Selected Passages
Calvin: Commentaries, ed. by Joseph Haroutunian (Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 414 pp., $5) and Calvin’s Doctrine of the Word and Sacrament, by Ronald S. Wallace (Eerdmans, 253 pp., $3.50) are reviewed by G. Aiken Taylor, Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Alexandria, Louisiana.

The first of these books is the second of three volumes on Calvin projected for the Library of Christian Classics. The first volume (Theological Treatises), appeared some four years ago and included a great many hitherto untranslated selections. The selections here offered are freshly translated but the material has been available in English for a long while.

The editor has collected representative passages from the commentaries under such headings as “the Bible,” “The Knowledge of God,” “Jesus Christ,” “Faith,” “Ethics,” etc. There is also splendid introductory material on Calvin himself and two additional works: The Preface to Olivetan’s New Testament and the Dedication to the Epistle to the Romans. The overall affect is a handy reference work for uncritical study.

Most selections of Calvin material suffer from the natural tendency of any editor to select passages in keeping with his own viewpoint or interpretation. And Calvin wrote so voluminously that he can be made to say almost anything. The present collection does not altogether escape this danger. I looked to see how many of the proof-texts selected by R. S. Wallace (see book-review below) to support his thesis were included in Haroutunian’s selection of passages on the same subjects. There were almost none.

However, the danger of misinterpreting Calvin is largely avoided, in this work, by the editor’s practice of letting long passages speak for themselves. Instead of clipping and editing the several pages of commentary which Calvin frequently wrote on a single verse, he has printed the whole of each passage selected.

The second of these books is a thorough and scholarly work which develops Calvin’s thought as follows: (1) God cannot be known directly and, consequently, he cannot reveal himself directly to man, for man is unable to bear it.

(2) God, therefore, must adapt himself to man’s capacity to receive, revealing himself indirectly through signs and symbols. These offer him veiled, but they truly disclose him even as they veil him. In short, though God cannot be known, he can be encountered in and through means.

(3) Now Christ is the Mediator of all revelation, standing between God and man as the Word of God. God is apprehended only through his Word and this Word is always Christ. It is the Word (Christ) which makes the words and signs (the means) become revelatory of God.

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(4) In the Old Testament the Word (Christ) revealed God primarily in the signs and symbols of worship under the Law. In the New Testament the Word revealed God primarily in the Cross and the Resurrection. The apostles spoke of this revelation of God in Christ in their capacity as preachers of it and commentators upon it. Their words become the Word, to us, when it is received in faith.

(5) Today the Word (Christ) continues to reveal God through words and signs: through the preaching and the sacraments of the Church. The frail word preached by man can actually become God speaking. It does so become when the grace of the Mediator makes it so … as faith is exercised.

To all practical purposes, then the Word of God can be spoken of in three ways: (1) with reference to Christ, (it is ever Christ, of course, and in any case); (2) with reference to the words of Scripture when they are taken, in faith, as the Word of God and when, as the effect of such faith, they become the Word; and (3) with reference to the preaching of the Gospel, whenever it is also received, in faith, as the Word.

Essentially there is no qualitative difference between the ministry of the Word in Scripture and the ministry of the Word in preaching, for in the case of each the revelation occurs only as faith is exercised. There is, however, an “added” act of faith presumably required of the preacher (although this isn’t discussed). This is the faith he exercises as he takes the words of the prophets and the apostles as his own, that his words may become the Word of God. When he does this, his words become the Word just as their words became the Word.

The above, it can readily be seen, is Calvin with a Barthian flavor. The difference between Wallace’s Calvin and Calvin himself is small, but important. Calvin himself viewed Scripture as the objective, self-verifying Word of God in a manner Wallace has not allowed. Witness this: “But God wants us to respect His mouth and we know where that is: it is where He has spoken to us by Moses, by His prophets and, lastly, by His Apostles, in order that we may be accurately taught everything that He wants us to know. So let us profit by this doctrine, that we be not rebels against the very mouth of God, his Word” (Trans. from Sermon on Deut. 1:22–28).

G. AIKEN TAYLOR

Realm Of Ideas
Luther’s World of Thought, by Heinrich Bornkamm, translated by Martin H. Bertram (Concordia Publishing House, 1958, 315 pp., $3.00) is reviewed by E. P. Schulze, Minister of the Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Peekskill, N. Y.
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Since university men live in the realm of ideas, they will naturally produce books like this one, written by a professor of church history at Heidelberg University who has done a great deal of previous research and writing in the field of Lutherana.

The essays in this volume largely complement and sometimes overlap those found, for example, in Boehmer’s “Luther in the Light of Recent Research” (1916) and Dau’s “Luther Examined and Reexamined” (1917). Boehmer’s work is a critical evaluation of the man and his development in the environment of his times. James Harvey Robinson called it “a fresh and stimulating conception of Luther,” and it is indeed a lively book. Dau’s purpose, on the other hand, is to rebut Roman Catholic slanders concerning Luther’s life, work and doctrine. More recently, Ewald Plass in “This is Luther” has studied his character, personality, and his everyday life. And a few years ago Schwiebert, a pupil of Preserved Smith, gave us “Luther and his Times,” in which the historical setting is strongly delineated.

All these books were written by academic men, and Bornkamm has added his contribution to the ongoing business of analyzing Luther by this study of his principal ideas about theology, nature, history, politics, sociology and philology. We see in these pages his towering figure emerging from the middle ages and drawing multitudes after him. His theology, of course, was not new, but it was not medieval; it was that of primitive Christianity, based firmly upon the Holy Scriptures. In matters of science he had the modern outlook, rejecting Aristotelianism and saying, “Science consists in differentiating and sifting.” In the field of economics, he foresaw and fulminated against the excesses of an unbridled capitalism. Some of his concepts (that concerning the best form of government, for example) remained medieval throughout his life, but his insistence on the line of demarcation between the jurisdictions of Church and State, so clearly expressed by his co-worker Melanchthon in the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, is essentially modern, though with some defects which are evident to anyone who has studied his views concerning the duty of government toward the Jews and the Anabaptists, in the promulgation of which Luther appears in his least pleasing aspect. One misses in this volume a discussion of Luther’s thoughts on education. This is indeed an important topic, and it is strange that Bornkamm, an educator, gave it no place in his book.

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“Luther’s World of Thought” is an easy book to read. To Lutheran pastors, and indeed to many other clergymen of scholarly bent, much of its contents will seem familiar and elementary. But it is likely enough that even many well-read Lutheran ministers can learn much from Bornkamm’s pages on Luther as a translator of the New Testament.

Bornkamm’s work is to be recommended to all who are interested in what Luther thought, which, after all, is of as great importance as what he did. But by its very physical limitations it can be no more than an introduction to its vast subject. Those who wish to delve deeper and can read German should turn to Volume XXIII of the Concordia edition of Luther’s Works. Between the covers of that fat quarto they will find an excellent summary of Luther’s thought on every conceivable topic, indexed (originally in cigar boxes, I am told) by the indefatigable editor A. F. Hoppe. In those abstracts is the quintessence of the matter, and it is presented for the most part in Luther’s own stout and trenchant words.

E. P. SCHULZE

Missionary Autobiography
Land Beyond the Nile, by Malcolm Forsberg (Harper, 1958, 232 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Marian J. Caine, Editorial Assistant of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Although it says on the jacket “the real life drama of a dedicated and dauntless missionary couple,” this book has rather little to commend it for drama, and in comparison with the classic and moving epic of five missionary martyrs published a year ago, it is something of an anti-climax.

There is admittedly no glorious tragedy to Land Beyond the Nile; but this alone would not make it a weak book. It professes to be a portrayal of the kindling devotion of two people for Christ and claims to be “a great Christian adventure” (cover flap), but unfortunately the writing succeeds in only saying as much from page one to the end. A disappointment, this book is like too many other Christian books in recent years; it glosses over life and events in a rather pedestrian, threadbare manner, and as an autobiography it has little to say beyond itself.

The story is about a missionary couple, Malcolm Forsberg and his wife Enid who go to Africa as missionaries. The author carries their experiences from the time they meet at Wheaton College to their mission work in Ethiopia and later in the Sudan. The strong point of the book perhaps is in the details which Mr. Forsberg gives of missionary living, tribal primitivism and the geography of the land. Some of these descriptions are articulate, and for those contemplating missionary work in Africa and readers interested in Africa for its own sake, they are instructive. Useful also are the maps in the beginning pages of the book and photographs representing the ways and practices of Uduk and Ethiopian peoples.

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MARIAN J. CAINE

Salvation Via Suggestion
The Single Path, by James W. Fifield (Prentice-Hall, 1957, 335 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Walter Vail Watson, Minister of the Lancaster Presbyterian Church, New York.

This is a book charmingly written by a winsome and materially successful member of the Weatherhead-Peal school of spiritual health through devotion to psychological formula.

Throughout the book the brilliant pastor of Congregationalism’s largest church treats us to a succession of interesting anecdotes gleaned from his pastoral experience in Los Angeles. We view souls of all states and ages who have resolved their problems through taking the “creative plunge,” an expression which lies at the book’s heart (pp. 28–41).

This creative plunge is defined as “the bold, decisive act by which you smash through a wall that has hemmed you in through life” (italics mine). This plunge is taken “mostly … when, at long last, you lift your face to God.” In other words, God is just waiting for men to get tired enough of their failures to find every sort of success and victory through self-commitment to him. There seems to be no real need for any sort of atonement because a man is a sinner and under the guilt of unforgiven sin.

But, anyhow, Dr. Fifield presents an array of people who have found some sort of peace (he only implies it is permanent) through a rational commitment abetted by sound, discerning psychological counsel.

It is cheerfully agreed that this sort of victory over frustration may work when the focus of real need is for personal adjustment to other persons one has hitherto been unable, or has refused to understand. This may prove to be helpful in some cases.

The gospel according to Fifield also seems to assume that if we can convince ourselves that God approves our efforts at self-improvement and self-victory a happy issue is bound to be just around the corner.

The new birth, for instance, seems to be quoted with approval (p. 28). But the supernatural concept of John’s gospel is travestied in these words which immediately follow the reference to the new birth: “Forget your real or fancied lacks—your rebirth in Christ will truly make you a little lower than the angels!” Is this what Jesus meant when talking to Nicodemus? What warrant is there, pray, for taking this kind of liberty with the context of the Word of God?

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Whatever he advocates it is not the Christian faith. If Dr. Fifield assents to what Paul in the Spirit referred to as the “offence of the cross,” he is very careful to conceal it. There is no evidence that he truly believes in the Christian doctrine at the heart of the gospel of John, or of Paul as expressed in the epistles to the Romans and Galatians. He fails to give due emphasis on the doctrine of vicarious atonement.

WALTER VAIL WATSON

Authoritative Work
Augustine to Galileo, by A. C. Crombie (Heinemann, 25s.) is reviewed by G. C. B. Davies, Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Trinity College, Dublin.

This volume, containing a history of science during the Middle Ages, is a reissue, without alteration, of a work first published in 1952. It provides a most interesting and exhaustive survey of the subject, such as is not to be found in treatment and scope in any other single volume. Of particular value is the section which describes the trends and experiments in technics, medicine, and science in the thirteenth century, introduced from Greek and Arabic sources, and which relates them to the subsequent developments of the Renaissance era. The work of Grosseteste, Albertus Magnus, and Roger Bacon in pure science or in philosophical criticism of Aristotle prepared men’s minds for the scientific revolution associated with Copernicus, Galileo, and their contemporaries. The emphasis on the work of medieval mathematicians brings a wholesome corrective to those who have dismissed this period as comparatively insignificant in that field.

The revolution in scientific thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was caused not only by new discoveries, but by a fundamental change in the type of question asked by scientists regarding the world and man himself. This new attitude is developed in considerable detail in the fields of astronomy, physiology, chemistry, botany, and anatomy. The first reception of this massive and authoritative work made apparent that it supplied a real need in tracing the origins and growth of ideas which have had a profound influence upon the life of mankind. The appearance of a cheaper edition will be welcomed as placing what has become a standard work within the reach of a wider circle of readers.

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G. C. B. DAVIES

Excellent Study
Ezekiel: the Man and His Message, by H. L. Ellison (Eerdmans, 1956, 144 pp., $2.50), is reviewed by Anton T. Pearson, Professor of Language and Literature at Bethel Theological Seminary.

H. L. Ellison, Tutor for Old Testament Studies in the London Bible College and contributor of the sections on I and II Kings and I and II Chronicles in the New Bible Commentary, has given conservative Christianity a stimulating treatment of the prophet Ezekiel. In the nature of an expository commentary, the book follows the chapter order of Ezekiel and is best read along with the Bible text itself.

Aware of the textual problems of the M.T., the author often cites a preferred LXX reading, and makes constant use of the renderings of the R.V., Moffatt, I.C.C., and R.S.V. For example, the reading, “in the eleventh year of our exile” of LXX, Syr., is preferable to the M.T. “twelfth year” and would bring the news of the fall of Jerusalem to the exiles at Tel Abid six months after the event rather than a year and a half later (p. 118). With the fall of Zedekiah, the old order was to pass until the Messiah came, whose it is. This seems to be the first extant interpretation of Genesis 49:10. For Shiloh, Ezekiel reads shelloh, “Whose it is,” which reading is followed in the R.S.V. of Genesis 49:10 (p. 86).

Symbolism was congenial to Ezekiel with his priestly background, and the actions of chapters four and five are to be regarded as symbolical rather than literal (pp. 31–33). The prophet’s most elaborate allegories are contained in chapter 16 and 40–48. Caution must be exercised to discriminate between symbolizing and spiritualizing. The latter requires mainly a fertile imagination (p. 130).

Some selected views of the author are here adduced. The Ezekiel of 14:14 is the Dan’el of the Ras Shamra tablets of 1400 B.C. (p. 59). The similarity of the Messianic picture in 17:22–24 to the mustard seed in Mark 4:30–32 precludes requiring the birds to represent evil (p. 70). Ezekiel was not only a formalist; note his ethical stress in 18:6–9 (p. 74). Contra Pember (Earth’s Earliest Ages), Scofield, et al., Ezekiel 28:11–19 does not depict the fall of Satan. This passage and Isaiah 14:4–23 must not be detached from their setting (p. 108). “Flesh” has different connotations in the O.T. and the N.T., so that a “heart of flesh” (36:26) refers to the will as God designed it to be (p. 128). Particularly helpful is the discussion of why Tyre and Egypt were not destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar although their doom had been predicted (29:18). This is an evidence of the conditional character of national prophecy, illustrated by Jeremiah 18:7–10 and the book of Jonah (p. 102).

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Ellison predicts that with the establishment of Israel as an independent state, its spiritual transformation cannot be far off. The revolt of Gog (man’s last attempt to defy God at Satan’s urging) in chapter 37 takes place at the end of the Millenium, Revelation 20:7–11, and so “that careful thinker, E. Sauer,” in From Eternity to Eternity (p. 134). Hence it is futile to attempt to identify the symbolical names Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.

The author allots only a scant eight pages to a discussion of chapter 40–48, but he characterizes this section as apocalyptic, not prophetic, as millenial, and symbolic. He repudiates the re-establishment of a literal temple and animal sacrifices during the Millenium.

He seems a little too lenient with the false prophets (pp. 51–56). This reviewer would like to have seen some reference to Holscher’s and Irwin’s attempts to dissect the book of Ezekiel, and a notice of Howie’s analysis of the charge that Ezekiel was afflicted with catatonic schizophrenia, but a brief book cannot include everything.

We are in debt to Mr. Ellison for this excellent study!

ANTON T. PEARSON

Biblical Theology
When the Time Had Fully Come, by Herman N. Ridderbos (Eerdmans, 104 pp., $1.50), by David H. Wallace, Professor of New Testament at California Baptist Theological Seminary.

Professor Ridderbos’ monograph, the third title in the Eerdmans Pathway Books, is a useful addition to the current literature on biblical theology. In the brief span of 96 pages the author discusses the kingdom of God in the synoptic Gospels, the Sermon on the Mount, Paul’s preaching on redemption, the law of God in the Pauline doctrine of salvation and the New Testament treatment of the history of redemption. On p. 19 he disparages “eschatologism” which he defines as “an undue stress upon eschatology”; this is an appropriate corrective both to extreme dispensationalism and post-Schweitzer liberal thought. He neatly outlines the relationship of the Kingdom to the Church (p. 20 f.) by affirming, as over against the older view of the identity of the two, that the Church “derives its existence and the mode of its existence from the Kingdom of God.” Thus, the Kingdom is the prior and greater institution. The interpretation of Matthew 5:28 is taken not to mean moral equality with God, but rather the “consistency of love” (p. 30) which is expressed in loving enemies as well as neighbors. In the third chapter (p. 53 f.) the author takes up the question of the meaning of Paul’s term “in Christ.” He denies any mystical quality to the phrase and asserts that it is only a “redemptive-historical formulae.” That this is true enough is shown by 1 Corinthians 15:22 where we all die “in Adam.” But there is a legitimate mysticism in Paul which characterizes the believer’s relation to Christ as James Stewart has pointed out in A Man in Christ. The “in Christ” formula may be both ecclesiological and mystical. In the last chapter Ridderbos discusses Barth’s view of Scripture (the word of God is contained in the Scriptures but is not to be identified with them) and holds that it is “spiritualistic.” It is emphasized that while Barth exhibits far more fidelity to the word of Scripture and its historicity than does Bultmann, Barth lacks the theological justification for his treatment of the Bible, and “Bultmann with his radical criticism can in a sense use Barth’s own conception of the word of God” (p. 80).

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A few inaccuracies appear in the book. On p. 16 the phrase “dynamic power” occurs. Dutch transliterations of Hebrew words persist in place of English: malkoeth for malkuth (p. 14), meschalim for meshalim (p. 27), schaliach for shaliach (p. 82). Errors in Greek are present: “for us” is given as the translation of hyper hymon (p. 53). On p. 92 marturia appears for martyria, and p. 96 reads sarks in place of sarx. However, these trifling details in no way diminish the virtue of this timely and competent contribution to modern theological discourse. Recent emphasis on biblical theology makes this work very relevant.

DAVID H. WALLACE

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