The New Theology with its mistress New Morality has been cutting quite a swath in theological and philosophical circles, not to speak of ethical practices. Apparently the discovery of the day is that sex is fun. With the elimination of Victorian prudery and the apparent hardness of the old Puritanism, we are now released to enjoy, enjoy. Thus we are freed of all old disciplines, and life need no longer be dull. The primary point of reference in behavior now becomes the absolute of love, and under that rubric there is the place now at any age for “jest and youthful jollity.”
It comes to my attention frequently that the showdown in all this is between the new freedom with all its fulfillment and the grim requirements of some stern law-giver. It has occurred to me that the adjective “stern” always goes along with the law-giver. And it has finally occurred to me that there is something basically wrong with all this kind of reasoning.
Why must the law-giver always be stern? I would be desperately afraid to live in a world without law; and, if there is anything to the doctrine of sin as a kind of inbuilt, ingrown reality until one is sanctified, then I believe the old view that the law is necessary for restraint still holds. We have almost endless justifications and rationalizations for just plain lawless behavior; and I suspect that even our young people have learned to shift in on this “modern adult” viewpoint—namely, that the law is “harsh” and the law-giver “stern.” This just isn’t so.
Apart from what I think are necessary restraints for the sake of any ongoing society, the law also has its own kind of love. There is a right way to do everything, and it is only when we learn the right way that freedom comes. We must abide in the truth in order to be free.
Following the directions on the package makes the recipe work. The way into life is narrow, but it is the only way into the life abundant.
TAIWAN REVISITED
The survey of missions in Taiwan in the July 30 issue seems quite inaccurate and insufficient to describe a bustling, burgeoning, brimming people. My wife and I have just returned from a sabbatical spent in teaching on Taiwan and Korea and from our vantage point do not agree with the quotation, “shabby, noisy, ill-fated island.” We traveled on planes, trains, buses, pedicabs, with missionaries and by ourselves. Service was excellent, time schedules rigidly kept, and carriers in top-notch shape. We rode the length of the island on clean, air-conditioned trains with piped-in classical music and were served a choice of three kinds of tea! We spoke in churches, Bible institutes, seminars, press club, Evangelical Fellowship luncheon, and so on, and everywhere there was the energetic buoyancy of a hopeful people having endured great hardship in the past and now progressing militantly in the Lord. Eager students in the seminaries where we ministered demonstrated the spirit of optimism and confidence in a future under God.
We could not assess the government in such a short visit, but ex-congressman Dr. Walter Judd on campus in June spoke of his visit to Taiwan earlier in the spring and his observation of a keen and ready air force able to cut the Red Serpent in half whenever the signal is given. Not fewer missionaries but more are needed to train the willing and anxious rising young Christian leaders of the island.
Dept. of Christian Education
Gordon Divinity School
Wenham, Mass.
The periodical coverage of missions in various parts of the world is a superb contribution.…
Benton, Iowa
A CATHOLIC ALL ALONG?
I have read with interest your news report with regard to the Luci Johnson-James Pike “rebaptism” controversy (July 30 issue). Perhaps an Episcopalian might help to shed a little light on the subject.…
First of all, Luci did not renounce a “Protestant heritage,” as is commonly believed, possibly even by Luci herself. As an Episcopalian she was already a Catholic Christian—of Anglican rather than Roman obedience. But apparently Luci was not convinced of this fact. And it is understandable, knowing the sorry type of “fashionable” Episcopalianism dominant in the Washington, D. C., area. For it is an Episcopalianism which denies its own Catholic heritage in favor of the watered-down, secularized religion little different from the run-of-the-mill contemporary liberal Protestantism. And although there are certainly parishes there where the faith is taught and practiced in its fullness, Miss Luci was led to believe only Rome had this to offer with uniformity and certainty.
Secondly, the sorry type of Episcopalianism of which I speak is even the same espoused and practiced by the chief critic of both Luci and Father Montgomery. Sadly enough, this notorious bishop suffers from many things, chiefest of which is a morbid desire for constant attention. Presuming to be the official spokesman for the Episcopal Church on almost every issue (particularly those of a highly controversial nature), he practices rudeness and egotism with unequaled skill.…
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I am convinced that when the Episcopal Church (indeed all of Anglicanism) begins believing and practicing “… all the Articles of the Christian Faith as contained in the Apostles’ Creed,” rather than some current vogue in German theology or the new English morality, then the pathetic Luci Johnsons will have no reason to reach to Rome for certainty; the James Pikes will probably have departed for Unitarianism (where they belong); and ecumenism will have been advanced many steps further towards true unity.
St. Andrew’s Church
Peoria, Ill.
The tragedy of Luci Johnson’s entrance into the Roman communion is that she did not understand or practice the Catholic faith in its fullness in the Anglican communion, the Episcopal Church. Episcopalians have Mass, Christ’s sacramental presence, confession, priesthood, and so on. Some Episcopal parishes have not told the whole truth of their Catholic and apostolic heritage and do not practice the same. I suspect that had Luci been exposed to Anglo-Catholicism, she would have never seen the need for a change.
Saint Barnabas Church
Omaha, Neb.
There is an aspect of this incident that ought not to pass overlooked, to wit, the very real doubt about the significance of any infant baptism and the very real evidence of a true understanding of entering any church.… Luci … innocently made a distinct contribution to the theory and practice of baptism, in a sense, calling to the attention of the entire world, Christian and non-Christian, that initiation into the church is an adolescent or adult concern, that entering the church should be “on one’s own,” dependent upon hearing and responding to the Gospel affirmatively.…
Danville, Ill.
GABRIEL OR MISS AMERICA?
Re “Angel on a Stamp” (News, July 30 issue) …: The imprint of the stamp showing the angel Gabriel depicts a feminine figure that even Miss America would be proud of. Perhaps it is of little wonder that many people look upon the church as “a woman’s place”.…
A. WAYNE JOHNSON
MEN of the Church of God
Coordinator
Anderson, Ind.
ANGLICAN IDENTITY
In reply to Canon Chase’s letter in the issue of July 30: What indeed can be adequate to make one an Anglican if not historical descent and adherence to the Book of Common Prayer of 1662 and its Thirty-Nine Articles? In any event, how can the Church of England in South Africa be out of communion with the Church of England in England, or indeed anywhere else? The only tests are those of historic, doctrinal, and legal continuity. The CESA passes each of these tests with flying colors, but what of the Church of the Province?
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Whereas the Church of England had been in South Africa since 1806, the Church of the Province came into existence in 1870 as a deliberate consequence of the Tractarian views of its founders, particularly Bishop Gray, first Bishop of Cape Town. This church, to use Gray’s own words, was to be free from “the bonds and fetters of the Reformation.” “We bishops,” stated Gray, “are the only essential parts of this voluntary Association.”
The Privy Council in London, the highest Court of Appeal in the then British Empire, in 1882 upheld a decision of the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony which had laid down that the Church of the Province had severed from the Church of England “root and branch.” The Privy Council stated that there was not “identity in standards of faith and doctrine.”
Registrar
Church of England in South Africa
Cape Town, Union of South Africa
COMPANY OF DISTINCTION
In the article entitled “The Glow Within the Bible” by Emile Cailliet (July 16 issue) there is a reference to Tacitus.… The reference given is Annals IV, 18. I think this is not the proper reference.
Takoma Park, Md.
Your reader is right. The reference should read Annals IV, 8, instead of IV, 18. Somehow the 1 was added in transcription. And since Mr. Murray is interested in the text, let me give it to him in the original Latin: “Beneficia eo usque caeta sunt dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi multum antevenere, pro gratia odium redditur.”
Not only is your reader right, but he finds himself in a distinguished company in the expression of his interest in the above text. The same was quoted by Montaigne in chapter 8, Book III, of his Essays, and by Pascal in Fragment 72, Section II, of his Pensées in the Brunschvicg Edition. Incidentally, Pascal added to his quotation this sentence from the Letters of Seneca (Letter 81 sub fine): “Nam qui putat esse turpe non reddere, non vult esse cui reddat.”
Cape May, N. J.
MISSOURI
Your treatment of the … convention of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (July 16 issue) was the best I have read in any of the periodicals.…
Surely the most far-reaching point of that body’s sessions (which I attended in part) was the approval of the Lutheran Council in the U. S. A. It is possible that Missouri will pull out of that newly formed council if she must otherwise compromise with her principles. In fact the student of the synod’s own history would not be surprised at all by such a move.…
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Hdqrs. U. S. Army Training Center, Armor
Fort Knox, Ky.
I … am grateful for both the accuracy and the tone of the report. I find only one error, and that is the use of the word “entertain” in connection with the appearance of folk singer Pete Seeger at the Squaw Valley convention of the International Walther League.… He was to give the young people a valid encounter “in a controlled setting” with the world of folk music and thus help [them] “to understand better the challenge of bringing the love of Christ to all men and thus to be better prepared for a Christian day-by-day encounter with the world.”
Since Dr. Elmer N. Witt, executive director of the Walther League and synod’s director of youth work, offered “humble apologies” for the league’s failure to communicate effectively the philosophy behind the convention programming and many members were under the impression that Pete Seeger had been invited as an entertainer, your reporter can scarcely be faulted too seriously for reporting that Seeger was invited to “entertain” our young people.…
Lindsay Lutheran
Lindsay, Calif.
PAUL AND THE APOSTLES
Clark H. Pinnock’s article on form criticism (July 16 issue) could be a valuable tool in understanding form criticism. However, if Pinnock’s treatment of form criticism, towards which he is admittedly antagonistic, is as distorted as his treatment of the New Testament, towards which he is professedly loyal, then perhaps the whole article lacks integrity and is useless for scholarly work.
Pinnock points out in proposition 4 that Paul conferred with Peter in Jerusalem (Gal. 1:18). He then implies that Paul deliberately depended on eyewitness apostles for authoritative information about Jesus and for the basis of his (Paul’s) teaching. Paul in Galatians 1 is obviously saying just the opposite. “I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother” (Gal. 1:17b–19, RSV). Paul’s clear claim is his own apostleship and that he received his revelation directly from Jesus Christ, not from men, including eyewitness apostles. Rather than stating his dependence on the apostles, as Pinnock claims, Paul is stating his independence from the apostles.
It seems the New Testament Professor Pinnock’s theology interfered with his New Testament exegesis.
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Gethsemane Baptist Church
Coon Rapids, Minn.
Having spent two years studying theology and the Church in Central Europe, I have a healthy appreciation of his remarks.
What too few Americans realize is that, far from reflecting a scientific objectivity, much of the historical and biblical criticism emanating from Central Europe is the peculiar product of a peculiar frame of mind wrought by some very peculiar historical and social circumstances.
It has often occurred to me that if we must deal with any age in the light of historical relativity, let that age be our own!
Trinity Lutheran
J. ROBERT JACOBSON
Westlock, Alberta
I appreciate the warning signal this presents to our age and theology.…
Calvary Methodist
Tacoma, Wash
INFERIOR DECORATION
Just how would you rate the crew of a life-saving station which gives all its attention to its station? The men made their quarters attractive, they landscaped the grounds, they designed very interesting uniforms, and a loudspeaker provided lovely music for the people both outside and inside the building. In fact, they were so occupied with their pleasant surroundings that they forgot to notice the storms that drove men and ships to destruction. It is conceivable that men could become so occupied with secondary things that they would forget their primary purpose!
Does it not seem equally far-fetched for people who call themselves Christians to become so involved with the interior life of their church—its property, its program, its groups and committees—that they forget all about the lost condition of people outside the church?
The members of Christ’s Church are not to be entertained and waited upon; they are a life-saving crew. Have we forgotten our purpose as Christians?
Redford Baptist
Detroit, Mich.
FOR CHRISTIAN RESOLUTION
How fine and how strengthening in Christian resolve is Dr. Bell’s column (“What Standards?”) in the July 16 issue.…
Memphis, Tenn.
RIGHT-TO-JOIN
Thank you for defending the right-to-work laws (Editorials, May 21 issue). Although the House of Representatives repealed Section 14 (b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, it did not repeal the right of workers to join a Christian union.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
BIBLE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Thank you for the editorial “A Strategy for Christian Education” in the May 7 issue. The remarks on page 30 touch on a matter of deep concern to me and about which I had been planning to write you.
When I was a public high school English teacher in Michigan, I regularly taught a section on the history and literature of the Bible. This was so well received by the school administration and was so effective with both Christian and non-Christian students in introducing them to the deeper use of the Bible, that the experience came to mind during the time of public reaction to the Supreme Court decision relative to the devotional use of the Bible in public schools.…
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Community Baptist Church
Neptune, N. J.
FROM GREENLAND’S ICY MOUNTAINS
In places like this, magazine articles as in the May 21 issue are the only source of spiritual and intellectual “stretching” or exercise.
U. S. Army Polar Research and Chaplain Development Center
Greenland
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While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
As my doubts about his teachings grew, so did a secret fascination with Jesus.
We must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture.
