An Aristocrat For Your Bookshelf
The Cambridge History of the Bible: The West from the Reformation to the Present Day, edited by S. L. Greenslade (Cambridge, 1963, 390 pp., $8.30), is reviewed by Calvin D. Linton, dean of arts and sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, D. C.
Very occasionally, a new book will begin to assert its importance the moment one takes it in his hands. The dignity of its format, the solid permanence of its binding, the excellence of its printing, the repute of its publisher, the significance of its title, the stature of its author—all make a quick appeal. This volume, the first of a projected two-volume Cambridge history of the Bible in the West, is such a book. Those who for many years have made room in their libraries for the fourteen-volume Cambridge history of English literature instinctively began deciding which peasant volume to push aside to make room for this new aristocrat.
Such courtesies over, however, it is necessary to scrutinize the newcomer’s credentials carefully. And, as with many distinguished personages, one finds at least enough weaknesses to keep his critical impulse alive without diminishing his admiration.
The basic claims to significance are those essential to such a history: comprehensiveness, authoritativeness, objectivity, currency of scholarship. As to the first, breadth is achieved not by giving equal attention to everything (with the inevitable consequence of superficiality), but by a highly selective set of topics chosen for concentrated treatment, each area handled by one of a score or more distinguished (and chiefly British) contributors. Writes Editor S. L. Greenslade, Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Oxford, “We have tried to give … an account of the text and versions of the Bible used in the West, or its multiplication in manuscript and print, and its circulation: of attitudes towards its authority and exegesis; and of its place in the life of the western Church.” It was not intended to “include the composition of the individual books, nor the historical and religious background and content of the Bible itself.” Neither was it intended to write a history or summary “of Christian doctrine, though considerable attention is paid to theories of biblical authority and inspiration and to principles and methods of exegesis.”
Necessarily, perhaps, given the editorial method and the above purposes, the volume is somewhat short on continuity. For the same reasons, however, one may select a particular essay—perhaps “The Religion of Protestants,” by the late Norman Sykes, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Cambridge; or “The Rise of Modern Biblical Scholarship and Recent Discussion of the Authority of the Bible,” by Alan Richardson, professor of theology, Nottingham University—and read it at one sitting, finding it self-coherent and complete. The range of styles is wide, particularly between those sections which undertake a closely textured, philosophical examination of the flow of ideas within a period (as does, for example, “Biblical Scholarship: Editions and Commentaries,” by Basil Hall, lecturer in ecclesiastical history at Cambridge) and those chiefly concerned with communicating, with encyclopedic exactness, large chunks of facts and statistics.
The reader at all familiar with the roiled deep of recent theological writing will naturally look for signs of “party bias” in editorial emphasis or essay content. The active partisan, however, will find little to comfort him; for throughout there has been sustained an admirable mingling of demonstrable scholarly competence and objectivity. Only one piece of fairly gross special pleading came to my eye; this was in the otherwise splendid section entitled “English Versions since 1611,” by Dean Emeritus Luther A. Weigle of the Yale Divinity School. In commenting on the Revised Standard Version (of the committee for which Dean Weigle himself was chairman), the author begs a sizable question rather blandly when he says that, “like the King James Version, the Revised Standard Version has endured some misrepresentations and attacks. But these have withered under honest scrutiny.”
Although the broad orientation of the book may be said to be that of liberalism, there is a very fair and appreciative appraisal of the modern conservative evangelical reaction against liberalism, and a clear recognition of the untenability of certain of the more advanced outposts of the older higher criticism. “With the development of religious thought in the twentieth century,” writes Professor Richardson, “the defects of the liberal view of biblical authority have become obvious enough,” particularly in view of the rapidly mounting mass of archaeological evidence supporting the historicity of the Bible. He sees the “conservative reaction” operating, first, as an ingredient in the Reformation reaction against medieval Roman Catholic scholasticism; and again in the eighteenth century against a kind of Protestant scholasticism.
In each case, the pressure was toward “a warm and personal experience of salvation. Beyond this it is also a reaction against the new historical criticism, especially its excesses. In each of these reactions its positive affirmations were both necessary and salutary.…” On the effort to psychoanalyze religion, he writes, “It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the psychology of religion has thrown no light on the mysterious processes by which the revelation of God is communicated to his prophets or by which the knowledge of God is born in the heart of the simple believer.” Spotted among vigorous contemporary trends are “a marked determination to take seriously the attitude of the Bible toward itself”; “interest in the question of the relation between historical event and divine revelation”; the question of “the relation of history to witness”; and the growing awareness that the “Bible in both Testaments is the witness of those who ‘saw and believed’ the things which God did in their day, and this is why the Bible is different from all other books.”
The last 120 pages are devoted to an epilogue by Editor Greenslade, two appendices listing aids for further study (mostly quite esoteric, but essential to advanced work), a separate bibliography for each chapter of the text, a separate binding for forty-eight beautifully printed plates, and an excellent index. All in all, a notable addition to the shelf of essential books for the pastor, the biblical scholar, the public and college library—and even for the general reader, for while there is no effort to popularize, there is an effort to speak clearly, no matter how complex the subject. Even the most casual reader will find much to enjoy—even if no more than a rather wryly apt translation of Acts 26:24 (from A New and Corrected Version of the New Testament, 1933): “Festus declared with a loud voice, Paul, you are insane! Multiplied research drives you to distraction.” (Almost as good as a 1768 version of what Peter said at the Transfiguration: “Oh, Sir! what a delectable residence we might establish here!”)
CALVIN D. LINTON
The Wall That Words Built
The Wall Between Church and State, edited by Dallin H. Oaks (University of Chicago, 1963, 179 pp., $6.73; paperback $1.95), is reviewed by James Daane, editorial associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
If the price of a book is determined by cost plus the size of anticipated market, the publishers of this book apparently expect a relatively small market. Its sale should, however, rebuke small expectations, for it is the best discussion I’ve seen of one of our greatest social problems.
The Law School of the University of Chicago recognized the need of Americans of diverse positions regarding church and state, religion in the schools, and federal aid to private schools, to meet together and listen to one another. To meet this need it summoned authorities of diverse positions to Chicago. Their essays, plus others written in response to them, constitute this book. The contributors are Robert M. Hutchins, Harold E. Fey, Robert F. Drinan, S. J., Paul G. Kauper, Philip B. Kurland, Monrad G. Paulsen, Murray A. Gordon, and William Gorman.
In a perceptive introduction Editor Dallin H. Oaks expresses hope that the metaphor “wall of separation between Church and State” will soon give way to something more accurate, because it is not found in the Constitution and tends to cut off discussion between those on one side and those on the other. To point up its inadequacy Oaks says the wall is one “that will admit a school bus without the ‘slightest prejudice,’ but is impermeable to a prayer.” He adds satirically that the metaphor may have its highest and best use as the title of a book.
Hutchins blows the trumpet and lays siege to the Jericho wall—one which seems to protect the interests of the Canaanites but thwarts those of the people of God. “Its past has not been brilliant; its future is not bright.” It entered the church-state discussion in an opinion of Mr. Chief Justice Waite, says Hutchins. The Chief Justice appealed—for other reasons—to a letter of Jefferson which contained the metaphor, and with that the metaphor entered to stay. This was in 1878. All remained quiet along the wall until the Everson v. Board of Education case in 1947. Since then the wall has obtained massive proportions, chiefly as something literary and ornamental. Hutchins agrees with Mr. Justice Reed’s observation that “a rule of law should not be drawn from a figure of speech.” The wall-builders, he contends, would have done better to pay more attention to the Constitution than to words appearing in what may have been a routine acknowledgment of a complimentary address, words written by a man who did not take part in the adoption of the First Amendment. The wall has done, he says, what walls usually do: “it has obscured the view. It has lent a simplistic air to the discussion of a very complicated matter.… The wall is offered as a reason. It is not a reason; it is a figure of speech.” He further observes, and quite rightly, that “a man who rests his opinion on the necessity of separation is bound to try to answer the question whether separation can, in fact, occur. If it cannot occur, then, according to his own doctrine, the state will be supporting religious teaching.”
Harold Fey argues for the strict maintenance of a wall of separation between religion and the state. His argument is the simplest and also the least convincing—except to those already convinced. “Wall of separation” makes a catchy slogan for those who adopt and make propaganda for Fey’s position—and quite obscures the fact that absolute separation, total neutrality, is impossible. Fey does not face the fact that a purely secular, humanistic education is after all a religious philosophy of education, namely, an irreligious one. It does not take much reflection to detect the incongruity of maintaining that atheism is a form of religion which must not be violated by a theistic religion or by prayers in a school, but that a wholly secularistic, humanistic philosophy of education is religious neutrality. Here lies the real problem for many Christians, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, with public school education, a problem which the simplistic appeal of Fey (and of many others) solves by pretending it does not exist. His reference to the Black Muslims and his contention that tax support for private or church schools would require the government to do what it cannot do, namely, decide on what is “orthodoxy,” diffuses more darkness than light. Aside from the consideration that in the present situation non-religious education is by the government judged “orthodox,” tax support for private or parochial schools of any religion or none does not necessitate a government judgment as to what is or is not “orthodoxy.” Indeed, in such a situation the government would be far more neutral than it is in the current situation, where “orthodoxy” in education is non-religious, or secular-humanistic, education.
No matter what one’s personal position on federal aid to private and parochial schools, the essays of Drinan and Gorman, both Roman Catholics, are by far the most scholarly, carrying tremendous persuasive power because they face the essential religious issues involved. Unlike the positions of Fey and Gordon, which a non-Christian or even an irreligious person has no difficulty in accepting, the positions of Drinan and Gorman touch the very essence of the problem of religiously neutral public school education, the problem which quite properly disturbs so many Christians. True, their position is complex and cannot be reduced to a slogan; but if the book as a whole proves anything, it proves that no mere slogan can contain the solution to the very complex problem at stake. The essays of both these men are rich with insights, and as they unpeel the layers of the problem, are extraordinarily rewarding reading. This review cannot relieve the person concerned with one of America’s most serious problems of the task of reading this book. It can only seek to induce him to buy the book and read it.
Perhaps such inducement may be incited by reporting Gorman’s contention that our American religious liberty is the “residuary legatee” of (1) religious people who suffered persecution in Europe and wanted “freedom from the state for religious communities” and of (2) people of the Enlightenment who in animosity toward all ecclesiasticism wished a pox on all religious houses and “wanted freedom from religion for the political community.” He continues, “The first wanted no intrusion of civil authority or power into the religious realm; the second wanted no intrusion of religious authority or power into the political realm. The first wanted politics not to corrupt religion; the second wanted religion not to corrupt politics.” The “neat enough” solution was the First Amendment, whose first sixteen words comprise two grammatically coordinate parts which seek to satisfy both groups. Our current controversy stems from an attempt to reconcile in history what was so easily compromised in language. Hence the solution cannot be achieved by a linguistic metaphor, for such a metaphor only obscures the reality of the problem in actual life.
The “wall of separation” has only a literary reality. Its defense seems real and valid if one is convinced by mere words and slogans. In the concrete flesh-and-blood actualities of American life, the wall does not in fact exist.
JAMES DAANE
Gain Or Loss?
The Life of The Celtic Church, by James Bulloch (Saint Andrew Press, 1963, 240 pp., 25s.), is reviewed by A. M. Renwick, emeritus professor, Free Church College, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Dr. Bulloch has rendered good service in writing this book on the Celtic Church, and presents his case with great clarity and attractiveness. His account of the Celts in the earlier days is able and refreshing, and his references to St. Patrick and St. Columba, written with much spiritual insight, are among the best in the book; but his criticisms of Columbanus (A.D. 540–615), who originated the vast and successful missions on the continent, are much too drastic. These missions were begun simply because of the deplorable state into which the Roman church and the Frankish people had fallen (see p. 81). The stern, unbending Irish saint and scholar was the right man to confront the brutality, immorality, and tyranny which prevailed, and he deserves great praise for his stupendous work.
We are told that the Celtic missionaries “caused particular inconvenience by their disregard of the authority of the diocesan bishops” (p. 86). Why should these lovers of independence, members of another communion, recognize an authority which had brought Gaul and other countries to the verge of ruin (pp. 80–83)?
The high praise lavished on Wilfred is exaggerated (pp. 75–80). He was a wily ecclesiastic whose fatuous arguments led the pliable King Oswy, at Whitby, to bring the Northumbrian Church into the Roman fold.
Dr. Bulloch holds (p. 79) that the entry of the Celtic Church “into the culture, discipline, and unity” of the Roman church produced a great enrichment of church life in England. Note, however, that the greatest culture in Europe was then in the monasteries of the Celtic Church. Discipline had broken down in many parts of the Roman church, and the boasted unity was a unity imposed by brutal force. The Celtic Church was outstanding for its piety, passionate love of the Bible, evangelical power, and purity of life. It could easily be shown that its absorption into the Roman hierarchical system was a staggering blow to spiritual religion in Europe.
A. M. RENWICK
For This Side Of College
The New Bible Survey, by J. Lawrence Eason (Zondervan, 1963, 544 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Wilbur M. Smith, professor of English Bible, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois.
Any conservative work whose object is to instruct the people of God about the Holy Scriptures is, if based upon careful investigation, worthwhile. In this one Dr. Eason, who before his recent retirement taught for many years at the University of North Carolina, has attempted to give a survey of all the books of the Bible, together with introductory chapters on the inspiration of the Scriptures, ways to read the Bible, the greater English versions of the Bible, and the land of Canaan. There are introductions to the Pentateuch, the Wisdom literature, the Old Testament books of prophecy, the Gospels, the letters of Paul, and the General Epistles. Most of the chapters conclude with helpful bibliographies. There is also a very extensive over-all bibliography and a commendable index.
This work has both merits and demerits. Probably many will regret that the author has arranged the books of the Old Testament in their supposed chronological order, “according to the best opinion of their order.” Thus, for example, one will find Jeremiah not immediately after Isaiah, but between Nahum and Habakkuk, and Lamentations follows Daniel. This will prove a little confusing to some and necessitates use of the Index.
There is one strange omission here: the Table of Contents says there is a “list of illustrations,” but no list is given. This is unfortunate; one does not know on what pages the maps can be found. The summaries of the biblical books are generally commendable. It would seem that three areas of writing have contributed extensively to the author’s material and to his answers to various biblical problems: the great New Bible Commentary published by Inter-Varsity, Dr. Anderson’s Understanding the Old Testament, and various writings of Professor E. J. Young of Westminster Theological Seminary. These works are referred to scores of times.
In places there is a disproportion in assignment of material: for example, the little Book of Micah receives practically as much space as the great and basic and difficult Book of Daniel; and as much space is assigned to the Book of Acts as to Mark, Luke, and John put together. And about the bibliographies I would add that although they are extensive, many important books, such as Boutflower on Daniel and Candlish on the Epistles of John, are not to be found in them.
The proof-reading is a little bit careless. The middle name of the great archaeologist. Dr. Albright, is in one case given as Foster instead of Foxwell, and the name of the late professor William G. Moorehead is incorrectly spelled throughout the volume. I believe I am correct in saying that there is no book by Dr. N. B. Stonehouse entitled Commentary on Revelation. He did write a very scholarly treatise on the history of the Book of Revelation in the early Church, but I do not think he ever wrote a Commentary on the Book of Revelation.
The work will be helpful in the study of the Scriptures in the home, and will aid some who are taking high school courses in surveying the Word of God. It does not come up to a collegiate level, and a great many problems in the Word of God that need to be faced these days are not referred to. All in all the book is sound, and the result of years of teaching. Its footnotes will be found helpful. It will have its place with those who are not acquainted with the larger volumes that embrace this same area of study.
WILBUR M. SMITH
Pious Legend
Interpreting the Miracles, by Reginald H. Fuller (S.C.M. Press, 1965, 125 pp., 8s. 6d.: Westminster [publishing date: Nov. 18, 1965], $2.50), is reviewed by Leslie R. Keylock, doctoral student in religion, Slate University of Iowa.
“Modern man is prepared to accept the healings of Jesus as due to his power of suggestion: the nature miracles … he can only dismiss as pious legend” (p. 121). This rather startling thesis gives the content of this book in a nutshell. Assuming that intellectual integrity forces the twentieth-century Christian to conclude that “there are no miracles, in the sense of breaches of the natural order” (p. 121), the English-born author, now professor of New Testament at the Episcopal Church’s Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois, approaches the biblical accounts of Christ’s miracles as a convinced disciple of Rudolf Bultmann. Utilizing the methods of form and source criticism, Fuller attempts to separate the biblical traditions into various strata according to their nearness to the original events. Needless to say, the book is interesting to read for its originality, but the majority of Christians will not be very happy about its radical conclusions.
The book divides quite reasonably into six chapters. Fuller’s opening definition of miracle in the biblical view eliminates “occurrences contrary to the laws of nature or what is known of nature” (p. 11). Rather is this world the arena in which faith recognizes the acts of God in history. On this basis the core of the book interprets the biblical miracles as form criticism suggests they must have appeared to a contemporary of Jesus, the changes which these mighty works underwent in the hands of the primitive Church, and finally the specific shades of thought on the miracles as seen by the eyes of each of the four evangelists. In a concluding chapter on preaching the miracles today, Fuller remarks, “The academic study of the New Testament can be an interesting intellectual exercise … but unless it is conducted as a service to the church in its mission to the world, it is a mere pastime” (p. 110). With laudable emphasis he says that “the preacher’s chief concern must be the meaning of the miracles for us, for his hearers today” (p. 113). The four examples which Fuller gives of the way a pastor might treat the miracles in a sermon will be considered the weakest part of the book by most readers, although what Christ can do for the existential predicament of modern man is touchingly outlined. To use the story of the miraculous draft of fishes as an occasion for an extended tirade against the “fundamentalist” view of miracle, for example, is exegetically questionable and provides a rather meager spiritual meal for a hungry Sunday-morning congregation. And to charge those who believe in the biblical miracles with intellectual dishonesty is at best unkind and lacking in ecumenical charity.
But the most serious criticism that can be made of this book is that it reflects a seriously defective Christology. The Christ who emerges from the pages of this book is a Christ whose deity has been so completely submerged that one feels Fuller regards it, too, as “pious legend.” He claims to believe in the deity of Christ (p. 110), but he repeatedly defines it as an “eternal relationship with the Father,” hardly a classical definition of the word. Although Fuller says: “That Jesus is God incarnate is a decision made by faith after it has been confronted by the history of Jesus, not an assumption to be made before we approach that history” (p. 19), at least one reviewer sincerely and honestly questions whether such a decision can ever be truly made when the history of Jesus is confronted as Fuller confronts it.
Although these criticisms are severe, they are not intended to be unkind. Nor should they be taken to suggest that the book contains no valuable insights. Like his German mentor, Fuller can at times couple his criticism with true evangelical fervor. His explanation of the significance of sabbath healing (p. 100) is most illuminating. His stress on the contemporaneity of the Gospel miracles (“The gospel miracles are not tales of what happened in far-off Palestine two thousand years ago, but proclamations of the works of Christ today,” p. 114) is one instance of a stress that is needed in the churches of America today. And as always works of this type perform an important intellectual function in that they do force us to ask ourselves whether we have accepted the biblical miracles too cavalierly and without an apropriate appreciation of the valid scientific demands of our time. If we disagree with the author’s conclusions, it is because we feel that they are not the only nor the most valid solutions to the questions which the biblical miracles pose in our generation.
LESLIE R. KEYLOCK
Good But Blurred
Towards a Theological Understanding of History, by E. C. Rust (Oxford, 1963, 292 pp., $6), is reviewed by C. Gregg Singer, chairman, Department of History, Catawba College, Salisbury, North Carolina.
This is a book that challenges the ability of any reviewer to deal fairly with the author and, at the same time, to uphold evangelical principles. There is so much of value in this work that one hesitates to issue any kind of a warning in regard to certain trends in the author’s thinking which tend to vitiate, to a degree at least, the insights which make the book of more than temporary interest.
Rust is at his best in the early chapters, in which he presents an analysis of the positions of the great philosophers of history, past and present; included are Greek and Roman writers, Augustine, Vico, Hegel, Marx, Dilthey, Comte, Spengler, and Toynbee. He offers trenchant criticisms of all deterministic theories of historical process, on the one hand, and of the optimistic schools of thought, on the other. His evaluation of Toynbee’s position is one of the best brief ones to have come to this reviewer’s attention.
Rust is quite emphatic that for the non-Christian history must forever remain an insoluble enigma, for the key to understanding it lies outside the historical process. For this reason he rightly repudiates the idea of a “philosophy” of history in the usual meaning of the word. Philosophy is unable to solve the riddle of history because it seeks the answers in the wrong place. He thus rejects the answers furnished by economic determinists and is equally disdainful of the optimism which characterized so much of the historiography of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The evangelical Christian will find much to agree with in the early chapters of this book and relatively little that he cannot accept. But when it comes to Rust’s development of his own theological interpretation of history, this is a different matter. Although the thought often seems to be evangelical and the language might well sound familiar to the evangelical, the orthodoxy of this section is more apparent that real. The lack of a sound biblical foundation greatly weakens this theological approach to history, for the theology involved is not consistently biblical in character.
The basic weakness of the book is found in its loose view of revelation. For Rust revelation does not consist of the written word only, but of acts and deeds as well. Now, of course, there is a sense in which this is true, but Rust fails to draw a clear distinction between general and specific revelation and tends to equate these forms in a neoorthodox manner. Although his exact position on the authority of the Scriptures may be difficult to determine, it is quite clearly not the position of historic orthodoxy, for he accepts the German higher criticism of the Old Testament as a matter of fact.
Although he criticizes Bultmann, he in turn calls for the demythologizing of what he calls the “Biblical images.” Rust also denies such vital Christian doctrines as election and predestination and insists that God respects human freedom and deals with it in omnipotent love. At this point there is a very distinct existential tone to his position, although this reviewer would think that Rust would probably deny with vigor any close connection with this philosophy. This in turn leads him to deny the substitutionary view of the Atonement, and he says that God did not need to be reconciled (p. 197).
Rust wrestles with the problem of the final end of history, but his discussion is seriously weakened by his refusal to accept a literal second coming of Jesus Christ. As a result, his eschatology is hazy, providing no final supernatural climax to the historical process.
All in all, we must conclude that Rust’s attempt to formulate a theological interpretation of history fails because of its lack of a satisfactory biblical frame of reference. His failure to see that the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ for human sin and the doctrine of election lie at the very heart of the biblical message, deprives him of the necessary ingredients for a theological interpretation of history. The many fine insights which are scattered throughout this book lose something of their power simply because they are not placed within a frame of reference which is consistently and truly biblical. Thus the total message of this study is blurred and blunted.
C. GREGG SINGER
It’S All Here
The Crusaders, by Régine Pernoud (Oliver & Boyd, 1963, 291 pp., 30s), is reviewed by J. D. Douglas, British editorial director, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
Translated into English by Enid Grant, this book was first published in 1959 in Paris under the title Les Croisés. Miss Pernoud sets out to show how ordinary people reacted to the Crusades; churchmen, barons, ladies, merchants, artificers—they’re all here. So too are the solders-of-fortune, the medieval carpet-baggers, the tellers of tall tales, and all the other hangers-on of an imaginative enterprise. Technical methods are fascinatingly dealt with: it is shown how the conquest was organized, how the West learned siegecraft (and built the first windmill), and how the Crusades led to a monetary system of exchange in Europe.
Though the book is well written, treatment of the subject in this fragmentary fashion rather than as a historical narrative stimulates a keener interest and at the same time necessarily blurs the chronology for all but the expert. A comprehensive index might have helped to set this right, but there is no index.
J. D. DOUGLAS
Book Briefs
Away in a Manger (Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1963, 32 pp., $3.50). Twenty-four imaginative Christmas paintings done by children throughout the world.
Apostle and Bishop: A Study of the Gospel, the Ministry and the Church Community, by A. G. Hebert (Seabury, 1963, 159 pp., $4). As an approach to Christian unity, an Episcopalian presents a study of the origin and development of the ministry of the Church. The real problem in the West, says the author, arose from the fact that Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Reformed, and Anglicans all righted wrongs in their own ways and with little regard for one other; the only hope for a solution now lies in examining one another’s remedies.
Perspectives in American Catholicism, by John Tracy Ellis (Helicon, 1963, 313 pp., $6). Twenty-three essays on the history of Roman Catholicism in America by a Roman Catholic historian.
The Millennium of Europe, by Oscar Halecki (University of Notre Dame, 1963, 441 pp., $8.95). The next few decades may decide whether or not the second millennium of Europe will end in disillusionment, as did Europe’s first 1,000 years. The author has faith in the durability of the Christian heritage.
John Doe, Disciple: Sermons for the Young in Spirit, by Peter Marshall, edited and with introductions by Catherine Marshall (McGraw-Hill, 1963, 222 pp., $4.50). A dozen sermons in the famous Peter Marshall style.
The Voice of the Prophets, by Rudolph F. Norden (Concordia, 1963, 161 pp., $2.75). Sixteen sermons which show how sixteen Old Testament prophets testified of Jesus Christ, and thus spoke to our times.
North of Heaven, by Agnes Sylvia Rodli (Moody, 1963, 189 pp., $3.50). The true story of two missionary teachers in an Indian village in the interior of Alaska. Not a “thriller,” but a record of missionary toil, failures, and successes.
To Light a Candle: The Autobiography of James Keller, Founder of the Christophers (Doubleday, 1963, 260 pp., $4.50).
Jacques Maritain, edited by Joseph W. Evans (Sheed & Ward, 1963, 258 pp., $5). Thirteen essays by thirteen men on thirteen facets of the life and thought of the Roman Catholic philosopher and cultural critic.
The Human Rift: Bridges to Peace and Understanding, by Noel Keith (Bethany, 1963, 128 pp., $2.50). Perceptive Christian essays which address themselves to the estrangement that cuts through human life—and to the possibility of conciliation.
Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Hebrews and I and II Peter, translated by W. B. Johnston and edited by David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance (Eerdmans, 1963, 378 pp., $6). A new translation replacing that of the Calvin Translation Society made in 1853 by John Owen; gives Calvin in clean, lucid English.
Borneo Breakthrough, by Sylvia Houliston (China Inland Mission, 1963, 204 pp., 10s). An account of missionary activity on this island over the last decade, relating the struggles against Communist oppression and its accompanying evils. Though incoherent in parts, it sounds a note of Christian triumph throughout.
The Religions of the Oppressed: A Study of Modern Messianic Cults, by Vittorio Lanternari (Knopf, 1963, 357 pp., $6.95). A continent-by-continent study of religious cults revealing what they are and the fermentative role they play in revolutions of the twentieth century. Useful to mission stations and to American embassies in foreign countries.
The Americans: A New History of the People of the United States, by Oscar Handlin (Little, Brown, 1963, 434 pp., §6.95). Not the usual kind of American history but one which focuses on the development of that national character which makes the American what he is today. Interesting and provocative, but twere better read for enjoyment and information than for a deep analytical insight into the American soul.
Bible Words That Guide Me, edited by Hubert A. Elliott (Grosset & Dunlap, 1963, 248 pp., §3.95). Sixty-three prominent Americans relate their prominence to a selected scriptural text; with line drawings and a biographical sketch of each.
Precede the Dawn: The Church in an Age of Change, by Samuel Wylie (Morehouse-Barlow, 1963, 126 pp., $3.50). The author writes knowingly about the present in which the Church lives and the changing future into which it moves. Good reading.
Guide of the Perplexed, by Moses Maimonides, translated by Shlomo Pines (University of Chicago, 1963, 658 pp., $15). A new translation of a book of rabbinical exegesis written at the end of the twelfth century—a book which contains both public and secret teaching about the meaning of the Law. With an introduction and notes by Shlomo Pines, and an introductory essay by Leo Strauss.
Mary, Archetype of the Church, by Otto Semmelroth, S. J. (Sheed & Ward, 1963, 175 pp., $3.95). A Roman Catholic discusses the place of Mary in Christian theology—one of the massive roadblocks in Protestant-Roman Catholic discussions about unity.
Commandos for Christ, by Bruce E. Porterfield (Harper & Row, 1963, 238 pp., $3.95). The exciting story of the life and work of pioneer missionaries as they made contact with unknown aboriginal tribes of Bolivia.
Paperbacks
Best Foot Forward, by Jerry Beavan (Walfred Company [1634 Spruce St., Philadelphia 3], 1963, 50 pp., $1.25). Brief suggestions about ways and means to bring the Gospel to the attention of the public. Plastic-ring bound.
God and Your Family: Devotions for Families with Children Ages 4–9; God’s Wonderful World of Words: Devotions for Families with Children Ages 9–13; Design for Family Living: Devotions for Families with Teen-Agers; New Courage for Daily Living: Devotions for Adults, by Lois Vogel, Charles S. Mueller, Roy Blumhorst, and Martin H. Franzmann (Concordia, 1963, 102, 102, 112, and 95 pp., $1 each). In the solidly evangelical Lutheran tradition.
The Nature of Protestantism, by Karl Heim, translated by John Schmidt (Fortress, 1963, 164 pp., $1.75). A Roman Catholic scholar looks hard at Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, and compares and contrasts them. A translation of Das Wesen des evangelischen Christentums, first published in 1929.
Three Men Came to Heidelberg, by Thea B. Van Halsema (Christian Reformed, 1963, 48 pp., $.25). The story of the production of the Heidelberg Catechism told in terms of the three men most responsible for it: a prince, a preacher, and a professor. Very well done.
Josephus: Complete Works, Illustrated, translated by William Whiston, Foreword by William Sanford LaSor (Kregel, 1963, 770 pp., $4.50; also in cloth, $6.95). Second printing of a great classic places it within reach of almost anybody.
Beliefs That Live, by William B. Ward (John Knox, 1963, 126 pp., $1.75). A lucid, readable exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, with application to modern life.
Worship and Congregation, by Wilhelm Hahn (John Knox, 1963, 75 pp., $1.75). Another study of what happens when a congregation is at worship.
Write the Vision: A Manual for Writers, by Marion Van Horne (Committee on World Literacy and Christian Literature, 1963, 128 pp., $2.50). A how-to-do-it book for those who have something to say.
Christmas: An American Annual of Christmas Literature and Art, edited by Randolph E. Haugan (Augsburg, 1963, 68 pp., $3.50). The spirit and delight of Christmas as captured in art, literature, poetry, and song—and even in recipes for Christmas cookies. A lovely, artistic Christmas gift of fine craftsmanship.
Philosophy and the World, by Karl Jaspers (Regnery, 1963, 314 pp., $1.95). Five essays by world-known existentialists on such topics as philosophy, Christianity, and doctor-patient relationships. With an autobiographical sketch of Jaspers.
The Book of Psalms, with commentary by Robert North, S. J. (Paulist Press, 1963, 80 pp., $.50). Twenty-two psalms of thanksgiving with brief explanations and a quiz test to aid self-teaching. Volume 46 in a Roman Catholic “Pamphlet Bible Series.”
God and Man in Music, by Carl Halter (Concordia, 1963, 79 pp., $1.25). An attempt to “think music through” from a Christian perspective.
The Life I Owe: Christian Stewardship as a Way of Life, by William J. Keech (Judson, 1963, 109 pp., $1.50).
Life of Elijah, by A. W. Pink (Banner of Truth Trust, 1963, 313 pp., 6s). A detailed life story of the prophet and his activities, spiritualized and applied to everyday Christian living. Excellent devotional study.
Death and Western Thought, by Jacques Choron (Collier, 1963, 320 pp., $1.50). A history of how men have feared, hoped for, or ignored death, with an evaluation other than Christian.
Instead of Death, by William Stringfellow (Seabury, 1963, 72 pp., $.95). From a context of theological definitions sometimes profoundly Christian and sometimes quite novel, the author addresses young people about the pervasive character of death—and the Resurrection—in an existential, provocative fashion.
Here for a Purpose, by Frank B. Fagerburg (Judson, 1963, 95 pp., $1.75). A series of well-wrought sermonettes for college students. Delivered at convocations at the University of Redlands, whose president thought them so good that he pushed their publication.
