Book Briefs: September 13, 1968

In Defense Of Creationism

A Symposium on Creation, essays by Henry M. Morris and others (Baker, 1968, 156 pp., $1.95), is reviewed by A. E. Wilder Smith, professor of pharmacology, University of Illinois at the Medical Center, Chicago.

Publication of a symposium on creation is possible, practically speaking, only in English, for in most other language areas conformity of thought to the evolutionary view has progressed so far that in general only evolutionary thought reaches the scientifically minded public. American Christians can be very grateful for the faith and hard scientific work that led to the appearance of this volume.

Dr. Henry M. Morris opens with an excellent discussion of “Science versus Scientism.” New branches of science are, of necessity, developed by scientists trained in older scientific disciplines. For example, modern geology was founded by mathematicians, stonemasons, zoologists, theologians, and gentlemen of leisure. A few generations later, however, nobody is considered capable of contributing to this discipline who has not been indoctrinated in the specialized geology formulated by these original non-geologists. Other disciplines in science follow the same practice. This dogmatic insistence that only those who follow the interpretation of facts laid down by the founders are qualified to contribute to the field is what Morris calls “scientism.” Over against “scientism” he sets “science” or factual knowledge, as distinguished from the mere interpretation of facts.

Morris cites Dr. Blum’s well-knownwritings on the thermodynamics of biology, particularly his work on the second law of thermodynamics and entropy. Because the second law indicates merely the direction in which a reaction will proceed but does not tell us how fast it will go, Morris views all geochronometers as suspect on principle. For the second law is fundamental to all processes. The section on uniformitarianism is particularly valuable.

Reading For Perspective

CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S REVIEW EDITORS CALL ATTENTION TO THESE TITLES:

•The Pattern of New Testament Truth, by George Eldon Ladd (Eerdmans, $3.75). Contending for the unity of New Testament theology, this professor shows that the Synoptic writers, John, and Paul share a common view of God.

•Grace Is Not a Blue-Eyed Blond, by R. Lofton Hudson (Word, $3.95). A lively and creative look at concepts that pertain to personal predicaments of people today: grace, sin, friendship, temptation, forgiveness, love, faith, guts.

•Black and Free, by Tom Skinner (Zondervan, $2.95). Negro evangelical Skinner relates his rise from gang leader of the Harlem Lords to his calling as a Christian evangelist and offers candid comments on black power, Dr. King, Negro evangelicals, and the cures of racism.

Dr. John W. Klotz, scientist and theologian, contributes a chapter on “Creationist Viewpoints” that repays careful study. The point of view from which one observes a fact alters what one sees. The creationist observes creation and preservation and sees a Creator. The materialist observes the same objects and sees only matter. Older scientists, such as Newton, observed the cosmos and interpreted it as a giant machine; they believed in mechanics. Later scientists pressed Newton’s logic a little further than he did—he reverenced the Creator—and from Newton’s machine removed, by process of Occam’s razor, the God Newton interpreted as being behind the machine. (One might add at this point that modern physicists have largely given up the idea of a machine as the expression of cosmic ultimate reality and, with Sir James Jeans, regard ultimate reality as pure mathematical thought.)

Klotz concludes by developing the idea of the fitness of the environment as an argument for creation. The views advanced are squarely based on the conviction that our interpretation of the facts is conditioned by our faith or lack of it. Nevertheless, creationism should stand in harmony with observed facts. Biology teachers will find this section especially useful, for it will help them base their teaching on the creationist view.

Dr. Paul A. Zimmerman deals with the explosive question: “Can we accept theistic evolution?” The theistic evolutionist believes in the “availability” of billions of years to achieve his ends, whereas today’s informed creationist is little concerned with time as such in solving his problems. For he (with Einstein) knows that time is a property of matter created along with it. Prior to creation it did not exist. These differing philosophies determine the interpretation of the days of Genesis 1 and 2. Several points mentioned in Genesis 2 are, however, incompatible with the idea that human development took place over long periods of time—even under the theistic evolutionary scheme of things. Man was formed from “dirt,” “soil,” “particles of dust,” “clods of soil,” directly, not through the use of living, organic matter. Similar considerations are applied to the Genesis account of Eve’s origin. Zimmerman mentions some instructive Roman Catholic attempts at retaining the identity of Adam and Eve as the original pair and at the same time harmonizing this with the theistic evolutionary view. His own views on Eden and the Fall are interesting and orthodox.

The upshot of Zimmerman’s contribution is that, scientifically, the position of the theistic evolutionist is much more precarious than that of the creationist, for scientific evolution as taught practically universally today cannot tolerate any supernaturalism at all. If God is not supernatural, who or what is? So the term “theistic evolution” combines the uncombinable.

Dr. R. Clyde McCone’s essays on “The Origins of Civilization” and “Evolutionary Time: A Moral Issue” offer valuable insights. McCone takes the view that events discernible to man can never be in conflict with the events revealed to man. The question of evolutionary time is handled in a particularly provocative way.

Donald W. Patten’s two contributions, “The Noachian Flood and Mountain Uplifts” and “The Ice Epoch,” have been treated at least in part in his book, The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch. Some of his views are certainly not orthodox, particularly on the extra-terrestrial origin of the ice that precipitated the Ice Epoch. But though these views will shock the orthodox geologist, he presents them well and convincingly. New horizons are opened, whether or not one agrees with the presentation.

Although these essays are of necessity somewhat heterogeneous, the book is well worth careful study by the student of science and Scripture and is a valuable contribution to the armory of the scientific creationist today.

Degradation Of Democratic Dogma

America’s Political Dilemma: From Limited to Unlimited Democracy, by Gottfried Dietze (Johns Hopkins Press, 1968, 298 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by Russell Kirk, syndicated columnist and lecturer, Mecosta, Michigan.

The American republic, characterized by what Orestes Brownson called “territorial democracy,” is sinking into plebiscitary democracy, characterized by concentration of power in the President. This is the thesis of Professor Dietze, a youngish and very able scholar, our best writer on the Federalist papers, and a redoubtable defender of the theory and actuality of private property.

Dietze, who holds doctoral degrees from Heidelberg, Princeton, and Virginia, confesses to looking at American politics through foreign spectacles—as did Tocqueville, by whom he is mightily influenced. One would scarcely guess this from the study itself, however, for Dietze is marvelously at home in American thought and institutions.

A few gaps exist. He seems unaware of a very good book on nearly the same theme, Alfred de Grazia’s Republic in Crisis: Congress against the Executive Force (1965), and also of Lord Percy of Newcastle’s Heresy of Democracy, which touches on much that Dietze takes up. And some of the shrewdest and most mordant criticism of American democratic theories—and their corruption—comes from John Randolph of Roanoke, Orestes Brownson, and Henry Adams, none of whom is mentioned in the text of this volume, though Brownson appears in the bibliography.

Dietze’s footnotes often are penetrating:

Unlike most other professors of politics, Dietze is an admirer of Barry Goldwater, whom he quotes more than once and whose courage and frankness he praises. He is an opponent of the “strong president” notion of American government. Assassination, he fears, will increase as the President concentrates all real power of decision in his person; for when a people are subjected to a government of men, and not of laws, resentments are expressed through this ancient way of tempering despotism.

America’s drift toward social democracy has devitalized the “vital center,” Dietze believes; and the illusion of a “value-free science” of society has corrupted American political thought in our century. The more we slip into the heresy that the voice of the people is the voice of God, the more we slide away from liberty and order.

But Dietze is not without hope: “Emotional and passionate as the American demos may have become, it still is composed of rational beings who might again prefer the permanent public good to temporary convenience.” Amen to that.

Surveying Christianity’S Relations

Christianity and the World of Thought, edited by Hudson T. Armerding (Moody, 1968, 350 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Elva McAllaster, professor of English, Greenville College, Greenville, Illinois.

President Hudson Armerding of Wheaton College has brought together sixteen essays, very uneven in quality, written by sixteen Christian scholars respected within the evangelical world who seek to show the relation of Christianity to their chosen fields. The fields are social science, modern literature, philosophy, theology, education, astronomy, history, biology, anthropology, sociology, geology, archaeology, philosophy of science, church music, psychology, and psychiatry. (One disappointing omission is art, a field which evangelicals too often ignore, and to which they often respond naïvely when they do respond.) Each chapter is followed by a selected bibliography, and some of these listings will probably become much thumbed and marked in personal libraries. The chapters likely to be received most enthusiastically are by E. Mansell Pattison (University of Washington School of Medicine) on psychiatry, Arthur F. Holmes (Wheaton) on philosophy, and James M. Murk (doctoral candidate, University of Chicago), on anthropology.

The book as a whole would have profited from a clearer and more consistent definition of the expected reading audience. Some passages seem to speak to college freshmen, some to graduate students, some to the writer’s professional peers, some to no recognized audience. More frequent evidence that the chapters were written for 1968—rather than 1958 or 1928—would also have been valuable. On sociology, for instance, one would have expected more allusion to racial violence and urban despair; on church music, to the jazz mass and guitars.

A few representative topics and viewpoints:

“Perhaps there is no clearer depiction of the predicament and anguish of unregenerate, contemporary man than in some of the artistically sound, modern novels.”—Beatrice Batson (Wheaton), modern literature.

“There is no reason why an able man like Moses could not have written the first five books of the Bible.”—R. Allan Killen (Covenant Theological Seminary), theology.

“But man, being fractured in the totality of his person, has in the crossroads of human endeavor tried to make his own way.”—Cornelius Jaarsma (Calvin College), education.

“… the more beautiful a melody is from the sensuous point of view, the less desirable it is as a hymn melody.”—Lee Olson (Nyack Missionary College), church music.

“… but with what statistics does one describe a saint, an ethical decision, the love of God or the new birth, all of which may be as real in experience as any other kind of behavior.”—John M. Vayhinger (Iliff School of Theology), psychology.

“Conceivably even the system of Einstein, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, will give way to some new world realization in the ever changing drama of man’s vision of inscrutable eternity.”—Karel Hujer (University of Chattanooga), astronomy.

Some profitable uses of this book might be:

1. Preachers and laymen—If you have been out of college for a while, buy this book as a refresher course. Review fields you studied, presented here in useful juxtaposition. Challenge what you feel is faulty logic. Note premises that invite argument.

2. Students, undergraduate and graduate—Read the chapter on your major field. Discuss it with someone. You may find its contents very helpful. You may also find that it challenges you to learn more and understand more—perhaps more than you feel the author of the chapter knows—and to write more effectively.

3. Christian professors—Have your majors read the chapter on your discipline. Invite them to try the same general project: to state concisely what Christianity says to their field, and what their field says to Christians. Also, decide for yourself whether the chapter is effective. If you think it is, cite it to your colleagues and in your lectures. If not, start planning an essay in which you will attempt to grasp the topic with firmer hands.

A Sequel: The Church’S Plot

Those Incredible Christians, by Hugh J. Schonfield (Bernard Geis Associates, 1968, 266 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Robert C. Campbell, dean and professor of New Testament, California Baptist Theological Seminary, Covina.

Hugh Schonfield intends this volume as a sequel to his The Passover Plot. The previous volume was an ingenious attempt to describe Jesus’ death as a fraud no novelist would attempt to devise. Jesus cleverly tried to force the fulfillment of messianic prophecies by attempting to feign death, with the help of Joseph of Arimathea, who was to revive him shortly thereafter. Schonfield records Jesus’ attempt as a failure and unwittingly committed his own attempt to the same doom.

Schonfield recognized that The Passover Plot failed to explain the vitality and expansion of the Christian Church. Those Incredible Christians is meant to be this explanation. This time Schonfield is not so creative or ingenious. He has simply revived the argument of the Tübingen school in its extreme form of a Pauline-Petrine dissension.

Besides Jesus, the heroes are Peter, James, and the Jerusalem church. They never saw Jesus as a founder of a religion or church, or as a revealer of God, or as Deity. He was simply a man convinced he was the Messiah.

Paul and John are the villains. Their Christology and doctrine of redemption through the cross relate to heathen mystery religions, not to Jesus and the apostles. Moreover, they drew heavily on Jewish occultism rather than the Scriptures. John taught love, mercy, and truth, but acted out egoism, aggressiveness and bigotry. The Christian doctrines that most disturb Schonfield are the Trinity and the understanding of Christ as the God-man.

Schonfield’s reconstruction grows out of a thorough knowledge, and a more thorough selectivity and interpretation, of the sources. The early Christians expected the King who had been killed by the Romans to return soon from heaven. This story could have undermined the Roman empire, but it was well checked by unbelieving Jews. The original Jewish Christianity was unacceptable to Paul, who refused Jewish legalism and emphasized personal union with Christ, which in Schonfield’s words “was the greatest weakness in his case for redemption by faith alone.” Paul’s teaching changed the course of Christian waters. Thus “Pauline heresy served as the basis for Christian orthodoxy, and the legitimate church was outlawed as heretical.” The Acts contributed to this Pauline acceptance. The church in Rome followed the Pauline line and usurped leadership in the Christian world by propagation and by denigration of Jewish Christian leadership. It claimed to be “the inheritor of the tradition of the Apostles,” an assertion that “illustrates the power of a lie if it is a thumping big one.” This Roman church repudiated militant Messianism and placated the government. Paul’s spiritual gospel, divorced from Judaism, was the theological base of this apostate church. The Roman takeover—especially of the Gentile churches largely founded by Paul—was relatively easy. The final step in the perversion of the early Church was forgery, fraud, and forced harmonizing of the New Testament documents. Through such means Peter was made to subscribe to Paul’s teachings.

Schonfield simplistically identifies himself and nineteenth-century radical New Testament scholars as “historians” seeking the truth as opposed to the “theologians” who compel the Church to consider Jesus in terms of a Pauline Christianity. The original Christology, he contends, was the “true apostolic tradition” of adoptionism. Jesus was simply “a man who was anointed by the Holy Spirit at his baptism in order that he might become the Messiah.” This clear bending of our historic sources Schonfield calls objective historical research. Concerning the history of the Church, he says, “It is rare to find it treated objectively and without a conscious Christian bias.” Seemingly ignorant of his own bias, he maintains, “We have looked very sharply and without blinkers” at this evidence. But few scholars will agree.

Understanding The Renaissance

The Crisis of the Renaissance, 1520–1600, by Andre Chastel (SIKA, 1968, 217 pp., $21.50), is reviewed by Dominic A. LaRusso, professor of rhetoric, University of Oregon, Eugene.

This marvelous volume, one of a series on that kaleidoscopic period called the Renaissance, sets a high standard for its forthcoming companions. Its striking and tasteful format presents the 144 illustrations in what seems to be the best possible light. Its color reproductions are superb, the quality of the plates uniformly high. Both art-lovers and Renaissance buffs will give the volume a warm welcome.

Its theme is that one can hardly understand the period 1520–1600 without understanding the influence of the important forces of society upon one another; that one can appreciate the role of visual symbols in the life of the Renaissance man only if he knows how literary, philosophical, political, and social forces impinged upon the development of these symbols. Despite the inherent pitfalls of such an attempt, Professor Chastel handles his broadly based discussion well.

A vast undertaking of this sort requires giant steps, and at times many readers may be left behind. Such conclusions as, “The French incurred a good deal of rather disingenuous opprobrium when they sought in Suleyman the political and military counterpoise they needed to offset the power of the Empire,” cannot be read without misgivings by persons who are unfamiliar with Renaissance history. And those who do know something of the intricacies of this epoch will wonder how such a volume could be undertaken without some serious concern for relevant works of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Caravaggio. When Chastel speaks of “the many ways in which art and society became closely associated in the ephemeral and spectacular,” one expects at least a mention of the influential commedia dell’arte, of the stock characters of Harlequin, Pantalone, and Scaramouche, of the ground swells caused by the literary movement known as Ciceronianism and the artistic modifications encouraged by the arte per arte advocates.

But these blemishes are minor. Throughout this attempt to record the dominant mood, attitude, or thought of the period as mirrored in various artistic masterpieces, one feels the warmth of Professor Chastel’s sensitive understanding of the majestic persons, places, events, and things that marked this very special era.

Secret Code In John’S Gospel?

History and Theology in the Fourth Gospel, by J. Louis Martyn (Harper & Row, 1968, 168 pp., $7), is reviewed by Robert H. Gundry, chairman of the Division of Biblical Studies and Philosophy, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California.

Because some critical scholars have recently supported the historicity of the fourth Gospel, the presence of the word “history” in the title of this book may mislead some. The author refers not to the history of Jesus but to the history of the later Johannine church as portrayed in the fourth Gospel. Since prima facie the fourth evangelist gives the history of Jesus, Martyn claims that the evangelist has actually developed certain older traditions about Jesus into coded accounts of the conflict between church and synagogue in his own time and place.

For example, the bulk of John 9 (verses 8–41) becomes the dramatic expansion of a traditional miracle story in the initial verses. In the dramatic expansion, Jesus stands for an early Christian preacher in the Johannine church, the blind man for his convert, the Jewish officials for the Jewish council in the city where the fourth evangelist lived, the casting of the blind man out of the synagogue for the expulsion of the convert from the synagogue fellowship, the fearful parents for secret Jewish believers in John’s city, and so on. Thus Martyn thinks that by decoding parts of the fourth Gospel he can rewrite in fine detail the history of the controversy between the Johannine church and the neighborhood synagogue.

He finds clues to the code in minutiae of the text (“We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day” [9:4], the “we” betraying a double image of Christ and his disciple-preacher), undivergence of literary form from the Synoptic norm (the un-Synoptic post-healing dialogue, betraying dramatic expansion of an originally short healing story), and in Jewish history current to the time of John’s writing (the Jewish benediction against heretics, represented by the expulsion of the former blind man from the synagogue).

Those who share Martyn’s confidence in form-critical procedure practiced with pessimism toward the authenticity of the gospel tradition will find this book stimulating. Those who do not will find it largely fanciful. The marvelous inventiveness Martyn finds in the fourth evangelist excites one’s admiration and doubt. Are we to pay no attention to claims within the Gospel that its contents stem from an eyewitness to Jesus’ ministry? Have not recent discoveries and studies tended to restore confidence in the reliability of John?

Martyn’s identifications of historical background, however, may well be correct, even though they are not the source for inventive amplification but the occasion for mentioning certain aspects of authentic tradition about Jesus. And his analysis of the meaning of the text frequently shows perception, as in the comment that the primary point of the bread-manna sign in chapter 6 is not Moses-Messiah typology but—in view of the crowd’s failure to see the parallel—God’s sovereign election.

From Naturalism To Christ

Journey Into Light, by Emile Cailliet (Zondervan, 1968, $3.95) is reviewed by L. Nelson Bell, executive editor, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Some books challenge the mind or fire the imagination. Others cater in some way to our lesser needs. Journey Into Light above all else speaks to the heart. Admittedly thinking of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Dr. Emile Cailliet tells the story of his journey from naturalism into the light of Christianity through a simple faith in Jesus Christ.

This is not to say that Dr. Cailliet does not challenge the mind, for he does. He is a scholar of great distinction. In 1932 he was commended by the President of France for his research and writings and elected to the prestigious French Academy of· Sciences, and two years later the French government conferred on him a medal for “distinguished service in the field of letters.” But in this book he primarily leads the reader into the things of the Spirit by relating his own journey into the deep things of God.

Educated in a tradition that was “naturalistic to the core,” Cailliet was forced to face reality as a soldier in the French army in World War I. After the war he resumed his academic career and began writing a book that he felt would speak to his own soul and satisfy his longing heart.

Strange as it may seem, he had never seen a Bible until he was twenty-three, well along in his graduate work. When he married a Scotch-Irish girl, a devout Christian, he made it clear that religion was to be taboo in their home. But God had his own plans. One day his wife begged a copy of the Bible from a Huguenot minister and a little later timidly stood before her husband with the book in her hand. “A Bible you say? Where is it? Show me. I have never seen one before!” Grabbing the book from her hands, he rushed to his study to read, and as he read he realized that this was the book for which he had been longing for years—the book that understood him. Anyone who has doubts about the inherent power of the Holy Spirit in the Bible should read this account.

As one makes his way through this book he is overwhelmed at the depth of Dr. Cailliet’s scholarship, his wide knowledge of literature, his gift of evaluating knowledge with truth and coming to Spirit-directed conclusions. In telling of his journey into light, he quotes some men of our day whose journeys have been less enlightening to themselves and those who have followed them. His rejection of attempts to tamper with New Testament Christianity in order to make it more acceptable to the naturalistically minded places us greatly in his debt.

A fine chapter on “A Charter for the Christian Scholar” contains such valuable comments as this:

Here is a book that warms the heart and lifts the spirit, written by one who has made the long journey into light and found that this light leads over the horizon into eternity.

BOOK BRIEFS

Population in Perspective, edited by Louise B. Young (Oxford, 1968, 460 pp., $10). Selected essays from demographers, economists, anthropologists, biologists, philosophers, churchmen, and novelists on today’s population problems.

Social Scientific Studies of Religion: A Bibliography, by Morris I. Berkowitz and J. Edmund Johnson (University of Pittsburgh, 1967, 258 pp., $7.95). An excellent aid to religious research.

The New Testament in Greek and English, (American Bible Society, 1968, 920 pp., $2.75 bound, $4.75 looseleaf). The United Bible Societies, 1966 Greek text edited by Aland, Black, Metzger, and Wikgren is paralleled with the remarkably successful “Today’s English Version.” Excellent for Bible scholars.

The Struggle of the Unbeliever, by James J. Kavanaugh (Trident, 1967, 207 pp., $7.95). The modern priest who left his “outdated church” presents an apologetic based on the thought of John Henry Newman, Blondel, and Scheler. He stresses that faith consists not of adherence to a certain body of truths but of a personal search for a real God.

Toward the Year 2000: Work in Progress, edited by Daniel Bell (Houghton Mifflin, 1968, 400 pp„ $6.50). The Commission on the Year 2000 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences reports on work it has initiated to study future ramifications of present policies, anticipate coming problems, and seek advance solutions.

The Permissible Lie, by Samm S. Baker (World, 1968, 236 pp., $5.95). A former Madison Avenue copywriter criticizes unethical advertising practices in hope of helping people become more discriminating consumers. The ad industry won’t like it, but most book-buyers will.

New Singer, New Song, by David Winter (Word, 1968, 160 pp., $3.95). The story of Cliff Richard, Britain’s top pop singer. Winter writes of Richard, “The whole world of show business lay at his feet. He had more money than he could spend. Every whim could be indulged.” But he was not satisfied until he found Christ.

PAPERBACKS

The Conspiracy that Failed, by Edd Doerr (Americans United for Separation of Church and State, 1968, 186 pp., $2.25). An informative account of last year’s fracas over church-state separation in New York, which ended in the defeat of the proposed new constitution.

How to Succeed in Family Living, by Clyde M. Narramore (Gospel Light, 1968, 120 pp., $.95). Biblically oriented guidelines for happy family life. Popular level; not profound.

What Do We Know About Jesus?, by Otto Betz (Westminster, 1968, 124 pp., $1.65). A German scholar stresses that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith must always be seen together.

Not My Own, by Alfred Martin (Moody, 1968, 166 pp., $.50). A biblical exposition of the role of man as a steward of God’s gifts.

Family Pastoral Care, by Russell J. Becker, Counseling with Senior Citizens, by J. Paul Brown, Helping Youth in Conflict, by Francis I. Frellick, and Ministering to the Physically Sick, by Carl J. Scherzer (Prentice-Hall, 1963–65, 144 pp., each, $1.50 each). Paperback reprints in the “Successful Pastoral Counseling Series.”

A Guidebook for Developing the Church Youth Program, by Janet Burton (Baker, 1968, 123 pp., $1.95). Help on banquets, retreats, “Youth Sunday” programs, fellowships.

Let’s Face It, by Bruce Shelley (Moody, 1968, 127 pp., $.50). Simple yet profound advice on how to face a variety of personal problems: discouragement, fear, guilt, greed, anger, gluttony, pride, and others.

New Theology No. 5, edited by Martin E. Marty and Dean G. Peerman (Macmillan, 1968, 252 pp., $1.95). This time around the new-theology collection includes articles on secular, hopeful, and future theology by a stellar group of theological pace-setters.

In a Barley Field, by J. Vernon McGee (Regal, 1968, 192 pp., $.95). A valuable exposition of the Book of Ruth that illustrates the truth of the “kinsman-redeemer” concept.

Have something to add about this? See something we missed? Share your feedback here.