Man Is No Dualism
Man: The Image of God, by G. C. Berkouwer, translated by Dirk W. Jellema (Eerdmans, 1962, 376 pp., $6), is reviewed by Andrew K. Rule, Professor of Apologetics and Ethics, Emeritus, The Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky.
I have learned to await with impatience the appearance in English of the successive volumes of Berkouwer’s series of theological monographs. This one is the eighth in a projected nineteen volumes. I have read them all so far, and expect to read them all and to study them repeatedly. One is amazed at the wealth of scholarship which they severally display. In this volume, for example, more than 430 authors are dealt with, many of them recent or contemporary continental scholars, though past history and English-speaking writers are not neglected. They are used in a perfectly natural way to clarify by example or contrast Berkouwer’s own thought. He deals with them fairly, sees what seems to him to be of value in each, but keeps consistently to his own insights. And these insights are those of the Reformed faith, based on a loving, believing, scholarly study of the Scriptures. In this volume alone, passages from 26 Old Testament books and from 24 New Testament books are dealt with, and each is interpreted in the light of Scripture as a whole.
Berkouwer is concerned to emphasize two features of the biblical view of man which are frequently neglected. First, man is always regarded as a concrete reality in his relation to God, that relation being not added to, but constitutive of, his humanness. To present man in himself, in his essence, whether the relation to God is then added or not, is to deal with an abstraction. Second, the image of God is to be found in the whole man—not in a soul, the body being denigrated or excluded; not in conscience, regarded as the “voice of God”; nor in the rational mind. For this reason the title is not, as one usually sees it, “God’s Image in Man,” but “Man: The Image of God.” A duality between body and spirit is to be recognized, but not a dualism of two substances. The excellent discussion here might perhaps be improved by some consideration of the various senses in which the term “substance” has been employed, to lead to a clearer definition of the sense in which the author uses the term.
This emphasis on concreteness and wholeness is consistently maintained as the author considers such relevant matters as the immortality of the soul, creationism, traducianism, and freedom. In each case various views are approved or rejected, as scriptural or unscriptural, according as they do or do not do justice to the whole man in his concrete relationship to God, to his fellows, and to creation as a whole. For this reason freedom must mean, not a power of contrary choice inherent in the will of natural man, but that freedom which man lost but receives again in redemption, to choose the will of God. The antithesis of creationism and traducianism is a false one, because each view rests on a dualism between body and soul. The immortality of the soul as an inherent, natural characteristic of man is to be rejected in favor of eternal life for the whole man in Christ Jesus.
In this, and in the other volumes of this series, one finds both a sound presentation of scriptural teaching and a very valuable survey of contemporary continental thought.
ANDREW K. RULE
Watch For Blurs
The Reformation: A Rediscovery of Grace, by William Childs Robinson (Eerdmans, 1962, 208 pp., $5), is reviewed by W. Stanford Reid, Professor of History, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
Believing that the teachings of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century still have contemporary relevance, Professor Robinson of Columbia Theological Seminary presents this book. His principal reason for doing so is that in the present “ecumenical era” the desire of some churchmen to bring about a great Protestant and Roman Catholic amalgamation cannot but lead to the blurring of theological lines. Therefore, in strong contrast to much present doctrinal indefiniteness, he has tried to state in clear-cut terms those things which the Reformers held most dear.
Professor Robinson endeavors, without apology, to explain what the Reformers taught. He does not attempt an all-inclusive systematic presentation, although individual chapters do follow a systematic plan. Because of their original character as lectures, some of the chapters overlap. In his first chapter he deals with “The Slogans of Grace,” such as sola gratia and solo Christo. He then turns to an evaluation of the significance of the Reformation as “The Rediscovery of God.” Chapter three is devoted to “The Gospel of the Reformation,” where he discusses the threefold mediatorial office of Christ. This leads next to a discussion of justification by faith, which is followed by a chapter on Calvin as a theologian. Chapter six is concerned with “The Preached Word”; the final chapter discusses “The Evangelical Church.” Thus he endeavors in a popular vein to touch upon the highlights of the Reformation.
In order to make clear the relevancy of Reformation teaching, the author quotes copiously from many modern theologians, thus demonstrating that the theological problems dealt with by the Reformers are anything but outmoded. In this way Professor Robinson has provided a valuable service to Christian people.
This reviewer, however, is somewhat disappointed that the author fails at times to state his position more incisively. In the light of Barth’s and Bultmann’s views of revelation, his discussion of Christ’s work as prophet leaves much to be desired. Had he followed a more systematic approach he might at times have made his position clearer. One may also take exception to some of his interpretations of the Reformers. The reviewer must call in question, for instance, his view that “Calvin interprets Scripture by no one organizing principle,” for this reviewer believes that the sovereignty of God’s grace in Christ Jesus dominates Calvin’s whole point of view.
The reviewer also feels that at times the unwary reader may be misled by quotations from, or references to, modern theologians who, in Professor Robinson’s hands, come to agree with Calvin’s views. At times one may receive the impression that Barth and Calvin agree on the doctrine of election, on the illumination of the Spirit, and on the relation of justification and sanctification, points which are, to say the least, debatable. Similarly, Bultmann’s view that God “makes Himself known to us in the preaching of His Word,” while sounding like many of the Reformers’ statements, surely holds a very different meaning—something which Professor Robinson might have pointed out. One may feel also that Robinson might have used to better advantage some of the nineteenth-and twentieth-century classical upholders of Reformation views, such as Hodge, Warfield, Kuiper, Bavinck, and Machen.
Despite these criticisms, the reviewer feels that it is good that Professor Robinson endeavored to set forth the testimony of the Reformation. While the book must be read with discrimination, it should indeed make us see once again that the Reformers are clearly our contemporaries dealing with our problems.
W. STANFORD REID
No Dodger
Sin, by Marc Oraison and others (Macmillan, 1962, 177 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by Georges A. Barrois, Professor of the History and Theology of the Medieval Church, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey.
This symposium on the Roman Catholic doctrine of sin was first published in French in 1959. It was written for the general public. We are happy to say that it is not one of those pieces of cheap vulgarization which do more harm than good by dodging real issues and by offering illusory solutions to insoluble problems. Protestant readers (I suppose these will be chiefly seminarians and clergymen) will have to give up the rash judgments so frequently heard: (1) that Roman Catholic theology does not take sin seriously; (2) that Roman theologians are hopelessly entangled in an obsolete scholasticism; and (3) that their teaching on sin is irremediably tied up with the ethics of a low-grade casuistry.
Marc Oraison, a French priest and psychiatrist, analyzes the fact of sin in the complex psychological setup of modern man, and Henri Niel, a Jesuit, scrutinizes the limits of moral responsibility, both individual and collective, in the light of modern research in depth psychology. It is obvious that all this is of prime importance for a working program of education, with emphasis on the positive, constructive aspects, within the framework of Christian belief.
The remaining essays are concerned with general theological perspective. François Coudreau, a Sulpician, studies the impact of sinfulness, a distortion and would-be negation, on God’s creation, and how creation involves the three divine persons. He is formal in stating that there can be no correct understanding of man’s salvation short of a trinitarian catechesis. Consequently, the modalities of salvation thus understood are examined by J. de Baciocchi, a Marist, who, like Coudreau, stresses the saving value of the glorification of Christ; this is a theme often overlooked in Western theologies, which unconsciously terminate the saving works of Jesus at the moment he died on the Cross.
The last essay, by the German philosopher Gustav Siewerth, ambitiously deals with the problem of original sin. It is a fluent and lucid presentation, and only informed theologians will realize the underground foundations on which the author has built. He is probably right in believing that unilateral views on original sin lead nowhere, or lead to false conclusions. His attempts at solving the problem in its fullness, however, labor under a twofold ambiguity. Original sin, as defined by Siewerth, consists in the fact that man, who cannot be fully human except in connection with God, lives from the day of his birth as if this connection did not exist. Quite so, but why call this necessary connection between man and his Creator a “grace”? If so, creation also is “grace,” but is this not stretching too far the meaning of the words? Furthermore, who is that man of whom Siewerth speaks? Is he “this man Adam”? Or is he every one of us, Jedermann? Every discussion of the nature of original sin seems futile, as long as this ambiguity is not removed. Medieval Augustinism could somehow overlook this difficulty, because its speculation moved on a supra-historical level, where the ultimate reality was that of the “Universal.” But modern theology does not work any more on the presuppositions of medieval realism. Today the Magisterium does not countenance the theory that Adam is Jedermann, and the decrees of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the “historicity” of the first three chapters of Genesis were upheld by the encyclical Humani Generis in 1950. Now there seems to be a contradiction between the mythical interpretation of Adam as Jedermann and the “historical” recording of the creation and fall of the father of the race—or are we overstating the case? At any rate, we are not certain that Siewerth reconciles successfully the mythical and the historical; moreover we feel that no amount of dialectical balancing would suffice, either, in order to solve a problem which we had better leave open.
GEORGES A. BARROIS
Winds Of Thaw
The Council, Reform and Reunion, by Hans Küng (Sheed & Ward, 1962, 208 pp., $3.95); Progress and Perspectives, by Gregory Baum, O.S.A. (Sheed & Ward, 1962, 245 pp., $3.95); and The Vatican Council and All Christians, by Claud D. Nelson (Association, 1962, 126 pp., $3), are reviewed by James Daane, Editorial Associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
Soft thawing winds are blowing through Protestant-Roman Catholic relations. Whence do they come? From both ecumenical Protestant and Roman Catholic sources. So far as the literature is concerned, the sources seem predominantly Roman Catholic. I know of no Protestant books of comparable irenic spirit and depth of concern as those of Küng and Baum. Whether do they blow? Though they are effecting a thaw in the long war of cool silence so that Protestants and Roman Catholics are speaking to each other again—the least Christians ought to do under any circumstances—the summer of unity in the bond of peace is regarded by neither side as imminent.
While the stream of Protestant books decrying Roman Catholicism continues unabated, Roman Catholics such as Küng (a Swiss) and Baum (a Jew) are “suddenly” acknowledging Protestant believers in Jesus Christ as saved but separated brethren who as one with them in Christ ought be one with them in the visible Church. Both breathe the sweet air of charity; both candidly admit Roman Catholic weaknesses, sins, and errors, and as frankly point to those in Protestantism. Both also admit that both Protestantism and Catholicism must be purged, reformed, and renewed if a far-off reunion is ever to be achieved; yet both place the primary emphasis on the renewal that must occur by the Spirit of God within the Roman church itself, and regard it as the indispensable prerequisite of reunion.
Most Protestants, even some of the clergy, know little about Roman Catholicism. Few have an adequate knowledge of that reformation of the Catholic Church which followed the Protestant Reformation. Protestants will find both Küng’s and Baum’s books highly informative, heartwarming, and such as leave a dull aching for a reunion that is as necessary as it is seemingly improbable—at least for a long, long time.
Henry P. Van Dusen has said that he is so happily pleased with Küng’s book that he would very much like to know Pope John XXIII’s reaction to it. Many another Protestant reader of books such as Küng’s and Baum’s will find himself asking the same question, for there is an undeniable change of spirit in many prominent Roman Catholics toward Protestantism. Even Martin Luther is receiving a much more objective and closer-to-the-truth appraisal than in the past.
Yet while Protestants ought to be thankful and of new hope, they ought not to become sentimental—a danger especially great among Protestants of small and vague doctrinal, positional commitment. Men such as Küng and Baum are hardheaded and realistic, and without intent to surrender what they hold to be truth. And the surprise which Protestant readers may share with Van Dusen at the explicit and outspoken assertion of such men as Küng and Baum that there is no hope for reunion except there be a renewal of the Roman church, ought to be a tempered surprise.
Protestants should recognize that the Roman Catholic insistence that reunion waits upon a renewal of the Roman church and a purifying movement of the Holy Spirit within it, rather than upon such occurrences within Protestantism, is not an unspoken admission that Catholicism rather than Protestantism needs a major overhaul. Speaking from within their theological conviction that the Roman church is the only Church, they can hardly allow that the spiritual renewal and reformation prerequisite to possible reunion could arise outside of their church. To assert that the power and spiritual resources needed to effect the necessary revitalization and reforming of the Church must occur within Protestantism would be a concession that the Church is located in Protestantism rather than in Catholicism. Van Dusen’s surprise, which we may share with him, should attach rather to the fact that Roman Catholics are speaking about the required renewal, than to their saying that it must occur within the Roman church.
The Vatican Council and All Christians is a helpful aid to all who desire to know something of the terminology and the internal organizational machinery of the Roman church in order to follow intelligently the events of the Second Vatican Council as the Roman Catholic Church seeks to renew its spiritual life and remarshal its energies.
JAMES DAANE
Creeds And Unity
Creeds and Confessions, by Erik Routley (Duckworth, 1962, 159 pp., 15s.), is reviewed by G. E. Duffield, Member of the National Assembly of The Church of England.
Seven of this book’s ten chapters expound briefly but competently the classical 16th and 17th century Confessions of Faith. The author regards Confessions unsympathetically; in one place he even suggests hymns are a better basis for belief today (p. 145). Confessions are in constant danger of petrifying and restricting growth, he says, but we have to ask whether the growth is really growth or deviation. On page 133 he instances the appearance of a monastery in the Reformed Church at Taizé and the use of the Romish service of benediction in some Anglican churches. Both are deviations, without biblical warrant. Confessions can petrify, of course, but no one would object to changing them if it were clearly shown they are unscriptural.
Dr. Routley pinpoints episcopacy as the center of the modern debate, but fails to appreciate the reason. The present position is eloquent in expressing the almost total eclipse of Protestant thought in ecumenical circles and the domination there by Roman Catholics.
The author’s gathered church outlook prevents his appreciating the position of the national churches in England, Scotland, and Scandinavia. The question of Roman Catholic domination in WCC circles has been made more acute by the admission of the Orthodox. If evangelicals do not wish to be swamped they will have to reassert vigorously the need for a Confessional basis for unity, while possessing a clear recognition of the secondary matters on which disagreement is legitimate.
G. E. DUFFIELD
Murder Of Innocents?
Nuclear Weapons: A Catholic Response, edited by Walter Stein (Sheed & Ward, 1962, 151 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by William K. Harrison, Lt. Gen., United States Army (Retired).
On biblical grounds the Roman Catholic English authors are not pacifists: they recognize the right of a nation to defend itself against aggression even though innocent noncombatants may be killed during attack on a legitimate military target. On other biblical grounds (prohibition of murder) the book, as its major thesis, condemns the possession or use of nuclear weapons because their possession implies the intent to use them, and their use constitutes mass murder of innocent noncombatants. The writers also claim that nuclear weapons are not capable of providing security or effective defense. They advocate unilateral disarmament and confinement of resistance against aggression to nonviolent means. They obviously hope for support for their position by some future unequivocal official pronouncement by the Pope.
The great mass of an aggressor nation, it should be urged, is not innocent, because the ruler cannot govern, raise, or use military forces apart from its acquiescence. This responsibility of the individual citizen is illustrated by the authors in their advocacy of determined public opposition to nuclear armaments. A guilty national will is the prelude to the launching of aggression. Formerly, unnecessary killing of guilty noncombatants could be avoided because with the defeat of the aggressor’s combat forces the will of the nation was also defeated, and the nation surrendered. In nuclear aggression, however, the victim nation suffers devastation in a few hours. Other than by surrendering on demand, the only way it can avoid this devastation is to defeat the enemy will in advance by convincing the guilty ruler and his people of the certainty of immediate deadly retaliation. Nuclear weapons have brought the guilty will of the aggressor population into the open, face-to-face with its intended victim, rather than concealing it behind its armed combatants. The real innocents (incompetents and active rebels) in the aggressor nation cannot be isolated from the guilty mass any more than noncombatants can be distinguished from a legitimate military target. If defense of a nation was ever legitimate, nuclear weapons, horrible as they are, have not made it less so. The expediency of resisting nuclear aggression is a matter to be judged by national authorities.
It seems quite certain that if the Pope were actually the infallible and authoritative vicar of Christ, he would long ago have known and declared true guidance to the faithful in this terrible threat to mankind.
WILLIAM K. HARRISON
Book Briefs
Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament, by Albert Barnes (Kregel, 1962, 1763 pp., $12.95). All 11 volumes of Barnes’ notes on the New Testament, complete and unabridged in a single volume. Well-bound.
Chats with Young People on Growing Up, by E. Margaret Clarkson (Eerdmans, 1962, 93 pp., $2.50). Beginning with the sex life of a hamster, the author artfully teaches the basic facts of sex life to early teen-agers.
Our Amish Neighbots, by William I. Schreiber, with 100 drawings by Sybil Gould (University of Chicago Press, 1962, 227 pp., $5.95). Warm, candid account of the family life, courtship, marriage, religious life of the Old-Order, horse-and-buggy, no-gadget Amish people of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The story is well done, the numerous sketches delightful.
The Moderns: Molders of Contemporary Theology, by William C. Fletcher (Zondervan, 1962, 160 pp., $3). Essays on men (Schleiermacher to Bultmann) who have shaped current theology; long on good spirit, short on maturity.
A Legacy of Faith: The Heritage of Menno Simons, edited by Cornelius J. Dyck (Faith and Life Press, Newton, Kansas, 1962, 260 pp., $5.50). Significant, competent essays on the Dutch Anabaptist-Mennonites; a historical study that throws considerable light on the Anabaptist movement. With a glance at Swiss and Russian Mennonites.
The Pattern of Health, by Aubrey West-lake (Vincent Stuart, 1961, 180 pp., 25 s.). A doctor’s somewhat technical discussion of supersensory healing force, with a fascinating section on Christ’s healing miracles.
The Crescent and the Bull, by Erich Zehren (Hawthorn, 1962, 366 pp., $6.95). A history of archaeology in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Near East from the time of the curious amateur to the professional scientist of today. First published in Germany and in German in 1961.
The Committee and Its Critics: A Calm Review of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, by William F. Buckley, Jr. and the editors of National Review (Putnam’s, 1962, 352 pp., $4.95). The writers weigh the arguments that have been adduced against the HUAC in the light of the requirements of national defense and social freedom.
The Doctrinal Conflict Between Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity, by Mario Colacci (T. S. Denison, 1962, 269 pp., $4.50). A professor, formerly Roman Catholic, contrasts the respective Roman Catholic and Protestant positions which brought about the Reformation to discover whether there is hope for reunion.
Time And Its End, by Howard Alexander Slaatte (Vantage, 1962, 297 pp., $4.95). An existential interpretation of time and eschatology with special reference to Berdyaev and secondary reference to Kierkegaard, Cullmann, Barth, Bultmann, and others.
The Selected Works of Ryters Krampe, by Glenn H. Asquith (Judson, 1962, 96 pp., $2). A Baptist pastor writes under a pseudonym in order to say some things to churches, pastors, and people which he could not otherwise say.
Paperbacks
How to Fight Communism Today, by Lambert Brose (Concordia, 1962, 90 pp., $1). A punchy, journalistic case against Communism, carrying the blessings of Ray Scherer, NBC White House correspondent, and Vance Hartke, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Baptist Church Discipline, by James Leo Garrett, Jr. (Broadman, 1962, 52 pp., $.85). First reprint in more than a century of the oldest document on church discipline framed by Baptists in the South.
The Living Christ in Our Changing World, by J. Daniel Joyce (Bethany Press, 1962, 95 pp., $1.25). Four sermons lay bare the theological foundation of the Church’s evangelistic responsibility.
The Present Age, by Sören Kierkegaard (Harper & Row, 1962, 108 pp., $1.25). Kierkegaard’s criticisms of his times, which were to prove brilliantly prophetic. Also contains Kierkegaard’s essay Of the Difference between a Genius and an Apostle.
The Old Testament from Within, by Gabriel Hebert (Oxford, 1962, 153 pp., $1.75). A substantial presentation of the real issues of faith at various stages of Old Testament history. Thoroughly revised edition of The Bible from Within published in 1950.
Beyond Anxiety, by James A. Pike (Scribner’s 1962, 149 pp., $1.25). Bishop Pike gives his answer to the fear, guilt, loneliness, despair, inhibition, and frustration of men living in our age of anxiety. First published in 1953.
Jesus Christ and Mythology, by Rudolf Bultmann (Scribner’s 1962, 96 pp., $1.25). Bultmann in lucid explanation clarifies what his “demythologizing” of the New Testament means. A good place to begin the reading of Bultmann. First published in 1958.
Credo, by Karl Barth (Scribner’s, 1962, 203 pp., $1.45). Barth’s 1935 interpretation of the Apostles’ Creed; contains much of his Church Dogmatics in a nutshell. Moderately easy reading.
The Russian Idea, by Nicolas Berdyaev (Beacon Press, 1962, 267 pp., $1.95). A philosophical analysis of Russian history which traces social and religious currents and examines the prophetic elements in its nineteenth-century literature and thought. First published in 1947.
The Gospel Message of St. Mark, by R. H. Lightfoot (Oxford, 1962, 119 pp., $1.50). Eight scholarly essays on various aspects of the second Gospel, including one on Form Criticism. First published in 1950.
Why Work? The Christian Answer, A Case for Christian Labour Unions, by E. L. H. Taylor (Christian Labour Association of Canada, Rexdale, Ontario, 1962, 28 pp., $.30). An address which seeks to restore meaning to labor.
Red Blueprint for the World, by John W. Drakeford (Eerdmans, 1962, 166 pp., $2). An examination of Communist proposals, plans, and techniques.
A Theological Word Book of the Bible, edited by Alan Richardson (Macmillan, 1962, 290 pp., $1.95). 230 articles giving the theological meaning of key biblical words. First-time paperback edition of a 1950 publication.
