Education Within The Religious Community
Christian Nurture and the Church, by Randolph Crump Miller (Scribner’s, 1961, 208 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by C. Adrian Heaton, President, California Baptist Theological Seminary, Covina, California.
Three convictions underlie the latest book by Randolph Crump Miller. First, religious instruction carried on outside the vital fellowship of the Church is often “both useless and dangerous.” Second, the church must engage in a clearly-formulated program of teaching its members to be the Church. Third, all activities of the Church have important educational implications.
In this volume, Dr. Miller, professor of Christian Education at Yale Divinity School, gives the content and shares the spirit of much of the best contemporary writing about the Church—the place of the laity, her ministry in the world, and the bipolarity of her “gathered” and “scattered” life. His writing sparkles with lively quotations and churchly slogans. Although his writing may sometimes lack integration and depth, it affords a good review of contemporary thought concerning the Church.
At a deeper level, the author keeps coming back to his central convictions. God is at work in the Church; there is an important ministry of both the laity and the apostolate; education must be carried on “with theology in the background and the grace-faith relationship in the foreground;” words and symbols are important when there is sufficient community and genuine experience to give them meaning and significance; although the life of the Church usually centers in the local congregation, one must always be aware of the total eccumenical relations which the Church must maintain.
One of the finest contributions of the book is Dr. Miller’s careful distinction between “religious instruction” and “Christian nurture.” He points out that in England and West Germany there are very carefully worked-out and well-taught systems of religious instruction. Pupils who go through these programs of study are “better informed than young Christians in any other country. But there is a universal report that there is practically no transfer to Church loyalty” (p. 2). The reason for such disappointing results is that the instruction is not carried on in the midst of the religious community which practices the truths taught. Only education in and by the whole church congregation will do the central task of Christian education which he defines as “helping the individual, by God’s grace, to become a believing and committed member of the community of the Holy Spirit, obedient to Christ as his Lord and Master, and living as a Christian to the best of his ability in all his relationships” (p. 4). “The Church’s task is to lead him to the point where he can make a commitment on his own and maintain it in the face of all the obstacles which life may place before him” (p. 4). Later on, Dr. Miller makes it clear that the crucial matter of “decision” does not rest primarily on information. It rests rather on meaning and discernment. “When we have discerned God’s claim on us, we are enabled freely to make a commitment, if we will” (p. 61). It is out of the matrix of the total Church community that one can gather the meaning and discernment for such commitment.
A few of the limitations of the book may be listed. First, the jacket of the book states that it contains “a practical program for effective Christian education.” No very adequate outline of such a program is given. Second, the author has a completely uncritical view of the use of symbolism with children. Third, such slogans as “quality begets quantity” (p. 110) lead to more misunderstanding than understanding. Four, although most of the book is ecumenical theology, his treatment of the sacraments is Episcopalian: “Baptism is incorporation into the body of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit” (pp. 110–111). Of course, he advocates infant baptism although he admits it was not practiced until the second century (p. 24) and he cites Karl Barth and Emil Brunner against it (p. 110). When he discusses the Lord’s Supper, he insists that children must have full instruction and Confirmation before full participation. He goes on to describe the status of the children who are “ready for the Lord’s Supper before they are old enough to undertake the kind of discipline necessary for Confirmation” (p. 116). “From the standpoint of worship and education, children can best be prepared to participate in the Lord’s Supper by partial participation. In those churches which bring communicants to the Altar rail, at family service the entire family comes forward. Those who are not yet admitted to Holy Communion place their arms behind them and they receive a prayer of blessing (with laying on of hands) instead of the bread and wine. Just as we don’t keep children away from the table because there are some foods they cannot eat, so we do not keep them away from the Lord’s presence, even if they do not partake of the elements” (p. 116). No doubt many Christians will question such practices.
The reviewer feels the book is worthy and ought to receive wide reading and consideration.
C. ADRIAN HEATON
By The Works Of The Law
Freedom and the Law, by Bruno Leoni (D. Van Nostrand Co., 1961, 190 pp., $6), is reviewed by John Feikens, Federal Judge, Michigan Southeast District.
To make a long (but interesting) story short, Professor Leoni’s thesis is this:
Freedom of the individual, now so severely restricted, will be restored when the enveloping tendency to inflated legislation (i.e. too many laws passed by temporarily in-office legislative majorities at the expense of and to the detriment of minorities) is retarded, and such nongroup law which is needed in a well-ordered society is “discovered” through the judicial process by judges who recognize the continued need of its development and who with the aid of the doctrine of precedents apply such law only to the litigants before them.
This is necessary simplification of a well-reasoned theme repeatedly kept from being doctrinaire by the author’s excelling ability to analyze in a practical way one of the great problems of government.
So much of today’s “thinking” in government and politics is stultified by labels—that easy method of voicing opinion reached through glandular process. Leoni’s hard reasoning lobs many an effective shell into the lightly-fought-for positions of our present day do-gooder newspaper columnists and TV commentators who believe that all problems are capable of solution through the enactment of legislation.
This book is not easy to read but then that is just my point: it does set out effectively the guideposts for reducing the burden of smothering legislation. It attempts no outline of specific application of the thesis between the areas of legislation and the common law. One might argue that it is at just this point when the book becomes exceptionally interesting that the author should attempt application, but this he artfully declines. Ingenuously he responds, to our disappointment, by saying that such application would itself be the writing of a code and therefore more proposed legislation.
I suggest that this would be a good place to begin a second book, for if the goal that Professor Leoni seeks is to be attained, the application will have to be made.
JOHN FEIKENS
Talking It Over
Catholic Theology in Dialogue, by Gustave Weigel, S.J. (Harper, 1961, 126 pp., $2.75), is reviewed by James Daane, Editorial Associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
In a forthright, no-dodge ecumenical conversation Roman Catholic Gustave Weigel, S.J., discusses the religious differences separating Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The book breathes the spirit of a fellow Christian explaining the Roman Catholic definition of the Christian faith within a context of sympathetic understanding of a Protestant’s sincere objections. Most Protestants would profit greatly by this little book. The profit is likely to be enlarged sympathy for the Roman Catholic position and a deeper objection to it.
Weigel wiggles out of nothing. Bible and Tradition, Sacrament and Symbol, Revelation, Dogma, papal infallibility, and the relationship of Church and State, are all met head on. The formative principle creating the differential in Roman Catholic and Protestant thought on all of these matters is the analogia entis (the analogy of being). For example, the Church, says Weigel, is the ontological extension of the Incarnation. This means, on the one hand, that the Church is not identical with the physical body of Christ. On the other, it does not mean that the Church is merely like or, similar to, the body of Christ. It is analogically the body of Christ, that is, it shares ontologically in the being of the physical body of Christ. Similarly, the Word of God is not in literal sense identical with the Bible; rather the Bible ontologically shares in the Word of God, and the dead letter of the written word comes to life in Tradition. Although, says Weigel, Karl Barth called the “analogy of being” an invention of Anti-Christ, it is a very godly concept.
Protestants will, I think dissent from Weigel’s declaration that “On the rock of the Incarnation all theologies must be tested.” The reality and nature of the Church is grounded specifically in the resurrected Lord and his outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The body of the Incarnation was put to death on the Cross. As a familiar hymn has it, the Church is God’s “new creation.” To make the Incarnation the definitive explanation of the Church, is like explaining the Christian man without definitive reference to the Cross, Resurrection, and Pentecost.
Theological conversation between Roman Catholic and Protestant thinkers should be encouraged. It will bring us personally closer together, and theologically farther apart. Since few Protestants adequately understand Roman thought, things will have to get worse, if ever they are to get better.
JAMES DAANH
I Think?—I Do?
Persons in Relation, by John Macmurray (Harper, 1961, 235 pp., $5), is reviewed by Gordon H. Clark, Professor of Philosophy, Butler University.
Macmurray’s Gifford Lectures of 1954 have been extravagantly praised as the subject of discussion for the next 100 years. Perhaps, however, less enthusiasm and more discrimination would be better.
Granted the author’s powerful case against understanding persons as organisms, and society as organic; granted his rejection of “social evolution” in favor of “history”; granted his most interesting points of distinction between a human infant and a baby animal; can one therefore conclude that human beings are distinguished from animals, not by thinking, but by doing? Shall I think be replaced by I do? A Facio without a prior Cogito?
The advantage Macmurray sees in I do over I think lies in the avoidance of solipsism. Now, solipsism may indeed be a reductio ad absurdum of any thesis which implies it (p. 17), but does this quite justify the author in prohibiting the question, How do we know that there are other persons (p. 77)? This criticism seems pertinent because the author admits that the “original knowledge of the Other, as the correlate of my own activity, is undiscriminated.”
By emphasizing I do above I think, the author is able to conclude that “The validity of a theological doctrine, for instance, cannot be determined merely by asking whether it is true.… Its validity depends also upon the valuation with which it is integrated in action” (pp. 173–174). Valuation, however, is aesthetic, and in religion aesthetics is primary—doctrine is secondary and negative.
Admittedly Macmurray qualifies this anti-intellectualism. In distinguishing physical happenings and animal action from human doing, he is forced to take account of thinking and knowing. The I do “necessarily includes the I think.… Thought presupposes knowledge and knowledge presupposes action and exists only in action.” (p. 209). Would it not seem, however, that knowledge presupposes thought and can occur without action? Of course, not without intellectual action, but without physical doing? There seems to be ambiguity in the words doing and action.
In general, the stress on the Other which includes oneself, with the conclusion that “The question whether the world is personal is the question whether God exists,” either implies pantheism (which the author denies, p. 223), or a pluralistic world of finite selves. It is hard to discover any aid to Christianity in the argument. GORDON H. CLARK
The Evidence Speaks
Archaeology and the Bible, by G. Frederick Owen (Revell, 1961, 384 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Merrill F. Unger, Professor of Old Testament and Semitics, Dallas Theological Seminary.
This helpful and inspiring survey of archaeological research in Bible lands, despite its title, deals preponderatingly with Old Testament archaeological finds. It is, however, a lucid and reliable volume which the student, as well as the more popular reader, will find fascinating. The author’s treatment is remarkably balanced and restrained and in many ways will delight the reverent and constructive student of the Bible. An example of this spirit is the author’s summary of Garstang’s excavations at Jericho and his comparison of these in the light of the findings of the later expedition conducted by the British School of Archaeology and the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem under the direction of Kathleen Kenyon from 1952 on. “It now seems quite possible that further study of its (Jericho’s) Late Bronze ruins will be best made, not from the mound but from the records and remains of Garstang’s finds, which are preserved in the Archaeological Museum in Jerusalem” (p. 289).
The author’s treatment of the date of the Exodus likewise shows he favors an early date about 1446 B.C. This is all the more noteworthy in the face of the current popularity of later-date theories. The author’s observations on the excavations of Mme. Judith Marquet-Krause at Ai in 1934 and 1935 constitute another example of his judicious interpretation of the evidence and his fairness in refusing to jump at incomplete data to discredit the biblical narrative. This volume ought to have a salutary effect in a day when many archaeologists are more afraid of being accused of defending the Bible than they are fearful of interpreting evidence erroneously to cast aspersion upon its historical reliability.
MERRILL F. UNGER
Gentleman Or Christian?
Forgiveness and Hope, by Rachel Henderlite (John Knox Press, 1961, 127 pp., $2.75), is reviewed by John Pott, Minister, Third Christian Reformed Church of Roseland, Chicago.
The introduction and the four chapters which comprise this book were originally delivered in 1959 as the George McNutt Lectures to the faculty and students of the Louisville Theological Seminary.
The thesis underlying these lectures is that Christian education must first produce Christians before there can be any question of further, distinctive education. One becomes a Christian only by responding in faith to God’s gracious offer of love in Christ (justification by faith), not by any human attempt, however noble, to win God’s favor. One gets to know this offer of divine love through the Bible, which is not a textbook about God, but an “eternally contemporary vehicle for the Living Christ.” As such, the Bible speaks Christ’s Word right now. An acceptance of that Word in faith makes one a Christian. God, of course, knows man is a sinner. That He will nonetheless accept him is precisely what makes this a loving offer of grace. The resulting new life in Christ reconciles two contradictory elements in man’s make-up: his utter misery and his grandeur. This “reconciliation” brings about a new freedom. Henceforth, life for the Christian turns around a new center. Although now led by the Spirit, the Christian must engage in an agonizing struggle to live out his Father’s purpose with him. This is done, the author continues, not merely in private, but in the fellowship of the church, which “is composed of forgiven men and entrusted with the stewardship of God’s grace.” Finally, the church, aware of the fact that it is a new creation, must be on the march, for God is on the march in her and through her. God is moving forward, irresistibly and triumphantly, until the final goal—“an eternal community of all men everywhere”—is reached.
This book is a refreshing re-emphasis of what Christian education was always meant to be. In an era when becoming a gentleman was often taught to mean the same thing as becoming a Christian, a book such as the above was long overdue. Theologically, the author raises some questions in the mind of the reviewer—in regard to the nature of the Bible as well as to the purpose of God to save all—questions which might have been answered more satisfactorily by utter fidelity to the whole Bible. May this excellent book enjoy a wide reading.
JOHN POTT
Liturgics Limited
Christian Worship, by T. S. Garrett (Oxford, 1961, 190 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Floyd Doud Shafer, Minister, Salem Presbyterian Church, Salem, Indiana.
There are many superior, introductory works on the history and meaning of worship, but this is not one of them, unless we are prepared to believe that developments in the Church of South India set the norms of interpretations and progress in liturgies. Mr. Garrett is a pastor in that church and is understandably enthusiastic with it. His 10 chapters are good in that they present many interesting explanations, discuss aspects of worship related to ecumenics, quote numerous ancient documents, and rely considerably on Dix, Jungman, Maxwell, and Brilioth. They are poor in that they presuppose broad knowledge of the terms and history of worship, attempt to cover too much ground (all the West and some of the East) in far too brief a space and, consequently, are quite jerky and lacking in continuity. The slight attention given to the work of Luther and Calvin and the excessive space allotted Anglican developments give an inaccurate view of the historical picture.
FLOYD DOUD SHAFER
Groundless Assumption
Man, God, and Magic, by Ivar Lissner (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1961, 344 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Francis R. Steele, Home Secretary, North Africa Mission.
The two most tantalizing questions concerning early man are, “whence did he come?” and “what was he like?” Popular answers suggest that man was the final stage in a long evolutionary development from fish through amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and primates and that the earliest hominids were extremely primitive savages. Lissner argues strongly against this and insists that the earliest forms of man known to science were spiritually-minded beings of complex moral concepts and sophisticated cultural relationships.
He contends that there are parallels between the beliefs and practicing of little-known peoples still living at the extreme tip of South America and remote northeast Siberia on the one hand and the fossil men of past ages on the other. Both, he believes, were highly-intelligent monotheists. Chief evidence adduced in support of this theory comes from alleged connections between present-day animal sacrifices—especially of bear and reindeer—and shamanism with the animal bones and paintings discovered in caves utilized by men of long ago.
Lissner flatly rejects a popular assumption when he states, “There is absolutely no reason to conclude that, because their tools were simple, peoples’ customs were gross, their language undeveloped or their religion primitive” (p. 74, cf. also p. 303) and then he raises a pertinent question, “Why do we prefer to look for our origins in the animal rather than in God?” (p. 303).
If the author is a religious man he is certainly not a conservative Christian as many of his statements indicate (e.g. pp. 105, 111, 175, 203 and 309). But that makes his case stronger in the eyes of the scientist if, at the same time, weaker to the theologian. This book merits careful reading by all those seriously interested in the problem of human origins.
LRANCIS R. STEELE
Pulpit Chopper
The Ecology of Faith: The New Situation in Preaching, by Joseph Sittler (Muhlenberg, 1961, 104 pp., $2.25), is reviewed by Andrew W. Blackwood, Professor Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary.
A scholarly Lutheran neo-orthodox professor of theology writes about preaching in terms of “the mutual relationship between organisms and their environment.” The first four chapters set up lofty ideals about the way preaching now ought to meet the swiftly changing needs of our time and still hold true to the Gospel with its high spiritual quality and strong ethical demands.
These chapters give countless evidences of wide reading and original thinking, both about the preacher’s message from God and about the kaleidoscopic changes in our time. From the Scriptures, from other literature of a high order, and from liturgical practices of the Church, the author draws support for his thesis. Often he writes well, but still the first four chapters prove difficult to read partly because they differ from anything else in print.
The fifth chapter, “Maceration of the Minister,” moves on a level more easily accessible. To macerate means “to chop into small pieces.” Here the author’s intent becomes clearer, his discussion more practical, and his conclusions more nearly devastating. Months ago when this chapter alone appeared in print, it brought from pastors letters of sharp dissent and strong protest. Many of us, however, still feel that the figure of the chopper sets forth strikingly the facts about many a pastor today. (Here I do not deal with the able appendix, “The Shape of the Church’s Response in Worship.”)
At Yale and elsewhere scholars have given the book high praise. If the original student hearers of these Lyman Beecher Lectures immediately understood the first four chapters, and saw clearly how they led up to the fifth, then those young men have unusual intellectual powers, with rare synthesizing ability. But such seminary lectures, as a rule, are directed toward the professors and the alumni, not the undergraduate students.
If any pastor wishes to broaden his intellectual horizon, and appraise the relevancy of his pulpit work, as well as his leadership in other parts of worship he can find thought-provoking discussions here of the vast gulf between the changeless Gospel as men ought to preach it today and the swiftly shifting conditions of our day. As evangelicals we may not always agree with the author, but like Benjamin B. Warfield in other times we can often gain most from works with which we do not wholly agree.
ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD
‘Height’ Psychology
The Search for Meaning, by A. J. Ungersma (Westminster, 1961, 188 pp., $4.75), is reviewed by Orville S. Walters, Director of Health Services and Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Illinois.
Three schools of Viennese psychotherapy mirror the development of the individual from childhood to adulthood: (1) The Freudian “will to pleasure” describes the view of the small child; (2) The Adlerian “will to superiority” is a picture of the adolescent, whose aggressive tendencies hide anxiety that he may not become a full-grown man; (3) The Frankl “will to meaning” portrays the mature adult who seeks growth and development.
This hierarchy of psychotherapies reflects the viewpoint of the author, a seminary teacher and clinical psychologist who wrote this book after a year of study with Psychiatrist Viktor Frankl in Vienna on a fellowship awarded by the American Association of Theological Schools. The volume is primarily an interpretation of Frankl’s logotherapy and its applicability to pastoral counseling.
Although subtitled “A New Approach in Psychotherapy and Pastoral Psychology,” the author quotes Frankl as saying that “every good doctor always has performed logotherapy without necessarily knowing it.” The Frankl system emphasizes the concepts of existence, freedom and responsibility which lead to concerns with meaning and value.
Quoting Kierkegaard that “we live forward but we understand backward,” Frankl takes sharp issue with “unmasking psychology” because back of the unmasking process is the hidden tendency to depreciate spiritual values. There are many crises of personality that are not traceable to unconscious processes. Since man is always deciding what he will become, the realization of his latent capacity is at least as important as the probing of his past. Depth psychology must be complemented by a “height” psychology that relates the future to the present. Psychoanalysis has helped us to “understand backward,” but religion helps men to “live forward.”
Frankl believes that a spiritual malaise is at the core of many of modern man’s problems. A feeling of meaninglessness arises from intellectual problems, moral concerns, ethical conflicts. To help the patient, logotherapy stimulates his capacity for responsibility and helps him become aware of the full spectrum of possibilities for personal meaning and values. Primarily a secular discipline, logotherapy refers and defers to the specialist in religion, the minister or priest, when necessary.
The growing prominence of Frankl’s teachings and its affinity for articulating with Christian theology makes Ungersma’s exposition timely and useful. The author’s acquaintance with both psychotherapy and theology qualifies him well for an interpretation of logotherapy as it bears upon pastoral counseling. At times, the originality of logotherapy seems threatened by its acknowledged overlap with Kierkegaard and other existentialists. Many facets of Frankl’s concepts were earlier enunciated by Jung, All-port, and Carl Rogers. However, what logotherapy may lack in originality is more than offset by its value as a wholesome corrective to the counterclockwise preoccupation in most contemporary psychotherapy.
ORVILLE S. WALTERS
Seven Claims Tested
Religious Knowledge, by Paul Schmidt (Free Press, 1961, 147 pp., $4), is reviewed by Lawrence Yates.
The author attempts to test the claims of knowledge of seven world religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Confusianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism, by the criteria of contemporary kinds of knowledge. Finding that none fit he redefines religion as a group of statements whose purpose “is to express attitudes that lead to a way of life.” These attitudes can no longer be taught by stories, fables, myths and miracles. But “if the attitudes taught are to accord with rational beliefs belonging to the different types of knowledge,” the solution is to communicate these rational beliefs. Hence “myths and miracles as substitutions for facts will have to be dropped. They lead to intellectual confusion in a world where science is prominent.”
This is a very clearly written book. The reader is never in doubt as to what the author is trying to say. Christianity, however, differs from Buddhism, Taoism, etc., in kind, not in degree. As God’s revelation to man it cannot be measured by the yardstick of man’s reason.
LAWRENCE YATES
Typical Cases
The Context of Pastoral Counseling, by Seward Hiltner and Lowell G. Colston (Abingdon, 1961, 272 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by Walter Vail Watson, Minister, The Lancaster Presbyterian Church.
This volume contains résumés of useful case studies in pastoral counseling done at Bryn Mawr Community Church, Chicago, and the University of Chicago Counseling Center under the direction of Seward Hiltner by Lowell G. Colston, assistant professor of pastoral care at Christian Theological Seminary.
The minister experienced in counseling will find these case histories typical of the kinds of problems facing people whom he meets continually, and such a minister will profit most from the succinct summaries that show abundant evidence of work meticulously done according to accepted standards in psychological counseling. Unusual success was attained in getting the counselees to talk effectively.
Possibly any pastor interested in this important field will find this addition to his library of practical value. The importance of counseling in a churchly environment is validated to some extent.
WALTER VAIL WATSON
Calvin Story
The Man God Mastered, by Jean Cadier, translated from the French by O. R. Johnston (Eerdmans, 1961, 187 pp., $3), is reviewed by Thea B. Van Halsema, Author of Glorious Heretic and This Was John Calvin.
It is not easy to write a “brief biography” of John Calvin that is both comprehensive in scope and colorful in detail. This Professor Cadier has accomplished in a recent book about his famous countryman. Few know Calvin better than Jean Cadier, who is dean of the faculty of Protestant theology in the University of Montpelier and president of the Calvinist Society of France, and his book will be a welcomed and incisive summary of the Reformer’s life and theology. Professor Cadier weaves his discussion of Cabin’s thought and method into the chronological narrative, but closes his book with a chapter on Calvin’s piety. “Calvin removed the usual center of piety which was the soul of man, its needs, and its outpourings and restored to piety its true centre—God.” Emphasizing the “living relationship with Christ” which characterized Calvin’s piety, Cadier points to such God-glorifying piety as the only source of unshakeable strength and certainty “in the dramatic situation of the twentieth century.”
THEA B. VAN HALSEMA
Help For Advent
The Story of the Christ Child, by Leon Morris (Eerdmans, 1960, 128 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by Charles B. Cousar, Assistant Professor of New Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary.
The nativity narratives in Matthew and Luke have always held a fascination for the student of the New Testament. Not only do they relate the mighty miracle of Christmas, but they also record the beautiful New Testament hymns, the Magnificat, the Benedictus, the Nunc Dimittis. In this small volume, containing a series of addresses originally delivered In St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Dr. Morris offers a useful commentary on the first two chapters of the gospels of Matthew and Luke. He seeks to tell the story in such language as to unveil for the non-Greek reader some of the riches of the original record. For example, he explains, when helpful, the significance of an aorist tense, and comments on the shepherds as a despised class of people, and in general clarifies the English translation.
One might have supposed that the devotional character of the study, which is subtitled “A Devotional Study on the Nativity Stories in St. Luke and St. Matthew” would have devoted more time and space for both the contemporary implications and personal applications of the passages. However, with few exceptions (pp. 93–94), Dr. Morris limits himself to textual comments. The book should prove helpful to any minister or layman preparing for the Christmas season.
CHARLES B. COUSAR
Poor And Worse
God and the Rich Society, by D. L. Munby (Oxford, London, 1961, 209 pp., $5.50), is reviewed by Irving E. Howard, Assistant Editor, Christian Freedom Foundation, Inc.
Professor D. L. Munby, Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford, is a professional economist and is also somewhat knowledgeable in theology. However, his economics is not of the free-market variety and his theology would not fit into the “Evangelical movement” for which he expresses mild scorn.
This English scholar develops John Kenneth Galbraith’s thesis that the people of the West spend too much in the “private sector” and neglect the “public sector” of the economy. Consequently, poverty is no longer the problem in “the highly industrialized countries,” but rather “the quality of living.” So, to raise the “quality of living” in the industrialized countries and to eliminate poverty elsewhere, this author recommends government taxing, borrowing, spending, and planning on a world-wide scale. Of course, the end result would be a regimented economy. The title of one chapter is the question: “Can We Control the Economic System?” which Munby answers in the affirmative. This author does not seem to foresee the destruction of human liberty which is an inevitable part of such a controlled economy.
If Professor Munby’s economics is questionable, his exegesis is worse. Since the book is “A Study of Christians in a World of Abundance,” he makes some passing references to the Bible. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard furnishes an example of his “exegesis.” He says that this parable “offends our moral principles” (p. 71) and later (p. 86) explains that the parable teaches two lessons. “The first lesson of this parable may well be that the Kingdom of Heaven is not like the economic arrangements that are necessary in this world where men are paid according to their contribution by the piece.” Is this the meaning, or does this parable teach that men should be content with the wages they bargain for?
Munby continues: “But the second lesson may be to make us look again at the overwhelming bountifulness of God in showering on us the wealth of an abundant world.” While this statement is true, it is not the point of this parable. Instead, the parable stresses the right to private property—a right in which Munby shows little interest.
Dr. Munby never considers the real point of the parable in verse 16.
God and the Rich Society is a good example of poor economics and worse theology.
IRVING E. HOWARD
Book Briefs
Monday Morning Religion, by Luther Joe Thompson (Broadman, 1961, 96 pp., $1.95). A cry to put Sunday religion into practice on Monday because every day is God’s day.
Sparks on the Wind, poems by Morton D. Prouty, Jr. (John Knox Press, 1961, 47 pp., $2). These well-written lyrics show warm sensitivity to nature and to life’s experiences. Awareness of God’s reality, power, and purpose lends special depth and value to these selections.
Lambeth, Unity and Truth, by T. Robert Ingram (St. Thomas Press, 1959, 52 pp., cloth $2.95, paperback $1.50). Author objects to contents of pastoral letter from Protestant Episcopal House of Bishops on principle their decisions have no authority until they have first been consented to by the Church.
More Little Visits With God, by Allan Hart Jahsmann and Martin P. Simon (Concordia, 1961, 325 pp., $3). Excellent short devotionals, simple, interesting, well written; especially appropriate for families with small children.
Looking Unto Him, by Frank E. Gaebelein (Zondervan, 1961, 208 pp., $3). A message for each day of the year; comments on biblical passages (first published in 1941).
The Christian Answer to Communism, by Thomas O. Kay (Zondervan, 1961, 125 pp., cloth $1.95, paperback $1). In sum: know Communism and know and practice Christianity. Written especially for laymen.
Meditations for College Students, by Donald Deffner, W. J. Fields, Ronald Goerss, Edward Wessling (Concordia, 1961, 152 pp., $2.75). Meditations which have grown out of experiences of college chaplains with students. A fine going-away gut for the college student.
Always In Christ, Poems by Marie C. Turk (Concordia, 1961, 104 pp., $2). Although not written for the ages, the ageless truth and radiancy of Christ shine through warm and clear.
The Real Christmas, by Pat Boone (Revell, 1961, 62 pp., $1.50). Pat Boone pleads that we discover the real Christmas, the Christ, behind the symbols of mistletoe, tree, and gifts. Pat also tells us what gift he would like to put under our trees.
A Flame of Fire, by J. H. Hunter (Sudan Interior Mission, 1961, 320 pp., $3.50). An informative and readable account of the life and work of Rowland Bingham, founder of the Sudan Interior Mission.
Norlie’s Simplified New Testament, by Olaf M. Norlie (Zondervan, 1961, 763 pp., $4.95). A new plain English translation done specially to make the New Testament understandable to young people.
The Shepherd of Bethlehem, by Gordon Powell (Revell, 1961, 32 pp., $1.50). Luke uncovers why the shepherds kept their Christmas Eve experience so long secret.
Meat for Men, by Leonard Ravenhill (Bethany Fellowship, 1961, 129 pp., $2). A hard-punching attack upon sin, carnalty, and easy undisciplined Christian living.
Service Book for Ministers, by Joseph E. McCabe (McGraw-Hill, 1961, 226 pp., $3.95). New service book for ministers especially adapted for services on all kinds of occasions.
Bought With a Price, by Arthur E. Graf (Faith Publications, 1961, 140 pp., $3). Lenten and other sermons for various occasions.
He Is Not Gone, by Bernard Brunsting (Exposition, 1961, 139 pp., $3). A heart-warming story of a father watching the death of his son.
I Saw the Light, by H. J. Hegger (Presbyterian & Reformed, 1961, 171 pp., $3.75). Biography of Roman Catholic Dutchman’s conversion to Protestantism now made available in English.
The Soon Coming of Our Lord, by Dale Crowley (Loizeaux, 1961, 176 pp., $2.50). Sunday afternoon messages of a popular Washington, D. C., radio minister.
They Lived Their Faith, by Fred Field Goodsell (American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, 1961, 486 pp., cloth $5.50, paperback $2.50). An almanac of faith, hope, and love based on 150 years history of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions.
Paperbacks
The Knowledge of Ourselves and of God, a fifteenth century florilegium edited by James Walsh and Eric Colledge (Mowbrays, 1961, 68 pp., 7s. 6d.). Reproductions from medieval English mystical writers Walter Hilton and Julian of Norwich; devotional expositions with an introduction.
The Unchanging Commission, by David H. Adeny (IVF, 1961, 92 pp., 4s.). A reappraisal of foreign missions and the Christian’s responsibility. (Originally published by IVCF in America in 1955).
Redemption Accomplished and Applied, by John Murray (Banner of Truth, 1961, 192 pp., 3s.). A British edition of Professor Murray’s work on the atonement.
The Sovereignty of God, by A. W. Pink (Banner of Truth, 1961, 160 pp., 2s. 6d.). A revision of a work previously published in the U.S.A.
The Work of the Holy Spirit, by Octavius Winslaw (Banner of Truth, 1961, 223 pp., 3s.). A reprint of an earlier Banner publication when the title was Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul.
Robert Bruce, by D. C. MacNichol (Banner of Truth, 1961, 221 pp., 2s. 6d.). A reprinted life of a sixteenth century Scottish minister of whom Livingstone said “No man since the apostles’ time spake with such power.”
Sacrifice, by Howard Guiness (IVF, 1961, 62 pp., 2s.). A revision of a devotional booklet, mainly for teenagers.
Evangelical Belief, (IVF, 1961, 64 pp., 2s.). A revision of the official interpretation of the IMF basis of faith.
The Life of God in The Soul of Man, by Henry Scrougal (IVF, 1961, 80 pp., 2s.). A seventeenth century semi-mystical tract which influenced the Wesleys and John Newton.
A Guild to Christian Reading, by A. F. Walls (IVF, 1961, 157 pp., 6s. 6d.). A total revision of an earlier work; it now lists over 1500 books with notes and index. Evangelical standpoint mainly, though other works also listed.
The Activity of the Holy Spirit Within the Old Testament Period, by J. C. J. Waite (London Bible College, 1961, 23 pp., Is. 6d.). The production is poor, but the substance is good. Mr. Waite examines the neglected subject of the Spirit’s work among Old Testament saints.
Living With My Lord, by Elmer A. Kettner (Concordia, 1961, 76 pp., $1). A Christian Growth Study Guide.
Preaching the Nativity, edited by Alton M. Motter (Muhlenberg, 1961, 136 pp., $1.95). Nineteen sermons by nineteen ministers, such as James Pike, Gerald Kennedy, Ralph Sockman, Martin Marty.
1962 Daily Manna Calendar, edited by Professor Martin Monsma (Zondervan, 1961, $1.95). A devotional reading for each day of the year. Written by various evangelical ministers.
Christianity and Aesthetics, by Clyde S. Kilby (Inter-Varsity Press, 1961, 43 pp., $1.25). Brief but sharp probe into aesthetics from a Christian point of view.
The Roman Letter Today, by A. Leonard Griffith (Abingdon, 1961, 77 pp., $1). Good essays on great Roman texts (first published 1959).
Reprints
The Gospel According to St, John 11–21 and The First Epistle of John, by John Calvin, edited by David W. and Thomas F. Torrance (Eerdmans, 1961, 327 pp., $4.50). This is a volume in the completely new translation of Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries into modern (and excellent) English.
God’s Freedom, by Donald Grey Barn-house (Eerdmans, 1961, 260 pp., $4.50). Volume VI of Bamhouse’s exposition of the Epistle to the Romans.
Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, by Heinrich Schmid (Augsburg. 1961, 692 pp., $4.75). Compilation of theological statements from prominent Lutheran theologians of 16th and 17th centuries.
Fundamentals for Today, edited by Charles L. Feinberg (Kregel, 1961, 657 pp., $5.95). From this statement of Christianity vs. modernism of 50 years ago, “Fundamentalists” derived their name.
A Protestant Primer on Roman Catholicism, by Angelo di Domenica (Osterhus, 1960, 168 pp., $2.50). Deals with problems of a mixed Roman Catholic-Protestant marriage. Revised edition; first published in 1949.
Human Development, Learning and Teaching, by Cornelius Jaarsma (Eerdmans, 1961, 301 pp., $6). A Christian approach to educational psychology. First edition 1959.
Basic Christian Beliefs, by Frederick C. Grant (The Macmillan Co., 1961, 126 pp., $2.95). Basic Christian truths discussed by long-time professor of New York’s Union Theological Seminary. First printed 1960.
Many Infallible Proofs, by Arthur T. Pierson (Revell, 1961, 317 pp., $3.75). Author, late nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister, had special concerns for Christian missions.
The Dartmouth Bible, by Roy B. Chamberlin and Herman Feldman (Houghton Mifflin, 1961, 1257 pp., $10). Contains historical background of Bible, section on Dead Sea Scrolls, and chapter on biblical interpretation through the Ages.
God’s Methods for Holy Living, by Donald Grey Barn-house (Eerdmans, 1961, 181 pp., $3). Practical lessons for holy living.
300 Sermon Sketches, by Jabez Bums (Kregel, 1961, 396 pp., $4.50). Sermon outlines for those having trouble in making their own.
The Religions of Tibet, by Helmut Hoffmann, translated by Edward Fitzgerald (Macmillan, 1961, 199 pp., $5). Translated from German edition of 1956.
Faith’s Venture, by Mrs. Howard Taylor (CIM, 1960, 160 pp., 6/6 paper and 8/6 cloth). A reprint of Hudson Taylor’s shorter biography designed to introduce the busy reader to the illustrious founder of the CIM.
Christ Is All: The Gospel in Genesis, by Henry Law (Banner of Truth, 1960, 188 pp., 2/6). Originally appearing in 1854, these sermons by an almost forgotten nineteenth-century Evangelical leader are clear, direct, and forceful, and show forth Christ in a popular and relevant way.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne, by A. Bonar (Banner of Truth, 1960, 192 pp., 2/6). Reproduces the Memoirs of Robert Murray M’Cheyne published in 1840, but without the notes and appendices of the 1892 edition. The toils of this saintly minister make most rewarding reading.
Justification, by James Buchanan (Banner of Truth Trust, 1961, 528 pp., 15/-). Discussion of justification by faith from perspective of classic covenant theology (first published 1867).
Moses the Law Giver (Baker, 1961, 482 pp., $2.95), and Joseph the Prime Minister (Baker, 1961, 241 pp., $2.95), by William T. Taylor. Biographical sermons by competent preacher and writer (died 1902).
