The Revival of the Conservative Spirit in America

There can be no further doubt of a tremendous resurgence of the conservative temperament in American religious and political opinion. The rapid growth of those denominations that shade off on the theological spectrum from conservative orthodoxy to fundamentalism, the success of the evangelical journal CHRISTIANITY TODAY, the widespread support for the evangelistic efforts of Billy Graham, and in the political realm the majority support of his party won by Senator Goldwater—these all attest to its presence and vitality. In the sense that it is now filling the great middle space between the fringe sects and the liberal leadership in the older church bodies it may be described as a new “third force” in American religious life. Despite the fall of Bible reading and devotions in the public school systems as the result of court decisions, and perhaps because of such decisions, the conservative temperament is being fanned into flame in all parts of the nation.

One gets the impression that the leaders of church and state, who are imbued with the liberal doctrines of the past forty years, are fearful over the prospect of conservatism’s becoming “respectable” again. H. L. Mencken’s snide reference to the population of the Bible Belt as the great “legion of the unwashed” is repeated, with variations, by those who consider believers in an inspired Bible sub-modern. On the other hand, those who deny every tenet of miraculous Christianity (as do the “Bultmannites”) are called “men come of age.” Moreover, what is done in the religious realm is carried out with gusto in the political realm. Supporters of the conservative position are identified en masse with the most extreme members of ultra-right-wing organizations. Without regard for facts, everyone who desires a reassessment of our public philosophy is labeled a crank, or worse, an unconscious traitor to basic American beliefs. If he is from California, he is automatically thought to be a sympathizer of the Birch Society; if from the South, he automatically favors the Klan. Right-wing groups are denounced, with never a word of warning about the dangerous militant Negro movements, the Black Muslims, or the most extreme leaders of CORE and SNCC. The partiality and unfairness of the vocal liberal leadership is patent to all but the most committed liberal. The “backlash” that is often spoken of may well develop as the backlash of the basic American sentiment of fair play and of sympathy for the underdog. Many Americans feel it is time to give the conservatives a fair hearing.

Civil Rights And Wrongs

But what of the Church? What meaning have the events of the past few months for her? Is the mounting tendency to resist the ever-increasing demands of the civil rights leadership a warning to the Church (which is so deeply involved in this issue) to stop and consider the wisdom of her actions? Are the deplorable tendency to move from passive demonstrations to lawless violence (as in Harlem) and the counteraction of segregationists to use violent means also (as in Mississippi) not clear-cut indicators that agitation based on the liberal interpretation of what is “Christian” and “American” ought to be calmed down? I believe that liberal church leaders have a heavy burden of guilt to bear because of their involvement in certain tactical maneuvers in the civil rights struggle that have led to bloodshed. The direct or indirect presence of representatives of the National Council of Churches in the Mississippi area, where several have already lost their lives, seems to me to compromise the Church’s mission. No matter how much we may believe in civil rights, Christians dare not instigate civil wrongs.

And yet, this neglect of biblical concerns for secular programs is but the outgrowth of a “liberal” movement that is decades old in America. That movement shifted the Church’s vision from a spiritual kingdom to a political kingdom that could come through social action. The Bible’s content was systematically undercut as something historically conditioned, a legendary or mythological growth that has little to do with the Church’s mission today; and thus a substitute gospel was needed. The “new gospel” was provided by the sciences of man—psychology, sociology, and the social impulse of Continental Socialism (especially German “Christian Socialism”). In a very real sense, the new theology (which was and is modernism, despite its change of labels from time to time) moved to occupy the same philosophical basis as the new political liberalism that was developing in response to the bewildering opportunities and problems that our industrialized, urbanized nation was facing. A Church that had thrown over its biblical mandate made common cause with a political philosophy that had thrown over the older belief in the responsibility of the individual for his own improvement and the rights of the component parts (states) of the nation, in order to attempt a novel solution to America’s very real problems of finance, unemployment, industrialization, and so on.

On Feet Of Clay

To its great credit, the liberal movement did build a dike that confined some of the flood waters that were sweeping over America. While no one can be sure that American prosperity would have returned had not World War II broken out, the “New Deal” did offer stop-gap measures to overcome some serious Depression-era problems. Again, although no one can say that Americans would have flocked back to the churches had the terrible ordeal of World War II and the rise of the nuclear threat not intervened, the newer theology (now called neo-orthodox!) did keep the denominations going and growing.

In spite of the setbacks that derived from the war, the church and the state in 1947 were firmly in control of a fairly happy situation in America. Only the rising divorce and alcoholism rates revealed the feet of clay beneath the body of brass.

What went wrong? Why are governmental policies so hotly debated and cordially condemned in so many quarters? What stopped the forward motion of the Church, so that now its growth rate is no more than equal with the population rise? What went so wrong that the political party in control from 1932 to 1954 was suddenly swept out of power? What provoked the remarkably close election of 1960? It is often said that the great Democratic plurality in Chicago, which offset and overrode the downstate Illinois votes, won the election for the Democratic party. Mr. Kennedy, surely an attractive candidate despite the fact that he was a Roman Catholic, squeaked through by the slightest majority in many states. Why this reaction? Certainly the Republicans who served as leaders from 1954 to 1960, and who offered themselves for re-election in 1960, were not notable conservatives.

The cold war has now lasted seventeen years—as long as World Wars I and II, the Spanish-American War, the Civil War, and the War of 1812 combined, with five years left over to cover all the banana wars in addition. In this struggle much more has occurred than the death of thousands of American servicemen (140,000 killed and wounded in Korea, 1950–54) and the expenditure of billions of American dollars (in 1948, 66 per cent of the United States government’s budget was for war-connected functions; in 1960, it was 72 per cent; it is considerably higher in 1964). The cold war has also revealed the basic weaknesses of the liberal philosophy adopted by so many of those who have ruled, educated, and preached to us for the last four decades. These weaknesses, which are primarily the results of a philosophy that has downgraded individual initiative and responsibility before man and a theology that has failed to stress man’s personal responsibility before God, are (in brief) the creation of feeble personalities that lack self-reliance and moral stamina. This lack of self-reliance has grown out of the emphasis placed on group effort and governmental (and institutional, including ecclesiastical) direction. Moral stamina has been lost because the roots of the morality that the Church continues to try to teach and the civil law to require have been cut by the overthrow of faith in the God of the Bible, doubt as to the meaning of revelation, and the substitution of psychological theories for the clear preaching of the historic faith.

The poor showing of many soldiers in North Korean prison camps, the upsurge of juvenile delinquency, the increase of illegitimate births, and the spread of addiction to alcohol and dope are not the reasons for the conservative revival; they are rather symptoms of the social malady that conservatism wants to cure.

As the casualty list in Viet Nam continues to mount, Communist subversion continues to operate in Cuba, and reports of violence between the races come to us from city and country, North and South, there can be little reason to question the desire of the majority of our people for a return to sounder standards of theology and philosophy. For this reason many citizens who are neither racists nor extremists are supporting theological, philosophical, and political movements that echo their historic beliefs.

- More from John C. Cooper

Dare We Hope for Renewal of the Church?

T. Leo Brannon

Among many earnest churchmen there is a growing despair with the institutional church. Multitudes of articles and books rolling off presses every day suggest that the present institutional structures are not renewable. One minister boldly states, “The Church is hopeless.” These persons feel that the hull of the “old ship of Zion” is too laden with barnacles to be restored and made sea-worthy for carrying pilgrims to the Eternal City.

That stagnation and ineffectiveness are prevalent in vast segments of the modern Church can hardly be disputed. A cumbersome bureaucracy makes the forward movement slow. Forms of government become sacrosanct even when they quite evidently miss the mark of the New Testament concept of the Church.

The decadence of the Church is further evidenced in its two-fold problem of gross failure in the inner city and superficial popularity among suburbanites. Only rarely does the Church make an impact on the inner city. And Paul would think it ironic that this Gospel that was counted as foolishness by the Greeks is so popular in the suburbs.

Without a new dynamic and authority it is hardly likely that the Church will be able to meet the deep and demonic needs of the world’s lonely crowd. Issues are complex and perplexing. T. S. Eliot, in “The Rock,” has stated a primary Protestant tenet that we had better heed: “The Church must be forever building, for it is forever decaying within and attacked from without.” The Church’s hour of judgment has always been now. The necessity of living in the present has always been laid upon us. Thus we dare suggest that the Church of this century desperately needs renewal and restoration.

Yet the question that keeps occurring to me is, Why all the despair about the Church? Hasn’t the Church always been required to undergo renovation and renewal? I am as insistent as anyone that the Church must relinquish the forms of the past and encounter man with a relevant message. Yet I cannot forget that this “old wineskin” that is under so much criticism has through the years been its own severest critic. This discipline of self-criticism has been the built-in reformation that time and again has saved the Church from total error and decay. Bishop Gerald Kennedy in the Episcopal Address at the 1964 Methodist General Conference reaffirmed our faith in the Church when he stated, “Let The Methodist Church proclaim that so far as it is concerned, we are not post-anything, and the best is yet to be.”

There is ample evidence from history that the Church, as the Body of Christ, has been pliable enough in its institutional structures to adjust to the reshaping that comes with awakening and renewal. This should not only encourage those who despair with the Church but also support those who feel threatened by the radical changes demanded by this age.

While vested-interest groups in the Church have resisted change, there has still been an amazing elasticity to the “old wineskin” that has held the new wine of each new age. There have always been the “Young Turks” who have demanded changes and who have thereby created unrest within the ecclesiastical organization.

Now, it is one thing to shout that renewal is needed and another thing to suggest some ways to effect it. What I propose here is not a new program with a volume of brochures and a series of meetings in which important executives tell in a graphic way how to order the materials for the program. These are areas of thought and ministry that allow individual delineation of the “how” to develop.

One point at which hope exists for the Church is in a biblical-theological emphasis. Now, I know you suspected from the beginning that this is the sort of thought that would come from the Bible Belt. Nevertheless, that there is an alarming ignorance of the Scriptures and a paucity of theological understanding cannot be denied. Little wonder that the modern man’s concept of the Church reflects the cultural forms of a middle-class society. His ethics arise from the mores and social pressures exerted by secularism and materialism, rather than from the message of the Gospel of Incarnation and Resurrection. Having pitched its program and ministry on a shallow biblical-theological basis, the twentieth-century Church expects the impossible when it expects people to give up traditions and patterns of life. We have fed the people the “pablum” of nature studies and have led them in sociological discussion—but we have expected them to display the faith of the apostles and martyrs.

The Scriptures Are The Key

As the Church reads, reflects on, and obeys the Word of God, there is a regaining of power and a purging out of corruption. Thus, the Scriptures are the key to the continuing reformation that is basic to Protestant faith. It is in the written record of the revelation of God that we discover the reason for our existence and catch the vision of our mission. In fact, it is the written Word of God that issues the call for us and forms us into the people of God, the community of faith. The tragedy is that there are too few to perform this ministry of the Word. The parish priest, whose real calling it is, is too busy with programs and promotions for which he is ill equipped.

Laymen are not the only ones who apologize for any mention of theology. Even ministers skirt around it, trying to use the “language of the common man” so that everyone will understand the message. And yet the average man has not understood what the Church has been saying about faith and practice. Surely this accounts in part for the unfaithfulness of much of the Church to its true nature and task. Perhaps our concept of communication has been false.

The need is not for new concepts in theology but for a new willingness to study theology with no apology! Nor is the problem simply the corruption of the old symbols. People have lost the symbols as the means of understanding the “faith once delivered to the saints.” If we develop new thought-forms but do not disseminate meanings through the sheepfold, the effects will be no greater than those we presently have. Theological instruction involves the application of the Word of God to each person’s life and the life of the world.

Another factor that offers hope of new life to the dead bones of the Church is a new understanding of the laity. Much of what has paraded as a revival of the laity has merely been a regrouping of forces for program purposes, to give strength and support to the institution. It is significant that a chief doctrine of the Reformation was the priesthood of the believer. Time and circumstance seem to have obscured this calling. In recent years so much emphasis has been placed on the task of the minister that we have ignored the nature and task of the laity. Perhaps when our despair with the Church gets serious enough we will begin to encourage the laymen to think of themselves as ministers of Christ, not simply as sheep to be fed, led, and driven.

Laymen must begin to understand that there is no organic difference between them and the minister. There is a difference of function. This will bring us to a deeper consideration of the matter of gifts of the Spirit. And this presupposes biblical-theological concepts, not the techniques of vocational guidance counselors!

Consider also the hope of renewal for the Church in a new spirit of unity. The ecumenical movement has been receiving considerable attention in church circles. I would not disparage this movement in the least. My concern, though, is that there seems to be a false hope for revitalization of the Church in the union of denominations. There is ample reason to doubt that this in itself will bring the awakening. It is not necessarily true that “the more we get together” the greater we will be.

By a “new spirit of unity” I mean that which comes when churches conceive of themselves as the Body of Christ, the people of God, and thus develop organic unity that goes deeper than structural ties or institutional loyalties. This ecumenicity in spirit will bring about institutional unity also. An understanding of the bond of believers develops deep ties that lessen the importance of denominational allegiance. Even the simplest believer can sense the meaning of being the Body of Christ, one community of faith; whereas only the sophisticated can begin to comprehend the intricate designs of organization and participation in the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. Again, do not think this is simply the disparagement of a misguided fundamentalist from the Deep South! Remember also that to place the World Council and the National Council above critical evaluation is no more respectable than to make cumbersome bureaucracy sacrosanct, or to canonize our “Southern way of life.”

A Time For Basic Changes

To accomplish renewal of the old structures through the avenues here suggested, radical changes may be necessary. Even enlightened liberal minds always find these hard to accept. Personal ambition readily displaces dissatisfaction with outdated forms and methods—for obviously, criticism of the present men and methods is not the way to gain position and prestige!

I wonder if we will not have to junk the church school idea. This once met the need of a particular age. Today it is so stereotyped and sterile that earnest minds are bored to tears. Most pastors and all general board people will be horrified to think of doing away with the church school. To lessen the shock of such a thought, maybe it would be better just to ignore it and to spend energy developing study groups that are really vital and in which there is a genuine quest for meaning.

I doubt if renewal will occur before we become willing to give greater authority to local churches. Of course, this means that the local church must exercise initiative and responsible leadership. Today in even the most autonomous-minded congregation there is a deplorable condition of headquarters control. Programs and mission must be born of the Holy Spirit from within the local congregation if there is to be an awakening of the old structure.

These are just two suggestions for effecting renewal through the avenues mentioned previously. Others that may be equally good will no doubt be just as radical. Whatever means we use, they must produce a faith that is understood and meaningful, a fellowship that is inclusive and healing, and a concept of vocation that issues in servanthood. Then, perhaps, renewal will have begun.

T. Leo Brannon is pastor of the First Methodist Church of Samson, Alabama. He received the B.S. degree from Troy State College and the B.D. from Emory University.

- More from T. Leo Brannon

Eutychus and His Kin: September 25, 1964

WINNING TO LOSE

Some years ago Robert Ruark wrote a book called Something of Value, and I think he was trying to tell us, among many other things, that in the awfulness of the African revolutions “something of value” had been lost. This, I suppose, is the difference between a conservative and a radical. The conservative can always think of what will be lost; the radical can never quite remember that sort of thing when he is speaking for what can be gained. If you have a new car, you may recognize the wisdom of that woman who said, “The advertisers always tell you about the new features. They never tell you about the good things they discard.”

Recently I was riding in a carload of men when we passed by a good little foreign car. One of our company made the usual enthusiastic comments about its sturdiness and workmanship and economy. But another man in the gang said, “Oh, no. They’re not as good as they were at first. You watch them. They’re getting competitive, too.”

It was sad to think about what that man meant by the word “competitive.” We pride ourselves on the American way of life, in the productivity that grows out of competition; and we think things are better because in the arena of big business, men have had to fight each other. But the man who made that remark is a big businessman.

Are we involved or standing on the sidelines as observers, while we are becoming increasingly “competitive” in the things we make and in the things we do? Is “something of value” being shaken out? What has happened to your church in the last twenty-five years? Is it getting “competitive”? Does the church down the street dictate to your church so that you cut corners on the matters that matter?

By the way, I am wondering—and maybe it is because I am getting old—whether Howard Johnson is putting more potatoes in his clam chowder.

EUTYCHUS II

‘TIME’ ON BULTMANN

It is always flattering to see my stories mentioned in so excellent a magazine as CHRISTIANITY TODAY, but I feel obliged to correct a reference to Time in your fascinating first article on the theological situation in Europe. Time did not claim, as you quote us in your September 11 issue, that Rudolph Bultmann dominates European theology “the way the Russians dominate chess.” What we actually wrote, on page 62 of our issue dated May 22, 1964, was that Bultmann’s Marburg Disciples “dominate German theology the way the Russians rule chess.”

I think there is a significant difference between what we actually wrote and your version of our statement, which is patently incorrect and fully deserves Dr. Barth’s scorn. It seems to me, however, that your article justifies our comparison between Bultmann’s former students and the Russian chess masters. Admittedly, the Marburgers differ among themselves—as we pointed out (Time, June 21, 1963) in an article on the New Quest for the Historical Jesus; but so do the Russians fight among themselves to see who is to challenge for the world’s chess championship. Admittedly, too, the Marburger dominance is threatened by an outsider, such as Pannenberg; but the Russian masters are sometimes defeated by a Bobby Fischer or a Max Euwe.

Despite my mild chagrin at seeing Time wrongly quoted, I read your article with great interest, and I look forward to the rest of the series.

JOHN T. ELSON

Religion Editor

Time

New York, N. Y.

• CHRISTIANITY TODAY regrets any misuse of Time’s comment. Our “shorthand” reference assumed that the Time report viewed Bultmann and his Marburg disciples as essentially continuous. The essays in CHRISTIANITY TODAY (1) consider the post-Bultmannian development a fragmentation in which few genuine “disciples” of Bultmann survive; and (2) regard the Bultmannian movement as past its peak, now on the defensive, and increasingly hard-pressed on three sides.—ED.

NO POLL NECESSARY

Mr. McEvoy wonders (Eutychus, July 31 issue) if I conducted a poll and determined that 100 per cent of my denomination disapproved the [NAE civil rights] resolution.… I neither said nor inferred 100 per cent. I did assure that my denomination—the Evangelical Methodist Church—did not join its voice in such an expression as contained in this resolution. [This] would require official action.…

ELTON CROWSON

Wesley Memorial Evangelical Methodist

Memphis, Tenn.

MESSAGE FROM SOUTH AFRICA

“Apartheid” is a constant insult to human dignity. The facade of apartheid in all government buildings and elsewhere where it is able to be enforced—not in shops, mind you—has been brought in at a very considerable expense to the tax-payer.… The notices “Whites only” is the telling of the inferiority of others, and this conception of inferiority must result in all the miserable attitudes that arise within human relationships; resulting, amongst those of a sadistic turn of mind, in physical torture whenever they have the power to inflict it. Amongst professing Christians this attitude of superiority and inferiority gives the lie to Christian fellowship of even the most elementary kind. It tends to deny the basic elements of Christianity in those who play the part of superiority. A Christian standing before God through grace alone dare not have this air of superiority; yet, being what he is, this whole sponsored idea of superiority and inferiority creates a prejudice and bias amongst the whites that is almost impossible to face and eradicate.

In my Christian activity I have the privilege, and I intend the exact meaning of the word, of knowing a number of coloured boys who I will not submit are inferior in any way to their white contemporaries; in fact, in my estimation, they are better physically, mentally, and spiritually than very many whites. I restrict myself to all the restrictions they themselves have to face in my association with them, and I know the great strains they are subject to in this insulting position. May I say here that apartheid does not imply an equal and separate facility, but always the inferior. Besides this there are the shocking impositions of “job reservation,” which closes all manner of opportunities, excepting in a few restricted professional fields, to all non-whites whatever their abilities may be. Cannot it be realised that the parents of these boys desire the best for their children as would any natural white parent, and how many mothers have told me of their frustration on this account? Then generally, for the Bantu, the migratory principle for labour applies which entails separation of members of the family for long periods. In the issue of July 31, it is mentioned that 60 per cent of all African babies are born out of wedlock; and then we pray so smugly, “Lead us not into temptation.” For that smugness we will pay dearly, as I can only say to us whites, “God forgive us, and may we repent before calamity overtakes us.” It can never be passed over by calling it a “dilemma”; it is evil.…

Let us not think that God of the Old Testament is different than God of the New. When his people did evil, severe punishment followed by unseemly means. But when they did as he commanded, they were miraculously kept from harm, and a Church that acquiesces to the injustices mentioned above is in danger. Silence is also acquiescence, and evangelical churches are notoriously silent in these parts regarding race relations. It is sometimes to be wondered whether this silence is not due to the desire that this status quo remain to our own advantage and benefit.

R. I. BECKLEY

Johannesburg, South Africa

IN MISSISSIPPI

In regards to your editorial on troubled waters (July 17 issue)—I believe that you are speaking from what you hear too often and do not see firsthand. Mississippi is not my native state, but I have lived here for fourteen years as a pastor and married a wife from here. Though it does have evils like any other state, I testify that it is not as bad as other places where I was born, or raised, or [have] lived.

For instance, in your article you mention the dedication, etc., of these young people. Have you seen some of them here? I talked to a representative of COFO and have seen a few of the civil rights workers in Moss Point and there is no doubt some are fine, but these came in with beards, banjos and seem to be of the beatnik class. This is not an exception, and I wonder how these can raise the standard of living among our colored people. Did you know that Mississippi Baptist Convention for years has had work with our Negro brothers, that last year 2,000 preachers and layworkers were involved in this effort to educate and help spiritually?…

The idea about the white people loving the colored man is good; we hear this often, and it is true and do you not think it might be well to stress, though they are in a minority, that they begin loving the white man more? Our church has helped colored families and individuals, but I recall very little said about it nor do I hear over national communication or religious press about the responsibilities of Negroes here in this problem, and they do have a responsibility as well as the white man. The New Testament Christians were in a minority and it was their love for the majority that gave power to their movement.…

When many of these people come in, all they know … is the fact of how wrong the Negro is treated. This alienates immediately any good effort of helping the others in their dilemma.…

PAUL H. LEBER

East Moss Point Baptist

Moss Point, Miss.

BUT NOT THE WESTERN PROVINCES

This is to call attention to a brief statement in your July 17 issue (News) …: “The 115 Evangelical United Brethren churches in Canada.…”

This … is misleading since it implies that all the E.U.B. churches are involved. It is my understanding that the Canada Conference of the E.U.B. church has appointed such a committee for study. However, the Northwest Canada Conference of the same denomination, of which I am a member, has not appointed such a committee, nor has it intentions of doing so, or of going along with such proposals.

The Canada Conference takes in the province of Ontario only while the Northwest Canada Conference covers the four western provinces.

S. B. TAETZ

Faith Church (Evangelical United Brethren)

Richmond, British Columbia

AND PROBABLY FLORIDA

Yes, we do need to re-evaluate some of our evangelistic methods (“Questions About Evangelism,” July 17 issue). But Mr. Myers has omitted mention of what is to me the most disturbing practice in revival meetings in local churches—one I have found prevalent in all areas of our country, from Georgia to Alaska (and I imagine that Florida is not immune).

We are exhorted to bring unsaved neighbors and friends to the services, so the first night we bring someone who needs the Gospel. And what does he hear? A forty-five-minute account of the sins of church members; then an invitation is given. What does he want to be saved for—to live a hypocritical life such as he has heard so graphically described?… Not long ago I attended services in which the evangelist was so wrapped up in denunciations of the sins of professing Christians for an entire week that he preached entire sermons without ever mentioning that God loves us or that Christ died for us, and without telling why we need to be saved, how we can be saved, or what salvation means. Yet every night he gave an invitation to the unsaved. I wanted to weep.

Surely, we church members need to be revived. But could not we—and unsaved people also—be better reached by messages on the love, mercy, compassion, and power of God, and a glimpse of what we could be if he had full control of our lives?

RUTH L. CLEMMONS

Biloxi, Miss.

A proper definition of the word “revival” and the word “evangelism” [will help]. The word “revival” is from the Old Testament primarily and concerns an awakening of the people of God. Evangelism is the proclamation of the Gospel by word and life. Actually what is being done today is revival-evangelism. A series of meetings is planned and generally preaching is directed to both believer and unbeliever. For some of the believers it will be a genuine “revival,” and others may be touched very little by it. This is in the hands of God’s sovereign grace. Whether revival comes or not, evangelism must go on. The command of our Risen Lord to go into all the world and preach, to witness of “these things,” to proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation, to “bind” and to “loose,” must be obeyed.

Revivals and evangelistic meetings do affect perennial evangelism. The churches that are revivalistic and evangelistic have more effective perennial evangelism. This is also true of denominations.…

Revival-evangelism in spite of the excesses and “gospel cheer-leaders” and professional “money-raisers” has emptied more saloons; sobered more drunkards; clothed more children; built more hospitals; probed more jungles, physical and spiritual; restored more virtue; started more schools and universities than all the liberals who have forsaken mass evangelism.

JOHN F. HAVLIK

Secretary of Evangelism

Louisiana Baptist Conv.

Alexandria, La.

Theology

Current Religious Thought: September 25, 1964

Philip Edgcumbe Hughes

That “there is not one shred of genuine evidence, either in science or Scripture, for the validity of evolution” is the conviction of Dr. Henry M. Morris, who is professor of hydraulic engineering and head of the Department of Civil Engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He sets forth the reasons that have led him to this conviction in his recent book entitled The Twilight of Evolution. Dr. Morris writes as one who is a scientist and a Christian, and he has every right to challenge both his fellow Christians and his fellow scientists to engage in a radical reconsideration of the whole question of the evolutionary theory and its validity.

In the popular imagination evolution is something that belongs to the field of the specialist in biology and is the concern of the scientific expert. But it is important to recognize that the implications of the evolutionary theory are total: they involve the whole realm of existence. Thus Sir Julian Huxley, the leading prophet of evolution in our day, has acclaimed evolution as “a universal and all-pervading process” and accordingly explains that “biological evolution is only one aspect of evolution in general.”

This stands to reason; for if it is true that all living organisms throughout the world, small and great, simple and complex, have evolved from a solitary primordial germ plasm, then evolution must be the key and explanation of everything—of the intellectual, aesthetic, and religious no less than the anatomical and physiological aspects of existence. Evolutionism becomes a complete and self-sufficient philosophy of life.

It means, further, that, apart from the principle of evolution itself, there can be no absolutes. Everything must be seen in terms of different stages of evolution. All is comparative and relative. And this applies to the religious sphere as much as to every other sphere. Relativism reigns supreme. We are allowed to speak only of comparative religion, since all religions must be granted their due place in the upward scale of evolution. To talk of an absolute religion or an absolute gospel is a contradiction of the evolutionary principle. The absolute uniqueness of the Christian Gospel asserted throughout the New Testament (cf. John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Gal. 1:6 ff.) is on these terms quite inadmissible. Christianity must take its place alongside the other religions.

This being so, it is not surprising to be told by Professor Morris that “all of the anti-Christian systems of modern times have found their quasi-scientific basis in the supposed scientific fact of evolution.” Evolutionism, after all, is through and through naturalistic. As a self-contained system it has no real use for the supernatural. As a substitute-religion it prescribes its own fundamentalist dogmas regardless of the acknowledged facts of scientific discovery. It is a known scientific fact, for example, that all life comes from previous life of the same kind; that like produces like. Yet the evolutionist does not hesitate to postulate that originally, in a far distant past beyond the reach of scientific investigation, life must have come from lifeless matter. This is the negation of true science and rationality.

But the man who will accept this dogma of the spontaneous generation of life from lifeless matter should be prepared to embrace the ultimate irrationality of the spontaneous generation of matter from—nothing! And this step has in fact been taken by modern advocates of the “steady-state” theory of the universe like Hoyle and Bondi, who have propounded the hypothesis of the continuous “creation” of matter—without, however, permitting the postulation of a Creator! This hypothesis is designed to eliminate the problem posed by the second law of thermodynamics, according to which the world is “running down” and will ultimately come to a stop (entropy). Rejecters of the supernatural, those who deny the existence and the sovereignty of the Creator, and therefore his power to intervene, and therefore, further, the openness of the world to intervention, like ta be assured that all things continue as they always have been and always will be (cf. 2 Pet. 3:4).

Moreover, in a world which is not open to intervention from without there is no place for the redeeming action of God by the incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and coming again of his Son. Nor, On the evolutionary premises, is there any need for such action, since man is regarded, not as fallen and lost, but as risen and self-perfectible to an indefinite degree. Thus the Christian Gospel is discarded as an insolent superfluity. But to deny the being and power of the Creator-God is to deny not only the basis of all existence but also the very meaning of all existence. And this is the height of foolishness—though those who do so regard themselves as superbly wise. As the Apostle Paul says, all men inescapably know the truth of the eternal power and godhead of the Creator; but in their unrighteousness they suppress this truth, and they do so inexcusably. In this way, professing themselves to be wise, they become fools and worship and serve the creature instead of the Creator (Rom. 1:18 ff.). The Gospel of the salvation of man by the grace of God alone through faith in Jesus Christ is supplanted by the gospel of the improvement of man by the power of evolution alone through faith in his own efforts. “There are not many religions and philosophies among men,” writes Dr. Morris. “There is really only one, and that is the rebellious and blasphemous belief that autonomous man is capable of controlling his own destiny independently of the will of his Creator.”

In the consideration of this question, and of all other questions, the realities of the biblical revelation must not be left out of account. Dr. Morris lays stress on three facts in particular: first, the completeness of God’s work in the creation of the world, which lies behind “the most basic, the most universal, the best-proved law of all science,” namely, the first law of thermodynamics, according to which mass-energy is neither being created nor destroyed; second, the fall of man and the curse on creation that followed it, which lies behind the second law of thermodynamics and is “the real explanation for the relentless increase of entropy in the world”; and, third, the universal deluge of Noah’s day, which, as a vast catastrophic event, not only conflicts with the evolutionary postulation of an imperceptibly slow geological process extending over unimaginably long eons of time but also explains phenomena that are incompatible with the evolutionary interpretation of things.

The issues involved are important for scientists no less than for Christians. What is urgently needed today is a fresh approach, freed from hypothetical prejudgment and bound only to the principles of the biblical revelation and the ascertained facts of genuine science. This is definitely not a matter of mere side-issues.

- More from Philip Edgcumbe Hughes

Crackdown on Church Bingo

A controversy over bingo in Roman Catholic churches in the Phoenix, Arizona, area produced a summons for a parishioner and a statement by Bishop Francis J. Green of Tucson.

The sudden crackdown on bingo in church auditoriums prompted the following from Green: “I am in agreement with police authorities, and I am sure the parish priests are, in asking discontinuance of organized bingo in Tucson and Phoenix, but I have not banned bingo and I don’t intend to do so.

“However, I am very happy our churches have discontinued weekly bingo games and hope it will not be necessary for them to resort to bingo for the support of the churches.”

Green declared that bingo is an attractive form of recreation for many and that he saw no more reason for banning bingo than for banning card parties.

Resumption of bingo at St. Mary’s High School gymnasium in Phoenix spurred police action. Bingo cards were seized as evidence, and police consulted with the city prosecutor to determine whether a summons should be issued. One was given to the head caller of the games, a parishioner of St. Mary’s Catholic Church, who claimed that, contrary to the charge of the summons, the bingo games are conducted to assist the church and not for any personal reason.

According to Police Chief Paul Blubaum, players at the St. Mary’s games could not receive cards unless they made donations. He claimed that the number of cards received by players was determined by the size of their donation.

“We’ll continue to keep under surveillance all operations we feel may be illegal and we will take action whenever we find that there has been a violation of the law,” he said.

An earlier statement from Mayor Milt Graham indicated that he saw no reason why Roman Catholic churches and other charitable institutions should not operate bingo under the donation procedure, as state law permits.

Police, however, insisted that the games in St. Mary’s school gymnasium violated state procedure by making donations a requirement for participation.

Father Ronald Colloty, pastor of St. Mary’s Church, said bingo games in the parish would be discontinued.

Protestant Panorama

American Baptist Convention President J. Lester Harnish called upon constituent churches and members to a period of repentance and prayer, November 1–6, “in the light of world conditions, the presidential campaign, racial strife, and the spiritual needs of our American Baptist family.”

Southern Baptists in New England are planning establishment of a new “state” convention. There are currently a dozen Southern Baptist-affiliated churches in New England, and four or five more will be constituted by the end of the year.

A joint statement drafted at a special meeting of United Presbyterian public school officials charged that millions of people have avoided the question of de facto segregation “by running to the suburbs or looking the other way.”

Deaths

THE RT. REV. WILLIAM F. LEWIS, 62, Episcopal bishop of Olympia, Washington; in Seattle.

DR. WILLIAM H. ROSSELL, 49, professor of Old Testament at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; in New York City.

DR. CARLTON J. H. HAYES, 82, historian, diplomat, and co-founder of the National Conference of Christians and Jews; in Afton, New York.

THE REV. MERRILL A. STEVENS, 43, Episcopal rector and a chaplain at the University of Maryland. Stevens was drowned in Chesapeake Bay while saving his seven-year-old son, who had fallen overboard from a sailboat.

Miscellany

The Spanish government announced this month the Roman Catholic hierarchy’s concurrence in a “bill of rights” upgrading the legal status of the country’s 30,000 Protestants. An intergovernmental commission must study the bill before it comes up for passage.

Australia’s Minister for Education announced postponement of the introduction of a new syllabus for state-operated primary schools in New South Wales which, in separating general and religious teaching, would require that Christian religious beliefs be discussed only as part of the study of general religious and philosophical beliefs.

The government of Zanzibar plans to nationalize all grant-aided schools on the island. Representatives of Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have begun consultations with government authorities over the possible effects of the decision.

Five million trading stamps, collected over a period of a year, helped to send a party of fifty-five staff and volunteer workers of the Child Evangelism Fellowship of Eastern Pennsylvania on a missionary tour of Puerto Rico.

Six Baptist ministers from three states assumed control of Jackson College in Honolulu. The school was founded in 1949 by Dr. Louie M. Barrett, who died earlier this year.

October 1 is the official opening date for two new transmitters designed by Trans World Radio to transmit missionary broadcasts from Bonaire in the Dutch Antilles.

Personalia

Dr. Ernest Marshall Howse was elected moderator of United Church of Canada.

Dr. Samuel D. Proctor, former associate director of the Peace Corps, was named general director of interpretation of the National Council of Churches.

Bishop A. W. Goodwin Hudson was named chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in England.

The Rev. Malcolm Boyd, well-known Protestant Episcopal clergyman, resigned as chaplain of Wayne State University to assume an inter-racial ministry.

They Say

“I believe that the proclamation of Christ crucified is still the preacher’s task today, and that this is the only sure foundation for sound morality, for effective evangelism, and for social reform.”—Dr. Stuart Barton Babbage.

A Plea for Soviet Churches

John McCandlish Phillips

A prominent Russian Orthodox prelate in the United States says that the World Council of Churches is letting down its constituency in the Soviet Union.

Archbishop John Shahovskoy, a member of the WCC Central Committee, declared in an interview this month that persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church has increased since it became a member of the World Council in 1961.

He spoke as Archbishop of San Francisco and the Western United States of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America.

“The World Council should publicize what is going on by way of religious reprisals and restrictions,” said Archbishop John. “It should inform member churches and the Christian world of all the facts available to it, whether these facts concern Russia, Spain, or some other country.”

He declared that the non-Communist world ought not to be obliged to form its opinions of Soviet life on what it hears about Communist “showcases” such as Moscow and Leningrad.

“The World Council should publicly protest the Communist campaign against religion in the Soviet Union,” he added.

Archbishop John noted that public world opinion has already had a beneficial effect in some instances. He said that a seminary that the Communists threatened to dose was kept open when various media in the West aroused a storm of protest.

Up until now the World Council has never uttered any official disapproval of Communist efforts to suppress religious activity in the Soviet Union. It is understood that WCC leaders have attempted private negotiations in behalf of Soviet Christians, but no progress has been reported. These WCC leaders presumably feel that any overt gestures might be interpreted as politically motivated and might work adversely for representatives of the WCC constituency in Communist-held lands. Some observers feel, however, that failure of present strategy demands a new tack.

Archbishop John, who was born in Moscow, is heard in the Soviet Union each Sunday via Voice of America radio. The ten-minute broadcasts elicit letters regularly which tell of adverse conditions under which Christians must practice their faith.

A number of letters have told of continued closing of churches. One claimed that 2,000 churches have been closed within the past year. Another charged that 30,000 clergymen, monks, and nuns are imprisoned in a concentration camp near the Aral Sea.

Other letters from the Soviet Union indicate that only children under eighteen months may be christened, and then only when mother, father, godmother, and godfather give public consent and establish their legal identity for the public record.

Archbishop John described such practices as having the practical effect of ferreting out the Christian as a “marked man.”

He said his correspondence shows up other tactics aimed at reducing the scope of Christian assemblies and fellowship. Religious funeral services that would normally be held in a home in the village, for instance, are now allowed only in cemeteries, where a mere handful of friends can be expected to turn up. When a parishioner in a community apartment house wishes to have a priest visit he must first obtain the consent of all other tenants of the building.

Churches are no longer allowed to solicit funds or even to pass offering plates in the sanctuary, Archbishop John said. Instead, receptacles are to be placed at fixed points for spontaneous donations only. Churches must deposit all their funds, and are repeatedly pressured to invest in special bonds and to donate to such enterprises as theater construction. Priests receive salaries that are fixed at a low rate, and they are not permitted to draw higher wages regardless of how much income is received. Payments to choir leaders and singers are prohibited.

The bearded prelate also said that he had been advised of restrictions in the scheduling of church services—no later than 10 A.M. in the summer and no later than noon in the winter. One report told of a church that was closed for three months because a service had run fifteen minutes overtime.

Last Easter Sunday, according to information he received, guards were posted at the doors of some churches to turn away young people. Several disturbances resulted.

One letter he recently received told of an article in Izvestia which accused Western churchmen and newsmen of lying about church conditions in the Soviet Union. The letter said:

“If the foreign clergy and newspapers are coming to the defense of the Orthodox faith, and if they continue to fight for freedom of conscience, we bow to them and express gratitude because they give to us downtrodden the love of Jesus Christ which lifts up our spiritual forces.”

Archbishop John has been under direct attack in some Soviet publications for his Voice of America broadcasts. In June, Izvestia carried an article pointing out his former identity as a Russian prince—which is a fact—and doing so in a manner that depicts him as a servant of the American propaganda machine “with lies and provocation.”

A monograph by a professor in the Estonian Academy of Science debunked a Voice of America broadcast in which Archbishop John sought to promote the reconciliation of science and religion, contrary to the doctrine of atheistic evolution. The broadcast had included references to scientists who believe in a supernatural intelligence and design. The professor’s reply spoke of this use of the authority of science to support faith as a “naïve trick” employed by all who defend religion.

Before the Marxist regime, the Russian Orthodox Church was supported by the government and was officially and externally strong, but internally weak. Archbishop John says candidly: “We were indirectly responsible for the rise of a false religion.”

Appeal For Renewal

The young people of Yonkers, a pleasant and prosperous Hudson River community just north of New York City, are overwhelmingly the beneficiaries of all that the affluent society supplies. In mid-August city officials disclosed that 100 youths of upper middle-class families had become narcotics addicts, and 800 others were occasional users. Some had turned to crime to support their habit. Their ages were fourteen to twenty-two.

Details were grim and shaking: some teen-age girls made trips to Times Square to get money by prostitution; boys made trips to Harlem to obtain marijuana and heroin. Five children, left with servants while their parents went off to Europe, were found to be addicted when the parents came back from vacation. The narcotics scourge had spread through Yonkers in less than a year.

“The frightening thing about it is that only 2 per cent of those who are hooked can ever be cured,” said Captain Frank E. Vescio, acting chief of police. The best means known to psychiatry and medicine cure a scant 5 per cent of addicts.

In the face of such facts, what could be done? To one Roman Catholic priest, Msgr. Edward M. Betowski, it seemed the time had come to call a black fast, a severe form of penance that has all but disappeared from Western Catholicism.

“More parks, more playgrounds, more dances,” Msgr. Betowski told New York Times reporter Joseph Lelyveld, “none of them have worked. What did our Lord say, do you remember? There are some devils that are not driven out except by prayer and by fasting.”

That Sunday morning at all Masses, the 78-year-old pastor stood in his pulpit and pleaded with his 1,500 parishioners.

“My dear friends,” he said, “I am an old priest. In a very short time I must go to Judgment to answer for the spiritual condition of this parish.… I implore you from the bottom of my heart, of your own free will, to join with me in prayer and fasting out of love for sinners, but most of all out of love for Jesus Christ who suffered hunger and thirst and death itself on the Cross for us all.”

The appeal for voluntary total abstinence from food and water from 6 A.M. to 6 P.M. struck home. When fast day came, 400 persons jammed the Church for the 6 A.M. Mass and a score stood at the back.

The Roman Catholic Church of Christ the King is a weathered, brown-shingled wooden structure in the style of an English country church. Huge shade trees rise high above its peaked roof and bell tower. Msgr. Betowski, an aristocratic and scholarly priest who had taught homiletics in a Roman seminary for twenty-five years, has been pastor for a decade.

At vesper time that day, as the fast drew to a close, the stooped old priest, leaning his weight on his cane, took little half-steps down the center aisle of the church, past 380 parishioners in thirty rows of pews. After kneeling in front of the altar and touching his bald head to the second step, he rose. Then for fifty-eight minutes, without using notes, he poured out a moving and eloquent address on the need for spiritual renewal.

Vandals had gone out on Palisade Avenue behind the church by night and had painted “WELCOME TO JUNKIE’S PARADISE” in large block letters from curb to curb.

Narcotics addiction, Msgr. Betowski said, is basically a spiritual problem calling for a spiritual answer. He described the classic trilogy of evil influence—the world (“society organized apart from God”), the flesh (“our fallen human nature with its downward pull”), and the devil. “One may reasonably suspect the work of the devil in ruining the lives of so many boys and girls,” he declared. “If the devil can convince us that he does not exist, then that is his greatest triumph,” he warned.

“We must call on the Divine Physician, Jesus Christ. His diagnosis—you recall it, prayer and fasting. As he told his disciples—it’s the Word of God, it’s Scripture. There has been an emphasis lately on Scripture.”

Ecumenical Encounter

Three United Presbyterian leaders paid a visit to Pope Paul VI at the Vatican last month. Their twenty-minute audience, marked by “very real cordiality,” ended with a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer.

Meeting with the pontiff were Dr. Edler G. Hawkins, moderator; Dr. Eugene Carson Blake, stated clerk; and Richard I. Davis, lay chairman of the United Presbyterian Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations.

Hawkins said the discussion centered primarily on race problems and the ecumenical movement. The Pope, he said, noted that the racial issue is “universal, with implications beyond any specific country.”

“On the personal level,” said Hawkins, “the Pope expressed pleasure at my election, as a Negro, to the post of moderator.” Hawkins is the first member of his race to hold the office.

- More from John McCandlish Phillips

Theology

The Spiritual War

H. Daniel Friberg

Alongside the more obvious turmoil that now engulfs Viet Nam, there is a war being waged for souls. A dedicated coterie of American evangelical missionaries and Vietnamese Christians are pressing the claims of the Gospel in the face of numerous adverse circumstances such as Communist hostility, Roman Catholic influence, pagan culture, and sheer indifference. The spiritual conflict is graphically depicted in a new book published by Harper & Row, The Bamboo Cross, by Homer E. Dowdy.

“Viet Nam has its Christian stalwarts to match those of any place and time,” says Dowdy, former Flint, Michigan, newspaper reporter.

Dowdy’s account of guerrilla warfare is written from the behind-the-lines perspective of the Vietnamese mountain tribes-people, whose culture contrasts sharply with the more Oriental-type Vietnamese who have lived in the cities. The account revolves around Sau, a tribe leader, described as a man marked for torture and death if he is ever caught by the Communist Viet Cong.

Dowdy traveled throughout South Viet Nam to gather material. Cast in a novel-like narrative, his book suffers at points from overwriting. Recent political upheavals and Catholic-Buddhist riots serve, however, to focus timely interest on Dowdy’s volume.

“I got around by making myself as little known to the authorities as possible,” he says. “I was afraid if the Army knew I was there, they’d say I couldn’t go. As to front lines, there weren’t any. Small battles spring up all around you, and you never know when you will run into shooting.”

Dowdy recalls one trip with a missionary when they pulled the car up to a row of gunners in a ditch. The troops had cornered some Viet Cong guerrillas in a thicket and were trying to flush them out.

His only injury while in Viet Nam, however, was of a non-combative nature. He injured his right hand against a tree branch while riding an elephant in a tiger hunt. The injury pained him for three months.

Dowdy indicates that it was the acceptance of Christianity by the tribespeople that saved many of them from the Viet Cong. For centuries the mountain people had been reluctant to move down into the rich valley below because of fear of evil spirits. It is doubtful that they would have fled from the Viet Cong had not Sau introduced them to the Gospel.

Once they were in the valley, new problems came up. The tribespeople who were accustomed to the cold mountain air and familiar with the edible wild foods in their native forests found the new locale difficult. In the warmer climate they became ill and languid and quarrelsome, then hungry and angry as their first crops failed because of their inexperience. For a time they turned against Sau.

After they had become adjusted to their new homes, had harvested bountiful crops, and were enjoying more abundance than they had ever known, the Viet Cong again descended upon them. The guerrillas surrounded the valley on three sides and fenced in the people with deep rows of bamboo spikes. Once again they had to move.

The most dramatic episode in the book tells how Sau’s brother Kar led a mass exodus of his village down a river past the bloodthirsty Viet Cong.

The Evangelical Church of Viet Nam is the only Protestant national body in the country. It is the outgrowth of missionary work by the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which started back in 1911, when Robert A. Jaffray crossed from China into what was then French Indo-China. The Alliance currently maintains more than 100 missionaries in Viet Nam.

Dowdy states:

“Not to set up mission schools and orphanages and hospitals, but through teaching of the Bible to establish the Church, believing that a well-taught Church will develop its own conscience tor the physical, social, economic, and educational needs of its people—this has been the guiding rule.”

Airborne Enterprise

A compact twin-engine aircraft designed especially for use in pioneer missionary work underwent initial flight tests this past summer. Carl A. Mortenson, manager of the Evangel-Air development project, said he is satisfied with the results of the tests. He predicts that the plane will be operating in foreign skies within a year.

“The first phase of our flight test program indicates that we have a good basic design which is worth the usual ‘de-bugging’ and refinements normally incorporated into production aircraft built thereafter,” said Mortenson. “We are moving forward with the program leading to final certification and field evaluation.”

The plane, tagged the “Evangel 4500,” had its maiden flight on July 27. On board were Mortenson and Lynn Washburn, former missionary pilot in Peru now with Ozark Airlines. They wore crash helmets, shoulder harnesses, and parachutes. Firefighting equipment was placed at points along the runway. A physician and a nurse stood by with medical supplies.

The flight, made in the area near Hampshire, Illinois, where the plane was built, came off without incident. Another aircraft with a representative of the Federal Aviation Agency aboard flew chase. Since then the “Evangel” has logged more than twenty-five hours in the air.

Mortenson said that in some ways the plane performs even better than had been hoped. One objective of the design was to enable short take-off runs, perhaps as little as 600 feet. Mortenson said the plane surprised them by becoming airborne after a run of only 450 feet.

A defect discovered in the plane’s instrument system will be corrected without much difficulty, he added.

The rationale of the “Evangel” was that a twin-engine aircraft would reduce appreciably the risks involved in missionary flying, particularly in remote areas where landing strips are scarce. Moreover, the plane’s designers came up with a fuselage that handles bulky cargo and readily converts to accommodate six to eight passengers. The design blends power, ruggedness, compactness, and easy maintenance.

A non-profit corporation was established to aid the project. All financing has come through individual contributions. (Sec CHRISTIANITY TODAY, May 10, 1963; February 28, 1964.)

Survival In The Jungle

A noted Southern Baptist clergyman and a missionary pilot survived the crash landing of their single-engine plane in the Peruvian jungle this month.

Dr. W. A. Criswell, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, largest in the Southern Baptist Convention, was on an annual missions tour. Neither he nor the pilot, Floyd Lyons of the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ air arm, was injured.

The pair were flying in a pontoon-equipped Helio Courier when, according to Criswell, “the plane almost exploded. We lost all power and began to sink immediately toward the jungle.”

Lyons spotted a small creek, and though it was filled with rocks and logs he figured it was their only chance. The plane skidded over the obstacles and came to a stop on a sandbank.

A Return To Mombasa

Evangelical Christianity came to the mainland of East Africa in 1844 when the Ludwig Krapf family landed at Mombasa. Four days after arrival Krapf buried his young wife and six days later their infant child. But he clung to Mombasa and to his missionary task and explored the Kenya hinterland as well as the coastal region of Tanganyika to the south. In the ensuing 120 years his missionary successors and their national fellow Christians have spread Christianity throughout Kenya and Tanganyika and have seen the establishment of at least a nominal Christianity in Uganda. Last month the city of Mombasa, still the principal East African port and still predominantly Muslim, hosted a visiting throng of six thousand Christians from these lands.

A revival movement that arose in western Uganda about thirty years ago has spread to many parts of East Africa and unites across denominational lines (without severing them) many who wish to testify to their experience of salvation through Jesus Christ. Locally such people meet weekly in groups for Bible study, prayer, and mutual exhortation and testimony to God’s dealings with them in forgiveness and empowerment since the previous occasion. Such groups are related to one another through movement of participants from one community to another, in some cases through inspiration and instruction by common leaders, and through regional meetings and conventions. Last month’s four-day gathering at Mombasa was such a convention on a grand scale.

A speaker’s platform was set up in the shade of a huge fig tree on a schoolground overlooking the Indian Ocean. Many in the audience sat under mango trees. In the evening, floodlights were turned on. The Anglican communion seemed to be best represented, but the crowd also included large numbers from the Africa Inland Church, planted by the Africa Inland Mission, plus Presbyterians, Methodists, and a sprinkling of Lutherans, Mennonites, and Moravians from Tanganyika. Some sixty missionaries were on hand. The only reported incident was the delay of a special train from Moshi that struck and killed a rhinoceros.

After breakfast each morning an enlarged “team” met in one comer of the grounds screened off with palm-leaf thatch and got set for the work of the day by turning to God and his Word and by exhortation and consultation. Morning and afternoon sessions of the convention lasted from two to three hours. All addresses and public statements were made either in Swahili or in English, with sentence-by-sentence translation into the other language. In the evenings the crowd spread out into sixteen different meeting places in the city. As they returned to their sleeping quarters each night the moonlit streets echoed with the strains of the revival movement’s theme song, “Tukutendereza” (the Lord be praised).

Literacy’s Champion

Friends of Dr. Frank C. Laubach helped him to celebrate his eightieth birthday this month by treating him to a round of banquets throughout the country.

The noted “apostle to the illiterates” was born September 2, 1884, in Benton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary and went to the Philippines as a missionary. There he realized that the people’s greatest handicap was illiteracy, and since then he has probably done more to reduce illiteracy than any other man alive.

By conservative estimate, the “Each One Teach One” method Laubach developed nearly thirty-five years ago has brought the ability to read and write to some 60 million people in more than 100 countries.

“Do you think Christ is smiling at us Christians in America when all we can spare to save the world is one dollar out of twenty-two?” he asks. “If you could say to Christ, ‘Our church has $22,000; what should we do with it?’ would He say, ‘Put $21,000 in stained glass windows and a tower, and then send a thousand dollars abroad’?”

Laubach says that “compassion is our greatest strength. If Americans will mobilize their compassion, I have no doubt at all that we can stop the spread of Communism.”

The Discipling Function

A noted missionary leader suggests that better care of converts would considerably accelerate evangelization in non-Christian lands.

“Where comparisons are possible,” says Dr. Vernon Mortenson, “the number of baptisms is only 15 or 20 per cent of the professed conversions.”

Mortenson is general director of The Evangelical Alliance Mission and president of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association. His observations appear in the September–October issue of the IFMA News.

“If we discipled all professed converts to prepare them to take their proper places as functioning, reproducing members in local churches, we could greatly speed up world evangelization,” said Mortenson.

The lessons, he declared, are these:

“Not to evangelize less, but to disciple more so that the percentage of converts brought to maturity may be greatly increased.

“That every mission should recapture the New Testament emphasis and reshape its methods along New Testament lines to produce solid, steady growth in the churches leading, in turn, to ever higher levels of evangelistic activity and church establishment.

“That renewed emphasis be given to praying out men called to be missionary ‘apostles,’ whose specialization will be churches leading, in turn, to ever highering, counseling, warning, and establishing the believers as functioning members in local spiritual congregations.”

Free Transportation

New Air Force regulations spell out circumstances under which missionary groups and other religious organizations may fly goods abroad free of charge. Such cargo is sent via U. S. Air Force and Air National Guard training flights—which are necessary with or without cargo.

Religious groups may apply for cargo space on international flights through local Air Force transport units. Such units are stationed at Air Force bases throughout the country. Training flights are normally programmed three months in advance.

An Air Force spokesman in Washington said priority is given perishable goods and emergency supplies, particularly when disaster relief is involved. Transportation of individuals would be unusual, he said, but not altogether out of the question.

Training flights usually follow the standard global routes of the Military Air Transport Service, the spokesman added. Cargoes are accepted only if they do not change the flight destinations “appreciably,” he declared, and only when they do not compete with established commercial runs. He said, moreover, that military cargoes have priority and that approving authority for all cargo space applications rests with the Pentagon.

Congo Evacuation

Rebel activity in northeast Congo forced the evacuation of a number of American Protestant missionaries last month. Although a rebel leader vowed to wipe out all religious institutions in captured territories, there were no immediate reports of violence involving missionary personnel.

The Africa Inland Mission reported the evacuation of eighteen stations with some 120 missionaries. Conservative Baptists and the Evangelical Free Church said that dozens of their missionaries also were obliged to leave their posts in the northeast Congo region.

- More from H. Daniel Friberg

Religion, Politics, and Tax Exemptions

George Williams and Dwight L. Baker

Tax experts threw a scare at religious organizations this month. Spokesmen for the Internal Revenue Service, in public testimony given before a House subcommittee, said that about two dozen foundations—some of them with a religious bent—are under “very active” investigation and face possible revocation of their tax exemptions. Internal Revenue Commissioner Bertram M. Harding and his assistant Mitchell Rogovin, said a conclusion in one or two cases “will be reached very shortly.”

Some observers in Washington insist that the threats are designed merely to discourage foundations from becoming specifically active in the current election campaign. Inasmuch as most of the foundations in question seem to espouse a right-wing political philosophy, the announcement was interpreted as a move to head off propaganda crusades for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater. Other sources say it is coincidental that hearings by the House Small Business Subcommittee on abuses by tax-exempt foundations were held at the start of the election campaign.

Law prohibits disclosure of the identity of organizations whose tax-exempt status is under scrutiny, but subcommittee chairman Wright Patman, Democrat of Texas, indicated that Texas oil tycoon H. L. Hunt’s Life Line Foundation is one which he feels is no longer entitled to the privilege. An IRS district director has recommended that the Life Line Foundation’s tax exemption be revoked on grounds that its activities are political rather than educational. His IRS superiors, however, have not yet issued a final judgment in the case, and the recommendation has aroused a storm of indignation.

It was brought out during the House hearings that the other foundations whose tax status is in jeopardy use the mass media and have been discussed previously on the floor of Congress.

A year ago Democratic Senator Maurine B. Neuberger of Oregon declared that the 75-year-old Hunt gets “more radical rightwing propaganda for his tax-exempt dollar” than anyone else. She has named a number of other “right-wing groups … masquerading as ‘educational or religious’ organizations … financed by tax-free contributions from businessmen.”

Her list, which she said was not exhaustive, has included: America’s Future, Inc.; American Council of Christian Laymen; American Economic Foundation; Christian Anti-Communism Crusade; Christian’s Echoes Ministry; Christian Freedom Foundation; Church League of America; Circuit Riders; Economists’ National Committee on Monetary Policy; Foundation for Economic Education; and the Inter-Collegiate Society of Individualists.

Mrs. Neuberger said on the Senate floor that “to those who ask me why I concentrate my fire upon the extreme right, I answer that the flood of material which inundates my office daily, rarely, if ever, comes from the left.” She added that “undoubtedly” there will be abuses by groups of all political persuasions¹ and that any reforms “must be applied without regard to the ideological position of the offender.”

What are the boundary lines of political activities by tax-exempt organizations? IRS officials say they are difficult to locate. The Revenue Act of 1954 stipulated that tax-exempt organizations may not devote “a substantial part” of their activities to carrying on propaganda. But what is “substantial”?

The recent lobbying campaign by major American denominations in behalf of the civil rights bill was compared in intensity to the churches’ drive for prohibition earlier in the twentieth century. The National Council of Churches defended its civil rights bill activity on grounds that it did not entail a “substantial” part of the NCC budget.

Rogovin, in his testimony to the House subcommittee, said there is a flat prohibition against such organizations’ backing a candidate in a political campaign. President Johnson, then a Texas Senator, sponsored this ban as an amendment to a 1954 tax bill. A prominent Washington tax lawyer privately asserted, however, that such support is a technical matter and does not of itself disqualify organizations from tax exemptions.

The Christian Century, ecumenical weekly, has through the years made it a fairly regular practice to indicate editorially which presidential candidate it favors. This year the Century endorsed Johnson and promised to “do what we can” to contribute to Goldwater’s defeat.

It looks now as if a number of other liberal Protestant magazines will follow suit. Christianity and Crisis, editorial voice of theologians Reinhold Niebuhr and John C. Bennett, says in its October 5 issue: “We not only oppose Goldwater, we favor President Johnson.”

The endorsement of Johnson marks the first time in its 24-year history that the magazine has come out for a specific political candidate.

Earlier, the United Church Herald, official United Church of Christ organ, and several independent Episcopal publications indicated their opposition to Goldwater.

Charles Templeton: Another Career

Will the social stigma of departure from the ministry, divorce, and remarriage bar a man from becoming Prime Minister of Ontario? Not so, say Toronto supporters of their hometown boy, Charles (Chuck) B. Templeton, 49.

Templeton’s debut in provincial politics, however, was unsuccessful. He lost a September 10 by-election in which he had tried, under the banner of Canada’s Liberal Party, to wrest a seat in the Ontario legislature that has been held by Conservatives for twenty-seven years. And he announced immediately thereafter he was withdrawing as a candidate for the Liberal Party leadership in Ontario (a leader was to be chosen this month).

Political aspirations represented a new career for Templeton, and some shouted “effrontery” at his immediate drive for the Prime Minister’s office.

Templeton, however, has mastered new careers before. He started as a syndicated sports cartoonist and became perhaps the greatest evangelist Canada ever produced (see CHRISTIANITY TODAY, March 31, 1958; Dec. 20, 1963); later he became a successful playwright, a national TV personality, and finally a §24,000-a-year newspaper executive with Canada’s largest daily, the Toronto Star.

What’s Templeton’s secret of worldly success? He’s a communicator—and a jolly good one! He also has an apparent honest concern for people that is appealing.

He feels Canada’s moral standards are below par and blames bad home environment and the failure of the Church to communicate a vital and relevant faith. He favors repeal of the national ban on contraceptives and feels the Church needs to get more immediately interested in politics, where its moral force can be brought to bear. “They can’t do this unless they’re out there where life is lived—in the political area.”

Since Templeton left his twenty-year ministry, due to doubts about the nature and purpose of God, he has been a searcher for “other media of communication where I may be able to play a useful role.” He seeks now in the political arena, and some speculate he even sees himself as Canada’s Prime Minister someday. Indeed, in the past few years, he has been asked a few times to run federally. He sees Canada’s role as a leader of the middle powers in world affairs, but in close relation to the U. N. The West’s influence in the world will increase, he says, where the Judaeo-Christian tradition is expressed in a concern for people, rather than in power politics. The big moral issue the West faces concerns integrity in our dealings with other nations, with each other, in business, in society, in the home. As for the cold war, he says it can be settled only when Russia decides to allow it to happen. The rift between Russia and China will make it possible.

Successful second marriage to a pretty TV singer adds to the ambition and optimism of Chuck Templeton. Politically, his wife, Sylvia, will be good for him. She’s personable and speaks French—a product of her Montreal upbringing. They regularly attend the United Church with their four children.

Templeton’s optimistic pitch for political office, however, lacked a notable factor—official support from an influential portion of Canada’s Liberal top brass. So he rested his hope mainly in appeal to party grass roots, and failed.

Three years yet remain before Ontario Liberals have a chance to unseat the Conservatives, who have held provincial power for the past twenty-one years. Templeton may still figure in their future.

KENNETH G. WARES

The Call To Awake

Evangelist Billy Graham renewed his plea for moral awakening during a ten-day crusade in Omaha, Nebraska, this month. The crusade opened to nightly crowds of more than 16,000.

“The Communists want America intact,” said Graham. “They want our industries and our material wealth so they are waiting until we are soft enough for them to take over. The great need is for a spiritual awakening that will throw back the tide of evil.”

Graham and his team were welcomed to the Midlands by Nebraska Governor Frank B. Morrison, who issued a proclamation declaring September 4–13 as “Billy Graham Days” in the state.

Following the Omaha meetings Graham was scheduled to conduct a ten-day crusade in Boston, beginning September 18.

Books For The President

A delegation from the Christian Booksellers Association was scheduled to visit the White House this month to present fifty books to President Johnson. A White House spokesman said the books were intended for Johnson’s personal library.

The books were chosen by means of a poll of bookstore owners and operators who are members of the evangelically oriented CBA. Several evangelical librarians have expressed disappointment that the organization introduced the commercial element into the selection process so conspicuously. They say that the resulting selections are not representative enough of the best in evangelical literature.

The CBA made a similar presentation of fifty other books to President Eisenhower in 1956.

Campus Mission

A new campus religious movement makes its debut this fall.

Known as “Campus Mission,” the nonsectarian work will stress person-to-person contacts, avoid elaborate organization, and have no official chapters as such. The founder, the Rev. Neil H. Swanson, says that focal points of training will be seminars, where selected students and student workers will gather, and an extensive program of reading materials to be published especially for Campus Mission.

Swanson, who for the last six years has been executive secretary of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, plans to write much of the literature himself.

A novel feature planned by the minister is a series of tape-recorded “experimental conversations” between, “mature Christians” and students with questions about religion. He hopes that these talks, which may be set up in advance, will help to teach the person-to-person approach to Christian witness.

Swanson also hopes to develop contacts with existing campus religious organizations such as the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade for Christ. Regarding the orientation of Campus Mission as compared with these two organizations, Swanson said that the “kind of people” his work would attract might be “different” from those reached by Campus Crusade and IVCF. “But I’m not sure about that,” he added.

A few titles Swanson plans to issue are “How to Talk About Religion,” “Each One Reach One,” “On Thinking You Are What You Are Not,” and “Beyond Doctrine.”

The last title does not imply an “eclectic” position, according to Swanson. The object was rather to avoid making an “idol out of a particular theory.” He did indicate that his position might be more liberal than conservative, but at the same time he expressed doubts about the validity and meaning of such labels.

A Life Spared

The nine-year-old daughter of a Christian Reformed Church minister miraculously escaped serious harm last month after being abducted by a sex pervert. An account of the incident appears in the Banner, the church’s weekly magazine.

The girl, Kristin Smith, daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Thomas L. Smith of South Bend, Indiana, was seized early one afternoon near her home and held prisoner for twelve hours. part of the time the abductor kept her in the trunk of his car. At two o’clock the following morning he threw her gagged and bound from a bridge into a river twenty-one feet below. She landed on a sandbar, narrowly missing the main river channel, which is fourteen feet deep at that point.

Kristin was able to work the gag out of her mouth and call for help. Her cries were heard, and she was rescued by rowboat. She suffered only a minor injury.

A suspect was in the hands of police within half an hour.

Campus Mission will also seek to avoid becoming too “professional.” The stress will be on students reaching students, “knowhow,” and “tools.”

Founded with the conviction that the college and university campus represents a “major area of mission,” the work will be financed by an annual grant for three years by Lilly Endowment, Inc., and matching private contributions.

The beginning of Campus Mission this fall coincides with the “real start of the college boom,” as it has been called. The year 1964 marks the first big campus influx of World War II babies. IVCF has announced that it has just accepted twenty-seven new staff workers to cope with the mushrooming student population.

Impact On History?

A prominent New York minister roundly criticized Governor and Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller last month, asserting that “this divorce and re-marriage, far from being a private affair, may easily have changed the course of American history.”

The Rev. Harald Bredesen, pastor of the First Reformed Church of Mount Vernon, New York, said Mrs. Rockefeller was “unjust” in seeking custody of her children from her former husband, Dr. James S. Murphy.

Bredesen, well-known for his role in the current charismatic revival, is chairman of the board of Blessed Trinity Society. In a Sunday morning sermon, he said that Mrs. Rockefeller, “having broken her first contract, of lifelong fidelity to her husband, now [seeks] to break her second, a separation agreement that preceded their legal divorce, leaving the four children with her husband.”

“What was his offense?” Bredesen asked. “Simply that another man whose power and prestige were as great as his principle is small, coveted his wife and she coveted him. To have him she was willing to break up her marriage and sign away her children. She was willing to sacrifice the happiness of both their families to have him. And now that she has him, she wants her children too. Her desire is quite natural, and quite unjust.”

Bredesen, who did not mention in the sermon that Murphy also remarried, noted that for Rockefeller as a presidential candidate “the tide was running fairly strong … but it slacked. His lapse cost him his chance to become the leader of his nation at an incomparably significant juncture of history, and it left the way clear for his political opposite.”

Jerusalem And Christian Interests

Pope Paul VI reportedly plans to establish a permanent theological study center in Jerusalem that will improve the Roman Catholic Church’s relations with other sectors of Christendom as well as with non-Christian religions. According to Religious News Service, he has entrusted preparations for the center to Father Theodore M. Hesburg, president of the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, who also heads the International Federation of Catholic Universities.

It was not immediately ascertained whether the center would be established in the Jordanian or the Israeli sector of Jerusalem. However, there are no diplomatic relations between Israel and Vatican City, which might indicate that the Pope is thinking of the Jordanian side. Moreover, there is already a pontifical institute operated by the Vatican in the Israeli portion of the city.

Informed observers say the Vatican has never retracted its position that Jerusalem should be an international city. This viewpoint, if perpetuated, would probably deter establishment of a new study center anywhere in Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, an American Christian Holy Land Library had been proposed by Dr. G. Douglas Young, director of the American Institute of Holy Land Studies (see CHRISTIANITY TODAY, August 28, 1964).

Disappointing Preview

Publication of portions of a purported draft declaration on Catholic-Jewish relations—consisting of paragraphs 32 to 34 of the schema on ecumenism to be submitted to the current session of the Second Vatican Council—stirred reactions in Jewish circles ranging from sharp disappointment to outright criticism.

Religious News Service reported from New York that disappointment was felt because of what some commentators said was a failure to deal adequately with the ancient charge of deicide made against the Jews in regard to the crucifixion of Christ. Other commentators took exception to what they considered an unfortunate stress on the church’s “great desire” for the conversion of the Jews.

There was no explanation of how the presumably secret document came into the possession of newspapers that ran the complete text of the three sections of the schema, sections representing a revision of an original draft presented, but not voted upon, at the Vatican Council’s second session.

The earlier version of the Catholic-Jewish declaration emphasized that all mankind, and not the Jews alone, was responsible for the death of Christ, and this was hailed by Jewish leaders as a clear repudiation of the charge of deicide.

However, according to an unofficial translation, the new text merely states that Catholics should “refrain from accusing the Jews of our times of what was perpetrated during the Passion of Christ.”

Pressure On ‘Purity’

Bowing before increased pressure from both religious and secular fronts, the Israel Chief Rabbinate announced last month that it would delete specific reference to the Bene Israel community from India in its instructions on marriage. The directives singled out members of the Bene Israel by requiring investigation of their racial “purity” before allowing them to marry Jews outside their community.

Chief Rabbi Issar Yehuda Unterman capitulated after a session of the Knesset (parliament). During the Knesset debate Prime Minister Levi Eshkol urged the Rabbinate “to take public opinion into account, and to find a way of dispelling the causes of the sense of unfairness and removing every reason for a sense of discrimination” against the members of the Bene Israel community. He emphasized that they were “Jews in all respects … without any limitation or distinction, equal in rights to all other Jews in all matters, including the laws of personal status.”

Following a dramatic all-night session with the mayor of Jerusalem and other mediators, leaders of the Bene Israel agreed to accept the revised directives and to call off a five-week-old sitdown strike by thirty families in the government building.

The day before the Knesset convened, Unterman spoke to a rally of 500 rabbis and gave no indication that a solution was remotely possible. He declared that “the aboltion of the directives would mean the abolition of all the decisions ever made by the Chief Rabbinate.”

The rabbinical wall of resistance began to crumble, however, following the Prime Minister’s Knesset speech in which he strongly upheld the Bene Israel position. His statement received the approval of the Knesset by a vote of 43 to 2 with 30 abstentions.

A second telling blow that undoubtedly influenced the Rabbinate to back down was the loss of much support it had previously enjoyed from the religious segment of the population. At the same Sunday rally an authoritative orthodox Israeli voice was raised in condemnation of the Chief Rabbinate’s directives aimed at the Bene Israel. Rabbi M. Hacohen of the Ministry for Religious Affairs said that the directives were “out of place.”

- More from George Williams and Dwight L. Baker

Theology

About This Issue: September 25, 1964

The Books and Issues in Theology Issue gathers together a variety of significant theological concerns. A survey of forthcoming religious books singles out volumes of special interest. An index of Continental theologians accompanies the continuing assessment of the European theological situation. Several essays deal with the heavy burden of duty resting upon the clergy today. Recognized as contributing to this burden are the secondary demands upon ministerial time and the doctrinal flux of our age.

This issue also contains the annual index, now a treasured resource in the libraries of ministerial and lay readers alike.

Ideas

On Social Action Committees

Throughout the churches there are many signs of dissatisfaction with the social action committees of various major denominations. There is a growing feeling that these committees are used to promote the ideological views of those who head them.

The argument for their existence is that such committees are needed to prod the social conscience of the Church. Without them, it is said, the Church would fail to penetrate the society of which it is a part, and would stagnate.

What is the primary responsibility of the Church? To preach the Gospel of God’s redemption and renewal of the individual through Jesus Christ, or to reform society? According to the Bible, the Church is basically and inescapably committed to the proclamation of the Gospel. Yet it must not only sow the divine seed but also, when the seed takes root and grows into eternal life, nurture it. Along with its proclamation of the gospel message, the Church is through its redeemed members obligated to be the salt of the earth.

The Church must look thoughtfully at its entire program of evangelism, missions, and education. The basic philosophy of the Christian mission must be clearly understood if the Church is to fulfill its legitimate role in the world. Disturbed by a growing lack of influence on the twentieth century, the Church is in grave peril of an increasing deviation from its divinely assigned task. It is in danger of fanning the flames of futility when it should and could be fighting Satan’s fires by faithful preaching of the Word. And this includes both the evangelistic and prophetic aspects of the inspired Word—in short, the whole counsel of God.

A study of the sources of social, political, and economic pronouncements made by church courts will disclose that they almost invariably originate in social action committees and are presented in a “report” that is frequently passed without adequate study or debate.

More is at stake in the issuance of such politico-economic edicts than is usually acknowledged. Whether these edicts truly represent the member churches for which the social action committees profess to speak and whether these committees have the necessary knowledge and competence to decide secular issues are not the only concerns, important as they are. The Church of Christ has no jurisdiction in the realm of politico-economic legislation; it has no mandate for commitments that fall outside the Church’s spiritual and moral responsibility, no authority to become involved in controversial secular issues. The fundamental issue is one of the Church’s jurisdiction—whether there is a Word of God in such pronouncements.

When the Church commits itself, or is committed to, debatable politico-economic positions, its authority and competence in ecclesiastical matters will soon be questioned also. Not only do secular pronouncements introduce a divisive influence among Christians, but in the minds of people generally they tend to break down respect for the Church and promote doubt about its qualification to speak authoritatively on spiritual and moral subjects.

The social conscience of Christians does indeed need prodding. But surely there are many methods of achieving this result without perpetuating the errors and risks of present procedures.

Questions need to be answered about the areas covered by social action reports. Why is social concern confined chiefly to certain areas? Why is a word so seldom spoken against the dangers of alcohol, against the liquor industry’s subtly misleading advertisements and its seeming stranglehold on sports promotion? Complacency about alcohol reaches into the official leadership of many local congregations, where social drinking is accepted as a desirable way of life. Why the silence of many social action committees?

Why so little word against the pornography found in stores and theaters in every hamlet, town, and city? Why so little comment about the view of sex that is debasing our national life, leading young people astray, and affecting the older generation as well?

The Surgeon General’s report gives evidence that excessive cigarette smoking predisposes to lung cancer. But this hazard is largely disregarded while many church sociologists set an example of chain smoking. Why are social action committees silent?

We are not advocating that either corporate churches or our pulpits become platforms of “Do this” and “Don’t do that.” Legalistic Christianity has little to commend it. But we are asking why social action committees frequently neglect certain critical social issues that obviously involve questions of morality and indulge in legislative matters mainly involving politico-economic choices.

A Challenge Not A Spectacle

The 1963 Demographic Yearbook of the United Nations shows that the world’s population is growing even more rapidly than the rate of 1.7 (46 million annually) which caused such consternation when it was announced in 1961. Last year the rate had risen to 2.1, a global increase of 63 million. Moreover, countries with the fewest natural resources, lowest food production, and minimal medical and sanitary services are growing fastest.

What do these facts say to evangelical Christians who in this country enjoy an abundance of material and spiritual sustenance? Surely they speak eloquently to the obligation of stewardship. We who feed our dogs a better diet than that on which millions barely survive and who are nourished spiritually to the point of surfeit through the preaching of the Word and through the printed page need to awake to the realization that the population explosion is not a spectacle to be watched in impassive unconcern but a call to more prayerful giving.

The New Testament speaks repeatedly and incisively about disregard of human need. “If anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” John asks. The collection for the poor in Jerusalem was close to the heart of Paul. By parable and by action our Lord taught the obligation of helping the needy.

But the tragedy of the world’s millions transcends hunger and disease. Its deepest aspect is spiritual. Multitudes who lack adequate food and shelter are starving for the bread of life; as world population mounts, the number of human beings who have never even heard of Christ is soaring far beyond the number who have been evangelized.

Demographic statistics are not just for U. N. researchers. They compel Christians in this affluent land to rethink their stewardship. In a lost, suffering, and sinful world none of us has the right to hug to himself his material prosperity and to enjoy only within his immediate fellowship the unsearchable riches of Christ. Insensitivity to the command to share in healing the sick and feeding the hungry, disobedience of the Great Commission—these are an affront to the God who gave his only Son for the lost world. The unanswerable argument for Christians to give for the amelioration of physical and spiritual need is found in Paul’s words: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

A Specter In Contemporary Theology

A question that New Testament critics can no longer evade haunts European theology today. In Hugh Anderson’s words, it is this: “What bearing or relevance for Christian faith or theology has historical knowledge that is gained from historico-scientific research?” (Jesus and Christian Origins, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. 93).

Ever since John the Baptist’s clarion call, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,” the relation of the historical Jesus to the preached Christ has been of vital concern. In the nineteenth century, naturalistic historicism rejected the apostolic Christ as a speculative invention and professed to discover an original non-miraculous Jesus. In the twentieth century, naturalistic scientism, reflected in the imaginative religious mood of Bultmann, commended the “apostolically proclaimed Christ” but dismissed the life, deeds, and words of Jesus of Nazareth as irrelevant to Christian faith. Whereas the old rationalistic liberalism championed the historical Jesus at the expense of the “kerygmatic Christ,” its dialectical-existential successor championed the “kerygmatic Christ” to the neglect of the historical Jesus. The “witness of faith” thus replaced interest in the “facts of history”; existential experience rather than objective history became the pivot of divine revelation.

At first the new theology’s description of revelation in wholly transcendent categories, independent of historical correlation, was welcomed. It seemed a necessary corrective to rationalistic liberalism’s derivation of Christian realities from the socio-cultural environment. But theological neglect of the historical foundation of Christian belief proved costly. Preserving only an oblique reference to the bare fact of Jesus’ life and crucifixion, Bultmann’s existentialism ran the risk of dissolving the Christian kerygma into a Christ-myth and the Gospel into a speculative theory of existence. In defining faith as a frontier moment of repeated existential decision, Bultmann rejected the evangelical view that Jesus of Nazareth is the ground of Christian faith. And Barth, despite his tardy repudiation of existentialism and his firmer connection of kerygma with divine deeds, by distinguishing Geschichte from Historie obscured Christianity’s historical foundations also. For Barth and Bultmann alike, historical exegesis is no valid avenue of knowledge concerning Jesus Christ but a faithless clinging to this-worldly props.

But the debate over the significance of the historical Jesus for Christian theology has now become a central issue in contemporary theology. By suppressing historical interest in Jesus Christ, the kerygma-theology encouraged a Docetic Christology; that is to say, it tended to reduce the Christ’s presence in history to a phantom appearance. While the kerygmatic repetition that Christ is Lord held sole importance, the historical facets of the life and ministry of Jesus became irrelevant.

Present-day Christian theology can be rescued from this costly development only by a full rehabilitation of the historical realities of the Gospel. Because biblical Christianity demands an open interest in the historical Jesus, both post-Barthian and post-Bultmannian scholars now insistently raise the question of the connection or unity of the historical Jesus with the kerygmatic Christ, and the link between the teaching of Jesus and the apostolic proclamation. In their “new quest” for the historical Jesus, Bultmann’s successors struggle to establish the continuity of the kerygma with the mission and message of Jesus of Nazareth. But their use of lingering existential categories such as “the immediacy of Jesus for me” and “encounter with the selfhood of Jesus” precludes a definitive contribution to a historical investigation of the relation between the historic Jesus and the kerygmatic Christ. The “new questers” know that to dehistorize the kerygma is theologically illegitimate. But their assertion that historical aspects of the life and work of Jesus are inseparably related to the Christ of faith hangs in mid-air. Even some of the critics who advance beyond the Marburg mythology and the post-Bultmann reconstructions as well do no justice to the realities of historical revelation.

Is it really true, as Hugh Anderson would have us believe, that Christ’s incarnation, resurrection, and ascension are events “concerning which the historian qua historian can really say nothing, save that a number of people came to hold belief in these things at a certain time in the course of human history” (ibid., p. 60)? Did the evangelists suppress their instinct for historical reality when they testified to these great events? That historical science cannot fully plumb the realities of the biblical kerygma is no reason for succumbing to negative historical criticism, or for demeaning what historical investigation can establish. To be sure, the historico-scientific method of research about Jesus cannot fully explain the psychological processes by which he was recognized as the Christ; faith-response is not open to historical study. Nor does the historical fact of the empty tomb of itself give assurance of a Risen Lord. But the sensitive historian is not so bound to an intra-worldly nexus of causes and effects that he must ascribe New Testament realities to subjective factors at the great cost of discrediting competent eyewitnesses.

Anderson endorses Bultmann’s call to rid the apostolic message of “the false scandal of the obsolete mythological world view, ideas and language, in which it has been clothed in the New Testament” (p. 53). He insists that “the Bible’s language about God, the world, and history is permeated with mythological traits,” so that “there is no escape from the task of demythologizing” (p. 75). He ignores the contributions of conservative scholars like Machen and Warfield to the history-and-faith controversy, while he disparages the “uncritical evangelicals” (p. 76) and speaks of biblical authoritarianism as uncritical (p. 78). He approves the liberal theology taught in American Protestant seminaries by Bushnell, Clarke, and Brown as “deeply evangelical” (p. 62). He prizes the socio-historical method above a strictly historical approach to the New Testament (p. 70) because it stresses historical-human factors in the reception and interpretation of revelation and the kerygma (p. 75).

The merit of Anderson’s book lies in its full reflection of influential theological currents, in its recognition of the crucial importance of the history-faith problem for contemporary Christianity, in its analysis of certain weaknesses of existential exegesis, and in its awareness of significant recent biblical studies by New Testament scholars. But at the central point of commentary on faith-history tensions, Anderson fails to provide either an adequate solution or a clear alternative. Despite emphasis on the importance of history for the kerygma, he reduces that history to relative importance and, in fact, leaves its range and character in doubt. Indeed, he limits the role of the historical method. The historian, he says, “may constantly protect the Church’s theology from relapsing into a historical speculation … he can preserve … the truth that our faith and our religion are rooted and grounded in a particular history and person and life; he can … throw some light on how Jesus’ contemporaries understood him and even, to some extent, on how he may have wished to be understood” (p. 316). But if the historian cannot, as Anderson insists he cannot, grant legitimacy to any historical grounding of faith; if he cannot authenticate any sure words or deeds of Jesus; if the records upon which he depends transform the basic historical facts of the life of Jesus; and if, moreover, faith is wholly dependent upon encounter by the Risen Christ, as Anderson also contends—then the historian’s inquiry is foredoomed to irrelevance. The modern theological road often follows many welcome detours around peril-fraught landscapes. Anderson steers a non-Bultmannian course for a large part of his journey. But his observance of historical markers is hurried, and he is mainly concerned with the vision of the kerygmatic Christ. In the last analysis, Bultmann’s existentialism still remains the shortest route between Spirit-faith and historical skepticism.

In Search Of An Identity

The greensward of Chicago’s Midway divides the gray Gothic of the University of Chicago’s inner campus from the sharply contrasting modern architecture of its new Center for Continuing Education. No less striking were the contrasts within this conference center last month when the Faculty Christian Fellowship, related to the National Council of Churches, met there for six days to consider “Faith and Learning in the University.”

No single theological view pretended to hegemony at the start of the conference or was awarded it during the course of the conference. While one speaker would champion Luther and Calvin, another would claim that Johann Sebastian Bach was “just as significant to the study of theology” as the two great Reformers. Claims were pressed by a Roman Catholic observer and a Unitarian speaker. There were calls for theological revision, but no guidelines for such revision were agreed on.

Assembling for its first national meeting since its founding conference eleven years ago (regional meetings are held annually), the FCF was confessedly at a crossroads. This conference highlighted its continuing search for an identity. Formed originally for college and university teachers, the FCF was to give “inclusive expression to the concerns and life of a community of Christian teachers dedicated to an exploration of the meaning of faith and its implications for higher learning and the teaching vocation.” No doctrinal basis was established, although study groups turned often to the thought of men like Tillich and the Niebuhrs.

There were various attempts to make FCF an organization with a definite membership, but these failed. A major continuing problem has been the inability of the leadership to arrive at a clear understanding of just what the FCF is, what it should do, and who should compose it. Financial help from several foundations has consequently ceased, able professors have dropped out, and some of its leaders now speak of the “failure of the FCF.”

Early this year the members of the governing FCF general committee asked the NCC Commission on Higher Education to replace them with an NCC faculty committee, which would cooperate with denominational board personnel.

The Chicago conference, thus faced with an accomplished fact, reflected a common uncertainty as to where this new development will lead. Missouri Synod Lutheran and Southern Baptist voices expressed uneasiness over NCC control. Interest was shown in a non-competing indigenous order of Christian scholars, in which prayer and theological study would hold a prominent place.

Daily lecturer for the Chicago conference was theologian Joseph Haroutunian of the university’s Divinity School. Witty and ebullient, he proved a popular choice, while striking a more biblical note than was reflected in most of the conference speeches and seminar discussions. He pleaded for the centrality of the Cross by which Christ effected restoration of communion of man with God and man with man. He was disturbed by the extent of popular acceptance of Bishop John Robinson’s Honest to God.

But many at the conference were not. One suggested that perhaps terms like “God” and “theology” should be abandoned. Another said: “We are not as far from certain atheistic professors as we thought.” But evangelicals were also heard from, even if the weight of opinion was decidedly not on their side.

The conference was well organized and gave large opportunity for a stimulating exchange of ideas on a competent level. But the theological mood was aptly described by one conferee: “We are like Abraham, who ‘went out, not knowing whither he went.’ ” And in the current organizational transition, this also seemed to describe quite well the Faculty Christian Fellowship.

Three Little Words

Had the Reformation been only a debate whether priority of authority belongs to the Pope, it might have been just another recorded and all but forgotten medieval scholastic controversy that might have left history unchanged. But the Reformation was much more. It was also the joyous spiritual dynamic that flowed from Luther to others on his discovery that a man can find his peace with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The excitement and power of this truth turned the Reformation into a historic movement that continues today and still shapes Protestantism, providing joy and peace men find nowhere else.

Justification by faith alone—this is theological shorthand for the heart of the Protestant message. It has always been the one truth about which Lutherans in particular were confident.

At least it was. Even on this point, things seem to be changing. Not that something new has been added—though it has; rather, something old seems, if not disappearing, at least obscured.

Last year the Lutheran World Federation met in Helsinki. The assembly theme was “Christ Today,” and the chief task of the assembly was to show the meaning and relevance of “justification by faith” to modern man. Delegates asked how this cardinal truth can be shown to have significance for the many today who no longer believe in God, or at least have little sense of sin and guilt.

The assembly drew up a statement of the meaning of justification by faith; yet it could not muster enough agreement to issue the statement as an approved assembly pronouncement.

On the first day of September of this year the federation’s Executive Committee met in Iceland. It was informed that “Assembly Document 75,” as the section on justification by faith is called, will, with slight revisions by the federation’s Commission on Theology, be distributed by Lutheran World Federation headquarters to member and non-member churches, and also be published in book form. It was emphasized, however, that this statement on justification by faith “should not be viewed as a systematic presentation of the common opinion of the LWF.”

What was wrong? Why could not a world gathering of Lutheranism, whose baptized membership is more than 56 million, issue a commonly accepted statement about the meaning of justification by faith to its own membership and to the modern unbelieving men of our times? A truth about which Luther was confident, a truth that not only Lutherans but Protestants in general have long regarded as a cardinal, central, clear tenet of the Gospel—has this truth now become so obscure and uncertain that a world gathering of Lutherans, even with the help of a theological commission, cannot with one voice speak to modern men?

Some delegates at Helsinki opposed the issuance of any LWF statement on justification because this might be regarded by some people as having “quasi-confessional authority.” If the assembly’s intention had been to formulate a creed, one could understand such reluctance. But Helsinki was not engaged in creed-writing; it was trying to proclaim the heart of the Gospel to modern men. Even in this limited attempt, the delegates could not find one voice.

Other Helsinki delegates questioned whether such words as “sin,” “grace,” and “justification” should still be used to explain the Gospel, or whether these should be dropped and new definitive concepts adopted. Here we seem to come closer to what muted the voice of Lutheranism at Helsinki and reduced it to the position where it now issues a document—and a book—telling modern man what justification by faith means and at the same time explaining in effect, “We are not all agreed that this is the meaning that justification by faith has for the modern man of the twentieth century.”

If the Church of Christ cannot issue a statement telling its contemporaries how to be justified through faith and what it means to be so justified, and if it cannot declare that “sin” is the kind of reality from which a man can be “justified” through “grace,” then something is woefully wrong and the trumpet no longer sends out a certain sound.

The Neglected Treasure

Reports stemming from recent Christian Booksellers’ Conventions show that the Bible is still far and away the world’s best seller. Moreover, the circulation of religious literature in general is increasing, and even the largest book publishers have found a fertile field in Christian devotional material representing the conservative tradition.

Books about the Bible, devotional and theological works, must never supersede the devotional use of the Word of God itself. Even in some seminary circles one hears more about Barth, Brunner, and Bultmann than about the Bible.

The abiding attraction of the Bible as represented by the number of copies Americans buy each year contrasts ironically with the fact that biblical norms are so little practiced in government, in business and labor, in home and personal life. Surely no greater tragedy can befall a nation than that of paying homage to a book that is left unread, and giving lip service to a way of life that is not followed. For by this attitude men pass judgment upon the Book, and they will awaken to discover some day that the Book, in turn, has passed judgment upon them.

The dismaying discrepancy between Bible buying and Bible reading on the part of American people should be a call to repentance. At a time when the Bible cannot be used in public school devotions and when the gap between the Christian faith and the American state is widening, there is need for a greater use of the Bible by the individual.

If the American people would use with mind and heart the spiritual treasure their money has bought, our nation might experience a radical awakening.

Nobody Goes Scot Free

The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith has now learned from an interview of Roman Catholics that 61 per cent believe that Jews are “most responsible for crucifying Christ.” An earlier report showed 69 per cent of the Protestants interviewed gave the same answer. According to the study the Roman Catholic respondents “were inclined to attribute evil motives to the Jews for rejecting Christ as the Messiah.” All this, the league feels, creates an unnecessary anti-Semitism.

Is it perhaps also true that the very questions asked create an unnecessary anti-Semitism? Is not the question about who is “most responsible” itself prejudicial?

But the difficulty lies deeper. Too often such questions are asked on the presupposition of total Jewish innocence of the death of Christ, so that any answer from either a Protestant or a Catholic that implies (in any degree) Jewish involvement and guilt is labeled as anti-Semitic. When the league’s president, Dore Schary, says “the issue is in Christian hands,” he speaks only half of the truth. He says, “Jews will not pay the price of conversion.” But he should also recognize that Christians cannot concede their Christian faith to establish Jewish innocence. This is also a source of anti-Semitism, and it is not “in Christian hands.”

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