Not Condoned

Eleven-year-old Wesley Parker of Barstow, California, is still in his grave. His parents—Lawrence, 34, and Alice, 29—have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering the boy’s health. Denied insulin, he died two days after a visiting faith healer declared him cured in a service at the local First Assembly of God church (see September 14 issue, page 50). For days the Parkers had clung to the hope that God would resurrect their son.

William H. Robertson, a Southern California district superintendent of the Assemblies of God, deplored the incident. We believe in divine healing, he said, but do not “condone the throwing away of life-saving medication because an individual is presumed healed.” Pastor Gary Nash of First Assembly disavowed the parents’ actions, saying that he tried to convince them to get medical help for the boy. The parents were deceived by Satan, he asserted.

Authorities in San Bernardino County, meanwhile, are continuing their investigation of the incident, particularly the activities of the faith healer.

If convicted, the Parkers could be sentenced to up to fifteen years in prison on the manslaughter charge. The second charge, endangering the boy’s health, carries a penalty of one to ten years.

The Porno Jesus?

Danish film-maker Jens Joergen Thorsen, 41, will have to look elsewhere for a place to film his porno movie on the life of Christ (see August 31 issue, page 27). The French government’s cinema department banned the shooting of the film in France amid an international storm of protest, including denunciation by Pope Paul VI, who called the proposed movie “an ignoble and blasphemous outrage.” (Thorsen suggests that the movie will include group sex scenes and a bank-robbing Jesus riding a motorcycle in the nude and making love to Mary Magdalene in a brothel.)

Thorsen writes off the reaction as “ridiculous” and says he is going ahead with the project at a location in North Africa or South America, even if he loses the backing of the Danish government, which put up $100,000 to guarantee a loan to bankroll the film. The government, under pressure from Christians, now has second thoughts.

Six thousand ecstatic young disciples of fifteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji burst into cheers and chants as “the perfect Master” ascended his throne at the Summer Festival of Love and Light in London’s Alexandra Palace. Perched atop a color-bedecked, canopied dais twenty-five feet above the speaker’s platform, the boy messiah was hailed as “Lord of the universe,” “king of peace,” and “divine incarnation.” Followers shouted joyfully, “Bodie Shri Satgurudev Maharaj Ki Jai” (Praise the name of the Lord, the true revealer of light and great king).

Such has been the scene at rallies in a number of cities across the world in the past two years. In November, 80,000 are expected to be on hand in Houston’s Astrodome to pay their respects to the guru from India in a three-day teach-in billed as “Millennium ’73.”

The boy guru (in its native meaning, one who leads from darkness to light) now claims a world following of six million, including about 50,000 in the United States (there were only six in 1971). The U. S. headquarters is in Denver, with branches in thirty cities. There are publications, record albums, even movies to help promote the guru’s teachings.

While the Maharaj Ji himself does not overtly claim to be God, his followers are convinced he is the Christ for our day. He became “the perfect master”—one who teaches perfect truth (there can only be one at a time)—at eight years of age in 1966 when his father, Shri Hans Ji Maharaj, founder of the Divine Light Mission, died. At the funeral the boy exhorted: “Children of God, why are you weeping?… The perfect master never dies. Guru Maharaj Ji is here amongst you. Recognize him, obey him, and adore him.” (Some observers believe he gets most of his ideas—and cues—from his mother, who often accompanies him.)

In 1970, a reported one million people in Delhi heard him implore:

Give me your love; I will give you eternal peace. Surrender the reins of your life to me; I will give you salvation. I am the source of peace in this world, but what can I do unless men come to me with love in their hearts and a sincere desire to know God?

What is this peace, this satisfaction of mind? It’s infinite and therefore cannot be explained, it can only be experienced, the Maharaj replies evasively to reporters. He calls his faithful to become involved in four practices: meditation, Satsang (“holy discourse”), service (fund-raising, literature distribution), and Darshan (abiding in his physical presence). Followers are taught that to receive knowledge from him is to experience energy through Nectar (living water that heals the body), Celestial Music (divine music as in Revelation 22), Light (seeing with the “third eye”), and the Word of God (receiving the primordial vibrations of life). They are encouraged to live and learn in special residences run by the mission.

The boy guru’s disciples testify readily of their faith in him, of having “received knowledge.” At the London festival Angus Jenkinson, 23, an Oxford University graduate in English and the son of Christian parents, explained the relationship:

He is the perfect master. Only God is perfect. Only one who is perfect is able to reveal perfection. Therefore, Maharaj Ji is one with God in the same sense that Jesus was. He is the same as Christ. He is doing the same work. If you respect Christ, and do not respect Maharaj Ji, you are being hypocritical.

Rennie Davis, best remembered as one of the Chicago Seven and the anti-war activist who tried to shut down the nation’s capital but who is now a rather gentle-appearing top aide to the guru, proclaimed: “We will march through the streets of Washington saying ‘He is here!’ We will invite [President Nixon] to receive Maharaj Ji.… We will shout it in the streets, in the ghettoes, in the laundromats, that Maharaj Ji has come.”

Missionaries carry the guru’s message around the world. Correspondent Leroy Birney reports from Colombia that even though the guru hasn’t visited that land there may be hundreds of converts. Missionary Will Kinney of Colorado says he found about 200 at a Satsang in Cali, Colombia’s third largest city, and saw thirty walk forward to seek “knowledge.” Many in the audience testified they had received peace and joy through the guru, adds Kinney.

Why the apparently big response among young people around the world? Critical reviewer Melvin Maddocks, writing in The Christian Science Monitor, observed: “Behind the rock-star trappings, behind the simplifications of Oriental mysticism, there is at least one reality: spiritual hunger.”

There is a distinctly material side to the guru’s life and work. He is said to own three airplanes, TV and radio stations, his own IBM computer, luxury cars, including a $50,000 Mercedes 600, and several mansions. Chartered jets fly large contingents of disciples across continents and oceans to be with the Maharaj Ji in his personal appearances. A spokesman says donations to the work amount to about $250,000 monthly. The guru insists he is unaffected by all this opulence—“it’s just there.” (He is under investigation by the Indian government, which seized $80,000 of undeclared goods when he returned home for a visit months ago.)

There may be some kinks in the doctrine of perfection. Maharaj Ji recently missed a big date in Atlanta. The King of kings and Lord of the universe was confined in a Denver hospital with an intestinal ulcer, the kind that middle-aged businessmen get from too much stress.

THE WINNER

Episcopal clergyman Robert Gunn Hetherington of Trinity Episcopal Parish in Buffalo, New York, had arranged for a substitute to conduct the Sunday-morning service while he was involved in the National Public Parks singles tennis competition in Pittsburgh. But the replacement couldn’t make it. So, after winning the semi-final match on Saturday, Hetherington drove the 220 miles back to Buffalo, officiated at the service, hopped on a plane, and arrived back in Pittsburgh in time to win the national championship.

Londoners are still talking about all those “nice young people” whose singing on subway trains and platforms injected a note of joy into otherwise rather gloomy times. Newspapers were filled with stories of bomb threats and explosions, the shortage of beef, gang assaults in the West End, labor troubles, inflation, high-priced housing, and skyrocketing mortgage rates—reason enough for some of the joylessness that seemed to pervade the masses. But such a mood did not prevail at Earls Court exhibition hall west of downtown, the place where all those “nice young people” converged daily the last week of August. The occasion: SPREE ’73, a sort of international youth evangelism conference organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and patterned after Campus Crusade for Christ’s Explo ’72 in Dallas last year (see July 7, 1972, issue, page 31).

In all, there were more than 12,000 registered delegates (attendance at evening sessions ranged from 15,000 to more than 20,000) from twenty-six nations. Presbyterian minister Brian Kingsmore and lay leader Wes Pentland of the Coleraine Presbytery in Northern Ireland brought 1,000 Ulster youths by chartered boat and trains. There were groups of 500 from West Germany, 250 from France, 200 from Holland, a jet-load of 107 from Spain, and sizable numbers from Scandinavia. Simultaneous translations and headsets enabled everyone to keep in touch.

Mornings were spent in classes on the Christian life and how to witness, led chiefly by Campus Crusade staffers. Afternoons were devoted to street and park evangelism (scores of conversions were reported) or special-interest seminars (the occult, apologetics, love and marriage). Nightly rallies and a Saturday afternoon finale at Wembley stadium attended by more than 30,000 (see photo this page) featured musical headliners and evangelist Billy Graham, who spent much of his time teaching scriptural concepts of the Christian life. The evangelist seemed unusually fresh, and it was obvious he thoroughly enjoyed sharing his biblical discoveries with his young friends.

SPREE was Graham’s idea in the first place, inspired by his participation in Explo, and carried out by his man in the BGEA’s London office, Maurice Rowlandson. Crash planning (major decisions had to be made almost immediately by Rowlandson and BGEA aides) and some inept initial moves (advance-publicity miscues, for example) led to problems of coordination and cooperation—and a shower of criticism from the Christian press (see May 25 issue, page 52). At one point Graham almost canceled the event, according to an insider writing in Britain’s Crusade magazine. But the fuss subsided, and the bulk of the evangelical community got behind SPREE in time to ensure its success.

SPREE (short for Spiritual Reemphasis) came at the right time. It carried forward the momentum generated over the past couple of years by the Festival of Light and the Festival of Jesus, which involved tens of thousands of young people, many of them newly turned on to Christ. Also, it reinforced the foundation of a quiet spiritual awakening going on among youth inside and outside of churches all over Britain—and on the Continent as well. Large groups that did not exist one or two years ago are meeting for prayer, Bible study, and outreach. Many of these were represented at SPREE. Members spoke of going home spiritually stronger, renewed and emboldened for witness—and determined to fire up their churches. “We have so much to share now,” said Jean Hendry, 19, of Middlesbrough, Yorkshire. “If SPREE fails to have an impact on the churches, it’s our fault.”

Because European Christian young people are more conservative and restrained than their American counterparts, SPREE lacked much of the emotional display of Explo, despite the presence of many charismatics (in the interest of unity, program participants—some of them charismatics—were instructed to avoid emphasizing doctrinal differences on church order, baptism, the second coming, and the Holy Spirit). But a murmur of approval rippled through the audience when Graham declared that it is impossible to live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit, and there were even cheers and standing ovations for the music group Choralerna of Gothenburg, Sweden, probably one of the top contemporary-styled Christian ensembles in the world. (Oddly enough, the forty-member group, which began as a prayer fellowship in 1968, specializes in black American church music. Two members, while students in America, had attended Chicago’s Church of Deliverance. They brought back samples of the church’s music, and the Swedes now sing it better than most black choirs.)

Other program highlights included the singing of Cliff Richard, reputedly Britain’s most popular TV entertainer, and Johnny Cash, who performed and testified at Wembley. In one memorable moment, Richard led everyone in singing “Amazing Grace” with hands uplifted.

Social action was emphasized. Color slides portrayed the work of The Evangelical Relief Fund of Britain in India and Pakistan. Applause greeted Graham’s reminder that American evangelist Dwight L. Moody sparked social reform on his visit to England a hundred years ago. (The British Labor Party was founded by an evangelist converted under Moody.)

The real story of SPREE, however, was not what was happening on the platform but what was happening in the lives of many in the audience, and what will happen in the future as a result of SPREE. The latter may never be fully known or told. Consider, for example, only one account associated with Graham’s month-long visit to Earls Court in June, 1966 (total attendance: one million). Contractor Brian Williams and his wife, converted in that crusade, months later back home in the village of Sellack, Herefordshire, organized a house fellowship to reach young people. The group today has about eighty in it (they attend various churches), half of them converted in the last three years. In 1971 a new convert in the nearby village of Symonds Yat began bringing her friends to the Sellack fellowship. The upshot: there are now more Christian young people (about fifty) in her village than non-Christians. They have started their own fellowship meeting and are reaching out to others. A number from both groups were at SPREE.

Clearly, SPREE can be seen as fuel for a fire ignited by God, a fire that shows no sign of dying out soon.

STANDING UP FOR SATAN

Just what do members of Anton Szandor LaVey’s San Francisco-headquartered Church of Satan believe?

The answer was expounded in part by LaVey’s daughter Karla, 22, a self-proclaimed witch, in an appearance earlier this year at United Methodist-related Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She suggested that people should be kind only to those who deserve it, instead of wasting it in the name of Christianity, and that they should seek vengeance when necessary rather than turning the other cheek. Each person should put himself first and worry about others later, she said. The so-called seven deadly sins (greed, envy, gluttony, pride, sloth, lust, and anger) are actually life’s motivating forces; they are natural to man and not wrong, she contended.

Miss LaVey was frequently interrupted by members of the rather stunned audience, reported the Greenville News. One man burst into the meeting with an uplifted Bible and cried, “In the name of Jesus Christ I cannot permit you to continue this!”

A woman wanted to know if the witch believed that Jesus Christ is the son of God. No one knows for sure if Jesus even lived, replied Miss LaVey.

For Better Government

Democratic Senator Harold E. Hughes, 51, former governor of Iowa and a United Methodist, says he will not seek reelection to the Senate in 1974 but will instead trade his $42,500-a-year job for a position with Fellowship Foundation and its International Christian Leadership organization of Washington, D. C., perhaps best known for sponsorship of prayer breakfasts across the world. “I have long believed that government will change for the better only when people change for the better in their hearts,” he commented to newsmen this month.

Hughes, a reformed alcoholic who considered leaving the trucking business in the fifties to study for the ministry, says he plans to work at achieving Christian solutions to problems of alcoholism and drug addiction, peace, social justice, and brotherhood.

Jews For Jesus: Under New Management

A victim of stylistically conservative pressure, San Francisco area Jews for Jesus leader Martin “Moishe” Rosen is no longer on the staff of the New York-based American Board of Missions to the Jews. Rosen, a veteran of seventeen years with the ABMJ, including stints as head of the AMBJ’s Los Angeles and New York City districts, and nine other former AMBJ employees have formed a new organization, Hineni Ministries, to carry on the colorful and aggressive evangelistic activities that have received wide national attention.

Rosen has been the target of friend and foe alike, from rabbis who reject the validity of his Jewishness to fellow ABMJers who want a lower profile and less emphasis on Jewishness. Without naming Rosen, Los Angeles ABMJ missionary Richard Cohen recently complained about young Jewish converts who demonstrate in synagogues in the name of evangelism. “The young Jews for Jesus kids who force themselves on other Hebrews are ruining our organization’s good name,” he declared.

Mcintire Offshore

Radio preacher Carl McIntire, 67, is struggling desperately to keep his head above water. He has been denied further air time by many radio-station operators because of non-payment. WFAX in the Washington, D. C., area, a key station in the McIntire network, said he had run up a bill of “several thousand” dollars. Last year WTOW in suburban Baltimore canceled McIntire’s broadcasts when his past-due account reached nearly $10,000. McIntire recently told a reporter he is still being heard on 500 stations, but others close to the situation insist the total is much smaller. WXUR, his suburban Philadelphia anchor sation, was silenced a couple of months ago in a tussle with the Federal Communications Commission and the courts.

To purchase and operate WXUR and defend it in the courts, McIntire placed mortgages of $450,000 on nearby Faith Seminary, which he heads. Payments are $4,500 a month, and these reportedly are in arrears, with foreclosure an almost certainty. This month it was learned that tax liens had been placed on six city blocks owned by McIntire in Cape May, New Jersey. On the property is a structure that once housed Shelton College; McIntire estimates its value at $1 million. If he fails to pay $46,000 in back taxes plus interest within two years, he will lose it.

McIntire is also embroiled in a controversy with a court and officials in Delaware over control of the estate of James Scott, 79, of suburban Wilmington. Scott a few months ago gave about $100,000 in cash and bonds to McIntire and signed over most of the remainder of his estate in return for retirement care. McIntire now insists it was all an outright gift, but Scott and court-appointed guardians say it was an investment and they apparently want it back with interest.

Meanwhile, McIntire has purchased an old World War II mine sweeper for $40,000 and has anchored it past the three-mile limit off Cape May to run a pirate radio station known as “Radio Free America.” At mid-month it had not yet begun broadcasting (McIntire cited technical problems), and FCC agents were seen lurking in Cape May. Precisely what they had in mind about a ship in international waters was uncertain, but their intent was clear: they aimed to torpedo McIntire’s operation.

All things considered, the radio preacher may soon go under.

Campus Casualty

Television minister Rex Humbard and his financially beleaguered Cathedral of Tomorrow in suburban Akron, Ohio, want to sell Mackinac College in northern Michigan. The asking price is $6.5 million. Humbard bought the campus in 1971 from Moral Re-Armament for $1.7 million plus a $249,000 real-estate commission. Humbard’s organization also bought a mansion for his occasional use along with 184 acres of woodland near the campus, mortgaging it for $376,000. (More recently the Cathedral paid $225,000 in cash to purchase an Akron-area parsonage for Humbard.) The college opened last September but was one of the casualties in the financial woes that plagued the Cathedral early this year (see February 2 issue, page 39, and March 30 issue, page 47). It closed in June with an operating deficit of $1.3 million.

Humbard recently “confessed” to his congregation at an emotion-charged mid-week service that he had made some mistakes in overseeing the Cathedral’s complex business dealings. He pledged that from now on he will stick primarily to preaching the Gospel.

Structuring The Opposition

About 800 members of a moderate-liberal faction in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod at a two-day meeting in Chicago organized a new “confessional movement” within the denomination. They called on the LCMS to reverse its “errant actions,” referring to strongly worded, theologically conservative resolutions adopted at the LCMS convention in New Orleans (see August 10 issue, page 40). They also asked that the church rescind actions against Concordia Seminary (St. Louis) president John Tietjen and Concordia College (Milwaukee) teacher Bruce Malchow. (Tietjen was suspended by the seminary’s now conservative-dominated board of control, though implementation of the action was put off until later, and Malchow is appealing a conviction on a charge of heresy for allegedly questioning the validity of some Old Testament accounts.) Ovations were given several who voiced criticism of LCMS president Jacob A. O. Preus.

On record as eschewing schism, the organization, as yet nameless, will be guided by a fifteen-member board, who will hire staffers and establish a publication to further the goals of what so far amounts to a protest lobby. Its ultimate aim is apparently to win control of the LCMS away from the conservatives.

Meanwhile, the Concordia Seminary faculty’s conservative “minority five” (including denominational executive Ralph Bohlmann, who is on leave of absence) repudiated the majority’s recently passed “Declaration of Protest and Confession,” labeling it “an act of rebellion” against the LCMS. The majority’s document was chiefly a criticism of Preus and the main New Orleans actions.

Charismatic Clinics: ‘Instilling Maturity’

Back in 1960, when the wave of the neo-Pentecostal movement was just beginning to hit the beachheads of the major denominations, Pastor Ralph Wilkerson of Melodyland Christian Center near Disneyland, California, held two successful Christian Life Advance meetings. At a standing-room-only meeting in Berkeley, eighty ministers reportedly received the “baptism of the Holy Spirit,” and most went on to speak in tongues.

Many associated with the charismatic outpouring in the early 1960s recall regional Christian Advance seminars—an outgrowth of Wilkerson’s meetings—spurred by Episcopal laywoman Jean Stone and her slick charismatic quarterly, Trinity magazine. The magazine folded and Mrs. Stone withdrew from charismatic lecture circuits, but Christian Advance, under a new name and format, was revived in 1967.

In August, more than 5,000 persons from throughout the country converged on Melodyland’s converted theater-in-the-round for the sixth annual “Charismatic Clinic” sponsored by Wilkerson, who is not related to David Wilkerson of The Cross and the Switchblade fame. More than twenty charismatic leaders from Roman Catholic to old-line Pentecostal hue addressed the week-long clinics. Headliner Kathryn Kuhlman, a favorite at the first clinic, was back and as popular as ever. Spinoff clinics, patterned after Melodyland, have sprung up in Mexico City, Toronto, London, and some fifty U. S. cities, including Pittsburgh, where a winter clinic is said to be the largest in the East.

The basic purpose of the clinics is to instill maturity in those having “received the baptism,” and to provide healing to churches disrupted by eruptions of charismata. Whereas past emphasis has centered on miracles, healing, and tongues, this year the Melodyland clinic added new thrust on the “mind” gifts: knowledge, wisdom, and discernment. “God gives us the ‘mind’ gifts to combat the Satanic cults, which involve a struggle for the mind,” explained Wilkerson, an ebullient preacher whose quiet friendliness draws out shy charismatics who have difficulty relating to the more rollicking spokesmen of the movement. (Melodyland has launched a new School of Theology, calculated to raise the charismatic intellectual barometer and respectability quotient in trans-denominational circles; see July 20 issue, page 42.)

Black Pastor Fred Price of the West Washington Community Church, Los Angeles, and Hector Tamez of Hermano Pablo radio and television evangelism, added a cross-cultural dimension to this year’s clinic, and an institute for pastors only, offered for the first time, drew 350 clergy for a three-day preclinic session. The institute, on relating the charismatic to parish particulars, appears to complement—not compete with—mushrooming ministerial charismatic fellowships within at least half a dozen mainline denominations.

RUSSELL CHANDLER

J. R. R. Tolkien

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,

Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,

Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,

One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

For thousands of readers whose imaginations have been joyously baptized into the searing sweetness of romance, fantasy, and Faërie, the death of John Ronald Reul Tolkien on September 2 at the age of eighty-one provides new impetus to reenter his world. Tolkien, one of the leading writers of this literary genre and perhaps one of this century’s most important authors, was born in South Africa, orphaned at the age of twelve, and reared by a guardian, a Roman Catholic priest. He became a teacher, scholar, critic, and “sub-creator.”

For thirty-four years Tolkien taught Old and Middle English language and literature at Oxford; he was Merton Professor of English Language and Literature at the time of his retirement in 1959. In 1922, A Middle English Vocabulary secured his place as a leading international scholar. Tolkien’s edition (along with E. V. Gordon) of Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight is still considered the authoritative text of that cryptic medieval tale. His essay “On Fairy-Stories” (first published in Essays Presented to Charles Williams, edited by his friend and colleague C. S. Lewis) is vital reading for anyone interested in fantasy.

But to most readers Tolkien’s role as sub-creator of other worlds means the most. The stories and poems of Tolkien dance, march, and sing with the texture of a whole, real world. Those who read The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the poem “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil” live and move and breathe in the unpolluted air of Middle Earth.

In the 1960s college students discovered just how fresh Middle Earth’s air could be. The Tolkien Society sprang up; “Frodo Lives” buttons adorned shirts and sweaters; students renamed dorms “Hobbit holes.” The Tolkien Society produced a poster inviting people to “Come to Middle Earth.” Since Ballantine Books first put out a paperback edition in 1966 of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien’s masterpiece and best-known creation, the trilogy has sold two million copies. And last year devotees bought 175,000 Tolkien calendars. (Tolkien drew the pictures for the calendar, taken from The Hobbit.) Silmarillon, a work in progress at the time of his death, will be completed by Tolkien’s son Christopher. In the last decade Tolkien’s critical stature as a major literary figure has risen meteorically.

Although Tolkien declared—and most emphatically—that his trilogy had no allegorical elements, the myth and archetypes in The Lord of the Rings reflect an imagination enmeshed with and controlled by the Christian story. As he once remarked to Wheaton English professor Clyde S. Kilby, “I am a Christian and of course what I write will be from that essential viewpoint.”

The choice of Frodo to carry the burden of the ring proves an example of this. “Why was I chosen?” the young Hobbit asks Gandalf the Grey (the wizard who fights the evil Balrog, goes into the pit, and returns alive as Gandalf the White). Gandalf replies, “You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess: not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen, and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” The explanation reminds the Christian of his own condition: unworthy, yet chosen.

Tolkien was chosen to sub-create, to show why man must do so, and to point implicitly to the Creator, from whom we receive our longing, our desire for light and re-creation. Tolkien explained in “On Fairy-Stories”:

Man, Sub-creator, the refracted Light

through whom is splintered from a single White

to many hues, and endlessly combined

in living shapes that move from mind to mind.

We make still by the law in which we’re made.

In fulfilling his task and completing his quest Tolkien provides the Christian reader with a fresh perspective on the “eucatastrophe” of history, the Resurrection. And he provides the non-Christian with new—or perhaps eternally old—images by which to view the universe. As C. S. Lewis said of myth in general, “I shall never escape this. This will never escape me. These images have struck roots far below the surface of my mind.”

The Tennis Boom And Boon

Mark down the great new enthusiasm for tennis as a plus. Its boom as both a spectator and participant sport is a wholesome social trend.

Many people have become interested in tennis because of the recent Muhammed Ali-like hustling of Bobby Riggs. But its popularity has been rising remarkably for a number of years, and community governments need to be prodded to build more courts. It offers good exercise with low risk of injury and minimal outlay of time and money. Probably no other major sport provides more stimulating one-on-one competition. Chances of regular play are good because only two or four persons are involved, not a hard-to-assemble team. Tennis can be a good family game, playable through a wide age span and, thanks to paved courts and indoor courts, playable over most of the year in most parts of North America.

Tennis might also be said to be easier on the environment than other sports. For one thing, most people can play fairly near their homes; they needn’t use a lot of gas to get to a court. And some sports such as water skiing and car racing can’t get along without pollution-producing engines.

Church congregations should consider setting up leagues and thus encouraging members to participate in this wholesole sport. Many churches could even find room on their property to erect a court or two, which could double as parking space if need be.

Heaven knows most Christians need the exercise!

Humanists Strike Again

The original “Humanist Manifesto” caused a considerable splash when it appeared in 1933. Forty years later, one hundred and twenty philosophers, scientists, authors, social scientists, business leaders and others have signed a new declaration, “Humanist Manifesto II.” The presupposition of these “humanists,” whose numbers include a few clergymen, is that we must begin (and apparently end) “with humans, not God, with nature, not deity.” Faith in the personal God who is interested in us as individuals is “an unproved and outmoded faith.” Needless to say, religion appears to the humanists to be the major obstacle to human progress.

It is difficult to argue with people who make it clear in advance that they automatically reject any evidence against their contentions. We will limit ourselves to observing that if anything is unproved—in fact, incapable of being proved by anyone not himself omniscient—it is their assertion that there is no God; and if anything would appear to be “outmoded” today, it is not interest in a God who answers prayers, but precisely the facile and bloodless moralizing of these manifestants.

As to their proposals, they vary from the unworkable to the absurd. For religious teachings, we are told we should substitute moral values derived from human experience; ethics should be “autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological sanction.” Central to their value-scheme is “the preciousness and dignity of the individual person”; “freedom and dignity” are to be enhanced, “exploitative, denigrating forms of sexual expression” disapproved. But from whose human experience shall we derive such values? Quite a few human beings, perhaps the majority, reject them by their deeds as well as in theory. Even among the signers we find “leaders” whose public positions contradict the Manifesto’s moralities: Andrei Sakharov, who helped develop the hydrogen bomb for Moscow, although he is a “severe critic” of the U. S. S. R.; Lawrence Lader, who thinks 600,000 legal abortions in one year a triumph of the human spirit; B. F. Skinner, who tells us to give up the illusionary quest for freedom and dignity; and Albert Ellis, patron of exploitation and denigration.

With so little open-mindedness and objectivity in their starting-point, such scant plausibility in their suggestions, and so much mutual contradictions among themselves, neither these “humanists” nor their Manifesto commend themselves as serious contenders to “serve present-day needs and guide humankind toward the future.”

Unless Someone Raises A Question …

One of the most interesting—and potentially far-reaching—ethical precepts of the Apostle Paul is briefly stated in his reply to a question about eating meat as someone’s guest when you have every reason to believe the meat has previously been in some pagan ceremony (1 Cor. 10:25–30; see related editorial, July 20 issue, page 30).

Paul indicates that in certain circumstances it is just as well not to be overzealous in inquiring about accessory details. If you inquire whether the meat has been offered to idols, you imply that if it has you can’t eat it. Similarly, Christians can rent halls in which to hold meetings without inquiring whether the same hall has been used for meetings of other religions. But can Christians allow their own buildings to be used by others? Most would probably hesitate to allow non-Christian religious services because it could imply indifference to the unique claims of Christ. But on letting facilities be used for weddings of non-Christians or for meetings of scout troops, opinions are divided. Questions also arise on the use of actors in films intended to communicate Christian truth. Do we evaluate only the finished product, or look closely into the behavior and beliefs of the actors involved? Why stop at actors? Do the technicians have to be Christians, too?

But although Paul says we are not to raise unnecessary questions, he recognizes that the non-Christian might. If one’s host at dinner says, “This [meat] has been offered in [pagan] sacrifice” (v. 28), then we are to refrain from eating it. If he keeps quiet, we keep quiet and enjoy the food. If he raises a question, presumably because he thinks Christians ought not to be involved in this kind of activity, then we abstain.

We are not normally to let our behavior be determined by what we think to be another man’s (ill-founded) scruples. But if he verbalizes his scruples, then we give way. This Pauline precept is simultaneously both more lax and more strict than the practice of many, if not most, Christians. Paul has the freedom to do anything for which he can, as a mature Christian, give thanks to God, growing out of a knowledge of God’s Word, such as recognizing that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (v. 26). But at the same time he restricts his behavior in the presence of obviously weaker brethren or question-raising non-believers in order not to lead them astray until such time as their understanding of Christian ethics can be improved. The right combination of liberty and restraint is what all Christians should aim for.

The NIV style

The value of a modern translation of the New Testament is chiefly determined by the level of scholarship, theological learning, and spiritual insight of the translators. Yet the Bible-reading public makes its judgment largely on the basis of style. When a literate but theologically unlearned reader says of a version that he does or does not “like” it, he is almost invariably responding to such literary features as rhythm, vocabulary, tone, imagery, syntactical structure, parallelism. Over the centuries tens of thousands of readers of the King James Version have been captivated by its style, whether they believe a word of what it says or not.

Quite rightly, therefore, the translators of the New International Version (see review, page 25) have paid careful attention to the literary garments (the form) in which they have clothed their content; and, fortunately, the group includes scholars of the keenest literary sensibility. They know that translation is a fearfully difficult task, requiring not only the transfer of meaning from the original words to another language so that the reader may be informed, but also the rebreathing of life and beauty into the new version so that the reader may, as well, be moved. To their task, they have brought the first requirement listed by Matthew Arnold for those who wish to translate Homer: they have been “penetrated by a sense of the … [stylistic] qualities” of their authors. And they have deftly reflected the differences between the original styles of, say, Luke and Peter, the former sophisticated in the literary devices of classical rhetoric, and the latter blunt, powerful, and terse.

High on the list of stylistic characteristics of the NIV is a kind of economical integrity, a quality of simple dignity, of tightly drawn texture, “wov’n close, both matter, form and stile,” to quote Milton in another connection. Here is no straining after catchy colloquialism, shirt-sleeve casualness, or perky slang. There is presumably a place among modern versions for a colloquial style and for relaxed paraphrase; but in the NIV one senses that the translators put integrity and directness first.

This is not to say that it is without a style of its own, for to make simplicity moving one must adorn it with appropriate aesthetic devices. Chief among these in the NIV, I think, is rhythm. Care has obviously been taken with flow, with rise and fall, and with the effect that connectives have in linking one rhythm to another. Perhaps it is mere personal prejudice, but I appreciate the translators’ unwillingness to depart from the King James Version, particularly when the rhythm is lovely, without good cause. You can track these men everywhere in the snow of their seventeenth-century predecessors—to paraphrase what Dryden said of Jonson’s dependence on the ancients. As a result, in such touchstone passages as First Corinthians 13 and John 14, the reader enjoys the pleasure of freshness with the comfort of a tested friendship.

By its combination of integrity, dignity, and stylistic felicity, the NIV will read as well on solemn occasions as in private devotions.—CALVIN D. LINTON, professor of English literature and dean of arts and sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, D. C.

This column by the late Executive Editor ofCHRISTIANITY TODAYis reprinted from the January 7, 1966, issue.

Our Lord made it plain that the privilege of entering upon the road to eternal life is as broad as the “whosoever” of God’s offer of salvation, but that the road itself is narrow. Our Lord, speaking of this way, added this solemn observation: “Those who find it are few” (Matt. 7:14).

All through the Bible the distinction between those who travel the narrow way and those who travel the broad one is made clear. The first Psalm describes this difference. One way is known and blessed by God; the other leads to destruction.

At the heart of the matter is the fact that the Christian is a new creature in Christ. He is a person with a new citizenship. Although he lives in this world, he is not a part of its dying order. His sights are lifted above and beyond the horizon of this life.

When the Christian compromises with the world, he finds himself in trouble on every hand. He cannot walk two roads. When he tries to live like the unregenerate, there is neither joy nor peace in his heart and no witness that can honor his Lord.

But if he tries to escape his obligations in and to the world, if he burns his spiritual draft card, he loses the chance to live for God’s glory. His “light” is hidden, his “salt” unavailable at the place where it is most needed.

Walking the tightrope of a Christian existence in an alien setting is an utter impossibility unless it is done in daily companionship with the One who has redeemed us, the One who has sent his Spirit to be our guide and our strength.

A Christian is as dependent on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit as is modern civilization on electricity. Cut off the current and almost every form of productive activity ceases. The Christian who loses the power of the Holy Spirit in his life gropes about in spiritual weakness. This power of the Holy Spirit is available to all who will turn on the switches marked “faith” and “obedience.”

The narrow walk of the Christian demands self-discipline. By the Scriptures and by bitter experience we know those things that separate us from a close walk with our Lord. We know the compromises with conscience, the trimming of the sails of Christian ethics, and the worldly pleasures that leave a sense of uncleanness on our souls, and in our hearts we feel empty because the joy of salvation, of the living presence of Christ, has been lost as we wandered into the bypath of futility.

Being a Christian involves a kind of pride that is the ultimate in humility—a realization of whose we are and whom we serve. It involves a realization of the price of our redemption and of the One who paid that price. It involves a joyous sense of freedom, of being released from the powers of darkness and brought into the fullness of that One who is the Light of the world.

The Apostle Paul writes: “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17)—not freedom to wander into the broad way whose end is destruction, but freedom from things that formerly allured us by their siren call.

This change in the Christian’s perspective Paul describes in this way: “All of us who are Christians have no veils on our faces, but reflect like mirrors the glory of the Lord. We are transformed in ever-increasing splendor into his own image, and the transformation comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18, Phillips).

The road our Lord described as the “narrow Way” is spoken of by Paul as a life lived in the Spirit, a life ruled by Christ instead of by self.

In Second Corinthians 4:1–6 Paul goes into detail about the source of the Christian’s life and the power of his witness, and then in verse 7 he makes this remarkable statement: “This priceless treasure we hold, so to speak, in a common earthenware jar—to show that the splendid power of it belongs to God and not to us.”

Therein lies the secret—the recognition of our own unworthiness and of the power of God whereby he makes it possible for us to live for his glory.

We need not search very deeply into the secrets of our hearts to realize that we often try to steal God’s glory and appropriate it for ourselves. We often wear the label “Christian” and swagger down the broad road asking people to see how “good” we are.

But the comparison with the earthen vessel goes further. In the Middle and Far East an earthen jar is almost the cheapest thing one may buy. Archaeological diggings often reveal many layers of potsherds. In Sidon, for instance, the visitor may see mound after mound of broken earthenware jars discarded by the Phoenicians.

Paul was speaking to people who knew an “earthenware jar” as an almost worthless object. And he told them that the tremendous treasure of Christ and all he has to offer resides in us who are worthless, that all of the power and glory may be given to the One who has redeemed us.

In another place Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and therefore must not be defiled. This recognition of whose we are and who we are should lead us to walk carefully on the narrow way—the way that the world cannot understand and therefore derides.

It is a hard road, often misunderstood, and walking it involves persecution: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). But we do not walk alone. Our Lord says, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matt. 5:12).

On this narrow road there are many discouragements and distractions. Many a Christian has lost his effectiveness by succumbing to discouragement, forgetting that he does not travel the road alone and that God has not abdicated his sovereignty. And many a Christian has permitted secondary matters, like billboards along the way, to fritter away his time and energies.

Finally, the importance of the narrow road centers in its ultimate destination. If men would only realize that Christ did not come into the world to create a social utopia but to save sinners, and that in this way alone real social uplift can be accomplished, the whole emphasis of the Church would be changed. Men would see clearly that the narrow way is the only way that leads to life eternal.

True, there are dangers, and there is evil to the right hand and to the left; but the road is paved with the promises of God. All around us the lights may go out in a world plunging deeper into sin, but on the narrow road is the light of the Creator of all light. That light shines more and more unto the perfect day, the eternal day into which the narrow gate gives entrance.

Each time I enter my local library, I’m struck by the multitude of avid students of all ages poring over bulky reference works and stacks of magazines in their research for essays, theses, dissertations, articles. The age at which the young tackle world problems such as ecology, abortion, women’s lib, pornography, and evolution seems to becomz steadily lower.

My fervent wish-one could even call it a prayer-is that these young innocents especially may find study sources that “tell it like it is,” the way you and I know that it is.… This, of course, leads to my question: Is Christianity Today in your library?

We’re already in several thousand libraries-but we should be in thousands more: high school, junior and senior college, university, city, town, country libraries. C.T. has long been indexed in the Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature, the standard researcher’s guide. “Guide” users find C.T.’s writings on the issues of the day cited along with secular ones. But are they then able to find our magazine in the same library where they’ve found the reference?

Librarians recognize the need to provide a balanced fare, but may be unaware of the subtle shadings among journals officially called “Protestant,” “Catholic,” or “Jewish.” You and I know the poles of opinion represented in these broad categories! We know that if C.T. hasn’t made your library’s periodical shelf, impressionable young minds are being deprived of

“… a trans-denominational Protestant magazine which is for conservatives and evangelicals what The Christian Century is for liberals.… Generally considered the most articulate, significant, and intellectual magazine of its type.… Affirms Biblical authority but not in a hyperliteral way. To offer readers a balanced fare, should be in any library which receives the Century.”

To this quote from our editor-in Bill Katz’s Magazines for Libraries, on which most librarians rely in ordering magazine subscriptions-Mr. Katz adds his own affirmation: “Agreed!”

Do you agree, too? In our effort to introduce the faith we represent into the nation’s libraries, you could be our most valuable asset! Librarians respond to patrons’ suggestions, and the personal approach tends to be more successful than, for instance, the donation of a subscription. Gift periodicals are often filed away among all sorts of eccentric and irregular giveaways.

If you care enough to approach your librarian on behalf of CHRISTIANI~TODAY well mail you as many copies as you can use of our new LibraryFolder. It’s an attractive brochure that incorporates C.T.’s rather impressivestatistics, an excellent testimonial letter, and a letter to the librarian himself.

Who speaks for Christianity in your library? C.T. will-if you will!

Johanna Patterson

Assistant Circulation Manager

1014 Washington Building

Washington, D.C. 20005

Ellul considers our age to be a peculiarly deprived, constrained, sad, and joyless one: his first two chapters deal with the closed world, irrationality, a sad youth, perverted values, loss of meaningful speech, intellectual sterility, scorn, suspicion, and derision (among other things) as characteristics of our age. In Part II he explores the modish diagnosis, “God is dead.” The diagnosis, he tells us, is false: God is not dead. But the situation is real—he has turned his back on us because of our faithlessness, and it does not seem possible to get him to turn to us again.

Humanistic hopes are illusory, Ellul tells us again in Part III; the only really powerful hope is that which looks for a real, eschatological intervention by God. And yet it is precisely this hope that is so difficult to uphold, because God has apparently turned away from us. We must not, Ellul feels, take refuge in cheap spiritual tricks. He is critical of facile testimonies to God’s intervention, and of too much objectifying and concretizing of biblical promises, which he feels is a phony way out of what must be recognized as a real and durable spiritual dilemma.

In the last analysis, then, hope rests on three things: one psychic, waiting; one spiritual, prayer; and one intellectual, realism. We must be willing to wait, i.e., not demand instant answers; we must pray, i.e., ask for and expect God’s sweeping intervention; and we must be rigorously realistic, i.e., not bask in the illusion that life gets “sweeter every day, sweeter all the way” while we are waiting for God’s final answer. On the way, there may be “signs” of God’s interest. Because Ellul is so much in reaction against secular theologians such as Harvey Cox, who see so-called signs of God’s kingdom in ambivalent socio-economic developments, he downgrades the idea that God gives us any tokens of his coming final victory before the consummation.

Read as an argument against “immanentizing the eschaton,” namely the Utopian fallacy of thinking that we are on the point of achieving perfection here and now, Hope in Time of Abandonment is valuable. Unfortunately—perhaps because Ellul is so preoccupied with unmasking vain hopes—he is rather weak about the practical aspects of the true hope that he promotes. In his spiritual development he seems to have moved away from the sharply Barthian dialectical distinction of his earlier works (“God is in heaven, and you are on earth!”), with its implication that we must expect nothing tangible from God in the here and now, but only wait; this book, however, does not show the change. In his effort to show how many hopes are illusory and unfounded, he effectually if unintentionally shortchanges Christian hope, too, and seems to give the impression that of all the people in the world, only he is realistic and strong enough to see things as they really are. The diagnosis is good, but the cure looks a little too protracted.

Answering Questions On Qumran

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, by William S. LaSor (Eerdmans, 1972, 281 pp., $3.95 pb), is reviewed by Edwin M. Yamauchi, associate professor of history, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.

In the flood of some 6,000 articles, reviews, and books published on the Dead Sea Scrolls, William S. LaSor, professor of Old Testament at Fuller Seminary, has produced one of the best books on the subject. He lucidly relates the story of the discovery of the Scrolls, sets forth their contents, and distinguishes between the evidence and hypotheses.

Inasmuch as he was the first to publish a bibliography of works on the Scrolls (in 1958) and served as the bibliographer for the Revue de Qurnran for five years, LaSor is by far the most qualified among evangelical scholars to write a definitive work on the Scrolls. And his wide experience in lecturing on Qurnran to lay audiences enables him to communicate his subject with commendable clarity. This end is achieved in part by helpful summaries at the end of each of nineteen chapters, and by a final chapter listing in tabular form the similarities and contrasts between the Scrolls and the New Testament and between the Teacher of Righteousness and Jesus. An annotated bibliography will aid the beginning student, and footnoted documentation will be of interest to the scholar.

There are but a few points that call for comment other than commendation. In limiting his book to a study of the Scrolls and the New Testament, LaSor has omitted any serious discussion of the implications of the Qurnran manuscripts for the text of the Old Testament, certainly one of the most valuable contributions of the Scrolls.

In carefully assessing the evidence, LaSor differs from many scholars in refusing to accept an Essene identification of the Qumran sect and in denying that there were two Messiahs expected. The reference in 1 QS 9:11 to “the Messiahs of Aaron and Israel” he explains as a textual problem, i.e., a possible error for “the Messiah of Aaron and Israel.”

In discussing the alleged contacts between Qumran and Zoroastrianism, LaSor fails to make clear that what is contemplated is not the classical dualistic form of Zoroastrianism but the monistic form known as Zurvanism.

Although the text of the Temple Scroll has not yet been published, readers will want to know more about the longest Qumran Scroll yet acquired than LaSor has given in a paragraph and a footnote, inasmuch as this document is certainly one of the most important and may prove to be one of the most controversial of the Qumran Scrolls. Yigael Yadin provided some tantalizing information in a preliminary article in The Biblical Archaeologist (December, 1967).

Just as LaSor’s book was being prepared for the printers, the sensational claim of the identification of New Testament fragments from Qumran cave VII was made by Jose O’Callaghan. This development could only be noted in a footnote.

In The Journals

A warm welcome to Missiology. Its first number includes several outstanding articles of interest to those concerned with cross-cultural evangelism and disciplining. All theological and Bible-school libraries should subscribe, as well as many individuals. Donated subscriptions to missionary friends should be considered. The quarterly journal replaces Practical Anthropology and is sponsored by the New American Society of Missiology. The editor is Alan Tippett of Fuller School of World Mission (Box 1041, New Canaan, Conn. 06840; $8/year).

The Rosemead Graduate School of Psychology has launched a quarterly Journal of Psychology and Theology. Fuller, Dallas, and Trinity seminaries are among the many institutions represented among the contributing editors. The first number (January, 1973) includes articles on self-esteem and “worm” theology, and contract therapy for marital conflicts. All theological libraries and persons with a counseling ministry should receive this journal. (1409 N. Walnut Grove Ave., Rosemead, Cal. 91770; $8/year.)

One of the leading authorities in the field, Michael Bourdeaux, began editing a new journal this year, Religion in Communist Lands. It is intended at first to be bi-monthly. Each issue includes articles, reviews, documents, and a thorough bibliography of recent items. Major theological and university libraries, as well as specially interested individuals, need to subscribe (Centre for the Study of Religion and Communism, 34 Lubbock Rd., Chislehurst, Kent BR7 5JJ, England; $7/year). The first two issues include, for example, an article on “The Council of Baptist Prisoners’ Relatives,” a ten-page list of Baptists imprisoned in the Soviet Union during 1972, and major reviews of books on religions in China and on Judaism in the U. S. S. R.

The New International Version: The New Testament, (Zondervan, 1973, 640 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by F. F. Bruce, professor of biblical criticism, University of Manchester, Manchester, England.

This fall we greet the publication of the New Testament section of yet another major Bible translation, this one sponsored by the New York Bible Society. The enterprise was inaugurated in 1965 under the provisional title “A Contemporary Translation”; for some years those who knew about it referred to it as ACT. Now, no doubt, it will be called NIV (see editorials, page 41).

While most of the translators live in the United States, the work is international in that it draws upon the cooperation of scholars in many other parts of the English-speaking world: Great Britain, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The work is also thoroughly transdenominational: all the main-line Protestant traditions, from Anglican and Presbyterian to Nazarene and Brethren, are represented both among the translators (who number nearly 100) and on the governing body of the enterprise, the Committee on Bible Translation, comprising fifteen well-known evangelical scholars.

The evangelical outlook of the scholars involved in the task of translation does not mean, of course, that there is anything sectarian about the product: if, as they say, “they hold their task to be a sacred trust to honor the Bible as the inspired Word of God,” that simply means that they undertake it (to borrow words from another context) “reverently, discreetly, advisedly, soberly, and in the fear of God.” The quality of Bible translation is enhanced, not diminished, when qualified scholars approach their work in that spirit; that was the spirit that characterized the original writers of the Bible.

On hearing of this new translation some readers will naturally ask, “Why yet another?” It is no part of the reviewer’s business to answer this question. The project was not conceived yesterday. Although, as has been said above, it was properly inaugurated in 1965, some of the participants had been discussing the idea for several years before that, and were manifestly convinced that there was room for a work of this kind. “But,” it might be asked again, “are there not three or four new evangelically sponsored versions of the Bible already in existence?” There are, to be sure—it would be invidious to mention names—but here is one that promises to be better than any of these. A review of the New International Bible might well conduct a comparative examination of this version alongside those others, but at present it will be best to consider it on its own.

First, then, it is (as the earlier provisional title put it) “a contemporary translation.” The English is idiomatic, of a kind that does not sound strange or archaic either in American or in British ears. Here is a straightforward paragraph of narrative and conversion to illustrate the point:

After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judaean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were constantly coming to be baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one about whom you testified—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

The resumptive “well” in the last sentence is a good idiomatic touch. We note that pronouns referring to our Lord (or indeed, to divine persons in general) remain uncapitalized. This is in keeping with traditional practice in Bible translation; changing it in some other recent translations has not been a wise policy. We note also that “you” replaces “thou” and “thee” in the singular; this is so not only when John is addressed (as in the extract quoted above) but also when Jesus or the heavenly Father is addressed. This too is a wise policy; otherwise translators have to try to decide (as did the translators of the RSV and NEB) when, for example, Jesus is being addressed “merely” as a man by people who have no clue about his divine nature and when he is being invoked as the Lord.

We note, further, that quotation marks are used; and their use calls here and there for interpretative discernment that the KJV and ARV translators did not need to exercise—not least in this chapter. John’s reply to his disciples, beginning in verse 27, goes on in this version to the end of verse 36; but perhaps the evangelist ended it at verse 30 and added his own meditation from verse 31 onwards. Similarly our Lord’s reply to Nicodemus’s last question goes on in this version (as in NEB) from verse 10 to verse 21, but a footnote mentions that “some interpreters end the quotation after verse 15”; in that case verses 16–21 would be the evangelist’s comment.

How a new version of the New Testament treats the prologue of John’s Gospel is always a matter of special interest. (John’s Gospel in this new version was published in advance of the New Testament as a whole, to serve as a preliminary sample.) Verse 1 is identical with KJV, which indeed can hardly be improved upon here. Verse 2 has a more natural word order: “He was with God in the beginning.” (I suspect, indeed, that the rather emphatic Greek pronoun used at the beginning of this verse implies more than this, but any such further implication could probably be brought out only in an expanded paraphrase, and that is not the category to which the New International Bible belongs.) The next point that calls for attention is that the punctuation between verses 3 and 4 follows the precedent of KJV and ARV, with a period at the end of verse 3: “… without him nothing was made that has been made.” This, I am sure, is right, despite the ancient attestation of the alternative punctuation. The alternative punctuation does not even rate a mention in the footnotes of this version.

In verse 5 the verb katelaben is translated “understood”; the footnote suggests the variant rendering “overpowered.” This no doubt represents a majority verdict; the reviewer would prefer an interchanging of the text and footnote renderings. “The darkness has not understood it” is just intelligible, but “the darkness has not overpowered it” is much more forceful. Verse 9 is properly translated: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

In verse 14 the verb eskēnōsen, instead of being treated as an ingressive aorist, is rendered as though it were an imperfect: “The Word … lived for a while among us.” The phrase “for a while” is probably intended to bring out the idea of a temporary encampment in the verb skēnoō. But why not retain the ingressive force by some such rendering as: “took up his temporary abode among us”? If a rendering of this verb in the present context, without becoming clumsy, could convey something of the Shekinah idea also, that would be a further improvement.

Newly Published

The Teaching Ministry of the Pulpit, by Craig Skinner (Baker, 255 pp., $5.95). Well written, well researched, well organized book of practical guides on homiletics. Provides history, theology, psychology of preaching.

So You Want to Be a Leader!, by Kenneth Gangel (Christian Publications [25 S. 10th St., Harrisburg, Pa. 17101], 167 pp., n.p., pb). A professor of Christian education provides condensed, specific suggestions for potential leaders. An excellent handbook for leadership at any level within the church.

Hell and Salvation, by Leslie Woodson (Revell, 128 pp., $3.95). A study of hell as found in the New Testament, including discussions of three interpretations: everlasting punishment, annihilation, and universalism. Supports the first of these and calls for its greater emphasis in evangelism. Aids for Bible teachers include chapter discussion questions, a sample sermon, and an extended bibliography.

Within the Circle, by Rosalind Rinker (Zondervan, 120 pp., $3.95, $1.95 pb). This author of many books on prayer describes her journey through the wilderness of religious prejudice to an enduring appreciation of basic biblical truths. In typically straight-forward prose, she underlines the peculiar, redemptive power of verbal confession and its centrality to the Christian walk.

The Time Was Right, by George Salstrand (Broadman, 121 pp., $1.50). Various historical, social, religious, political, and geographical elements as found in Judah at the appearance of Christ are shown to be providentially prepared by God. Well written.

One Way: The Jesus Movement and Its Meaning, by Robert S. Ellwood, Jr. (Prentice-Hall, 150 pp., n.p.). A thoughtful, brief analysis of the Jesus movement, considered in the context of the youth culture, American evangelicalism, and world religion. The author is a professor of religion at the University of Southern California.

For Me to Live, edited by Robert Coughenour (Dillon/Liederbach [14591 Madison Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44107], 282 pp., n.p.). Fourteen essays by former students in honor of James Kelso, noted evangelical archaeologist and former professor of Old Testament at Pittsburgh Seminary. Three divisions in accord with his special interests: Biblical Studies and Archaeology, Theology and Ethics, Church and Ministry. Also a brief biography and annotated bibliography of his writings.

The American Pentecostal Movement: A Bibliographic Essay, by David W. Faupel (Asbury Theological Seminary [Wilmore, Kentucky 40390], 56 pp., $1.50 pb). An extensive, annotated, and classified bibliography that should be in all theological libraries of serious students of the tongues movement.

The Gospel According to Superman, by John Galloway (Holman, 141 pp., $2.95). The philosophy implicit in the comic strip Superman is viewed in contrast to divine revelation.

Testing Tongues by the Word, by Jimmie A. Millikin (Broadman, 48 pp., $1.50 pb). A Southern Baptist professor examines the major New Testament passages dealing with tongues. He argues strongly that speaking in tongues cannot be considered the baptism of the Holy Spirit. On other issues he sees legitimate differences of interpretation. Clear writing.

The Flaming Tongues, by J. Edwin Orr (Moody, 241 pp., $4.95). A well-documented area-by-area overview of twentieth-century evangelical awakenings around the world.

Children of Abraham, by David Kingdon MacDonald [Box 6006, Tampa, Fla. 33608], 105 pp., $2.25, pb). The head of the Baptist seminary in Belfast argues from a Reformed stance for believer’s baptism, putting it in the context of the nature of the church and of God’s covenants. Paedobaptists who don’t want to change should avoid this book.

Humanism and Beyond, by Robert Johnson (Pilgrim, 127 pp., $4.95). A professor of philosophy at Malone examines secular humanism. He recognizes some admirable values, but argues that humanism is transcended by a theistic world view. Kudos to the United Church for publishing a work by a teacher at an Evangelical Friends college.

Where Two or Three Are Gathered Together, Someone Spills His Milk, by Tom Mullen (Word, 126 pp., $3.95). Thirty brief homilies by a professor at Earlham School of Religion (Friends) on frustrations or questions that most parents face in family life, ranging from the birth of a second child to election-year tensions. The author has four children.

The Biblical Expositor, edited by Carl F. H. Henry (Holman, 1,282 pp., $9.95). Brief commentaries on each book of the Bible by evangelical professors. First published in 1960 in three volumes and now reprinted in a convenient one-volume format.

You and Children, by Elsiebeth McDaniel (Moody, 125 pp., $1.95 pb). Both a theoretical and a practical guide to the Christian teaching of beginners and primaries by the editor for those ages at Scripture Press. Chapters include “Why Teach Children?,” “What Is a Teacher?,” and “Must You Be Creative?” Clear, easy-reading presentation of very useful information.

Jesus and the Gospel, by Pierre Benoit (Seabury, 253 pp., $9.75). A compilation of eleven previously published scholarly articles by a Catholic biblical archaeologist. Topics include faith in the Synoptics, the death of Judas, and the ascension.

New Theology No. 10, edited by Martin Marty and Dean Peerman (Macmillan, 215 pp., $1.95 pb). A dozen periodical articles first published in late 1971 and in 1972 on issues raised by new developments in biology and medicine, e.g., “Genetic Medicine,” “Toward a Theology of Eugenics,” and “The Freedom to Die.”

The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, by Raymond E. Brown (Paulist, 136 pp., $2.25 pb). Form criticism is now a legitimate method of Bible study in the Roman Catholic church. Brown, a noted Catholic scholar, uses the method on two important doctrines, and comes much closer to traditional interpretations than do most Protestant form critics. Thoughtful, clear writing.

John Foxe and the Elizabethan Church, by Norskov Olsen (University of Calif., 264 pp., $11.50). A scholarly study of the life and works of John Foxe (1517–1577). English reformer, early Puritan and church historian after the style of Eusebins, best known for his book on martyrs. His works are combed for insights into his theology, personality, and purposes.

Insights for the Age of Aquarius, by Gina Cerminara (Prentice-Hall, 314 pp., $7.95). Under the guise of scientific analysis through “general semantics” (GS), the author claims to cleanse religion, particularly biblical Christianity, of its “rubbish.” This is expressed in fifty “insights” found in the application of G. S. principles to present religious knowledge. The intent is distinctive, with a subtle attempt to offer an occultist alternative.

The Churches Militant, by William Gribbin (Yale, 210 pp., $8.75). A historical analysis of American religion during the War of 1812. Gribbin effectively correlates diverse war sentiments with denominational opinions. The influence of the Church in this national crisis of long ago has an unintended timeliness. Well documented.

There is no straining after novelty for novelty’s sake: where a traditional rendering is the most adequate, the translators have not devised another one just to be different. The Matthaean beatitudes begin: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:3). If the desire is to translate the Greek, rather than to paraphrase or interpret it, it is difficult to see what other form of words could be used.

Similarly the Lord’s Prayer, contains no surprises. In the form given in Matthew 6:9–13, it runs:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.

Here is no attempt to tell the reader what is meant by being led into temptation—an attempt such as led the New English Bible translators into explaining the obscure by the more obscure. But a question mark may be put against the use of “debt” and “debtors.” It is generally agreed that this usage reflects the Aramaic use of the word for “debt” in the extended sense of “sin”; that being so, it would have been more intelligible (although less rhythmical) to render: “Forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who have sinned against us.”

Let us look at the most crucial paragraph in the Pauline corpus. This is how Romans 3:21–26 is rendered:

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies the man who has faith in Jesus.

We note that the same Greek word is translated “righteousness” in the first two sentences of the paragraph and “justice” in the last sentence. The change may be designed to show the close relation in the last sentence between the noun on the one hand and the adjective (“just”) and verb (“justifies”) on the other; it is nevertheless an awkward change. We note also that hilastérion is paraphrased “a sacrifice of atonement,” which comes very close to the sense of the passage. It is surprising, however, to see “in his blood” made dependent on “faith”—so surprising, indeed, that the reviewer, reflecting that he is working with a set of uncorrected proofs, wonders if a comma is to be supplied here.

Paul’s “saints” (KJV) are presented to us as “God’s people” (e.g., 1 Cor. 16:1). A man’s “virgin” (1 Cor. 7:36) is “the virgin he is engaged to.” This is probably right; the alternative interpretation (“his daughter”) is mentioned in a footnote.

Like the RSV and NEB, this version is based on an eclectic Greek text. In the present state of New Testament textual study, this was the wisest course. The incident of the adulterous woman (John 7:53–8:11) and the longer appendix to Mark (Mark 16:9–20) are printed in their traditional positions, but they are marked off from their contexts and a note indicates that they do not originally belong to the Gospels to which they are attached. The angel at Bethesda (John 5:4), the baptismal question and response of Philip and the eunuch (Acts 8:37), and the three heavenly witnesses (1 John 5:7) do not appear in the text but are mentioned in footnotes. The last-named is said to be added in the Vulgate, but it was absent from the original and authentic Vulgate text as well as from the Greek. In general, the Greek text reflected in the translation is one on which there would be today a consensus of critical agreement.

Measurements are sometimes modernized, sometimes not. Emmaus is “about seven miles” distant from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13), but the site of the ascension on the Mount of Olives is “a Sabbath day’s walk from the city” (a footnote explains that this is “about half a mile”). The flask of spikenard is reckoned as worth “a year’s wages” (John 12:5) or “more than a year’s wages” (Mark 14:5); Philip calculates that bread to feed the multitude in the wilderness would need at least “eight months’ wages” (John 6:7). But Matthew 25:14–30 tells “the parable of the talents” and Luke 19:11–27 tells “the parable of the ten minas”; Jesus’ questioners produce a “denarius” as a sample of the tribute money (Mark 12:15), the laborers in the vineyard agree to work for “a denarius for the day” (Matt. 20:2), and the two debtors in the parable of the unforgiving servant owe “ten thousand talents” and “a hundred denarii” (Matt. 18:24, 28). In all these latter instances footnotes give some indication of the value of the sums mentioned: thus the debts in Matthew 18:24, 28, are said to correspond to “several million dollars” and “a few dollars.”

The version, say the publishers, “is written in the language of the common man”; it never ceases to be dignified, but some renderings are more colloquial than others. Our Lord’s questioners in the tribute money incident say to him, “You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are” (Mark 12:14), while Peter says to Simon Magus, “May your money perish with you, because you thought to buy the gift of God with money” (Acts 8:20). “You thought to buy” is literary, and none the worse for that, but as it comes in direct speech something a little more conversational might have been expected.

In fine, this new translation will be accepted widely. If there were not so many other translations of comparable quality in circulation, its acceptance would no doubt be wider still; the fact that it has so many rivals in the field is its misfortune, not its fault.

A Somewhat Gloomy Comforter

Hope in Time of Abandonment, by Jacques Ellul (Seabury, 306 pp., $8.95), is reviewed by Harold O. J. Brown, associate editor, Christianity Today.

Since he first began to attract the notice of the English-language reading public in the mid-1960s, Ellul—by using several publishers and bringing out translations of older works simultaneously with those of his most recent ones—has managed to deluge us with an astonishing number of volumes. His works fall into two categories: academic (historical, sociological) and spiritual. The historical and sociological works present problems, but no solutions; the spiritual ones offer hopeful answers, though even in them there is more than a suggestion that the present crisis is beyond us, and that all that the Christian can hope is to be a faithful, suffering witness in the midst of disorder.

According to Ellul, sociological and historical analysis of modern society leads to a hopeless blind alley. But, on the basis of what he calls Christian orthodoxy—still reminiscent of the neo-orthodoxy of Karl Barth—he knows that God does not send his revelation as the answer to our problems and questions. On the contrary, God sends revelation to call us away from our preoccupation with the things and concerns of the world to a completely different set of values. Hence the biblical message is not the answer to modern problems, in the sense that it does not address itself to the problems on the world’s agenda; but, paradoxically, in another, ultimately more important sense, it is the answer, since it addresses itself to man’s true needs, even though man may be unaware of them.

Here Come De Judge

The subpoena had my surname spelled wrong, but I really didn’t think that would be justification for not appearing in court at the appointed time.

I guess there was a certain dread and excitement in my anticipation of the event. Even though I’ve never been a witness in court I know the subtle maneuverings and the pyrotechnics that can go on in a courtroom. After all, I’ve been watching Perry Mason reruns for twenty years.

Because of a conflict in schedules my wife dropped me early at the courthouse so that I had about an hour of observing those whom fortune or misfortune had brought there. One fact became obvious as I waited: the only people at ease in a courthouse are the lawyers. I saw nervous and edgy defendants, nervous and edgy plaintiffs, but only calm lawyers.

When the time came for the case to be called, I took my seat in the courtroom and prepared to watch the strategy of the opposing lawyers. After about thirty minutes the judge arrived and the proceedings began with a flurry of paper-trading between the lawyers.

To the puzzlement of the Perry Mason fans among us, the witnesses were asked to stand as a group. The clerk administered the oath to us en masse.

Then, to our shock, the judge informed us that we would be escorted by a bailiff to an anteroom. We would be called when our testimony was needed.

We weren’t even going to get a chance to see the blasted proceedings! The judge further instructed that after we testified we were not to discuss our testimony in any way with other witnesses.

We took our seats in the anteroom and began conjecturing to one another about the time we might be called and the ultimate outcome of the case. The lawyer had told us that the opening presentation of the case could not take more than fifteen minutes and that then we would be called to testify.

An hour and five minutes later the lawyers were still arguing over what precedents were relevant and the judge was trying to decide whether he would even hear our testimony. In the anteroom we were still talking, but the substance of the trial had been left far behind.

Soon, however, the first witness was called, and we were all disposed of rather quickly.

None of us had very much to testify to. Only one or two narrow facts was needed from each of us. We knew what the lawyer who had called us was trying to establish, but we didn’t know fully how he was going to go about it or just how all the testimony would fit together.

We were asked to tell the truth about one or two matters and then dismissed. We had to trust our advocate.

Sometimes it’s that way with a Christian’s witness. He doesn’t know all that came before him or all that’s going to happen after him. He’s only responsible to bear witness to the truth as he knows it and to trust the Advocate.

EUTYCHUS V

MARRIAGE MEANS

I must take exception to one aspect of Dr. James Daane’s report (News, “Christian Reformed Church,” Aug. 10). In relating that the Synod rejected a report on marriage the information given is grossly misleading and erroneous. The report of Marriage Guidelines was the proposal of a study committee appointed by the Christian Reformed Church and is the sole responsibility of that committee. The Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship had nothing to do with it. Only one of the six members of the committee, namely myself, is a member of the AACS and I was on the committee as an individual member of the Christian Reformed Church.

More serious is the fact that Dr. Daane completely misrepresents the thrust of the report. No where does the report say that “marriage is constituted solely by a couple’s mutual pledge to fidelity.” “Marriage,” the report begins, “is a mutual, permanent, exclusive, one flesh union between husband and wife characterized by fidelity.” Or again, “husband and wife together live under the Word of God for marriage.” This means not only that marriage is not a human invention or convention, but also that marital fidelity is not subject to the arbitrary whims of the partners. Nowhere does the report maintain that divorce is warranted by any form of infidelity whether physical or spiritual. In fact a unique aspect of the report was its contention that “there are no grounds or justification for such breakdown as if infidelity can sometimes be right” and that therefore there are “no biblical grounds for divorce.”

Interested readers should study the report and judge for themselves. It is available in the 1973 Agenda of the Christian Reformed Church or copies are available from 54 Tidworth Square, Agincourt, Ontario, Canada.

Toronto, Ontario

JAMES H. OLTHUIS

FROM THE BRITISH

First of all, a word of thanks for the excellent article by W. Ward Gasque, “Evangelical Theology: The British Example” (Current Religious Thought, Aug. 10). He makes a needed point: The evangelical church has hurt its own cause where it has been divisive, sectarian, or isolationist. The Gospel of Jesus Christ must be carried into every area fearlessly. We could learn much from the example of our British brethren.

Your editorial article, “Ends and Means in West Germany,” astounded me. Surely you have more reliable research possibilities than exposed here: the parliamentarian investigation of the Steiner affair is by no means concluded, but in summer recess; the SPD party whip Wienand has not resigned in disgrace; no one has been found guilty of bribery yet; and the evidence presented by Steiner has been so self-contradictory that the whole affair is becoming increasingly murky. Certainly the German government has its problems, but we certainly will want to wait until the evidence is in and not make up our minds without any firm information about what really happened last year during the vote of confidence.

DARRELL L. GUDER

Ludwigsburg, Germany

Many thanks for W. Ward Gasque’s “Evangelical Theology: The British Example.” It’s rather unfortunate that the editorials of CHRISTIANITY TODAY are increasingly perpetuating the type of negative evangelicalism from which North America needs to be delivered.

ARTHUR G. PATZIA

Sioux Falls, S. D.

MOVING FROM MYOPIA

Ah, youth! As I read William F. Luck’s review of Bruce Larson’s Ask Me to Dance (Books in Review, Aug. 10), I couldn’t help feeling that the tone of same was quite sophomoric. I believe the reviewer twisted several of the author’s thoughts to fit his “wart” theme. My only hope is that Mr. Luck’s severe case of spiritual myopia will clear up as he moves into a ministry in the real world.

NEIL ATKINSON

Associate Pastor

Evangelical Free Church

Orange, Calif.

INFORM AND DOCUMENT

Your issue of August 31 (News, “Prologue and Protest”), while referring to faculty members of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, makes the statement that the Council of Presidents of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod is “doctrinally divided.” As a member of the Council of Presidents I insist that this is patently not true. It would be interesting to know who your informer is and what documentation CHRISTIANITY TODAY has for making such a statement. It is apparent in all of the good work that you do that you attempt to be eminently fair. I am certain, therefore, that you will appreciate this response.

AUGUST BERNTHAL

President

The Florida-Georgia District

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

Winter Haven, Fla.

EDITORIAL TRANSPARENCIES?

In your August 10 issue (“Missouri Lutheran Showdown: The Battle of New Orleans”), your reporter, Edward E. Plowman, wrote the following concerning the press conference held recently by the president of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod: “Preus, who feels he has not gotten a fair shake from the press in general, nearly walked out after being badgered by columnist Lester Kinsolving, who coined the uncomplimentary ‘Chairman JAO’ in earlier columns critical of Preus.”

If reporter Plowman had cared enough to inquire, I would have been glad to tell him that “Freedom now—with Chairman JAO” was coined by students at Concordia Seminary, not by me. I simply reported that the students had coined this undeniably colorful terminology.

As to the Plowman report that President Preus was “badgered” by me, I am wondering if this was reporting—or was it transparent editorializing, as is appropriate to your editorial or feature pages.

I also wonder just why Plowman couldn’t have reported precisely what questions I asked, so that your readers might have had the privilege of drawing their own conclusions. (On second thought, I don’t really wonder about this, not after reading Plowman’s report of “The Battle of New Orleans”—in which he seriously compares Jake Preus to Andrew Jackson!)

It is very possible that a number of your readers will agree with his editorial position—and also conclude that any questioning of President Preus about details of the Eden nudity or the digestion of Jonah is “badgering.” On the other hand, I would imagine that there may be a number of your readers who would not agree with Plowman.

But your news report, which he wrote, provides not a single specific example upon which any of your readers can make a judgment—save for Ed Plowman’s one-word editorial opinion.

(THE REV.) LESTER KINSOLVING

National Newspaper Syndicate

Vienna, Va.

I enjoy your magazine and look forward to getting it, because, for the most part, it is what it claims to be—a magazine of evangelical Christian conviction. Most of your material is good, even if I don’t always agree completely with you. Because it is such an evangelical publication, I have been disappointed all along at the biased, one-sided coverage you have given to the battle raging in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The several articles about this in your August 10 issue were real corkers.

Despite all the coverage that has been given to this controversy, and despite the fact that I know your writers have informed themselves very well on the subject—your position shows a dismal lack of awareness of what all is really at stake in the LCMS. In most of your articles you show a really keen insight into the problems of the Christian Church today; it amazes me that you have missed the mark so far on this issue. I can see that on the surface it may well seem that “the battle of New Orleans” was a good victory for conservative “evangelical” Christianity. In reality, what happened at New Orleans can come under only one heading: disaster.

JAMES ELMSHAUSER

Saint John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

Fort Collins, Colo.

CROWDING DENIAL

Re your statement in the excellent editorial concerning the Missouri Synod controversy (“The Conservative Victory,” Aug. 10), in which you make reference to the “crowding out” of conservative professors in Southern Baptist seminaries, I would just add that conservatives have been and are being crowded out of places of leadership on the Boards and Agencies of the SBC, out of many pulpits and even out of certain mission fields as well! As deplorable as the doctrinal deviation of the SBC is, the constant denial that it exists at all is much more deplorable.

Southern Baptist conservatives are now coming to life and expressing their concerns in groups such as the recently formed Southern Baptist Faith and Message Fellowship and the newly organized Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. The question is whether this effort is too little and too late to counteract the denominationally blessed liberalism of the Broadman Commentary and the seminary professors who authored it.

WORTH C. GRANT

Washington, D. C.