Was The Pope To Blame?
Three Popes and the Jews, by Pinchas E. Lapide (Hawthorne, 1967, 384 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Jakob Jocz, professor of systematic theology, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario.
This work pursues a double purpose: it traces the origin of anti-Semitism to Christian teaching regarding the Jewish people, and it analyzes the attitude of three popes of our own century. But it differs from similar efforts by Jewish writers in that it tries to balance the good and the evil.
Of the three popes—Pius XI, Pius XII, and John XXIII—it is Pius XII who is the center of attention. This is understandable for two reasons: Pius XII was the pope during whose reign the Jewish people suffered its greatest tragedy; he is also the pope who is the central figure in Hochhuth’s play The Deputy.
Lapide’s presentation of the facts is not only scrupulously objective and carefully documented but also placed against the political stresses and strains at the time of the German occupation of Europe. The picture that emerges is quite different from that conveyed by Hochhuth’s play. Pius XII appears as a man of great humanity and dedication who exerted all his powers to alleviate human suffering. In view of the harsh criticism leveled against the pope as a result of Hochhuth’s play, it is of special significance that his actions should be vindicated by an Israeli writer of exceptional standing. P. E. Lapide is a Canadian-born journalist who has seen diplomatic service on behalf of the Israeli government, serves on the staff of the American Institute of Biblical Studies in Jerusalem, and is the founder of the first American kibbutz.
The author in no way minimizes the guilt of the church that has created an execrable image of the Jew in the minds of millions, thus preparing the ground for Hitler’s holocaust. But despite all the accumulated prejudice, the three popes acquit themselves as men of exceptional humanity in the midst of a world engulfed by racial hatred.
Lapide deals with the crucial question: Did Pius XII do all he possibly could do to save Jewish lives? Although the author is not prepared to say that the pope was without prejudice (there is an occasional hint that the fault was with the Curia and not with the pope), he freely admits that under the circumstances, he did his utmost. The pope’s concern for the persecuted Jews extended far and wide. His influence stretched to every land under German occupation and beyond. The result was that an estimated 850,000 Jewish lives were saved.
The central issue in Hochhuth’s play is the pope’s silence; he refrained from any public condemnation of the Nazi inhumanities while millions were being put to death. But Lapide is able to prove that the pope’s reticence resulted neither from personal fear nor from political expediency. He quotes evidence to show that any public pronouncement would have only resulted in a greater loss of Jewish lives. But the pope’s quiet, persistent work of rescue was effective.
Lapide presents us with a wealth of detail that brings nothing but credit to the Roman Catholic Church. The least honorable role was played by Polish Catholicism; but even here there were laudable exceptions, such as the Archbishop of Lwów, Andreas Szeptycki. The author’s indictment of the International Red Cross, the Swiss government, Great Britain, and the United States appears in stark contrast to the true human concern shown by the Roman Catholic Church. These facts must be humbling to humanists and those who hitch their hope to secularized society.
The short chapter on John XXIII is an outstanding and touching testimony by a Jewish writer to the saintly character of a remarkable man.
A few blemishes should be mentioned. Lapide’s excursions into New Testament history are too biased to be taken seriously. His theological analysis of anti-Semitism oversimplifies the facts of human depravity. That Pablo Christiani debated with “Mamonides” is obviously an error both in spelling and fact. That Isaiah 53 is in the past tense “without a single future implication” is contradicted by the text (cf. vv. 10 ff.). That the name of Mary’s sister was Mary makes no sense. That Israel discovered the One God contradicts the tenets of Judaism. That Paul’s name is the Roman form for Saul is unwarranted. But these are only minor faults in view of the importance of the book as a whole. Lapide has presented us with an outstanding piece of research in recent history that confronts us with the perennial question: What does it mean to be human?
Under The Hammer And Sickle
Iron Curtain Christians: The Church in Communist Countries, by Kurt Hutten, translated by Walter G. Tillmanns (Augsburg, 1967, 495 pp., $10), is reviewed by Blahoslav S. Hruby, managing editor, “Religion in Communist Dominated Areas,” New York, New York.
This is a timely and well-balanced documentary volume about the churches in Communist countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Communist China, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia) by a German Lutheran pastor and experienced religious journalist, Dr. Kurt Hutten. This moving history of the trials of the churches and thorough analysis of their struggle against the onslaught of various Communist systems (except in Cuba, Mongolia, North Korea, and North Viet Nam) is particularly welcome because there is now in the United States a considerable lack of concern for the suffering Christian brethren in Communist nations.
Many superficial observers believe that the conditions of churches in Communist lands have improved considerably with the practice of “coexistence” and “dialogue between Christians and Marxists.” Their wishful thinking was not affected even by the recent revelations of Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva. In their naive optimism they fail to see the ambiguity of the situation. Dr. Hutten, who for twenty years has been following closely the policies and attitudes of Communist governments toward various churches, gives both sides of the picture in an objective and critical appraisal.
Hutten presents a touching and impressive account of many modern heroes in the struggle between Communist totalitarianism and Christianity, such as Beran, Dibelius, Ordass, Mindszenty, and Wyszynski, as well as of many Christian martyrs of Communist persecution and genocide who paid the supreme price before the firing squads or in prisons and concentration camps rather than betray their faith in Christ. He also gives account of those who denied Christ and allegiance to their churches. And yet this is not propaganda of some highly emotional anti-Communist crusade.
The author questions the actions and attitudes of such advocates of a close cooperation with Communists as Josef Hromádka of Czechoslovakia and Albert Bereczky of Hungary. He also offers examples of division in Christian ranks caused by religious intolerance in the past and exploited by Communists in the present situation. The brutal assimilation of Uniates by the Orthodox Church following Communist policy in Ruthenia, Ukraine, and Romania is one of the most depressing events in the church life of Communist nations.
The longest chapter, that on East Germany, is particularly significant at a time when the problem of Germany has become more and more urgent for all who are seriously concerned about world peace and the future of Europe. The vitality of the Protestant church in East Germany and its courageous struggle to maintain organic unity with the sister church in West Germany against all the harassments and intimidations of Walter Ulbricht’s government should, perhaps, serve as a warning to Christians in this country who from their safe places are eager to offer the German Christians their cheap advice on how to solve their problems—i.e., to bow to Communist demands.
Unfortunately, this invaluable book has no footnotes to identify its excellent sources and quotations. The translator did a good job but made numerous mistakes in transcribing foreign names and words. His use of words like “Czechia” instead of Bohemia or “Pravo-Slavian” instead of Orthodox is out of place. Far too many proper names, personal and topographic, are misspelled, incorrect, and confused to the extent that this book loses considerable value for a serious scholar.
But despite these shortcomings, this excellent background material on the vital subject of religion under Communism should find a place in the libraries of all people who are sensitive to the challenge of Communism and concerned about their brothers behind the Iron Curtain.
Church Rules That Enslave
A Modern Priest Looks at His Outdated Church, by Father James Kavanaugh (Trident, 1967, 199 pp. $4.95), is reviewed by Stuart P. Garver, Director, Christ’s Mission, and editor, “Christian Heritage,” Hackensack, New Jersey.
The burden the Roman Catholic confessional puts upon the parish priest is rarely appreciated by either the Catholic or the non-Catholic. The confession of sins—often as gruesome as they are grievous—is heard in strictest confidence, and it has always taken a traumatic personal experience to induce any man to divulge the agony of soul he suffers as a pastor to his people. Further, if he rebels against the abuses fostered by a sincere but rigid application of canon law to the personal tragedies unveiled within the confessional, he must of necessity be critical of the entire Catholic system. Thus, as every responsible author must know, not only will he be severely censored but he will probably be automatically suspended from exercising his priestly powers (a divinis). Father Kavanaugh, therefore, deserves a great deal of credit for having the courage to expose the outdated practices of his church.
What was Father Kavanaugh’s traumatic experience and what is his primary criticism of his church? I believe his experience was the discovery that what he calls legalism was unable to save him or his people. In this discovery his spiritual experience is incomplete. It is too negative. He accuses the legalism of the church of robbing him of his manhood, of warping his intellectual and spiritual life. He fails, however, to describe how faith leads to a richer and more satisfying life. He does not speak of the transforming grace of God in Christ Jesus, which is the power of God unto salvation. (Compare St. Paul’s: “I am what I am by the grace of God.”)
His primary criticism of his church concerns its uncompromising enforcement of outdated ecclesiastical rules that are irrelevant to modern man and powerless to help him attain fullness of life. “Legalism,” he declares, “has drained our theology, enslaved our people, and made hostile our non-Catholic friends.” Again, “Legalism allows Catholics to feel holy when they are only docile, Christian when they are only scrupulous observers of rules.” Again, “Catholic theology has become a scholar’s game. It is a code of rules accumulated in the petty wars of religious bitterness … a tale of tired truths, which only serve to rob man of personal responsibility and reduce him to the listlessness of a frightened slave.”
The book reflects in dramatic terms how Roman Catholic ecumenical renewal falls far short of the goals set forth by Protestant reformers 450 years ago. Then the rediscovery of the power of God, made available to every man by faith alone, cut through endless ecclesiastical red tape and laid bare the inexhaustible riches of God’s saving grace in Christ Jesus. Unless in today’s renewal men are brought to the same unfailing source of God’s redeeming power, many others will rebel with Father Kavanaugh against the sterile legalism of a dead faith.
Reading for Perspective
CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S REVIEW EDITORS CALL ATTENTION TO THESE NEW TITLES:
• The Church of the Lutheran Reformation: A Historical Survey of Lutheranism, by Conrad Bergendoff (Concordia, $9). The history of a world-wide communion that for centuries has emphasized Scripture, the Gospel, and the sacraments and by so doing brought Christ to men of all nations.
• The Indomitable Baptists, by O. K. Armstrong and Marjorie M. Armstrong (Doubleday, $5.95). The stormy but glorious history of Baptists in America is vividly related by a former congressman from Missouri and his wife.
• Setting Men Free, by Bruce Larson (Zondervan, $2.95). In a personal, biblical, and inspiring way, Larson describes the art of living as a Christian and the gifts God gives to believers for “The Great Adventure.”
Reconciling History And Eternity
The Meaning of the Old Testament, by Daniel Lys (Abingdon, 1967, 192 pp., $3.75), is reviewed by Charles Lee Feinberg, dean and professor of Old Testament, Talbot Theological Seminary, La Mirada, California.
Dr. Daniel Lys, professor at the Reformed Protestant Seminary in Montpellier, France, has undertaken the gigantic task of trying to disclose the meaning of the Old Testament in less than 200 pages. He accomplishes much because of his well-defined objective—to search for a valid hermeneutic of the Old Testament. He confesses difficulty at the outset because of the number of sacred writers, but he maintains the necessity of canonical unity. Lys insists that the exegete recognize the claims of the Old Testament writers in order to comprehend what they intended to say, whether he agrees with the message or not.
In my opinion, the most penetrating insights of the book are in chapter 3, where Lys treats the concepts of the priority of history (a negation of any concept of a revelation of eternity in time, or the denial of all divine revelation in human history) and the priority of eternity (in which all Old Testament elements are related to eternity). He is searching for an interpretative method that conciliates history and eternity and feels that typology does this best. His warning against subjectivism, definition of the duty of the exegete, discussion of the number of meanings in any text, disagreement with all natural theology, and proposal of elements in a viable appropriation of any text to life today are all valid and welcome. He leaves no doubt about the essential originality of the Old Testament. In treating the dynamics of revelation, he takes the accepted Calvinistic position.
Certain weaknesses appear—in his treatment of the canon, his acceptance of evolution “as a correct scientific thesis,” his assertion that Mark misunderstood Jesus’ parabolic teaching, his espousal of the exploded eponymic view, and his strictures on fundamentalism, which run into generalizations.
Throughout the work incisive logic is apparent. Witness the comment: “We are not merely to use the culture in order to express the message; we are to express the message in order to permeate the culture.…” Precisely so, and the admonition was never more needed. All in all, this author has given us a worthwhile contribution on a perennially interesting subject.
The Last And The First
The Last Adam: A Study in Pauline Anthropology, by Robin Scroggs (Fortress, 1966, 139 pp., $4.25), is reviewed by James P. Martin, professor of biblical interpretation, Union Theological Seminary in Virginia, Richmond.
This study of Adamic Christology in Paul discusses a motif that is of prime importance for the theology of the Apostle. It opens up the cosmic and collective aspects of Pauline theology, which have more and more come to the front in the exegesis of the Pauline letters.
Three chapters are devoted to the background of Old Testament thought, to Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and to Adam in rabbinic literature. The last two chapters elaborate Paul’s own theology of the New and Old Creation and the First and the Last Adam. In his introduction, Scroggs debates with the history-of-religions method of interpreting the Pauline theology of Adam. This argument is technical and for the experts. He discusses the theory that Gnostic speculations on an original man were the ultimate background for Paul’s thought, and also the theory that Paul’s Christology of the Last Adam is really a Son of Man Christology. He feels that the crucial question remains, not one of origins, but one of how Paul uses these motifs in their new environment. Thus Scroggs wishes to investigate the Pauline texts themselves in order to determine the function the material on Adam serves within its present context.
Too often Adam is interpreted traditionally in negative terms solely as the author of sin and misery. An important contribution of this book is its balancing argument that Adam is to be thought of also as an honored and exalted first man who reflects man’s created state as intended by God. Both aspects of Adamic theology are investigated throughout the Old Testament, the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, and rabbinic literature. “Of all the rabbinic reflections upon Adam, by far the most popular appear to have been those which spoke of his nature before the fall.” The rabbinic motifs on this theme include Adam as king, the wisdom of Adam, Adam’s relation to the angels, the glory of Adam, and the body of Adam.
These materials provide the background for the major purpose of the book, argued in the final two chapters. Here Scroggs endeavors to show that “Paul’s Christology of the Last Adam is primarily directed toward illuminating and assuring the Christian’s hope of an eschatological humanity.” His arguments with Bultmann’s anthropological interpretation are helpful, and he maintains a more cosmic perspective than Bultmann. Against Bultmann, Scroggs affirms that Christology cannot be dissolved into anthropology; that, rather, anthropology is derived from Christology. Paul thinks of man substantially as well as decisionally. The extra nos of the Christ event is not simply the reconciliation of the Cross; it is also the life of the resurrection through the Spirit. “Basic to Paul’s kerygma is the affirmation that Christ has brought to man, and therefore to the cosmos, the renewed existence Jews hoped for in the world to come: man is a new creation.” Paul does not use the term “new creation” as a metaphor.
Paul says much more about the Last Adam than about the first. “Christ is the true revelation of God precisely because he is the true man. The reverse is equally true.” Paul transfers the Jewish descriptions of Adam’s excellence before the fall to Christ. Nowhere in the epistles does Paul describe Adam as the perfect man before his sin. Christ is the perfect man, the true image of God, and our salvation may therefore be described as our being transformed into the image of Christ. This means that salvation looks for a new humanity, not as a religious ideal, but as eschatological humanity created by God through Christ and the Spirit. This eschatological humanity is realized ultimately through resurrection. Since, however, Paul believes that the day of the Kingdom has dawned with the resurrection of Christ, eschatological humanity is also a present phenomenon.
While it would be possible to criticize certain details of Scroggs’s argument, in my opinion his theological contribution is considerable and deserves careful study, especially by conservative Christians, who too often individualize Paul and interpret Adam too negatively, and make the first Adam the control for Paul’s understanding of Christ and salvation rather than the other way around. The materials of this book provide a solid biblical basis for modern talk about “humanization,” too much of which is vaporous, idealistic, and not, as it should and must be, truly Christocentric. Scroggs shows that Paul was Christocentric at this point.
Quite A Line-Up!
A Survey of Christian Ethics, by Edward LeRoy Long, Jr. (Oxford, 1967, 342 pp., $6.50), is reviewed by Jesse DeBoer, professor of philosophy, University of Kentucky, Lexington.
What Professor Long sets out to do primarily, he does very well. The book is a survey, and one who comes to it as such will find it extremely useful. It would serve as a principal reference for one who wants to begin study of Christian moral reflection. It contains very good summaries of the moral reflections of a great number of writers in the Christian tradition. I name just a few: Augustine, Benedict, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, William Law, Richard Baxter, Troeltsch, Tillich, R. and H. R. Niebuhr, John XXIII, Joseph Fletcher, Paul Lehmann, Paul Ramsey. Attention is given to many interesting people about whom one doesn’t usually hear much of anything. Spokesmen for Mennonites and Brethren are noticed and quoted. The Iona Community in Britain, the Taizé Community in France, the Shakers—these and others are sympathetically presented. We ought to be grateful for Professor Long’s immense service in presenting such a wealth of material.
He has sought to arrange the material according to broad projects and motifs. His Part II surveys formulations of norms (goals and rules) by Christian moral thinkers: this part is directed toward theory. It is subdivided into three motifs: the deliberative or reflective (appeal to reason), the prescriptive (stress on commands or rules), and the relational or contextual. Part III surveys how Christian moral thinkers have worked on application (“implementation”) of goals or standards. Here again there are three motifs: the institutional, the operational (use of power), and the intentional (a drive for special devotion or dedication). This organization allows the author to systematize the material. Although he does make comparisons, he does not argue for his own judgments or conclusions. He offers a handy theoretical frame. He does not claim it is the best: I would think it a mistake to suppose that there is one best theoretical framework, just as there is no single reason for instituting and maintaining government.
A few critical notes. Michael Novak, in a sentence printed on the dust jacket, applies the phrase “genuinely exciting” to this book. I did not find it so. It is enormously informative, full of material fit to be a starting-place for study and reflection in Christian moral thought. However, the conclusion, or the goal toward which the book works, is comparatively weak. The book ends with opposition to a policy of exclusiveness among different types of Christian moral thinking and with a plea in favor of polarity or complementarity. This ending is unimpressive because, I judge, the author does not do much Christian moral thinking on his own. This lack is perhaps due to a deficient grasp of basic issues. On these he is often obscure. There are feeble sentences, such as, “Christian ethics has something to do with the Bible,” and “Christian ethics has something to do with allegiance to God.” When he opens with a comment on what moral philosophy is like, he quotes from Harold H. Titus’s Ethics for Today! As for Aristotle’s conception of the goal of man, Long gives us only the name, i.e., “happiness”; he skips the much more important matter of how Aristotle worked out that to which he gave this name. One result of this is obscurity on what the use of reason amounts to, and this is serious. Part of a sentence on Aristotle reads, “Aristotle understood moral decision in terms of a wider knowledge of what man is and how he acts.” Wider than what? One more item: Long claims that Toulmin’s work in ethics shows “an interest in the problem of scrutinizing ethical statements as assertions of fact or feeling.” The alternatives offered are incomplete and misleading.
These samples betray what I consider a weakness in spotting issues, a drift toward inexact and undiscriminating writing and thinking. The weakness is philosophical.
Practicing The Presence
God Meets Us Where We Are: An Interpretation of Brother Lawrence, by Harold Wiley Freer (Abingdon, 1967, 207 pp., $4), is reviewed by Armin Gesswein, director, Revival Prayer Fellowship, Pasadena, California.
In this very practical volume the author shows the application of the 250-year-old secret of Brother Lawrence, the monastery cook, to a variety of up-to-date situations. This great secret was Brother Lawrence’s “practice of the presence of God,” not just in the church or in other so-called sacred times and places, but in his daily round of duty—cooking or whatever else he was called on to do. Indeed, Freer says, Lawrence was “more united to God in his ordinary occupations than when he left them for devotion in retirement.”
The author dwells on, expands, and almost kaleidoscopically turns over Brother Lawrence’s secret. He shows how we, like Lawrence, can turn our office, shop, kitchen, or school room into a continual “devotional,” how our work can become sacramental and holy through the abiding presence of Christ and his Spirit. In “Part One: The Man and His Message,” he shows what Brother Lawrence meant by “practicing the presence of God”; in “Part Two: Twelve Practices Opening the Heart of God’s Grace,” he enlarges on the ways in which we come to know God’s presence; and in “Part Three: A Call to a Maturing Faith,” he shows how Brother Lawrence’s secret matures faith through prayer.
All thirty chapters are almost equally practical and helpful. At the close Brother Lawrence’s famous letters and conversations are given in full. The book was developed through study groups and should be most helpful there, as well as in private reading.
Southern Comfort?
At Ease in Zion: Social History of Southern Baptists, 1865–1900, by Rufus B. Spain (Vanderbilt University, 1967, 247 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Samuel Southard, director of research, Presbyterian Board of Church Extension, Atlanta, Georgia.
Between 1865 and 1900, Southern Baptists were relatively unconcerned about the problems of society. This is one conclusion of this review of Baptist statements in denominational state papers and proceedings by Professor Rufus B. Spain of Baylor University.
The emphasis of the Southern Baptists was on preaching the Gospel for individual salvation, and in a predominantly rural South, this seemed sufficient. But gradually, by their actions if not by their preaching, Baptists admitted that social service was a legitimate goal of Christianity. The denomination did begin to show some interest in temperance reform, anti-gambling crusades, campaigns to eliminate political corruption and promote public morality, care of orphans and the aged, and other projects of social significance.
In comparison with other denominations, Southern Baptists appeared reactionary. Professor Spain concludes that they defended the status quo. Their attitudes were those of other white Southerners. Only on matters involving personal conduct or narrower religious principles did they diverge from the prevailing Southern society. In their conformity to Southern custom, they insisted on being both in and of the world. This charge is amply demonstrated in the book’s treatment of racial segregation in church and society. Southern Baptists remained at “ease in Zion” by upholding segregation and the superiority of the white man.
Vanderbilt University is to be congratulated for encouraging the printing of this scholarly monograph, which originally appeared as a Vanderbilt doctoral thesis. The bibliography and index are valuable. For those who do not wish to read the body of the book, in which the dreary conformity of Baptists is recounted from their weekly state papers, there is a short preface in which the problems of Southern religion are related to the larger concerns of American Protestantism and social change.
I hope that in the future Professor Spain or someone else will give more attention to the biographies and sermons of Southern Baptist leaders. These would probably reveal the reasons for their conformity to the Southern way of life and add a personal and theological element lacking in the present study.
Book Briefs
Living Psalms and Proverbs with the Major Prophets, paraphrased by Kenneth N. Taylor (Tyndale House, 1967, 745 pp., $4.95). For those who like their Old Testament literature terse and unadorned, this paraphrased version may have appeal. But lovers of the poetic artistry of the Psalms will be disappointed. For example, Psalm 19:1, 2 is translated: “The heavens are telling the glory of God; they are a marvelous display of His craftsmanship. Day and Night they keep on telling about God.”
Sexual Happiness in Marriage, by Herbert J. Miles (Zondervan, 1967, 158 pp., $3.95). Miles offers a Christian interpretation of sex in marriage. With sensitivity and candor he describes the intimate techniques that contribute to a harmonious relationship between husband and wife. Recommended for those planning to marry and perhaps for many already married.
The Mennonite Church in America, by J. C. Wenger (Herald, 1966, 384 pp., $7.95). A top Mennonite scholar-bishop considers the growth of his church from its planting in America in 1638 to the present, discusses its theology, and lays out guidelines for its future.
The Battle for Rhodesia, by Douglas Reed (Devin-Adair, 1967, 150 pp., $3.95). Reed presents the case against international action to topple Ian Smith in Rhodesia.
Daniel: A Detailed Explanation of the Book, by Geoffrey R. King (Eerdmans, 1967, 248 pp., $3.95). Conservatively oriented, conversational lectures by a British Bible teacher who accepts the historical veracity of Daniel.
Prayers to Pray Without Really Trying, by Jeanette Struchen (Lippincott, 1967, 62 pp., $1.95). How to succeed in the King’s business without really trying.
