Gaston Fessard fought against the philosophical idolatry of both the left and the right.

He was unknown in the United States and his name was largely unfamiliar in his homeland. But when Gaston Fessard died on June 18, 1978, a full-page article was devoted to him in Le Point, a French weekly newsmagazine of the stature of Newsweek or U.S. News and World Report.

During the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, Fessard, a Jesuit, wrote the first of a series of anonymous pamphlets that had the profoundest effect on the French attitude toward Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, the Vichy government, and the Third Reich. Pétain—the venerated World War I military leader whose reactionary political philosophy made him the ideal figurehead of the collaborationist Vichy government—had endeavored to convince the average Frenchman that Nazi Germany was the “Christian” answer to modern history, in opposition to atheistic Russian Bolshevism.

Fessard and his colleagues saw through this deceptive nonsense and produced the clandestine tracts known as Témoignage Chrétien: “Christian Witness.” These pamphlets “decoded,” as it were, the Nazi and Vichy propaganda and demonstrated how contrary to fundamental Christian truth it was. The tracts spread like wildfire throughout France, giving Christians the ideological support needed to resist the occupation. In a preface to the American edition of the tracts published in 1943, Jacques Maritain rendered homage to their authors “whose words have pierced the walls of silence and oppression, and whose courage has given full meaning to the title they chose for their work, for, in gross darkness, they have been veritable witnesses to the spirit of Christ.”

Fessard’s own tract was prophetically titled: “France, Take Care Not to Lose Your Soul” (France, prends garde de perdre ton âme). It became a classic—though it continued to be published without the author’s name even after the war. It consisted of three sections: “The Antichristian Mystique of National Socialism,” “The Methods of National Socialist Persecution” (seduction, compromise, and perversion or destruction of the church), and “Application and Results of the Antichristian Persecution in France.”

Providence had prepared Fessard well for his task. When he was 31 he happened on a copy of Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit in a Munich bookstore. At that time the work had not yet been translated into French, and Fessard ploughed through the whole of the author’s turgid German prose. He quickly realized that in Hegel was to be found the keystone for the construction of the edifice of twentieth-century totalitarianism. Fessard became part of a group of seminal French thinkers, including Raymond Aron and Merleau-Ponty, who would fight the battle for political and intellectual freedom throughout their careers.

Just before his death, Fessard completed a major work that has now been published posthumously. Its title is intentionally reminiscent of the “Christian Witness” pamphlet that appeared 38 years earlier: “Church of France, Take Care Not To Lose the Faith” (Eglise de France, prends garde de perdre la Foi [Paris: Julliard]). Having first devoted his efforts to waking his fellow Christians to the deceptions of Nazism, Fessard ended his career by warning them not to dilute the faith once delivered to the saints.

Once again Fessard employed the categories of “seduction,” “compromise,” and “perversion or destruction.” His argument is simple: whereas in the 1930s and 1940s the forces of the far right tried to draw Christianity into their orbit and liberal churchmen were perfectly willing to aid and abet the process, today—in the 1970s and 1980s—it is the Marxist-Socialist left that is engaged in an equivalent endeavor, and the naive liberal theologians and church leaders are jumping on this bandwagon with little or no restraint.

Fessard argues trenchantly that the religious left stacks the deck by pointing up the most minute errors of capitalism while idealizing socialism—thereby disregarding the biblical teaching that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” and its necessary corollary that no political or economic system is perfect or worthy of ultimate commitment.

Fessard’s lifelong study of Hegel provided him with just the analytical background necessary to see the root evils of Marxism. Not only did Hegel’s amoral World Spirit of Reason provide the theoreticians of the Third Reich with a justification for mystical blood and soil nationalism, racism, and cult-of-personality totalitarianism, but his relativistic dialectic and end-as-justifying-the-means eschatology gave Marx the basis for his secular and materialistic aping of the biblical plan of salvation. Indeed, Fessard relied heavily in his last work on a superb critique he published just a year earlier: Chrétiens marxistes et théologie de la libêration (“Marxist Christians and Liberation Theology” [Paris: Lethielleux]): here also the changes were rung on the naiveté of those liberal theologians who baptize the political left without realizing the idolatry to which they commit themselves.

The heroism of Fessard lay not merely in his willingness to put his life on the line for Christian principle during the Second World War. If that were all, then he could easily be absorbed into the category of the Niemoellers and the Bonhoeffers, and would perhaps not warrant independent analysis. But Fessard’s heroism is of a very special variety. He did not criticize one idolatry from the standpoint of another. He took the most difficult road of all: firmly wedding his philosophy of life to the eternal verities of revelation, he was willing to wield the sword of the Spirit against the idolatries of both the right and the left. He perceived, indeed, that when one moves to the extreme right or to the extreme left, one arrives at the same point on the worst kind of vicious circle—the circle of human autonomy. Only Jesus Christ can give us the true faith and only in constant relation to him are we preserved from losing our ideological souls.

An attorney-theologian, John Warwick Montgomery is dean of the Simon Greenleaf School of Law, Costa Mesa, California, and director of studies at the International Institute of Human Rights, Strasbourg, France.

Six months ago, a solitary Church of God pastor complained of immoral teachings in a human sexuality course at the denomination’s Anderson (Ind.) College. Further investigation led pastor LeRoy Oesch of Saint Andrews, South Carolina, to a broader charge that the college’s administration and faculty do not adhere to the doctrinal standards of the church.

He listed various allegations in a 37-page letter (dated May 21) to college president Robert Reardon—then mailed copies at his own expense to every pastor listed in the 230,000-member body’s 1980 yearbook.

His efforts hit a raw nerve at the grassroots of this theologically conservative denomination. School administrators defended themselves against criticism. Last June the matter reached the general assembly, which, as is often the case in sticky situations, handed over the matter to a study committee.

While the church kept its controversy from full-blown discussion, the matter held interest across denominational lines. Other church bodies have faced this same question: To what extent must a church-related college reflect and support the doctrines of its sponsoring body?

Last month the special study committee decided that Anderson College does have a responsibility to the Church of God. In a report to the college board of trustees, the committee recommended that the college in its material make clear its “unique relationship” to the Church of God.

While it spoke specifically to questions about the human sexuality course, the committee also addressed the entire academic program. It affirmed that courses should be taught from biblical and Christian perspectives, and that each faculty member should be able to “relate his Christian experience to his or her teaching assignment.”

In turn, the trustees promised to commit themselves to a plan of implementation. A newly appointed seven-member trustees committee will meet on a monthly basis with the college administration to begin implementation of the report. President Reardon, a focal point in the controversy, pledged “constructive responses” to the select committee’s recommendations.

With 2,000 undergraduate students, Anderson College is the largest of five colleges related to the Church of God. (The denomination is usually called the Anderson, Indiana, Church of God to distinguish it from other denominations of the same or similar names.) Local churches give it financial support through the denomination’s voluntary World Service program. Faculty are not required to sign a doctrinal statement, mostly because of long-standing opposition to “creedalism.”

Oesch, who attended Anderson College in 1949–1950 and taught at two other Church of God colleges, said in the past he whole heartedly supported Anderson College. He became disenchanted only last May, when he attended a campus drama club production of “Shenandoah.” Swearing in the dialogue struck him as inappropriate to a Christian college. After voicing this complaint to a student, he was then shown a copy of the sociology department textbook, McCary’s Human Sexuality (D. Van Nostrand Co.), which is used in the human sexuality course then taught by Lavem Norris.

The book’s explicitness appalled him, and he mentioned his disgust in a brief next-day encounter with President Reardon, who told him to see Norris if he had a complaint. Oesch spent 30 minutes with the professor, and was upset by what he heard.

According to Oesch, Norris refuted the traditional biblical stance against homosexuality, and approved masturbation and sexual fantasizing as normal practices.

Oesch says he was refused an appointment with Reardon after the Norris interview, and that he got no support from a denominational editor. He said other pastors told him that for eight years they had written complaint letters to Anderson College officials, but got no response.

So, after conferring with several other South Carolina ministers and some leading Church of God laymen, Oesch decided upon his open letter approach.

To support his charges, Oesch included interviews with, and letters from, Anderson College students, saying that professors teach that premarital and extramarital sexual relations are okay, allow the showing of “stag films” in classrooms, advocate abortion, teach homosexuality as an alternative lifestyle, and advocate masturbation.

(Regarding the hiring of a Mormon and an Indian Sikh as professors of physics and biology, Reardon said in an interview, “I can’t just say he isn’t born again, so I won’t hire him and we won’t offer the course. This is a liberal arts institution; we have to offer certain courses. These people were the best qualified, the best available.”)

After the Oesch mass mailing, a Missouri delegation to the June general assembly announced it would submit a resolution calling for resignations from Reardon, Norris, and Joe Womack of the sociology department. Another such resolution was submitted to the business committee, the processor of resolutions, but was quickly withdrawn before reaching the general assembly floor. A South Carolina resolution asked that church agency and college employees be required to hire only those who affirm the authority of Scripture, but this was tabled.

The college trustees board discussed Oesch’s open letter in a meeting June 23, the day before the general assembly convened, and took the matter under advisement. Board chairman Marvin Baker, in concert with general assembly chairman Paul Hart, was directed to appoint the 10-member select committee to study the controversy and make recommendations.

During the general assembly, the controversy never reached a floor debate, and some delegates complained of a cover-up. President Reardon did read a statement addressing various allegations in Oesch’s open letter. He asserted that the college does not condone practicing homosexuality.

He called “absolute nonsense” a student newspaper report of a colony of homosexuals on campus, and defended the school’s faculty as “highly sensitive to the Christian faith and traditions of the Church of God.” He called the human sexuality book explicit, but not pornographic, and said a “stag film” was shown once in 1975—but that the school faculty repudiated the film, and the “temporary teacher” who showed it was dropped.

Some observers say the human sexuality textbook, despite its explicit pictures, merely discusses both sides of issues. Its general tone and impact will depend on who’s teaching the course, they say.

In its report, the select committee affirmed the place of a human sexuality course at Anderson, but it recommended specific guidelines.

The school is still using the McCary text, but a married couple, not Norris, is now teaching the course. Regarding the homosexuality controversy, Norris said in an interview that homosexuality is “a reality” that “will not go away.” “As Christians we must develop positive programs for facing up to the realities of the issues.… Dealing with the issue openly and honestly in the classroom is one positive approach.” He said “none of this is designed to promote homosexual behavior,” but to provide sufficient understanding for Christians to act responsibly toward “all persons who are feeling deeply about this issue.”

Some school administrators and church leaders have criticized Oesch as ultraconservative. His supporters, however, say Oesch is representative of most Church of God members. They cite his notable credentials, such as immediate past secretary of the general assembly.

Still, some Church of God pastors see the controversy as essentially a dispute between age-old liberal and conservative factions (while pointing out that no one is as “liberal” as those of that label in mainstream groups). They call it ironic that the controversy came in the one-hundredth anniversary of the Church of God Reformation Movement, which was born as an attempt to unite Christians.

Church and Society

Churches in Buffalo Respond to Race Murders with a Rally, Extra Prayer Meetings, and Calls for Reason

“People in our church in Buffalo are scared,” says the Reverend Clara Castro, black pastor of the Bethel Lackawanna African Methodist Episcopal church, “although they are trying to be calm and are praying for an end to the murders and tensions in western New York.” Six recent murders of black men, one only 14 years old, left residents fearful of more violence and racial tension in Buffalo. Four of the murders were by gunshots and the other two were stabbings with the victims’ hearts ripped from their chests.

Castro, a cross-cultural specialist with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, commented in a telephone interview, “Black pastors have prevented lawlessness from springing up all over the area.” Christians are responding well, though it is not easy, she believes.

They were among 25 blacks murdered in seven cities during the past 15 months: 1 f victims, all of them children, in Atlanta alone. (At press time, a man named Joseph Paul Franklin was arrested and charged in connection with some of the slayings.)

Castro has personally experienced difficulties. Her family’s home was pelted with gunfire one night last month. A visiting Inter-Varsity campus minister was sleeping in her son’s room, when it was hit with bullets. Castro feared more violence toward her sons and husband, who leaves for work in the 6 A M. darkness. Many share her fears. A recent TV news survey in Buffalo showed that 60 percent of the city’s blacks fear for their personal safety.

Numerous churches last month modified their schedules and added prayer meetings and special preaching services. These built attenders’ spirits, and helped to control rumors and keep people safe and off the streets. Black pastors spoke on behalf of their community against what appeared to be racially motivated murders. The white religious community responded with a call for community support and unity. Castro, for example, supported a Unity Day rally on Sunday, October 19, on the city square, sponsored by some 150 organizations. Students in her Inter-Varsity chapter at Erie Community College in downtown Buffalo began working on the project at a prerally meeting four days before. Besides a prayer meeting, 35 students put up posters and passed out flyers promoting the rally. They are helping raise money among students for the victims’ families.

The rally drew an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 people and was backed by the Buffalo Council of Churches, Campus Ministry Association of the University of Buffalo, Church Women United, Buffalo Area Metro Ministry, and a host of local denominations and organizations. Most of the organizations are predominantly white, and supported the program in order to show the whites’ concern to preserve racial unity in the city.

JIMMY LOCKLEAR

Unity

Two Largest Presbyterian Bodies Set Merger Schedule

The long-anticipated merger of the nation’s two largest Presbyterian denominations moved a bit closer to reality last month. The Joint Committee on Presbyterian Union arrived at a timetable that would make 1983 the earliest possible date for uniting the Presbyterian Church U.S. and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.

The committee’s schedule calls for publishing a proposed plan for union in February 1982. Each denomination’s general assembly would vote on the plan that summer. Approval there would result in a 19.82–83 ratification vote among the presbyteries (area governing units) of each body, and then a final, consummating vote by the 1983 PCUS and UPCUSA general assemblies.

Approval at all three stages would result in a single, 3.3-million-member body, tentatively named the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A). Union would bring both existing bodies under the UPCUSA’s Book of Confessions, and a first priority would be preparation of a brief “statement of the Reformed faith for possible inclusion in the Book of Confessions.”

At their meeting last month, union committee members reached agreement on several thorny issues, with others still to be worked out.

The committee retained the controversial United Presbyterian measure requiring election of women to church boards. The proposed language reads: “Every congregation shall elect men and women from among its active members, giving fair representation of all ages and of all ethnic minorities of that congregation, to the office of deacon.…” The committee did provide an exemption plan: a congregation may vote to exempt itself the first year, but its voted exemption from compliance requires the presbytery’s approval in each subsequent year.

For pastors who feel they cannot ordain women officers and ministers, the committee promises to give “freedom of conscience with respect to the interpretation of Scripture.” However, the committee also says the pastor’s conscience is “captive to the Word of God as interpreted in the standards of the church.…” It would be up to “the governing body” to judge whether a pastor, by refusing to ordain women, “has departed from essentials of the Reformed faith and polity.”

The committee is discussing provisions by which PCUS congregations could withdraw with their property after the union. United Presbyterian churches were not given that option, in deference to the denomination’s work toward a constitutional amendment making specific its claim to ownership of local church property.

The union committee, which was organized about 12 years ago, has achieved rocky progress at best.

Both denominations in recent years have experienced schisms and congregational withdrawals led by conservatives, and some observers see hastened efforts toward union as retrenchment and a means of shoring up losses. At the same time, certain evangelical renewal groups back the union efforts, thinking (and lobbying) that the single body will be more sympathetic and supportive of the evangelical viewpoint.

Philosophy

New Humanist Declaration Hits ‘Authoritarian’ Religion

In books, speeches, and papers, the New Right lobbies and many evangelicals are attacking a rise of secular humanism. Some prominent secular humanists recently issued a statement defending their position, and took the opportunity to fire their own blast at critics in “anti-secularist quarters,” including “fundamentalist, literalist, and doctrinaire Christianity.”

The statement, “A Secular Humanist Declaration,” appears in the first issue of the new magazine, Free Inquiry. Edited by philosophy professor Paul Kurtz of the State University of New York at Buffalo, the magazine is dedicated to secular humanist thought. Kurtz drafted the statement, and its 58 signers, who “support its general purposes and direction,” include science fiction author Isaac Asimov, “situation ethics” theologian Joseph Fletcher, psychologist B. F. Skinner, novelist Robert Rimmer, Mrs. Bertrand Russell, philosopher A. J. Ayer, and a number of foreign spokesmen.

The statement begins by extolling the historic roots of humanist thought, from classical Greece up through the Renaissance. It later notes, “Secular humanism places trust in human intelligence rather than in divine guidance.”

In their declaration, the humanists categorically reject the divinity of Christ, see no divine purpose in the universe, doubt traditional concepts of God, and warn that dogmatic religion is threatening intellectual freedom.

The document links “fundamentalist, literalist and doctrinaire” Christianity, Moslem clericalism in the Mideast, and the reassertion of papal authority by Pope John Paul II. It says these developments follow in the wake of earlier “messianic and totalitarian quasi-religious movements such as fascism and communism.”

Television

‘Cosmos’ Series Criticized for Its Philosophical View

“Cosmos,” the 13-part public television series that features Cornell University astronomer Carl Sagan’s views on “the mysteries of space and the planet earth,” drew one of the largest audiences in the history of the Public Broadcasting Service when it began in September. According to Nielsen ratings from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, the first program was watched in 9.5 percent of homes where television sets were on. The PBS record is held by “Death of a Princess” (about a member of the Saudi Arabian royal family), which earned a 17.9 percent rating.

However, “Cosmos” took its licks from at least one member of the academic community. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Richard Baer, Jr., who teaches at the New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, protested that Sagan is not simply presenting science. “He is also sharing his philosophical world view, his religious testimony—a blend of nature mysticism, materialism, and scientism,” said Baer.

Baer was irked because he believes Sagan’s world view looks to “science alone … to unravel the mysteries of life.” He also objected to Sagan’s “sarcastic voice” as it revealed “his bias against religion and the church.” “For Mr. Sagan, the church appears to be little more than the realm of ignorance and bigotry,” he wrote.

Woreld Scene

Ugandan soldiers were holding seven Africa Inland Mission missionaries prisoner last month in their hospital station in the West Nile District. Reasons for the action remained unclear. However, AIM officials suspect the missionaries got caught in military actions by the Ugandan army against ex-dictator Idi Amin’s loyalists who recently invaded the region. The missionaries, reportedly unharmed, included five British, one Australian, and one American (translator Lora Belle Barr of Philadelphia). AIM petitioned the Ugandan government for their release through U.S., British, and Australian embassy officials.

TV evangelist Rex Humbard got the Chilean government’s support for a series of mass crusades there in February. Humbard met last month in Santiago with President Augusto Pinochet, who extended a personal invitation to Humbard; the announced meetings netted wide coverage in the nation’s news media. Humbard drew a crowd of 85,000 to a 1978 crusade meeting in Santiago, and his one-hour syndicated program airs on about 80 broadcast outlets in this largely Roman Catholic country.

Britain’s planned “Decade of Evangelism” was launched in Nottingham last month, as 800 delegates met for the first assembly of the Nationwide Initiative in Evangelism. The NIE is a cooperative venture of Anglicans, the Free Churches, and Roman Catholics, to stir up Christians’ concern for their local communities and bring the gospel to every person in Britain by the year 2000. Coordinator Tom Houston, director of the British and Foreign Bible Society, called for all denominations to put “more people, money, and programs into their evangelism” and to keep in touch with one another.

A priest was battered to death for holding a religious service in an Albanian prison camp, according to word reaching the Slav Missionary Society in Stockholm. A traveler, who refused to be identified, said the Roman Catholic bishop, Coba, frequently visited prison camps in the tiny Communist country. This was the first reported death of a clergyman in Albania since 1973, when a Catholic priest was killed for baptizing the child of a fellow prisoner. Albania remains virtually a closed society, with little access allowed foreigners except for those on strictly supervised package tours.

The one-year-old European Evangelical Accrediting Association recently added three more schools to its membership. That brings the number of its Bible institutes and seminaries to 26 in seven countries. Member schools must have at least a two-year program, undergo a formal self-evaluation, and complete a three-year probationary period before receiving full accreditation.

Archbishop Ted Scott added a new flavor to ecumenism last month, and not everyone liked his sense of taste.

Scott opened the doors of the 3,000-seat Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Toronto (Canada’s largest Anglican church) for an interfaith service featuring Tibetan Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama. Scott, who chairs the World Council of Churches Central Committee and is primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, invited the top leaders of the city’s religious community.

A handful of protesters from the Toronto Free Presbyterian Church picketed outside Saint Paul’s. But for the most part, the 45-minute service ran without a hitch. Scott, representatives of the Greek Orthodox and Jewish communities, and two chanting Buddhist monks, participated in the service.

Scott explained to the 1,000 attenders that the Dalai Lama is Tibet’s Buddhist leader by virtue of his followers’ belief that he is the fourteenth reincarnation of Tibet’s patron saint. The archbishop bemoaned the fact that as a child he was never exposed to other religions but now felt it was important to acquaint other people with them.

Following a reading of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3–12, the Dalai Lama (described in an official release as “possessing the nature of God in the form of a human being”) spoke in halting English of the need for “inner peace,” without which food, clothing, a home, or other material goods were useless. A heckler interrupted at several points.

Despite the presence of a flock of personal bodyguards, the crowd created a few tense moments. One woman attempted to present the Dalai Lama with an offering of cheese, crackers, and bottled water, while another woman offered him her two-year-old son. Both offers were rejected with stony silence and a gentle shove from a bodyguard, as the Dalai strode out of the Gothicized church surrounded by well-wishers who attempted to touch his flowing robes.

Two years ago, the Internal Revenue Service thought it had a good idea: private schools desiring to keep their tax exempt status would prove they don’t discriminate by enrolling a quota of minority students, vigorously recruiting minority teachers, and through other measures. Since most of the nation’s 20,000 private schools have religious ties, church leaders across the country howled at this government intrusion. The IRS was buried in nasty letters, and Congress passed a law prohibiting the IRS from spending any money to activate the plan. It was shelved.

Now the IRS has begun—but only in Mississippi—to do almost exactly the same thing. This time, however, the IRS is armed with something with more force than its own regulation: it has a District of Columbia federal court order. The order requiring the IRS to act resulted from a Mississippi discrimination suit, Green v. Connally, filed in the early seventies and finally settled by the June court order. The IRS intends to obey the order rather than appeal it, Congress and public opinion notwithstanding.

About 20 schools in Mississippi have refused to answer exploratory questionnaires, sent by the IRS, which ask for information about the racial makeup of the schools’ students, faculties, and administrations. One of these is the tiny, 14-student Greenwood Christian School in Greenwood, which hired a Washington lawyer and drew a line firmly in the dust. The attorney, John Whitehead, said in an interview: “This is the number one issue as far as Christian schools go. We may stand or fall on how we respond to it.”

Until now, all the IRS could do about suspected racial discrimination was require each private school to publish an annual statement saying it does not discriminate; outside Mississippi that is still all it can do. Because of the June court order, the IRS must now require Mississippi private schools to provide, among other things, proof of their attempts to recruit minority students and teachers, and to reveal the racial composition of their boards. An IRS spokesman said the court order requires just about what the 1978 IRS proposal did, which was so fiercely fought. Like the 1978 regulation, the court order does not apply outright to all private schools, only to those that began or expanded during local desegregation, or to those whose racial policies are in legitimate doubt.

If there is any school in Mississippi that need not fear a racism probe, it would seem to be Greenwood Christian, which was started in 1971 by Grace Bible Church. According to church elder George Whitten, the school had three black students one year, and another year it had one, although there are none this year. Whitten, who is a lawyer, and the church’s other elder (John Hey, a physician), serve as the school’s administrative board. Besides blacks, the school has had students from India, whose fathers were professors at nearby Mississippi Valley State University. One Indian family was converted to Christianity because of its association with the school and the church. Whitten said.

The school graduated its first high school senior the year before last, and he was a National Merit Scholar. The third student, who will graduate next spring, is a National Merit semifinalist still in the running. Despite its credentials, Whitten said the school will not obey the IRS’s request for information: “When the government comes in with a blanket order like this, it’ll get you all tangled up and you just can’t operate.… One piece of information I know we can’t provide is the racial composition of our board of elders.”

Whitten claims that the fact the IRS isn’t fighting the court order means it has a “sweetheart” deal with the court, whereby the IRS is letting the court force it to do what it really wanted to do all along but couldn’t because Congress and the public intervened. A spokesman at IRS declined comment on that question, saying only that the agency reviewed all the pertinent facts before deciding not to fight the court order by appealing it to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Lawyer Whitehead believes the IRS is especially eager to comply because the order applies in Mississippi. “Why Mississippi? The IRS isn’t stupid. What pops into your mind when you say ‘Mississippi?’ ” The answer, of course, is segregation. Whitten believes the people at Greenwood Christian will win little outside sympathy for their stand against the IRS because it is a Mississippi school. If they are alone in their fight, they may not stay that way for long, however. Another case is percolating through the courts that would apply the Mississippi court order to private schools in all states, and depending on how that suit is settled, private school interests across the nation might end up standing in line to join the Mississippi schools in another round against the IRS.

(The following story is based on reports from CHRISTIANITY TODAY correspondent Mark Komaki in Japan, journalist Roger Palms, and CT interviews.)

Because numbers don’t always tell the whole story, church leaders avoided drawing overly enthusiastic conclusions about evangelist Billy Graham’s October meetings in Japan. But with record crowds attending in every city and unusually high numbers of Christian commitments, the crusade showed them something is happening spiritually in Japan, a nation where fewer than 1 percent of the 120 million population are Christians.

“The Japanese pastors feel there is a new openness to Christianity,” said Donald Hoke, former missionary educator who founded Tokyo Bible College in 1955 and served as its president until 1972. Hoke gave Graham background ideas and information gained during his many years in Japan, as he circulated among church leaders and former acquaintances during the month-long campaign. He found a “new interest” and a “seriousness of response” to Christianity among the Japanese.

Results from the October 4–26, six-city Japan Billy Graham Crusade seemed to confirm that observation:

• Statistics showed an aggregate attendance of 330,000. More than 25,000 persons inquired further about making a Christian commitment (an almost 8 percent response).

• In Fukuoka, a city with only 1,000 church-going Protestants, a total of 36,000 persons attended two nights of meetings in a local baseball stadium, despite driving rains.

• New cooperation between Japanese evangelicals resulted in a well-organized, well-publicized campaign. Local churches finished raising the entire $970,000 crusade budget before the meetings ended. The local Osaka and Tokyo committees even made sizeable donations to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

The Graham crusade fit into a three-pronged initiative first conceived two years ago, primarily by evangelical pastors from the Osaka area. They set goals of (1) mobilizing 100,000 prayer companions for evangelism; (2) emphasizing church growth among the local congregations; and (3) holding a crusade to serve as a catalyst for reaching the other two goals.

Crusade planning received the strong support of missionaries from U.S.-based agencies. Ken McVety, a 31-year Japan missionary veteran, and Verner Strom, both of The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM), served on the Tokyo committee.

Crusade planners recognized ties that continue to block Japanese openness to Christianity. The Graham organization bought ads in evangelical magazines prior to the campaign, requesting prayer for the meetings.

The tiny Christian church in Japan historically faced government obstacles. Roman Catholicism arrived in the mid-sixteenth century, and widespread acceptance made it the strongest unifying Christian force in feudal Japan. However, Japanese rulers, fearing the church’s influence, imposed harsh restrictions. Newspaper historical studies tell of Christian martyrs. Not until 1873 was the law repealed that forbade persecution of Christians; prior to that, people received awards for informing on secret Christians. Those days have long since passed, but the memories remain.

Many of the materially rich Japanese care little about spiritual things, and others lack any awareness of the Bible. Many Japanese have no consciousness of sin, and think it’s something “only criminals do,” commented one Graham team official.

Japan’s Buddhist and Shinto followers are among the most devout in the world. Strong devotion to family remains, with roots in the once-strong practices of ancestor and emperor worship.

In many Japanese families yet today, the older son gets the inheritance, and parents arrange their children’s marriages. Decisions are often made by the family, not by the individual. The non-Christian whose family is Buddhist might fear making a Christian commitment since that would seem a betrayal, and perhaps lead to ostracism.

Because a Christian commitment may involve far-reaching consequences, crusade organizers hoped the thousands of inquirers truly meant spiritual business and that they didn’t act from a herd instinct. Advisers had asked Graham to make clear in his messages all the possible implications of accepting Christ as Savior.

He did; for example, in one sermon he stated specifically that following Christ may lead to difficulties with family, friends, and business associates: “But you must say, ‘Yes, I am willing to face it and do anything to have Christ in my life.’ ”

Graham kicked off the Japan campaign with a news conference in Tokyo, which was designed to begin whetting the interest of the mass media-conscious Japanese. Throughout the crusade, organizers promoted the meetings with television and radio spots, advertisements in newspapers and on trains, and with posters and literature handouts.

The evangelist made Okinawa his first stop. The October 4–5 meetings attracted the highest rate of inquirers of any of his stops: about 4,400 out of a total attendance of 34,000—a 13 percent response. Graham next spent five days (Oct. 8–12) in Japan’s commercial center and second largest city, Osaka, where a total of 115,000 attended the meetings in Nissei Stadium.

In the week before Graham’s next stop, evangelist and associate Leighton Ford led two-day crusades in the cities of Nagoya (Oct. 14–15) and Hiroshima (Oct. 16–17). A typhoon’s rains dampened the meetings in Nagoya, called the “Valley of the Gospel,” with more than 160 churches in and around Japan’s third largest city.

The same inclement weather hit Fukuoka when Graham arrived for October 18–19 meetings. Torrential rains fell even as the audience came, and continued through the meetings. But attendance still ran high.

Planners attributed the success to advance prayer. The national crusade committee promoted the Operation Andrew program, in which Christians promised in writing to pray for non-Christian friends, and to bring them to the meetings. They also cited thorough publicity: three movie theaters in Fukuoka, for instance, ran commercials saying, “Billy Graham has preached the Word of God throughout the world and has now come to Fukuoka.” Organizers planned a “Graham tour” for Christians in Kagoshima, 240 miles away. They came by airplane and returned home by sleeper train.

Graham concluded his Japan outreach with five days of meetings (Oct. 22–26) in Tokyo’s 50,000-seat Karakuen Stadium. More than 1,100 local churches supported the Tokyo meetings, and more than 43,000 persons packed the stadium for the final Sunday afternoon service. Church leaders called the response higher than that in Graham’s Tokyo meetings in 1967, his last preaching campaign in Japan.

Speculations vary about the past and future of evangelism in Japan. Osaka Governor Masuru Kishi speculated that Japan has remained only 1 percent Christian because “Christians have not made their message clear.” Perhaps with that in mind, Graham fully explained scriptural terms and steps of salvation in all the meetings. He often said, “I want to make the teachings of Jesus so clear that every one of you will understand.” Many attributed Graham’s clarity to the skill of his interpreter, Evangelical Free Church pastor Yosuke Furuyama of Osaka.

Through the Graham meetings, Japanese church leaders gained hope for the future, said TEAM missionary McVety. “People are realizing that their Japanese countrymen are winnable.”

Church leaders eyed the high response of Japanese young people. A 1975 poll had shown that 60 percent of the Japanese young have no interest in seeking any religious affiliation. Yet in Tokyo more than 40 percent of the 11,000 inquirers were between the ages of 16 and 29. At Graham’s first meeting in Osaka, two-thirds of the 900 inquirers were under 30 years old.

Individual Christians give more money to the local church now than when he was in Japan in the middle 1960s, said Hoke. In addition, he said, Japanese evangelicals seem to have broken the pattern of small churches of 30 or so members. Now, some churches have from 100 to 300 members.

Some evangelical congregations have shown 100 percent growth since Graham’s 1967 meetings in Tokyo. During the same period, the liberal United Church of Christ in Japan (formed when the Japanese government during World War II forced all the churches into a single body, and which still comprises about two-thirds of the nation’s 800,000 Protestants) increasingly lost members.

As with any Graham crusade, the ultimate impact depends on the incorporation of inquirers into existing churches, but especially is this so in Japan. One Osaka pastor, for instance, got 300 referrals to his church. The national crusade committee, headed by Osaka pastor Yukio Nagashima, trained local church pastors in the same follow-up procedures as those used in Graham’s U.S. crusades. A Graham team member noted, “If the new Christians don’t get into the churches, they might drift away—especially since there aren’t cultural reinforcements for being a Christian in Japan, as there are in the U.S.”

Catholics

Bishops’ World Synod Ends; Traditional Views Upheld

From the outset no one figured the world synod of Roman Catholic bishops, meeting in Rome during October, would try to nudge the church into uncharted doctrinal waters. And as the meetings wound down last month, that appeared to be how things turned out.

As the final reports to Pope John Paul II were being written, the bishops were expected to reaffirm the 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (Of Human Life), written by Pope Paul VI, which condemns all forms of artificial birth control. American Catholics, hoping to see some small sign of softening by the bishops on this most nettle-some of Catholic doctrines, were likely to be disappointed.

John Paul called his first synod to address the subject, “The Role of the Family in the Modern World,” and it was attended by more than 200 Catholic church leaders, including 16 Catholic lay observers. The synod, the body that advises the Pope on matters of his choosing, was the sixth since 1967 on various topics.

Although they didn’t challenge doctrine, the bishops in their floor speeches did signal the need for a more “pastoral” approach to the deep cleavages brought about by the contraception issue, as well as by the church’s teaching on divorce and remarriage. To the surprise of many, the bishops openly stated that most Catholics do not obey the church’s ban on artificial birth control. They asked for a more loving approach on the whole subject of sexuality, although just how that is to develop remained unclear.

The depth of concern about birth control surfaced on the first day of the synod when Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco, speaking as president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, called for a “new context” for the church’s teaching on birth control, while remaining carefully within the bounds of the 1968 encyclical. He spoke forcefully in spite of the fact that Pericle Fellici, head of the church’s highest ecclesiastical court, reminded the bishops that because of the encyclical the issue was closed and need not be discussed.

In his closing speech to the bishops, the Pope seemed to dash the hopes of divorced, remarried Catholics who would like to be readmitted to Holy Communion. The Pope said only those remarried divorced Catholics who abstain from sexual intimacy can be welcomed back. The bishops were in a more conciliatory frame of mind, however. In one of their 43 recommendations to the Pope, they suggested that the church study how in some cases the Eastern Orthodox church found a way to readmit divorced, remarried members to Communion.

There were some odd moments during the synod, brought on by misinterpretation of remarks. San Francisco’s Quinn was widely reported to have challenged the Humanae Vitae encyclical, and the on looking press thought it glimpsed some hierarchical dissent. Only after a clarification was issued in five languages was it clear that Quinn was not departing from doctrine.

The Pope twice told the bishops in his speeches that a husband could even commit the sin of adultery by lusting after his own wife. In context, the Pope was actually saying that even within the bounds of marriage a husband may not use his wife for his own physical pleasure only, at the expense of his other responsibilities to her.

Israel

Name Has Ancient Ring but Modern Purchasing Power

Israel completed its switch from pounds to shekels last month. By changing the currency to the Old Testament-era shekel, government officials hoped to restore confidence in the nation’s currency, and help return the land to its biblical roots.

However, it’s tough trying to compensate for 3,000 years of inflation. Scripture notes that King David bought the site of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem for 50 shekels of silver. A national wire service pointed out that 50 of today’s shekels, at six to the dollar, wouldn’t buy hamburgers for a family of four.

The Genuine Christian School

Who Educates Your Child? A Book for Parents, by D. Bruce Lockerbie (Doubleday-Galilee, 1980, 192 pp., $8.95), is reviewed by Larry M. Lake, English teacher and department chairman, Delaware County Christian School, Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

What are the goals of education? How can we achieve those goals? What can parents do to be sure their children receive the best education possible?

Bruce Lockerbie, writer and educator at the Stony Brook School, suggests answers to such questions. In the first three chapters, he surveys the essense of education as the shaping of character, the building of self-discipline, and the inculcation of Christian ethics. He next analyzes the deterioration of U.S. public education, explains parents’ privilege in choosing schools for their children, and offers guidelines to evaluate the quality of education a school offers. He then surveys the history of Christian education and key shortcomings of schools that claim roots in that tradition, and describes the major features of a genuine Christian education. In the final chapter he describes what a responsible school expects of parents, and what God expects of parents. A valuable appendix of education terms and a helpful guide to further reading follow.

Lockerbie’s warnings about some aspects of the Christian school movement are extremely important. He argues, “A school—any school—is a very special place. It has specific responsibilities not pertaining to other institutions, chiefly academic responsibilities. So a Christian school must not confuse its identity or be confused with, say, a Christian camp or a Christian orphanage!… Parents who are looking for something other than a place of academic learning—whose children may need psychiatric treatment or restraint for incorrigible behavior—must be honest themselves and not expect a school to do the work of a clinic or penitentiary.”

But most of his energy and concern are reserved for a defense of what a Christian education should be. He identifies the goal of education as integration: wholeness. While other schools may excel intellectually and have first-rate programs in physical development, while they may even acknowledge the importance of religious experience and teach an altruistic concern for others, the genuine Christian school knows, as Erasmus said, “All studies … are followed for this one subject, that we may know Christ and honor him.”

In a day when there is increasing confusion about the goals of education, the declining quality of public schools, and the conflicting claims of educators, ministers, and parents, this book can be an important guide to careful thought, fervent prayer, and effective decision making.

Growing Old In Christ: A Survey Of Books On Aging—Part I

Books on Aging are reviewed by David O. Moberg, professor of sociology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

In 1960 Henry Jacobson stated that older people were beginning to receive the attention they deserve from everyone except the Christian church. Happily, the situation now is better.

Publications mentioned here are a sampling of the better works currently available on the subject. They are like the aging themselves: each unique in orientation, purpose, intended audience, scope, and style. Yet most are similar in three respects: flawed by occasional dubious or questionable statements, lacking in indexes or containing incomplete and sketchy indexes to help retrieve choice passages and topics. And, except for textbooks and specialized studies, they are based to a considerable extent upon personal or professional experiences in relating to or working with aging people.

General surveys.The Fullness of Life (Lutheran Church in America), edited by Cedric W. Tilberg, covers the topic well, integrates the role of the church and religion into all chapters, and includes an exceptionally good list describing films on aging. Florence M. Taylor’s You Don’t Have to Be Old When You Grow Old (Logos) has 26 chapters reflecting upon a variety of experiences and ideas she has confronted in her post-80 “winter years.”

Based on his extensive reading and experience, the late theologian-minister, Robert Worth Frank, wrote between ages 75 and 88 a stimulating series of sermonettes, meditations, and reflections on aging: Talks on Old Age (Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, 1980 Dahlia St., Denver, Colo. 80220, enlarged edition, 1978). Participation in a senior adult retreat and observations as a pastor’s wife led Pauline E. Spray to write The Autumn Years: How to Approach Retirement (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City), a smoothly written compendium of wholesome counsel for people in the retirement years. It consistently integrates Christian perspectives into discussions of mundane as well as spiritual topics.

The Fourth Generation (Augsburg), by John M. Mason, is based upon decades of leadership and consultation in church-related agencies and programs in aging. His thoroughly informed and passionate revelation of the dehumanization confronted by the elderly—partly as a result of well-intended governmental regulations designed to protect them—contributes significantly to his goal of producing constructive action in churches and society. Perhaps the best overall textbook on the subject remains The Church and the Older Person (Eerdmans, rev. ed., 1977), by Robert M. Gray and David O. Moberg.

Retirement planning resources. There is some very useful material here among retirement planning books. Except for an almost total neglect of religion, Looking Ahead (American Association of Retired Persons), by the staff of Action for Independent Maturity, and The Complete Retirement Planning Book (Dutton), by Peter A. Dickinson, are probably the best overall guides to retirement planning. Both cover major areas for consideration with helpful questions, suggestions, and information. On matters of income, medical costs, taxes, and other financial topics, the best single guide available for preretired and retired people and the professionals who work with them is probably Consumer Guide: Get More Money from Social Security, Government Benefits, Medicare, Plus … (Publications International, 3841 W. Oakton St., Skokie, Ill. 60076), by Peter A. Dickinson and the editors of Consumer Guide.

Sunbelt Retirement (Dutton), also by Peter A. Dickinson, is a guide to each state and many specific communities across the southern strip of the U.S., from North Carolina to California and Hawaii. It includes such useful information as temperatures by seasons, housing costs, quality of medical care, recreational and cultural attractions, services for senior citizens, and cost of living. But it gives no guides to “houses of worship” or religious values, leaving their exploration up to each individual.

Three excellent action-oriented books for aging people deserve special mention. John Warren Steen’s Enlarge Your World (Broadman) shows senior citizens a wide range of constructive ways to express their Christian faith by using their “senior adult power” correctly and profitably in society and the church. The Forty Plus Handbook (Word), by David Ray, on “the fine art of growing older” is a guide to retirement planning and living. It clearly places spiritual wholeness at the center of all plans and activities. Oren Arnold’s The Second Half of Your Life (Harvest House) has the same goal and is filled with humorous and anecdotal materials that increase reading interest; at only a few points is its commonsensical advice of dubious quality.

Problems of “middlescence.” Herbert B. Parks has built his counsel in Prime Time (Nelson) upon personal experiences of “the turbulence of middle age,” during which he almost ran away from a fruitful ministerial and educational career. His book is like a collection of sermons linking contemporary experiences with biblical characters and passages.

Similarly, Jim Conway has provided an excellent resource as a result of his own personal crisis plus pastoral counseling and study of the subject. He touches upon all areas of personal, family, and professional life and reveals both inner and external sources of help in Men in Mid-Life Crisis (David C. Cook). Gerald O’Collins, S.J., The Second Journey (Paulist), also covers “spiritual awareness and the mid-life crisis,” drawing particularly upon literary and historical resources and emphasizing his personal belief that we find ourselves when we are found by Christ and his community.

The marital and family crises of middle age are the focus of Elof G. Nelson’s Keeping Love Alive (Augsburg). It draws upon Christian values to show how to find fulfillment during the middle years of marriage. Shirley Cook shows married women how to face their midage crisis as Christians in Building on the Back Forty (Accent Books). All of these midlife crisis books weave spiritual values and perspectives together with earthly experiences and trials, and include at least indirect recognition that coping satisfactorily is good preparation for old age.

Jerusalem, The Golden

Jerusalem, City of Jesus, by Richard Mackowski (Eerdmans, 1980, 224 pp., $29.95).

Not everyone can make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. But everyone can read this book, which is as good a second choice as could be made. This is an extremely well-researched, well-written, and beautifully illustrated volume that makes the Holy City live in a way few books do.

Mackowski begins by circling the city looking at the roads, hills, and valleys. History comes to life as he recounts the events preceding Jesus’ life. The walls, gates, and water supply are then discussed in detail, emphasizing what archaeology has shown. Written in 1977, the book unfortunately does not include some of the most recent information, such as that regarding the possible Essene Gate on Mount Zion. The fortress and the temple are nicely handled.

The events surrounding Jesus’ death and resurrection are reverently and accurately handled, in my view. It is a bit odd, however, that the chapter about the resurrection should be called “The Garden Tomb”—with a picture no less—when Mackowski explicitly rejects the theory that the so-called garden tomb was the place where Jesus was buried.

The photographer, Garo Nalbandian, is to be commended for his fine work in this volume. Altogether, it is a magnificent and valuable work that will be welcomed by everyone interested in the life of Jesus and the city of Jerusalem.

The Best In Biblical Geography

Student Map Manual: Historical Geography of the Bible Lands (Pictorial Archive, 1979, 167 pp., $29.95 [distributed by Zondervan]).

Many years have gone into this atlas/manual, produced under the leadership of James Monson and directed by Richard Cleave. The results are staggering in the wealth of detail they contain. Two wall-size maps (1:275,000) are divided into 15 sections (1:215,000) with a west-to-east orientation, containing a color-coded historical and archaeological atlas. The perspective (W to E) takes some getting used to, but it does reflect more accurately the orientation of the Bible.

The following section contains all the known archeological sites of the Holy Land from Chalcolithic to late Roman and Byzantine times. This is conveniently arranged by time period. Seventy-eight maps follow, going through the same periods of time, and giving in minute detail the place names, locations, wadis, international roads, local Roman roads, historical events, biblical references, and references to secular writings, where known.

A special section on the archaeology of Jerusalem is the most current and best available anywhere. The diagram is color-coded to indicate what is certain archeologically and what is merely probable or conjectural. This section alone makes the work worth having. An index of 865 names summarizes all that is known about this area.

It would be hard to find fault with this labor of love that makes such a stupendous amount of information available. It is definitely not for the intellectually indolent, however; when you read it, be prepared to learn something about the Bible.

Does God Exist?

How to Think About God: A Guide for the Twentieth Century Pagan, by Mortimer J. Adler (Macmillan, 1980, 175 pp., $9.95), is reviewed by Troy D. Reeves, associate professor of English, Angelo State University, San Angelo, Texas.

The audience for How to Think About God is identified by its subtitle, “A Guide for the Twentieth-Century Pagan.” Defining a pagan as “one who does not worship the God of Christians, Jews, or Muslims; an irreligious person,” author Adler makes it clear that he does not intend the term in a derogatory sense. In fact, the author identifies himself as a pagan: a lapsed orthodox Jew who has embraced no religion but has devoted his life to the philosophical pursuit of truth. Adler’s thesis is that the existence of God can be demonstrated on the pagan’s own terms—through use of natural reason alone, without appeal to revelation.

Adler, who is chairman of the board of Encyclopedia Britannica, sets out first to refute the traditional proofs of God’s existence advanced by Christian apologists. He maintains such apologists have never successfully proved God’s existence by use of pure reason because their faith has consistently predisposed them to foregone conclusions. The most famous traditional proof, the argument of First Cause, illustrates the problems. The First-Cause argument assumes that time is a finite creation. But, if time is, in fact, infinite, one need not look for a First Cause; one may track back causes without ever reaching a beginning. Adler also finds unsatisfactory “the best traditional argument,” Aquinas’s argument to necessary being.

Having disposed of traditional arguments and defined the mode of philosophical thought, Adler sets forth what he calls a new and original “cosmological” proof of God’s existence. While conceding that radical contingency may not be accorded any particular existence, Adler argues that it may be accorded the cosmos. There is no reason to think the cosmos could not exist in forms other than the one in which we observe it to exist. And if the cosmos does not have to exist in its present form, then it is contingent and must be kept from existing in some other form by a necessary being apart from itself—namely, God. Adler speculates on the nature of this being, and distinguishes between the God of Christian faith and the anthropomorphic gods of superstition.

Though clearly phrased and devoid of obscurantism, Adler’s book suffers from two deficiencies: faults of logic in the refutations of traditional arguments, and lack of originality in the exposition of a “new” argument. Faulty logic is evident in his insistence that nothing is radically contingent because nothing is ever annihilated. Adler equates one type of Aristotelian cause, material cause, with existence per se. In fact (to pursue Adler’s example), if a chair is reduced to ashes it ceases to exist as a chair. To equate material cause with particular existence is to deny the radical diversity of existence and to make all existence univocal.

But more disappointing is the lack of originality in Adler’s “new” cosmological proof. This is merely an adaptation of Aquinas’s argument to necessary being, demanded not by insufficiency in Aquinas’s logic (which Adler does not fault) but by the author’s insistence that only the cosmos is radically contingent. He fails to explain how the cosmos differs, except in size and complexity, from other existence. Nor does he prove that the cosmos is not part of a larger whole and thus comparable to other existences.

The success of this book does not depend upon the originality of the cosmological argument. Despite its weaknesses, it succeeds because Adler achieves his primary goals: (1) to prove the existence of God can be demonstrated through use of natural reason; and (2) to show the reader how to think about God. What Adler does best of all is set the reader onto the high road of philosophical thought.

Home Of The Centauri

Alpha Centauri, by Robert Siegel (Cornerstone Books, 1980, 255 pp., $9.95; an excerpt is printed on pp. 30–33).

A veritable explosion of fantasy books has taken place, ignited by Lewis, Tolkien, and Williams. Few of them burn very brightly, but Alpha Centauri thus bursts in the sky like the Fourth of July, brilliant to behold.

A University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee English professor, Robert Siegel, has woven a nicely textured story that grips the heart and imagination from start to finish. Although intended primarily for young people, no one will want to put the book down until it’s finished.

It is the story of Becky, who is drawn back in time through the “Eye of the Fog” to the age of the centaurs. They are locked in mortal conflict with the Rock Movers, and the story is told of how Becky enters into their struggles. An unexpected mission is thrust upon her as she realizes she is the fulfillment of some ancient prophecies. She also finds an integral part of her mission is a faithful horse, Rebecca, which becomes a constant and comic companion during her trials. The ancient seer had said: “Then trust the horse to know the rider/And through the night and fog to guide her.” Events move swiftly as the forces of evil tighten the net around the dwindling centaurs.

High adventure, drama, self-sacrifice, courage, a bit of romance—it is all to be found in this well-written and beautifully illustrated tale. The ending is no great surprise, but that is probably because the Christian contours of the story shine through so clearly.

This is a fine work and a joy to recommend. Books like this don’t come along very often.

Missions

STUDIES IN MISSIONS.Religion Across Cultures (William Carey) by Eugene Nida is a primer in how to communicate the gospel cross-culturally. Cultural Anthropology (Zondervan) by Stephen Grunlan and Marvin Mayers provides a Christian analysis of basic human institutions; reading this prepares people to communicate cross-culturally. Many new books deal with specific aspects of the missionary enterprise: The Unresponsive: Resistant or Neglected? (William Carey) by David Liao looks at the homogeneous unit principle in a Chinese village; All Nations in God’s Purpose (Broadman) by H. C. Goerner is a study of missionary themes in the Bible; Let’s Quit Kidding Ourselves About Missions (Moody) by James M. Weber is a hard-hitting statement about American evangelicalism’s failure to take missions seriously; A. J. van der Bent raises more questions than he answers in his critical study, God So Loves the World: The Immaturity of World Christianity (Orbis); Orlando Costas is more positive in The Integrity of Mission (Harper & Row); Michael Collins Reilly, S.J., provides a historical, theological, and cultural study in Spirituality for Mission (Orbis); Mario Di Gangi offers a biblical look at the church’s outreach in I Believe in Mission (Presbyterian and Reformed); and Christ and Caesar in Christian Missions (William Carey), edited by Edwin Frizen and Wade Coggins, looks at problems of church and politics. Two interesting reprints are Key to the Missionary Problem (Christian Literature Crusade) by Andrew Murray, and Student Mission Power, Report of the First International Convention of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1891 (William Carey). Roger Bassham has written a volume that is a must for students of contemporary missions history: Mission Theology (William Carey). Mission Trends No. 4: Liberation Theologies (Paulist and Eerdmans), edited by G. H. Anderson and I.F. Stransky, is a series of articles on advanced to radical views. The Indigenous Church and the Missionary (William Carey) by Melvin Hodges is a practical discussion of a difficult problem. In the Gap (InterVarsity) by David Bryant is a well-written handbook on being a “World Christian.”

ACADEMIA.Readings in Dynamic Indigeneity (William Carey), edited by Charles Kraft and T. N. Wisley, is a very helpful selection of top-flight articles on missions theory. Bibliografia Missionaria, Anno XLII–1978 (Pontificia Universita’ Urbaniana, 00120 Citta’ del Vaticano) lists over 2,500 books and articles pertaining to missions for the year 1978; an absolute must. Paternoster Press (3 Mount Radford Crescent, Exeter, U.K. EX2 4JW) makes available the Evangelical Review of Theology, a twice-yearly theological journal that contains excellent articles on missions (e.g., “Christianity As an African Religion” by Byang Kato) and much more. It is well worth subscribing to.

ASIA. An interesting book is Christian Art in Asia (Rodopi) by W. A. Dyrness. Needless Hunger (Institute for Food and Development Policy, 2588 Mission St., San Francisco, Calif. 94110) outlines the plight of Bangladesh. Beyond Ideology (Cornerstone) by Won Sul Lee is an excellent, evangelical assessment of the sociopolitical conflict in Asia. The Theology of Change (Orbis) by Jung Young Lee is a less traditional discussion of God in an Eastern perspective. Mindanao Mission (Seabury) by Edward Fischer and Lady of the Tboli (Christian Herald) by Doris Fell tell of mission work in the Philippines.

AFRICA.Africa Christian Spirituality (Orbis), edited by Aylward Shorter, is a valuable collection of readings. Equally valuable is Salvation in African Tradition (Evangel Publishing House, Box 28963, Nairobi, Kenya) by Tokunboh Adeyemo. Leroy Fitts has written a biography of the first black missionary to Africa in Lot Cary (Judson Press).

ISLAMIC WORLD. Helpful books are: We Believe in One God (Seabury), edited by A. Schimmel and A. Falaturi; Dialogue and Interfaith Witness with Muslims (distributed by Moody Books, 469 E. Sullivan St., Kingsport, Tenn. 37660) by Ray Register; The Mutual Effects of the Islamic and Judeo-Christian Worlds: The East European Pattern (Brooklyn College Press), edited by A. Ascher, T. Halasi-Kun, and B. Kiraly. G. H. Jansen in Militant Islam (Harper & Row) probably overstates the case of militancy.

SPECIAL MINISTRIES. David Seal offers Challenge and Crisis in Missionary Medicine (William Carey); Paul Freed writes of missionary radio in Towers to Eternity (Sceptre Books); Leona Fear in New Ventures (Light and Life Press) tells of Free Methodist Mission work from 1560–1979; and Dieter Hessel edits a very helpful book in The Agricultural Mission of Churches and Land-Grant Universities (Iowa State University Press); I Will Build My Church (team, Box 969, Wheaton, Ill. 60187) by Vernon Mortenson is a nicely written and illustrated overview of The Evangelical Alliance Mission’s work around the world.

PRACTICAL HELP BOOKS.The Overseas List (Augsburg) by D. Beckmann and E. A. Donnelly is a valuable collection of opportunities for living and working in developing countries. Here’s the place to look if you want to go elsewhere. You Can So Get There From Here (MARC, 919 W. Huntington Dr., Monrovia, Calif. 91016) is a handy guide to the problems of becoming a missionary. Passport to Missions (Broadman) by W. Guy Henderson, and Mission: A Practical Approach (William Carey) by D. C. Hardin, are both helpful treatments of what is mission.