Book Briefs: August 31, 1959

“They Shall Be One Flesh”

Marriage Made in Heaven, by Nathan Drazin (Abelard-Schuman Co., London and New York, 1958, 144 pp., $3), is reviewed by David W. Baker, Assistant Professor of Religion at Ursinus College, and Physician and Surgeon at Lankenau Hospital, Philadelphia.

This book was written by a Jew, and is for Jews. It is not a book which a Christian pastor can recommend to those of his parishioners who are having marital problems, or to Christian young people about to be married. That is a great pity. For this is the kind of book we Christians need, and to my knowledge none exists that can even begin to compare with it—“a refreshingly candid guide book to marital relations … sympathetically blending sexual behavior and religious custom.” It is the kind of book, however, which marriage counsellors should have, the kind which some wise Christian marriage counsellor should write, if he is able.

The author is the rabbi of one of the largest Orthodox synagogues in Baltimore. He is a member of the Academy of Religion and Mental Health, a recent President of the Religious Zionists of America, a former Vice-President of the Rabbinical Council of America, and is Chairman of the Educational Committee of the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore. He is also the author of History of Jewish Education from 515 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. He is himself a married man and the father of three children. He has been actively interested in marriage counseling for over 20 years, and has spoken widely on the subject.

Dr. Drazin writes beautifully. One finishes his book with the impression that there are no dull or unimportant areas in it. He is not verbose. He is not indelicate. He does not avoid difficult problems.

The book consists of eight chapters, having the following titles: “Marriages Are Made in Heaven,” “Marriage and Psychiatry,” “Different Types,” “Birth Control,” “A Time to Love,” “Marriage as a Challenge,” “Captain of One’s Own Ship of Matrimony,” and “An Enduring Love.”

Marriage Made in Heaven is written from a very religious point of view. It abounds in references to the Old Testament, the Talmud, and also to modern authors. It is heartening to read the words of one who is not afraid to take his stand on the Bible as the fully authoritative and eternally true Word of God. Rabbi Drazin’s Bible is the Old Testament, but this he treats with all the love and respect of the most conservative Christian. What the Bible says is true. What the Bible says should determine our conduct.

There are numerous references to such well-known writers as Kinsey and Dr. Marie C. Stopes. He is unsparing in his criticism of Kinsey. Of one of Dr. Stopes astute observations he says on page 96: “The extraordinary concordance between her own findings on the subject and the Mosaic ordinance in the Book of Leviticus was to her an amazing revelation. To an Orthodox Jew, however, who believes that both nature and Holy Writ are the works of the One God, this comes as no surprise.”

While certain large Protestant denominations have gone on record as endorsing birth control as a near panacea for marital unhappiness, Dr. Drazin, with the vigor of an Old Testament prophet, challenges birth control as the cause of the tremendous rise in the divorce rate. “Before 1913 the rate of divorce was one in thirty or less.… After 1913, with the progressive spread of birth control practices, the whole problem of adjustment in marriage became so terribly aggravating that the divorce rate increased and multiplied very rapidly, and now marital unhappiness threatens to become the rule.… In 1913 one divorce in thirty marriages; in 1944 one divorce in seven marriages and in 1953 one in four.… The phenomenal rise of divorce since 1913 surely may be attributed in large measure to the spread of birth control practice” (pp. 134–5).

Dr. Drazin does not hesitate to explain why. On pages 75 and 76 he says: “Spontaneity is the secret of successful sexual relations. If, however, birth control is practiced, certain preparations have to be made in advance.… This advance information is psychologically no good for the woman.… In America, where birth control is practiced rather extensively, I am convinced that this psychological difficulty is one of the major causes for the ever-increasing number of divorces.”

To this reviewer, one of the most original chapters in the book is the one on “A Time to Love.” A closer study of the perpetual honeymoon that characterized the old-fashioned home among the Jews (perhaps also among the Christians) could easily be the most rewarding study any Committee on Social Education and Action could make of a very acute modern problem.

Toward the end of the book Dr. Drazin writes: “The traditional Jewish family laws of purity not only facilitated adjustment in marriage but also helped establish an enduring love.… Words are hardly adequate to convey the very tender emotion of love that the Jewish family laws nurtured in the hearts of men and women” (p. 142).

“Under such ideal circumstances, marital problems were practically non-existent. Divorce was a rarity. Men and women did not require any marriage counselling. Instinctively they were devoted lovers and sought always the joy and happiness of their spouses” (p. 132).

“Jewish law has made love beautiful, enduring, and permanent in the homes where it is observed and practiced. I am convinced that it can achieve as much today. As a rabbi, I have often been called to the bedside of an old, dying man or woman. Invariably I am touched to the marrow by the quiet, wailing sentiments of the heart-broken mate. The old woman often sobs out her heart to me: ‘Rabbi, we were married for fifty years. Never was a harsh word spoken between us. He was always a kind and loving husband. I was his queen and he was my king.’ An octogenarian husband poured out his heart to me a short time ago at a similar scene: ‘Only yesterday she called me and embraced me and said, “Darling, I hope I go before you. I couldn’t stand you going first. You have always been so good to me.” How can I go on without her? She has been my princess, my love, and my guardian angel for almost sixty years.’ In adopting Jewish law as their way of life and in following the suggestions offered in this book, normal men and women will find, I am sure, their marriage a paradise of joy and happiness, an enduring love—in truth, a marriage made in heaven” (p. 144).

Christians may well remember that it was of the Bridegroom and Bride of the traditional Jewish home that our Lord spoke so often. It was to this home that St. Paul was pointing when he spoke of Christ and his Church. It was with this ideal in mind that he enjoined his Gentile male converts: “Love your wives,” and told the women: “Submit yourselves unto your own husbands” (Eph. 5:25, 22.) St. Peter also referred to it, reminding the women among his converts to “be in subjection to your own husbands,” and to adorn themselves with a “meek and quiet spirit,” which is in the sight of God of great price. “For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord” (1 Pet. 3:1, 4–6).

Naturally, we Christians believe that Christianity is superior to Judaism, and that Christian marriage can also be more excellent than Jewish marriage. But even as the New Testament is founded on the Old, and Christianity is at its best only when it is solidly established on its Jewish background, so Christian marriage can hope to excel only when it rests on the foundation of the Jewish home so well outlined within this book, the foundation of which Jesus Christ alone is the ultimate perfection, and the laws of which he also, and he alone, has fulfilled. Our generation of Christians has probably never really understood the Old Testament. Christians still have much to learn from the Jews!

Heartiest congratulations to Rabbi Drazin on a magnificent book—well done!

DAVID W. BAKER

Religion And Culture

The Gospel and Christian Education, by D. Campbell Wyckoff (Westminster, 1959, 191 pp., $3.75), is reviewed by James DeForest Murch, author of Christian Education and the Local Church.

The problem of building a theory of Christian education that is theologically valid and educationally sound is one that should engage the best minds in the church. In this volume a unique and challenging solution is proposed by one of the best equipped specialists in this field, the Thomas W. Synott Professor of Christian Education in Princeton Theological Seminary.

Dr. Wyckoff begins, like all the modern theological and philosophical pundits, with our modern culture, its nature, influence and the direction of its development. He holds that “the function of religion” in society is to enable “a culture to hold firmly to its values and way of life” and “to form new values and adopt a new way of life.” Christian education is the arm of the church which accomplishes this feat.

With analytical deftness the author disposes of the traditional foci of Christian education which have determined educational aims, curriculum, methodology, and results. The Bible is rejected because its history, dogma, theology and beliefs are impersonal, focusing on the subject matter rather than upon its source, its use, or the pupil. The solution of life’s problems is discarded because this emphasizes disconnected human experiences. The pupil is eliminated as being too vague and amorphous without relationship to a guiding principle. The church is rejected because it narrows education to an institution or a merely human community, excluding other areas of experience that are necessary to Christian faith and life. He excludes Jesus Christ because such a focus “can very easily be used … to neglect … proper emphasis on the human side of the learner and his life, needs, problems, and achievements.”

Thus, by the process of elimination, the professor comes to the gospel. He says that the guiding principle of Christian education should be “God’s redeeming activity in Jesus Christ.” That sounds good. One is persuaded at this point in the book that a great discovery has been made. Dr. Wyckoff supports his proposal by five arguments: (1) Revelation—the Word of God—is central in Christian education theory. (2) The gospel is the very heart and point of the Word. (3) The gospel is the clue to the meaning of history, (4) the meaning of existence, and is (5) the reason for the church’s existence.

But alas! The Bible is not the Bible of evangelical Christianity, and the gospel is not the Gospel. The cultural conditioning of chapter I requires that anthropology take the place of theology. Modern Western culture, with full allowance for evolution, is seen as determinative of the character and message of the elusive thing called the gospel. The Word of God is interpreted to be something that cannot be exclusively identified with the Bible because we cannot become literal and unimaginative in its use. In fact, Dr. Wyckoff devotes four pages to making it clear that his thesis must not be confused with “uncritical biblicism” or fundamentalist revivalism.

To my way of thinking, however, Dr. Wyckoff has unwittingly suggested a great idea for evangelical Christian educators to ponder. With certain new orientations, emendations, and interpretations it could be developed into a new and effective evangelical theory of Christian education. The true guiding principle would have to be fully articulated and the objective, setting, administration, and curriculum reconstructed.

The book, written primarily for leaders in Christian education, is concerned with theoretical aspects of the subject and should prove immensely stimulating and useful to all those concerned.

JAMES DEFOREST MURCH

Conservative Classic

A Scientific Investigation of the Old Testament, by Robert Dick Wilson with revisions by Edward J. Young (Moody Press, 1959, 194 pp., $3.25), is reviewed by R. K. Harrison, Hellmuth Professor of Old Testament at Huron College, London, Ontario.

Dr. Wilson was a brilliant Near Eastern scholar who brought his vast erudition to bear upon the methods of the Old Testament critics and the results at which they arrived. His Scientific Investigation, first published in 1926, formed an important contribution to conservative Old Testament scholarship.

Since his death in 1930, however, some of his observations have been outdated by recent archaeological discoveries and by certain alterations in critical trends. Dr. Edward J. Young has undertaken to revise the original work, long out of print, by adding an introductory chapter, footnotes, and appendixes, thus bringing the book abreast of current archaeological discovery. The original text has been left intact so that the reader can follow the author’s line of thought.

Dr. Young has done a creditable piece of work in revising this classic.

R. K. HARRISON

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