Today’s Evangelical Students
Christian Collegians and Foreign Missions, by Paul F. Barkman, Edward R. Dayton, and Edward L. Gruman (Missions Advanced Research and Communication Center [Monrovia, California], 1969, 424 pp., $15), is reviewed by Donald Tinder, assistant editor,CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
Will evangelicals “keep the faith” when the present generation of college students become the leaders? Does attending a secular college lead to departure from orthodoxy? Is foreign missionary service still a live option for college students? If you are interested in answers to these and many related questions, this book is essential reading.
Almost 4,000 of the 9,000 persons who attended the Missionary Convention sponsored by Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship in 1967 at Urbana, Illinois, took the trouble to fill out properly a lengthy questionnaire. The answers were computerized and analyzed and are splendidly presented in this book. The right-hand pages usually have two clear charts, each illustrating a one-or two-line statement. The left-hand pages elaborate.
An initial chapter introduces us to the delegates, their backgrounds, views, and goals. Then successive chapters focus on the ones from among the delegates who are (1) missionary candidates, (2) already missionaries, (3) seminarians, (4) new Christians, (5) non-Christians, and (6) Christians since early childhood. Next we see the differences that age and sex make. We look at a few of the questions in depth to see what the delegates are like according to such concepts of religious psychology as punitiveness and intrinsic religion. Finally, two chapters focus on the specifically theological questions and on the more “fundamentalist” respondents.
The cost of the book will keep it out of most individual libraries, but any evangelical school or mission board will need it. Dr. Barkman is a qualified social scientist, and the book meets the exacting standards for statistical evaluation. Yet at the same time the material is presented in such a way that the ordinary reader gets the point. One wonders why more statistical reports aren’t done this way.
We may hope that the next “Urbana,” to be held this December 27–31, will have a similar study made of its delegates. A breakdown by college major and precision regarding denomination would be useful. Also, the subcategory “fundamentalist” within the framework of orthodoxy is a little arbitrary, in my view. I think it better to leave that much maligned term to historical writing and find some other word for contemporary usage.
By the way, if you are worried about the future of the faith in the hands of educated youth, this book will reassure you that the Holy Spirit is still alive and active, raising a new crop of disciples of Jesus Christ.
Fruit Of A Disciplined Mind
Studies in the Fourth Gospel, by Leon Morris (Eerdmans, 1969, 374 pp., $8.95), is reviewed by Robert Mounce, professor of religious studies, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Leon Morris, principal of Ridley College, Melbourne, has established himself as one of the outstanding conservative New Testament scholars of our day. Studies in the Fourth Gospel, his eighteenth book, is a careful, thorough and balanced study of a number of technical questions that arose during his writing of a commentary on John. To work one’s way through these essays with care is to follow the disciplined mind of a serious scholar whose goal is a critical understanding of the text. One finds no fanciful conjectures or brilliant “reinterpretations” here, but rather the hard spade-work and cautious appraisal out of which lasting results are formed.
Dr. Morris finds that while John is in essential agreement with the Synoptics he writes his Gospel quite independently of the others, and he holds that John is to be taken seriously as a reliable historical source. There is good evidence that underlying the Fourth Gospel is the testimony of an eyewitness. In a detailed discussion of authorship Morris concludes that the simplest solution is that John the apostle is responsible for the Gospel. (Recent work on the date of writing is now more favorable to this traditional opinion.) An interesting chapter on variation as a feature of the Johannine style draws attention to the importance of this phenomenon in interpreting certain passages (such as 3:5 and 21:15 ff.). And finally, Morris contends that Qumran, far from being the cradle of Christianity, has underscored the uniqueness of the Christian faith; it may even have brought scholarship back from its “Hellenistic dispersion” to the land of Palestine as the place of origin.
My advice: buy it and read it!
Mixes Fact And Fancy
The Earthly Jerusalem, by Norman Kotker (Scribner’s, 1969, 307 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by J. Julius Scott, Jr., professor of Bible, Belhaven College, Jackson, Mississippi.
Rabbinic tradition affirmed that Jerusalem is “The Center of the Universe.” It held that the city was located on the axis of the earth and was the geographical fountainhead from which flowed God’s creative work. Although its cosmological centrality is open to debate, Jerusalem is unquestionably the spiritual capital of three faiths and at least two national groups.
Whatever the sentimental or sacred position ascribed to it, Jerusalem, like any other earthly city, has a cultural, social, political, and physical history. Beginning with the arrival of the early Canaanite settlers in the third millennium B.C., Norman Kotker here traces the story of Jerusalem to the present. He notes the changes brought as a succession of different inhabitants, religions, and cultures occupied the site. Often it seems that the book is obsessed with the violent, tragic, and brutal elements of the story of Jerusalem. But, as the author notes, the history of Jerusalem is marked with bloodshed and “has resembled hell—or at least modern man’s idea of hell—more than it has resembled heaven.”
Kotker is neither a historian nor a student of religions but a professional writer. While this enables him to view his subject with a certain detachment and objectivity, it leaves him lacking certain skills and insights that would have made for a better book. Much research and study went into his preparation of this volume, and the author quotes from a variety of sources. But his failure to evaluate the worth of the material he cites leads him to combine fact and fancy. And since he also neglects to identify the sources of his material, including direct quotations, the reader cannot make his own evaluation.
When historical reconstruction requires philosophical or theological interpretation, Kotker shows no awareness of conflicting views. In handling the Old Testament material he is influenced by nineteenth-century biblical criticism. His explanation of the development of the Hebrew religion is naturalistic and claims more influence by contemporary paganism upon the biblical faith than this reviewer believes is warranted by the facts. In portraying the events and stages through which Jerusalem has passed, Kotker often compresses long periods of time or expands single instances. As a result the reader gets an uneven, hopscotch view of the city’s history.
The author faithfully reports the conquest of Jerusalem in the Roman wars of the first and second centuries A.D. Almost cynically he describes the sometimes ludicrous search for relics and “holy sites” in the following years. But he fails to note that the complete destruction of the city by the Romans makes the positive identification of most of the places in Jerusalem noted in the biblical narratives virtually impossible.
Of special interest and value is the summary of the history of Jerusalem during the Crusades. Kotker’s portrayal of the plight of Jews in the land they call their own from the Hadrianic destruction until the present provides a useful background for understanding the attitudes of modern Israelites. The final chapter, in which he attempts to describe the physical structure and mood of modern Jerusalem, is probably the best written and most valuable part of the book.
The Earthly Jerusalem is well conceived and attractively printed (but overpriced). Its inaccuracies and historical generalizations, however, make it of little benefit to the layman. And its lack of documentation and of the exercise of critical skills renders it of negligible value to the student or scholar.
Seeking To Be The Church
Struggle for Integrity, by Walker L. Knight (Word, 1969, 182 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by E. Milford Howell, secretary of missions and stewardship, Baptist Convention of Maryland, Lutherville.
Inner-city churches by the thousands are struggling for their very existence. So are many suburban churches located in declining and changing neighborhoods faced with integration. Many churches are just rocking along watching membership decline, depending on present members to travel several and sometimes scores of miles each Sunday so they can maintain at least a semblance of worship and ministry. Very few of these churches have found a way to reach the people living nearby. Faced with these problems, many a church has sold its property and moved.
One exception is Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur, Georgia, and in this book Walter Knight dramatically tells the impressive story of this church’s struggle to be “the Church” in a changing neighborhood. Knight was for a number of years the editor of Home Missions, a Southern Baptist monthly journal. For more than a decade he was a member of Oakhurst Church. In describing the church’s “struggle for integrity,” he seeks a balance between the racial issues involved and the many other dimensions of the struggle and leads readers to know the struggle was basically theological.
As we follow the story of Oakhurst, we are led to ponder the true mission of the Church. Knight shows us a congregation that found itself struggling to pay for its building in a declining community while it ignored community needs. In time the members decided to sell some of their new buildings in order to minister to the needs of the community in the name of Christ. After months of wrestling with the idea, most of the members were not unduly disturbed to see attendance in Sunday school, worship services, and other activities decline, and finances diminish; they felt this was part of fulfilling what they had come to believe to be the mission of their particular church.
Not all will agree with the definition Knight gives of the Church. Yet more will today than would have five years ago. Unless hundreds of other inner-city and suburban churches are willing to give careful heed to the implications of this book, they may be seeing their closing years or months.
Plain Talk About Satan
Your Adversary the Devil, by J. Dwight Pentecost (Zondervan, 1969, 191 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Wick Broomall, retired Presbyterian minister, Atlanta, Georgia.
No one can say that there are too many books about Satan. Competent books on this subject are not plentiful. In Your Adversary the Devil, J. Dwight Pentecost, professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary, gives us a very useful survey of information on Satan.
Each of the twenty chapters begins with a passage of Scripture. The first two chapters deal with “The Fall of Satan” (interpreting Ezekiel 28:11–26) and “The Sin of Satan” (interpreting Isaiah 14:12–17), and the last with “Satan’s Destiny” (a study of Revelation 20:1–10). Among other subjects are “The Hierarchy of Satan,” “How Satan Operates,” “Christ’s Conquest of Satan,” and “The Believer’s Authority over Satan.”
Pentecost considers Satan a defeated being: “When Christ went to the cross, He entered into combat with Satan and, by defeating Satan through the resurrection, He authenticated His authority.” In fact, “God, by receiving Him up into glory, demonstrated that He was enthroning Jesus Christ in the place of authority.” There is only a short step from this statement to the position that Christ, having conquered Satan by His death and resurrection, is now the King of glory at the right hand of God seated on the predicted throne of David (Luke 1:32, 33; Acts 2:30, 31). But Pentecost, the author of Things to Come and Prophecy for Today (two classic works on dispensationalism), does not, I regret to say, take this short step.
Do not look in this book for detailed scholarship. There are no scholarly footnotes, no references to other books, no index. But these deficiencies, if such they be, will make this book more appealing to those who want to know in simple language what the Bible teaches about Satan.
The Church And Mass Media
Television-Radio-Film for Churchmen, by Peter A. H. Meggs, Everett C. Parker, and John M. Culkin, S. J., edited by B. F. Jackson, Jr. (Abingdon, 1969, 317 pp., $6.50), is reviewed by Gwyn Walters, professor of ministry, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Wenham, Massachusetts.
The members of the triumvirate presiding over the arena of modern communication—television, radio, and film—emerge in this volume as foreboding and forbidding as well as full of glorious potential for churchmen. Use of the term churchmen rather than Church personalizes the issue of the relation of Christians to mass media. Each churchman may ask whether he is a gladiator or someone cast to the lions of the consumer public.
The authors raise significant questions about the use the Church must make of these three media. They point out that these are relatively new gifts that God’s people can use to influence the culture even as the culture through them influences the Church. They urge us to examine more deeply the relation of man to his culture and to arrive at a theological anchorage. Are the media products or instruments of social change? Are the boundaries of God’s kingdom coextensive with those of society? Is the mission of the media to “tell it like it is”? Should churchmen use them at all for duplicating the traditional church operations, or should they be wholly innovative? How can they meet the listeners’ demand for service as well as indoctrination? Is not communication the fundamental religious act? How can churchmen use the media to “inseminate the expectancies and guiding images through which people will handle life” and “make religious motivation and faith the pulse of civilization and the seedbed out of which the cultural renewal and redemption will grow”?
The authors describe the problems of the religious broadcasting “Sunday morning ghetto” and suggest ways of persuading networks to change their policies. They challenge churchmen to enhance religious programming and offer several concrete suggestions about programs that might “vivify … revelation, stab awake, scandalize, upset and redirect lives.…”
Some readers will question the theology implicit in some of the statements and proposals in the book and conclude that for the authors Christ is more a “place to be” (as with some of the radical theologians) than a “place to stand.” The danger may be too much present to water down the unique objectivity of the revelation in Christ and to “eisegete” him into unlikely situations. The detailed study of films in the third part of the book might appear to be vitiated by this approach. Notwithstanding the integral relation between ethics and religion and the need to tackle moral issues, the graphic presentation of the latter through the media is not synonymous with Christian interpretation of them, though Christians may use them for discussion. Anything whatsoever is potential for Christian discussion by churchmen, but such a program is not necessarily Christian or religious.
In discussing his particular category (television, radio, or film), each of the writers tends to make excursions into the larger matter of media in general. A longer introductory chapter on general matters and a more exclusive treatment of the three media individually would be preferable. As it stands, however, this is a valuable volume that may well serve to stimulate more evangelicals to explore the particular genius of the various media and with this knowledge to produce programs that are robustly Christian.
Book Briefs
Ex-Pastors, by Gerald J. Jud. Edgar W. Mills, Jr., and Genevieve Walters Burch. (Pilgrim, 1970, 191 pp., paperback, $3.45). Results of a two-year study of the lives of 241 United Church of Christ clergymen who have dropped out of the ministry.
A Handful of Dominoes, by James L. Johnson (J. B. Lippincott, 1970, 222 pp., $4.95). The Berlin Wall is the setting for the third “Code Name Sebastian” adventure novel.
Obadiah: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary, by John D. W. Watts (Eerdmans, 1969, 78 pp., $3.50). Features a short history of Edom and a study of the theology of Obadiah.
Creative Churchmanship, by Donald Bartow (World, 1969, 200 pp., $4.95). Specific suggestions for a more effective pastoral ministry and for a revitalization of the Church’s program through the effective use of volunteer help.
The Strategic Grasp of the Bible, by J. Sidlow Baxter (Zondervan, 1970, 405 pp., $6.95). Examines the structural design of the Bible and suggests a basic approach to the study of Scripture.
The Early Church Speaks to Us, by H. S. Vigeveno (Regal, 1970, 166 pp., paperback, $.95). This study of passages from Acts and the New Testament letters seeks to discover what made the early Church so successful.
Charity And Its Fruits, by Jonathan Edwards, edited by Tryon Edwards (Banner of Truth Trust, 1969, 368 pp., $4). Reprint of a classic exposition of First Corinthians 13.
Guilt: Where Religion and Psychology Meet, by David Belgum (Augsburg, 1970, 149 pp., paperback, $2.95). Studies the practice of several denominations in the field of pastoral care and asserts that where sin and guilt are the source of trouble, religion and psychology meet.
Last Words of Saints and Sinners, by Herbert Lockyer (Kregel, 1969, 240 pp., $4.95). This enlightening collection of “last words” covers the years of recorded history and includes the dying words of both Christians and non-Christians from all walks of life.
The Black Vanguard, by Robert H. Brisbane (Judson, 1970, 285 pp., $6,95). A history of the Negro social revolution from 1900 to 1960.
Communion Meditations and Prayers, by J. Harold Gwynne (Zondervan, 1969, 103 pp., $2.95). Suggestions for those who conduct communion services.
Thinkables, by James C. Hefley (Revell, 1970. 158 pp., $3.95). Provocative, practical meditations that speak to everyday problems of living.
Trumpets in the Morning, by Harper Shannon (Broadman, 1969, 156 pp., $3.50). A pastor tells why he feels that “the gospel ministry is the most thrilling and dynamic experience a person can have on this earth.”
New Life in the Parish, by Kenneth C. Senft (Augsburg, 1970, 90 pp., paperback, $2.50). Cites the need for renewal of local congregations and offers suggestions for achieving it.
It Was Good Enough for Father, by Ruth Wilkerson Harris (Revell, 1969, 128 pp., $3.50). The story of David Wilkerson’s family from great-grandfather to the present generation.
The Art of Understanding Your Mate, by Cecil G. Osborne (Zondervan, 1970, 192 pp., $4.95). Assumes that all married couples are to some extent incompatible because men and women are basically incompatible and offers practical suggestions toward a better understanding between husband and wife.
