GORDON J. VAN WYLEN

Chairman, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan

While I believe the Christian faith apart from its particular benefits, it touches my life in the university in three specific ways, namely: my work has purpose and significance because this is God’s world, and all study and learning are gifts of God to be used for his glory and the benefit of our fellow men; it provides enlightenment and understanding on many problems, from the pride of man to the future destiny of the human race; and it gives a motive and pattern for service through the example we have in the character and the incarnation and suffering of our Lord.

Robert B. Fischer

Professor of Chemistry, Indiana University

The explosively expanding frontiers of knowledge and its implications and applications make this an intensely exciting, yet awesome age in which to live. All these serve to intensify, but not really to modify, the relevance of Christ to the world. Man is a spiritual being, as well as a physical being, and only through personal faith in Christ can any individual be made complete. We as Christians, individually and collectively, must be ever alert to the urgency of bringing the fullness of the Gospel to the whole man.

C. C. Morrill

Chairman, Department of Veterinary Pathology, Michigan State University

The scholar in whatever field constantly searches for relevance. According to God’s Word, this search, to be most fruitful, must involve Jesus Christ for “in [him] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge … and ye are complete in him” (Col. 2:3, 10). By opening our spiritual eyes, he gives all of our knowledge new meaning—new relevance. Thanks be to God who has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son!

Richard D. Campbell

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, State University of Iowa

Modern science seeks to understand more about the strange, adverse creation in which man finds himself. By the power of disciplined human reason the scientist seeks knowledge which will hopefully improve man’s physical well-being. To believe that the knowledge of science is enough to fulfill the needs of the whole man would be a denial of man’s experience and a false hope.

From some minor triumphs of reason in the physical realm and dark gropings in the human intellect, the mind of man has been led by his own pride and conceit to the belief that he can solve all of his problems, physical, mental, and spiritual.

Only when man realizes the limits of human reason and turns to his Creator-God revealed in Jesus Christ, can he find a purposeful and satisfying life. “In Him is Life, and that Life is the Light of man.”

Robert H. Cameron

Dept. of Math, College of Science, Literature and the Arts, Univ. of Minnesota

Communism offers the hope of an ultimate Utopia for the bodies and minds of men, but nothing for their (supposedly non-existent) souls. Though some claim that medical science will ultimately cause men to live forever, none dare assert that it will ever raise the dead; so Marx will never see his Utopia. Death has conquered Marx and Lenin, but Christ has conquered death. He has lived in my heart ever since fellow students at Cornell University explained Christ’s atoning death and triumphant justifying resurrection in terms that I could understand and accept. I await with confidence his everlasting kingdom.

Orville S. Walters

Director of Health Services, University of Illinois

Troubled students on campus today have a high incidence of anxiety that is primarily spiritual. When we penetrate their superficial symptomatic concerns, focused upon study or interpersonal relations, we often find a substrate of lostness and yearning for some sense of purpose. The Christian understanding of personality has long recognized this hidden hunger. The deep need of man for forgiveness and reconciliation cannot be satisfied by technological achievement and intellectual excellence. Commitment to Christ is relevant to today’s human need, as it has always been.

A. M. Rempel

Acting Head, Department of Education, Purdue University

For some years now it has been my privilege to be a part of college campus life—as student, as professor, and as administrator. I am grateful for this opportunity. I have found, however, that scholarship and the quest for knowledge, although often exciting, do not completely satisfy. Added to them must be a life which alone gives them unity and meaning. I have found this life in Jesus Christ. To experience his redeeming and energizing love, to share in his passion and purpose, is to discover a reality “which surpasses knowledge.”

David H. Ives

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Biochemistry, The Ohio State University

Not only is the university preparation for life, but it is life. Yet during this same period, so full of exploration and intellectual ferment, students often forget or misunderstand the relevance of the Christ they knew as children to the more sophisticated world they now find themselves in. In an era when the very continuation of life seems dependent upon the whim of a few powerful world leaders, when an errant flock of geese on a radar screen could release destructive forces of unimaginable proportions, when evil so often seems to triumph over good, it must be recalled that Christ is still the Lord of History. The great miracle is that this same omnipotent Lord chooses to work through the lives of individuals to carry out his purposes.

James H. Roberts

Professor of Physics, Northwestern University

Mankind has tapped the basic source of physical power in the universe—nuclear (atomic) power. This power can be used for terrible destruction or for great benefits. Thinking people—students and faculty alike—feel helpless to guarantee its proper use. Some realize we must depend upon a still more basic source of power—God himself. His love and concern are made known through Jesus Christ. He alone is able to give inner peace, courage, and wisdom, and to motivate us to use the knowledge of the atom for the good of mankind as we exercise personal faith in Jesus Christ.

JOHN W. ALEXANDER

Assistant Dean, Letters and Science, University of Wisconsin

Our main objectives in the academic world are to advance the frontiers of knowledge through research and to communicate truth through teaching. The fund of knowledge by now is so vast that no human mind can comprehend it all. Hence the question: Is there any knowledge of such significance that every learner (whether sociologist or pedologist, historian or geographer, chemist or musician or whatever) should know it? The Christian answers, “Yes, the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ who said, ‘I am the Truth.’ ” But it is not enough to know about Jesus Christ; one must know him. The good news to every searcher for truth is that he can personally know Jesus Christ, who then satisfies the deepest hunger of his mind and heart.

JAMES H. SHAW

Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry, Harvard School of Dental Medicine

In world crisis or calm, in personal turmoil or satisfaction, Jesus Christ rightfully is the “Source, Guide and Goal of all that is” (Rom. 11:36, NEB). In the search for truth, the eternally important question through the ages and today was and is centered in every individual’s response to Christ’s claims about himself and to his message about salvation and adoption into his spiritual family. Belief in, personal commitment to, and dependence upon Jesus Christ by student or faculty member are essential for understanding life’s true meaning. This vital personal relationship to the Lord brought previously unknown joy and fulfillment to my life.

J. Marshall Miller

Associate Professor of Planning, School of Architecture, Columbia University

Collegiate education today stresses the acquisition of “knowledge” with little or no attention to the acquiring of “wisdom.” Even less time is devoted to the understanding of the relevance of Christ, his teachings, or the potential power of the Holy Spirit. The language of the Bible is a foreign language to teacher and student alike. And yet it is a substantiated fact, certainly in my own life, that daily, personal fellowship with Christ and the powerful working of the Holy Spirit hold greater significance than all the lectures, research efforts, and reference books combined.

John A. Mcintyre

Sloane Laboratory, Physics Department, Yale University

Today, the university student is seeking. He speaks for himself in this, the last editorial of the Yale Daily News in 1962: “Most of us graduate unsure of life’s calling. Yet Yale, which has determined the kind of life we seek, has imposed substantial barriers in the way of that life’s accomplishment. The university has demonstrated how the daily existence of most Americans can be criticized, even ridiculed, without prescribing the formula for a useful, rewarding life—and without showing how one can reconcile himself to a ridiculous world.” Was the call to preach the Gospel in Macedonia any more clear and urgent than this?

Ronald C. Doll

Professor of Education, Hunter College of the City University of New York

Today’s student lives in an era of fear and tension; of abounding knowledge, which doubles every 8½ to 12 years; and of impermanent ideation, which replaces much that was recently considered verity. No wonder despairing cries go up from our campuses: “I’m afraid!” “There’s just too much to know!” “Tell us what we can believe!” The very special answer to Herbert Spencer’s famous question, “What knowledge is of most worth?,” is to be found in the Person of Jesus Christ, whom to know is inner peace, ultimate truth, and entire confidence that he is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Cyrus W. Barnes

Professor of Science, School of Education, New York University

We moderns need a goal, a plan for action, and the opportunity to proceed. The Christian life gives me a purpose bigger than my life, meriting and requiring commitment, and thoroughly challenging. One can have direction for today and means of proceeding toward eventual achievement of His kingdom, a universe characterized by love and respect. One’s efforts, though microscopic in large perspective, have worth and significance. Failure is possible but temporary; the cause will prevail. A privilege I value highly is association with Christians whose presence is a tonic: friends, colleagues, relatives, and committed youth of campus and camp.

S. I. Fuenning

Medical Director, University of Nebraska

As stated in St. Paul’s letter to the Christians at Colossae, “Your own completeness is only realized in Him, who is the Authority over all authorities, and the Supreme Power over all powers.” This phenomenon is the mystery of the ages, which is, as St. Paul further states, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The full realization of Christ in man does free him from the infantile core in human nature and creates in man a new nature which has as its characteristics “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, adaptability and self-control”.

Walter R. Hearn

Assoc. Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Iowa State University

Scientists devote themselves to studying the works of God in the universe, imitating their Creator when they seek to be creative with their minds and hands (although some know little of God and care little to acknowledge him). Christians love the living Word of God enough to devote their lives to Him, imitating the Lord Jesus Christ by seeking to redeem the whole world through him (although some know painfully little about that world and care little to study it). What a privilege for some of us to be active citizens of both communities—Christian scholars with the opportunity to live both creatively and redemptively!

Rene De Visme Williamson

Professor of Government, Louisiana State University

Students on our secular campuses want to “belong” and to believe, but their loyalty waits for a worthy object in an age when institutions are unstable and ideologies have been unmasked as idolatries. It is for us Christian professors to confront these students with the claims of Christ, who alone can impart new meaning to life, new strength to institutions, and new vitality to human thought. Even the pagan world must reckon all history as before or after Christ. So must each individual reckon his own personal life as before or after Christ’s birth in his own life. Faith in Christ is not the end of the road: it is the beginning of a new road on which each person is assured of guidance and companionship, the only road whose destination is his destiny.

Philip C. Munro

Instructor in Electronics and Engineering, Washington University

Since becoming a Christian 2½ years ago, I have seen the Lord Jesus guide every detail of my life, as I have asked to see this. The truth of the Bible is not only a sufficient truth, but the necessary truth for every university person to understand and to personally trust.

CALVIN D. LINTON

Dean, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, George Washington University

Man’s estrangement from the universe, and his loneliness within it, are not assuaged by his vastly increased information about it but are rather made the more acute. The comfort of Newton’s neat machine, predictable, comprehensible, and controllable, has vanished, and man stands at the edge of a dimensionless abyss, not only doubting his own mastery of his environment but growingly fearful that the nature of reality is ultimately unthinkable. His fear of physical death has been transcended by the greater fear of total meaninglessness. He must descend the stair of arrogance, self-conceit, and self-righteousness—and be still. Only thus can he hear the words of the One by whom the worlds were made, without whom was nothing made that was made, who declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me.” Only the heart which puts its trust in this Jesus of history and of eternity can face today’s world and today’s universe without fear.

CHARLES HATFIELD

Chairman, Mathematics Department, University of North Dakota

The church of tomorrow, if not its secular historians, may well record as the sickest sin of this age that we saw this global crisis as anything but spiritual. How can we afford such superficiality? If we cannot confront the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and all its implications for life today, we shall have failed. But if we live to exalt Christ and him alone, I believe that God will bare his strong arm and forge his own instrument for the defeat of Communism and the other conspiracies that seek to smother his truth.

Kenneth Scott Latourette

Sterling Professor of Missions, Emeritus, Yale University

Use the present opportunity to the full for these are evil days. That injunction is as imperative and that description as accurate as when first uttered. The days are fully as significant for the eternal welfare of the billions who now constitute the human race as they were for the few hundred millions who were the total of mankind in the first century. The current situation on the planet threatens that welfare as strikingly as it did then. For all, now as then, Christ is the door to life eternal.

Today the world has more who bear the Christian name than at any previous time in history. But it also has more who have never had the opportunity intelligently to accept or to reject the Good News than in any earlier century. The obligation upon Christians should be apparent.

THE CLIMATE IN THE COLLEGES

A UNIVERSITY EMBLEM—In Thy Light we shall see light.—Inscription on the seal of Columbia University.

DEFECTION AND ITS CAUSE—A Catholic report published in America (April 8, 1961) quotes Bishop Robert E. Lucey: “The dangers to faith and morals are at least as great in a downtown office as on a secular campus.” The national survey of Time magazine (1952) is cited to the same effect: “No appreciable number of defections,” say Newman Club chaplains at the University of Illinois and the University of Iowa; those which do occur “result rather from weak religious background prior to college than from campus living and experiences.” The Harvard Crimson poll [1959] … records a high rate of defections—40 per cent among Protestants, 25 per cent among Catholics, 12 per cent among Jews—among the 310 students who answered. But in almost every case the defection had its roots in precollege days, especially in high-school experience.—MICHAEL NOVAK, “God in the Colleges,” Harper’s (Oct., 1961).

EDUCATIONAL CLIMATE—The new educational climate is more favorable than the former to the pursuit of the liberal arts which have been historically associated with a Christian culture. In fact the new emphasis paves the way for a distinctively Christian education.—MARTIN HEGLAND, Christianity in Education (1954).

CRISIS IN COMMUNICATION—The university faces the problem of the Tower of Babel; the church faces the problem of glossolalia, strange tongues.

Theologians can contribute to the cure of both ills by boldly adopting a language common to humanity, or at least by seriously searching for such a language.—H. JACKSON FORSTMAN, assistant professor of religion, Stanford University, “Theology in the American University,” Encounter (Autumn, 1961).

OPTIMISTIC ANALYSIS—Behind the masks, the disguises, of this student generation, I see alert minds, (honed sharp by the present age of intellectual competition), generous hearts (with a compassion and concern for their fellow man, unequaled in any age), strong bodies (when challenged to meet the test to defend a principle which they believe in), and a sound philosophy (which needs only an understanding of the nature of man and of the grace, mercy, and love of God). It is this generation the church must address. To do so calls for (1) confession of failure, (2) proclamation of the revelation of God’s forgiving love in Jesus Christ, and (3) a demonstration of the love, trust, and confidence in the lives of those who claim to be a part of her, both the ministry and the laity.—VAN D. SPURGEON, university minister, Oklahoma State University, “The American College Student Today,” Encounter (Winter, 1962).

Ours is a task of witness in educated society. The first task of the educated Christian is moral leadership. Isaiah describes a man of God as “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” The word “rock,” no doubt, prefigures Christ, in whose shadow we find salvation, but it is descriptive of any man who fronts the storm and stands firm against the tide. Sir George Adam Smith has written one of his purple passages on this very theme. Where the desert touches an oasis, he writes, life is continually under attack from the wind-driven infiltrating sand. The rains come, and a carpet of green struggles to life on the desert’s edge, and there is a promise of fertility. But it is doomed, for the thrusting sand creeps in, and stunts and chokes the feeble aspirations of the green. But set a rock on the sand. After the brief rains, life springs up on its leeward side, and in time there comes a garden. The boulder has stayed the drift.

The shadow of a rock is life in those arid lands. Hence Isaiah’s image. A man can be a “hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest.” He fronts the deadly storm and stays the drift. In the shadow, weaker life can live, and pant through the harsh hours. Protected from the arid drift, useful life and faithfulness can grow. So stood Isaiah himself in the days of the great Assyrian invasion. Hezekiah was a weak man and unwise. The prophet was his rock. In the shelter, the king could strike roots of sustenance; courage could grow to fullness, and faith find place to spring.

And Hezekiah, thus nourished and protected, saved Jerusalem. There are those who fall and die in the struggle for faith and righteousness because they never see these values potent and uplifted against the storm in another and stronger personality.

Here, then, is a noble function for the educated Christian, especially for the teacher in school or university. Many a young man and girl have been preserved from devastating doubt and moral ruin by the mere spectacle of some Christian teacher standing firm. The prerequisites are exacting. Second-rate scholarship, shoddy work in the classroom, dour aloofness, and lack of social grace, can destroy such usefulness. The rock, in the critical eyes of youth, must be truly based, without flaw or fundament of clay. It is easy to fail those who seek such shelter; but occasionally to pass the test, to be conscious that some feebler life has taken root in the beneficent shadow, to see that life grow and learn to face the storm alone, is the fairest privilege of the Christian teacher’s, or, let me add, the Christian parent’s life.

Let us covet the best gifts, of which this is one: to stand fast by God’s grace, unwearied, uncompromising, unafraid, and proclaim Christ among the intellectuals.

It is no easy place of witness where agnosticism is a cult, and the search for truth a fetish rather than an adventure of discovery—where a live Christian faith is often snobbishly dismissed as bad form, or written down cruelly and falsely as bad scholarship. But such artificial attitudes are commonly those of lesser academic lights, who find their foothold precarious among the educated. True thinkers do not dismiss thus the Christian’s claim to have apprehended vital truth, and discussion with fine and unprejudiced minds on the bases and essentials of his faith can be the Christian’s most stimulating and searching experience. In Luke’s fine narrative we can watch one of the most superbly educated men of the ancient world, Paul of Tarsus, meet thus the intellectuals of two worlds. He debates, single-handed, against the combined learning of the Jerusalem Jews. He meets the Jews of the Hellenistic synagogues, heirs, like himself, to the cultures both of Greece and of Palestine. He passes to Athens, and makes the tremendous intellectual adjustment thus demanded, arguing like Socrates in the Agora or facing the philosophers of the Areopagus with Greek reasoning, quotation from Greek literature, and local illustration. “Prove, correct, encourage,” Paul urged the young Timothy, “using the utmost patience in your teaching.” Paul put that precept into practice with superb tact, relevant learning, and precise argument. It was no doubt with such an example before him that Peter, no intellectual, but an incisive and vigorous preacher, wrote near the end of his life, “Be ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer to any man who wants a reason for the hope that you have within you.”

Intellectual Leadership

I have already trespassed on my second point. The educated Christian’s role is not only moral leadership. He has also a duty of intellectual leadership. “A liberal Protestant,” runs a paragraph in the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, seeks “an anti-dogmatic and humanitarian reconstruction of the Christian faith,” an attitude which, according to the same authority, “until recently appeared to be gaining ground in nearly all the Protestant churches.” The words we emphasize are the dictionary’s tribute to the conservatives. Perhaps we should pause a moment to stress that which we have sought with such toil to conserve.

The principle object of our jealous conservation has been an authoritative Bible. We cannot see how without the loftiest doctrine of inspiration, the teachings of Scripture can be preached or taught with cogency or confidence. Granted a Bible which is the Word of God, a man can preach without misgiving the traditional message of Christianity—a divine Christ, an atoning death, a unified Bible telling the story of a great historical process culminating in God’s inruption into history, a coherent New Testament with no division between Christ and Paul, between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. Once shake substantially the authority of Scripture, and the haphazard collection of documents into which the Bible forthwith dissolves becomes of little more than antiquarian use in preaching or devotion. Interpretation becomes rationalist and subjective. The Bible ceases to speak. Authority must be objective, not dependent on a reader’s whim or choice. Such is the conservative’s quite logical belief. This position is finding wider acceptance because conservatism has learned to speak in the language and thought-forms of the day, and to meet undoubted problems coolly and face to face.

But if we are to fulfill our function, conservatism must be informed conservatism. Orthodoxy should be something more than a mere emotional attitude. It should be the stand of an educated Christian, free from credulity, shibboleth, and superstition, above the noisy controversy which so often passes for loyalty, and careful to avoid hot polemical attitudes.

Informed conservatism recognizes the indefensible positions which ill-informed orthodoxy has sometimes sought nervously to hold; it admits those legitimate areas of difference where opinion is free, and where dogmatic attitudes cause unnecessary division. Informed conservatism welcomes all the light which learned research can throw on Scripture. It is no devotee of literalism, nor is it committed to Ussher’s dates, Elizabethan English, or the views, in their sacrosanct entirety, of the Reformation theologians. Informed conservatism believes that no truth can be alien to the Word of Truth, and that no honest scholarship can harm the faith. It does believe that, as Goethe once put it, each generation must win over again its spiritual heritage and experience truth in its own person, that the need is ever with us to rephrase old doctrine, to relate it afresh to the changing patterns of life, to think boldly and apply our faith to the problems of our generation. Our task is to keep the cause alive, modern, active, adaptive; to meet the need of the world we live in; and to demonstrate the eternal relevance of what we believe.

Devotion To Scholarship

Hence the need for thought, and a task of intellectual leadership, a role which conservatism was too late in recognizing. Over significant and lamentable years in the latter half of the last century, conservatives neglected scholarship. The reasons were three. The pulpit was the goal in a great age of preaching, and the pulpit is an exacting master. Spurgeon, Parker, Moody, Talmadge—these were not great scholars. There was also current a widely proclaimed and accepted eschatology which, Thessalonian fashion, further encouraged men of ability to seek the pulpit rather than the lecture-room. It proclaimed a Second Advent so imminently near that plans of preparation involving years of study seemed a confession of unbelief. Thirdly, thanks to the blessed and forgotten British Peace, the world was opening with incomparable opportunities for missionary enterprise, and ability was drained off into these open and useful channels in a manner which had the unfortunate result of stripping the church at home of leadership in thought.

Meanwhile liberals, not so keen on missionary activity, skeptical of orthodox eschatology, and lacking the strong evangelical urge to preach, gave energy and enterprise to church politics and theological teaching. In a word they practically monopolized the schools. Such a triumph involves a time-lag of half a century even when promptly countered by an alert opposition, for the teacher has pupils who bear the mark of their classroom through another generation. And the liberals’ capture of the classrooms was not promptly countered. One must not forget such men as Orr and Denney, and later Machen and others like them, but the fact remains that liberal theology dug its defenses deep in strategic places—a most lamentable victory, won by conservatism’s default. “Until recently” the position was unchallenged. The conservatives, newly aware of a great neglected responsibility, are at last on the march, and a mass of modem, useful publications and enlightened teaching are beginning to reverse the situation.

Liberalism Is Bankrupt

Liberalism is proven bankrupt. At first, thanks to conservatism’s timid retreat, its Cross-less and modernized Christianity had seemed to some the answer to the century’s need. Its optimism, based on the current evolutionary philosophy, fitted the bright Victorian notions of progress and the curiously hectic hopefulness which survived the First World War. It turned Christ into a young Apollo suited to an age of youth; it expended its energy on social problems, and substituted a personal mysticism for the lost authority of an inspired Bible.

Then came disillusionment. The Thirties and the Second World War marked the end of easy optimism and secular millennarianism. A Christianity which failed to deal with sin and to meet man’s need with a true Saviour, failed to hold ordinary men. The Bible diagnosis of man seemed so obviously correct. Scientific progress, with the growing menace of nuclear disaster, seemed somehow to be discredited, and visible human helplessness and depravity began to daunt the remaining agnostics who believed that

These things shall be, a nobler race,

Than e’er the world hath known shall rise,

With flame of freedom in their souls,

And light of knowledge in their eyes.

It became clear that liberalism had no message. Preaching based on a “Christian ethic” without dynamism, personal challenge, or divine authority to back it, has failed to hold the crowds. The empty pews of the well-remembered shot in Noel Coward’s Cavalcade were convincing enough argument for many honest men who had seen in liberalism the synthesis of religion and scholarship, and who, thanks to the conservatives’ pre-occupations, had seen in the liberal leaders the intellectual wing of the Church.

But the pew was decisive before the menacing Thirties came to daunt the vision of a man-made millennium. Able men, of whom Harry Emerson Fosdick was a striking example, held full churches by their personal strength of character and eloquence. The rank and file were disillusioned. Men in the liberal ministry in greater and greater numbers became conscious that they had nothing cogent to preach. Some sought less compromising ways of life. Many sought outlet in social work. Lloyd Douglas, whose biography is a document of liberalism’s bankruptcy, passed through such a phase before his spirit found an outlet, and the clear beginnings of a pathway back, in religious-novel writing. There were others, worldwide, who genuinely returned to a conservative faith and found it satisfactory. Others invented neoorthodoxy. On that theme I cannot, in the compass of my present task, embark. At its extreme left, neoorthodoxy is a species of double-talk in which the man in the pulpit preaches ancient doctrine with a reserved, symbolic, and private meaning, unshared by the simpler folk in the pew. At the extreme right, if I may use political terms in a theological situation, the neoorthodox preacher expounds ancient doctrine as any conservative does, but he lies under the strain of holding such doctrines without a clear faith in an authoritative Bible to justify the tenure, and only because he discovers empirically their potency to save, to upbuild, and to feed the soul.

Amid all this scattering and bewilderment of liberal churchmen, the theological schools remained for a long time unrepentant. For young men called to the ministry after a vital religious experience, the seminaries often presented an ordeal, a sort of Mithraic initiation by heat, through which the would-be preacher passed, stopping his ears. Like something prehistoric, a dated liberalism still lies entrenched in many theological schools, and the ardent youth still has, in some quarters, a gauntlet of the mind to run on his way to the pulpit steps.

Why all this excursion into theological history? Because I blame the conservatives, who abandoned or neglected their task of intellectual leadership. That fault is now recognized and purged. It was a hard fight in the days when we were few, and perhaps in the heat of conflict blows were dealt which might have been withheld. It was a time of hard testing for those who stood firm a generation and more ago, when the battle was hottest, especially for educated men who found their scholarship labeled and called into question because they refused to accept a devastating criticism, yet had not, at the moment, a more crushing reply than that of faith to make to it. It was a stern battle, and it was fought too clumsily for its survivors to cherish self-esteem. The worst conflict is over. We are called now to a confident forward march. Let us move on with firm steps, all of us—and we are many.

Ido not believe that the modern world has ceased to need the Christian view.… The “isms” of the day are numerous, and the denials from many quarters are fierce and vehement. But … I do not believe that the Christian view is obsolete; that it is doomed to go down like a faded constellation in the west of the sky of humanity. I do not believe that in order to preserve it, one single truth we have been accustomed to see shining in that constellation will require to be withdrawn.… The world needs them all, and will one day acknowledge it.… It is … with a sense of triumph that I see the progress of the battle between faith and unbelief. I have no fear that the conflict will issue in defeat.… Christ’s religion will ride in safety the waves of present-day unbelief, as it has ridden the waves of unbelief in days gone by, bearing in it the hopes of the future of humanity.

With these words the noted Scottish theologian James Orr concluded his famous lectures at the end of the century on The Christian View of God and the World. Many times Orr traversed the Atlantic to voice his high biblical confidence in “the reality and certainty of God’s supernatural Revelation to the world—of His great purpose of love and grace, centering in the manifestation of His Son, but stretching out in its issues through all worlds, and into all eternities—of a Redemption adequate to human sin and need, the blessings of which it is our highest privilege to share, and to make known to others.”

The specific aim of this issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY is to reflect the enduring relevance of Christ’s Gospel for the realms of learning and culture. It is popular to think of higher education today only in terms of its conflicts and tensions. For that reason it is all the more refreshing to realize that the power which radiates from the Crucified and Risen Christ retains its broad range of influence and touches even the most respected forums of modern thought. In our generation, as in every generation since the Christian martyrs bore their first glad testimony to the Redeemer, the Spirit of Christ begets still a warm personal devotion to the Saviour, a confident trust in the triumph of his purposes in history, a recognition of his incomparable significance in the molding of human ideals and life, and an invitation to young and old alike to discover in Jesus Christ THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.—ED.

After a period of dismissal Christ is once again gaining entry to the American campus.

There was a time, actually not too long ago, when he was the center of student and faculty thought and action. In him the curricular panorama and personal life as well found their integrating force, their touchstone of being. He was both acknowledged and worshiped as the Creator of all! Colleges were founded and dedicated to his honor and glory.

As that scientism which worships the creation rather than the Creator pushed to the fore, however, his influence gradually dwindled. The repeatable, demonstrable, “sure” things came to dominate the thinking of students and teachers alike. Man’s innate longing for security placed its hope in a system of classification and explanation. Exactness in measurement and historical development obscured and confused the issue of First Cause; plausible speculative hypotheses vied for attention.

Because of man’s growing ability to discover and interpret the amazing relationships of the material universe, his self-sufficiency knew no bounds. Ever-growing faith in mankind became a natural corollary to confidence in laboratory findings. To many scientists the analysis of matter seemed to indicate just the reverse of the original synthesis of the natural world, something acomplished without plan, purpose, or intellect. Laying bare the secrets of creation made many researchers and teachers put aside as irrelevant the concept and worship of the Creator and the supernatural. This attitude was easily caught up by students. Particularly susceptible were those who eagerly absorbed everything their teachers offered as the correct answers to the growing avalanche of scientific queries. It was not long before Christ was dismissed from the campus.

The practical application of man’s scientific knowledge ushered in a wealth of pleasure and comfort-producing benefits for personal enjoyment. His knowledge, unfortunately, did not penetrate or influence human relationships enough to avert catastrophes of economic depression and global war. Man’s skill in the natural sciences far outstripped his facility in the social sciences. Despite his unparalleled growth and manipulation of knowledge, man was inept and lost in understanding and controlling himself.

This lack of finesse in human relationships manifested itself periodically. Among other things, the Great Depression of 30 years ago was a bitter blow to man’s self-assurance. Scarred but unbowed, he pulled himself through this economic holocaust, and this seeming if partial success restored to him a large measure of confidence in his personal prowess and in material things. Once again his feet rested squarely in a humanly directed universe.

The Lack Of Cohesion

The warm enthusiasm for scientism soon melted away the spiritual foundations of many colleges. No one integrating factor, no central theme, permeated campuses by and large; lost were the security and direction once found in the knowledge of Christ and in allegiance to him.

Search for truth had confined itself, for the most part, to research in the physical universe. Progress could easily be seen in this area. The practical benefits could be sold. The techniques which brought results quite naturally gained prominence, not only for scientism, but for man himself.

By relying upon himself and upon what he had fashioned, man chose the path to his undoing. Expediency rather than righteousness became the common denominator of society. The inevitable result was World War II with its casualties of a billion souls.

After this global shock came a semblance of peace. Forgotten only too soon were the foxhole conversions and moments of spiritual searching. In the minds of men not prayer but power had won the day. The aftermath of war necessitated rebuilding in every material area. Neglected was the spiritual. Self-gratification and self-indulgence left little room or time for other goals. Self-adoration soared unbounded, for man now held in his hands those formulas which could assure and supply unlimited power and world domination.

To his great horror man discovered his newest creation to be a potential source of utter sell-destruction. This unmistakable evidence of man’s inability to control himself struck a body blow to the self-assurance of intellectual leaders. Soon their uncertainty filtered through to students. Teachers now became colleagues in exploration and lost their status as fountainheads of all wisdom. Faculties came to realize their limitations as never before; they no longer presumed themselves able to chart the end from the beginning. They saw information to be incomplete, the gamut of philosophies inadequate. The college or university professor was now viewed as an inspiring guide to learning, not as a fact- or theory-dispensing machine.

This wholesome cooperative effort by teachers and students, encouraged by mutual realization of man’s incompetence to solve life’s problems by himself, augurs well for genuine spiritual and social, let alone academic, advance.

Students are sensitive to basic realities. The recurring cycles of war, depression, and a defense-based prosperity do not delude them into egotistic self-sufficiency. They recognize and admit the presence of injustice; they want to do something to right social wrongs. They think with their hearts no less than their heads. Distressed by failures of their elders and fearful of similar failures on their own part, young people today feel impelled to find help elsewhere. To recognize the existing problems of human relationships is a credit to anyone. To recognize one’s personal lack for these needs and to seek an adequate source of solution is indeed the beginning of wisdom. This many students are doing today.

The reasonableness of Christ’s claims for solving human problems is beginning to challenge young thinkers. In the minds of many the abysmal depth of human need can be met only by the complete application of Christ’s unique work for man and in history. Gone is the once rampant pride born of self-sufficiency. Instead, healthy humility and honest appraisal of man’s abilities and limitations characterize much of the academic world.

Christ is once again appearing at citadels of learning; moderns are inviting him back.

END

To our distinctly liberal theological seminary in New England there came some years ago a young evangelical from Belfast. Three days it took him to size us up. Then he spoke his mind. “The students on this campus,” he said in his open-air voice in the dining hall, “do not believe in a personal devil, but you’re not here more than a day or two before you meet him face to face.” Last year in the Church of England an unexpected outcry arose and caused the reversal of an official committee’s recommendation to omit from a revised catechism specific reference to the devil. Even the much-criticized translators of the New English Bible made no attempt to modernize 1 Peter 5:8, but faithfully rendered: “Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls round looking for someone to devour.” In some ways we have here a theme which is a neglected area in our theological thinking.

There are signs, however, that this whole question is increasingly being brought into the limelight; one biblical scholar called a recent article “Satan Returns from Holiday,” but I disagree violently. Four centuries ago Bishop Latimer took the diabolical measure. “Who is the most diligent bishop and prelate in all England, that passeth all the rest in doing his office?” he asked. “It is the Devil. He is the most diligent preacher.… He is never out of his diocese … never unoccupied … never out of the way, call for him when you will. He is no lordly loiterer, but a busy ploughman.” Inordinate preoccupation with such matters might be dangerous, as Dr. G. C. Berkouwer has shown. In his article “Satan and the Demons” in CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S Basic Christian Doctrines series (now available in book form), he rightly indicates the pitfall of using Satan as an explanatory principle of evil, thus excusing ourselves. Even more common is sheer unbelief in the Prince of Darkness. “A religion can no more afford to degrade its Devil than to degrade its God,” stated Havelock Ellis. (Incidentally, the amateurs and even the agnostics are, perhaps understandably, often better on this than the theologians.) André Gide pointed out that our great mistake consists in making a romantic picture of the devil; he is neither more nor less romantic than the man he is dealing with. “With me he has made himself a classicist,” said Gide ruefully, “because this was necessary in order to catch me.” In addition to Stephen Vincent Benét’s famous narrative of Daniel Webster, there are many other modern writers, C. S. Lewis among them, who have written of His Satanic Majesty and have reminded us that the world is a continual battleground, the scene of a deadly struggle against the forces of darkness, with the soul’s eternal destiny in the balance. “I do not know what he is by theological arguments,” wrote one of the nineteenth century’s greatest theologians, F. D. Maurice, to his friend F. J. A. Hort, “but … I am sure there is one near me accusing God and my brethren to me.”

One man who is determined to present the devil in his true colors is Roger Lloyd, Canon of Winchester Cathedral, who some months ago published a significant work in novel form entitled The Troubling of the City (George Allen & Unwin, London, 18s.). It takes its starting-point from part of Revelation 12:12: “… The devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Described by the publishers as “a fantasy with a teaching purpose,” it tells of a number of fiends from Hell, led by the Archdemon Vitrios, who are sent to make war on a modern English cathedral city (identified by Lloyd himself with Winchester). His four chief henchmen are specialists in different fields, each directing his art toward winning the souls of the population, and the soul of the city itself; each tempting, luring, goading into sin. The demon Mandrill softens. human resistance to temptation by the vitiating power of sheer continuous noise. Vilifor, minister of misinformation, creates hysteria and panic by the spreading of rumor. Sloombane induces corruption through insomnia. Snirtle, “a pert and sniggering spirit,” intensifies the constant muddle and delay inherent in everyday living.

“Human beings nowadays have four soft spots,” declaims Vitrios to his foul brood. “They are, briefly, Excessive Stimulation, the Complexity of Modern Life, the Sense of Despair, and the Forgetfulness of Forgiveness.” He advises his subordinates on each of these in turn, and urges: “Wherever … you find simplicity, don’t try to destroy it, just complicate it.… You will find that putting into their minds a thought like, ‘Over-simplification is the mark of the unintelligent’ will pay large dividends.” (Here and in other sections of the volume the reader will find traces of C. S. Lewis’ influence on the writer.) Another piece of devilish counsel is: “… It is so easy to persuade them that the amount of forgiveness they can receive is measured by the quality of repentance they can offer.” So each in his own way the demons work out the satanic strategy pointed to the condition of the city, trading in the age-old but durable lies which still have power to delude and bewilder a humanity accustomed to regarding the devil with semi-affectionate indulgence.

There is a gripping climactic scene in the cathedral when, the legions of evil having been routed by prayer and simple faith, the fiends are arraigned before the forces of Good led by the medieval Bishop St. Swithun. For this thrilling episode especially we forget that the novel has basically little literary merit, that the fantasy has not been steadily sustained throughout, that little pieces of High Churchmanship obtrude and somewhat obviously contribute toward the ultimate triumph. We overlook the tremendous theological implications of the conversion experienced by one of the chief demons, and have our disappointment partly allayed at finding Francis Thompson looming large where the Bible ought to be, and the Incarnation stressed where we would have expected the Atonement.

Nevertheless, the impact of this book lies in the power of the whole. In an age when even we pastors tend to make Christianity the subject of intellectual study rather than a practical program for spiritual living, there is clamant need at times for the extraordinary, and, in J. B. Phillips’ phrase, for “words shaped cunningly to pass men’s defences and explode silently and effectually within their minds.” In some measure Roger Lloyd has done this here in winsome and eminently readable form. The devil is given some unwelcome publicity; we apprehend more vividly the deadly and ceaseless combat between darkness and light; and some of us not accustomed to thinking in such terms might find inspiration for an uncharacteristic sermon on the Communion of Saints.

WHAT DICTATORS CANNOT DO—A poignant episode—the attempt of 32 Siberian peasants to escape from under the heel of Russia’s godless rulers—struck officials here Friday as proving a truth: A dictator may do many things, but he cannot eradicate religion from the hearts of men.… The Communists, however, have made considerable progress in wiping out religion. One recent estimate was that in the past two years 2,000 of the 12,000 Russian Orthodox churches have been closed.… Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich laughingly said he failed to see God in space.… Apparently the peasants from Chernogorsk have seen visions the Red spacemen could not discern.—RAYMOND CROWLEY, AP, Washington, D. C., dateline.

LESSON FOR FREE WORLD—Superficially, there is religious freedom in Russia. Yet stories repeatedly emerge about oppression of various religious groups within the country. They are not easy to confirm. But this incident very dramatically puts the spotlight on at least one instance of people trying to practice their religious beliefs under enforced atheism. To that end, the case will serve a useful purpose in acquainting the free world of the inviolable rights it enjoys—in contrast to Communist-ruled nations.—Scripps-Howard newspapers.

THE SAME ICY WIND—From the depths of the Russian winter has emerged a tale worthy of the most misanthropic pages of Tolstoy and Chekhov.… So pathetic an episode cannot be reconciled with the talks of new, relaxed winds blowing through the vast Soviet empire. The winds are the same icy blasts of oppression that have always moaned over that tragic land.—San Francisco Examiner

GOVERMENT RESPONSE—The United States can do many things.… It can compel Nikita Khrushchev to remove his missiles and bombers from Cuba.… But it can do nothing for 32 Christian peasants who journey from Siberia to Moscow in search of American aid—nothing, that is, except hand them over to the Soviet authorities. These wretched, ignorant people apparently thought the Americans could get them out of Russia or possibly grant them asylum in the United States Embassy. Of course, it was not possible to do the first and at least not feasible to do the second. So nothing was done—just as nothing was done to assist the young East German who was shot down and left to die across the line in Berlin. But it may not be quite accurate to say that nothing was done. In Washington, a State Department spokesman issued a declaration of “deep distress.” In Moscow, American Embassy spokesmen … forbade photographers to take pictures.—The Evening Star (Washington, D. C.).

GOVERMENT EXPLANATION—In Washington, this official explanation was given for refusing them refuge: The U. S. never has recognized the principle of asylum as a part of international law. Exceptions—such as the asylum given Josef Cardinal Mindszenty in the U.S. Legation in Budapest since 1956—are granted only “on humanitarian grounds” in the case of refugees whose lives are “in imminent danger from mob violence.”—U.S. News & World Report.

CABLEGRAM TO KHRUSHCHEV—The National Association of Evangelicals in the United States appeals to you in behalf of the 32 evangelical believers who recently approached the United States Embassy in Moscow seeking assistance in gaining permission to leave the Soviet Union. We ask that you guarantee their safety now and grant the necessary permission to leave the Soviet Union for any country of their choice. If they wish to enter the United States we stand ready to help.—Signed by DR. ROBERT A. COOK. President, and BISHOP C. N. HOSTETTER, JR., Chairman of the NAE World Relief Commission.

HOPEFUL SIGN—… The fact that religious beliefs persist after nearly half a century of Communist rule somehow is encouraging.—The Miami News.

OMITTED HIGHTLIGHT—One of the most dramatic entries in 1963’s religious diary has already been written in Moscow. No mention has been made [of it] by the Soviet press or radio.…—Religious News Service.

NOTE OF WARNING—It is even conceivable that pressure and publicity might cause Khrushchev to release the rebels. But whatever happens, it is by such human actions that the cold war’s meaning, often buried in dull words, comes home. Tyranny is tyranny, whether Czarist or communist, and as long as men can breathe they will rebel against it.… It is also a warning that free men guard well their liberties not only against communism but all signs of incipient tyranny.—Wall Street Journal.

AFTER A WEEK OF SILENCE—The Soviet news agency Novosty said today that the Siberian peasants who sought refuge in the U. S. Embassy last week were religious fanatics who beat their children to make them keep the faith. Novosty charged that the “evangelical” sect members had “crippled” 30 children … many having been “under mental depression for several years in a row.”—UPI, Moscow dateline.

FUTURE ALTERNATIVES—Father Georges Bissonnette, A.A., who served from 1953 to 1955 as a Catholic chaplain for foreigners in Moscow and who is now head of foreign affairs school at Assumption College … noted in an interview that the Soviet government “started a campaign of ‘administrative measures’ against religious activity back around September.” He observed that the recent incident at the U.S. embassy could be a protest aimed at informing the outside world about this campaign.… Father Bissonnette said that the Soviets, in a July, 1958, revision of their educational system, set up boarding schools to take children “out of the unhealthy atmosphere of a home of believing parents”.… The former Moscow chaplain said that the protest could “bring a halt to the current ‘administrative measures’ ” if other protests come along. “But if it’s alone,” he said, “it won’t have much effect.” The Soviets might use the incident, he noted, as a “showcase example that the country is tolerant.”—National Catholic Welfare Conference News Service; Worchester. Massachusetts, dateline.

Finding Materials For A Sermon

As a good steward of God a minister ought to excel in finding two sorts of materials for a sermon. First and more important, from the passage in hand. If on the Sunday after Christmas the sermon deals with wise men at worship now, the Gospel record contains facts about persons of interest now. If the coming message confines itself to these biblical facts, the layman who has never heard a popular teaching sermon can follow with ease, especially if he has read the passage at home and has prayed.

“Can the minister not quote other Bible verses?” Of course, but only if each of them throws light on this passage and subject. Such a way of dealing with a Bible unit should not seem odd. In college teaching of Shakespeare the professor led in seeing one unit at a time. With this kind of pulpit teaching a layman can learn how to read and enjoy a Bible unit. After a while he may dare to read something difficult.

The resulting sermon may or may not in form be expository. In the pulpit a wise man calls no attention to himself or to how he preaches. He might do that if he used a concordance to show how wise men in all ages past worshiped God. But why call such a compilation a sermon? Why not simply explain one passage, only one?

Once at a tuberculosis camp a university student told his pastor: “I may not read, and I have few visitors. I lie here and think about your sermons on the parables in the First Gospel. I can tell the gist of each parable, and what it means today, both to me and others. At last I have learned how to read and enjoy a Bible book, and a Bible paragraph.”

A pastor also needs materials from life today. How else could he show the layman the meaning of a parable in the experience of a businessman now? The nature of these outside materials may depend on the prevailing stress in the passage. One parable has to do with a building; another, with farming, or gardening; a third, with hidden treasure; and so on through varied callings, with the human stress often on a person like the man in the pew. The sermon becomes an interpretation of the hearer’s daily work in light from God’s Holy Book.

This kind of pulpit work calls for use of fact-words, which enable the layman to see, feel, and desire what the parable sets forth. A scholastic sermonizer depends on colorless abstractions; a preacher sees what he says. Thus the hearer becomes a see-er. Spurgeon and Maclaren, or Macartney and Sangster, differed in many ways, but each at his best used words like those of John Bunyan. Why? Because the recent interpreter too had lived with the words of Jesus. The ideas here have much to do with illustrations, which serve as windows to light up every room.

So much for the ideal; what are the facts? With honorable exceptions, evangelical sermons that appear in print today often show how not to deal with a parable, or other Bible unit. The ideas often are excellent, but the non-biblical parts come from all sorts of sources not closely related to the passage, or to each other. They appear in words that make no appeal to the eye-gate. In such an indictment a man remembers his own sins and charges them on the congregation! Anyone hit?

Let us assume that a pastor has some kind of storehouse. If he has a photographic memory, rare among ministers now, he may dispense with index cards and folders. Most busy pastors need such equipment, if only to save time and worry. Into a biblical and a topical file a man puts data about his own books, either about a passage or a subject. In two such folders he can put materials from other books, and from life. From the biography of Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin, one learns that Psalm 51:7a contains the first known reference to this wonder-working drug. The note goes into a file under Psalm 51. By jotting the idea down one impresses it on the memory. A personal storehouse!

In history almost every effective pastor preacher has had some way of preserving materials. If wise, a man keeps his system simple, and uses it with brains. He can do so all the better if he makes a general preaching plan for months to come, and special plans for the near future. From his wife or mother he may learn how to be a first-class homiletical housekeeper. In dealing with the bread of life, a man needs ready materials.

For a more detailed treatment see the writer’s Preparation of Sermons; on storing, the Appendix of Planning a Years Pulpit Work; both are by Abingdon Press. Better still, learn to do by doing, as a good steward of God.

ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD

I was before a blasphemer, and a. persecuter, and injurious; howbeit I obtained mercy … (1 Tim. 1:13; read vv. 12–17).

The Apostle here tells about the terrifying memory of sin. He is glancing back at his past. His memory has many a dark spot. And yet our text is only a minor note in a jubilant song. His memory of headstrong defiance and pitiless cruelty gives way before the Gospel of forgiveness at the Cross. How then does the Cross affect the memory of sin? The Cross—

I. Takes the Sting Out of the Memory. Every sin leaves on the memory a spot. An unforgiven sin leaves a wound. But let a man be persuaded that he has received mercy through the Cross, and his wound is healed, his sting is gone. Such an experience every man ought to repeat. You have faces that rise upon you in the hour of the backward glance, faces of those you have tempted to evil and provoked to unbelief. But once be persuaded that because of the Cross God has forgiven you. At once you feel that your wound is healed, your sting is gone. Then with Paul you learn to thank God for the past tenses of peace in Christ and his Cross.

II. Makes the Memory of Sin a Means of Grace. Every man has in his heart much that he wishes to forget, but God leaves the stain and uses it as a means of grace. A stained memory becomes a barrier against future sin. Such a memory is like an angel with drawn sword to keep you from the gates of death.

God also uses a stained memory as an equipment for service. How else came to Paul that zeal for the outcast, that pity for the fallen, that tenderness over the lost? God likewise uses a stained memory as a source of love for Christ. It is not our love for him that makes our calling sure; it is Christ’s love for us. A stained memory helps to keep your love of Christ at flood.

III. Shall Finally Obliterate the Memory of Sin. The Memory is like a palimpsest manuscript. Once it held the records of sin and shame, which a skillful hand erased. Now the same surface contains a portion of the Gospel. So the evil within you, sin-haunted, will in time cease to be. There is in Christ a depth of forgetfulness in which a forgiven sin can not survive.

Sometimes we wonder whether the bliss of heaven will be marred by stained memories of earth. No, in the other world, the lash of memory will be felt only in hell. Only the unforgiven sin is eternal. No sin can live forever under the felt power of the Cross.—From The Cross in Christian Experience, London.

Behooved it not the Christ to suffer these things? (Luke 24:26a; read vv. 13–35).

On the evening of the first Easter Day our Lord told two disciples that the Cross had to be. This truth appears elsewhere throughout the later parts of the New Testament. Let us see if we can understand a little more clearly, though we can never understand all of the mystery and wonder of it. So let me ask three questions.

I. Could Any but the Crucified Saviour Reveal Our Sins? It is the universal tragedy of our race that we do not realize the sinfulness of our sins. It is sin that takes the holy God—incarnate here on earth—and treats him as we should treat no beast. That is your sin. You have been guilty of the same sins that nailed him to the Cross. Sin is deadly, the one thing that God will not tolerate. Go and look at the Cross. Sin did that! Sin is the most deadly thing known to God and men. Sin would slay the body and damn the soul. Sin is hell’s worst. You may see all that when you look at the cross of Christ.

II. Could Any but the Crucified Redeemer Save Us from Our Sins? “Without shedding of blood there is no remission.” The Lamb shed from the foundation of the world is seen to be slain, and with his stripes we are healed. In his well-beloved Son the Father likewise suffered. If you say that God required the penalty, you must also say that God himself paid it all. Make no division in the Godhead. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.”

III. Could Any but the Crucified Saviour Bless Us Now in Our Sorrows? Every day the minister must meet the brokenhearted. If I had no crucified Saviour with whom to greet those who have been broken by the tragedies of life, I should not know what to say or do. Christ has suffered. He alone has the answers to all of life’s questions about the hereafter. He can even bring you utter peace. Can’t you see that the Cross had to be?—From Sangster’s Special-Day Sermons, Abingdon Press.

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun (Mark 16:2; read vv. 1–8).

For us Christians Easter ought to serve as Commencement Day. The Cross marked the end of the old order. Easter shows the beginning of a reign that shall never end. Let us think of this day as a new beginning of—

I. Christian Worship, the most important and wonderful thing that believers do on earth. Songs of praise—prayers of hope—messages from the Book—Communion with the Living Lord—all in the spirit of Easter joy and hope.

II. The Christian Gospel. Only after Easter began the preaching of the full-orbed Gospel: the death of Christ to deliver from sins; the Resurrection as the way to receive power; the living Lord as the center of our beliefs and hopes, until he comes again.

III. The Christian Service. After the Resurrection, new vision, power, and joy. Witnessing to believers who have lost hope and radiance. Winning others who never have known Christ as Saviour. Working for the transformation of the world at home and beyond the seven seas. Hallelujah!

IV. Christian Hope. The Church at large and believers one by one need a rebirth of Christian hope. Hope for the triumph of the Kingdom, according to the Covenant Promise; for the Church, as the custodian of the Gospel; for the future of the believer, as dear to the heart of the Redeemer.

On an Easter morning Dr. Wilfred Grenfell drove across a frozen bay to succor a man in distress. Soon the missionary found that he was afloat on an ice floe. Facing what seemed to be certain death he asked himself why he expected to share in the life beyond. He decided that he did so because be believed in the resurrection of Christ. Rescued as by a miracle, Grenfell went on to old age, sacrificially serving men and testifying to “the power of an endless life.”

What a wonderful time for you to enroll in the school of Christ! Since you assuredly wish to share with Grenfell in his most glorious and blessed hope, begin at once to look on Easter as your Commencement Day!

Dedicated to assisting the clergy in the preparation of sermons, the feature titled The Minister’s Workshop appears in the first issue of each month. The section’s introductory essay is contributed alternately by Dr. Andrew W. Blackwood and Dr. Paul S. Rees. The feature includes, also, Dr. Blackwood’s abridgments of expository-topical sermons, outlines of significant messages by great preachers of the past, and outlines or abridgments of messages presented by expository preachers of our own time.—ED.

… Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24:32; read vv. 13–35.)

As a believer in Christ you look on Easter as the most wondrous day in the Christian year. To Easter you look forward with eager expectation; on it look back with thanksgiving. During all the rest of the year how can you worship and live in the afterglow of Easter morn? Such an afterglow comes through—

I. Meeting for Worship. Early Christians believed in group worship. Before the two pilgrims met with the Living Lord they were full of doubts and fears. After an hour with him they were full of hope and joy. Such a change comes in worship now, when the Living Lord opens eyes and hearts.

II. Understanding the Scriptures. The early Church made large use of the Book that Jesus loved. Before that hour with him the two did not understand. Afterward they knew better how to read the Book. By interpreting the Scriptures the Risen Lord had opened their eyes.

III. Engaging in Service. Before that transforming hour the two had felt sorry for themselves. After the Lord led them to see, they thought much about others. Today the most radiant believers are busy making the Living Christ known to others. If those two had kept the Good News to themselves, their vision would soon have faded.

IV. Living in Hope. Today many church folk pitch their music on a minor key. So did those two think about the past as dead, the future as hopeless. After a transforming hour they felt secure about the past, and about the future, in the hands that once had been pierced. Now such radiant followers of the Risen Lord are the happiest people on earth.

Early in our century a brilliant English editor, L. P. Jacks, wrote a little book, The Lost Radiance of the Christian Church. Later he wrote about the way to recapture such radiance. By reading the New Testament through he found that the early saints were radiant because they lived in daily fellowship with the Living Christ. To each of you, here and now, I offer the secret of radiance in daily fellowship with the Christ of Easter morn, and of every morn.

With Surprises For Many

Ecumenical Beginnings in Protestant World Mission: A History of Comity, by R. Pierce Beaver (Thomas Nelson, 1962, 356 pp., $5), is reviewed by William J. Samarin, Assistant Professor of Lineuistics, Hartford Seminary Foundation, Hartford, Connecticut.

An evaluation of this book is affected by whether one takes the title or the subtitle as its real subject. As a history of comity in Protestant world missions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this work is unquestionably a major contribution to the literature on missiology; as a demonstration that comity is “the first concrete step in the evolution of the ecumenical movement,” however, it never makes its case. Demonstrating Christian unity in one field is not proving its causal relations to organizational ecumenism.

The modern missionary movement was characterized from its inception by interdenominational cooperation. News was shared. Funds from different branches of the Church were used to support missionary endeavors. And abroad, policies were hammered out to permit each missionary body to devote itself to the paramount concern—evangelizing the world.

Denominationalism did not characterize the work of most missionaries; many even envisaged the establishment of truly indigenous churches, Christian but not necessarily replicas of the churches of the missionaries. This is the part of modern missions which Beaver very carefully describes, first in general and then in detail for each of the major areas of the world. (The book concludes with a good bibliography and index.)

A book as well documented as this one is provides the reader with many surprises—unless he happens to be as well-read as its author. (Dr. Beaver is professor of missions and director of the Center for the Study of the Christian World Mission, Divinity School of the University of Chicago.) For example, J. Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, conceived of the C.I.M. not as simply interdenominational, but also as an instrument by which any of the existing church orders could be established in China. Thus Anglicans, Baptists, Presbyterians, and Lutherans affiliated with the C.I.M.

In the final chapter, “Stress, Strain, and Problems,” the author reveals that all is not well. With strong words he decries the unfortunate results of the “colonial mind” (more about which one would have enjoyed reading), of “missionary imperialists,” of “denominational imperialism,” and of denominational “follow-up.” And even ecumenism, paradoxically enough, seems to have dealt a serious blow to unity and union because membership in the World Council of Churches is not by national or local councils of cooperation, but by churches.

WILLIAM J. SAMARIN

Bitter Laughter

Letters From the Earth by Mark Twain, edited by Bernard DeVoto (Harper and Row, 1962, $5.95), is reviewed by Roderick H. Jellema, Instructor in English, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

It is something of a literary event to find a new book by Mark Twain still holding its own after months on the best-seller lists—52 years after Twain’s death.

What happened is simply this: Since 1910 Twain’s heirs have suppressed the papers which make up this volume; they have now withdrawn their objections, and the world has a fresh volume by one of the greatest of American writers.

No one is going to suggest that Letters From the Earth is a great book. It is all too apparent in these fragments that Twain, for all his sly wit and satirical intensity and puckish insight, is out of control. Well, let him be out of control. His sharp eye and his pungent wit are still magnificent; his abandoned projects reveal more about that vain creature, man, than nine-tenths of the polished and finished projects of any publishing year. The book will alternately amuse and horrify the reader. But it will always engage him, and engage him significantly.

The book has a peculiar significance for the Christian reader. For the most part it is an attack on Protestant Christendom and its interpretation of the Bible as Twain saw them. Now mischievous or broadly mocking, then suddenly fierce and stinging and slashing, the book speaks an eloquent anger and anguish. Twain is not fooling; he is not offering idle diversion to his reader. The bitterness which seethes underneath Huck Finn’s view of a corrupted world and Pudd’nhead Wilson’s epithets, the bitterness which threatens to break loose in “The Mysterious Stranger” and “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg,” here erupts—directly and personally and in religious terms. The question this book can raise is a frightening one: How is it that the Church, the very Body of Christ, conceived in love, can project into so keen and so hungry a mind as Mark Twain’s a mangled image of little but smugness, cruelty, pride, stupidity, and selfishness?

The simple answers will not do. It is not, for example, that Twain is a humanist who regards man as self-sufficient, without need of redemption, evolving towards perfection. His chapter on “The Damned Human Race” is misanthropic enough for a Swift or the popular caricature of an Edwards. In part of it he ridicules Darwin’s theory of the ascent of man from lower animals and works out, with chilling blandness, his own substitute for it: “the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals.” It is not that he lacks seriousness, either; no worthy humorist does. Nor is he blocked by some proud inability to accept a supernatural realm of omnipotence; his style can hit lyrical pitch as he pictures God the Creator:

He lifted his hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe.

The implicit need that Twain felt for bringing God and man together is as strong as his sense of man’s evil and of God’s transcendent goodness. And yet, as himself or in his disguises as a letter writing Satan or a diary-keeping Methuselah, he can only laugh bitter laughter at Christendom.

This is not the place to analyze the deficiencies of Twain’s views. (One interesting paradox might be suggested: Had Christendom shown Twain more of the sense of guilt and original sin and less of the notion that men deserve or earn God’s love, we might have fared better at his hand.) But this is the place to suggest that reading Twain in all his painful irreverence can be an enobling experience. His book reminds us that theological constructions are not enough; that we often communicate the accidental and not the essential in the Christian faith; that scoffers do not always fit the stereotypes of pride and haughtiness which too many sermon illustrations ascribe to them.

This is not a book for the faint-of-heart or the easily shocked. It is an excellent book for the venturesome Christian who can swallow his pride, laugh at his own folly, and sharpen his Christian apologetic against a great, honest, and tragically formidable opponent.

RODERICK H. JELLEMA

Reform Or Uniformity?

Baptism in the New Testament, by G. R. Beasley-Murray (St. Martin’s, 1962, 424 pp., $12; Macmillan [London], 50s.), is reviewed by Cullen I. K. Story, Instructor in New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey.

The author of Jesus and the Future (1956) and A Commentary on Mark Thirteen (1957) has now written a full treatise on baptism. The main part of this book began to appear over three years ago as lectures which the writer, a Baptist, delivered to numerous Baptist institutions in the United States, in England, and on the Continent. Interestingly, the writer often reaches conclusions which run counter to the symbolic view of baptism prevailing in his own denomination.

The book has two main values. First, it opens up a rich exegetical study of all possible references to baptism in the New Testament. In true scholarly fashion, the writer always seeks to elucidate the text. Thus one discovers rich detail in his 19-page study of Romans 6:1 ff. Less certain references to baptism such as 1 Timothy 6:12, 13 and 2 Timothy 2:11, 12 likewise receive serious attention. In all of his exegesis, the author evidences complete acquaintance with the best of modern scholarship contained in commentaries, periodicals, and separate Works. Second, the author stresses the doctrinal importance of Christian baptism. In it he finds that the redemptive grace of God is at work in a unique way. He notes, “The baptismal act is his [the convert’s] ultimate response to the grace of God manifest in redemption” (p. 144), and “Baptism is rather the divinely-appointed rendezvous of grace for faith” (p. 273). The exegetical material throughout the main part of the book deserves careful attention.

Obviously a book on baptism will provoke questions. From chapter I a somewhat minor question arises: Does the baptism of John, as the author indicates, belong with antecedents of Christian baptism (e.g., the Qumran washings and Jewish proselyte baptism)? I think not. The united evidence of all four Gospels show that John’s baptism belongs to the very beginning of the Messianic ministry of Jesus.

Reading for Perspective

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S REVIEW EDITORS CALL ATTENTION TO THESE NEW TITLES:

★ Evangelical Theology: An Introduction, by Karl Barth (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, $4). Popular lectures, including the five given in the United States, showing the task, place, and wonder of theology, and Barth’s hope that America will develop a theology of freedom.

★ Preaching for Tethered Man, by Theodore Heimarck (Augsburg, $3.75). Twelve sermons which show the path of freedom to men tethered by fear and darkness.

★ The Natural and the Supernatural Jew, by Arthur A. Cohen (Pantheon, $6). Author defines the theological Jew as one aware of his divine calling, and searches for him in the writings of such men as Martin Buber, Will Herberg, Abraham Heschel, and Mordecai Kaplan.

A more basic question, however, grows out of the writer’s 80-page chapter on infant baptism. The question is: Can Christian unity through the Holy Spirit allow for differences in the administration of the rite of baptism? The reviewer believes that it can and should make such allowance. Our oneness is in Christ, the Lord of the sacrament of baptism. But, says Dr. Beasley-Murray, the sacrament today is often misunderstood and abused. Hence he calls for baptismal reform which will cut across denominational lines. Few will demur at this. But the ritual reformation which he envisions means both an increase in the number of baptisms of responsible (adult) believers and the rejection of the validity of infant baptism. Does this ultimately mean reform or uniformity? Is the Holy Spirit here with us to break down confessional loyalties or to manifest his rich and varied ministries which, it is true, often spill over those loyalties? Compare the provoking article by Vilmos Vajta, “Confessional Loyalty and Ecumenicity,” in the October 1962 Ecumenical Review. The New Testament insists that there is a rich variety of operations of the Spirit through both grace-gifts and divinely-appointed offices (1 Cor. 12:4–6). According to Acts (cf. 8:14–17 and 10:44–48 with 2:38) the Holy Spirit is free to work as he will in relation to baptism. Does not this evidence suggest that oneness through the Holy Spirit and differences in the administration of baptism did coexist in the first century and can coexist today?

One final word. The book unfortunately is priced out of range ($12). The reviewer suggests that author and publishers go into a huddle and discover some way to bring the price of this worthwhile work down into the salary bracket of the ordinary student of the Word, in the seminary or in the pastorate.

CULLEN I. K. STORY

Emil Brunner

The Theology of Emil Brunner, edited by Charles W. Kegley and Robert W. Bretall, “Library of Living Theology,” Volume III (Macmillan, 1962, 395 pp., $7.50), is reviewed by James Daane, Editorial Associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

The first volume of “The Library of Living Theology” presented Paul Tillich, the second, Reinhold Niebuhr, and this third, Emil Brunner. Seventeen men present as many essays on various aspects of Brunner’s thought. The men include, among others, W. Pauck, H. V. White, A. Nygren, G. Florovsky, N. H. Söe, T. A. Gill, and D. Moody.

The book is a treasure for those interested in Brunner the theologian and Brunner the man. Except for one or two essays, all are good, and some excellent. All in all, they are a tribute worthy of the man. Although there is a bit of repetition, the recurrence of themes only indicates that the essays cut to the basic motifs of Brunner’s thought. The essays make it clear that in a world in which political totalitarianism and the disciples of Marx, Darwin, Freud, have developed a doctrine of man that denies human freedom, Brunner was bent on presenting the Christian view of man, a being addressed by God, and thus responsible to God. This motif runs not only through Brunner’s anthropology, but through his personal-social ethic, his epistemology, his missionary theology, and particularly through his conception of the “point of contact.” While this “ethical” aspect of Brunner gets full treatment, one could wish for fuller treatment of Brunner’s idea of “truth as encounter”—the concept he himself regards as his most important contribution to Christian epistemology. This conception of Christian epistemology is after all the crux of Brunner’s theology.

Brunner himself presents two interesting chapters. One is a sketch of his intellectual autobiography which throws considerable light on the world in which, and for which, he did his theologizing. He confesses that he regards himself first and primarily as a preacher, and that all his theological and philosophical thinking and writing has been subservient to presenting Jesus Christ to the world. The whole of his authorship makes it clear that he desired to carry on a Christian dialogue with the men of his time. His decision to teach in the International Christian University of Tokyo was a confirmation of his personal confession and of the practical intent of his theology.

In the concluding chapter Brunner expresses his reactions and appreciation to the tributes paid him and his thought and answers some questions and criticisms, all with Christian humility and courtesy. Brunner praises White for spelling out with great clarity something he himself had done little more than hint at: the unbeliever in becoming Christian must recapitulate the Old Testament history of Israel. He pays Dale Moody the tribute of knowing his theological authorship better than others, and then admits to some embarrassment apparently caused (Brunner’s script gets a bit muddy here) by a fundamentalism which allegedly peeks through Moody’s article. Brunner also expresses some reservations about Moody’s Baptistic idea of the Church and the critical use he made of it. (It appears to this writer that Professor Moody sees more in Brunner’s idea of the Church that is congenial to a Baptist than Brunner himself is prepared to admit.)

The book’s first chapter is of the quality one has come to expect when W. Pauck writes on historical matters; in one of its final chapters T. A. Gill, in his startling, jab-them-and-keep-them-awake style, gives a warm portrait of Brunner as a man and as a preacher.

JAMES DAANE

Sunday School Materials

Reviewed by Milford F. Henkel, Associate Professor and Chairman of the Division of Social Science, Malone College, Canton, Ohio.

Year after year the International Sunday School Lessons have retained their popularity with adult classes. Graded lessons of different types and subjects have increased in popularity with young people and children but only in a small measure with adults. A Sunday school commentary is a good buy; the publishers are to be commended for keeping prices low (generally between $2.95 and $3.25).

No one commentary examined excels in all areas. With the exception of The Gist of the Lesson, however, all of the commentaries furnish more than ample material. The selection of a particular commentary is a personal choice, but the following factors should be considered: Who is to use the commentary? What are his particular needs? How does he study his lesson? What is his theological position? How important is teaching methodology to him? Some may desire to purchase two commentaries—one for exposition and one for methodology.

Is a Sunday school commentary necessary with the improved teacher-pupil lesson manuals offered by many publishers? Some of the better teacher-pupil quarterlies are as extensive as, if not more extensive than, the commentaries. However, many quarterlies are not of this type. These commentaries could supplement the regular lesson material, or in many cases could be adopted by a class in lieu of quarterlies.

The Gist of the Lesson, edited by Donald T. Kauffman, originated by R. A. Torrey (Revell, 1962, 128 pp., $1.25), is the smallest and most inexpensive of the commentaries reviewed. Its advantage is that it fits into a pocket or purse. It is evangelical and includes the King James text of the lesson, the outline, the historical background, Bible study, and application. All of this is found in 2½ pages for each lesson. Its aim is to suggest, to be a “book of seed thoughts.” It is so brief that it is not adequate by itself for most teachers.

Rozell’s Complete Lessons, by Ray Rozell (Rozell and Co., 1962, 322 pp., $2.95), is a general commentary which suggests aims, approaches, pupil needs, and personal applications. It begins with several pages of suggestions, including hints for using the chalkboard but no other audio-visual materials. The late Rev. Mr. Rozell was a Baptist, but his book is not strongly Baptistic. There is emphasis upon teaching from the Bible and upon reading books of the Bible in their entirety. The commentary could be used by either the teacher or class members. It suggests techniques to the teacher, but is rather weak at this point. Each lesson is six pages long; the biblical text is from the Revised Standard Version.

Arnold’s Commentary, which has Donald M. Joy as executive editor and Lyle E. Williams as editor (Light and Life, 1962, 332 pp., $2.95), is not strictly denominational although published by the Free Methodist Church; it is Arminian in its theological interpretation. It distinguishes between such theological views as “sanctification” and “entire sanctification” (p. 256), and refers to Clarke’s Commentary more than to any other. There is a good discussion of different versions of the Bible. Like the other commentaries reviewed thus far, this one does not stress a literal 24-hour-day interpretation of the days of Genesis. It differs in that it does not print the Scripture texts, possibly assuming the teachers could find these in the Bible. Written by various authors, it varies greatly in quality, from outstanding articles by the editor to mediocre ones by others. At times the different parts of a lesson overlap. Each lesson includes a section on how to conduct the class, illustrated material entitled “Lesson in Life,” and a section entitled “Looking Ahead.” This commentary is of comparable merit with Rozell’s and is of particular interest to those desiring an Arminian interpretation. Each lesson is six pages. The audio-visual aids proposed are largely limited to the chalkboard and maps.

Peloubet’s Select Notes, by Wilbur M. Smith (Wilde, 1962, 447 pp., $2.95), will have lasting value on a minister’s shelf and will be referred to time after time. It has the most complete collection of expository notes of any of the commentaries. Dr. Wilbur Smith, its editor, is one of America’s great bibliographers, and this work reflects his extensive knowledge. At the same time, such bibliographical references are designed more for preachers than for the average Sunday school teacher; few teachers will buy a 1200-page commentary on Genesis, even if Dr. Smith suggests it. Good features include excellent outlines of the biblical passages and a set of free maps that can be obtained from the publishers.

Teachers using this book are almost forced to use the lecture method; there is hardly any information on how to teach. There is a list of audio-visual aids, but the teacher is told neither their price nor how to fit them into the lesson. The attempt to show how to introduce the lesson to different age groups is forced and unnatural. An example of this: in one lesson the teacher of the older classes is told, “The older classes should follow the suggestion above for the younger classes” (p. 1).

The book is thoroughly evangelical, though some may be unhappy with the rejection of the gap theory in Genesis 1:1, 2 and the support of the epic day theory. This is the best commentary for exposition.

The Douglass Sunday School Lessons, by Earl L. Douglass (Macmillan, 1962, 478 pp., $3.25), is the most extensive of these commentaries, yet is very moderately priced. It prints the lesson text from the King James Version, a lesson plan for the teacher, a detailed exposition of the texts, teaching hints, and illustrative materials. It is evangelical and interdenominational. Although it sees valuable contributions from all branches of Christendom, certain beliefs are stressed that all Christians must accept. These include a belief in God as Creator, authority and inspiration of Scripture, and Jesus Christ as the divine Saviour of the world. “Of these beliefs there can be no compromise” (pp. 370, 371). It gives the prices of audio-visual materials; films and filmstrips are included, though the list is very similar to those in the other commentaries. Its strength lies in its aids for teachers and its illustrations. It is a good commentary for the teacher who desires to do a better-than-average job.

Tarbell’s Teachers’ Guide, edited by Frank S. Mead (Revell, 1962, 384 pp., $2.95), is “widely recognized and accepted as the best lesson text and teachers’ guide to the International Sunday School lesson,” according to Daniel A. Poling, having “just about everything that the Sunday School teacher or student could desire” (Christian Herald, Dec., 1962). This reviewer must take exception to this glowing tribute. Of all the commentaries reviewed, this is the most liberal. Tarbell accepts the J, E, P sources for Genesis (p. 201), speaks of “all need conversion over and over again” (p. 24) and many other liberal interpretations. Tarbell’s does excel in illustrative material for pastors and discriminating teachers. As a rich source of illustrations it is worthy of a permanent place on the pastor’s shelf. Its teaching methodology is good, but not so good as that of The International Lesson Annual. It includes the lesson text in both RSV and KJV.

Higley Sunday School Lesson Commentary, edited by J. A. Huffman (Lambert Huffman Publishers, 1962, 525 pp., $2.95), is a dependable evangelical commentary, probably the largest seller today. The reviewer has often wondered why the materials found in annual commentaries were not also issued quarterly, making it possible for a Sunday school class to use this material for its regular lesson. Higley has done this; the commentary is issued in several ways: hardback, four parts with paper cover, loose leaf, and deluxe leather-covered. The most unique feature is the “pump primer,” which is designed to stimulate class discussion. Other features include the Scripture section, daily Bible reading, teaching outline and suggestions, exposition, evangelistic and missionary application, object lesson, illustrations, seed thoughts, and review questions. These widely varying features are not always closely integrated; some object lessons are forced, and it is perhaps not necessary to print the Scripture section and then repeat each verse in the exposition. A list of films and filmstrips is not included in the quarterly but may be obtained by writing to the publisher.

The International Lesson Annual, edited by Horace R. Weaver (Abingdon, 1962, 447 pp., $2.95), is one of the best commentaries for methodology. The teaching plans, especially the alternate ones, are based upon the concept that the student should be an active learner. Methods of teaching include forum, symposium, panel, discussion group, buzz group, role playing, and debate. The commentary includes an explanation of the biblical text, mention of audio-visual resources with some discussion on how to use them, application, teaching suggestions, and daily Bible reading. In this commentary (as in several others) the text is printed in both the KJV and RSV for easy comparison. In all cases the commentaries which did this made little comparison between the two texts. Is this a wise use of space, especially since the teacher should have several versions of the Bible available to study? Many publishers of the Sunday school quarterlies print both texts in these, so that it is of doubtful value to list both texts with each lesson in the commentary. In some cases a comparison of the texts would be fitting and very helpful.

In spite of the excellent teacher material the book will be rejected by some because of its rather liberal theological position. Theistic evolution is assumed (the process of evolution was orderly, not accidental or whimsical, pp. 231, 232), and a rather modified critical position is attributed to the Scripture in places such as the two accounts of creation; writing compiled by Moses sometime “previous to 250 B.C.… was divided into five parts” (p. 231). It is, however, an excellent commentary for those holding a modified liberal position and of great value to conservatives who can use it with discretion It has eight or nine pages per lesson.

Standard Lesson Commentary, edited by John W. Wade (Standard, 1962, 448 pp., $2.95), is of modern type and layout. It includes suggestions on lesson plans and teaching techniques. There are sections on explanation of the text, lesson outline, suggested prayer, “quotable” quotes, pithy points, truth for daily living, proposed lesson aims, lesson quiz, audio-visual aids, and a selected bibliography. It is evangelical in tone. Other commentaries have special features that excel particular features in this one, but this has the best all-round approach for the average teacher.

MILFORD F. HENKEL

British Baptists

British Baptists: A Short History, by D. Mervyn Himbury (Carey Kingsgate Press, 1962, 143 pp., 8s. 6d.), is reviewed by James Taylor, Minister of Ayr Baptist Church, Scotland.

Within a short compass the author has given us a valuable history of the development of Baptist churches, outlook, and doctrine in the British Isles, the Americas, and Australia and New Zealand. The growth of the Anabaptist movement on the Continent is traced and its relationship shown to the Baptist churches which began to rise in England. Adequate treatment is given to the successive confessions of faith which indicated the consolidation of Baptist doctrine and practice. The chapter on “Baptists and the Secular World” reveals that although Baptists have produced few men who have plotted violent social change, the churches have always possessed a strong social conscience. The problems which faced Baptists in the past with regard to their own communion and the surrounding secular society have a strangely modern ring!

The author is at his best when he deals with the “outreach” of Baptist churches. He writes: “Wherever a Baptist church has been planted in the modern world, it has itself become a centre of missionary activity.” This is a book that will be of profit to more than just British Baptists.

JAMES TAYLOR

ESTES IN THE PILPIT—Billie Sol Estes, Churches of Christ lay preacher, appeared before a small Negro congregation in Indianapolis last month. He delivered a 35-minute sermon, then passed the collection basket in behalf of a proposed missionary church in Nigeria. Estes, convicted of fraud by a Texas court, still faces federal action in connection with the collapse of his financial empire. He is free on bond pending an appeal.

PROTESTANT PANORAMA—Southern Baptists are working on a revised confession of faith to be presented to their annual sessions in Kansas City in May. A draft prepared by a special committee is being studied by Southern Baptist seminary faculties.

The Evangelistic Association of New England, supported by some 600 evangelical churches, marked its 75th anniversary with a dinner meeting in Boston.

The Methodist Church in the West Indies, Central America, and British Guiana will become an antonomous conference in 1965 but will maintain close ties with the British Conference and will continue to seek ministers from the United Kingdom.

The General Council of the Ameircan Baptist Convention will hold its winter meeting, February 6–7, where Baptist work in the New World had its beginnings. The First Baptist Church of Providence, Rhode Island, founded by Roger Williams, and the United Baptist Church of Newport, founded by John Clarke, are the oldest Baptist churches in America. Both list 1638 as their founding date.

An appeal to labor and management leaders involved in the New York newspaper strike was issued by the Protestant Council of the City of New York. The statement urged both parties “to comprehend, in addition to the self-interest of the contending parties, the vast public interest and concern and your responsibility to them.”

MISCELLANY—Boston College will bring together two leading figures of the Roman Catholic reform movement next month, Augustin Cardinal Bea, head of the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, and Father Hans Küng, a young theologian from the University of Tübingen, Germany.

The World Vision Korean Orphan Choir is winning recognition as one of the finest children’s musical groups in the world. The choir, directed by Soo Chul Chang, is now on a tour of North America.

Missionary News Service reports establishment of an office in Nairobi, Kenya, to coordinate evangelical efforts in Africa. The office, a joint project of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association and the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association, will operate under the Rev. Kenneth Downing, former general field director of the Africa Inland Mission.

A new suburban campus for the Tokyo Bible Seminary of the Oriental Missionary Society will include a classroom building, six homes for national teachers, five missionary homes, and a four-unit guest house. Construction is already under way.

Soviet Zone Communists, after a period of relative restraint, launched a heavy attack against what they called the West German “military” church. Their specific targets were the 11th German Evangelical Church Day (DEKT) Congress, to be held at Dortmund, July 24–28, and Dr. Kurt Scharf, chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKID).

Congress is again being asked to consider the problem of Old Order Amish who have religious objections to participation in the Social Security program. Republican Representative Paul B. Dague of Pennsylvania introduced a measure to exempt from the compulsory insurance program those “who are opposed to participation in such program on grounds of conscience or religious belief.”

PERSONALIA—Dr. Langdon B. Gilkey, now professor and chairman of the department of theology at Vanderbilt Divinity School, appointed Professor of Systematic Theology at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

Dr. Robert Clyde Johnson, professor of systematic theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, named dean of Yale Divinity School. He succeeds Dr. Liston Pope, who resigned in 1961.

Dr. Colin W. Williams, Australian evangelist, named executive director of the National Council of Churches’ Central Department of Evangelism.

The Rev. J. B. Toews will resign as general secretary of the Board of Missions of the Mennonite Brethren Church to become a professor at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Fresno, California. Toews will be succeeded by the Rev. H. R. Wiens.

The Rev. Ross S. Rhoads appointed a field evangelist of the Gospel Broadcasting Association headed by Dr. Charles E. Fuller. Rhoads will hold evangelistic campaigns throughout the country and will periodically share in the preaching ministry of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour radio broadcast.

Dr. Roy C. McClung named president of Wayland Baptist College.

Dr. H. L. Puxley named director of the Canadian School of Missions and Ecumenical Institute.

The Rev. Tommy L. Duncan elected president of the American Protestant Correctional Chaplains Association.

The Rev. Luther K. Hannum, Jr., Protestant chaplain at Sing Sing Prison, presented “Chaplain of the Year Award” by the Salvation Army.

Frank J. Crawford, Jr., Post Office Department illustrator who designed the 1962 Christmas stamp, presented with one of the department’s top career service awards.

Ernest Woodhouse appointed superintendent of McAuley Water Street Mission, New York, oldest rescue mission in America.

Dr. William H. Schechter, president of Tarkio College, elected president of the National Council of United Presbyterian Men.

The Rev. William D. Moyers, Southern Baptist minister, nominated to be deputy director of the Peace Corps. Moyers, former aide to Vice President Johnson, has been associate director of public affairs for the Peace Corps.

The Rev. S. Carson Wasson assumed the presidency of Presbyterian Ministers’ Fund, oldest chartered life insurance company in the world.

Eerdmans publishers announced that F. F. Bruce has succeeded the late Ned B. Stonehouse as editor of its monumental New International Commentary.

WORTH QUOTING—“Religious beliefs have nothing to do with the legal profession.”—Maurice Brooks, president of Abilene (Texas) Bar Association, in expressing disapproval of the Christian Legal Society, newly organized fellowship of evangelical lawyers.

“There is no doubt in my mind that the Pope is the number one public relations man for the church in the world today.”—Bishop Fred P. Corson, president of the World Methodist Council.

Deaths

THE RT. REV. NORMAN BURDETT NASH, 74, retired Episcopal Bishop of Massachusetts; in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

DR. ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN, 106, who served for 34 years as secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions; in New York. Brown was the oldest living person listed in Who’s Who in America, and the only surviving member of Andrew Carnegie’s original Church Peace Union.

DR. GEORGE P. MICHAELIDES, 70, director emeritus of the Shauffler Division of Christian Education at the Oberlin College Graduate School of Theology; in Oberlin, Ohio.

DR. C. H. WATSON, 86, former president of the General Conference of the Seventh day Adventist Church; in Sydney, Australia.

PROFESSOR JAMES PITT-WATSON, 69, former moderator of the Church of Scotland; in Glasgow.

DR. ANDREW VANCE MCCRACKEN, 65, editor of the United Church Herald, biweekly magazine of the United Church of Christ; in Bronxville, New York.

In a meeting without precedent in U. S. history, Jewish rabbis, Roman Catholic priests, and Protestant clergymen, with leading laymen of their faiths, gathered to discuss ways to rid America of racialism.

The National Conference on Religion and Race convened in Chicago, “home of Lincoln,” January 14–17, 100 years to the month after the Emancipation Proclamation freed the Negro from slavery. Convinced that racial discrimination is a moral problem that cannot be solved by legal and economic pressures alone, delegates issued “An Appeal to the Conscience of the American People” with the prayer that it would effect a new emancipation. Purpose of the appeal is to sensitize the conscience of the American people to the moral evil of racism in its many forms.

Admitting that the U. S. government had again shown the way in the recent Supreme Court decisions, delegates spoke frequently of their sinful failure to follow the example of the government and the moral imperatives of their own religious faiths. Discrimination in housing, employment, schooling, transportation, and the use of public facilities in American life, plus various forms of discrimination within their own organizations, were identified as failures of church and synagogue.

Among many practical resolutions was selection of ten large “target cities” as areas in which inter-faith groups will attempt to deal concretely with racial problems on the local, grass root level.

The cities chosen were Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Oakland, San Antonio, New Orleans, Seattle, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and St. Louis.

Dr. Franklin H. Littell of Chicago Theological Seminary told the more than 650 delegates and 300 observers that America is only now shedding its heathenism and becoming Christian. “Racialism,” he said, “has precisely the same relation to our church life as polygamy in Africa,” a carry over of “pre-baptismal practice” into our church life. He asserted that while racialism is America’s greatest social problem, it is not the church’s most basic issue. Racialism, he declared, is our churches’ “moment of truth” in which they can discover whether they are truly the Church of Christ.

With the touch of the thunder and passion of Old Testament propheticism, Rabbi Abraham J. Heschel decried racism as “satanic,” a “blasphemy,” an “eye-disease, a cancer of the soul.” He found redemption in a justice “charged with the omnipotence of God,” and concluded exultantly, “What ought to be, shall be!”

In the panel which followed Heschel’s impassioned speech, New York attorney William Stringfellow, an Episcopal layman, shook delegates by asserting “this conference is too little, too late, and too lily white.” He described the very idea of the conference’s declaration of conscience as “absurd” since the initiative in racial matters has already almost wholly passed to minority groups. He said present religious structures are pervaded with “demonic” powers.

Praising the high quality of Negro leadership, Stringfellow said he was thankful that the initiative and leadership “is not in hands of a black General Walker.” He denounced Heschel’s humanism and called for a candid recognition that society’s only hope for unity and reconciliation lies in the unity achieved in Christian baptism. Looking at Heschel at his immediate right, he declared that reconciliation is “not by man” but by God in the Christ of the Cross. Heschel responded to Stringfellow by saying, “Despair of man’s power for goodness is the greatest heresy.” If man has not such power, he asserted, “God has spoken in vain.” He added, “Fortunately, Moses did not study theology under Mr. Stringfellow. If he had, he would still be working in Egypt.” Stringfellow later declared that he did not regard the conference as without value, but feared its possibilities would be superficially over-estimated.

NEWS / A fortnightly report of developments in religion

‘AN APPEAL TO THE CONSCIENCE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’

We have met as members of the great Jewish and Christian faiths held by the majority of the American people, to counsel together concerning the tragic fact of racial prejudice, discrimination and segregation in our society. Coming as we do out of varous religious backgrounds, each of us has more to say than can be said here. But this statement is what we as religious people are moved to say together.

I

Racism is our most serious domestic evil. We must eradicate it with all diligence and speed. For this purpose we appeal to the consciences of the American people.

This evil has deep roots; it will not be easily eradicated. While the Declaration of Independence did declare “that all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,” slavery was permitted for almost a century. Even after the Emancipation Proclamation, compulsory racial segregation and its degrading badge of racial inequality received judicial sanction until our own time.

We rejoice in such recent evidences of greater wisdom and courage in our national life as the Supreme Court decisions against segregation and the heroic, non-violent protests of thousands of Americans. However, we mourn the fact that patterns of segregation remain entrenched everywhere—North and South, East and West. The spirit and the letter of our laws are mocked and violated.

Our primary concern is for the law’s of God. We Americans of all religious faiths have been slow to recognize that racial discrimination and segregation are an insult to God, the Giver of human dignity and human rights. Even worse, we all have participated in perpetuating racial discrimination and segregation in civil, political, industrial, social, and private life. And worse still, in our houses of worship, our religious schools, hospitals, welfare institutions, and fraternal organizations we have often failed our own religious commitments. With few exceptions we have evaded the mandates and rejected the promises of the faiths we represent.

We repent our failures and ask the forgiveness of God. We ask also the forgiveness of our brothers, whose rights we have ignored and whose dignity we have offended. We call for a renewed religious conscience on this basically moral evil.

II

Our appeal to the American people is this:

SEEK a reign of justice in which voting rights and equal protection of the law will everywhere be enjoyed; public facilities and private ones serving a public purpose will be accessible to all; equal education and cultural opportunities, hiring and promotion, medical and hospital care, open occupancy in housing will be available to all.

SEEK a reign of love in which the wounds of past injustices will not be used as excuses for new ones; racial barriers will be eliminated; the stranger will be sought and welcomed; any man will be received as brother—his rights, your rights; his pain your pain; his prison, your prison.

SEEK a reign of courage in which the people of God will make their faith their binding commitment; in which men willingly suffer for justice and love; in which churches and synagogues lead, not follow.

SEEK a reign of prayer in which God is praised and worshiped as the Lord of the universe, before Whom all racial idols fall, Who makes us one family and to Whom we are all responsible.

In making this appeal we affirm our common religious commitment to the essential dignity and equality of all men under God. We dedicate ourselves to work together to make this commitment a vital factor in our total life.

We call upon all the American people to work, to pray and to act courageously in the cause of human equality and dignity while there is still time, to eliminate racism permanently and decisively, to seize the historic opportunity the Lord has given us for healing an ancient rupture in the human family, to do this for the glory of God.

Another panelist, Sheed & Ward editor Philip Scharper, agreed that “racism is an intolerable heresy,” but saw its resolution only in a theology of the Incarnation. Discrimination will not be resolved, he contended, until men recognize that the Negro no less than the white has been redeemed “by the blood of Christ,” and that Christ’s blood alone can wash away our “ethnic pride and cultural superiority … blotting out forever those … cherished distinctions which set us off from the lesser breeds without the law.”

Various delegates declared in discussion groups that they rarely if ever heard sermons on the evil nature of racial discrimination from the pulpits. Sargent Shriver, Director of the Peace Corps, addressing a full meeting of the conference, asked: “I wonder why I can go to church fifty-two times a year and not hear one sermon on the practical problems of race relations?” He challenged delegates to tithe a tenth of their time to the achievement of social justice. Many delegates confessed that the embarrassment of their own personal failures, and that of their churches, kept them from speaking out against the segregation of their civic communities.

In the conference’s closing address Martin Luther King declared that segregation is “morally wrong and sinful,” for every man’s creation in the image of God means that there “is no graded scale of essential worth. Only a Negro,” he declared, “understands the social leprosy that segregation inflicts upon him. Like a nagging hell, it follows his every activity, leaving him tormented by day and haunted by night.”

Many voices, both lay and cleric, asserted that the clergy often fail to speak against racism in concrete terms for fear of loss of status, or even position.

The conference was called by the Department of Racial and Cultural Relations of the National Council of Churches; the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference; and the Social Action Commission of the Synagogue Council of America. The Rev. Benjamin E. Mays, president of Morehouse College, Atlanta, was chairman. Mathew Ahmann, Executive Director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, was the conference’s Secretariat. More than 70 religious groups participated.

Several invited Negro organizations declined to attend. Most conspicuous was the absence of the president of the 5,000,000-member National Baptist Convention, the Rev. J. H. Jackson. According to the Rev. Phale D. Hale, executive secretary of the Social Action Commission of the Ohio Baptist General Association, close friend of both Jackson and Martin Luther King, “personal relationships arising out of past experiences” in the World Council of Churches and in the formation of the conference, led to his rejection of the invitation.

The theological basis on which the three major U. S. faiths met was the common confession that one God created all men in his own image and each man has therefore rights and dignities which all others are obliged to honor. Appeal was made to the words of Malachi (2:10), “Have we not all one Father? hath not one God created us?” This was accepted as a basis for the conference without any debate. This basis indeed allowed for the hoped for amelioration of racism through resolutions and united programs of concrete social action. It did not, however, deliver the conference from basic ambiguity and contradiction on a deeper level. Within the accepted limitations of their coming together, delegates could not appeal to that grace of God in Christ which can alone cleanse evil from the human heart. Delegates repeatedly admitted that everyone knows what is right, but continually asked for the source of the power and courage to do the right. NCC President J. Irwin Miller put the matter in sharp relief when he told the assembly, “We often find ourselves unable to practice what we preach.”

The conference did represent, however, an anguished and determined effort toward conquering America’s greatest and most dangerous social problem.

At times emotions rose to the point of breaking—not into anger but tears.

Church And Politics

The implications of a “Christian Social Relations Committee” proved too much for the vestry of St. Michael and All Angels Church, Los Angeles.

The vestry set up a committee to study the proposal of the Los Angeles Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church “to foster the formation in every parish and mission of the Diocese of a local Christian Social Relations Committee.” The committee probed the pros and cons for six months, then returned with a 22-page report which instead proposed establishment of a “Good Works Committee.”

The report was adopted by the vestry by a vote of 11 to 0, with the rector, the Rev. R. K. Riebs, abstaining.

A resolution of the vestry concluded that “the proposed Christian Social Relations Committee is not in the best interest of this Parish Church.”

The resolution noted that “the establishment of the proposed Christian Social Relations Committee, whatever else it might serve to do, would commit our Parish Church to a program of political action and that this kind of controversial activity and its natural and consequent by-products would seriously jeopardize and impair our ability to carry out the valid and important purposes for which we have joined together in this church.”

Announcing A Reprint

Bethany Press, publishing house of the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), says it is reprinting The Message of Genesis, the book which created a major theological furor in the Southern Baptist Convention last year.

The book will be out this month as the first in a new line of paperbacks, according to Darrell K. Wolfe, director of Bethany Press. Both Wolfe and Dr. Ralph H. Elliott, the author, said corrections of spelling and typographical errors will be the only changes from the first edition.

Broadman Press, the Southern Baptist publishing agency which first issued the book then decided not to reprint it after 5,000 copies had been sold out, reportedly loaned the type to Bethany Press.

Elliott, at first defended by trustees of Midwestern Baptist Theological School, eventually lost his teaching position at the Southern Baptist school when he would not agree to withhold the book from a second publication.

The theological viewpoint of the book was sharply criticized by Southern Baptist conservatives.

Wolfe, in announcing the reprint plan, was somewhat condescending:

“It is well written from the point of view of style. While it is not a major scholarly work, we believe that it will fit the Bethany line without discredit.”

Had officials of Bethany Press considered that in reprinting the book they might fan the flames of theological controversy in a sister denomination? Wolfe did not say.

“Our directors notified me to go ahead if I thought the book was of sufficient quality,” he declared, “and my publication committee told me to go ahead for this reason:

“They thought the book warranted being published because of the way it had been handled in the past. In other words, they felt that no man ought to lose his job just because he had a book on the Bible published that did not happen to appeal to all of the constituents.”

A Ransom For The Siberians?

Is there still hope for the 32 Siberian peasants who sought refuge from religious persecution? Could their fellow Christians in the more fortunate free world find a way to help them?

These questions echoed in the mind and heart of many an evangelical believer this week, kept alive by the memory of a plaintive cry:

“Those who believe in God and Christ, help us!”

The plea had been uttered by one of the peasants herded into a Soviet bus for removal from the U. S. Embassy in Moscow. Around the world evangelical Christians shared an uneasy conscience because it remained unanswered.

Perhaps the most dramatic proposal for helping the peasants, who presumably were back in their home town of Chernogorsk, was this:

Why not raise a ransom fund and offer Khrushchev the money for release of the 32 from Russia?

James B. Donovan, New York attorney involved in the return both of U-2 pilot Gary Powers and the Cuban Bay of Pigs invaders, was pessimistic.

“I’m sure it would be rejected out of hand,” he said. “Russia would have no idea of permitting them to leave.”

Donovan, a Roman Catholic layman, did not shut the door on the possibility that he might be willing to negotiate for release of the Siberian Christians if interest from the Kremlin were forthcoming. He said he would make that decision in the light of circumstances.

[A complete report on the plea for refuge by the Siberians appeared in the news section of the January 18, 1963, issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. In the same issue, an editorial voiced disappointment that “no church or church organization seized the opportunity to ransom the ill-fated Cuban freedom fighters from Castro’s island prison.”]

[Richard Cardinal Cushing, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, belatedly revealed that there had indeed been a church organization involved; Cushing himself had raised $1,000,000 to help liberate the Cubans. The funds he raised, Cushing said, came from small contributions of $1,000 or less from persons of all religious beliefs. Some $200,000 was already on hand, he said. The cardinal told newsmen he agreed to raise the sum when informed by U. S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy that the money was needed. Cushing’s involvement reportedly raised some Protestant concern.]

Observers were quick to point out that an offer of money for the Siberians would be a situation quite different from the one which brought back the Cubans.

Gordon Shantz of Harrisonburg, Virginia, director of Russian-language Mennonite radio broadcasts beamed to the Soviet Union, declared that although there is not much parallel with the return of the Cuban invaders, the idea of a ransom for the Siberians is due “some exploration.” “It might be worth following up,” he said.

Dr. Oswald C. J. Hoffmann, whose “Lutheran Hour” radio broadcast is also heard in Russia, lamented the fact that the State Department and the U. S. Embassy in Moscow “failed to get more mileage” out of the incident. But he added that “I don’t see much purpose in this ransom procedure. There isn’t a ghost of a chance. It would be a pure propaganda move.”

Neither the World Council of Churches nor the National Council of Churches had a comment on the Moscow incident.

Leaders of the Baptist World Alliance called on the Russian government to permit an impartial international commission to investigate the complaint of the Siberians. They made the plea in a personal letter to Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin delivered to the Russian Embassy in Washington.

State Department Press Officer Lincoln White, asked if Protestant churches could expect any encouragement from the U. S. government if they sought to ransom the Siberians, said he did not know one way or another.

Timely Accident

The Rev. Earl Kelly, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Holly Springs, Mississippi, was preaching on the second coming of Christ.

He had just quoted Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

At this point, a large light bulb fell from its socket in the ceiling and shattered on the floor in front of the pulpit.

As reported by Baptist Press, Kelly was equal to the occasion. He told the startled worshipers, “His coming will be just as sudden, and unexpected, and devastating to the dreams that are not Christ-centered.”

Most generous offer in behalf of the Siberians came from the National Association of Evangelicals. A cablegram signed by Dr. Robert A. Cook, NAE president, and Bishop C. N. Hostetter, Jr., chairman of its World Relief Commission, urged Khrushchev to grant the 32 believers permission to leave the Soviet Union.

An NAE spokesman said the offer of help could be interpreted as willingness to sponsor the Siberians as refugees.

Dr. Carl McIntire, president of the International Council of Christian Churches, also wired an appeal to Moscow as well as to the U. S. State Department asking for release of the Siberians.

“But under no circumstances would we consider a ransom,” he said. “That would be immoral. God can deliver these people without our committing an immoral act.”

Meanwhile, Religious News Service reported from Moscow that the Siberians had presented written petitions at the embassy but that American authorities were unwilling to release the texts. Embassy spokesmen said the petitions were forwarded to the State Department for “detailed study.” They added that no copy of the pleas had been provided to the Soviet foreign ministry.

According to the one report, “there were many pages” in the petitions, “handwritten and signed by many names.”

Some observers saw in the phrase “many names” the possibility that the Christians who appeared at the U. S. Embassy may have carried petitions signed by a large number of believers from Siberian areas.

If so, Christians signing the petition—in entrusting it to the group which journeyed some 2,400 miles to Moscow—took a great risk. Had the petitions been intercepted by Soviet authorities before reaching the U. S. Embassy, the Communist regime could have placed charges.

A complete news blackout on the incident still existed throughout Russia two weeks afterward. The only announcement from the government was distributed by a news agency, Novosti, and consisted of an English-language detailing of “crimes” committed by “Evangelical Christians.” Designed strictly for Western consumption, it listed a series of “criminal” activities attributed to an “unregistered” sect.

Cruelty to children constituted the major charge. Indirectly, by noting that children had been taken from sect members because of alleged cruelty, the Soviet agency supports the peasants’ charge, shouted out at the U. S. Embassy, that their children would be taken from them.

A New Encounter

Study of the Holy Spirit brought together two ends of the ecclesiastical spectrum—the Protestant Episcopal Church and the Assemblies of God—in two closed-door meetings last year “to find out what we might be able to learn from each other about Christian faith and life.”

Specifically, much of the conversation centered on the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church today. Both sides discounted any aims toward doctrinal agreement or ecclesiastical negotiations.

A joint statement issued January 16 reported that “there emerged a deep sense of Christian understanding and mutual trust. We found ourselves a fellowship, open to the leading of the Holy Spirit to a degree which we had hardly dared to expect.”

There was no explanation of why the talks had been a closely guarded secret.

Conferences between officials of the two churches were held at the Assemblies of God headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, and at the Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City. The first meeting was held February 16–17, 1962, in Springfield and the second November 8–9, 1962, in Kansas City.

The idea originated in a letter written by Carl G. Conner, public relations representative of the Assemblies of God, to Peter Day, editor of The Living Church, an Episcopal weekly. Conner commented on an article in The Living Church relating to the charismatic movement in the Episcopal Church and suggested the possibility of further discussion. Day received the proposal enthusiastically and took it up with church officials, who appointed an official committee.

Attending the meetings, in addition to Day, who was chairman of the Episcopal delegation, were the Rt. Rev. Edward R. Welles, Bishop of Western Missouri; the Very Rev. Ned Cole, Jr., dean of Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis; and the Rev. William N. Beachy, M. D., chaplain of St. Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City.

Included in the Assemblies of God delegation were the Rev. Thomas F. Zimmerman, general superintendent; the Rev. Howard Bush; the Rev. Charles W. H. Scott; the Rev. Gayle F. Lewis; the Rev. Bert Webb; the Rev. J. Philip Hogan; and the Rev. M. B. Netzel.

Sources identified with the current charismatic revival say that a number of Episcopal churches are experiencing its manifestations. The Protestant Episcopal Church became the first of the old-line denominations to utter an official reaction when its House of Bishops issued a statement last fall. The statement said, in effect, that the movement must not get out of hand. Here is the complete text:

“Since, from time to time, new movements rise within the life of the Church, we, your bishops, share two observations.

“(a) When a new movement rises, which may stress some aspect of the richness of Christ, it is the duty of the whole Church to view it with sympathy, to work to keep it within the great fellowship, and to discern what in the movement is of God that we all may learn from it. Our attitude must be generous, and charitably critical. If, for example, a movement rises concerned with the fact of the Holy Spirit, the proper response is for all of us to consider anew the divine promises and divine gifts, trying the spirits by their fruits. We must bear always in mind that souls differ, that God’s Spirit is ever moving in new ways, and that new movements have in history enriched the Body of Christ. We observe further that we are a Church, and not a sect, and that our spiritual home is, and should be, spacious.

Overseas Move

Westminster College, a United Presbyterian school in Fulton, Missouri, plans to import a 285-year-old war-damaged church from London as a memorial to Winston Churchill.

Dr. Robert L. D. Davidson, college president, says moving St. Mary the Virgin Church from Aldermanbury to the Missouri campus and its reconstruction should be completed by June.

Plans to move the church had been ridiculed earlier by Pravda, Communist daily in Moscow, which brought the comment from Davidson: “We couldn’t be more complimented.”

Westminster College was the scene in 1946 of Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech in which he called for a strong American-British alliance against Communism. The address was belittled by Pravda as “one in which the Cold War was declared and which legalized the sad role of the junior partner of the U. S.”

Christopher Wren, noted British architect, designed the church, which was completed about 1677.

“(b) Having said that to the whole Church, we observe that the danger of all new movements is self-righteousness, divisiveness, one-sidedness, and exaggeration. We call, therefore, upon all new movements to remain in the full, rich, balanced life of the historic Church, and thereby protect themselves against these dangers; and we remind all clergy of their solemn vow to conform to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of this Church. The Church, transcending in its life both the generations and the nations, is by its nature more comprehensive than any special groups within it; and the Church, therefore, is both enriched by, and balances the insights of all particular movements.”

An Episcopal Record

A record membership of 3,591,853 in 7,735 parishes and missions of the Protestant Episcopal Church—a gain of 2.5 per cent over the previous year—is reported in the 1963 Episcopal Church Annual published by Morehouse-Barlow in New York.

Of the total, 3,334,253 are members of congregations and missions in the United States and 247,600 belong to 16 missionary districts outside the country.

The members are served by 9,811 ministers—a five per cent increase—and 15,510 lay readers.

Commenting on these and other statistics in the yearbook, Clifford P. Morehouse, editor of the annual, wrote that this is “probably not more than the normal population growth” of the country.

Citing a 1.62 per cent decrease in church school pupils and a 12 per cent decrease in ministerial candidates, Morehouse said:

“The question naturally arises: Is the Episcopal Church doing its full share in the religious life of America, or is it losing ground to other religious bodies and to the prevailing secularism?”

Morehouse, president of the church’s House of Deputies, observed that “fortunately statistics do not tell the whole story.”

He pointed to a “new awakening of lay activity in the Church” and a “growth of vision and of sound planning both in the home areas and in work overseas.”

‘You Can Call Me Red’

Since 1931 Britain has had four monarchs, eleven governments, and four primates in Anglicanism’s mother see, but amid all the changes and chances of this mortal scene the Dean of Canterbury has remained unmoved. Whoever conjures up an idyllic tale of cloistered seclusion in the ancient cathedral city (population 30,376) would be so wrong, for this onetime $2-a-week engineering apprentice caused uproar after uproar by tireless championship of Communist states and Marxist policies.

Born of capitalist parents in 1874, Hewlett Johnson did welfare work in the Manchester slums and was a strong advocate of Social Credit in his earlier days. Appointed to Canterbury by Labor Premier J. Ramsay MacDonald, he visited Russia in 1938 and thereafter published The Socialist Sixth of the World (now 22 editions, 25 languages). “I cannot lay claim to too much respectability,” he said once. “Underneath my skin I am a bit of a barbarian.” Though never a member of the Communist party, he journeyed far to world peace rallies, was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize in 1951, and in support of Red China charged the Americans with germ warfare during the Korean War. This led to a debate in the Houses of Parliament during which Dr. Geoffrey F. Fisher, then the archbishop, said the dean had “abused and compromised his office” (from which he could not legally be removed). Johnson never shunned publicity, and caused another furor when the Russians suppressed the 1956 revolution in Hungary.

Since he obstinately resolved never to quit his historic post while his health was good, the announcement of his resignation, effective May 31, has sparked off considerable speculation, for his wife claims he is “in perfect health.” Quizzed if pressure had been put on him, Johnson said: “I would rather not answer that. But that would not decide me at all because pressure has always been brought to bear upon me to retire by archbishops and by canons.” To Fisher, the distinguished-looking “Red Dean” was “a nuisance to be endured with such patience as we can command.” Fisher’s successor, Dr. Arthur M. Ramsey, is more equivocal; asked about the dean at the National Press Club in Washington last year, he replied: “Well, the dean is a very, very old man.”

Discussing the resignation, the Church Times first curiously suggested that his predilection for Russia was useful because it prevented anyone from maintaining “that the Church of England was entirely committed to an anti-Communist crusade,” but elsewhere dryly concluded: “Dr. Johnson expresses his intention of doing more important work than that of being Dean of Canterbury, namely the writing of his autobiography. Perhaps that is sufficient comment on his occupancy of this important position for more than three decades.”

J. D. D.

Agonize, Not Organize

Bishops wearing copes and mitres unwittingly encourage a person to think that he is “all right for eternity,” suggested the Rev. A. G. Pouncy, Rector of Bebington, at last month’s Islington Clerical Conference. This annual gathering of evangelicals in the Church of England (established by Bishop Daniel Wilson in 1829) could boast the presence of six bishops, but never a cope or mitre was to be seen. Alluding to the “appalling wastage” found in Anglicanism (75 per cent of those confirmed in England do not attend even one Communion a year), Mr. Pouncy said “indiscriminate baptism is the mother of insincere confirmation.”

In his presidential address the Rev. R. Peter Johnston, Vicar of Islington, said: “It is the constant danger of the Church to find in ecclesiasticism a form of escapism from her primary task of evangelism.” For evangelicals not less than for others it was a question of priorities, he continued. “Attendance at that committee meeting is deemed essential; the Prayer Meeting takes second place. We pride ourselves on our ability to organize. Our forefathers, like the Apostle Paul, knew what it was to agonize in prayer.” For the individual, suggested Mr. Johnston, the greatest need is for personal holiness; for the Church the greatest need is for spiritual revival.

Canon J. F. Hickinbotham, Principal of St. John’s College, Durham, pointed out that baptism witnesses to the New Testament truth that Christ’s salvation is decisive and complete (“you cannot have more or less [quantitatively] of the Holy Spirit indwelling your heart”)—a single salvation is expressed by a single sacrament. It cannot be affirmed that confirmation is theologically necessary to receiving the fullness of salvation. Pursuing the conference theme, “The Theology and Practice of Confirmation,” was Dr. Philip E. Hughes, editor of The Churchman, who expressed regret that the Church had mislaid the biblical doctrine of baptism, rooted in covenant theology. He urged that baptism should be withheld from the children of those who were not practicing Christians, and that such children could receive baptism and confirmation later as a joint rite. Canon James Atkinson of Hull University, one of the 32 theologians who signed last year’s “Open Letter to the Archbishops,” said that baptism is the whole rite of initiation. Confirmation, he added, is the ratification before the church of baptismal promises, not an objective purveying of the Holy Spirit.

J. D. D.

Violent March

Angry mobs marched down Jerusalem’s Street of the Prophets one night last month. They smashed windows, assaulted a Protestant missionary, and overturned the car of another.

Authorities blamed Yeshiva (Jewish Talmudic school) students and arrested seven of them. The students, characterized by black gabardine apparel, belong to an ultra-orthodox school. They were said to have been angered by Protestant missionaries who allegedly took advantage of poverty conditions.

One of the targets of attack was the Finnish Lutheran Mission’s Shalheveyah boarding school, which was stoned by from 50 to 100 young people who carried posters denouncing missionary activities in general and those of the nearby Hebrew Evangelization Society in particular.

A center operated by this society was stoned less than two weeks before. The director, Yaacov Goren, had invited neighborhood children to what was described as Chanukah celebration. Some parents said they had not given their consent, and this led to some stone-throwing in which Goren’s wife was slightly injured.

In the later violence, the Rev. Rysto Santala, director of the Shalheveyah school, was beaten when he tried to protect his wife from being harmed by the demonstrators, according to police. The Zion Christian Mission also was damaged, and a car owned by the missionary pastor of the Israel Messianic Assembly was overturned.

The Israeli Cabinet voted unanimously to apologize to the Finnish government for the attack. Santala asked police not to prosecute the students who were arrested.

What Is Error?

Augustin Cardinal Bea announced in Rome that when the Second Vatican Council reconvenes in September, the Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity which he heads will present a schema, or decree, proclaiming the right of all men to freedom of conscience.

He made the announcement before some 200 representatives of 21 religious bodies, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Jews, gathered for an agape sponsored by the Catholic International Pro Deo University in Rome and modeled along the lines of the feasts of brotherly love common in early Christian times.

Participants hailed the cardinal’s announcement as “extremely important” and said the speech could be regarded as the “Magna Charta” of a new orientation given to the Catholic Church by Pope John XXIII.

Bea declared that, like the Second Vatican Council, the agape was inspired by a spirit of universal charity. He went on to warn against identifying truth with one’s own beliefs and stressed the need to understand other men’s convictions and respect their freedom to follow their own consciences.

Among others taking part in the agape, besides Jews and Latin and Eastern Rite Catholics, were Eastern Orthodox, Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Waldensians, and Moslems.

Cardinal Bea told the participants, who shared a symbolic meal consisting of fish and simple pies similar to those prepared by Jews 2,000 years ago, that “an authentic love for truth demands that we recognize it wherever encountered.”

“To those objecting that error has not the right to exist,” he said, “we must answer that error is something abstract. The past’s so-called wars of religion were aberrations of a misunderstood love for truth. They were waged by men who forgot that not less important than truth is man’s right to follow his own conscience and to have his independence respected by all.”