Readers of Christianity Today at least have no excuse for being unaware of the fact that 1959 is a year of special Calvin celebrations, marking as it does the 450th anniversary of the great Reformer’s birth and the 400th anniversary both of the publication of the final edition of his incomparable work The Institutes of the Christian Religion and also of the founding of the Genevan Academy. Much has been written and spoken in recognition of this occasion, and it is undoubtedly right and proper to remember with thanksgiving those whom God has in the past used as outstanding instruments of blessing.

But the question should also be asked whether it is enough simply to remember such a man, to keep his memory green, or whether John Calvin, so far from belonging to an age that is past, is not someone who even today has something significant to say to our modern age, which may justly be said to be unprecedented for the magnitude both of its scientific progress and of its human problems. On the face of it, no doubt, it must seem unlikely. The question will be found to be investigated with some care in a volume shortly to be published under the editorship of Dr. J. T. Hoogstra with the title Calvin—Contemporary Prophet.

Meanwhile, however, something smaller in compass, but not on that account to be despised, has appeared from the pen of Dr. Jean Cadier in the form of an article on the relevance of Calvin today (Actualité de Calvin) in the Revue de Théologie et de Philosophie, which is published in Lausanne. Dr. Cadier is Dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology in the University of Montpellier and President of the Calvinist Society of France.

While disclaiming any wish to make Calvin a modern man or to judge him with the spirit of the twentieth century, Professor Cadier maintains that he has relevance for us in the sense that in his day he enunciated certain guiding principles of life which continue to be applicable to our present situation, especially as certain not unimportant similarities may be discerned between his generation and our own. In the first place, his age, like ours, was an age of quite revolutionary change and discovery. The implications of the new astronomy of Copernicus were hardly less startling than are those of the new physics of our time. Then, explorers like Christopher Columbus were sailing across untried oceans and reaching unknown continents; now, too, man is probing into the mysterious ocean of outer space and stretching out his hands to new worlds. In his day, which for him (like our day for us) was a day that witnessed the breakup of accepted ideas together with remarkable scientific advances, Calvin turned to the Word of Holy Scripture and proclaimed the message of the majesty of God and sovereignty of grace.

“It is peculiar to these centuries of the passing of the old and the emerging of the new,” writes Dr. Cadier, “that there is a double feeling of both the greatness and the wretchedness of man. Greatness, because of his successes, his inventions, his boldness in the face of worlds and spaces unknown. Greatness, because of his accurate mathematical predictions, and because of his conquest of nature. But also wretchedness, for that same man feels himself outstripped by this new world he has discovered. He is afraid and he has reason to fear. He fears destruction by nuclear power whose terrible effects he well appreciates. Certainly he can always take refuge in indifference, refuse to think, envelop himself in an optimism that ignores the facts, and seek to forget in attempts at distraction. But this is an untenable position for the man who really wants to be a man and to think out the purpose of his existence. There is then another attitude, that of faith in the presence and sovereignty of God. That is the position of Calvin.”

This is an era, Dr. Cadier points out, in which the worth of the individual is threatened with destruction by mass movements and monopolies. And a still more formidable evil—“all the more formidable since it is no longer considered an evil”—is the denial of God throughout life. “We are witnessing a vast attempt at secularization, and using it as a means of escape from the presence and authority of God in every domain, a profanation of life itself. The characteristic note of modern life is its wish to evade the rule of God.” But this is a situation for which Calvin has a message of the highest significance. “Even when the world expands before our eyes, when rockets pass beyond the stratosphere, God is still the Lord of the universe, the God who created the heavens and the earth. Even at their farthest point the inventions of man have not gone past the realm where God reigns.” Calvin, in fact, put man back into his true perspective as a creature of God; and those who acknowledge this perspective become at the same time both humble and confident—“humble before the divine sovereignty and confident through their immoveable trust in this sovereignty.”

It is precisely, too, in this acknowledgment of the supreme sovereignty of Almighty God that man becomes once more a person and the dignity of the individual is recaptured. “The sovereignty which God exercises is not vague and remote. It is personal and addresses itself to men as persons. It is particular. God accomplishes His plan through men whom He calls and to whom He gives orders and confides a task, at the same time as He provides them with the strength to carry it to a successful conclusion. This is the meaning of the Bible, which is a history showing the action of God through men called by Him and living in His presence. The dignity of these men lies in the summons that God addresses to them. It comes from the vocation that they have received and which makes them rise out of the crowd to fulfill a precise task.” The humility of such men is “a humility without servility” and their certainty “a certainty without presumption.”

Professor Cadier emphasizes that this calling is for the whole of life, and that therefore Calvin’s message provides the antidote to that separation of the sacred and the profane and to that process of secularization by which humanity is menaced today. “We must, each in the affairs which concern us, effect that integration of the sacred in every department of our life, knowing that all our life is for God and from God, refusing all the convenient separations which are really evasions, and accepting the task of making our whole life a witness to the presence of God. In this too we are able to speak of the relevance of Calvin.”

Let our age give heed to the message of John Calvin, and it will be found to lead to blessing and liberation of the spirit just as it did in his age.

“They Shall Be One Flesh”

Marriage Made in Heaven, by Nathan Drazin (Abelard-Schuman Co., London and New York, 1958, 144 pp., $3), is reviewed by David W. Baker, Assistant Professor of Religion at Ursinus College, and Physician and Surgeon at Lankenau Hospital, Philadelphia.

This book was written by a Jew, and is for Jews. It is not a book which a Christian pastor can recommend to those of his parishioners who are having marital problems, or to Christian young people about to be married. That is a great pity. For this is the kind of book we Christians need, and to my knowledge none exists that can even begin to compare with it—“a refreshingly candid guide book to marital relations … sympathetically blending sexual behavior and religious custom.” It is the kind of book, however, which marriage counsellors should have, the kind which some wise Christian marriage counsellor should write, if he is able.

The author is the rabbi of one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in Baltimore. He is a member of the Academy of Religion and Mental Health, a recent President of the Religious Zionists of America, a former Vice-President of the Rabbinical Council of America, and is Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. He is also the author of History of Jewish Education from 515 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. He is himself a married man and the father of three children. He has been actively interested in marriage counseling for over 20 years, and has spoken widely on the subject.

Dr. Drazin writes beautifully. One finishes his book with the impression that there are no dull or unimportant areas in it. He is not verbose. He is not indelicate. He does not avoid difficult problems.

The book consists of eight chapters, having the following titles: “Marriages Are Made in Heaven,” “Marriage and Psychiatry,” “Different Types,” “Birth Control,” “A Time to Love,” “Marriage as a Challenge,” “Captain of One’s Own Ship of Matrimony,” and “An Enduring Love.”

Marriage Made in Heaven is written from a very religious point of view. It abounds in references to the Old Testament, the Talmud, and also to modern authors. It is heartening to read the words of one who is not afraid to take his stand on the Bible as the fully authoritative and eternally true Word of God. Rabbi Drazin’s Bible is the Old Testament, but this he treats with all the love and respect of the most conservative Christian. What the Bible says is true. What the Bible says should determine our conduct.

There are numerous references to such well-known writers as Kinsey and Dr. Marie C. Stopes. He is unsparing in his criticism of Kinsey. Of one of Dr. Stopes astute observations he says on page 96: “The extraordinary concordance between her own findings on the subject and the Mosaic ordinance in the Book of Leviticus was to her an amazing revelation. To an Orthodox Jew, however, who believes that both nature and Holy Writ are the works of the One God, this comes as no surprise.”

While certain large Protestant denominations have gone on record as endorsing birth control as a near panacea for marital unhappiness, Dr. Drazin, with the vigor of an Old Testament prophet, challenges birth control as the cause of the tremendous rise in the divorce rate. “Before 1913 the rate of divorce was one in thirty or less.… After 1913, with the progressive spread of birth control practices, the whole problem of adjustment in marriage became so terribly aggravating that the divorce rate increased and multiplied very rapidly, and now marital unhappiness threatens to become the rule.… In 1913 one divorce in thirty marriages; in 1944 one divorce in seven marriages and in 1953 one in four.… The phenomenal rise of divorce since 1913 surely may be attributed in large measure to the spread of birth control practice” (pp. 134–5).

Dr. Drazin does not hesitate to explain why. On pages 75 and 76 he says: “Spontaneity is the secret of successful sexual relations. If, however, birth control is practiced, certain preparations have to be made in advance.… This advance information is psychologically no good for the woman.… In America, where birth control is practiced rather extensively, I am convinced that this psychological difficulty is one of the major causes for the ever-increasing number of divorces.”

To this reviewer, one of the most original chapters in the book is the one on “A Time to Love.” A closer study of the perpetual honeymoon that characterized the old-fashioned home among the Jews (perhaps also among the Christians) could easily be the most rewarding study any Committee on Social Education and Action could make of a very acute modern problem.

Toward the end of the book Dr. Drazin writes: “The traditional Jewish family laws of purity not only facilitated adjustment in marriage but also helped establish an enduring love.… Words are hardly adequate to convey the very tender emotion of love that the Jewish family laws nurtured in the hearts of men and women” (p. 142).

“Under such ideal circumstances, marital problems were practically non-existent. Divorce was a rarity. Men and women did not require any marriage counselling. Instinctively they were devoted lovers and sought always the joy and happiness of their spouses” (p. 132).

“Jewish law has made love beautiful, enduring, and permanent in the homes where it is observed and practiced. I am convinced that it can achieve as much today. As a rabbi, I have often been called to the bedside of an old, dying man or woman. Invariably I am touched to the marrow by the quiet, wailing sentiments of the heart-broken mate. The old woman often sobs out her heart to me: ‘Rabbi, we were married for fifty years. Never was a harsh word spoken between us. He was always a kind and loving husband. I was his queen and he was my king.’ An octogenarian husband poured out his heart to me a short time ago at a similar scene: ‘Only yesterday she called me and embraced me and said, “Darling, I hope I go before you. I couldn’t stand you going first. You have always been so good to me.” How can I go on without her? She has been my princess, my love, and my guardian angel for almost sixty years.’ In adopting Jewish law as their way of life and in following the suggestions offered in this book, normal men and women will find, I am sure, their marriage a paradise of joy and happiness, an enduring love—in truth, a marriage made in heaven” (p. 144).

Christians may well remember that it was of the Bridegroom and Bride of the traditional Jewish home that our Lord spoke so often. It was to this home that St. Paul was pointing when he spoke of Christ and his Church. It was with this ideal in mind that he enjoined his Gentile male converts: “Love your wives,” and told the women: “Submit yourselves unto your own husbands” (Eph. 5:25, 22.) St. Peter also referred to it, reminding the women among his converts to “be in subjection to your own husbands,” and to adorn themselves with a “meek and quiet spirit,” which is in the sight of God of great price. “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Pet. 3:1, 4–6).

Naturally, we Christians believe that Christianity is superior to Judaism, and that Christian marriage can also be more excellent than Jewish marriage. But even as the New Testament is founded on the Old, and Christianity is at its best only when it is solidly established on its Jewish background, so Christian marriage can hope to excel only when it rests on the foundation of the Jewish home so well outlined within this book, the foundation of which Jesus Christ alone is the ultimate perfection, and the laws of which he also, and he alone, has fulfilled. Our generation of Christians has probably never really understood the Old Testament. Christians still have much to learn from the Jews!

Heartiest congratulations to Rabbi Drazin on a magnificent book—well done!

DAVID W. BAKER

Religion And Culture

The Gospel and Christian Education, by D. Campbell Wyckoff (Westminster, 1959, 191 pp., $3.75), is reviewed by James DeForest Murch, author of Christian Education and the Local Church.

The problem of building a theory of Christian education that is theologically valid and educationally sound is one that should engage the best minds in the church. In this volume a unique and challenging solution is proposed by one of the best equipped specialists in this field, the Thomas W. Synott Professor of Christian Education in Princeton Theological Seminary.

Dr. Wyckoff begins, like all the modern theological and philosophical pundits, with our modern culture, its nature, influence and the direction of its development. He holds that “the function of religion” in society is to enable “a culture to hold firmly to its values and way of life” and “to form new values and adopt a new way of life.” Christian education is the arm of the church which accomplishes this feat.

With analytical deftness the author disposes of the traditional foci of Christian education which have determined educational aims, curriculum, methodology, and results. The Bible is rejected because its history, dogma, theology and beliefs are impersonal, focusing on the subject matter rather than upon its source, its use, or the pupil. The solution of life’s problems is discarded because this emphasizes disconnected human experiences. The pupil is eliminated as being too vague and amorphous without relationship to a guiding principle. The church is rejected because it narrows education to an institution or a merely human community, excluding other areas of experience that are necessary to Christian faith and life. He excludes Jesus Christ because such a focus “can very easily be used … to neglect … proper emphasis on the human side of the learner and his life, needs, problems, and achievements.”

Thus, by the process of elimination, the professor comes to the gospel. He says that the guiding principle of Christian education should be “God’s redeeming activity in Jesus Christ.” That sounds good. One is persuaded at this point in the book that a great discovery has been made. Dr. Wyckoff supports his proposal by five arguments: (1) Revelation—the Word of God—is central in Christian education theory. (2) The gospel is the very heart and point of the Word. (3) The gospel is the clue to the meaning of history, (4) the meaning of existence, and is (5) the reason for the church’s existence.

But alas! The Bible is not the Bible of evangelical Christianity, and the gospel is not the Gospel. The cultural conditioning of chapter I requires that anthropology take the place of theology. Modern Western culture, with full allowance for evolution, is seen as determinative of the character and message of the elusive thing called the gospel. The Word of God is interpreted to be something that cannot be exclusively identified with the Bible because we cannot become literal and unimaginative in its use. In fact, Dr. Wyckoff devotes four pages to making it clear that his thesis must not be confused with “uncritical biblicism” or fundamentalist revivalism.

To my way of thinking, however, Dr. Wyckoff has unwittingly suggested a great idea for evangelical Christian educators to ponder. With certain new orientations, emendations, and interpretations it could be developed into a new and effective evangelical theory of Christian education. The true guiding principle would have to be fully articulated and the objective, setting, administration, and curriculum reconstructed.

The book, written primarily for leaders in Christian education, is concerned with theoretical aspects of the subject and should prove immensely stimulating and useful to all those concerned.

JAMES DEFOREST MURCH

Conservative Classic

A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament, by Robert Dick Wilson with revisions by Edward J. Young (Moody Press, 1959, 194 pp., $3.25), is reviewed by R. K. Harrison, Hellmuth Professor of Old Testament at Huron College, London, Ontario.

Dr. Wilson was a brilliant Near Eastern scholar who brought his vast erudition to bear upon the methods of the Old Testament critics and the results at which they arrived. His Scientific Investigation, first published in 1926, formed an important contribution to conservative Old Testament scholarship.

Since his death in 1930, however, some of his observations have been outdated by recent archaeological discoveries and by certain alterations in critical trends. Dr. Edward J. Young has undertaken to revise the original work, long out of print, by adding an introductory chapter, footnotes, and appendixes, thus bringing the book abreast of current archaeological discovery. The original text has been left intact so that the reader can follow the author’s line of thought.

Dr. Young has done a creditable piece of work in revising this classic.

R. K. HARRISON

Special Report

Amid Burma’s changing political scene, an alert Christian minority, predominantly Baptist, is today probing new opportunities for evangelistic witness. A leisurely 75-minute flight from Bangkok, which brought visiting World Vision speakers to Rangoon just 146 years to the day after Adoniram Judson’s arrival, contrasted with the tedious route of many delegates, some fording treacherous streams and coming by river boat, others trekking days on foot through rugged mountain passes until at last they reached Insein. There Karen Theological Seminary opened its new centenary memorial auditorium July 13–17 in advance of dedication to accommodate 815 delegates and 300 additional unregistered workers from Rangoon who shaped Burma’s most representative meeting of Christian workers not only racially but geographically and denominationally. Burma Christian Council sponsored the four-day conclave, and featured the ordination of John Thetgyi, its erstwhile lay associate secretary, with Dr. Paul Rees speaking.

General Ne Win’s Burma army, in power since the fall of U Nu’s government in October and pledged to free elections, in a gesture of good will entertained World Vision speakers and national Christian leaders at a 10-course dinner, invited the entire conference to tea and a command performance of Burmese singers and musicians seldom seen outside the royal court, and procured the large turtle dome of Rangoon University’s engineering college for a final evangelistic rally. In the absence of Dr. Bob Pierce, Dr. Richard Halverson, who has labored six summers with Pierce in Asian conferences, addressed the congregation of 2500, some 200 responding to the call for decision and dedication.

Burma’s army has improved government efficiency, reduced bribery and corruption, cleaned up the towns, checked profiteering and vigorously opposed communism in a semi-socialist state. Although Burma was first to recognize neighboring Red China in 1949, it supported U.N. intervention in Korea, pursues studied neutrality between East and West, and aims to maintain constitutional government. While the nation is dominantly (85 per cent) Buddhist, with widespread animism in the hill country, the army recently has encouraged gatherings of entrenched religion to denounce communism and promises them all fair treatment. The present government senses the spiritual nature of the clash with communism. The new constitution gives Buddhism special place in the life of the state, although not as a state religion, and grants freedom of worship. There is liberty to preach anywhere, and to teach the Bible in Christian schools. Even government schools permit Bible teaching if enough Christian students are enrolled.

In the face of this situation Christian leaders voice dual concern. Aware that the Christian movement lags in exploiting prospects, they are eager to materialize opportunity without reducing churches to instruments of government.

Many fear that when the country returns to normal party government the gains in honesty and discipline achieved through military compulsion will evaporate slowly through lack of spiritual dedication. Whether Buddhism as a unifying tradition, with its emphasis on moral law and order, carries sufficient vitality to contravene subtle Communist influences also remains to be seen. Burma owes her social institutions, economic development, and civil liberties to Britain more than to Buddha.

In a land about the size of Texas, left in shambles by World War II, 13 million Burmans, 3 million Karens, 1 million Shans and smaller groups of Chins and Kachins are the indigenous groups with 800,000 Indians and Pakistanis and 300,000 Chinese contributing to the 11 main language groups with 126 subsidiary dialects. Burman is the language of the public schools, and three in four non-Burmans understand it; the educated use English (dating from British conquest) almost interchangeably.

The Christian movement represents but three per cent of the population, and includes only 10,000 converts from Buddhism. Most converts come from the hill country where animism prevails. The language barrier and limited training of many workers doubtless levelled some of World Vision’s challenge. Whereas half the delegates to the Malayan pastors’ conference understood English, only 10 per cent in Burma did, and those who did not understand Burmese required a second translation. The sessions saw Bibles open in 30 languages.

The pastors’ conference daily schedule began with group prayer meetings from 5:30 to 6 a.m. Then at 7:30 came Bible study led by Dr. Carl F. H. Henry; 8:40–9:40, Dr. K. C. Han of Korea, on effective preaching; 9:50–10:50, Dr. Rees, on stewardship. After lunch came the 1:30–2:30 hour with Bishop Enrique Sobrepena of the Philippines, on evangelism. After tea came the afternoon discussion hour, and after dinner, the evening meeting, addressed by Dr. Halverson or Dr. Rees. The team schedule was so rigorous in Burma weather that World Vision marimba soloist Jack Conner (with Xavier Cugat’s orchestra before his conversion) suffered a heart attack and was hospitalized. Arriving as lay helpers to the team were Jack Johnston and William Yinger of Oklahoma.

In most of Asia Christianity is denominationally diverse, but in Burma the Baptists predominate much as do Presbyterians in Korea. Baptists outnumber other Protestants 20 to 1 and outnumber Roman Catholics 2 to 1. With 200,000 baptized church members, the Baptist community is estimated at 400,000 to 500,000. Rangoon has 23 Baptist churches. Burma Divinity School (Baptist) has an enrollment of 109.

Despite favorable prospects in Burma, Protestantism does not fully rise to the opportunity. Christian schools lack adequate Bible teaching. Some centers open to Gospel preaching are neglected. Some pulpits neglect Bible teaching, and theological roots need deepening. Evangelistic and pastoral concern needs to be sensitized. Backsliders have drifted from the churches due to lack of follow-up. Moral life has slipped in some churches in the aftermath of World War II. Drinking, gambling, border smuggling, opium growing and trading, bribery, sub-Christian home life, and even sexual laxity have cropped up here and there as social vices which Christian leaders now challenge with fresh earnestness.

World Vision leaders spurred Burma’s workers to deeper devotion to the Word of God; to fuller understanding of stewardship, including the stewardship of time; to new evangelistic concern in the face of Burma’s special opportunity; to deeper self-discipline and sanctification; and to a fuller look at the divergence between Christian and Communist views of life. The Burma churches presented World Vision with a sacrificial offering of $1,000 to help support 12,000 orphans it assists in Korea. Christian workers began to talk hopefully of an evangelistic crusade in Rangoon. The Christian task force in Burma, if set aflame in its mission, could help count decisively for Asia’s destiny.

C.F.H.H.

Gains And Losses

Alcohol And Law

Should use of alcoholic beverages be restricted aboard commercial planes?

The question had the attention of both the executive and legislative branches of the government this month.

A House subcommittee held hearings on proposed legislation which would ban liquor from commercial flights entirely, then favorably reported one of 10 similar bills now before Congress.

The Federal Aviation Agency, meanwhile considered adoption of a ruling which would restrict consumption of liquor in flight to the limited amount served by hostesses and stewards. The ruling would impose civil penalties on persons who drank from their own supply and on airlines which served a passenger who “either is or appears to be intoxicated.”

‘The Son Of God’

A New York corporation plans to spend an estimated 30 million dollars on a film to portray the life of Christ.

William Free, board chairman of newly-organized Parliament Pictures Corporation, has been working for eight years on a script. The cast will number 50,000, with 150 principal parts.

Free said the cast and director have not yet been chosen. But the actor who is to play Christ, he explained, will remain anonymous.

The four-hour film, titled “The Son of God,” is to be premiered simultaneously in six countries during Christmas week, 1960.

It presumably will be the most costly film ever produced. Free said one-third of the profits will go to religious and other charities.

He added that many denominational leaders, Catholic and Protestant, have acted as advisers in script preparation.

Amish Appeal

A group of Amish leaders are appealing to the federal government for exemption from social security taxes. They petitioned the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington last month after having been told that a bill to grant them such an exemption has little chance of passage during this session of Congress.

“Our faith has always been sufficient to meet our needs as they came about,” the petition said, “and we feel the present social security laws are an infringement on our responsibilities.”

People: Words And Events

Deaths: Dr. Charles Tudor Leber, 60, general secretary of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations of the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., in Sao Paulo, Brazil, while attending the General Council of the World Presbyterian Alliance … the Rt. Rev. Henry St. George Tucker, 85, former presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in Richmond, Virginia … Dr. Arthur William Klinck, 59, chairman of the department of historical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis … Dr. Isaac Halevi Herzog, 70, chief rabbi of Israel, in Jerusalem … the Rev. George Bolton, pastor and director of Christian Herald’s Bowery Mission, in New York.

Resignation: As president of the San Francisco Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. John Dunkin.

Appointments: As president of California Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. C. Adrian Heaton, head of the department of Christian education at Eastern Baptist Seminary … as associate pastor of Bream Memorial Presbyterian Church in Charleston, West Virginia, the Rev. Robert B. McNeill.

Election: As president of Gideons International, H. S. Armerding.

Quotes: “Sin may be an old-fashioned word, but we need more plain talk about God, the Bible and Christian conviction.”—Methodist Bishop Arthur J. Moore, addressing a regional laymen’s conference at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina … “It would be an invaluable asset to be able to send throughout the world colored church leaders, missionaries, teachers, doctors and administrators to the colored peoples-men who already because of the color of their skin, preach the Gospel of equality before God.”—Dr. N. Arne Bendtz of Augustana Theological Seminary, addressing a missionary conference in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Religious Assemblages

Gideons In Dallas

More than 1,000 persons attended the annual convention of the Gideons International in Dallas, Texas, July 21–26. The Gideons, who number some 19,000 in the United States and 47 other lands, are dedicated to Bible distribution. In the 60 years since the founding of their organization, they have placed some 42 million Bibles in hotels, motels, schools, colleges, hospitals, prisons, and military establishments.

‘New Approach’

At Pacific Grove, California, the General Convention of the New Jerusalem in the U. S. A. (Swedenborgian) voted at its annual meeting last month to make a “new approach” to the National Council of Churches. The convention had previously considered joining the NCC, but plans never materialized.

11Th Congress

Youth for Christ International held its 11th World Youth Congress in Mexico City this month. More than 3,000 delegates and visitors were on hand for an opening rally. An evangelistic thrust characterized the two-week congress. Plans were made to send out teams of workers for gospel crusades in at least a score of Mexican cities.

Evangelical Methodists

The fourteenth annual General Conference of the Evangelical Methodist Church drew a record number of more than 500 registrants. Held at Salem, Virginia last month, the conference voted to employ a full-time youth director, the Rev. Everett Ashton.

A Happy Ending?

The World Presbyterian Alliance went on record at its 18th General Council as favoring the drawing up of a new statement on the Reformed faith “articulated in the language of our day.”

Delegates to the July 26-August 6 meeting in Sao Paulo (where concurrent celebrations marked the centennial of Brazilian Presbyterianism) pledged support of a statement which “while remaining loyal to the Holy Scriptures and the faith of our fathers,” also should have reference to the “false teachings of our age.”

The 400 delegates and observers from 53 nations made the council the largest in the 84-year history of the alliance, a Presbyterian-Reformed fellowship said to be the oldest world-wide confessional organization in Protestantism with 45 million constituents.

Delegates (1) doubled the organization’s budget to allow for expanded activity; (2) reaffirmed a statement adopted by the 1954 council expressing willingness to subordinate their own interests to those of the ecumenical movement; and (3) received as the 77th member of the alliance the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea.

Dr. Ralph Waldo Lloyd, president of Maryville (Tenn.) College, was elected president of the alliance. The only other candidate was Dr. Joseph Hromadka, who withdrew his candidacy.

Hromadka, a World Council of Churches leader and wartime lecturer at Princeton Theological Seminary, is dean of the Amos Comenius Theological Faculty in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He has frequently been labeled an apologist for the Communist regime in his country.

Hromadka denied before newsmen in Sao Paulo that he was a Communist. He said that although communism’s atheism “weakens” the authority of the church, it also challenges churches to “purify themselves.” He added:

“The Communists say that religion is the expression of obscurantism and reaction. But, in their contact with me, they say: ‘How is it possible that you, being a religious man, are not a reactionary?’ Our methods of action are causing confusion among the Communists who are trying to revise their attitude towards religious people. It will be a long, slow process, but there will be a happy ending as far as we are concerned.”

Coptic Concern

Leaders of the state Coptic church in Ethiopia view with concern signs of growing cooperation between their government and the Soviet Union.

They wonder if a new joint trade and economic pact between the two nations may result in a possible change in the Ethiopian government’s traditionally pro-Christian outlook. The state Coptic church proudly connects its history with the conversion of the eunuch recorded in the book of Acts.

Missionaries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian capital, say they are still “as free as ever” to preach the Gospel and report that a strong evangelical church is growing under national Christian leaders.

Foreign Tours

Probing Marxism

Upon their return home last month from a four-week tour of Russia, Czechoslovakia, and China, six Australian Protestant clergymen issued a statement which was promptly branded by fellow churchmen as unduly optimistic.

The visiting clergymen included a Baptist, two Methodists, and two Presbyterians, plus a Churches of Christ educator.

The statement said “there seems to be a genuine conviction on the part of Christian people that it is possible to be a believing and practicing Christian in a Communist state.”

In all three countries, the statement said, there was evidence that the church “appreciated the efforts of the state to improve the lot of the common man.”

The statement was challenged by Dr. Malcolm Mackay, Presbyterian minister and master of Besser College in the University of New South Wales. Mackay suggested that the churchmen, in making the visits, had played into the hands of the Communists, “who want to exploit the churches’ enormous desire for peace, brotherhood, frankness and understanding.” He urged that Australian Protestants set up a special commission to investigate “all aspects” of the situation of the Christian churches in Communist countries.

Queen At Church

Queen Elizabeth, expecting her third child, attended worship services on four of the six Sundays she and Prince Philip spent in Canada.

Plans for the Queen to attend a Sunday service at the Anglican Cathedral in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, were cancelled when she suffered what was described as a “stomach upset.”

The royal couple spent Sunday, July 12, at a mountain lake retreat in British Columbia. Anglican Dean James C. Jolley flew from Kamloops to hold an informal service in a lodge dining room.

Both missed church on Sunday, July 5, while travelling from Port Sound, Ontario, to Chicago.

They attended Sunday morning services on June 21 at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Gaspe, Quebec, and on July 26 at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Port Hope, Ontario. On June 28 they attended a late afternoon service at Sydenham Street United Church in Kingston, Ontario.

TIM F. LAHAYE, Pastor, Scott Memorial Baptist Church, San Diego, California

“This is, without a doubt, the most inefficient organization I have ever seen. I’ll let them take care of the Sunday School, and I’ll take care of the church.”

Such was my cynical attitude about our Sunday School after two weeks in a new church several years ago. The school was running around 90 to 100 in attendance, and it amazed me that anyone bothered to come at all.

As a firm believer in evangelism, I felt certain that the way to build a church was to preach the Gospel and get people saved. The Sunday School, I reasoned, could take care of itself. One year later I sat at my desk a very discouraged young pastor. I had just taken stock of our Sunday School situation. To my dismay I had found that our Sunday School had increased by the grand total of 10 members! What were we to do?

The answer came that very day in the mail, although I didn’t realize it as I opened the envelope. It was an invitation to attend a Sunday School conference featuring Dr. Henrietta C. Mears, well-known Sunday School authority and Editor-in-Chief of Gospel Light Bible Lessons.

I decided to attend, and invited several Sunday School leaders in our church to join me. After three days of informative, inspiring, Sunday School workshops, lectures, and messages, all of us were literally transformed. Our outlook on Sunday School work was completely changed, and we returned to our own church filled with enthusiasm. We lost no time in putting what we had learned into action.

During the next five years we had the joy of watching our Sunday School attendance grow steadily from around 100 to close to 400. I have since taken another pastorate, but understand that this same Sunday School is now running well over 400.

Now the important question is, what was the reason for this new enthusiasm and growth? What did that conference do to change our outlook?

Well, first and foremost, I, the pastor, saw the tremendous importance in Sunday School work. The leaders who attended with me saw it too.

For the first time we all realized that here was our greatest opportunity for Bible teaching. Here was the greatest soul-saving agency in our entire church program. Here, indeed, was the best way to reach homes for Christ.

Here was the greatest training center, and here was the place where more lives were to be dedicated to the mission field than anywhere else.

We decided that if Sunday School had the potential for the most fruit, it was worthy of the most work. In these busy days, no Christian can spend his time without getting proper return for the Lord. We realized that the best place to make our lives count for Christ was the Sunday School. There we could invest our lives in other lives, and these in turn would be invested in still other lives.

It was revolutionary for me as a pastor to realize that I didn’t have to lead every soul in our church program to Christ single-handed. I very quickly saw that a consecrated Sunday School teacher, with only a small flock, was in a much better position to reach them for Christ than I was. For this reason I concentrated on helping teachers learn how to become good shepherds, able to bring many into the fold and keep them from straying with efficient, effective, teaching of the Word.

The second factor, then, in the growth of our Sunday School was teacher training. At the Sunday School Conference that gave us our new vision, proper training of teachers and staff was strongly emphasized. We launched our own teacher training program, and even had a Sunday School Conference in our own church on a minor scale.

This gave confidence and “know-how” to teachers who previously never dreamed it possible that they could teach, but who secretly wished they could.

The better trained our teachers were, the higher the standards of our Sunday School. It seems a complete circle: the better trained and more enthusiastic the teacher, the more interesting the class; the more interesting the class, the more children who attend; the more children attending, the more enthusiastic the teacher.

The Sunday School has no problem in getting visitors to attend. The main problem is making the lessons interesting enough so visitors will come back.

The third factor was our change to closely graded Sunday School materials that helped train our teachers, giving them confidence, and making their Bible teaching interesting to all of the age groups in our Sunday School.

The fourth factor was another significant change in my own attitude. I hesitate to say this for fear of being misunderstood, but a pastor’s attitude sets the pace for the entire church.

If the pastor is not concerned about the Sunday School, the church members will not be concerned. If the pastor is concerned, he can use the Sunday School as illustrative material in his messages, and occasionally exalt Sunday School teachers as an example of “good works” in the Christian life.

Through these and other methods he, week by week, can mold the congregation into a Sunday School-minded church. This, in turn, enthuses the workers on the staff so that they do better work, and it makes it much easier to secure additional workers as needed. Without any question, the pastor is the key to the Sunday School.

Pastors are frugal with their time, and they may well ask the question, “What results can I expect if I invest myself in the Sunday School?” I think there are four:

One result is the salvation of many souls. The better the Sunday School, the more who will attend; the more who attend, the more who will be converted. National figures record that 85 per cent of all church converts come from the Sunday School.

A second result is mature Christian leaders. Leaders are trained, not born. The Sunday School is the best training ground the church has. I am convinced that, because of the diversification of duties, anyone who really wants to serve the Lord can find some place to do it in the Sunday School. In exercising his talents toward the fulfillment of Sunday School duties, he is automatically training himself for additional offices throughout the church.

Result number three is a faster growing church. I have never met a preacher who was not interested in increasing the size of his church. Nothing does this as consistently as a good Sunday School. I know of relatively few churches that are being built today because of tremendous preaching in the pulpit. I do know, however, that across America many churches are growing by leaps and bounds because of an efficient, progressive Sunday School.

A fourth important result is that entire families can be reached for Christ. As soon as our Sunday School started to improve, we saw parents start to come to church with their children instead of merely sending them. More Christian homes were definitely established in our community because of our rejuvenated Sunday School.

As a final word for all fellow pastors, it is my studied opinion that next to our responsibility to “preach the Word” is our responsibility to build a strong Sunday School that can “teach the Word” as well. Truly, in building a strong Sunday School we are building a strong church, for the honor and glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

To help you build a strong church through more effective Bible teaching in your Sunday School, send for the new full color filmstrip, “Johnny, Don’t Do That”. It presents a dramatic picture of the spiritual growth of a normal boy, and his Sunday School’s effect on his life. Use it free for your next teaching staff meeting. Please state whether you require sound on 33–1/3 LP record or on tape, and give your first and second choice of dates. See your authorized Gospel Light supplier or write Gospel Light Publications, Dept. CT89, Glendale 5, California or Mound, Minnesota.

NEWS

CHRISTIANITY TODAY

An estimated 400,000 Protestants assembled for an outdoor rally which ended the ninth German Evangelical Church Day Congress in Munich August 16.

The gigantic crowd assembled around a 120-foot steel cross on Theresien Meadow, a huge lawn area famous for Munich’s traditional beer festivals.

Launched at Essen in 1949, the Church Day movement has become a permanent institution with the state-supported Evangelical (Lutheran) Church in Germany. Virtually all Protestant groups in Germany have endorsed the Church Day movement.

For the first time, the Church Day congress was held in a largely Catholic area. Many Roman Catholic families opened homes to visiting Protestants.

This year’s congress also was the first at which relations with Roman Catholics came up for official discussion. (German Catholics also have a Church Day known to them as the Katholikentag. Protestants call theirs the Kirchentag.)

The five-day assembly also took up study of the ecumenical movement and the influence of mass media. There were seven mass rallies, more than 200 other assorted smaller meetings, 74 cultural events, and 37 performances of church music. Meetings held in conjunction with the congress were sponsored by the German free churches, the German Evangelical Missionary Council, and a number of professional groups.

Still another new feature of the 1959 congress was a counselling service that made theologians, lawyers, doctors, and psychiatrists available for individual consultation on personal problems. Facilities for private confessions were provided.

Leaders of the congress sought to affirm that a spiritual unity exists in Germany despite the fact that the country still is divided. Ten “working groups” explored religious problems as well endeavoring to consider social questions in the light of religion.

Bishop Otto Dibelius of Berlin, head of the Evangelical Church in Germany, took the occasion to denounce continued curtailment of personal freedom by the East German regime.

The bishop said it was a “monstrosity” that a Communist state should dictate where citizens may travel and what they may think. His reference was to a decision of Soviet Zone authorities that they would only issue 1,000 travel permits to East Germans who wanted to attend the Munich congress.

Communists attacked the meetings as a “tool of atomic armament and war preparations against the socialist camp, thus destroying even the last remnants of its all-German character.”

West German church leaders had hoped that 30,000 Soviet Zone Protestants might attend the congress. At the last all-German congress, held at Frankfurt on Main in 1956, more than 20,000 East Germans participated. Another congress had been planned for Erfurt, Thuringia, in the Soviet Zone, in 1957, but Church Day leaders called it off because of restrictive conditions imposed by Communist authorities.

Among foreign guests at the congress were representatives of the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation, both of which have their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Among prominent speakers were Bishop Ralph Manikam of the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church of India; Archbishop Jaan Kiivit, of the Lutheran Church of Estonia; and Dr. George F. MacLeod, former moderator of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).

Dr. Reinhold von Thadden-Trieglaff is president of the German Church Day movement. Dr. Reimer Mager, of Dresden in the Soviet Zone, is vice president.

The chiming of eight bells, designed to be installed ultimately in the Reformation Church in Speyer, officially opened the congress. Cast in a Karlsruhe bell foundry, they were transported to Munich on a convoy of flatbed trailers made available by the U. S. Army.

A highlight of the closing rally was a question and answer session broadcast over loudspeakers which stressed the importance of the congress theme “Ye Shall Be My People.” The session also summarized conclusions reached by the “working groups.”

Among scores of West German public leaders present were outgoing President Theodor Heuss, who hailed the Church Day movement as an instrument of “reconciliation and understanding;” and Vice Chancellor Ludwig Erhard, who brought a message of greetings from Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Adenauer, a Roman Catholic, declared that with the “fundamentals of Christianity being attacked by atheistic forces with unprecedented vigor, Christians of all confessions are called today to stand together more than ever.”

Nearly all of the Congress’ closing events and many of the earlier ones were broadcast to East Germany by West German and West Berlin radio and television systems.

Lectures and discussions were held in halls of the Munich exhibition ground and were attended by some 40,000 persons, including 3,000 from foreign countries.

One of the key speakers was Dr. Joachim Beckmann, president of the Evangelical Church of the Rhineland, who said that while the church, by its essence, is “no political factor and has no political message, God does not relieve it or individual Christians of political responsibility.”

Days Of Prayer

From The President

President Eisenhower is calling on Americans to observe October 7 as a “National Day of Prayer.”

Eisenhower made the appeal in an official proclamation, the eighth annual such document, authorized by a Congressional resolution in 1952. October 7 was designated in order that the observance would fall on the first Wednesday of October, as in previous years, enabling churches to plan for the observance.

Here is this year’s proclamation:

Let us give thanks for the bounty of providence which has made possible the growth and promise of our land.

Let us give thanks for the heritage of free inquiry, sound industry and boundless vision which have enabled us to advance the general welfare of our people to unprecedented heights.

Let us remember that our God is the God of all men, that only as all men are free can liberty be secure for any, and that only as all prosper can any be content in their good fortune.

Let us join in vigorous concern for those who now endure suffering of body, mind or spirit, and let us seek to relieve their distress and to assist them in their way toward health, well-being and enlightenment.

Finally, let us rededicate ourselves and our nation to the highest loyalties which we know, and let us breathe deeply of the clear air of courage, preparing ourselves to meet the obligations of our day in trust, in gratitude and in the supreme confidence of men who have accomplished much united under God.

From An Admiral

A special day of prayer (September 15) is being proposed to coincide with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev’s arrival in the United States.

Admiral Ben Moreell, noted industrialist and an active Episcopalian layman, summoned leaders of numerous citizens groups (total constituency: some 10 million) “to explore the implications of this visit and to attempt to ascertain the prevailing view of an appropriate posture for the American people with respect thereto.”

“There was general consensus,” Moreell said after meeting with these leaders, “that while we should refrain from demonstrations of hostility, it would be right and proper that Mr. Khrushchev’s arrival in this country should be set aside as a day of prayer in all the churches of the land.”

He also urged that all cities on Khrushchev’s itinerary observe the day of his visit by holding special church services.

Moreell’s prayer plea won widespread support from prominent clergymen. Among those who endorsed the project were evangelist Billy Graham; Dr. Frederick Brown Harris, Senate chaplain; and Dr. George L. Ford, executive director of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Protestant Panorama

• Thirty-five African members of the eccentric Matswanist sect reportedly died in a mob scene near Brazzaville, capital of the Middle Congo, last month. About 100 others were said to have been injured when police tried to evict the defiant Matswanists from a compound.

• Appointment of Major General George P. Vanier as Governor-General of Canada makes him the first Roman Catholic to hold the office. All his predecessors have been Anglicans.

• English Bishop Mervyn Stockwood startled Anglican ecclesiastical circles last month by announcing that he would ban the use of the 1928 communion service in all churches. In a letter to clergy and lay people of the Southwark diocese, he said “the only communion service I can countenance is that of 1662, with such minor deviations as are generally accepted.”

• Special services for Australia’s horse racing fraternity—believed to be without precedent anywhere—were scheduled in Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian churches this month, marking the 101st year of Australian horse racing. Dr. A. Harold Wood, president general of the Methodist Church of Australia, said he opposed participation.

• The National Sunday School Association is holding three conventions this year: October 7–9, San Jose, California; October 21–23, Atlanta, Georgia; November 11–13, Columbus, Ohio.

• Finishing touches are being put on the first Mormon chapel to be built in Palmyra, New York, birthplace of Mormonism. The chapel is located near Hill Cumorah, scene of an annual Mormon pageant.

• A bill designed to close discount houses and supermarkets on Sundays became law in Pennsylvania this month.

• New Mexico safety officials are calling on clergymen to put over the idea that drivers “should not leave God behind” when they enter their cars.

• The Rev. Edmund Burritt Galloway celebrated his 100th birthday August 16 by attending the First Church of the Nazarene at Santa Ana, California. He sang a solo and assisted in the dedication of a great-grandchild. His son, the Rev. Fletcher Galloway, preached.

• Having secured FCC approval, the Evangelical Covenant Church of America hopes to have a 5,000-watt station on the air at Nome, Alaska, by year-end.

• Two nudist magazines are seeking federal court action which would compel the post office to grant them second class mailing privileges.

• Bishop Hazen G. Werner officiated at cornerstone-laying ceremonies for the new Methodist Theological School on a 70-acre campus at Stratford, Ohio this month. Buildings are scheduled for completion by spring at a cost of $2,700,000.

• “This Is the Life,” religious TV drama produced by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, begins its eighth year this fall. The half-hour weekly presentation is carried by more than 300 stations in the United States, Canada and overseas.

• A second contingent of young West Germans are taking up work in Norway in repentance for suffering caused by the Nazis in World War II. The project is being sponsored by the Evangelical Church in Germany.

• The Methodist Board of Temperance executive committee says it opposes “at this time” union of the agency with the Board of Social and Economic Relations, which has approved the idea of a merger, and the Board of World Peace, which disapproved it.

• The Church of God school in Portland, Oregon, formerly called Pacific Bible College, will hereafter be known as Warner Pacific College.

• The Methodist Church is making available a 27-minute film designed to help understand problems involved in an interfaith marriage.

Church And State

Taxes For Theology

“The Congress reaffirms the principle and declares that the States and local communities have and must retain control over and primary responsibility for public education. The national interest requires, however, that the Federal government give assistance to education for programs which are important to our defense.”—National Defense Education Act.

The deteriorating wall of separation between Church and State showed a new crack this month: for the first time in U. S. history, the federal government appropriated public funds for direct aid to a theological seminary.

U. S. Commissioner of Education Lawrence G. Derthick said New York’s Union Theological Seminary is getting five graduate fellowships in theology under provisions of the National Defense Education Act of 1958.

The law does not specifically mention theology. But the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare interpreted it to include provision for theological study. Many proponents of Church-State separation charge that the law and its implementation are unconstitutional. (CHRISTIANITY TODAY expressed anxieties about the law in its December 8, 1958 issue.)

The Union grant drew immediate criticism from Protestants and Other Americans United, who characterized the development as “another step toward full-fledged federal subsidy for the training of ministers and priests,” and from the National Association of Evangelicals.

“Few citizens are given enough of the facts to know the seriousness of the precedents which are being set,” said the Rev. Donald H. Gill, NAE assistant secretary of public affairs.

The five fellowships, awarded to four Protestant ministers and an Army chaplain, are among 997 being given to assist graduate students pursuing doctoral degrees with the intention of becoming college teachers. They are under the same program which gives Emory University (Methodist) three fellowships for Old Testament study and Dropsie College (Jewish) three for training in comparative religion.

The Union students will get $6,600 for a three-year program. The seminary will get up to $37,500 as compensation for cost of instruction.

A POAU spokesman said his organization was studying the possibility of testing the legality of the grants.

To many laymen there is given the responsibility and privilege of teaching the Bible, usually within the curriculum of the church school.

The responsibility involves the importance of such a task, the fact of men’s need for deeper understanding of God’s Word, and the nature of the Book itself.

The privilege consists in the marvel of this volume of “God-breathed literature” which is living and relevant to our times—a divinely given revelation of great truths to be found nowhere else and without which man gropes in darkness.

In a day when so much emphasis has been given to methods, those who teach the Bible should explore not only teaching techniques but the philosophy of teaching upon which methods are built.

There are those who strongly support the discussion method. This has been considered by many as the acme of effectiveness, while the lecture method has been relegated to the era of the one room school house.

Anyone acquainted with the philosophy of progressive education promulgated by John Dewey, along with his emphasis on individual “adjustment” and “methods” of teaching, knows the havoc these ideas have played with American education. The seed was not recognized until its evil fruit had already begun to ripen. A generation trained under this “progressive” method turned out to be uneducated and undisciplined in those things that education should produce.

Has the philosophy which so nearly wrecked American education filtered into the realm of the Church and become adopted by some of those responsible for Christian education?

One can only wonder why the replacement of emphasis on teaching the Bible with discussing it has been thought an improvement.

What lies hack of the change from responsible Bible teachers to “moderators” whose chief qualification is not so much a knowledge of the Bible as an ability to keep discussion going? I believe we should reject any “teaching” which raises questions without answering them—which engenders doubt rather than fosters faith.

We must of course make our Christian faith relevant, in action, to the needs of our times. However, such social emphasis must be balanced by a faithfulness to the content of the faith without which no one can become a Christian.

Basic to Christian education then is the teaching of the Bible. But teaching must be done by those who know the Bible and believe it. Discussion can be profitable only when the ultimate authority of the Scriptures is recognized. Without such reference to authority, decisions arrived at are merely on the level of human reasoning.

Any method which contributes to a knowledge of the Bible—its historical content, moral implications, and spiritual teachings is worthy of use.

That which falls short of leading to an understanding of and faith in the authority and trustworthiness of the Scriptures and the Christ of the Scriptures, should be discarded as unworthy of true Christian education.

It is unfortunate that there exists a cleavage of opinion on a matter of such grave significance. For those of us who believe there is an authority above and beyond the limitations of man’s reason, a revelation of divine truth to which we may turn for final word, the teaching of the Bible is of greatest importance.

There is abundant support for the time-honored method of teaching which has richly borne fruit in the past.

In the Old Testament we find that true revivals started because of the reading and hearing of the Law.

In the New Testament there is similar evidence. Our Lord and the apostles backed their teaching and preaching with the Scriptures. When Apollos went to Ephesus he was fervent and zealous to teach and preach, but his understanding of the Scriptures was limited. Aquila and Priscilla heard him and “expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly.” Following this detailed instruction in the Bible we are told that “he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ.”

Teaching the Bible is a thrilling experience when it is backed by adequate preparation and undergirded with prayer. It is thrilling because of the blessing which the teacher himself receives, and it is exciting because it brings a similar blessing to those willing to be taught.

Let it never be forgotten: we are not dealing with an ordinary book but with a marvelous collection of books written by men of different backgrounds and with varying degrees of education over a period of nearly two millenniums; and still we find a unity of message throughout all the writings which only the Holy Spirit could have produced.

How right is Dr. Crossley Morgan when he speaks with deep reverence of this “God-breathed literature”!

Reverence for the subject being taught makes for an authority on the part of the teacher which is not his own, an authority which students sense.

We note first of all that this authority derives from the very nature of the Holy Scriptures. It is a word of finality which speaks to the longing heart, to the one who has come to realize that the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. There is no substitute for the finality of “Thus saith the Lord.”

In his short book called Authority, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones emphasizes the importance of viewing the Bible as a whole. He says: “The Bible is a whole and its authority is complete. But having accepted it all, I still have residual difficulties, problems, and questions. It is surely nothing less than tragic that a man should start with a detail and because he is unhappy about that should say, ‘I cannot recognize the authority of the Scriptures at all.’ ”

In teaching the Bible one also has behind him the authority of Christ revealed in this Book. It is here that we learn of Him and find that he too took as authoritative and final the Old Testament Scriptures with which he was so familiar. At his feet we can learn that attitude of faith which accepts the Scriptures for what they really are—God speaking to men.

Thirdly, a teacher of the Bible speaks by the authority of the Holy Spirit. Only as He is present can the Scriptures be understood. Only as He teaches can we be taught, or can we in turn teach others. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, who resolves our difficulties, gives understanding to the simple, and enables even a child to apprehend spiritual truths which seem as foolishness to the worldly-wise.

A call to teach the Bible is a privilege to be prayerfully heeded. To the Christian it affords a channel of service, a glorious opportunity not to be found in the secular field. And the fruits of such labor last for all eternity.

LABOR RALLY

My dear Eutychus,

Sorry to trouble you at your vacation cabin, but I wanted to remind you that we are counting on your participation in our Labor Day program. I know you are anxious to return. The storm damage to your property was relatively slight. The water level in the basement was perhaps raised a little by the overflow from a bathroom fixture that was not shut off. Nothing that plaster and paint won’t fix!

About our plans for Labor Day—my sermon topic for Sunday is “Working for Christ,” and we have announced a Church Labor Union Organization Rally for 2 p.m., on Monday. This description of the meeting has attracted unusual interest, and I appreciate your suggesting it. A few have taken the announcement quite literally. A local labor organizer, who preferred not to give his name, warned me that preachers had no business meddling in labor politics.

The religious news commentator on our local station took the edge off the phrasing by indicating that the rally was for church workers and would spark a crusade for lay participation in the church program. Perhaps it is just as well not to push your clever wording too far.

It is high time that our members began to think of themselves as united workers rather than bench warmers. When our Painters’ Local is organized, one of its first projects will be to paint out the “Come ye apart and rest awhile” lettering over the north entrance. When so many active members manage to sleep through every sermon and regard this performance as their principal Christian activity, another invitation would seem more appropriate. What would you think of “Work today in my vineyard”?

Our Labor Rally will include a panel discussion on “Full-time Christians,” and we expect to organize into “Locals” for united action in various phases of church work. We have questions about some of your suggestions. Most of us feel you were not serious in proposing that every member carry a worker’s union card, and that we be known as “the church of the union shop.” Were you?

As ever,

RELIGION’S ENEMY

I have just read the article by J. Edgar Hoover “The Bitter Enemy of Religion” (June 22 issue).… I do not like his inference that the monastery is a symbol of Christianity. After more than a half-century in a Catholic community I fear the Roman Catholic hierarchy far more than communism. I consider it more anti-Christian.

Carroll, Iowa

The fact that we are so eager to accept moral, religious, and philosophical judgments from respected, famous government officials without a second word is itself enough to raise a question, as it did in Constantine’s day or should have done in his day.…

Hoover needs to have an answer. His nationally-approved or state religion is always blinding to a prophetic voice, or perhaps it is what stirs up and demands a prophetic voice. His appraisal of communism leaves much to be desired—his points 2 through 6 could be applied with equal vehemence by a communist against capitalism. In affronting the communist menace, Hoover, although a sincere Presbyterian Christian, overlooks the main point of all, that communism is an anonymous dialecticism, and its answer from the Christian point of view is not further absolutes and anonymity but reference to a living personality, Christ, our Lord.

Elgin, Ill.

THE BALANCES

Your brief editorial “Twentieth Century Perspectives Weighed in the Balances” (June 22 issue) dealing with the United Presbyterian Church’s stand on scientific contraceptives and refusal to take action on the question of the Virgin Birth, was truly unbalanced. The Virgin Birth problem could not be dealt with in the context in which it came before the Assembly. I think both actions showed churchmanship at its best.

As regards the Virgin Birth, when will CHRISTIANITY TODAY arrive at mature biblical scholarship and see that it isn’t how our Lord was the Logos of God, but that he was. Why keep sniping at churches and clergymen who give full consent to the Incarnation but see no relationship with this central doctrine and a method?

University Presbyterian Church.

West Lafayette, Ind.

The confirmation by the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church of the appointment of Theodore Gill to the Presidency of San Francisco Seminary, even though he was unable to furnish satisfactory proof of his acceptance of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth, furnishes additional evidence of the doctrinal laxity within this body. This contention is not disproved by the fact that the June issue of Presbyterian Life was devoted almost entirely to a review of the glories of Presbyterian and Reformed Theology. Neither is it successfully refuted by the statement of Dr. Mackay: “Calvinistic to the core, I believe we are predestined to give leadership to the churches of the nation and the world.” These sound like empty words in face of the fact that the Presbyterian Church has, by arbitrary and questionable methods, eliminated from her membership some of her ablest scholars and staunchest exponents of the Reformed faith, while at the same time giving highest honors and offices to men unwilling and unable to affirm faith in doctrines held in common by nearly all branches of the Christian Church. These are some of the unsavory fruits of “inclusivism” which triumphed in the reorganization of Princeton Seminary in 1929.

Minneapolis, Minn.

THE COMING OF THE LORD

Dr. Loraine Boettner’s review of Hughes’ book, A New Heaven and a New Earth (May 25 issue) gives a little known quotation from Dr. G. Campbell Morgan—a statement he made in 1943 indicating his change of views relating to “the promises made to Israel.”

A dozen or more years before that date, during a Boston pastorate, I was privileged to attend a course of lectures given by Dr. Morgan at Gordon College. He was always most gracious in answering questions. At the end of one session I ventured to ask: “After your long study and extensive exposition of the Bible, Dr. Morgan, do you find any scriptural warrant for the distinction which many Bible teachers draw between the second coming of the Lord for his own (the rapture), and the coming of the Lord with his own (the revelation) with a time period of 3½ or 7 years between these two events?”

“Emphatically not!” Dr. Morgan replied. “I know that view well, for in the earlier years of my ministry I taught it, and incorporated it in one of my books entitled God’s Method with Man. But further study so convinced me of the error of this teaching that I actually went to the personal expense of buying the plates of that book from my own publisher and destroying them. The idea of a separate and secret coming of Christ to remove the church prior to his coming in power and glory is a vagary of prophetic interpretation without any Biblical basis whatsoever.”

As I travel about the country in an itinerant ministry which takes me into a great variety of churches, I am impressed with the way in which pastors are expressing their appreciation of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. Many of them say, “It’s the most helpful and spiritually stimulating magazine that I receive.”

Oak Park, Ill.

PROBLEM OF POWER

I am a visitor to your country from the island of Ceylon. I have been reading some of the conversations on “Communist or Free” (May 25 issue). There is … a problem of power, as between the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union.… It is important for us to appreciate this factor, if only because it is precisely this factor of power which heightens our tendency to equate Communism with the hosts of darkness. Clearly, the fact of the matter is that the basic power struggle would continue even if the Soviet became officially Christian and its forms of government underwent a process of “liberalization.” It is surely also this inherent power struggle between America and Russia which makes it hard for American Christians easily to separate a natural desire that America should triumph anyway, from a concern for the triumph of Christian principles.…

For three hundred years or so, a Christian West held unchallenged sway of the fortunes of the world—this was the heyday of colonialism, white race superiority theory, and here American isolationism. After all this period of control of Africa and Asia, these areas are officially described by UNESCO as “have-not” and “under-developed” lands.… Dr. Boyd Orr has just reported that China has jumped the population-food gap. And this is a remarkably short space of time.

The Bible often talks of “judgment” and even suggests that God is able to use heathen powers to purge His people.

Chicago, Ill.

ELUSIVE NEUTRALITY

If schools cannot speak for God, why be allowed to speak against Him?

Canterbury, Conn.

QUAKER POSITION

In the article by Richard C. Wolf (April 27 issue) there is a very embarrassing and erroneous general summary of the theological position of the Quakers in America. No doubt Mr. Wolfs association with a few Quakers has caused him to class the Quakers in the category of outstanding liberal denominations such as the Universalists and Unitarians. Such a general categorizing is definitely not correct.… Most anyone who has had experience within the majority of the American Yearly Meetings knows that the greater majority of American Quakers believe in historical Christianity as taught in the Old and New Testaments with a belief in their inspiration.

In Collier’s Encyclopedia, one of the most recent summarizing statements of the Society of Friends, by Henry J. Cadbury, a Quaker and previous Hollis professor of Divinity, Harvard University, states that “the principles and practices of the Quakers were not novel, the Quakers themselves claim that they are in accordance with the New Testament …, they trusted in the guidance of the Spirit, so long as it did not positively contradict the Bible.” “… New waves of Evangelistic Conservatism have continued in the United States”.…

Friends University

Wichita, Kan.

CALLED IN JAPAN

I was very impressed by “Security” (L. Nelson Bell, May 25 issue). I have experienced these priceless gifts in my own life. And there are so many who seem to be missing this. Your expression should be very encouraging and helpful to many.

Would you have any objection if I have this made into a tract? I can do so here in Japan.… I am on duty here …, having been a Naval Officer and Aviator for 20 years now. Over six years ago God called me out in Christ Jesus in a wonderful way.

San Francisco, Calif.