EDITORIALS
From the thousands of religious books published in this country during 1970, we have selected for special mention forty-six titles on subjects that are of broad interest. While these books are written from a perspective that accepts the Bible as normative, naturally the editors of CHRISTIANITY TODAY do not agree with everything said in them. Nevertheless, we feel they merit consideration. Scores of other commendable books are discussed in the three survey articles in this issue.
During the past year a number of new books showed solid evangelical reflection upon some of the problems confronting our society. One that every Christian should read is Your God Is Too White. Columbus Salley, who is black, and Ronald Behm, who is white, have provided a compact yet solid biblical and historical basis for understanding and doing something about racial tensions. Moreover, non-Christians, black and white, are confronted with the God who is not to be confused with his very fallible children. Two essentially sermonic books by black evangelist Tom Skinner, Words of Revolution and How Black Is the Gospel?, can also be read with profit.
Social problems provide approaches to the root of all man’s problems, his alienation from God. Yet this does not mean Christians are excused from doing something about the various problems of society and can confine their efforts to this common root cause. To do so is contrary to the clear teaching of Christ and the apostles that we are to love our fellow men in ways that meet their physical needs. The Meaning of the City by Jacques Ellul is a widely heralded book that says much of value about the problems caused by urbanization. In a related area, Francis Schaeffer offers a Christian perspective on environmental problems in Pollution and the Death of Man. More discussions of these matters are needed, especially on the practical level.
A crucial problem for the Christian is his relation to an imperfect government. Congressman John Anderson, practicing politician and evangelical, offers his reflections in Between Two Worlds. James Adams studies the politics of the “mainstream” denominations in The Growing Church Lobby in Washington, while Richard Pierard regrets the ultra-conservative politics of many of his brethren in The Unequal Yoke. Evangelist
Leighton Ford offers an approach to social issues that is different from either of these in One Way to Change the World.
As if these areas of race, urbanization, pollution, and government did not provide problems enough, our society is confronted with a growing crisis of the family. A book that all parents and parents-to-be should read is Promises to Peter by Charles Shedd. If what Shedd says on raising children were practiced even half the time, there would be much less need for parents to read High on the Campus, by Gordon McLean and Haskell Bowen, the best evangelical statement on drug abuse.
Christians who desire to speak to the problems of our time are confronted by the growing indifference among men from all walks of life toward what the Word of God has to say. Two outstanding books merit the attention of those grappling with the varieties of opposition to divine revelation. The Bible and Modern Doubt by Mack Stokes may well become a classic as a discussion- and reflection-starter (it aims to be no more) on an amazingly wide variety of perennial questions about the teachings of the Bible. “Secular Christianity” and God Who Acts by Robert Blaikie focuses on the leading religious thinkers (including many evangelicals) and decisively rebukes the attempt of nonevangelicals to confuse their readers by using biblical and historic theological terminology in a framework radically different from what the Scriptures intend to teach. One need not agree with all of Blaikie’s own understanding of the Bible to profit from his undertaking. On a more evangelistic level, My God Is Real by David Watson is a brief but compelling presentation of the Gospel with an awareness of the objections non-Christians have to it. Essays on the question of biblical authority are collected in Interpreting God’s Word Today, edited by Simon Kistemaker.
Often the men whom evangelicals consider to be outstanding scholars do not enjoy the same recognition from their academic peers. This is not true of George Mavrodes, who has contributed to philosophical dialogue of the first rank with Belief in God: A Study in the Epistemology of Religion. Two other aspects of modern existence rarely dealt with by evangelicals were confronted in 1970: H. R. Rookmaaker presented Modern Art and the Death of a Culture and J. N. D. Anderson offered Christianity and Comparative Religion. The latter is especially timely in view of the surge of Western interest in Oriental religion.
Yet the Christian knows that no amount of ethical and apologetical concern is of real value apart from the right relationship, positionally and practically, to the triune God. Two exceptionally good exegetical studies of the biblical teaching on the Third Person of the Trinity, especially in light of the Pentecostal understandings of him, appeared last year. A Theology of the Holy Spirit by Dale Brunner and Baptism in the Holy Spirit by James Dunn should not be read by those who are unwilling to change their minds. Pentecostals will be challenged to do even better exegesis if they are to maintain that their teachings are biblical, but non-Pentecostals will find that their own doctrines of the Holy Spirit do not necessarily conform to Scripture either. A related doctrine is that of the believer’s union with Christ, and Lewis Smedes studies it admirably in All Things Made New. An excellent presentation of biblical piety is A Call to Christian Character by professors at Conservative Baptist Seminary, and a good up-to-date book designed for devotional reading is Keith Miller’s latest, Habitation of Dragons.
Another area of broad importance is the practice of the community of believers. In A New Face for the Church Lawrence Richards makes specific suggestions for renewal that demand consideration. Three other books that deal more with general principles are: Donald Bloesch, The Reform of the Church, Francis Schaeffer, The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, and John Olthuis et al., Out of Concern for the Church.
Much has been written about the expansion of the Church, and four rather different approaches find places on our choice list. Michael Green studies Evangelism in the Early Church, emphasizing the New Testament data but bringing in relevant materials from the second and early third centuries. David Howard looks at the last two centuries in Student Power in World Evangelism. Donald McGavran, probably the leading evangelical missiologist, gives a fairly systematic expression of his thought in Understanding Church Growth. The speeches at the U. S. Congress on Evangelism in 1969 were published as Evangelism Now.
The Church is to grow not only in numbers but also in maturity. Despite all that has been written about it, Christian education is still a subject on which many well-meaning Sunday-school teachers are sadly uninformed. Creative Bible Teaching by Lawrence Richards offers general principles plus suggestions for each age group in highly readable fashion. Two good books for congregational leaders are Leadership for Church Education by Kenneth Gangel and Adult Education in the Church edited by Roy Zuck and Gene Getz.
The Top 46
ADAMS, JAMES L., The Growing Church Lobby in Washington, Eerdmans, 294 pp., $6.95.
ANDERSON, JOHN B., Between Two Worlds: A Congressman’s Choice, Zondervan, 163 pp., $3.95.
ANDERSON, J. N. D., Christianity and Comparative Religion, Inter-Varsity, 126 pp., $1.95.
BELL, L. NELSON, While Men Slept, Doubleday, 247 pp., $4.95.
BLAIKIE, ROBERT J., “Secular Christianity” and God Who Acts, Eerdmans, 256 pp., $2.95.
BLOESCH, DONALD G., The Reform of the Church, Eerdmans, 199 pp., $4.95.
BRUNER, FREDERICK DALE, A Theology of the Holy Spirit, Eerdmans, 390 pp., $8.95.
DUNN, JAMES D. G., Baptism in the Holy Spirit, Allenson, 248 pp., $5.75.
ELLUL, JACQUES, The Meaning of the City, Eerdmans, 209 pp., $5.95.
FORD, LEIGHTON, One Way to Change the World, Harper & Row, 119 pp., $3.95.
GANGEL, KENNETH O., Leadership for Church Education, Moody, 392 pp., $5.95.
GASQUE, W. WARD AND MARTIN, RALPH P. (eds.), Apostolic History and the Gospel, Eerdmans, 378 pp., $7.95.
GREEN, MICHAEL, Evangelism in the Early Church, Eerdmans, 349 pp., $6.95.
GUNDRY, ROBERT H., A Survey of the New Testament, Zondervan, 400 pp., $6.95.
GUTHRIE, DONALD, et al. (eds.), The New Bible Commentary: Revised, Eerdmans and Inter-Varsity, 1,310 pp., $12.95.
HARRISON, R. K., Old Testament Times, Eerdmans, 357 pp., $5.95.
HOWARD, DAVID M., Student Power in World Evangelism, Inter-Varsity, 129 pp., $1.25.
HOWLEY, G. C. D., (ed.) A New Testament Commentary, Zondervan, 666 pp., $7.95.
KISTEMAKER, SIMON (ed.), Interpreting God’s Word Today, Baker, 313 pp., $6.95.
LEWIS, C. S., God in the Dock, Eerdmans, 346 pp., $6.95.
MARSDEN, GEORGE M., The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience, Yale, 278 pp., $10.
MAVRODES, GEORGE I., Belief in God: A Study in the Epistemology of Religion, Random House, 117 pp., $2.25.
MCLEAN, GORDON R., AND BOWEN, HASKELL, High on the Campus, Tyndale House, 132 pp., $2.95 and $1.45.
MCGAVRAN, DONALD A., Understanding Church Growth, Eerdmans, 382 pp., $7.95.
MILLER, KEITH, Habitation of Dragons, Word, 188 pp., $4.95.
MONTGOMERY, JOHN WARWICK, The Suicide of Christian Theology, Bethany Fellowship, 528 pp., $7.95.
OLTHUIS, JOHN A., et al., Out of Concern for the Church, Wedge, 125 pp., $2.50.
PAYNE, J. BARTON (ed.), New Perspectives on the Old Testament, Word, 305 pp., $6.95.
PIERARD, RICHARD V., The Unequal Yoke, Lippincott, 191 pp., $4.95 and $1.95.
PREUS, ROBERT D., The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism, Concordia, 462 pp., $12.50.
RICHARDS, LAWRENCE O., Creative Bible Teaching, Moody, 288 pp., $4.95.
RICHARDS, LAWRENCE O., A New Face for the Church, Zondervan, 288 pp., $5.95.
ROOKMAAKER, H. R., Modern Art and the Death of a Culture, Inter-Varsity, 256 pp., $3.95.
SALLEY, COLUMBUS, and BEHM, RONALD, Your God Is Too White, Inter-Varsity, 114 pp., $1.95.
SCHAEFFER, FRANCIS A., The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century, Inter-Varsity, 153 pp., $3.95.
SCHAEFFER, FRANCIS A., Pollution and the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology, Tyndale House, 125 pp., $1.95.
SHEDD, CHARLES W., Promises to Peter, Word, 147 pp., $3.95.
SHELLEY, BRUCE (ed.), A Call to Christian Character, Zondervan, 186 pp., $4.95.
SKINNER, TOM, HOW Black Is the Gospel?, Lippincott, $4.95 and $1.95.
SKINNER, TOM, Words of Revolution, Zondervan, 171 pp., $3.95 and $1.95.
SMEDES, LEWIS B., All Things Made New: A Theology of Man’s Union with Christ, Eerdmans, 272 pp., $6.95.
STOKES, MACK B., The Bible and Modern Doubt, Revell, 286 pp., $5.95.
WATSON, DAVID C. K., My God Is Real, Seabury, 95 pp., $1.65.
WILSON, GEORGE M. (ed.), Evangelism Now, World Wide, 231 pp., $4.95.
WOOD, LEON J., A Survey of Israel’s History, Zondervan, 444 pp., $7.50.
ZUCK, ROY B., and GETZ, GENE A., Adult Education in the Church, Moody, 383 pp., $5.95.
The foundation of all ethical, apologetical, and practical concern should be a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures themselves. Two articles in this issue have called attention to scores of books that enhance Bible study. We single out seven general titles for mention again here. The New Bible Commentary: Revised and A New Testament Commentary are multiple-author reference works that many CHRISTIANITY TODAY readers will want to own. Old Testament Times by R. K. Harrison and A Survey of Israel’s History by Leon Wood will become the texts for many if not most college and seminary courses on the subject, while Robert Gundry’s Survey of the New Testament joins the ranks of elementary textbooks in that field. Two collections of scholarly essays are New Perspectives on the Old Testament and Apostolic History and the Gospel.
Three names well known to our readers appeared last year on collections of articles that were previously published in periodicals: C. S. Lewis, God in the Dock; John Montgomery, The Suicide of Christian Theology; and Nelson Bell, While Men Slept. Finally, we mention two scholarly and rather specialized titles that shed light on two sizable segments of contemporary evangelicalism, confessional Lutheranism and moderate Calvinism: Robert Preus’s The Theology of Post-Reformation Lutheranism and George Marsden’s The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.
Among the topics conspicuously absent from this list are war, the economy, contemporary music, women’s liberation, and abortion. Still, it was a good year for evangelical books. Beginnings were made in bringing the Scriptures to bear on some important topics that evangelicals have neglected, particularly in ethics and apologetics, and familiar topics were treated in fresh ways. Let’s make use of these products of writers who are exercising the gifts God has entrusted to them for building up his Church.
The Los Angeles Earthquake
The most obvious consolation in the otherwise sorrowful Los Angeles earthquake is that it occurred early in the morning. In another hour or so the freeways would have been jammed, and the death toll might have been in the hundreds or thousands. Interestingly enough, most of California’s earthquakes have hit at the safer night or early morning hours.
Only days before the February 9 tremor, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a report warning of the growing danger to buildings on the West Coast. The report quoted an expert who said that building codes have not kept pace with construction practices, so that it is now possible to design extremely hazardous structures that meet legal requirements.
An even more basic hazard, one that our society seems loathe to confront, is urban crowding itself. Earthquakes take a heavy toll in areas where there are too many people too close together. A host of other major problems also result from our great concentrations of population. Reason and a sense of Christian stewardship demand that we think more seriously of spreading ourselves out.
Gospel Rock
Shakespeare speculated on the meaning of music: “If music be the food of love, play on,” said the king in Twelfth Night. A point of controversy among evangelicals now is whether “rock” music can feed love—Christ’s love—to young people.
A number of the most popular songs on today’s secular market have religious themes. Some are even old church songs, like “Amazing Grace” (see News, page. 32), and this troubles some Christians. They wonder whether contemporary idioms such as rock are a legitimate channel for the Gospel. But musical appetites change with the years. The kind of music represented in our common gospel songs, and even that of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, was considered too avant-garde by previous generations of Christians.
To some, the medium of rock (hard, soft, or folk) depreciates the message. But to most young people today it apparently enhances the message. That being the case, the witnessing potential of new sounds in music is no myth. As hungry young people search for the true bread, these new sounds can provide good soul food if tied in with the authentic Gospel.
Where Giving Is Going
Experts in church finance say that overall giving to religious causes is holding up rather well. This may seem to contradict reports that American denominations are suffering serious financial setbacks. Actually, there is no paradox. Churchgoers are not putting less in the offering plate. They are merely redirecting their dollars.
More and more gifts are being designated for specific causes. They are also being channeled into local and regional programs in place of those that are geographically remote. This trend may imply some distrust of those who have distributed funds in the past, but it also represents commendably careful stewardship. And it is a healthy step that church people are getting more interested in the needs they find at their own doorsteps.
Pow Crusade
Dr. Jacob A. O. Preus, president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, issued a five-point appeal this month for a modern “crusade” to Southeast Asia on behalf of American prisoners of war and those missing in action. In the press conference announcing the program, Preus said he would try to secure support from other church leaders for a concerted day of prayer for the POWs, and would recruit churchmen to visit North Viet Nam and other war zones “in order that we can bring an unbiased account to the American people and the world of the conditions that exist in these camps.”
Dr. Preus said he felt that “these Communist leaders would be hard pressed to deny permission for a visit from a group of religious leaders with completely altruistic motives.” Several days later, in New York, the Lutheran Council in the U.S.A., representing 95 per cent of the nation’s nine million Lutherans, broadened Preus’s appeal to include a Day of Prayer for those “who minister to the military in the name of the Lord and the innocents who suffer the consequences of war.”
By mid-month, key religious leaders were strangely silent about the Preus proposal. Dr. Arnold T. Olson, president of the Evangelical Free Church of America, gave unqualified support to the March 14 Day of Prayer called for, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was reported to have written Preus of his “full support.” Evangelist Billy Graham, in a press conference the same day Preus announced the five-point program, gave qualified endorsement. “I’m for anything that will get these prisoners out of Viet Nam,” he said. “I’m hoping there will be some kind of settlement or exchange this year. World public opinion has a great impact.”
We think all men of Christian conviction should rally behind this drive to seek earliest possible release of POWs, MIAs, and missionaries and other civilians who are captives of the Communist regime. Church leaders should speak out now—forcefully. And if the prayers of first-century Christians effected the release of Peter from jail (Acts 12:5), why shouldn’t we pray “without ceasing” for the freedom of those incarcerated in Southeast Asia?
Jerusalem: Stop The Bulldozer!
Jerusalem: an urban sprawl of ticky-tacky housing from Bethlehem to Ramallah? Unthinkable! A horror to anyone who has seen the Holy City, shimmering golden in the early morning sun—Jerusalem, sacred to three world religions and the site of yet unspoiled biblical landscapes that cradled Christianity.
Mercifully—and doubtless providentially—Jerusalem has been spared such a blight, at least for now. Pending further aesthetic and urban-development study, Jerusalem mayor Teddy Kolleck postponed a controversial new Israeli high-rise housing project on the city’s rocky hillside perimeter. The plan will probably go through, but not, it is hoped, until a committee of international architects can excise its worst features. The project is part of a huge development program (the Peres Plan) that would eventually swell the city’s present population of 275,000 (about 60,000 are Arabs) to 900,000. The built-up area would then swallow up the Arab towns of Bethlehem, five miles to the south, and Ramallah, ten miles to the north.
Those who cherish the historic city should not let the bulldozer pulverize Jerusalem’s priceless heritage and push its unique skyline off the map. Jerusalem will grow, inevitably. But we hope a way will be found to preserve the best of the Old Jerusalem while making discreet room for the New. And we pray that restraining expansion into Arab sectors will soothe the volatile peace negotiations under way between the two protagonists.
Showing Compassion (Continued)
One of the characteristics of Christians is that they are (or are supposed to be) compassionate. The Gospels help us to understand what this means by identifying some of Christ’s deeds as being motivated by compassion (see December 4 issue, page 27, and January 15 issue, page 22). They also help by recording three parables of our Lord in which the compassion of one person for another plays a major role. The unsolicited but bountiful aid by a Samaritan to one who had been wronged was motivated by compassion (Luke 10:33). But compassion is not to be only for victims, for Jesus tells of a prodigal son who had done wrong, yet was given a splendid welcome home by a compassionate father (Luke 15:20).
Another parable illustrates an important dimension of divine compassion, that it is not an end in itself. Its purpose is to bring us into fellowship with God and send us forth as those who are compassionate to others. A wealthy ruler was moved by compassion to cancel an enormous debt (Matt. 18:27). But the forgiven debtor immediately proved unwilling to allow a little more time for repayment by someone who owed him only a trivial amount. When the ruler learned of this, he retracted his earlier compassionate act, and his wrath was upon the unforgiving man.
Our Lord tells us that his heavenly Father is like this. We as humans do not have the authority and should not have the desire to withdraw compassion, but we do have the obligation to warn men that if the) reject or ignore the great compassion of God by which Christ died for us, one day God’s judgment will fall. Likewise we must proclaim that those who have truly responded to the compassion of God will find the desire (though they do not always act upon it) to be compassionate to their fellow men. We are amazed at a man like the one in the parable who could be forgiven a tremendous debt and yet be unwilling to delay—not to mention cancel—a paltry sum owed to him. Yet how many of us, having been forgiven all our innumerable sins by God, are unwilling to forgive others the relatively few offenses they commit against us?
