Book Briefs: April 13, 1959

Theology And Sociology

The Society of the Future, by H. van Riessen (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1958, 320 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Vernon C. Grounds, President of the Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, Denver, Colorado.

As a Christian faces the problems of our twentieth century civilization, problems which are of appalling magnitude and baffling complexity, can he offer anything more than pious advice and daily prayer? He has a sustaining eschatology, to be sure, but does he have a viable sociology, a program of action grounded in his theology? Without degenerating into an advocate of an untheological social gospel, can he show that the Gospel is socially relevant? And can he show this relevance specifically in terms of education, government, law, economics, racism, and morals? This is of course the threadbare issue of the relationship between Christianity and culture. So much has been said about it that seemingly nothing of value has been left unsaid. Yet Dr. H. van Riessen clothes this threadbare issue in the stout homespun of his Calvinistic Biblicism, leaving it far from a thing of rags and tatters.

Though he does not call his position critical interactionism, that is in fact the viewpoint he advocates. A Christian cannot withdraw from secular activities into a desert or a cloister; neither can he practice a world-accommodating compromise, forgetful of his world-transcending principles. While enmeshed in the world, he must nevertheless stand above it, participating wisely and redemptively in its affairs. A doctor in both engineering and philosophy, Riessen is admirably equipped for the task of stating the position of critical interactionism. He has written extensively, produced a major work on Philosophy and Technique, and engaged vigorously in the political, economic, and intellectual life of the Netherlands. An evangelical who adheres to the tradition of those Dutch titans in theology and philosophy—Kuyper, Bavinck, Dooye-weerd, and Vollenhoven—Dr. Riessen seeks to relate his faith to the totality of human existence, developing what the Germans call a Weltanschauung, a coherent view of things.

The Society of the Future is an analysis motivated by “a deep sense of alarm” (p. 13) with respect to the course which Western civilization is now taking. For today, Riessen states, we face a crisis which is “more than serious” (p. 211). “The secularization of life, its nihilism and collectivism, give ample reason for anxiety” (p. 223). Moreover, a strange inevitability, a benumbing fatalism, characterizes our portentous era (p. 33). But his confidence in God’s sovereign ordering of history prevents a Christian from yielding to fatalism. Relatively a pessimist, he is ultimately an optimist because he knows that in the end all enemies will be conquered by his Lord (p. 236).

Caught up in the appalling situation of the twentieth century, what can a Christian do except resign himself passively to the fervent hope of the Second Advent? Riessen denounces such passivity as a shameful “neglect of our vocation” (p. 308). A Christian is called upon to work with God for the liberation and fulfillment of life; and a Christian believes God “has appointed men who, as stewards of reality, exercise freedom in their decisions” (p. 19). Hence “with the Bible and history as aids” (p. 20) a Christian must give thought to the future as it is being shaped by the present.

The principle which Reissen follows is that of sphere sovereignty, a concept worked out by Dooyeweerd and Vollenhoven. This rather abstruse theory can be quite simply explained. All authority is derived from the absolute authority of God who has created the various orders of existence—the family, the state, and the church—each with its own distinctive laws and responsibilities. This pivotal fact furnishes us with a clue to the relationship between authority and freedom.

“Each sphere of authority is limited by its own societal relationship. The relation of authority and freedom exists within such relationships and not externally (e.g., not between them).

“Parents have authority over their children within the family; they do not have authority over the school. Therefore, insofar as children are pupils they are under the authority of the principal, their teachers, and the school board. The government has authority insofar as its subjects are citizens; it does not rightly control economic activity and enterprises; the latter are subject to the owner, the director, the board of trustees, and the stockholders. The session or consistory of a church has authority over the congregation, but not over other forms of association, even if composed only of church members; the exercise of authority in such other groups rests with their independent committees.

“The social relationships exist together on a basis of equality; the one is not subordinate to the authority and control of the other. Subjection to authority exists only within a relationship. Societal relationships properly stand in a coordinate relation to each other, not in a preferred or subordinate position” (p. 71).

Reissen believes it is at this juncture in the freedom of each sphere of life to exercise authority within its God-created boundaries “that the decisive battle will be fought against totalitarianism and in the contest for a Christian society” (p. 73). For the central issue of our time, as he sees it, is human freedom. Can it be preserved and regained in face of the spurious blessings promised by a collectivism which in the outworking of its implicit logic must become increasingly tyrannical? Communism is unquestionably a towering issue, yet even “Communism is rather insignificant, when we consider what it is that we have to combat. Our struggle is concerned with the social development in the countries that are still free, where the conditions for communism or something like it are developing. If we lose this battle, loss or victory in the struggle against a Communistic bloc will be of little significance” (p. 239).

Our transcendent problem, therefore, is the development of a society “in which through a proper balance of authority and freedom there is an earnest endeavor to leave every one a maximum of free responsibility” (p. 240). Needless to say, a society which provides maximum freedom for each man to fulfill himself in work and worship is impossible unless it is founded upon faith. For without faith life is bereft of meaning, and consequently people flee for refuge from meaninglessness into the delusive security of totalitarianism. Thus faith is indispensable; indeed, “the attitude of faith is the condition for free choice, for free formative activity, for enterprise and adventure, chances and risk, the inseparable accompaniments of a life of faith and trust” (p. 237).

Convinced that the freedom which faith makes possible must be preserved and regained, Riessen subjects to pulverizing criticism the predetermined society of “democratic” collectivists like Karl Mannheim. He attacks the Utopian dream of social engineers who, from an hierarchical apex and governmental center, would control the activities of people—and yet leave them free! An hierarchical and centralized planning, Riessen argues, will prove to be not only economically inefficient but also socially disastrous. Regardless of all its noble intentions, it will simply verify Holderlin’s aphorism, “What has always made the state a hell on earth has been precisely that man has tried to make it his heaven.” And how will this work out?

“The defenders of planning operate with the shadow of what man ought to be. They would establish a stable society that would make man forget that his life is a continuous death, a fact understood even by the existentialist Heidegger. By providing man with security, he can take a nap and abandon the security of the faith in Jesus Christ. What is desired is a planned world that is no longer in need of God’s providential guidance.

“On the basis of the Christian faith, breaking through their science and serving as the basis of our own social principles, we reply that such an image of man is defective; that the way of planning does not end in stability but in the liability of wars and rumors of wars, in a reign of terror and the threat of terror; that instead of security, they will reap unrest, confusion, and agony (John 14:27). Such a planned society will not become a fellowship but a monstrosity without any resemblance to what God purposed in his majestic scheme of creation. And we base our prediction on the Christian faith that God is a jealous God who avenges himself on idolatry and permits man to destroy himself by his own sins” (p. 185).

From a Christian standpoint, then, what is to be done? “Diagnosis is but half of the work; therapy, a method of cure, is also needed” (p. 35). Riessen’s therapy, aside from urging a revitalized faith in the Gospel, consists in specific suggestions for creating an industrial system which will implement decentralization as defined by Fourastié: “Decentralization is the placing of authority and responsibility as close as possible to the scene of action and permitting a wide range of discretion to those at each level in the system” (p. 277). Rather than centralizing everything in the hands of a remote managerial elite, industry must so arrange its functionings that the individual is enabled to “carry the full measure of his responsibility in the enterprise” (p. 261). In short, guided by the principle of sphere sovereignty, it must keep the individual from becoming an emotionally uninvolved automaton: instead it must help him to become a responsible participant. This may necessitate revolutionary changes, a few of which Riessen mentions as he discusses the relationship between management and labor.

Riessen, it must not be forgotten, is a Biblicist who believes that Antichrist will eventually dominate the world. He does not hesitate to say that “the building stones of the structure of the society of the antichrist are for the first time in evidence” (p. 33). Neither does he hesitate to say: “The antichrist will not just fall out of the blue sky. He will start with exactly such good intentions as Mannheim’s elite. And God will punish him in the very practice of his planning. God will transform his unbelief and relativism into a false myth, lying propaganda, and a nihilistic view of life. And because of their unbelief the masses will also be punished” (p. 219). Our civilization, Riessen further asserts, “is moving to a final catastrophe. Kuyper understood how far humanity had advanced on that road. He knew that the parousia is drawing near and that humanity is wrestling through her mortal agony, unless a reawakening shall come through the Gospel. A religious revolution, a revival of faith, is needed, Brunner said. Should this not come, then a total collapse is not to be averted. Europe is dying, because it has no God” (pp. 235–236).

It is impossible in this sketch to give more than an insubstantial impression of the depth, range, and power of Riessen’s study. What an encouraging experience to find an evangelical who, with an impressive background of knowledge, demonstrates that his faith is relevant to the concrete problems of our age!

VERNON C. GROUNDS

Influence Of Form Criticism

Essentials of New Testament Study, by Eric Lane Titus (Ronald Press, 1958, 261 pp., $3.75), is reviewed by Walter W. Wessell, Professor of New Testament at North American Baptist Seminary.

This book was written as a textbook in the introductory New Testament field by the professor of New Testament in the Southern California School of Theology, formerly of the University of Southern California School of Religion. As a text it has many good features. It is written in short sentences and in simple, understandable English. The material is treated in a systematic fashion with suggestive discussion questions and a list of selective readings at the conclusion of each chapter. More background information would have been desirable, but, of course, the book has much material to cover in a relatively small space.

Although the arrangement is commendable, this book leaves much to be desired as an adequate interpretation of the New Testament. Far too much credence is given to form criticism: “The tendency was to ascribe to Jesus the Church’s own beliefs …” Thus “the historian of the life of Jesus must exercise the utmost caution in his attempts to get behind the incrustation of ecclesiastical thought to information about Jesus of Nazareth” (p. 26). “What Jesus ‘would have said,’ becomes ‘what Jesus said.’ ” A. M. Hunter’s criticism of Formgeschichte applies here: “Reading the form critics, we easily get the impression that when the Gospel tradition was taking shape, all the eyewitnesses of Jesus had either ‘fallen asleep’ or were in safe hiding.”

Dr. Titus is far too skeptical of New Testament history. For example, Luke 2:41–51 is dismissed as “probably legendary,” since it has all the earmarks of a wonder child story. He makes no attempts at reconciling apparent discrepancies in accounts, and one gets the impression that he considers such attempts dishonest! The author considers it “highly improbable” that the gospel saying concerning taking up one’s cross originated with Jesus, because “the Cross became a symbol of dedication only after Jesus died upon it” (p. 33). It hardly seems necessary to say that the Cross is not only a symbol of dedication but of suffering and death, and this meaning of it was known to all in Roman-controlled areas before our Lord’s crucifixion.

The treatment of Acts and the Pauline corpus is no more satisfactory. The genuineness of the accounts of Paul’s conversion in Acts is open to suspicion because Paul in his letters is “most reluctant to speak with deliberation about his conversion experience” (p. 111)! As for the letters of Paul, only I Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Philemon, and Romans escaped unscathed.

Mention has been made of the bibliographies which occur at the end of each chapter. These are entitled “Selective Readings.” How “selective” they are is revealed by the fact that such authors as Case, Colwell, Fosdick, Branscomb, Enslin, McCasland, Goodspeed, and Harnack are repeatedly listed, whereas little mention is made of mediating New Testament scholars, and no mention is given of those of a conservative viewpoint.

Essentials of New Testament Study will not provide the student with the essentials for an adequate understanding of the New Testament.

WALTER W. WESSEL

Sermonizing

Preaching for the Church, by Richard R. Caemmerer (Concordia, 1959, 352 pp., $4.50), is reviewed by Andrew W. Blackwood, Professor Emeritus of homiletics, Princeton Seminary.

The able professor of homiletics at Concordia Seminary of the Lutheran Missouri Synod has written the largest and weightiest of recent textbooks about preaching. Like most authors with a German background, he stresses homiletics as a science rather than preaching as an art. He deals with many aspects of his subject, and has done a work both sound and admirable which will be especially helpful for Lutherans.

The author bases everything he says on Holy Scripture. Often he cites chapter and verse references as he guides the student into a sound philosophy of preaching and an understanding of the conventional forms that sermons assume, including separate sermons, sermons in a series, in courses, and throughout the Christian Year. Toward the end of the book he devotes 60 pages to a discussion of the preacher.

A distinctive feature of the work is the often searching proposals “For Further Thought,” given at the end of each of the 12 main sections. At the end of the book there is an unusually complete annotated list of selected books “For Further Reading.”

As to literary form, Dr. Caemmerer writes with simplicity of thought and clarity of expression. If the written word seldom gets off the ground, the same holds true of most homiletical works which are aimed to inform, not to inspire. If the various chapters do not include examples of master sermons from earlier times, the reason may be that such an inclusion would call for a book twice this size. Dr. Caemmerer has done well in what he has set out to do, and this volume should take its place among the few available standard evangelical works in this field. Especially among Lutherans will it win primacy as the basic seminary textbook.

ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD

Dated But Relevant

Fairbairn’s Imperial Standard Bible Encyclopedia, edited by Patrick Fairbairn (Zondervan, 1957, $29.70 a set of 6 vols., $4.95 ea.), is reviewed by R. J. Rushdoony, Author of By What Standard?

This important reprint of an 1891 publication is of interest not only in terms of its still valuable contents but also for its notable contributors, who included Franz Delitzsch, A. B. Davidson, Horatius Bonar, and Gustav Oehler in the work. Its usefulness can best be evaluated by comparing it on a number of representative listings to another major work of the same era, A Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols., 1898), edited by James Hastings. Here are three topics:

1. Abomination of desolation. Hastings’ description, as in most cases, is longer than Fairbairn’s; and though he gives extensive data, it is inconclusive. Fairbairn gives an excellent and closely developed analysis of this topic and concludes: “The abominations which were the cause of the desolations are ever spoken of as springing up from within, among the covenant people themselves, not as invasions from without. They are so represented in Daniel also, ch. 11:30, 32; 12:9, 10; and that the Jews themselves, the better sort of them at least, so understood the matter, is plain from 1 Mac. 1:54–57, where, with reference to the two passages of Daniel just noticed, the heathen-inclined party in Israel are represented, in the time of Antiochus, as the real persons who ‘set up the abomination of desolation and built idol altars;’ comp. also 2 Mac. 4:15–17.” It is such conclusive interpretations that give the Fairbairn encyclopedia its high quality.

2. Election. Hastings’ dictionary is concerned with demonstrating at length that “no scheme of election which assumes the doctrine of everlasting punishment as one of its fundamental postulates, can claim to rest on the authority of St. Paul” (J. O. F. Murray), and is thus universalistic. In the Fairbairn encyclopedia Robert Frew is concerned with a presentation and defense of the Reformed point of view.

3. Marriage. William Lindsay’s article in Fairbairn cannot rival the study by W. P. Paterson in Hastings. Here, as usual, Hastings provides more data which, when it is brought to focus, is decisive; when it is not, it is but a mass of undigested data. Fairbairn does not possess massive data, nor the extensive correlation or contrast to nonbiblical cultures and data of Hastings, but he does provide the biblical data.

Fairbairn contains valuable introductory articles on inspiration by Ryle and Waller as well as a long study on the subject in volume three. The theological consistency which is characteristic of the encyclopedia makes for a dependability as well as directness in writing. Its republication is an event to be welcomed, and, despite the new research and extensive archaeological advance that has taken place since then, it has value and is a useful tool. Perhaps its weakest point is that it is dated at times, and reflects too strongly the temper and thinking of the day in its discussions. This does not alter the value of the conclusions.

R. J. RUSHDOONY

Relevant Exegesis

I and II Timothy and Titus, by William Hendriksen (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1957, 404 pp., $6), is reviewed by Wick Broomall, author of Biblical Criticism.

Here is no “dry-as-dustdom” commentary; nor does it effervesce with foam and froth. Hendriksen is now well established as a thoroughly reliable exegete. His star, already approaching the first degree of theological acumen, shines even brighter with each addition to the “New Testament Commentary” series, of which he is the sole author. This series has already been enriched by contributions on the Gospel of John and on I and II Thessalonians.

Although much more of the New Testament remains for him to conquer, we can pause here, at this favored position, and wish him well with God’s special blessing as he makes the still higher ascent of his Mount Everest.

It is perhaps needless to say that Hendriksen is conservative in critical matters and Calvinistic in theological questions. His defense of the Pauline authorship of the Pastorals, as presented in the volume under review, is perhaps as persuasive as will be found anywhere in modern criticism.

One will find in Hendriksen that rare combination of astute scholarship, which never loses sight of the grass roots, and evangelical fervor, which never evaporates into nebulosity. Our commentator always remembers that truth is not a mere academic search: it is for our souls—for our sanctification and growth in holiness. There are, therefore, many outlines, illustrations, summaries—all designed to make the inspired page more real and relevant to our present age. What more could the reader expect?

We should not overlook another commendable feature of this commentary: its citation of theologians (e.g. Warfield and Berkhof) as well as many previous commentators. On the whole, theologians have often been ignored by exegetes; and, sad to say, theologians have sometimes minimized exact exegesis. But Hendriksen brings the theologian and exegete together in sweet fellowship in the work of exposition.

Typographical errors in this excellent commentary are almost non-existent. There are a few slight ones, however, affecting Hebrew and Greek words (pp. 71 and 379).

WICK BROOMALL

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