It may be that future students of Protestant Christianity, looking back on this twentieth century, will see in its latter half the emergence of an evangelicalism that combined full commitment to the authority of the Bible with openness to new knowledge and concern for contemporary restatement of the truth of God. In fact, even now there are plain indications of a renaissance of evangelicalism that is cutting across denominational lines with mounting strength.

Three trends in particular point in this direction. They are the coming of age of present-day evangelical scholarship; the maturation, philosophically and academically, of conservative Christian education; and the expansion both in depth and breadth of the Gospel outreach.

First of all, evangelical scholarship is growing up. Within the past 10 or 15 years many more books of scholarly competence and clear biblical conviction have been published than was the case in preceding decades. Moreover, the number of conservative scholars who, with training in first rank universities and graduate schools, are fully acquainted with competing liberal views, has markedly increased. In periodical literature, both popular and academic, the scholarly thrust is also being felt.

Again, evangelical education has been coming out of the shell of parochialism that has hitherto restricted its range. Whereas for years it proceeded unquestioningly along well-worn paths, educators have now begun to think critically about what they are doing and to work out philosophies of teaching and administration in accord with a biblical and theological framework. Slowly but surely the gap is being closed between an accredited secular education, academically respectable but spiritually ineffectual, and a zealous Christian education too little concerned about standards. Today schools and colleges committed to the evangelical faith are with few exceptions agreed that the attainment of academic excellence is not only compatible with doctrinal soundness but also obligatory for education that would glorify God.

As for the outreach of the Gospel, new methods, such as those of the Wycliffe Translators, short-wave radio, and the use of missionary aviation, are opening many doors; while agencies like Young Life, Youth for Christ, and Inter-Varsity, having attained a greater measure of stability, are in their fields keeping pace with the world-wide mass evangelism represented by the Graham Crusades.

But along with signs of advance there is great need for self-criticism on the part of the evangelical movement today. That it has weaknesses is undeniable. Also undeniable is the necessity for a candid consideration of such problems as these: a tendency to eclecticism; a confusion of interpretation with ultimate truth: failure to proclaim the whole counsel of God; and an insufficient awareness, at least by some, of the peril of schism.

The tendency to eclecticism is one of the hazards of contemporary evangelical thought. For conservative theology to be hospitable to new insights into God’s truth is laudable, but for it to espouse new positions simply to keep up intellectually with the Joneses is dangerous. An aggregate of various views does not provide an abiding frame of reference. Although open-mindedness means listening to other views, there comes a time when one has to make up his own mind. The trouble with philosophical and theological eclecticism is that it is liable to be invertebrate.

But the coin has another side. The possession of a clear frame of reference must not lead to rigid identification of time-honored interpretations with absolute, immutable truth. No system of interpretation, no exegetical party line, however widely accepted, is to be equated with the ultimate truth of Scripture. This is not to deny the essentiality of sound doctrine. But deductive from Scripture must not be confused with the authority of Scripter itself.… It is the Word of God, both written and incarnate, that is truth.

To identify as another problem of evangelicalism the need to proclaim the whole counsel of God according to the Bible is to risk misunderstanding. After all, has it not been the pride of conservative theologians that they preach the whole truth as it runs the gamut of doctrine from the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, the Virgin Birth, Justification, the Atonement, and the resurrection and second coming of Christ? These are indeed indispensable truths. Still it is possible to preach them and yet fail to proclaim the whole counsel of God. The Bible is not silent on the subject of love of the brethren. It speaks in trumpet tones against the violation of that love through man’s injustice to his fellow man. The same apostle who most emphatically taught justification by faith alone said more about good works on the part of the believer. Love is part of the Scriptures. And if evangelicals willingly sit by in contented ignorance while the integrity of human beings is exploited, they are not declaring the whole counsel of God. Faithfulness to all of Scripture requires speaking with prophetic courage about even the hard problems of our age.

Finally, evangelicals of our time need to remember that the Church of Christ, though existing in various communions, is in organic relation with her Lord. A church may be unfaithful and corrupt. She may fall under the terrible judgment of the living God and her candlestick be removed. Clear warning of error and bold speaking of the truth may indeed be demanded. But there is a difference between reformation and schism. Reformation may be the very work of God; schism, according to the plain teaching of the Bible, is sin. Not even the most burning zeal justifies schism in the community of believers.

In this day when evangelicals face great and expanding opportunities to glorify God through the proclamation of Christ to a lost world, nothing short of speaking the truth in love will suffice. Only as such speaking is rooted and grounded in love can the evangelical movement discharge its responsibility to the risen Lord.

Christian Conviction And Scholarship

Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, edited by E. F. Harrison, G. W. Bromiley, and Carl F. H. Henry (Baker, 1960, 566 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by William Childs Robinson, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia.

Add to the three respective editors of this volume the numerous American scholars whose labors have produced a score of articles, and the German scholarship available in such works as TWNT (Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament), and you have an evangelical masterpiece for which the reviewer predicts a phenomenal circulation. The articles are written to acquaint the reader with the tension points in theological discussion and to provide, in each case, a positive exposition of the biblical content. The minister who ponders these affirmations will find himself growing in wisdom and bringing out of his storehouse things new and old. Church members will find here a treasure of Christian information and a biblical answer to many questions.

Editor Harrison has planned each part of the book and has himself written excellent articles. Professor Bromiley, a Church of England scholar and authority on Barth, has drawn upon British scholarship from London to Melbourne, Edinburgh to Montreal, and from Cambridge to Sierre Leone. As the editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, Dr. Henry may be regarded as a symbol of our common Christian conviction with liberty of detailed dissent. He is also the writer of major articles on God, man, revelation, and inspiration.

Where to start in calling attention to the riches of this work is somewhat a problem. For Rector T. H. L. Parker, of England, “The essence of the doctrine of grace is that God is for us.… He is for us who in ourselves are against Him.… He has effectively acted toward us. Grace is summed up in the name Jesus Christ.” For Dr. James I. Packer of Tyndale Hall, justification is the justifying act of the Creator declaring a verdict of acquittal upon the believing sinner. For it, faith is the instrumental means whereby Christ and his righteousness are appropriated. Here as also in O. Raymond Johnston’s treatment of law, belief in Christ’s atoning death and justifying resurrection brings forth Christian morality—“law keeping out of gratitude to the Saviour whose gift of righteousness made law keeping needless for acceptance.” Adoption is an act of God’s gracious Spirit giving those who believe the status of children of God the Father (Prof. John Murray of Westminster).

One who wishes to keep abreast of the ever-changing field of eschatology can find no better introduction than Prof. F. F. Bruce’s treatment of this theme. Here is not only Schweitzer’s “consistent eschatology” but the “realized eschatology” of Dodd and Jeremias, and the “inaugurated eschatology” of J. A. T. Robinson, as well as the more positive statements of the Christian hope in Kuemmel’s Promise and Fulfillment and Cullman’s analogy of D-Day and V-Day.

With discrimination, Bromiley fairly evaluates the current revival of biblical theology. The origins of this revival are to be found in such studies as Kittel’s TWNT, the critical rejection of liberal misunderstanding of the Bible, Hunter’s Unity of the New Testament, and Barth’s biblical dogmatics. The gains that have resulted consist in the lexical studies, the exposure of nonbiblical assumptions under which we all lie, a new sense of the unity of the Bible, and the rediscovery of the relevance and power of great biblical theologies of the past such as those of the Fathers and of the Reformation. On the other hand, there are evident dangers as to whether the movement has attained a genuinely biblical view of inspiration and historical reliability of the Bible, particularly with regard to the miracles which make clear the saving work of God in history.

An intensely interesting feature of the work is the way in which the same contributor writes the several positions on controversial issues. Thus, Principal E. F. Kevan of London writes all of the three views on the millennium. Bromiley states the case for believers’ baptism in a fashion that could please Barth and the Baptists, and then he reverses his field and states the position for infant or family baptism in a way suitable to Cullmann and the paedo-baptists. Vice Principal Leon Morris, of Melbourne, presents the views of church government held by the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, and the Congregationalists. Which denominationalist will be the first to throw a stone? Professor Cornelius Van Til properly insists that Calvinism is not “a system of truth” based upon one a priori principle such as the sovereignty of God, but is drawn from the Scriptures as the self-authenticating revelation of God in Christ. Professor J. K. Jewett warns against rejecting the historicity of the First Adam if one would do full justice to the Second Adam who was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was raised again the third day. As the second wrought our redemption in history, so also in history did the first fall. Professor Bernard Ramm makes revelation central to Christian Apologetics. Professor Alexander Ross’ fervent exposition of the Ascension will furnish good material for sermons on this theme to every clime and continent for the next generation. In His ascension, “the dust of the earth is on the throne of the majesty on high.” There He is our Advocate, the Pledge that he will take us to himself, and the source from which he sends his Spirit as the earnest of the promised inheritance. Treating the Atonement, President V. C. Grounds does not shrink from declaring that Christ bore penal suffering for us in our stead.

The impression ought not to be conveyed that the various contributors were pressured to agree with the editors or with one another. As a matter of fact there are differences. For example, according to the article on Alpha and Omega this term is applied to Christ in Revelation once; according to another article on Eschatology the term is applied to our Lord three times. Your reviewer, with highest appreciation for the notable work of these many scholars, found other disagreements here and there. Dr. Ronald S. Wallace of Edinburgh gives an excellent conservative summary of Christology in which he courageously lists seven or eight places in which the New Testament ascribes the term Theos (God) to Jesus. He might have added, at least for the consideration of the reader, three or four other places, namely, 1 John 5:20; Hebrews 1:8–9; Acts 20:28 and 18:26.

One appreciates the voluminous scholarship and strong position apparent in the Resurrection of Christ without agreeing with every interpretation presented. For example, the reviewer is not of the opinion that “Our Lord appeared only to believers” (p. 451b). He appeared to Saul of Tarsus who obtained mercy because his persecuting of the Church was done in the ignorance of unbelief. He also appeared to James, hitherto an unbeliever. His appearances brought the 11 disciples from unbelief to faith in his risen presence by such evidences as their handling him with their hands and his words, “be not faithless but believing.” It is interesting to note that the article on hardening in this dictionary is written by Professor M. A. Schmidt, the same scholar who collaborated with his father in writing on the same theme for TWNT.

WILLIAM CHILDS ROBINSON

Monument Of Corruption

Hawaii, by James A. Michener (Random House, 1959, 937 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Sherwood E. Wirt, Author of Crusade at the Golden Gate.

This is a profoundly depressing book. Intended as a literary accolade to our new fiftieth state, it is called by the publishers “the first major chronicle of the land and its people—a monumental tribute.” Conceived as a novel, the work traces fictionally the arrival of a few (by no means all) of the races that settled in the islands.

The story is interesting, however, and moves easily through some 900 pages. Occasionally there is depth of feeling when pagan superstition is dramatized, or when we see the plight of the lepers on Molokai, or the helplessness of the workers on the sugar plantations. The early New England traders are depicted in all their brutality and aggressiveness. The dogged endurance of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants is highlighted, and the heroism of the Nisei soldiers in World War II is given proper recognition.

There is evident hostility toward the economic oligarchy that still controls the islands. Like nearly all historical books on Hawaii, however, this one pours its heaviest ammunition on the Congregational missionaries who sailed from New England in 1821, and whose descendants remained to become wealthy through land management. Having no need to stick to truth in a work of fiction, Michener draws the archetype of the missionary in the Reverend Abner Hale, a runty, stringy-haired, sallow, mangy-faced New England farm boy, a hopeless introvert and bigot who alienates the Hawaiians, the other missionaries (most of Michener’s became fed up and quit), and even his own family. The unpleasant little man is not clever enough to be a hypocrite like Elmer Gantry. His narrow asceticism contrasts as starkly as possible with the lush life of the islands.

Abner Hale is poorly drawn because, like Gantry, he never existed except in someone’s mind. He is as far from the true Hawaiian missionary of the period as, we presume, the author is from the rippling-muscled Polynesians he writes about. No doubt research went into this book, yet how could it fail so completely to convey the spirit and motivation of these men and women? The young Hawaiian lad, whose presence in New Haven led to the forming of the mission, is grossly caricatured. There is considerably more perception of the cultic gods that tyrannized the early Bora Bora immigrants to Hawaii than there is of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Robert Southey proposed to write the life of John Wesley, an old minister told the poet, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.” Some of the malapropisms that occur when a man gets over his depth appear in this work. Christians call each other “brothers in God.” They adhere not to the Word of God but “to the word of Calvin as preached by … Jonathan Edwards in Boston” (sic). When a man asks how to be saved, he is told to pray and read his Bible—a pure covenant of works (p. 161). Conversion means being “initiated into a sense of sin” (p. 135). When a man gets seasick, it means to the missionaries that he has rejected God (p. 164). The sea captain is urged to have his men “take the pledge” several decades before the first pledge was composed. No one uses the proper title in addressing the missionaries; it is always wearisomely “Reverend Hale” and “Reverend Thorn.” But this kind of knowledge comes from life, not books.

Somehow the author failed completely in his document study to uncover the story of such a man as Titus Coan, a true, live New Englander whose mission in Hawaii resulted in a revival in which three-fourths of the big island came into the Church. A strong man (whether his muscles rippled, who can say—and who cares?) with a loving heart, Coan, with his wife and their devoted colleagues, represented an influence for Jesus Christ and the Christian life that is still felt in Hawaii today. Imperfect servants the missionaries were, yet they were welcomed and gladly followed. It is a calumny to say that they did not care for their people. Let the record speak for itself. They won the love of the Hawaiians because they offered them something better than the life they knew and of which they were sick to death: a life of nakedness, lust, disease, cruelty, murder, human sacrifice, tabu, and oppression.

A final word must be spoken about the sexualization of this book. Most of the characters seem at one time or another to be either sadists or exhibitionists. We are told that the author “has become an active participant in the civic affairs of Hawaii.” Yet there is not a child in the English-speaking world whose mind could not be corrupted through the reading of this “monument.” It disgraces American womanhood and libels the people of Hawaii. One of the best civic actions that the citizens of the fiftieth state could take would be to put this book on a high shelf and forget it. When the real story of Hawaii is written, it will not be a fantasy of glorified garbage.

SHERWOOD E. WIRT

Gnostic Influences

The Gospel According to Thomas, Coptic text established and translated by A. Guillaumont, H. Ch. Puech, G. Quispel, W. Till, and Yassah Abd A1 Masih (Harper, 1959, 62 pp., $2), is reviewed by George Eldon Ladd, Professor of Biblical Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary.

Scholarly and popular excitement over the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has overshadowed another archaeological find of equal importance for the history of early Christianity. About 1945, some Egyptian farmers discovered a jar containing 13 papyrus books bound in leather containing some 44 separate writings in the Coptic language. These constituted the library of a Gnostic community which lived in Egypt in the fourth or fifth century some 32 miles down the Nile from modern Luxor. The Gospel of Thomas is the second of these books to be published. The present edition consists of a brief introduction, the Coptic text with an English translation, and an index of “Scriptural Parallels and Echoes.” It is to be followed by a larger work containing a lengthy introduction and a detailed commentary.

Some writers have jumped to the conclusion that here is a fifth Gospel. Thomas is really not a Gospel at all but a collection of “the secret words which the Living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas wrote” (p. 3). “The Living Jesus” probably is not meant to refer to the historical Jesus but to a heavenly being who is the Revealer of esoteric truths to his disciples (according to Otto Piper). Fragments of a similar collection of sayings of Jesus have been found in the Oxyrhynchus Papyri discovered by Grenfell and Hunt in 1897 and 1903. This Coptic “Gospel” is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus, treasured by the Gnostic community, and is thought to have had its origin in Greek in the middle of the second century. It reflects Gnostic ideas, but it also contains distinct Palestinian elements.

Scholars will debate for years to come the historical and critical problems raised by this new “Gospel.” What is its relation to the Oxyrhynchus sayings? (There is literal agreement between some logia in the two works). What is its relationship to the other known apocryphal gospels? One of the editors thinks that its sources are the Gospels of the Egyptians and of the Hebrews. What is its relationship to the canonical Gospels? Is it dependent upon them or upon the oral tradition lying behind them? About half of the logia in Thomas have parallels in the canonical Gospels, but literal agreement seldom is found. The logia in Thomas appear to have been deliberately modified or amplified. The most important question is whether some genuine saying of Jesus not included in our Gospels (e.g., Acts 20:35) may be preserved in this work. Mature study will help us to understand better the history of our canonical Gospels.

GEORGE ELDON LADD

The 1611 Story

The Learned Men, by Gustavus S. Paine (Crowell, 1959, 212 pp., $4.75), is reviewed by Gleason L. Archer Jr., Professor of Biblical Languages, Fuller Theological Seminary.

This admirable account of the translators of the King James Bible of 1611 represents the last work of an English professor, journalist (editor of the Christian Science Monitor), and novelist, Gustavus Swift Paine, who passed away in 1958. Here he has attempted to bring together into the 200-odd pages of a very readable book all of the available information about the 60 contributors to the Authorized Version, including their home background, their academic training, and their ecclesiastical career. At times this recital is necessarily a bit dry, but here and there he livens up these thumbnail sketches by anecdotes from the translator’s married life, or his recorded idiosyncrasies. One cannot always be sure that these horney touches represent completely unbiased reports; for example, a disapproving contemporary is quoted as terming the Arminian translator, Richard Thomson, as “a debauched drunken English Dutchman who seldom went to bed one night sober.” But at least the author adheres quite faithfully to his sources and does not draw too freely upon his imagination to supply missing details.

The plan of the book is logical and orderly. The first chapter deals with the conference at Hampton Court, January 16, 1604, where King James conferred with his leading ecclesiastics concerning complaints and grievances within the Church of England, and hit upon a new Bible translation as the one reform to which he would consent. Next comes a survey of the High Church party and the small Puritan faction, more or less at loggerheads with each other and yet willing to unite on so fundamental a need as an improved and up-to-date translation of the Holy Scriptures. The following three chapters deal with the three main companies of translators: the Westminster group, the Oxford group, and the Cambridge group, each of which was, of course, subdivided into New Testament and Old Testament experts. Some of the most outstanding figures are presented in four pages of photographic reproductions of contemporary portraits, along with several other fine photographs of King James, of Hampton Court, and of a royal decree.

Subsequent chapters afford colorful glimpses into the king’s social and political life, particularly in connection with the Guy Fawkes episode, when in 1605 some Catholic extremists attempted to blow up Parliament. Highlights from the careers of the translators follow in a chapter entitled “Private Fortunes.” One of the most colorful was the marital misfortune of John Overall, Dean of St. Paul’s, who at the age of 40 married the beauteous Anne Orwell, only to have her run off with another man. Fortunately (or unfortunately) both elopers were apprehended, and the lady was returned to her churchly husband to continue on with him “in holy deadlock” (as Paine aptly puts it). Two chapters are devoted to the final revision of a committee of six who carefully went over the whole English text at Stationers’ Hall over a nine months’ period. The notes of one of the six, John Bois, are quoted at length to show how undecided the committee was over many difficult passages of the New Testament—difficulties due in part to uncertainties as to the proper reading of the Greek original.

Several little-known facts emerge in connection with the publication and reception of this monumental translation. For one thing, it is extremely dubious how justified is the term “authorized” in the title “the Authorized Version,” for it never received official sanction by any ecclesiastical body, even though the leading scholars of the Church of England were sharers in the effort, including George Abbot himself who, in 1611, was elevated to the post of Archbishop of Canterbury. Actually it was only King James himself who gave any official authorization, but perhaps that was sufficient since he was theoretically the head of the Church.

Another interesting circumstance was the slowness with which the 1611 translation displaced the earlier versions in popular use. The Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, for example, never accepted it at all, so far as their extant writings reveal, but largely adhered to the good old Geneva Bible, untainted by association with the tyrannical King James and his unscriptural episcopacy. But failure to quote from the new version was not always to be attributed to unsympathetic reception, for oddly enough many of the translation committeemen themselves quoted from such earlier translations as the Bishop’s Bible or Coverdale, or else resorted to original translations of their own. Although the sale of the new Bible went very well, and new impressions and editions were speedily sold out, it was 30 years before the preachers and authors of that period began to follow the King James rendering in a really consistent fashion.

Easily the most remarkable portion of the book is to be found in the final chapter, “The Bible of the Learned Men Lasts.” Summing up the results of the investigation recorded throughout the earlier chapters, Paine points to the intriguing paradox that this translation committee produced a work far exceeding their own literary abilities, so far as they are discernible from their own extant writings. He asks (p. 167): “How did this come to be? How explain that sixty or more men, none a genius, none even as great a writer as Marlowe or Ben Jonson, together produced writing to be compared with … the words of Shakespeare?” It certainly was not the natural result of the age in which it was fashioned, as if writers of that period had somehow attained a golden-age virtuosity in English prose comparable to the Attic Greek of the fourth century B.C., or the Ciceronian age of Latin literature. This explanation seems hardly tenable in view of the definitely inferior standard attained by other English prose of that period, as compared with the 1611 Version. Even the Douay Catholic translation, published the year before, attains a substantially lower literary standard. For one thing, it fails to exploit the advantage of adherence to simple Anglo-Saxon words which characterized the Authorized Version and gave it so much of its penetrative, soul-stirring power. Nor was it because of the self-denying industry of the committee members, nor their pre-eminent saintliness. They were “subject to like passions as we are” (p. 168).

Even though Paine himself betrays uncertainty in his personal theology (p. 179), he cannot escape the conclusion that somehow God himself was the only answer for this amazing achievement. “Are we to say that God walked with them in their gardens? Insofar as they believed in their own calling and election, they must have believed that they would have God’s help in their task.… They agreed, not with other men like themselves, but with God as their guide, and they followed not as thinking themselves righteous but as led by a righteousness beyond them” (pp. 169–170). “Though we may challenge the idea of word-by-word inspiration, we surely must conclude that these were men able, in their profound moods, to transcend their human limits. In their own words, they spake as no other man spake because they were filled with the Holy Ghost” (p. 173). Particularly eloquent is the judgment quoted on page 182 from George Bernard Shaw: “The translation was extraordinarily well done because to the translators what they were translating was not merely a curious collection of ancient books written by different authors in different stages of culture, but the word of God divinely revealed through His chosen and expressly inspired scribes. In this conviction they carried out their work with boundless reverence and care and achieved a beautifully artistic result.”

In conclusion, your reviewer would heartily commend this book to the reader as worth acquiring and keeping on the shelf for ready reference. Perhaps the price is a bit high for a production scarcely over 200 pages long. One can only regret that the author did not have a little more personal acquaintance with the sacred tongues, or he might have sized up the problem of Matthew 16:13 a little more adequately. He suggests that the reason the translators resorted to “Whom do men say that I am” was a tendency we find expressed in their colloquial solecism, “It is me” for “It is I.” He does not observe that the Greek original here happens to put the interrogative pronoun in the accusative case (tina, rather than tis), and that possibly the translators hoped to preserve this flavor of the original even at the expense of grammatical rules. Every reviewer has to demonstrate his keen-eyed alertness by pointing out a misprint or two. This reviewer found only one: the text states on page 164 that Leonard Hutton died in 1732. Actually his death was in 1632.

GLEASON L. ARCHER, JR.

Cultural Obligation

The Calvinistic Concept of Culture, by Henry R. Van Til (Baker, 1959, 245 pp., $4.50) and The Cultural Significance of the Reformation, by Karl Holl (Meridian Books, 1959, 191 pp., $1.25, reprint), are reviewed by C. Gregg Singer, Professor of History, Catawba College.

The momentous events of the first half of the twentieth century have had a sobering effect on the cultural optimism of the liberals, and have likewise brought about a most significant change in the attitude of many evangelicals toward the problem of the relationship between Christianity and contemporary culture. The older attitude of many fundamentalists that Jerusalem had nothing to say to Athens has been replaced by a new awareness of their cultural obligations as Christians. This change of attitude is clearly reflected in the writings of evangelical scholars who are now searching the Scriptures in a sincere attempt to find out what they have to say with regard to this problem.

For those who are truly concerned with the cultural issues of our day, Dr. Van Til, professor of Bible at Calvin College, has provided a consistent biblical answer. The author begins with a penetrating discussion of those tensions that exist between the historic Christian faith on the one hand and all forms of pagan culture on the other (pp. 42–44). Yet, at the same time, he rightly insists that religion and culture are inseparable because “the basic covenantal relationship in which man stands to God comes to expression both in his cultus and his culture” (p. 44). Yet because of the fall of Adam, man is unable to fulfill that cultural mandate which God has given to him as a creature in his image. Man faces a dilemma of tragic proportions in that he is bound by mandate which he cannot possibly fulfill because of his sinful nature.

Dr. Van Til then presents the solution that is found only in the high biblical doctrines of Calvinism. He points out that in Augustine we find the beginning of that theology which, rightly interprets all of pagan culture, but only in Calvinism was full justice done to both the biblical doctrines of God and creation on the one hand, and sin and redemption on the other.

It is the lot of a reviewer to read many books of dubious merit, to read and review some that are definitely superior, and to read a very few that make a profound impression on him as he reads. The Calvinistic Concept of Culture is one of those truly great books which will enrich the literature of the Church. It is a book of real merit for both minister and layman, liberal and conservative.

In sharp contrast to Van Til in both purpose and spirit is Karl Holl’s The Cultural Significance of the Reformation. The author was a colleague of the famous church historian, Adolph Harnack, at the University of Berlin from 1902 until 1926. He wrote in the tradition of liberal German scholarship. This book is more of an historical survey of the cultural influence of Luther and Calvin than an attempt to offer a theological solution to the present tensions existing between Western culture and Christianity. Although he offers very little that is new, he does pay a deserved tribute to John Calvin and offers a mild corrective to the thesis of Max Weber in regard to the relationship between Calvinism and the rise of capitalism. The value of this work lies in the fact that it does make available in a paperback edition a scholarly evaluation of the cultural role of these two Reformers.

C. GREGG SINGER

Only Religion Can Save

The Movement of World Revolution, by Christopher Dawson (Sheed and Ward, 1959, 179 pp., $3), is reviewed by John H. Gerstner, Professor of Church History, Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary.

Christopher Dawson, the eminent Roman Catholic historian and professor at Harvard Divinity School, finds two revolutions in process: a Western and an Eastern. The Western was set in motion by the Renaissance and Reformation. It has resulted in political, social, and cultural revolutions ending in the prevalence of secularism. This has brought us to the following impasse: “Only two alternatives remain. We can either remain in the half-way house of liberal democracy, striving desperately to maintain the higher standards of economic life which are the main justification of our secularized culture; or we can return to the tradition on which Europe was founded and set about the immense task of the restoration of Christian culture” (p. 65).

The analysis of the Eastern Revolution or revolutions is more interesting because it is less familiar to Westerners. According to the author, the Eastern revolutions are actually the products of Western rather than Eastern civilization (p. 19), and introduced largely by missionaries (p. 135). Oriental nationalism is actually an adoption of Western culture (p. 143). It is as if we gave the East the power to stand on its own feet and it has done so with a vengeance. Indeed, the oriental revolution has moved faster than the earlier revolution in the West, and is still going on. We are now in the time of the plow and not of the harvest (p. 179).

I presume that the overall thesis of this small but interesting volume is this: “When one considers the amount of study that is being devoted to the purely political aspects of oriental nationalisms, Christians cannot but feel ashamed of the little that has been done towards the understanding of the new religious situation arising from the revolutionary changes of the last 50 years. Neither the technological process that is forcing East and West together nor the insurgence of the nationalist forces that is tearing them apart can save the modern world from destruction. Salvation can only come from some power capable of creating a spiritual unity which will transcend and comprehend the material unity of the new world order. And where can this power be found save in religion?” (p. 105).

There is nothing important in this volume with which Protestant historians will not agree. It is quite unsectarian in tone throughout. Its thesis we grant; that is, religion alone is able adequately to bring unity and cohesion out of the present world revolution. But what religion? Romanism? Then, pray God, give us revolutions rather than uniformity imposed by the greatest tyranny of mind and body that the world has ever known. Protestant religion? But which form? No one form; all forms enjoying liberty of expression but expressing their evangelical unity of purpose in some ecumenical vehicle. But will this put down revolution? No, but it will uphold world government which will put down revolution. In other words, we may need a political structure, such as the United Nations, which will give one world its body, and free evangelical religion which will give it its soul. But, what of the non-Christian religions? We must continue to seek to persuade them. If Rome is not built in a day, neither is the New Jerusalem.

JOHN H. GERSTNER

Divergent Views

Three Traditions of Moral Thought, by Dorothea Krook (Cambridge University Press, 1959, 355 pp., $5.50), is reviewed by Carl F. H. Henry.

Three divergent views of the nature and importance of love, the author affirms, distinguish three moral traditions in the West: the religious (Plato and the Christian moralists), the secular (Aristotle) and the humanist (a modern synthesis).

In some fine passages Mrs. Krook contrasts views of religious humanists with historic Christian beliefs, even when Jesus Christ is acknowledged “functionally” as God and Saviour (pp. 137 f., 145 ff.). And many high differences between Christian and Greek ethics are soundly put, even if the author provides no definition of revelation, has little room for the wrath of God, and readily speaks of God as “a Person.”

Socrates’ doctrine of virtue and Plato’s affirmation of a single supreme Source of the Good (which transcends even reality in dignity and power) logically lacked the climaxing assurance of “a revealed God and a revealed Gospel.” But Paul by “direct encounter” knew God as “a Person … infinitely tender and loving as … powerful and wise, and [who] sent his only begotten Son to redeem the world” (p. 135). Hence the law of love “subsumes the whole of the moral law” (p. 136). In the person of Jesus the divine Law is made flesh. In view of revelation Paul has “an assurance of being in possession of the Truth—the absolute, complete and final truth.”

Despite tribute to Paul’s “gifts as a moral and religious teacher” (p. 132), reflecting a mind “exercising its powers by the light of the Gospel revelation” (p. 141), Mrs. Krook, an assistant lecturer in English at Cambridge, holds a hesitant view of his apostolic authority and at times even imputes to Paul a rather low ethic (for example, of marriage; note the author’s own theology of sexuality in the appendix).

CARL F. H. HENRY

MONUMENT OF REALISM

Exodus, by Leon Uris (Doubleday, 1958, 626 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by Marie Malmin Meyer, Professor of English, St. Olaf College, North-field, Minnesota.

Swastikas painted on a Jewish synagogue in Minneapolis and windows shattered in a Jewish temple in New York—these are newspaper headlines today. Against a setting of this kind of prejudice, we need not think it strange that a book like Exodus, telling dramatically the story of Jewish persecution in the last century, is still near the top of the list of best sellers in fiction, and that it should have stirred up more than ordinary emotional response. “Pro-Jewish propaganda”—“Anti-British”—“overwrought”—“savage”—“searing in intensity”: these are terms used to describe it in the early reviews. But in the same reviews it is designated as “brilliant” and “illuminating in insight.”

Exodus is a historical novel of the period after World War II when Jews from all over the world, but most especially from the concentration camps of Western Europe, were moving back to Palestine and trying to reclaim their ancient home for their people. As is usual in this type of novel, the foreground characters are fictional counterparts of historical figures, while the events of the story are based on historical fact. When Leon Uris says that he read 300 books and traveled 50,000 miles to collect materials for this book, he is trying to assure his readers of the authenticity of his materials.

The opening episode of Exodus sounds like a typical spy story. We meet the usual daring and unconventional news reporter and the usual charming lady, in this case a trained nurse, Kitty Fremont. It does not take long, however, before the sense of the usual is gone and one is caught up in the excitement of an unusual narrative. Kitty remains a main character throughout the novel, and we are invited to focus our attention on Kitty’s relations to Ari Ben Canaan, one of the young leaders of the new Israel movement. The love affair of these two remains a rather tepid business, though references to it give the book a narrative continuity. Actually, what makes the book impressive is the epic sweep of 100 years of Jewish history, with its persecutions, its dreams, and its struggles. As each of the more important Jewish characters is introduced, an extended flashback tells us about his ancestry, his personal background, and his sufferings at the hands of the anti-Semites, especially in the Hitler regime. Much of this is painfully realistic: one hates it, and yet one reads on. In this recording of the fate of the Jew in World War II, Exodus is one of the greatest monuments of raw realism in the contemporary novel.

The style in which Uris writes does much to make the story impressive. There is a directness and lack of ornament in his manner of expression, and this makes possible a growing intensity of style until sentences have the effect of hammer blows. Once the story is under way, he writes at white heat. The simplicity of the language prevents it from becoming melodramatic, even when expressions become downright savage.

In other matters of technique Exodus is not a well-written novel. It is too long, its characters are artificial and contrived, its “story” is too weak, and (especially in the last part of the book) its historical recital is too monotonously detailed.

Despite weaknesses such as these, this is a book worth reading. Granted that it oversimplifies the Jewish situation and sentimentalizes the Jew, the book does give insight into the character and traditions of the Jewish people which is illuminating and instructive. That Uris is himself deeply involved emotionally in the story he is telling does not detract from the importance of the picture which he draws. Even as he discounts some of the accusations against the British and Arabs and some of the idealization of the Hebrew, the reader is enriched in his understanding of the history of European Jewry. And is not knowledge the best weapon against prejudice?

MARIE MALMIN MEYER

Missionary Problems

Creative Tension, by Stephen Neill (Edinburgh House Press, 1959, 115 pp., 10s. 6d.), is reviewed by R. K. Strachan, General Director of Latin America Mission, Costa Rica.

Four pertinent missionary problems are treated by Bishop Stephen Neill, noted proponent and historian of the ecumenical movement in the Duff Lectures for 1958, published as Creative Tension.

The contemporary relationship of Christianity to the resurgent non-Christian faiths in our shrinking world needs careful study. Bishop Neill, while insisting frankly on the uniqueness of the Christian faith, suggests, as a possible vantage point to understanding, the Transfiguration Mount where all religious leaders vanish away except Jesus alone, yet from whence their role in God’s dealings with mankind may at the same time be understood.

The resurgence of nationalism brings up the question of Christian duty and relationship to government. Neill’s concern is primarily with the problem as faced by the younger churches.

His frank criticism of both mission and younger church provides a helpful background for a consideration of the third major problem—that of proper partnership between West and East in the discharge of the missionary task.

A final and pressing problem is that of the relation of mission society to church. Here Bishop Neill’s treatment and recommendations, while stimulating, seem to be idealistic and impractical and hence disappointing. Due to prejudice, perhaps, it was difficult for this reviewer to eliminate the impression that the author’s plans and structure for ecumenical action did not per se represent an adequate solution to or treatment of the problems under consideration.

Taken all together, however, Bishop Neill’s skillful treatment of these problems in the tension of nay versus yea may well stimulate the student of missions to do his own creative thinking.

R. K. STRACHAN

BOOK BRIEFS

Forerunners of Jesus, by Leroy Waterman (Philosophical Library, 1959, 156 pp., $4.75). A liberal interpretation of the “Unknown Prophet” and John the Baptist in the light of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The Christian Nurture of Youth, by Ada Brunk and Ethel Metzler (Herald Press, 1960, 158 pp., $3). A practical guide for workers with young people.

Judaism Meets Christ, by Roy Kreider (Herald Press, 1960, 77 pp., $1 paper). A new approach to the problems of Jewish evangelism.

The Pastor and Community Resources, by Charles F. Kemp (Bethany, 1960, 96 pp., $1.50 paper). An aid to cooperative relations with social and religious agencies.

Winning What You Want, by J. Clyde Wheeler (Bethany, 1960, 156 pp., $2.95). Christian solutions of everyday life problems.

The Spirit’s Pilgrimage, an autobiography by Madeleine Slade (Coward-McCann, 1960, 318 pp., $5.75). The life story of an intimate and trusted disciple of Ghandi.

Minister’s Federal Income Tax Guide, by Sidney D. Rosoff (Harper-Channel, 1960, 145 pp., $2 paper).

God’s Remedy, by Donald Grey Barnhouse (Eerdmans, 1954, 387 pp., $3.50)—Third volume in an expository treatment of the Epistle to the Romans.

God in Three Persons, by Carl Brumback (Pathway, 1959, 192 pp., $3)—A searching study of the Trinity especially relevant to current Pentecostal controversy.

Triumphant Living, by Paul E. Adolph (Moody, 1959, 127 pp., $2.50)—Word portraits of Bible personalities and their frustrations and problems in the light of modern psychology and medical science.

The Precious Blood of Christ, by J. Glenn Gould (Beacon Hill, 1959, 110 pp., $1.50)—A study of the historic doctrine of the Atonement from the Arminian Wesleyan theological viewpoint.

Parents of Many, by Victor E. Swenson (Augustana, 1959, 348 pp., $3.75)—A gripping personal witness to the power of the Gospel by a former missionary in China.

Christ on Main Street, by C. Sverre Norborg (T. S. Denison & Co., 1959, 400 pp., $3.95)—The life of Christ written in terms of his ministry to the masses by a distinguished humanitarian.

He Leadeth Me, by V. Raymond Edman (Scripture Press, 1959, 88 pp., $1.50)—Lessons on guidance, first presented in counseling sessions at Wheaton College.

Devotional Studies in Philippians, by Lehman Strauss (Loizeaux Brothers, 1959, 253 pp., $3)—Practical expositions which inspire true Christian living.

The Prophets of Israel, by C. Ross Milley (Philosophical Library, 1959, 143 pp., $3.75)—A liberal interpretation of the theological and social message of the prophets.

Tragic Destiny, by George N. Patterson (Faber & Faber, 1959, 224 pp., 18s)—An English missionary to Tibet gives fresh insights into religious and political trends on “the roof of the world.”

It’s a long jump from Mary Slessor’s canoe to Billy Graham’s chartered aircraft. The white queen of Calabar died in Nigeria after 39 years of saving lives of unwanted twins and their mothers. The far-travelled American evangelist visited five Nigerian cities in little more than a fortnight, then moved on to Rhodesia and Tanganyika. This week he was to conduct meetings in Kenya.

Graham’s talks to missionaries and church leaders always reflect his awareness that he is reaping where others have sowed in blood and tears. One morning, in a hastily-built brush arbor where he had preached to a little church which has resisted Moslem repression at great peril, he murmured aloud: “I tell you, these people will live in mansions in Heaven; we’re getting a lot of our reward down here.”

While Nigeria has no great zeal for pan-Africanism such as is being fostered in neighboring Ghana, nationalism is nevertheless an important factor in religious life, especially in the cities. Materialism beckons talented young people. Natives are moving faster to take the reins in national church life. Many missionary groups are relinquishing control in favor of a fully indigeneous church.

Paradoxically, in parts of Nigeria where the indigeneous church is relatively strong and older missionaries are moving to more needy fields, some American societies are moving in and supporting dissidents. The resultant multiplication of sects adds to the confusion of seekers and semi-pagans.

Much of the religious picture in this most populous (36,000,000) of African countries can be explained in terms of a second century church and a delayed renaissance. African Christians are busy operating schools and organizing national church life and have comparatively little concern for millions of unevangelized people at their doorsteps. The general awakening is marked by a surge for material advance without a general will to pay the price of training competent and resourceful technicians (office jobs and political posts are top status symbols).

Meanwhile the Moslems, who conquered much of Nigeria early in the nineteenth century, now seek to occupy the vacuum created by vanishing paganism. They make at least seven converts to every three claimed by Christians (some say the ratio is ten to one).

The first Anglican and Methodist missionaries entered the “white man’s grave” that was Nigeria in the early 1840s. Baptist beginnings date to 1850. These are still the strongest evangelical groups, with a total community of churchgoers numbering more than a million, only 200,000 of whom are full communicants. All these communions have hundreds of primary schools, strong institutions for training pastors and teachers, and many hospitals and clinics for the relief of suffering Nigerians, millions of whom still live 100 miles from the nearest doctor.

One of the world’s great independent societies, the Sudan Interior Mission, has 590 workers in Nigeria. Among outstanding SIM contributions are its Nigerian eye hospital, its continent-spanning radio station based in Liberia, and its Niger-Challenge Press which has successfully developed a mass-circulation popular magazine with a basic Christian motif. Annals of the mission, with its emphasis on village evangelism, are studded with tales of heroism and sacrifice. It is now trying to overcome its lag in developing strong, indigeneous leadership.

Other sizeable communions include Presbyterians, with 100,000 churchgoers; the Qua Iboe Church (begun by Irish Protestants and named for a river), with another 100,000; the Salvation Army, with 25,000; the Churches of Christ in the Sudan (an indigeneous church developed by the multi-branched Sudan United Mission); and several Pentecostal groups. There is also the 50,000-strong African Church, a breakoff from more orthodox bodies over the polygamy question, a very vexed issue in Nigeria. Rounding out the picture are a plethora of exotic sects which practice angelology and the like, and a strong thrust of Jehovah’s Witnesses. Roman Catholics claim 2,000,000 adherents.

Holy Land Crusade

Billy Graham plans to begin a 10-day evangelistic campaign in the Holy Land March 20.

He is expected to address rallies in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Nazareth.

The Holy Land crusade will be conducted following the evangelist’s nine-country tour of Africa now in progress. The Africa meetings close with rallies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 8 and 9.

Graham will go to the Holy Land at the invitation of the Israel Baptist Convention.

While most of Nigeria has been evangelized after a fashion, isolated pockets of virgin ground remain along the rivers and in the hill country where small tribes with distinctive tongues remain in dense darkness. The unfinished task also includes conveying the first real Gospel witness to some 5,000,000 villagers, to practically all of the 500,000 nomadic Fulani herdsmen and to multiplied thousands in city slums, many of which are being razed to make way for ultra-modern commercial buildings and apartment centers.

A church union movement involving Anglicans, Methodists and Presbyterians has been underway since 1928. Negotiations were set back last year when the Lambeth Conference expressed displeasure over the South Indian plan of union and suggested that Anglicans press for the Ceylon pattern, which practically makes Episcopalians of all concerned. Some hope a middle way will emerge through an adaptation of the lesser-known North India plan, which includes presbyters in all of the rites involved in the achievement of a mutually-acceptable ministry.

Nigeria is really three nations in one, so distinct are its regions, each containing a predominant tribe. Because of rivalry and distrust between leaders of the eastern and western regions, where Christianity has made greatest progress, the Moslem north is in the political driver’s seat, but lacks a clear majority so must find common ground with some in another region.

Independent Nigeria may give missionaries more freedom of action than did British officialdom in the northern region where more than half the people live. But some suspect that a “black list” already exists and that veto power will be exercised by Moslems when those who have displeased them apply for re-entry visas after furloughs.

The Moslem region’s premier, Sir Ahmadu Bello, told Graham that some missionaries have engaged in political activity which “must stop.” He added that he would not budge an inch in his devotion to the will of Allah as he saw it. However, the premier visited representative missionary groups shortly before the region became independent, thanked them for humanitarian efforts, and said he saw no bar to Moslem-Christian cooperation for the people’s good.

Graham’s most significant meeting, perhaps, was at the University College in Ibadan where practically the whole student body of 1,100 turned out. More than ten per cent stood one by one at the close and testified quietly: “I accept the Lord Jesus Christ.” The evangelist had warned them, in the strongest possible terms, of the cost of true discipleship.

A missionary leader said every thinking African has been struck by the fact that Graham came to Nigeria in her year of independence. The truth that political and social development must be undergirded by spiritual strength, he said, hit home with special force from the mouth of the famous visitor.

Graham quickly adapted himself to his African audiences, preaching with utter simplicity and delighting his audiences with stories about Saturday night baths and children and pigs. He also set forth the crucified Christ in every sermon, describing in detail the Saviour’s suffering, and the spiritual significance of the Cross. Despite his stern portrayal of the cost of following Jesus, people responded to his invitation by the thousands. Many no doubt came with the crowd, but counsellors reported genuine evidences of the work of the Spirit of God.

The crowds smashed all records for events of this kind, giving lonely pastors a sense of belonging to the Lord’s host, and impressing outsiders with the united witness of the church.

At the closing West African meeting in Jos, in the picturesque plateau region where some of Africa’s most primitive tribes live, a train load of tribesmen once known as “tailed head hunters” attended the meeting with their Christian chief, who is a regional leader, and the Scottish missionary who led many of them to Christ.

Although statistics prove nothing, the fact that 300,000 people attended the meetings in Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria is indicative of the widespread interest. Christian leaders were sure that an authentic work of grace was done in the hearts of many of the 15,000 who responded to the invitation to turn from idols and serve the living and true God.

The chairman of the all-Nigerian Graham campaign is an example of national leadership at its best. He is Dr. James T. Ayorinde, Nigerian-born pastor of Lagos’ First Baptist Church and a vice president of the Baptist World Alliance. He and the Rev. John Mills, American missionary and national campaign secretary, travelled with the Graham team to all five cities touched by the campaign. Mills paid this tribute to Ayorinde: “I wouldn’t trade him for 10 missionaries.”

‘Patient Wrestling’

At a conference heralded as the “most significant and important” in the history of Australian churches, Bishop J. Lesslie Newbigin of the Church of South India defended a priority role for the ecumenical movement.

“The division of the churches is making a mockery of their mission,” Newbigin told 430 delegates from 18 denominations. “No task is more urgent than that of patient wrestling with these divisions until Christ himself restores to us the unity that is his will.”

He called Christianity’s divisions “a denial of the sufficiency of Calvary.”

During the 10-day meeting in Melbourne this month, delegates approved a recommendation that religious periodicals employ “competent” radio and television critics “to bring Christian judgment to bear on these important influences.”

Plans for New Delhi

The World Council of Churches plans to hold its third assembly in New Delhi November 18-December 5, 1961.

“Jesus Christ—the Light of the World” will be the theme of the assembly.

The plans were disclosed by the 12-member WCC Executive Committee at its semi-annual meeting in Buenos Aires this month.

Originally projected for Ceylon, the assembly site was changed last summer by the 90-member WCC Central Committee, which must still ratify details.

Up to 1,000 participants are expected to be on hand in New Delhi. Of these, about two-thirds will be voting delegates.

The assembly will be held in the Vigynan Bhavan Conference Hall, originally built by the Indian government for a UNESCO conference.

WCC assemblies are the most significant of all gatherings of the ecumenical movement. Previous assemblies were held in Amsterdam in 1948 and in Evanston, Illinois, in 1954.

Editorial Associate

Dr. Sherwood Eliot Wirt, Presbyterian minister and former newspaperman, is joining the staff of CHRISTIANITY TODAY as Editorial Associate.

Wirt holds the A.B. from the University of California, the B.D. from Pacific School of Religion, and the Ph.D. from Edinburgh University.

He is author of The Cross on the Mountain and Crusade at the Golden Gate, an account of Billy Graham’s 1958 evangelistic campaign in San Francisco.

Joint Post

Dr. Clifford E. Barbour says he has accepted a call to be vice president and acting president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, the school being formed out of the merger of Western and Pittsburgh-Xenia seminaries.

Barbour is president of Western, whose campus on the North Side of Pittsburgh will be abandoned soon after joint classes begin in the fall at the East End facilities of Pittsburgh-Xenia.

Pittsburgh-Xenia was the only seminary of the old United Presbyterian Church. Western was Presbyterian, U. S. A.

Freedoms Awards

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover won a Freedoms Foundation award this month for an essay which he wrote for CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

The essay, “Communism: The Bitter Enemy of Religion,” appeared in the June 22, 1959, issue.

Hoover received an encased George Washington Honor Medal.

The foundation awarded a similar medal and $1,000 to the Rev. Paul W. Johnston for a sermon delivered in the Worthington (Ohio) Presbyterian Church.

Still another top award went to the First Presbyterian Church of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and WRCV-TV of Philadelphia for a jointly produced television show, “Land Where Our Fathers Died.”

Church Display

Russians are learning about modern U. S. church architecture.

The current issue of Ameryka, Russion-language picture magazine which the United States is permitted to distribute in the Soviet Union under an exchange agreement, carries an article about modern U. S. churches. Several were cited.

Edifices selected by a panel of architects include the First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Connecticut, built in a stylized fish-shape reminiscent of the early Christian symbol for a house of worship; the Roman Catholic Church of the Resurrection, St. Louis, erected on a parabolic design; the Wayfarer’s Chapel (Swedenborgian) of Palos Verdes, California, open to ocean and sky by means of glass walls; the Catholic Chapel of the Holy Cross, standing atop two spurs of rugged red rock in Arizona’s Verde River Valley; a Lutheran church in Eugene, Oregon, featuring an unusual design of exposed, laminated wood arches to create a cathedral-like interior; St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Columbus, Ohio, which has a glass front; and the Catholic Church of St. Philip the Apostle in Clifton, New Jersey, which has sharp-peaked redwood arches to give a new version of Gothic style.

Constructive Hearings

Hearings this month conducted by a House subcommittee were labelled as “the most constructive relative to public morals in the entertainment and communications industry in many years” by the Rev. Donald H. Gill, assistant secretary of public affairs of the National Association of Evangelicals. Leading officials of the movie industry testified.

Baliem Burial

Buried in a remote New Guinea mountainside is the body of Albert J. Lewis, former RCAF pilot who gave up a lucrative construction business to fly supplies for pioneering New Guinea missionaries.

A search party reached the body several weeks ago, nearly five years after his twin-engine amphibian crashed into a 10,000-foot peak while en route to the forbidding Baliem Valley, where Christian and Missionary Alliance missionaries have sought to reach the Stone Age Dani tribe with the Gospel. He was buried at the scene.

Lewis was a native of Hamilton, Ontario, where he headed a building firm before going to New Guinea.

Jesuitical Whitewash

Concurrent publication in Look magazine of a Catholic priest’s charge that Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State “stir up antagonisms and create tensions between citizens on matters of faith” heightened interest in the organization’s 12th National Conference in Boston, February 8–9.

The Rev. John A. O’Brien’s declaration that the fear of some Americans that the separation between church and state will break down if a Catholic is elected president is “the result of a 12-year propaganda campaign” by POAU brought this rebuttal from its executive director, Dr. Glenn L. Archer: “Father O’Brien has borne false witness against his Christian brethren in POAU and distorted the Roman Catholic true position on many great issues of our times … The article was a Jesuitical whitewash of Roman Catholic power in American political life.”

The conference drew nearly 600 registrants from 28 states. Crowds of more than 1,100 packed John Hancock Hall for evening rallies.

Methodist Bishop Richard C. Raines called upon Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy and laymen to undertake an honest appraisal of the American principle of church and state to discover “in what we can agree and admit frankly where we differ and why.”

A religious liberty citation was presented by POAU President Louie D. Newton to Dr. E. S. James, editor of the Baptist Standard. James was described as an “eloquent minister, courageous editor, militant advocate of church-state separation.”

POAU reports a membership of more than 100,000 drawn from all over the United States whose primary object is the maintenance of separation of church and state as promulgated in the Constitution and interpreted by the U. S. Supreme Court.

First in 500 Years

A meeting of the Synod of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rome, the first in more than 500 years, drew some 800 clergymen who turned out virtually that many different recommendations.

Although the recommendations apply only to the Rome diocese, it is expected that other dioceses throughout the world will follow suit.

All the recommendations must first be accepted by Pope John XXIII in his capacity as the Bishop of Rome. They had been prepared for discussion at the week-long session by a special ecclesiastical committee which had been at work for a year.

According to the Ecumenical Press Service, a section of articles specifically addressed to laymen warns that they are:

—Forbidden to read publications inspired by Protestants, illuminism, existentialism, atheism, or materialism.

—Barred from taking part in services, sermons, or discussions of non-Catholic cults.

—Subject to excommunication if they join or vote for political parties or persons that promote heretical principles or doctrines.

—Obliged on pain of excommunication to enact no laws harmful to the church.

Investment in Romanism

Teamster President James R. Hoffa announced this month that his union’s pension fund loaned $1,000,000 to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Miami.

A union spokesman said the money was made available at six per cent interest “for whatever use they want to make of it.” The loan was covered by a mortgage on the diocese’s property.

Doctor of Letters

Loyola University, Roman Catholic school in Chicago, presented this month an honorary doctor of letters degree to Dr. William F. Albright, noted biblical archaeologist and Old Testament scholar.

Albright was cited for his work as chairman of Johns Hopkins University’s Oriental Seminary, his years of research in Jerusalem, and his past presidency of the International Organization of Old Testament Scholars.

Albright is a member of a Methodist church, but usually attends Presbyterian services. His wife and their seven children are Roman Catholics.

Red Tracers

Reports from Berlin say that district offices of the East German “People’s Police” have been ordered to set up special indexes and dossiers on all clergymen in East Germany.

The records are to include detailed accounts of the clergymen’s daily activities and all utterances, according to the reports.

It is said that Communist party organizations as well have been instructed to report all church events to party headquarters.

Airing Ethical Concerns

Members of the American Society of Christian Social Ethics met for a two-day conference at New York’s Union Seminary last month.

Highlight of the meeting was an address by Professor Reinhold Niebuhr who enumerated biblical incentives for social concern and then, by steady reference to the inherent ambiguities of social existence, elaborated his well-known demand for the translation of love into a real but precarious justice oriented to the necessary limitations of socio-economic life and responsive to its ever-changing conditions. Reflected in the speech was Niebuhr’s continuing high regard for the social theology of Walter Rauschenbusch and his devaluation of personal Christian ethics as well as his dissatisfaction with Karl Barth for refusing, in the name of a God who lays all our institutions and programs under judgment, to make a choice between East and West. Comments following the speech generally moved on the periphery of Niebuhr’s remarks and did little to advance or amend his argument.

Earlier, a panel composed of Professors Waldo Beach of Duke Divinity School, Edmund Smits of Northwest Lutheran Theological Seminary, and Henry Stob of Calvin Seminary discussed the teaching of Christian ethics. Skirting the question of method in the sense of technique, Beach and Stob considered the place, function, and content of seminary courses in ethics, while Smits, a native of Latvia, undertook to contrast American and European approaches to the study and teaching of ethics. While not neglecting the socio-ethical problem, the panelists concentrated their attention upon basic ethics and upon the theologico-metaphysical foundations of the discipline. There was general agreement that Christian ethics could rest only upon the presuppositions of faith and could be elaborated only within a theological framework. It appeared in a general discussion, however, that the presuppositions were differently conceived and the framework variously constructed. It became evident that there was nothing like unanimity about the role the Bible plays in the construction of Christian ethics.

The Society for Christian Social Ethics is only two years old, but the membership is growing, and it appears well on its way to becoming a significant forum for the interchange of ethical opinion and judgment. Conservatives in the group hope that more qualified evangelicals will join.

Trinitarian Triumph

The Rhode Island Council of Churches adopted a new constitutional preamble last month which incorporates a strong Trinitarian statement of faith.

It replaces a nine-year-old statement which has been criticized repeatedly for its theological shallowness.

The new preamble was approved at the council’s 23rd annual meeting—without debate—by a vote of 161 to 7. As ballots were being counted, the assembly broke out in song with “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.”

Evangelical observers viewed the development as indicative of a marked trend toward a more conservative theological climate in the state.

Belief in the statement is not a prerequisite for membership in the council, but it does indicate “where the majority of members stand,” according to President Frank H. Snell. The council rejected last year a move which would have barred Unitarians and Universalists from membership.

The new preamble states: “The Rhode Island Council of Churches is a fellowship of Christian churches which profess belief in One God: the creating Father, the redeeming Son, and the strengthening Holy Spirit. It is established to bear a common witness to this profession through cooperative work.”

The earlier controversial statement read: “Believing that it is in the providence of God that followers of Christ do cooperate more effectively for the progress of the Gospel, we unite in allegiance to Jesus Christ, and seek to express His spirit through a cooperative endeavor.”

Why Belief?

The notion that religious beliefs are merely a reflex of a man’s socio-economic circumstances got a strong boost this month from a Ford Foundation project.

The project is a two-year study now nearing completion on religious thought and practice in the seven-state Southern Appalachian region commonly referred to as “the Bible Belt.”

The survey strongly suggests that where a person stands on the socio-economic scale has a lot more to do with his religious beliefs than the church he attends, Religious News Service reported.

Some of the findings of the survey, financed by a $250,000 Ford Foundation grant, were disclosed at a pastors’ conference of the Kentucky Council of Churches by Dr. Thomas R. Ford, University of Kentucky sociologist and general research director for the project.

U. N. and Bias

A United Nations representative from India is advocating a set of basic rules to deal with religious discrimination [see editorial on page 26].

Arcot Krishnaswami, a member of the U. N. Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, listed the rules with a report based on a two-year study which found religious bias declining. [The study was completed before the current outbreak of anti-Semitic incidents. The subcommission immediately launched another study into recent church and synagogue desecrations at the urging of Dr. Maurice L. Perlzweig, permanent representative of the World Jewish Congress at the U. N., and Max Beer, vice president of the International League for the Rights of Man, a U. N. consultant agency.]

Krishnaswami’s proposed rules included the following:

—Everyone should be free to adhere, or not to adhere, to a religion.

—Parents should have a prior right to decide upon the religion in which their children should be brought up.

—Everyone should be free to manifest his religion in acts compatible to it.

—There should be a freedom to disseminate a religion or belief, provided it does not impair the rights of others.

—No one should be compelled to take an oath contrary to the prescriptions of his religion or belief.

—No cleric who receives information in confidence, in accordance with the prescriptions of his religion, should be compelled by public authorities to divulge such information.

—Public authorities should refrain from making any adverse distinction against, or giving undue preference to individuals with regard to the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Changing Climate?

A noted champion of Lutheran cooperation attaches “immense importance” to a recent decision by the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod home mission board to seek membership in a National Council of Churches counterpart.

Dr. Paul C. Empie, executive director of the National Lutheran Council, said in a report to the NLC’s 42nd annual meeting this month that the board’s action “seems to herald an advance in inter-church relationships.”

The 2,315,000-member Missouri Synod, largest of U. S. Lutheran bodies, has had few ecumenical ties. Even working relationships with the NLC, whose eight member bodies make it the most inclusive of Lutheran organizations in America, have been limited.

Has the Missouri Synod altered its principles in allowing its home missions board to apply for membership in the NCC Division of Home Missions?

“No,” said Empie, rather “after careful study it has come to the conclusion that this particular type of cooperation does not compromise its principles.” The Missouri Synod’s Board for Missions in North and South America says it will try to participate in the NCC home missions program “to the extent our principles permit.”

Beginning July 1 the NCC’s Division of Home Missions will have as associate executive secretary Dr. H. Conrad Hoyer, for nearly 18 years the executive secretary of the NLC’s Division of American Missions.

Still more encouragement for ecumenically-minded Lutherans lies in a projected meeting between Missouri Synod and NLC representatives to explore issues involved in cooperative activities. In preparation for the meeting, scheduled in Chicago July 7–9, the NLC named four theologians to prepare a doctrinal study on the doctrinal basis of Lutheran cooperation.

“The changing climate has brought about the conditions for a further progress in inter-Lutheran relationships,” concluded Empie, but “the progress itself must still be achieved.”

People: Words And Events

Deaths:Aloysius Cardinal Stepinac, 61, Roman Catholic archbishop who for years was a victim of Communist persecution, in his native village of Krasic, Yugoslavia … Dr. William Shaw Kerr, 86, former Church of Ireland (Anglican) Bishop of Down and Dromore, in Belfast … Bishop Otto Zaenker, 83, last Protestant bishop of the pre-war Evangelical Church of Silesia, in Bielefield, Germany … Dr. John Deane, principal of the New Zealand Bible Training Institute … Mrs. Wilmer S. Lehman, 85, retired Presbyterian missionary to Cameroun, in Duarte, California … Charles Claus, 59, former advertising manager of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, in Chicago.

Appointment: As minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Glendale, California, the Rev. Edwin Houck, formerly associate pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.

Election: As president of the Baptist Public Relations Association, Badgett Dillard.

Recommendation: For the post of honorary president of The American Lutheran Church (to be formed in a three-way merger in April) Dr. Henry F. Schuh.

Quotes: “The case for planned parenthood is unanswerable. It is the birthright of every child to be a wanted child.”—Dr. Alan Walker, Australian Methodist evangelist … “The most effectual channel for Christian propaganda in the sixties will continue to be television. In this field commercial television, however suspect its motives may have been in its early days, has demonstrated an integrity in its approach to Christian matters which deserves praise.”—The Rev. Maurice A. P. Wood, president of the Islington Clerical Conference of the Church of England.

Other action at the NLC’s four-day session in Atlantic City:

—A study document was approved which gives strong backing to U. S. foreign aid but calls for greater stress on non-military programs of economic and technical assistance to underdeveloped areas.

—A resolution was adopted which advocates appointment by the President or Congress of a “national commission on U. S. immigration policy” to study how current immigration laws might be revised. Also endorsed was a statement which points up moral issues involved and suggests possible objectives of an improved immigration policy.

—In another resolution, the government was asked to utilize in full $10 million authorized for U. S. participation in the current World Refugee Year.

Eyeing the Lutherans

Representatives of 11 Presbyterian and Reformed bodies voted this month to investigate the possibility of holding theological discussions with Lutheran groups. The action was taken by delegates to the annual meeting of the World Presbyterian Alliance’s North American Area Council. The goal cited was an increase of understanding between the two confessions.

A major church-state incident this month involved the National Council of Churches in a stern rebuke of the U. S. Department of Defense.

At issue was a new, easy-reading Air Force training manual, one lesson of which taught non-commissioned reservists how to safeguard military information and how to recognize subversive techniques.

The manual quoted a newspaper editorial which criticized a Protestant church convention for urging that Red China be recognized by the United States and admitted to the United Nations.

“The implications of this editorial are clear,” the manual observed. “Communists and Communist fellow-travelers and sympathizers have successfully infiltrated into our churches. The foregoing is not an isolated example, by any means; it is known that even the pastors of certain of our churches are card-carrying communists.”

A reservist in Trenton, New Jersey, told his minister that he was disturbed at this and other parts of the manual. The minister notified the local council of churches, which in turn called NCC headquarters in New York’s Interchurch Center.

James Wine, an associate general secretary of the NCC, immediately fired off a strongly-worded letter of protest to Defense Secretary Thomas S. Gates.

Five days later Wine and two other NCC staff members came to Washington because, according to a spokesman, the Defense Department “was not treating the matter with the sense of importance we thought it deserved.”

The following day Air Force Secretary Dudley Sharp was quoted as having “categorically repudiated the publication” as representative of Air Force views.

Sharp also ordered the manuals withdrawn, only to learn that such an order had already been issued—six days before. The Air Force said the manual was brought to the attention of “responsible officials by a member of the reserve forces.” An investigation was launched.

Wine and his NCC associates still wanted to know “how the material was printed in the first place.” They held conferences with Gates and Sharp before leaving Washington. A spokesman said he was encouraged with the reaction of Defense Department officials.

Wine planned to record the incident in his report to the NCC General Board when it met in Oklahoma City February 24–25.

Excerpts From The Protest

Under a letterhead of the National Council of Churches, Associate General Secretary Wine wrote to Defense Secretary Gates:

“The appearance of this material, in the circumstances, is a patent contravention of the first amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

“To imply some relationship between the Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible and Communism is insidious and absurd.

“To aver by innuendo that the National Council of Churches is associated or in any way influenced by the Communist party is an example of irresponsibility at its worst.…

“I am sure you know that the National Council of Churches is the representative body of 33 Protestant and Orthodox denominations of the United States.…”

In a separate statement, Wine declared, “Beyond the very grave implications of this outrageous attack in an official government document on American churches and the National Council of Churches, we are conconcerned, and deeply so, about what may be a pattern of official indoctrination that amounts in itself to a form of subversion.”

What The Manual Said

The following is taken from the Continental Air Command’s Air Reserve Center Training Manual (NR. 45-0050, Incr. V, Vol. 7) which aroused NCC indignation:

Subversion. Subversion is any activity by which any person or group willfully attempts to interfere with or impair the loyalty, morale, or discipline of any member of the Armed Forces, or American citizens in general.

To establish a workable program of subversion, the Communists have discovered what they think is an almost foolproof weapon—the front organization. Have you ever heard of … The Abraham Lincoln Brigade, American Youth for Democracy, The League of American Writers, American Patriots, Inc., Committee for Protection of the Bill of Rights, Labor Research Association, Inc., Committee for World Youth Friendship and Cultural Exchange, The National Committee for Freedom of the Press, National Federation for Constitutional Liberties, The Voice of Freedom Committee. These sound quite American, don’t they? Yet the Attorney General of the United States has officially declared them to be subversive Communist fronts.…

Don’t join any organization or sign a so-called “peace petition” until you are certain it isn’t a Red front. You may check organizations against the subversive list in AF Regulation 124–5, “Designation of Organizations in Connection with the Federal Employee Security Program.” This regulation lists more than 280 organizations whose political or social philosophies (not necessarily all Communistic) are foreign to the American concepts of democracy. Among these are a number of schools which presumably teach alien ideologies, such as the Samuel Adams School, Boston; the Tom Paine School of Social Science, Philadelphia; the George Washington Carver School, New York City; the Jefferson School of Social Science, New York City; the Joseph Weydemeyer School of Social Science, St. Louis; the Seattle Labor School; and the Philadelphia School of Social Science and Art. Also listed are the front organizations named earlier.

Communism in Religion. From a variety of authoritative sources, there appears to be overwhelming evidence of Communist anti-religious activity in the United States through the infiltration of fellow-travelers into churches and educational institutions.

The National Council of Churches of Christ in the U. S. A. officially sponsored the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Of the 95 persons who served in this project, 30 have been affiliated with pro-Communist fronts, projects, and publications.…

Dr. Harry F. Ward, long a recognized leader in the National Council of Churches, was a Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York City for some 25 years, during which time he influenced thousands of theological students. Dr. Ward was identified by Louis Francis Budenz (an ex-Communist) before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee as a member of the Communist Party.…

Communism and Religion in Red China and North Korea. Reverend Shih-ping Wang, East Asia Director of the Baptist Evangelization Society International, appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee in March 1959, described at some length the commune system recently instituted in Red China. This system has hurt the churches, he said, because it has given the government much more complete control of the people and all worship has been forbidden in the communes.…

The foregoing hearings before the House Committee on Un-American Activities were published in an official Government bulletin on 26 March 1959, and doubtless released previously to the Nation’s press. Nevertheless, a United Press International News dispatch of 27 May 1959 said, “A distinguished American theologian has some stern words to offer on the problem of Communism and Christianity.” The distinguished theologian was none other than Dr. John A. Mackay, retiring President of Princeton Theological Seminary. The news dispatch went on to say: “Dr. John Mackay … charged that America is turning its back on untold thousands of Christians in Red China. Dr. Mackay called for the recognition of Red China … backing a resolution that had been adopted at the General Assembly.… Dr. Mackay told the delegates that while Red China had done some terrible things, so had the United States.”

Protestant Panorama

• With the appearance of a twelfth edition this month (500,000 copies now in print), Zondervan’s Amplified New Testament emerged as one of the most successful evangelical publishing ventures in modern times. The publisher hopes to issue the first section of an Old Testament counterpart in 1962 and the remainder in 1964.

• Students at Central Bible Institute, Assemblies of God school in Spring-field, Missouri, broke out in spontaneous, round-the-clock periods of prayer and confession this month. Chaplain Glenn Reed said “revival’ began when students accepted the challenge “to see Pentecost in our day” during chapel services conducted by evangelist Warren Litzman. Reed viewed the moving as a climax to President J. Robert Ashcroft’s stress on “apostolic academics.”

• The International Convention of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) plans to launch a 10-year denominational expansion program July 1. The Disciples’ goal is 1,500 new congregations in the United States. They now have about 8,000.

• Southern Baptists now claim the largest Sunday School enrollment of any Protestant denomination. Their record total for 1959 as released by the Baptist Sunday School Board was 7,276,502, which ranks above The Methodist Church for the first time. Southern Baptists also reported a record total of baptisms, 429,063.

• New York City’s interdenominational Riverside Church launched a bilingual ministry this month with a weekly Spanish-speaking worship service in Spanish.

• Dr. Charles W. Lowry, well-known in religious circles in the nation’s capital, is reported to have renounced his Episcopal priesthood. Lowry was rector of an Episcopal church in Chevy Chase, Maryland, before helping to form the Foundation for Religious Action in the Social and Civil Order. He had also been at one time a professor at Virginia Theological Seminary. He was recently elected president of the American Peace Society.

• The Presbyterian Church in Korea, hit by a split last fall, held a reuniting assembly this month with 80 per cent of commissioners present. Both factions were represented among newly-elected officers.

• Good News Publishers of Westchester, Illinois, plan a new $1,000,000 headquarters building.

• Pentecostalist movements are growing rapidly in the Netherlands and are making inroads into congregations of the major Protestant churches, according to a report of the Dutch Ecumenical Council of Churches.

• World Vision is sponsoring a pastors’ conference in Tokyo March 1–4. Among speakers: Dr. Bob Pierce, Dr. Richard C. Halverson, Dr. Paul S. Rees, and Dr. Bernard Ramm.

• The Evangelical Seminary of Puerto Rico, the island’s only Protestant theological school, plans a long-range expansion program subject to approval of its six sponsoring denominations in the United States.

• The Nazarene Congregational Church of Brooklyn is conducting a six-month experimental project to rehabilitate 10 delinquent boys aged 11 to 14 who have been referred by the borough’s children’s court.

• The A. J. Holman Company releases the first of three volumes of an international and interdenominational exposition of the English Bible March 1. Titled The Biblical Expositor, the new work represents combined efforts of 65 evangelical scholars from three continents. Consulting editor is Dr. Carl F. H. Henry, Editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. The publisher reported that of the first printing of 6,750 sets, 3,352 were sold a month before publication.

• Six original pamphlets written by Martin Luther between 1532 and 1538 were recently donated to the Foundation of Reformation Research.

• A teletypewriter network linking agencies of the Southern Baptist Convention and state Baptist papers was to be put into operation March 1.

ADULT BIBLE CLASS

When the church school ceases to attract and teach adults as well as children, it misses one of its most important functions, for adult spiritual illiteracy is a serious problem of the contemporary scene.

Most of us have seen and probably inwardly smile at the sign “Don’t Send Your Children to Sunday School—Take Them,” but it is more than an eye-catching slogan. In it is to be found a serious warning.

Few church members are instructed Christians. The degree of ignorance among those who bear the name of Christ is appalling. Knowing neither the content of the Christian faith, nor its implications for personal living, Christians give a blurred image of their profession to the unbelieving world because they know so little.

Only Christians instructed in the Bible and with a philosophy based in the living Christ can cope with their personal problems and face the world in which they live.

That many have had no such training in childhood makes the need all the more pressing. That no one ever attains a full knowledge of the Word makes its study a continuing imperative.

No matter how faithful Christians may be in attending regular worship services, they will always need the instruction and stimulation found in regular Bible study, and one of the most profitable sources for such study should be in the adult Bible classes of the Church School.

Having had experience in this field, I can say unequivocally that the topics assigned for the International Sunday School Lessons have for years afforded a wide and comprehensive area of Bible study. Anyone following these lessons faithfully has of necessity acquired a great storehouse of knowledge and inspiration.

The crucial problem is not so much one of the lesson topics as their development from the Bible itself. A teacher with some theological or social hobby can often use any portion of Scripture as a springboard to depart from and never in his teaching get at the true meat of the Word.

On the other hand, the Bible is so rich in spiritual and practical truth that any particular lesson can be a source of enrichment for the soul.

The adult Bible class should be a place where the Bible itself is studied. It can be made a wonderfully stimulating and rewarding hour to all who attend. Whether the regular course of lessons is followed (why not?) or some topic of the book in the Bible made a subject of study, it can be made so interesting that people not only continue to attend but bring others with them.

Again we repeat—the Bible is such an inexhaustible source of truth that any deviation to other sources of materials, other than supporting ones, is unworthy of a properly trained teacher.

Any method of Bible teaching worthy of the name must impart truth, stimulate interest, and result in practical application. The downgrading of the “lecture method” stems in part from disapproval of the oracular approach, and many adult Bible classes have been smothered by orators rather than teachers.

The increasing popularity of the “discussion method” has yet to be proved best in the long haul. Lively interest and the exchange of opinions and ideas is justified only as it leads to the Bible as the final source and authority. Discussion groups have only too often degenerated into heated exchanges of personal opinions with resulting spiritual poverty for everyone involved.

The fruitful method is any system of instruction whereby members of a group are led to study the Scriptures for themselves. A Spirit-filled teacher will be used of God when knowledge of and faith in the Word is imparted to others who themselves go on to search out its riches and apply the truth to their own lives.

One method, found effective, is to take the portion of Scripture to be studied and look at it in the light of its total context and then break it down into its theological, historical, and essential relevance for our own day.

Let it be emphatically said that no one is prepared to teach a Bible class who has not first saturated himself (or herself) with the Scripture and then bathed the entire endeavor in prayer.

Some teachers find it effective to outline the lesson and its basic truths on a blackboard.

Others prepare a set of leading questions which they ask and thereby secure group participation. This can be most effective, and it requires a foundation knowledge of the subject plus the ability to bring discussions to a fruitful and appropriate end.

Adult Bible classes of any given church should be increasingly emphasized in the total program of the Church. Mere attendance at a leadership training course does not necessarily make an effective teacher. Some of the best Bible teachers have never had the privilege of such courses. Others who have had extended instruction are not personally prepared to teach. It is always vital to remember that successful Bible teaching is primarily a matter of submitting to the leading and help of the Holy Spirit and secondarily one of correct methods.

The pastor and church officers need to make inadequate programs of adult Bible teaching a matter of major concern. If responsible leaders cannot realize the importance of such teaching, they must first face up to this need, then promote it vigorously within the bounds of the congregation.

The development of such a program may take time, but it is tremendously rewarding. Church members become instructed Christians, and these in turn become concerned and active churchmen.

Once a particular church finds itself thoroughly infiltrated with men and women who know and love the Bible, many of the other problems are automatically resolved: world missions, stewardship, evangelism, and social consciousness all assume their rightful place in the perspective of the individual Christian and the church of which he is a part.

The adult Bible class can become the center of the prayer life as well as the active ministry of a church.

Realizing its vital importance, one pastor of a large city church, Dr. Charles L. King of First Presbyterian Church, Houston, Texas, conducts a Bible class each Tuesday morning at six, and it is well attended by business and professional men.

At the heart of the emphasis on adult Bible instruction is the basic truth that God has spoken, and we are well advised to find out what he has said.

Happy is the church where men and women are instructed week after week in the depths and riches of the Written Word of God. And happy are they who receive such teaching and in simple faith go out under the power and blessing of the Holy Spirit to obey it and bear fruit for Christ.

L. NELSON BELL

THE QUIET MEN

My life is moulded by magazine ads. I rarely miss one. They shape my buying habits: I would hesitate to purchase a camera, because I am sure the ads next month will add electronic focussing to the parallax-corrected coupled rangefinder, automatic aperture control, and the other marvelous attributes that make such exciting reading. An ocean trip is out of the question. It would be too disillusioning to one accustomed to the ultimate luxury of the steamship ads.

The ads that I select for framing, however, are always philosophical in character. Just now I am under the influence of “The Quiet Men.” The two-page spread shows a lonely scholar deep in contemplation. According to the poetic essay across the page, he is making an unrelenting assault on a frontier of scientific knowledge. His vocabulary does not include the word “impossible.” He is a quiet man. Since this glimpse is afforded by an aviation company, presumably he is grappling with the kind of pure research that will “extend man’s dominion to the moon.”

He wears the traditional habit of the modern scholar: button-down collar, tweed jacket, knit tie. His bowed head has a Princeton tonsure. His austere cell is lined with neat boxes of learned journals.

I have had my hair cut, my jacket cleaned, and organized my ad clippings in shoe boxes. I find myself more and more given to a chin-in-hand posture. It discourages conversation. If my column becomes shorter, it is because I am becoming a Quiet Man.

Even Pastor Peterson noticed my reflective behavior. He wanted to know what I was dreaming about. I explained that creative thought at the growing edge of knowledge is lonely work and not readily communicated. He heartily approved of my example. If enough Christian leaders began to practice reflection, he said, our age might learn to give the kingdom of heaven priority over the dominion of space. He suggested I begin my reflection with Scripture and end it with prayer, the constant practice of the great Quiet Man of the Church of Christ.

EUTYCHUS

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

I am especially grateful that CHRISTIANITY TODAY gave me an opportunity to be heard on the capital punishment issue. The effect of this article has gone far beyond my expectation. Much comment has been adverse, but many letters have expressed lavish praise in presenting the theology on the subject. Colleges and other groups have used the article for discussion.… In Rockford, Illinois, I debated the issue with a prominent lawyer.… The interest in the meeting was phenomenal.

JACOB J. VELLENGA

Springfield, Illinois

• Space limitations preclude excerpts from the voluminous additional correspondence on the capital punishment issue following the appearance of “Capital Punishment and the Bible” (Feb. 1 issue).

—ED.

CONCERNING EXECUTIVES

The author identification in “Concerning Executives of the Church” (Feb. 1 issue) contains an error. I have never been president of the United Lutheran Synod of New York and New England, but was president of the Synod’s Western Conference from 1944 until 1947.

HOWARD A. KUHNLE

Redeemer Lutheran Church

Binghamton, New York

CHRIST IN LAS VEGAS

In … “Christ in Las Vegas” (Jan. 18 issue), we noted no reference to the two Lutheran congregations of the Missouri Synod [which] had conducted services there before 1940.

W. B. STREUFERT

St. John Lutheran Church

Mt. Prospect, Ill.

YOUNG LIFE

Regarding the editorial in Jan. 4 issue of CHRISTIANITY TODAY … “Young Life Recruiting Provokes Connecticut Clergy,” my experience with Young Life would certainly back up the findings of the clergy in Connecticut. The Young Life movement usually becomes a social clique, wherein basic theological convictions, which are so important in teen-age and adult life are minimized, and wherein the importance of the Church as a saving community is all but lost. No doubt Mr. Rayburn had a good motive in mind when he started the Young Life movement, but in essence the Young Life movement generally introduces the teenager to an artificial and doctrinally unsound ethic, rather than to the Christian Gospel. It is not so much as your editorial implies, a matter of “ecclesiology” as it is a real concern on the part of the Christian clergy that the Young Life movement is becoming a false front church for the teen-age social clique.

PETER N. A. BARKER

St. John’s Episcopal Church

Stockton, Calif.

Thank you for the comments … about Young Life.… You might be interested in knowing that here in St. Paul we are having a similar situation. I am a Lutheran pastor and two of my daughters are very active in Young Life. I have been amazed to see the zeal and enthusiasm which that organization arouses in young people and to see also the high type of people which it recruits in our high schools. I certainly think it is a wonderful thing, but the whole movement is subjected to a lot of criticism in our area and I am sad to say that the most severe criticism is from the pastor and the members of one of the very liberal churches in our community. I have gotten the impression that there will be a showdown within the next few weeks and there is going to be a public meeting and there will be people there to denounce the fine Christian organization and from what I gather they seem to imply that the whole thing is backed up by the Communists. It is strange that an organization which proclaims redemption thorugh Christ Jesus should be termed a Communist organization.

GERALD GIVING

Augsburg Publishing House

Minneapolis, Minn.

TRENDS IN METHODISM

On retiring after 41 years in the tropics I wanted to rejoin The Methodist Church. I heard a bishop and a number of ministers preach. Each one made me hesitate about joining and left the impression that Methodism is not what it was 50 years ago. Slowly I reached the conclusion that it is off the beam and has lost its former power. In CHRISTIANITY TODAY (Jan. 4 issue) R. P. Marshall explains what is wrong: Methodism has turned to schemes of world betterment and social uplift as a substitute for the declining evangelistic urge.

B. SKOU

Santa Barbara, Calif.

I am much concerned regarding the article by R. P. Marshall.… When he gives the impression that Wesley and his followers have not engaged in controversy or defended their faith, he surely does not know Mr. Wesley met the onslaughts of Calvinism in his day telling them “that their God was worse than the Devil!” When he gives the impression that Mr. Wesley was a ritualist and that this has characterized the Methodist Church throughout its history, this is simply not true. To my mind this is one of the greatest dangers of the Methodist Church and may be one of the factors which may divide it.

It is my belief that the group which advocates this are largely theological liberals and constitute the group which puts little or no stress on evangelism.

LEE RALPH PHIPPS

Townville, Pa.

In our generation, we have witnessed the propagation of a complete change in doctrinal emphasis under the banner of what has been popularly called the “worship movement.” … Very few have perceived that the movement for a richer worship has carried with it new ideas of God, or prayer, and of salvation.

The practice of praying with the back to the audience facing the worship center or “altar,” as many insist it should be called, has become a widespread practice in the churches. The ritual of the Holy Communion of some of the denominations practically requires it if the table is placed against the reredos.… For the major part of Protestantism it was an innovation in the name of aesthetics. But theology is involved here.… The Protestant Reformation stoutly fought against directed genuflexions. We believe that God is a Spirit. His dwelling place is in the hearts of his people. If the minister believes this and really wants the geographical direction of his praying to be in accord with truth, he will pray facing the people. The Roman Catholic tradition does assert that the divine presence is on the altar in the consecrated wafer. In keeping with that doctrine, they bow toward the altar. We cannot accept the doctrine of transubstantiation in the name of aesthetics. Why then should we proclaim it in our worship practices?

Would it not be well for us all to get down our prayer books and read again the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion. The one that is especially pertinent is the 28th. We are perilously near to plain violation of its concluding sentence, “The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was not by Christ’s ordinance reserved, carried about, lifted up, or worshipped.” The Methodists have this in their 25 articles as number 18. All honor to some of our denominations that, while accepting the worship center, they have insisted that there be some room behind the communion table, and that when the holy supper is observed the table is brought down to the level of the people where it belongs. Is our worship a priestly ministration or a fellowship of faith?

There has been widespread and earnest concern about the dearth and decline of private prayer.… It is in large part the fruitage of our public worship practices.

PAUL BARTON

The Methodist Church

Zeigler, Ill.

SKIT: ASSEMBLY LINE

“If workers will not come to the church, the church must seek them out where they are. Clergy … (should) not try for church attendance or conversions, but merely show that the church is involved in what men and women do in their working hours.”—Article in a current religious magazine.

SCENE: A Factory, Any Place

Clergyman: Hello, are you Bill Smith?

Bill: Watch out for that swinging arm.… What you trying to do, get me fired?

C: Oh, I beg your pardon, I didn’t mean …

B: Can’t hear a hairy old thing until I shut this cotton-pickin’ motor off.

C: Oh, don’t stop, I hate to bother a …

B: Now, buddy, what’s it all about? Oh, uh, pardon me, Father.

C: Quite all right, Bill. You see my name’s Fred Wilkins, and I’m pastor of the Good Shepherd Church on Eucalyptus Drive.

B: Glad to meetcha. My little girl goes there once in awhile. What’s on your mind, Reverend? She paid her pledge?

C: Oh, you mean—what’s her name?

B: Sandra.

C: Fine girl. Yes, I’m sure it is. I mean, she did. Oh, yes.

B: Well, what can I do for you? Use Copenhagen?

C: No, thanks. I just wanted to meet you. I—I wanted you to know that we as a church are concerned about you.

B: Concerned about me? I get it. The old woman’s been cryin’ about my boozin’, that it? So you tell me I’m goin’ to Hell.

C: Oh, no, no, no, no. Not that at all. You see, we want you to know that the church is behind you.

B: Whaddya mean, behind me? Behind my boozin’?

C: No, what I mean is, Bill.…

B: Say, what is this anyhow?

C: Well, the church is involved in your work, so to speak.

B: My work! You mean you’re gettin’ a cut out of this lousy outfit?

C: (beginning to sweat) Mr. Smith, we feel that since you don’t come to the church, we ought to bring the church to you.

B: Why in blazes should I go to church? I got my own religion, right here. (Taps himself).

C: Well, we’re not really trying to get you to go to church, to tell you the truth.

B: Then what are you trying to do?

C: Well, we feel wherever you are, that’s where the church is.

B: That’s just what I got through tellin’ you.

C: But—

B: Oh, now I get it. You’re one of them independent operators. You got a Bible and you want to save my soul.

C: Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You see—

B: I know I’m not what I ought to be, by a long shot.

C: You certainly are an expert with that machine. Mean you’d like to do a better job, is that it?

B: Listen, parson, any fool can run this machine. I’m talkin’ about me. My life ain’t right and I know it. Neither is the missus!

C: Oh?

B: Tell me, do you ever have any of them church suppers up there?

C: Yes, as a matter of fact, we do. Of course the next one is our annual meeting and that wouldn’t interest you. But what I wanted to say is that the church is really vitally concerned about your work here, and your relationships with your fellow workers, with the union steward, and the foreman, and management generally; and that as a representative of the church I am eager to bring its redemptive insights to bear.…

B: Yeah, I guess so. Listen, buddy, that foreman’s got his watch on me right now, and I’m startin’ this motor. Sorry. See you at the ball park sometime. So long—watch out for that swingin’ arm!

SHERWOOD ELIOT WIRT

Minneapolis, Minn.

The Book of Ruth, universally honored as “one of the most charming short stories in Hebrew literature,” and standing in contrast to the stories of war and military violence in Judges and Samuel, relates the everyday life and trying adventures of a family in Israel about the end of the era of the Judges (1:1).

THE NARRATIVE

The family of Elimelech from Bethlehem in Judah was afflicted by famine and migrated to Moab. Here Elimelech died and Mahlon and Chilion took for themselves Moabite wives, contrary to the law (Deut. 7:3 f.) because the Moabites were idolators and not allowed to enter the assembly of the Lord (Deut. 23:3). During the 10 years of their sojourn the two sons also died. After learning that God had visited his people, Naomi decided to leave Moab and its graves and return to Canaan. Placed before decision, Orpah gave ear to the whisperings of her natural heart and returned “to her people and to her gods,” but Ruth “clung” to her mother-in-law and testified in poetic language that she had embraced the people of God of Naomi (1:16, 17).

The arrival of Naomi and Ruth in Bethlehem caused commotion, for the painful experiences of the preceding 10 years had so changed Naomi that she was hardly recognizable (1:19–22). To provide for their daily sustenance, Ruth offered to glean among the ears of grain in accordance with the law (Lev. 19:9 f.). Here she met the man who was destined to play an important role in the rehabilitation of the afflicted family (2:1–22). Boaz, a “kinsman” (Heb. modac, acquaintance) of the family of Elimelech, master of considerable possessions, told Ruth, after she had ventured to the threshing floor one night, that he would do everything she desired. He said this also because his fellow townsmen knew that she was a “virtuous woman.” There was, however, a kinsman nearer to her than himself, and in chapter four we read the interesting deliberation at the city gate between Boaz and this kinsman.

In the lawsuit that proceeded, the duty of a redeemer and the levirate was linked in an unusual manner. The kinsman concerned was willing to take upon himself the responsibility of caring for the impoverished family (4:4). But when Boaz pointed out the exceptional character of this case, namely, that the land was encumbered by a form of levirate: the one who bought the land was bound to “buy” Ruth also “in order to restore the name of the dead to his inheritance” (4:5), the kinsman found the servitude too great. Hence, Boaz assumed the responsibilities connected with the redemption. The land became his property (4:9), and Ruth instead of Naomi became his wife (4:10). Ruth bore a son who was called Obed, that is, “servant,” one who would care for Naomi in her old age (4:15). In God’s plan, however, he was destined to be the grandfather of David and thus the forefather of Christ (cf. Matt. 1:5).

The position of this book in criticism today is connected with the three main problems regarding its integrity, date, and purpose.

INTEGRITY

The book concludes with a genealogy of 10 names in which we see the connection between Peres, the forefather of the royal tribe of Judah (cf. Gen. 49:8, 10), and David in whom the ideal of the true theocratic kingship was to be embodied. This conclusion (4:18–22) is generally considered by critical scholars to be a late addition based upon the postexilic genealogy in 1 Chronicles 2:4–15. Pfeiffer, for example, is convinced that the Hebrew word for “begat” (holid) is that used in the genealogies of the Priestly Code but not in the earlier writings. This argument, however, can be maintained only when the critic’s theory of the elements of the so-called Priestly Code is dogmatically confirmed. In the writer’s opinion this whole construction must be regarded as arbitrary. For instance, the same word for “begat” is found in Genesis 11:27. Verses 28–30 are alloted to the Jahvist, but verse 27, because it contains an element of genealogy, is attributed to the Priestly Code!

The problem of the integrity of the book becomes more serious when a distinguished authority like Eissfeldt maintains that verse 17 also must be regarded as a later addition. According to him there is no connection between “A son has been born to Naomi” and the name “Obed.” He presumes that the Boaz of our book originally had nothing to do with the Boaz mentioned in the genealogy of David (1 Chron. 2:4–15), and that the similarity of the names later led to the identification of the two persons. The connection between the history of Ruth and David is thus based on error.

The implication of this interpretation is clear: it not only affects the integrity of the book but also the historicity of the narrative and authority of the Bible. Eissfeldt’s interpretation cannot be supported substantially either. The enmity between Israel and Moab (cf. Deut. 23:3 and Neh. 13:1) makes it unlikely that an Israelitic writer would casually connect the genealogy of David with that of a Moabite woman. The present proposition would actually disqualify the book for inclusion in the canon were there no justification for the reference to David in this genealogy.

DATE

The author of the Book of Ruth is unknown but could obviously not have been Samuel (contra Baba Bathra 14b). On the assumption that the narrative is based on historical facts and the genealogy at the end is authentic, evangelical scholars are inclined to date the book in the time before the splendor of David’s reign had diminished. Confirmation of this is hard to find. The expression in 1:1 that the story took place in “the days when the Judges ruled,” indicates that the era of the Judges already belonged to the past. The way in which the author writes about David in 4:17, and the genealogy of 4:18–22, shows also that he definitely bore knowledge of the splendor of David’s reign. This consideration, as well as the complete absence of any reference to Solomon or his successors, pleads in favor of the terminus ad quem, in the latter time of David or immediately after (cf. Raven, Old Testament Introduction, p. 292; Aalders, (Oud-Testamentische Kanoniek, p. 336; Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 330).

Critical scholars, however, are generally agreed in dating the book after the exile. These are their assumptions:

Ruth 1:1 suggests that the author was familiar with the Deuteronomic edition of the Book of Judges. This is an assumption, based upon an arbitrary hypothesis, namely, that the Book of Deuteronomy originated in the days of Josiah, and its character and spirit was substantiated in the recasting of Judges.

Furthermore they say that the most significant evidence of the postexilic origin of the book is to be found in 4:7 where a custom, current at the time Deuteronomy 25:5–10 was written, had become so obsolete that it had to be elucidated. Now it is to be noted that there is quite a difference in purpose between the two instances. In Deuteronomy 25 the symbolic action of taking off a shoe serves as humiliation of those who refuse to accept the responsibility of the levirate. In 4:7 there is no word of humiliation and no reference to the levirate, but here it concerns the renunciation of one’s claims. Secondly, this consideration is only of importance to scholars who date the Book of Deuteronomy in the seventh century before Christ. Here again, one hypothesis is based upon another.

Rowley (The Growth of the Old Testament, p. 150) argues that the language and style of the text have some late features. Evidence for this is meagre. Rowley himself attests to the early models on which the language and style are based. According to Pfeiffer (Introduction, p. 718), the general character of the Hebrew vocabulary and syntax, the use of ancient idiomatic expressions current in the best prose of the Old Testament, and the classical purity of style could be adduced in favor of an early date. Young believes that there are only two words to which appeal may be made as supporting a later date, namely, lahen (therefore) 1:13, and mara’ (bitter) 1:20. In agreement with most scholars he maintains that these two words are insufficient to prove a late date (op. cit., p. 330).

We need not conclude either that Ruth’s position in the canon, among the Hagiographa rather than the Prophets, was due to the fact that the Prophets were already canonized at the time of our book’s origin. We know little of the process of canonization and of the particular motives which influenced the grouping of the books. But the idea that Ruth was included in the Hagiographa because of late origin cannot be proved.

PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE

Dates and origins, however interesting as problems, are of minor importance to understanding a book.

In stipulating its purpose, we must distinguish between the author’s intention in the first instance and its being part of the canon.

We agree with scholars who say that the book’s primary aim was to relate the early family history of David. We maintain this point of view despite L. P. Smith’s remark that the author’s purpose was universal, not national, because the point stressed is Ruth’s foreignness.

It was no small matter to link the ancestry of David with a Moabitess, and the question of how this happened arises. First, Ruth completely identified herself with the God and people of Israel, and was accepted not only by Naomi but also the women of Bethlehem and the official representatives of Israel as a “daughter of Abraham.” Secondly, David’s ancestors were pious and exemplary. The former consideration was determinate. In spite of Ruth’s foreignness, she had entered into the assembly of the Lord, and therefore her inclusion in the genealogy of the famous king David was not at variance with the stipulation in Deuteronomy 23:3 and the later application according to Nehemiah 13:1!

We uphold this view against other opinions concerning the purpose of the book. According to some the Book of Ruth is fiction rather than history. I, however, agree with L. P. Smith that few, if any, stories of the ancient world were put into writing except out of a motive more powerful than entertainment. Israel attached great importance to genealogies. Israel was the people of God, and Palestine the land of promise. The generations of Israel and their inheritance were thus in service of God and the coming of his kingdom. In a special sense it was so in the generation of the great king of Israel.

Many scholars, ascribing the book to the period of Ezra and Nehemiah, interpret it as a political tract, a protest against opposition to mixed marriages by argument that David had Moabite blood in his veins. “Here we find an attractive piece of ‘propaganda’ against the assumption that one’s position within Israel was dependent solely upon purity of blood or correctness of genealogy” (B. W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament, p. 452).

We must say that the Book of Ruth nowhere protests; it simply narrates. It is not a piece of “propaganda” but is an “explanation.”

Its purpose, as Oettli rightly observes, is to illumine the genealogy of David, and this alone explains the book. The primary aim was not to enlighten us to the universal meaning of Israel’s religion and calling. That factor is certainly present but can be understood only in the light of the whole revelation and testimony of the Bible.

Boaz the Hebrew and Ruth the Moabitess in union become the highway for God towards the ultimate realization of divine purposes. The living theme which God wants to write through the Book of Ruth on the history of his Church and upon the life of every Christian is that in everything God works for good with those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). This book also teaches us what true godliness means in the employer and employee relationship (2:4). Above all, it opens the perspective of the history of Christmas and the event of Pentecost. The genealogy with which the book ends culminates in the theocratic king David to whose generation the promise of the advent of the Messiah was linked. The striking description of the love of Boaz, who raised Ruth from her humiliation and loaded her with precious gifts, is a reference to the grace of God in Christ who lifts the unworthy sinner out of the depths of sin and enriches his life with spiritual and temporal blessings (Rom. 8:32; 2 Cor. 8:9). As through Boaz, the redeemer, the name and inheritance of Elimelech and his generation were saved, so Christ saves all who belong to him and gives them an eternal inheritance.

In addition, the Book of Ruth teaches us the universal relevance of the great “Obed,” Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour not only of Israel but of the human race. This perspective was opened the moment Ruth made her decision to embrace the people of God and Naomi. The inclusion of a “heathen” in the assembly of the Lord was a preludium to Pentecost, and in Ruth’s touching words we have a pentecostal confession of a union with God and his people, with the Lord and his Church.

HELPS FOR STUDY

Books recommended for study can be arranged in three categories. The first consists of commentaries. Helpful works are those of Keil (Biblical Commentary, ed. Keil and Delitzsch), L. P. Smith and J. T. Cleland (The Interpreter’s Bible; rather critical), and A. Macdonald (The New Bible Commentary; especially valuable for conservative students).

The second category of books deals with separate aspects and problems of the book. The marriage of Boaz and Ruth, for instance, is the theme of different essays by Burrows (in JBL, 59, 1940, pp. 445–454) and Rowley (The Servant of the Lord and other Essays, 1952, pp. 161–186). With regard to the problem of the redemption and levirate, essays written by Lacheman (“Note on Ruth 4:7–8” in JBL, 56, 1937, pp. 53–56) and Vriezen (“Two Old Cruces,” in OTS, 5, 1948, pp. 80–91) are helpful.

For devotional purposes there is the excellent chapter on Ruth by the late G. Campbell Morgan in Living Messages.

P. A. VERHOEF

Professor of Old Testament

Dutch Reformed Theological Seminary

Stellenbosch, South Africa

The original purpose of Vacation Bible Schools was “to use ‘idle students’ and ‘idle churches’ to teach ‘idle children’ the Word of God.” Now after little more than half a century, Christian leaders have recognized the Vacation Bible School, or Vacation Church School, as one of the most important resources of Christian education in the development of youth. Although churches and church leaders were slow to see its values at first, it is accepted today as an integral part of the program of Christian education. A conservative estimate is that more than 7 million pupils and workers are enrolled in the schools each summer. These millions testify with enthusiasm that the values of Vacation Bible Schools far outweigh the work and expense which they require.

LEADERSHIP FOR THE SCHOOLS

One of the factors that has sparked the unusual success of the Vacation Bible movement has been the work of dedicated leaders. Nearly a million workers make up the mighty army serving as “missionaries to childlife” each summer. Many of them are highly trained, and some receive remuneration for their work. Yet, the great majority are volunteer workers giving of their time because they love the Lord and love children.

Their training, however, has been one of the real problems. Progress is being made in that pastors, ministers of education, and principals or directors of Church Schools now make their plans and preparation earlier in order to allow time for adequate training. Through state, associational, and church clinics or workshops the workers achieve skills with specific age groups. Those who take this training seriously have shown remarkable progress in the quality of their work and the results achieved.

CURRICULUM IN THE SCHOOLS

A second factor in the rapid growth of Vacation Bible School work is the curriculum materials that are provided. Placed in the hands of dedicated workers, these materials can make Bible stories come to life for boys and girls.

At first the curriculum was very limited. Teaching was confined to story telling with major emphasis on regimentation and routine. Gradually program and methods became varied and planned according to the needs of different age groups. Many features of the earlier schools were retained, such as the opening or closing worship session with its certain amount of ritual, Bible study, recreation or recess period, character study, creative activity, and special events. Today the emphasis has shifted from content and routine to boy and girl participation in guided activities.

Some denominations are now publishing their own materials and arranging them on suggested schedules. Other groups have joined in cooperative publication efforts. Demands for these curriculum materials are rising as more churches include Vacation Bible Schools in their budgets and calendars of events.

The individual church usually assumes responsibility for the choice of materials to be used in the Vacation Bible School. Selection is made according to the needs of the boys and girls, the purposes of the church sponsoring the school, the abilities of the workers, and other courses of Christian teaching offered by the church. Nearly all churches having schools plan and provide at least for ages four through fourteen. Many include a three-year nursery department and provide for 15- and 16-year-old pupils. An increasing number of schools also minister to small groups of young people and adults. In all these materials there is a trend toward shorter and less expensive texts, or textbooks which may be used a number of times in a given cycle.

VALUES OF THE SCHOOLS

The unusual success of Vacation Bible School work is seen in the values or blessings received by the children, the workers, churches, and communities. These blessings serve as a constant reminder that here is a program of Christian education that really works. We may enumerate some of them.

1. Establishing new churches and missions. Vacation Bible Schools bless the churches in which they are held. New churches get started, dead churches are revived, and the life of other churches are revitalized. One denominational leader said: “I consider the Vacation Bible School approach the best possible way to establish a new church.”

2. Cultivating mission interest. Vacation Bible Schools also incite interest in missions and in giving. Pupils and workers learn the importance of world missions, and through mission offerings they not only form the habit of giving but give with specific needs in mind. Thus their gifts make the Great Commission personal and alive in the church’s ministry. No doubt, many of the missionaries had the fires of missionary passion kindled in a Vacation Bible School.

3. Reaching the unreached. Reaching the unenlisted is another blessing Vacation Schools afford. In this realm they have become one of the greatest forces at our disposal. By this means entrance may be gained into the homes and hearts of the people of the community. Each year reports reveal thousands of children enrolled in the schools who are not enrolled in any Sunday School. Using the information gained from the registration cards, dedicated leaders may visit the homes to enlist parents and children in the total life of the church.

4. Enlisting and developing leaders. Vacation Bible Schools enlist and train additional leaders for churches. Some of the best church workers got their first taste of leadership in a school. The very nature of the Vacation Bible School made it possible for them to serve in some capacity. They responded to training, gained confidence, and remained available for other duties after the school was ended. By making these workers available, Vacation Bible Schools have made it possible for Sunday Schools and other organizations to grow and improve the quality of their work.

5. Bible teaching. Churches are always in need of additional time for this important task. A Vacation Bible School provides one of the finest ways we have of teaching the Bible. Since the children have no textbooks, emphasis may be placed on learning by experience and participation. With younger children this may be achieved through Bible stories, dramatizations, the use of appropriate and meaningful Bible pictures, and guided activities. For older boys and girls group discussions and more serious Bible study may be introduced with satisfying results.

Under a well-trained and dedicated faculty, the average child will learn as much about the Bible and its application to life as he would in six or more months in an average Sunday School.

6. Appreciation of good music. Vacation Bible School worship services have provided many children with their first opportunity to praise God through song. Choir directors have also learned that here is one of the most fertile fields for the discovery and development of musical talent. Many churches can attribute the raising of the quality of their music in public worship to the influence of Vacation Bible Schools.

7. Evangelism. No greater value is afforded by a Vacation Bible School than that of winning boys and girls to Christ. Day after day consecrated workers have opportunity to guide the older children toward considering this most important decision. In many of the schools a brief evangelistic service for those nine years of age and above is planned for the last day. No pressure is put upon the children, but after the claims of Christ are presented they are given opportunity publicly to declare their acceptance of Christ as Saviour.

Results of evangelism in Vacation Bible Schools are manifest particularly in the months that follow. Registration cards reveal not only those in the schools who are non-Christians but also valuable information about parents and other members of the families, some of whom are church members and need to be reclaimed.

In a large Vacation Bible School clinic, one woman testified that her entire family had been won to Christ by a well-timed visit following Vacation Bible School sessions in her community. With a display of quiet emotion she related how her home had been completely changed. Now three years later she was attending the clinic preparing to become the principal of the school in her church.

No one can know what the future holds for Vacation Bible School work, but every sign indicates that the future is bright. What if a 10-day school could be held in every church? And what if it could be done this summer?

Preacher In The Red

EDITORIAL PUNSTER

DURING MY STUDENT DAYS I had the privilege of serving a small Welsh church in the county of Denbigh, North Wales. There were just three steps to the quaint pulpit, and unfortunately the middle step gave way, which caused me a nasty injury to my leg.

On returning to college, my fellow students asked regarding my lameness. I explained that the wood on the particular step must have rotted.

In a fortnight’s time our college magazine was published, and there on the front page was a remarkable sketch of me standing in a pulpit, and the apt(!) caption on top, reading “Dry Rot in the Pulpit.”—The Rev. R. M. ELLIS-GRUFFYDD, F.Ph:S (Eng.), Market Square Church (Congregational), Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorzan, South Wales.

Jacob J. Vellenga served on the National Board of Administration of the United Presbyterian Church from 1948–54. Since 1958 he has served the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. as Associate Executive. He holds the A.B. degree from Monmouth College, the B.D. from Pittsburgh-Xenia Seminary, Th.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and D.D. from Monmouth College, Illinois.