YOUR MOVE
A friend of mine was chaplain of a hospital ship during the last world war, and his ship was among those that steamed into Tokyo harbor for the signing of the peace treaty with Japan on the “Mighty Mo.” Thinking, quite naturally, that this was to be a great historical occasion, my friend decided to write down exactly what happened as the ship moved into the harbor.
He had the word from the bridge as to how he could tell exactly when the ship crossed the invisible line into the harbor, and at that moment he jotted down two things that happened. One, a cook came out of the galley and threw some garbage into the sea. Two, a little motorboat drew alongside and a man yelled through a megaphone, “What movies ya got?” Thus history passed.
Two days ago (as this column is being written), I was glued to the television set watching the flight of the Gemini. This highly serious business had to be interrupted by the people who pay the bills, and the first interruption was an advertisement for “Petticoat Junction.” Never having seen “Petticoat Junction,” I was at the least shocked by such an earthy interruption. The next interruption informed us all, “You are now the Pepsi generation,” which was illustrated by happy, carefree youth. If we are the Pepsi generation, those rows of men watching their dials to keep our precious cargo in flight didn’t seem to realize it. The third interruption had to do with “insured savings,” and we were assured that this sort of thing could keep a man safe for life. This was hard to believe in terms of the Gemini dreams.
Maybe the reason the Russians are out in front is that they don’t get lost in the suds of “Petticoat Junction,” the Pepsi generation, and assured savings.
PRESBYTERIAN TRENDS
Thank you for the fine April 9 issue. I especially want to add my word of appreciation for the letter by Edward W. Stimson, “The Threat to United Presbyterians,” and the reports on the march at Selma and the Chicago meeting of Presbyterian men.
Mr. Stimson has carefully described the decline of the United Presbyterian Church as it is occurring through seminars, committees, executives, and conferences. There are many laymen and pastors who agree with him and would stop the deflection from the Westminster Confession of Faith if possible.…
First Presbyterian Church
Jerseyville, Ill.
As I have observed in my lay leadership in UPC since 1955, the conservatives have too long compromised for the so-called “Presbyterian Peace” of the denomination. Now they have before them a piece of liberal legislation.…
The reported comments of the Rev. Louis Evans, Jr. (News, Apr. 9 issue), as to the losses in membership by the Presbyterian Church I can well attest to. When as Sunday school superintendent I voiced my vigorous disapproval of the neo-orthodox curriculum “Faith and Life” and resigned because of my convictions, my family one by one returned to an evangelical Lutheran congregation. The neo-orthodox minister got his curriculum, but he lost an active family in Sunday school leadership.
Brigantine, N.J.
Edward W. Stimson suggests that a neo-orthodox minority led by Eugene Carson Blake is presently engaged in a conspiracy to abandon historic Presbyterian standards against the will of the majority in the United Presbyterian Church. I hope the letter is not taken seriously by many readers; the argument is tenuous, depending upon several unproven assumptions and not a few half-truthful and even untruthful allegations.
Mr. Stimson’s treatment of the experimental “Service for the Lord’s Day” and the Joint Committee on Worship which drafted it is typical of his method. Since this is, allegedly, one prong of the “five-pronged steam-shovel scoop” employed by the conspiracy, one could expect the “Service for the Lord’s Day” to be the conspiratorial product of a minority within the church. Actually, everything in the service is in strict accordance with the “Directory for Worship,” a constitutional document agreed upon by a majority of the church through their representatives after free and ample public debate. The service itself was printed and distributed in order to determine the will of the church. Certainly the Joint Committee has shown good faith in preparing recommendations for the General Assembly.…
The placing of the sermon immediately after the lesson is neither new nor un-Presbyterian; … early Reformed Christians worshiped in this manner, and such practice is even one of the recommended options in the present (1946) edition of the Book of Common Worship! There is no inherent reason why such practice need reduce the sermon to an “expository homily” nor subordinate it to ritual prayers. The lectionary was produced in conformity to the constitution for optional use. Since its use is optional, neither the minister’s freedom to choose his text nor his freedom in the pulpit is in any way threatened. Mr. Stimson’s assumption that the Joint Committee wishes such freedoms to be abridged appears to have no factual basis.
Mr. Stimson further suggests that the recommendations of the various special committees are designed to accommodate “our polity to Anglican-Orthodox requirements,” and he suggests that we ought instead to retain “characteristics favorable to reunion with our Southern Presbyterian and Reformed brethren.” This criticism is especially inappropriate in relation to the Joint Committee on Worship, since the committee included Southern Presbyterians and since the changes suggested are not particularly agreeable to Anglicans.
I am not a member of the Joint Committee; but, as a Presbyterian minister, I have worked with the proposed service and on occasion have asked members of the committee for guidance. I am unhappy with many of the details of the service, but I have found the committee to be competent and loyal. Certainly the United Presbyterian Church is facing many problems, and everyone ought to be concerned with the course it is to take in the future; but irresponsible and misleading criticisms, and such Mr. Stimson’s appear to be, cannot but injure “our beloved Presbyterian Church.”
The Babcock Memorial Chapel
Ashaway, R. I.
I am grateful to Millard Schumaker for sharing his reply with me. Of course the session of each local church retains control of its worship service: the General Assembly cannot order the proposed “Service for the Lord’s Day” observed, and printed prayers remain optional. Yet if this order of worship is publicized and fostered by the General Assembly, some will feel they should adopt it.
So I ask, if it is used widely, and preachers make their sermons expositions of the Scripture lesson called for in the lectionary, early in the service, and have long ritual prayers as printed, or similar, in the later, more climactic position in the service, will it not actually tend to circumscribe their liberty in the choice of preaching subjects, and subordinate the sermon to ritual? And if we get seniors in every presbytery, controlling ministerial relations, may not the failure to conform in worship practice be noted as “uncooperative”?
Let me make it clear that I do not charge the Joint Committee on Worship with any insincere purpose or conscious conspiracy. The ablest way to precondition a committee is to handpick its members so that the desired result is a foregone conclusion. My main observation is that the Stated Clerk has either consciously or unconsciously suggested committee constituencies with a preponderance of people whose position he likes, or perhaps just has not sufficiently made himself observe the fair practice of suggesting committee memberships with balanced constituencies adequately representing the points of view he does not like. So we have a sincere Committee on Worship dominated by ritualists whose findings will not be used by the majority of churches. The same habit accounts for the new “Directory for Worship” in the constitution adopted a few years ago. The constitutional change was approved too easily by an assembly that went along with the committee recommendation without much debate, and by presbyteries whose members did not oppose it because they understood it was not compulsory and could be ignored by local sessions and ministers. It will be sad if the church spends all the money required for a new Book of Common Worship only to have its services of worship ignored even more largely than those in the present book.
My criticism on this score is late. I was too preoccupied opposing the Blake-Pike merger proposal at Buffalo, and didn’t want to oppose more than one major move at a time. Later I realized how the trend toward sacramentalism and ritualism fitted into the whole scheme of union. I hope current reaction to the “Service for the Lord’s Day” throughout the church may blunt one prong of the “steam-shovel scoop,” and that postponement of consideration of the “Nature of the Ministry” and “Regional Synods and Attendant Structural Changes” committee reports to 1966 evidences effective grassroots opposition.
Dundee Presbyterian
Omaha, Neb.
The fascinating aspect of Stimson’s [original] letter is not his concern for the neo-orthodox power-play which he thinks is rapidly taking over the United Presbyterian Church, but the impression one gets that he is really an Anglo-Scottish-American Puritan trying to thwart the intrusion of Continental Calvinism into the modern Presbyterian Church. This is evident both in his clarion call for opposing wings of Presbyterian belief to unite to fight contemporary Swiss heresy, and in several less theological areas where he chooses this Puritanism over Calvinism.…
Many United Presbyterians, like Mr. Stimson, are concerned for what they consider to be the abandonment of Reformed principles in the new “Service for the Lord’s Day,” with its prescribed prayers, the early sermon tied to the New Testament reading, its call for frequent communion, and its provision for a lectionary. But these provisions—except for the lectionary, which may be used or not—were at the very heart of Calvin’s theology of worship!…
Use of alcoholic beverages has been common to all Reformed Christians, except four generations of American Presbyterians. It became a thorny issue here only one hundred years ago, so to characterize it as “historic teaching” is a bit short-sighted. Now here the Puritan may be right for this indulgent age; perhaps this gift of God (Calvin’s term) must be rejected by socially concerned Christians.… W. FRED GRAHAM Department of Religion Michigan State University East Lansing, Mich.
I have been very thankful to your editorial staff for bringing us some information on the Presbyterian draft of a new confession. I hope that CHRISTIANITY TODAY will continue to keep the public informed. I am hoping soon that our elders will also subscribe to CHRISTIANITY TODAY in an effort to keep abreast with fast-moving developments.…
South Presbyterian
Syracuse, N. Y.
Cheers for courageous Edward W. Stimson for his gritty exposure of the tragic drift in the United Presbyterian fold.…
First Orthodox Presbyterian Church Sunnyvale, Calif.
Thank you for a periodical from which one can get the truth.
I’ve been concerned for some time about conditions existing in our church (United Presbyterian).…
Your last issue gave me some hope, because two articles indicated that there are a great many others concerned also.
Alton, Ill.
May the good Lord give us ten thousand men like Ed Stimson.…
Rockdale Church
(Evangelical United Brethren)
Rockdale, Ind.
Masterful analysis.…
Lake Street Presbyterian Church
Elmira, N.Y.
What concerns me is the tone … of the issue. I suspect it is too much like that of the modernist-fundamentalist era. It is a warlike mentality that has no place in the Church; namely, if you don’t agree with me you are a traitor; you have betrayed the Gospel and the Bible and have no right to lead in the Church.…
We are still reaping the bitter fruits of the hasty and personal abuse unleashed thirty years ago. I trust we have learned from that wretched experience how to talk about those things which are crucial, but of that I am not at all certain. In that unhappy time there was truth on both sides, a truth necessary to the other. The fundamentalist sought rightly to preserve the continuity and identity of the Gospel, a relevance to God. The liberal sought rightly to preserve a point of contact and the universality of the Gospel, a relevance to the times. To be forced to choose either/or is to sever a twofold truth which is the essence of the faith catholic.…
My own training and fellowship have involved liberal and conservative. We need each other, but we seldom talk together.…
The greatest evidence to me that the Spirit of God is in Vatican II is the invitation to Protestant observers to attend and to tell what they don’t like about the Roman Catholic Church.…
I am certain we need to recover a vital, living evangelicalism for our time in the Presbyterian Church. I mean, God willing, to work in that direction, and indeed already am. And there are many like me. But it will be in the context of responsible churchmanship and with ecumenical concern.…
Saint Andrew Presbyterian HUBERT BROM Iowa City, Iowa Professor Gordon Clark (“Two Religions”) certainly put his finger on what appears to be a most distressing anomaly among Protestant Christians today—the existence of two religions each claiming to be Christianity. At a time when the ecumenical movement is supposed to be in full swing, we are confronted with the specter of a cleavage more radical than that which separated the Reformers from the Roman church.
Clark correctly notes that it is no longer a matter of the issue of correct beliefs which divides Christians but the issue of the relevance of belief itself. On the assumption that change is both inevitable and good, reconstructionist Christians appear to be abandoning whatever remains of recognizable historic Christian beliefs. What was justified initially as an effort at improved communication and hermeneutics turns out to be nothing short of an abandonment of what it was that was supposed to be communicated.
I do not believe that this kind of Christianity can either produce new Christian conviction or revive old convictions. Instead it will probably lead to a kind of ineffective and inane eclecticism.
Department of Philosophy
Willamette University
Salem, Ore.
This is just simply to express my continued appreciation for CHRISTIANITY TODAY. YOU are intellectually respectable while being sound in the “faith once and for all delivered”—and also, while being conservative (if we must use terminology which does not always mean the same thing to each user) but not reactionary. In other words, for this middle-of-the-road Presbyterian, your journal has my continuing subscription, admiration, and respect.
Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church
Tampa, Fla.
In the March 12 issue a news item, “A Page One Debut,” dealing with the rewriting of the Westminster Confession of Faith, says, “The New York Times said last month that in considering a report from the United Presbyterian committee drafting a new statement of faith, the denomination’s General Assembly will be taking up a proposal ‘for the first major doctrinal changes in American Presbyterianism since its establishment in 1706.’ ”
And now, for the record, I have in my possession a copy of the Constitution of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, containing the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, and a Directory for the Worship of God. This Confession of Faith was adopted by the General Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1814 and by the General Assembly in 1829.
In writing of the Fathers of the Church, the preface of today’s Confession of Faith says, “In compiling the Confession of Faith, the fathers of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church had one leading thought before them, and that was to so modify the Westminster Confession as to eliminate therefrom the doctrine of universal fore-ordination and its legitimate sequences, unconditional election and reprobation, limited atonement, and divine influence correspondently circumscribed. All the boldly-defined statements of the doctrine objected to were expunged, and corrected statements were made. But it was impossible to eliminate all the features of hyper-Calvinism from the Westminster Confession of Faith by simply expunging words, phrases, sentences, or even sections, and then attempting to fill the vacancies thus made by corrected statements or other declarations, for the objectional doctrine, with its logical sequences, pervaded the whole system of theology formulated in that book.”
In the year of 1881, a committee was appointed by the General Assembly to revise the Confession of Faith and report to the 1882 assembly. The report was read and corrections made and unanimously adopted by the General Assembly in 1882 and transmitted to the presbyteries for their approval. The reports to the 1883 General Assembly showed that the Confession of Faith had been almost unanimously adopted. The General Assembly formally declared said book to be the Confession of Faith and Government of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and it carries the following admonition, “This book is now sent forth with the strongest convictions that it is in accord with the Word of God. Let it not be tested by tradition, but by the Holy Scriptures, the only rule of faith and practice.”
This for the record. Let us keep it straight.
Flint Springs Cumberland Presbyterian Cleveland, Tenn.
TO COUNTER THE REBELS
If you are aware of a pastor (sound spiritually) who is considering departing this life (unsound physically) and who would care to bequeath his library to a missionary who had to leave his books and seminary notes behind in the Congo where they were destroyed by rebels, please let me know. Africa Inland Mission
Box 49
Narok, Kenya
ASSASSINATION IN THE CLASSROOM
Thank you for your article in the March 12 issue, “Wanted: Christian Interpretation of History.” The author, Peter DeJong, so aptly stated the problem and the solution in the correct perspective.
I am a history major in college in California and am finding to my dismay that the great church leaders and reformers have been and continuously are being verbally assassinated in the classroom. My Western civilization instructor recently said, “We have no historical evidence that Jesus Christ was ever born.”
This is, of course, a plain lie. The clarion call of Mr. Dejong was quite audible to my ears, and his article renewed my confidence in the historicity of Jesus Christ and his Church.
Walnut Creek, Calif. RODERIC P. FROHMAN
BIBLE AND BULTMANN
This is a word of great appreciation for your “Let’s Return to God’s Word” (Editorials) in the February 26 issue. Increasingly pastors of my church … overwhelm me with their apparent … knowledge of Bultmann, Tillich, and others whose opinions, if valuable, are at best human. Increasingly I am concerned about their obvious lack of thorough acquaintance with the Bible itself.…
St. Louis, Mo.
It is my deepest conviction that the times of theological existentialism are gone. But I fear that Americans now take this nonsense over from Europe (as has happened in several earlier cases!). You should not do it. Our world needs a full-content Gospel, and not strange existential-Chinese language—as we call it here.
Tubingen, Germany
In a “world come of age” where everyone seems to think that he must demythologize and eliminate all “nonessential historical ballast such as the Incarnation and the Resurrection” (?), it is certainly refreshing to read the eternal scriptural truths reasserted dogmatically, and not reinterpreted existentially.…
Arlington, Mass.
Your magazine was first introduced to me by my father-in-law. After reading several “pass-along” copies, [a] special offer … prompted me to send for my own subscription.
God called me, about eighteen months ago, from the accounting profession and led me into the ministry. I am now attending seminary where (and I quote from a great theologian) “such heresies as Bultmann” are considered as authoritative. I have found that your magazine has come, to me, to be an oasis among the theological deserts.…
Adario Methodist
Shiloh, Ohio
TWENTY-NINE PALMS
I share the view of Paul S. Rees (The Minister’s Workshop, Mar. 12 issue) that to “palm off” someone else’s experiences as one’s own is plagiarism for the public speaker and sermonizer. I suspect, however, that many do not. Who has not heard the same illustration from several speakers told in the first person? Especially is this true of the humorous story.
It could be argued, I suppose, that since the first-person anecdote is much more effective, as Mr. Rees pointed out, to use a second-hand story as such is merely a recognized rhetorical device. I wonder how many preachers accept this reasoning? Perhaps a survey could be taken, but then we would be tempted to base our moral standards on a public opinion poll.
Director
Southeastern Wisconsin Youth for Christ
Racine, Wis.
AMPLIFICATION
On the daily radio broadcast from my study I read your March 12 editorial, “Meditation on the Moon,” to introduce the program for “The Pastor’s Study.” The program is a question and answer type whereby listeners call in questions or problems about the Bible, the Church, or some phase of Christian living and the minister at the microphone seeks to aid the listener. After reading your excellent and timely editorial I received a number of favorable calls indicating that the radio audience was appreciative of what you had written. I want to tell you this and encourage you to continue your fine work of Christian journalism.
Allen Avenue Christian
Reformed Church
Muskegon, Mich.
DEFINITION
Re “Confronting a Milestone” (News, Feb. 26 issue): Your statement that “Taylor (University), historically an evangelical school with an Arminian emphasis, has recently taken on a more ecumenical orientation” needs amplification.
The use of the term “ecumenical” is legitimate if it is meant to describe the spirit of fellowship enjoyed here among Christian scholars and students of most denominations and various theological backgrounds. What has been achieved and is cherished on the Taylor campus is not a unity based on the lowest common doctrinal denominator but a spirit of fellowship and mutual appreciation rooted in the supremacy of Christ which transcends less-than-essential doctrinal differences.
The strong Wesleyan tradition of former years has given way to an emphasis on the acceptance of the claims of Christ within the framework of the student’s own theological background, whether Arminian or more nearly Calvinistic. The college seeks transformation of life, not confirmation of any one “official” evangelical doctrinal position.
Taylor University
Upland, Ind.
Acting President
THOUGH NO RAISING OF HANDS
Charles A. Huttar deserves much praise for his scholarly and perceptive article, “The Church and Drama Today” (Feb. 26 issue). He openly and clearly faces an issue which has disturbed and is (unfortunately, in too many cases) still disturbing the evangelical church.
One comment, however, which Dr. Huttar makes disturbs me. “An indirect evangel rarely wins converts,” he states. “I should be surprised to hear of anyone’s being led to Christ by T. S. Eliot’s The Cocktail Party.”
True, when the play is performed publicly, perhaps no hands are raised in the back of the theater as the curtain closes on the last act. Yet is it not possible that the experience of viewing the play could serve as the initial impulse that would cause one to seek out the things of the Gospel? Eliot, in the play, certainly presents the human problem of a sane existence in a somewhat mad world clearly, and he does provide two sources of salvation: mutual toleration of a bad situation, or death serving that in which one believes. Cold, indeed, must be the viewer who cannot respond in some way to such a play.
Assistant Professor of English
Nyack Missionary College
Nyack, N. Y.
FOR SERMONS: INFERIOR DECORATIONS
There must be material for “Eutychus and His Kin” in the recent rash of book titles involving expressions and take-offs on expressions—the most famous of course being Honest to God and its answer For Christ’s Sake. Now comes Hellbent for Election (Zondervan) and God’s Frozen People (Westminster).
Perhaps these will give rise to some other books or at least sermon titles, such as “For Crying Out Loud” (“And he wept aloud … Gen. 45:2), “Good Grief” (“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief …,” 1 Pet. 2:19), or “Holy Cow” (“But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep … they are holy,” Num. 18:17).
I predict these would be sensational!
I enjoy Eutychus’s column in each issue. First Christian Church
Bowling Green, Ky.
May I express my appreciation for the letter of Eutychus 11 in the March 12 issue entitled, “Don’t Look Now.” It rings a bell that should raise some resonant chords in some other areas as well.…
I think perhaps Lawing’s “What If …” is saying more about the foibles of the present-day situation of Protestantism than any other part of the paper (not to discredit any other contributions, but to pay this cartoon a compliment).
Church of Christ
Palestine, Tex.
In recent months something new has been added on the page that carries Eutychus and his Kin which I find most stimulating. It is the cartoon under the caption: “What If …” I am making a central collection of them to illustrate their respective truth to my congregation.…
Parkview Baptist
Lake City, Fla.
A POSITIVE NEGATIVE
It was brought to my attention that there is a translation … error in my review of Berkouwer’s The Second Vatican Council and the New Catholicism (Jan. 29 issue). The statement, “The question may arise whether Berkouwer has sufficiently articulated the witness of the Reformation.… I believe the answer should be a firm ‘No,’ ” should have read: “The question may arise whether Berkouwer should have more articulated the witness of the Reformation.… I believe the answer should be a firm ‘No.’ ” The Divinity School HEIKO A. OBERMAN Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.
VIEWPOINTS VARY
I enjoy reading CHRISTIANITY TODAY and thank you for defending the Holy Scriptures so valiantly. Where the Bible is lost there also Christ is lost.
In a few weeks, God willing, I shall be eighty, and that means that one’s hopes are more and more set on the things in heaven.…
Concordia Seminary
Professor Emeritus
St. Louis, Mo.
May I tell you … how much I appreciate CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Personally, I feel that it is the best paper in the field. Some of the more liberal papers only suit me once in a while these days. CHRISTIANITY TODAY always gets to the heart of the matter and is a most valuable and helpful reminder to us of what the heart of the matter is.
Stevenson, Md.
I think CHRISTIANITY TODAY is a disgrace to Christian journalism.…
First Baptist Church
New Hartford, N.Y.
More strength to your elbow as you edit the finest, most liberal conservative magazine in the country.
The Methodist Church
Lakeland, Fla.
If CHRISTIANITY TODAY had no other value to me in my ministry, the poetry alone would more than make the paper worthwhile.…
Grace Church (Episcopal)
Ridgway, Pa.
It is not possible for me to express how much I have been inspired and edified by this outstanding magazine. Your articles are informative, inspiring, and objective. 1 have received the impression that you are seeking to inform and search for the truth, rather than become a bulwark for any particular religious viewpoint. I am convinced that you have one of the finest religious periodicals in print.
United States Air Force
Chaplain
New York, N.Y.
I would not give you 25ȼ for a carload of them [CHRISTIANITY TODAY].…
Our Fathers Church
Foxburg, Pa.
Thank you very much for your excellent magazine.… I have found it very instructive and useful in my university work. The constructive character, i.e., the biblical, evangelical orientation of the magazine, is of great importance—especially in these confused years.
Helsinki, Finland
CHRISTIANITY TODAY is our wonderful companion here in Japan, giving boost and power to our personal lives and to our ministry in missions.
Yamaguchi-Ken, Japan
Of all the magazines we get in our library—there are about fifty of them—we love and value CHRISTIANITY TODAY most.
Evangelize India Fellowship K. V. CHERIAN Kerala, South India Manager and Editor
