sullivan of Philadelphia, founder of Opportunities Industrialization Centers (OIC), a self-help training program, did some public lobbying with President Ford this month. Ford spoke at a luncheon meeting of some 1,500 delegates, dignitaries, and business leaders at the OIC’s annual convention in Atlanta this month, the largest black audience Ford has addressed to date (black mayors and African ambassadors were among those attending). During introductory remarks, Sullivan told the President that OIC, which has 117 chapters in forty-seven states and four African nations, had already trained 200,000 people.

“Strengthen the roots and you strengthen the tree,” boomed Sullivan. “We’re going to help you, Mr. President. Now, you help us get that $75 million.” He was referring to the amount he wants the government to give OIC for expansion to 200 more cities and other countries and to train 75,000 new workers.

Ford good-naturedly acknowledged Sullivan’s pitch and his efforts on behalf of the unemployed and unskilled. Then he launched into a standard speech on energy proposals, which got only a cool reception from the audience.

Still lobbying, Sullivan presented the OIC’s Excellence in Government award to Donald Rumsfeld, Ford’s chief of staff. “We know you as a friend of OIC,” said the smiling Sullivan.

Later in the day Sullivan gave the OIC’s state-government award to Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama. Black mayor John Ford of Tuskegee introduced Wallace, saying, “My governor has been fair and judicious to all Alabamans—rich or poor, black or white.” Wallace in his acceptance speech characterized Sullivan as a modern Booker T. Washington. He described himself as a man “with one foot in the old South and one foot in the new South.” Blacks and whites must work together, he declared.

Allied For Aid

Ontario private schools took a step closer to obtaining government aid by forming an association of “alternative” and independent schools in Toronto. It includes schools run on a religious, linguistic, or private basis for which government funding is not provided.

One of the organizers is John Olthuis, a Toronto lawyer who represents the Ontario Alliance of Christian Schools. Some 10,000 of the province’s 90,000 private-school students attend Alliance schools.

An initial goal of the new group, says Olthuis, is to get government approval for parents of private-school students to direct a portion of their taxes to the school of their choice. The government has turned a deaf ear so far.

Catholic schools by virtue of constitutional guarantees get government aid. This arrangement is an outgrowth of Canada’s French (Catholic)-English (Protestant) cultural division. Schools for the latter became the public (secular) system; those of the former retained their link to the Catholic Church. Organizers of the new association hope to convince government officials that the system of private schools is just as valid a recipient of aid as the Catholic system.

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Paul As Villain

The Jesus Party, by Hugh J. Schonfield (Macmillan, 1974, 320 pp., $7.95), and The Jesus Establishment, by Johannes Lehmann (Doubleday, 1974, 212 pp., $5.95), are reviewed by Paul L. Maier, professor of ancient history, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Both of these titles are rewritings of early Christian history based on the now common (but unproven) thesis that Paul and the gospel writers grossly warped Jesus’ message and falsified facts about his life into the caricature of it believed by later Christians. Neither book uncovers any especially new evidence to support such contentions, despite the sensational claim made on the jacket of The Jesus Party: “This revolutionary view overturns nearly two thousand years of Christian tradition.…” No, it doesn’t.

Dr. Hugh Schonfield, the English scholar-popularist, is well known for The Passover Plot and its follow-up, Those Incredible Christians. For all its melodramatic restyling of Holy Week, The Passover Plot is regarded by most scholars, whether Jewish, Christian, or neither, as an embarrassment to the cause of serious scholarship. Short on evidence but long on imagination and the “thesis-becomes-fact-a-chapter-later” ploy, the work is taken seriously today only by extreme biblical revisionists or by the uninformed.

But in The Jesus Party Schonfield has somewhat mended his academic manners, and his position now is not quite so irresponsible as that of a few of his Jewish co-religionists who are justifiably tired of being branded as “deicides” because of Good Friday and have prepared their literary replies in various ways. For example, Schonfield will have nothing of the too drastic rewriting of history attempted in The Trial and Death of Jesus (Harper & Row, 1971) by Israel’s Justice Haim Cohn, who would have Annas and Caiaphas as Jesus’ “dear friends” rather than antagonists. On the contrary, writes Schonfield, “the behavior of the chief priests in the first century A. D. had become a scandal, as all the sources agree, including Josephus and the Talmud.” He correctly points out that Jesus had a great number of Jewish followers who supported him also after Holy Week, though by some magic he tries to make the claque who shouted for Jesus’ death before Pilate into “largely Gentile servants and henchmen of the chief priests.” Henchmen of the priests, certainly, but where is his evidence for “largely Gentile”?

It is the earliest Jewish-Christian group in particular that Schonfield traces in this book. Their chief was Jacob (James), the younger brother of Jesus, and many of these true partisans of his cause remained orthodox Jews, indeed, revolutionary nationalists, Schonfield claims, until some of the moderates moved from Jerusalem to northeastern Palestine. In variously named groups—Nazoreans, Ebionites, Mandaeans—these Jewish followers far more accurately reflected Jesus’ teachings than did that transformer-of-the-message, Paul of Tarsus. The gospel writers followed Paul’s style in relating to the Gentile world, Schonfield asserts, and in order to make their message palatable to a victorious, Gentile Rome, “the Jews” became the ethnic “fall guys” for the death of Jesus and are falsely portrayed as hostile to the early Church.

The last argument, of course, has become something of a standard in all these books, but it can easily be disproven (See my “Who Was Responsible For the Trial and Death of Jesus?,” CHRISTIANITY TODAY, April 12, 1974.) There is, however, no question that large numbers of Jews did indeed support Jesus, also after Holy Week, and so anti-Semitism was a particularly stupid and tragic sin in church history.

Some of Schonfield’s touches are accurate enough. He correctly points out that Jesus was indicted before Pilate at the Palace of Herod in west Jerusalem, not at the Tower Antonia shown to all tourists today. This is demonstrably true. He also seems to accept large sections of the book of Acts as essentially factual.

He errs, however, in whipping several tired hobby horses too furiously in this book. He identifies the Ophel, a mound southeast of today’s Jerusalem, as the place of the Last Supper and headquarters for early Christianity—without any scrap of supporting evidence that I can find in his text, but for the probable purpose of forging a link with the revolutionary Zealot party, quartered on the same hill. His chronology of the life of Jesus founders on an impossibly late dating for the Crucifixion, A.D. 36, which to my knowledge is shared by almost no one else on earth. He claims that John the Baptist was beheaded in A.D. 35, and that Jesus’ crucifixion could not occur until a year later. But this is a mistaken interpretation of the text of Josephus (Antiq., xviii, 5, 2), which introduces the execution of John purely as a flashback in later material.

Schonfield’s use of the sabbatical year to explain periodic Jewish restlessness and rioting, while something of a fresh argument, is simply overdone. From these pages, one would conclude that the Jews rioted only every seventh year, when they had copious free time on their hands. In fact, they always rebelled against specific provocations, whenever they occurred, regardless of any presumed sabbatical cycle.

The reader must also be careful of assumptions given out as general fact—an old Schonfield habit. For example, Luke did not write his gospel until A.D. 90–110, since he clearly read Josephus first, Schonfield argues. This crucial point is by no means proven, and we need not assume, just because Josephus is our only other surviving source on material included also in Luke, that Luke’s information could have come only via Josephus. In fact, there were dozens of other sources at the time, now lost to us (cf. Luke 1:1). Caveat lector!

Finally, Schonfield supplies quite a collection of fanciful, imaginative reconstructions-to-explain-away-the-miracle, a la The Passover Plot. The Pentecost experience was merely a case of the disciples’ getting headaches from a sirocco, a south wind that does weird things to people, while The Paraclete was only their Upper Room host, John. His and Peter’s healing of the victim at the Temple gate was the parading of a “fake cripple.” Peter’s release from prison (Acts 12) was merely the “Jewish underground” doing an effective job, while Paul suffered “a kind of epileptic fit” on the road to Damascus. And so it goes. In most cases the reconstructions are harder to believe than the miracles.

Johannes Lehmann is a news feature editor at one of Munich’s largest radio stations. He has studied much theology and wields a facile pen. Unfortunately, his homework was done with preconceived biases even stronger than Schonfield’s. A look at his bibliography (Allegro, Brandon, Davies, Schonfield, etc.) is sufficient to set the stage for what in the German original is better entitled, Jesus, Incorporated. A fitting subtitle would have been: “How the Church Wrecked Christ’s Message.” The bêtes noires are, again, Paul, and particularly Constantine, the first Christian emperor, who comes through with all the ugly hues first painted by Jacob Burckhardt in the nineteenth century.

Some of Lehmann’s criticisms all Christians can and do agree with, but such strictures were new only in the sixteenth century, when Martin Luther first voiced them. Lehman closes his book epigrammatically: “The man from Nazareth proclaimed the coming of the Kingdom of God; instead, there came the Church. For the sake of the man from Nazareth, we should bid the Church goodbye. It actually had no use for him.”

But in keelhauling the Christian Church, why is Lehmann so sepulchrally silent about the many areas where the Church, with all its faults, did affirm Jesus’ message in order to deliver hope to people in the adversity of the Dark Ages, where it also singlehandedly kept Western culture alive by millions of monkish man-hours spent in recopying manuscripts to save the classics from extinction? He dares argue, “I cannot recall a single case where the Church called for a boycott … to halt or denounce a war,” quite ignoring the fact that it was the Church that limited medieval warfare by studding the week with truce days, or acting as the Red Cross before the Red Cross where war broke out anyway, and later opening medical mission stations across the world. And where was higher education first fostered and the university born but in the Church? What, in fact, was and is the spiritual alma mater of Western civilization?

Must so many of today’s publications be sensationalizing screeds, aiming for sales, not scholarship? Whatever happened to balance in literature?

Three Looks At The Apocalypse

The Most Revealing Book of the Bible, by Vernard Eller (Eerdmans, 1974, 214 pp., $3.95 pb), A Personal Adventure in Prophecy, by Raymond Kincheloe (Tyndale, 1974, 214 pp., $4.95, $2.95 pb), and There’s a New World Coming, by Hal Lindsey (Vision and Harvest House, 1973, 308 pp., $4.95, $2.95 pb), are reviewed by Robert Mounce, dean of the College of Arts and Huma ities, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green.

Writing a joint review of three commentaries on Revelation is only slightly less difficult than converting a committed chiliast to the amillennial position! Eller, Kincheloe, and Lindsey are all premillennialists, but they by no means approach the Apocalypse in the same manner. Lindsey believes that prophecy, by its very nature, is relatively incomprehensible until the historical period arrives in which it is being fulfilled. For this reason men like Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin “knew little about prophecy,” although the contemporary interpreter finds that the meaning of the book “becomes clear with the unfolding of current world events”. Lindsey discovers such modern-day phenomena as the European Common Market, Red China, helicopters, the cobalt bomb, and Telstar all tucked away in this ancient book apparently addressed to seven first-century congregations in Asia. In fact, the very symbolism of the book results from the necessary skewing of first-century Greek so as to convey twentieth-century socio-political and technological developments. “After all, how could God transmit the thought of a nuclear catastrophe to someone living in the year A.D. 90!”

Eller, on the other hand, insists at the outset that “calendarizing” (fitting the events of John’s visions into the calendar of contemporary world affairs) undermines the very eschatological stance that Jesus and the New Testament intend to teach. He views the many popular attempts to locate the fulfillment of John’s prophecies in a particular point in history as trying to “pull an end run on God and find out what he expressly indicated is not to be found out.” Throughout the commentary Eller takes potshots at calendarizers. After explaining that Armageddon has no relationship to a place called Megiddo (it resulted from a copyist who mistakenly altered the Hebrew “mount of assembly”), he notes that the matter is not a crucial one “except for calendarizers who may want to sell seats and thus need to know just where the scene is to transpire.” In the one place where a temporal historical reference cannot be denied (17:9–17), Eller is forced to the rather bankrupt expediency of creating an interpolator of “calendarizing mentality” who thought he could improve on John’s work by adding a paragraph to show his readers that the beast was none other than the then current emperor Domitian.

It would be difficult to find two commentators further apart in basic approach than Eller and Lindsey. Yet they have one characteristic in common: both have a weakness for “cute” writing. Lindsey likes to call the rapture “the Great Snatch” and labels an excursus on the harlot in chapter 17, “A Short History of ‘Hookers.’” Believers who were fed to the lions in the cruel games of the Coliseum are “one-time guest stars,” and whoever thinks that hell is fun and games needs to reflect on whether he’s ever seen anyone playing poker in a blast furnace. First prize for inappropriate prose, however, goes to Eller. When the lamb appears in chapter five he writes:

So the main bout on the card of history (for the heavyweight championship of the entire created universe) is to be ‘Arnion vs. Therion’! Oh, no, no, no! God wouldn’t send that wee, little slaughtered lambkin up against a monster like that! It isn’t fair! He doesn’t have a chance [p. 79].

Or again, commenting on the slaughter in 14:14–20 he tells us:

Some clever head has figured out the amount of blood that could be squeezed from an average human being and divided that into the volume of a puddle two hundred miles in radius and as deep as a horse’s bridle. His conclusion is that, even if everyone went through the press of wrath, the cumulative population of the world still has not been nearly enough to provide the juice. It’s a bloody shame! [p. 144].

It’s a “bloody shame” that a scholar and writer of Eller’s ability can’t resist the temptation to play to the crowd. I believe that the seriousness of the issues under consideration in this last chapter of God’s written revelation to man demands a far less cavalier treatment.

With the book by Kincheloe we enter into a different atmosphere. His work is a modest although effective attempt to provide both a methodology for individual study of the Apocalypse and his own organized insights into its meaning. Each chapter is introduced by instructions designed to involve the reader in a personal and active relation with the text. The commentary is sprinkled with study projects, exegetical notes, and helpful summaries. Perhaps the only place that may surprise the dispensationally oriented reader is the interpretation of the contemporary period as the Philadelphian age with the Laodicean period arriving during the tribulation. He writes, “Current belief that we are in the Laodicean period is one of the greatest hindrances to revival today.”

One final word about Eller’s “universalism.” While stopping short of claiming that all men will finally be saved, he clearly holds to the possibility of repentance and redemption following their entrance into the lake of fire. This is what he understands as the “second resurrection.” A verse such as 14:11, which says that “the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever,” is explained as one of those places where John has overdone it and misrepresented the character of God.

The Anabaptist Contribution

The Theology of Anabaptism: An Interpretation, by Robert Friedmann (Herald, 183 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by William W. Wells, assistant professor of philosophy and religion, University of Hawaii, Hilo.

The Anabaptists have been variously labeled “the left wing Reformation,” a label that implies a basic continuity with the rest of the Reformation movement; “the radical Reformation,” a label that implies a lack of continuity; and “Schwärmer,” religious enthusiasts, a derisive label that implies that they were actually a deviant form of Christianity. Since the time of Luther, the third phrase has tended to receive the most attention, and, as a result, the history and thought of the Anabaptists have generally received little notice in studies of the Reformation.

But during the twentieth century, scholars have come to a greater appreciation of their contribution to the development of the church, and there has been a corresponding recognition that the attacks on the Anabaptists by the major reformers grew out of their ignorance of Anabaptist theological thought. Also of late, primary sources of the movement in English have become more readily available. (See, for example, The Legacy of Michael Sattler by John H. Yoder, the first in a series entitled “Classics of the Radical Reformation” being published by Herald Press.) As a result there is no longer any reason to remain ignorant of the movement or to continue to treat the Anabaptists as the black sheep of the Reformation.

In 1950 the Mennonite Quarterly Review devoted an issue to the theology of the Anabaptists; the lead article suggested that it would be premature to write a theology of the Anabaptists precisely because many of the primary sources upon which such a theology should be based were just then beginning to appear in English. The author of that article suggested that there had not yet been time to digest those materials. Following this lead article the reader finds three men trying to suggest the general lines along which a theology of the Anabaptists should be developed. The article by Franklin Littell argues that the distinctive contribution of the Anabaptists was their view of the church. (Two years later he published his book The Origins of Sectarian Protestantism, which elaborated and defended this thesis.) Harold Bender, in his article “The Anabaptist Theology of Discipleship,” argues that the idea of the church follows from the more basic Anabaptist concept of discipleship, the personal decision of the believer to follow Christ. The third interpretation presented in that issue of the Review was by Robert Friedmann. His posthumously published The Theology of Anabaptism is an elaboration of that original journal article.

It is generally recognized that the Anabaptists did not write any theological systems, and many have sought to explain that fact. Commonly, writers attribute this lack of interest in “system building” to the intense persecution directed at the Anabaptists or to the fact that theirs was basically a lay movement. Friedmann in his Theology of Anabaptism argues against both of these explanations, suggesting that the explanation must be found in their experience of the Christian faith. Luther suffered through many years of anxiety before discovering that God was willing to forgive his sins. He was asking the theological question: “How may I be forgiven?” The Anabaptists begin their theological reflection after the experience of being forgiven and ask: “How do I live my life now that I have been reconciled with God?” This Anabaptist perspective Friedmann calls “Existential Christianity.” Because of this perspective, the theology of Anabaptism remains an implicit theology, a theology not systematized.

If one examines this implicit theology, says Friedmann, one finds that the core concept is neither the sacramental idea of the Roman Catholic Church of the Reformation period nor Luther’s idea of justification. Rather one finds a “Kingdom Theology,” a theology of two worlds. At the heart of this theology is “the acceptance of a fundamental New Testament dualism, that is, an uncompromising dualism in which Christian values are held in sharp contrast to the values of the ‘World’ in its corrupt state.” The disciple is one who sees this dualism and chooses to follow Christ.

Having described what he sees as the core of the “Existential Theology” of Anabaptism, Friedmann devotes the third section of his book to traditional theological questions. It is, as John Oyer notes in his “Introduction,” the weakest section of the book. It seems significant, too, that 40 per cent of this section is devoted to questions of ecclesiology. This fact suggests that Littell might be right in saying that the core idea of the Anabaptists was their concept of the church.

Having read Friedmann’s book, I find myself unconvinced that it is even possible to write a good book with the title The Theology of Anabaptism, since all writers, including Friedmann, agree that the evangelical Anabaptists were—with only a few individual exceptions—completely othodox in their theology. Hershberger’s The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision, a book of essays on distinctive Anabaptist ideas, would seem to be a much more appropriate form for approaching the theological contribution of Anabaptism.

In addition to this general criticism, I note that Friedmann seems to assume that personal, “existential” commitment must somehow exclude rigorous theological thought. Since I find this premise unacceptable, I find his defense of “Existential Christianity” also unconvincing. And I think that the basis of his crucial first and second sections is likely to be unacceptable to most readers.

The Anabaptists of the Reformation articulated many ideas that we now take for granted (e.g., religious tolerance) long before these ideas were generally accepted. Other typically Anabaptist ideas have not yet found general acceptance, though they might if properly presented. If some of these lesser known ideas are to receive general acceptance, they must be clearly set forth and defended. Friedmann’s book is an effort in this direction, but the other books mentioned will be of more value to most readers and remain at present the standards in the area.

NEWLY PUBLISHED

Simple Living, by Edward Ziegler (Brethren Press or Pyramid, 127 pp., $1.25 pb), Christian Asceticism, by J. A. Ziesler (Eerdmans, 118 pp., $2.25 pb), A Serious Call to a Contemplative Life-Style, by Glenn Hinson (Westminster, 125 pp., $2.85 pb), and Finding a Simpler Life, by John Cooper (Pilgrim, 127 pp., $5.25). Timely books for life in a recession! While the roads and reasoning differ, the goal is the same: to call people to a life-style devoid of mechanization and waste. Ziegler’s pattern is in the “plain people” tradition of the “Dunker” Brethren movement. Ziesler charts his course to renunciation with the motivation of God’s love, rather than self-deprivation. Hinson anchors his in a disciplined prayer life, a devotional life, that should lead to a mode of simplicity. Cooper offers an analysis of the trend in terms of disillusionment, his being the least “religious” examination of the life-style swing.

Theology, Physics, and Miracles, by Werner Schaaffs (Canon, 100 pp., $2.95 pb). A German physics professor gives an informative defense of biblical miracles.

Life Essential: The Hope of the Gospel, by George MacDonald (Harold Shaw, 102 pp., $1.95 pb). A stylistically edited collection of theological essays by the nineteenth-century Scot who was greatly admired by C. S. Lewis. Excellent as devotional reading.

The Works of John Fletcher, (four volumes, HSBC Press [Box 1065, Hobe Sound, Fla. 33455], 2,472 pp., $59.95/set). Fletcher (1729–85) was born and raised in French Switzerland but ministered in England. He is widely recognized as the foremost apologist for the burgeoning Methodist movement. This reprinted collection of his works will be especially welcomed by faithful Wesleyans of our time, but non-Wesleyan libraries need to acquire these influential writings as well.

The Roots of American Order, by Russell Kirk (Open Court, 534 pp., $15). In anticipation of the Bicentennial a conservative overview of the various influences and convictions that caused America’s revolution to produce more stability and liberty than other prominent revolutions. Biblical, Greco-Roman, Medieval, Protestant, and Deist influences are among those considered.

Yesterday, Today, and Forever, edited by T. A. Raedeke (Canon, 111 pp., $2.95 pb). Nine essays by some of the Key 73 leaders describing this evangelistic outreach.

O Christian! O Jew!, by Paul Carlson (Cook, 262 pp., $1.95 pb). A popular history of Judaism for the Christian. Good background material on the situation of modern Israel.

Audiovisual Idea Book For Churches, by Mary and Andrew Jensen (Augsburg, 160 pp., $3.95 pb), and You and Communication in the Church: Skills and Techniques, edited by B. F. Jackson (Word, 270 pp., $5.95). Introductions, The first focuses on such “how to’s” as organizing an audiovisual library and field trips (sight and sound experiences!). The second stresses communication—written, visual, and spoken. Chapters on the mechanics of producing and using tapes and slides are excellent.

Behold the Man, by George Cornell (Word, 206 pp., $5.95), and People Around Jesus, by Walter Kortrey (Pilgrim, 128 pp., $5.50). Slight literary liberties have been taken with the events and people surrounding Jesus’ life to embellish the account for more imaginative reading. In the first this brings the events and the people into fuller focus. In the second it provides insights into the lives and motives of Jesus’ followers. Both are stimulating pleasure reading with a biblical basis.

Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Volume One, edited by Johannes Botterweck and Helmer Ringgren (Herdmans, 479 pp., $18.50). This volume marks the launching of a major project as the counterpart to the nine volumes of Kittel. Articles on fifty-three key words or word-groups from abh (father) to badhadh (isolation). For all libraries and advanced students.

Christian: Celebrate Your Sexuality, by Dwight Small (Revell, 221 pp., $5.95). A theological approach to the full sexual identity and expression of man that offers a balanced, refreshing understanding of the biblical teaching. Highly recommended.

The Jews of the United States, edited by Priscilla Fishman (Quadrangle, 302 pp., $8.95). Historical and cultural survey of the Jewish people in America, stressing their contribution. Focus is more ethnic than religious.

On the Side of Truth, by George N. Shuster (University of Notre Dame, 351 pp., $9.95). Selections from the numerous writings of a prominent Catholic layman and educator and long-time foe of totalitarianism.

Divorce and Remarriage, by Dennis Doherty (Abbey, 194 pp., $8.50, $4.95 pb), Divorced and Christian, by Alice Stolper Peppier (Concordia, 93 pp., $2.95 pb), and The Risk of Fidelity, by Pierre de Locht (Dimension, 77 pp., $2.45 pb). Widely different and thought-provoking approaches to divorce. Doherty, a Catholic ethicist, presents a case for the acceptance of the practice from a moral and ecumenical perspective. Peppier deals with the emotions involved from a more biblical persuasion. De Locht adheres to the traditional Catholic view in questioning the moral right of any person to renege on a commitment, whether to marriage or to the priesthood.

This Morning With God, edited by Carol Adeney (four volumes, InterVarsity, 120–162 pp. each; vols. 1–3, $1.95 pb each; vol. 4, $2.50 pb). Recently completed, this daily devotional guide cannot replace Bible reading because it consists of questions on the passage for the day. Books from various parts of the Bible are included in each volume. (There is a Gospel in each volume, for example.) The whole Bible is covered in four to five years.

Christian Association for Psychological Studies Proceedings (CAPS [6850 Division Ave. S., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49508], 272 pp., $4 pb). The papers presented at the twenty-third CAPS convention. Good examples of the thinking on a variety of important topics (purposes in life, women’s role, clergy stresses) by evangelical psychologists and psychiatrists.

Startling Trends in Our Generation, by T. Wilson Litzenberger (Gibbs Publishing Co. [Broadview, Ill. 60153], 255 pp., $5.95). For those who want examples of how bad things are (in fifteen categories such as crime and famine) and how it all points to Christ’s return.

The Rhythm of God: A Philosophy of Worship, by Geddes MacGregor (Seabury, 120 pp., $5.95), and The Biblical Doctrine of Worship, edited by Edward Robson et al. (Reformed Presbyterian Church [800 Wood Street, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15221], 395 pp., $8.95 pb). Two quite different views of worship are presented. The first, in a gentle and easy-to-read fashion, relates the changing of high-church liturgy to the shifting needs of the people, but also stresses the natural evolutionary process of worship that comes from being in tune with God’s leading. The second provides a symposium to clarify the classical Reformed position on worship, as well as to offer a scholarly defense for singing only Psalms and those a cappella.

A History of Judaism, by David Silver and Bernard Martin (two volumes, Basic Books, 476 and 527 pp., $30/set). A major, worthwhile addition to the already copious literature. The scope is from Abraham to the present. Bibliography and index enhance the value.

Jacques Maritain: Homage in Words and Pictures, by John Griffin and Yves Simon (64 pp., $12.95), and Raissa’s Journal, by Raissa Maritain (404 pp., $12.95, both by Magi [33 Buckingham Drive, Albany, N.Y. 12208]). A tribute to and pictorial memoir of the late French Catholic philosopher, and his wife’s spiritual journals, which are arresting in their own right.

Religious America, by Philip Garvin and Julia Welch (McGraw Hill, 185 pp., $12.95). The creator of the televised film series of the same name presents photographs and descriptions of numerous examples of worshiping communities such as a Catholic monastery, a black Baptist church, and Hasidic Judaism in Brooklyn.

The Devil, You Say!, by Andrew Greeley (Doubleday, 192 pp., $5.95). A prolific author reflects in readable style upon a variety of vices (e.g., envy, privatism, ethnocentrism) and corresponding virtues. He says, wisely, ‘The evil one is greatly pleased when people think his principal threat is possession and black magic.”

Ethnologue, edited by Barbara Grimes (Wycliff Bible Translators [Huntington Beach, Calif. 92648], 388 pp., $6 pb). A systematic listing, as complete as possible, of the languages and dialects spoken in each country and the status of Bible translations for each. Helpful for linguists and the missions-minded.

Teach Me, Please, Teach Me, by Dorothy Clark et al. (David C. Cook, 142 pp., $2.95 pb). Twelve lessons and follow-up for presenting the Gospel to the retarded.

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Second of Two Parts

In Part One the author discussed two of the categories into which he has divided religious cassettes (1) Dead Men Who Still Speak, and (2) Living Men Worth Listening To.

3. Mini-Packages. These are cassettes designed to be used in groups and come accompanied by one or more aids, usually a leader’s guide. Thesis (P.O. Box 11724, Pittsburgh, Pa., 15228) markets an unusually fine selection covering a wide theological and interest spectrum. The Episcopal Radio-TV Foundation (15 16th St. NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30309) offers many evangelicals of note as well as non-evangelicals. Here you will find the new Archbishop of Canterbury, F. Donald Coggan, and the late C. S. Lewis on the Four Loves. No doubt other denominations have similar ministries. Billy Graham’s Decision Tape Library (1313 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, Min. 55403) has a very good “Christian Life and Witness Course” taught by one of the Graham team members. The additional aids for studious evangelism are excellent, and many evangelicals can use these to train people to nurture new believers.

Musically, Word (Waco, Texas 76703) innovatively packages cassettes, words, and music all together for children’s musicals of high caliber. One of my former churches did Sam, a folk musical for juniors, and the package encouraged conductor and kids alike.

In the area of prophecy and the Holy Spirit, the Decision Tape Library has the “Four-Fold Miracle of Israel,” and Bethany Fellowship’s Dimension Tapes (6820 Auto Club Rd., Minneapolis, Minn. 55438) prepare for the coming worldwide calamities envisioned by David Wilkerson. Dimension also offers Larry Christenson’s “Fulness of Life in the Holy Spirit”—an album of ten cassettes. Dennis Benson is always provocatively interesting—a resourceful bundle of dynamism under the labels of Word and Audio-Graphics, and in print with the book Electric Love (John Knox, 1973). He is just ambiguous enough that an evangelical can “save” his cassettes for the saving of souls.

4. Maxi-Packages. Some productions are very ambitious and successfully so. Word’s “The Edge of Adventure” by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson has a text, leader’s guide, activities manual, and three cassettes. Winston House (25 Grove Terrace, Minneapolis, Minn. 55403) creatively puts together filmstrips, a leader’s guide chock full of suggestions, and three cassettes for its “Springboards to Awareness” series on personal growth for all ages; however, evangelicals will want to “redeem” some aspects of this fine Roman Catholic production. Step 2 (1921 N. Harlem, Chicago, Ill. 60635) pulls out all stops with slides, manuals, cassettes, and a subscription cassette service.

5. The Pastor as Teacher. Evangelical pastors traditionally have a hand in every department of a church’s educational outreach. Little children will like Bethany Fellowship’s “Stories That Live” series, which comes complete with story book and coloring book. The series is a trifle simplistic and tinny. Augsburg’s “Tell Me a Story” series is outstanding (426 S. 5th St., Minneapolis, Minn. 55415).

Most of the independent publishers of evangelical curricula produce cassettes that complement their Sunday-school materials (David C. Cook, Gospel Light, Standard, and Scripture Press). David C. Cook has two albums: “Eight Successful Youth Workers Tell You How.” However, with sixteen speakers, some are bound to be duds—on tape, anyway. A truly worthy program is that of Success With Youth (P.O. Box 27028, Tempe, Ariz. 85282). Its Whirlybird, Jet Cadet, Alpha and Omega Teen materials are well known to evangelicals. On tape, Success With Youth is superb. “Youth Education Service” is its training album for adults who want to sponsor youth groups. Larry Richards is the consultant. The several albums of Bible-study cassettes are remarkably fine.

6. The Pastor as Counselor. Increasingly, the pastor is called to counsel, and in these days of financial squeeze he will be less able to refer counselees to expensive psychologists, psychiatrists, and marriage and family counselors. The pastor will simply be called on more in the months and perhaps years ahead. All that he can acquire by way of preventive and counseling skills will be to his advantage.

I have successfully used Howard and Charlotte Clinebell’s book and study guide, Intimate Marriage (Harper, 1970), with couples interested in enhancing good marriages. Evangelicals must use Clinebell judiciously; he is theologically vague while humanistically insightful. Abingdon’s Audio-Graphics has several Clinebell albums on such topics as marriage enrichment. Evangelical women’s libbers will not be happy with the conservative “The Christian Family” series by Larry Christenson (Bethany Fellowship). A happy medium, though lacking significant scriptural support, is the “Toward Marriage” series narrated by U. G. Steinmetz (Family Enrichment Bureau, Escanaba, Michigan 49829).

7. The Pastor’s Professional Enrichment. David C. Cook has a series called “Eight Successful Pastors Tell You How,” but two of them have been in the news lately more for “how not” (Charles Blair of Calvary Temple in Denver and Rex Humbard of Cathedral of Tomorrow in Akron). Ministers Life Resources (3100 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, Minn. 55416) has a very fine continuing series of pastoral aids including tapes on “A Better Pay Package” and “The Minister’s Housing Allowance.” A second continuing series by the same company is the excellent “talking magazines” under the name Ministers Cassette Service. Just about everything you would find in a newsy professional magazine is here. The theological range is wide and fair, from CHRISTIANITY TODAY editor Harold Lindsell to left-of-center types with nary a hint of the outrageous right or left. Other companies are doing much the same. Word puts out “Catalyst” with a theological mix much like that of the previously mentioned Ministers Cassette Service. Thesis (P.O. Box 11724, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15228) produces another theological spectrum called “Thesis” accompanied by “Update,” a little prompter for groups of theologically literate laymen or pastors. Two more talking magazines are Lutheran ventures. “Compendium/Concordia” (Concordia Publishing House, 3558 S. Jefferson, St. Louis, Mo. 63118) is a series of first-rate, lengthy, graduate-level albums. Recent topics include the concept of revelation in biblical and contemporary theology, and the art of exegesis. The American Lutheran Church is the creator of “Resource” (Augsburg Publishing House, 426 S. 5th St., Minneapolis, Minn. 55415), which covers a wide territory but focuses on preaching.

Cassettes are coming in big, and as the days grow bleaker and people look to the churches for consolation, the possibilities for a creative pastor grow brighter.—DALE SANDERS, pastor, Riverside United Methodist Church, Fort Dodge, Iowa.