Book Briefs: June 20, 1969

Clergy Vs. Laity?

The Gathering Storm in the Churches, by Jeffrey K. Hadden (Doubleday, 1969, 257 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Addison H. Leitch, professor of theology, Gordon Divinity School, Wenham, Massachusetts.

What is in the realm of general awareness for most is given point and support by this serious and sympathetic study by Dr. Jeffrey K. Hadden, professor of sociology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. With great concern and yet with disciplined detachment he has attempted an analysis of what is happening as the clergy drift away from the laity, the clergy drift away from one another, and the laity drift away from the Church, or at least from commitment and involvement. The threat, as he sees it, is of a “gathering storm” that may well bring destruction to the Church not too many years hence.

One may approach the book in either of two ways: as a general reader or as a scholar who is able to handle the deeper sociological issues involved and to accept the implements and date of the trained sociologist. Hadden enlists the support of both types by an early recognition of the limitations of his study and of the possibilities and impossibilities in sociological findings, a constant and careful concern for what he aims to do and what he finds, and a clear understanding of what constitutes scientific fact, speculation, or inference. Despite his very evident enthusiasm for his subject he does not mislead; he does not try to say more than the evidence permits. And along the way are fed in topics of great interest, as for example the shift of more radical thinkers away from the pulpits of the local parishes to the non-parish duties of boards and agencies—and control centers!—of every denomination.

For the general reader the value of the book is found in the introductions and summaries, what in another type of book would be thought of as the narrative element. Great understanding is evident in chapter 1 (and the questions there raised are kept in view throughout), where he deals with three crises: meaning and purpose, belief, and authority, any one of which would be enough to account for the “gathering storm.” Then at the end of the book a chapter entitled “Collision with Reality” is in itself an excellent essay offering some suggestions for a solution. It is in this last chapter also that one gets closest to the mind and heart of the author.

Those engaged in other disciplines on university campuses still wonder about the aspirations of psychology and sociology to become sciences. The question is, of course, Why should they want to be? Since they treat the subject of man, are they not limiting the whole idea of man by treating him in such a fashion that his doings can be reduced to charts, statistics, and numbers? (It was refreshing to note that a recent article in Time gave white rats their comeuppance as clues to human beings.) So the question with this book and books like it: Just what do we know when the figures are all in? The questions asked are very penetrating, but whether the answers tell us anything is the bigger question. One gets the impression of general trends—but one had that impression before he saw the statistics. And if a Martin Luther or a John Wesley should turn up in the minority percentages, then where are we?

Christian Or Not?

Post-Christianity in Africa, by G. C. Oosthuizen (Eerdmans, 1968, 271 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by Donald McGavran, dean. School of Missions, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

As the Gospel has spread through sub-Saharan Africa, six thousand denominations have arisen. Several kinds may be distinguished: (a) those greatly assisted by the founding missions and patterned after them, (b) those not assisted from abroad and shaped by the Bible understood as the only rule of faith and practice, and (c) those not assisted from abroad and shaped by former religions, idiosyncrasies of their leaders, and snippets from the Bible. The great question is, How many of the six thousand denominations are (a) and (b) and how many are (c)? How many are churches and how many nativistic movements?

Oosthuizen writes after extensive study. He has read widely in the voluminous literature on the subject. He brings to his task anthropological insight and a good understanding of traditional African religion. He deals with all parts of sub-Saharan Africa and even goes back to the ancient Africa of Tertullian and Donatus.

His merit is that he applies theological criteria as he distinguishes between churches and syncretistic movements. One does well to read him before deciding how to consider these denominations variously called independent churches, indigenous churches, separatist sects, heresies, new religions, and African enthusiasms. He presents a much more critical view than Barrett’s Schism and Renewal. Of particular value is his insistence that to be truly Christian a denomination must elevate the authority of the Word over that of the Spirit.

Oosthuizen’s weakness is that, despite repeated affirmations that African churches be African, he measures them on a European scale. He depends heavily on theology formulated by Europeans—Bultmann, Kraemer, Barth, Tillich, Margull, Troeltsch, and others. The shadow of the state churches of Europe lies over his mind. He takes current Geneva formulations very seriously and judges African denominations according to them. He flatly applies Western theological definitions of a high order to movements struggling toward Christian faith and sternly rules them “no church.”

Instead of believing that, as animism dies out and light from the many Christian churches of the world increases, African denominations now murkily “Christian” will become more and more biblical, he labels them new religions of the post-Christian era. (Note the heavy European pessimism in the very title of the book.) To him, they are not Christian churches in process of formation but worse than heresies departing from the faith.

As nations are brought to faith and obedience (Rom. 1:5, NEB) and Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans come to understand Christ through their rich and divergent cultural heritages, many forms of church and formulations of doctrine are certain to arise. Which are plainly and which vaguely Christian, which are plainly and which vaguely pagan, is a debate that will agitate the churches for many decades. Oosthuizen is rightly applying his theology to the problem. Each Christian should do the same. This book should be assiduously read by all dedicated to the great discipling of the nations that will occupy the decades immediately ahead.

Valuable Ministerial Tool

The Minister’s Desk Book, by Lowell R. Ditzen (Parker, 1969, 351 pp., $7.95), is reviewed by Ralph G. Turnbull, pastor, First Presbyterian Church, Seattle, Washington.

As a pastor of long experience I came to this book with some reservations, wondering what new things could be said in a work of this kind. I was surprised to find myself reading sections through to the end for the stimulus and thrust they contained. The author, Lowell Ditzen, writes from a rich pastoral background and is well informed of what others have done in this field.

Leadership today forces a minister to equip himself for a variety of services, such as counseling and visitation, hospital work, social service, finance and administration, education, and often the building of new facilities. He cannot be a specialist in all these spheres—the like has not been born—but he should be familiar with general requirements so he can guide and appoint others in the work of the church.

In this well-organized and outlined volume, just about every role of the pastor is thoroughly discussed. There is wise counsel about his association with officers, boards, and staff. Fellowship and joy in working together are the key to achievement.

Especially valuable are the chapters on new building projects and finance—both the annual budget and fund-raising for special needs. From my viewing point near the end of a large building project (sanctuary, chapel, and education building), Ditzen’s views on these matters seemed down to earth, experienced, and balanced. Public worship is given fine treatment also, with attention to music and choirs, publicity, and the standards for church members. Here is the goal and the spirit of this handbook: it ends where the pastor begins, with the care and nurture of people. Evangelism and outreach are matched by Christian nurture and pastoral oversight.

This book can be a good investment, for its regular use will return dividends in improved relations, better cooperation, and more dedicated service in the life and work of the congregation.

Insight Into The Prophets

An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets by Hobart E. Freeman (Moody, 1969, 384 pp. $6.95), is reviewed by J. Barton Payne, professor of Old Testament, Wheaton Graduate School of Theology, Wheaton, Illinois.

This introduction to the prophets is well written, neatly documented (but not cluttered) with those sources one most needs to know about, and consistently sound in Bible-believing scholarship.

In Part I, Freeman describes the prophetic movement. He sees prophetism as founded upon Deuteronomy 18; he recognizes a threefold prophetic function: ethical, predictive, and doctrinal; and his sections on ecstasy and the false prophets are particularly perceptive. His excursus on philosophy and science as “a sinner’s search for God” is hardly complimentary; and he wobbles over whether or not Daniel “belongs … as found in the LXX … among the prophets.”

Part II consists of a special introduction to the sixteen biblical prophets, arranged in (Freeman’s) chronological order; it is strange that he does not mention Second Chronicles 28:16–18 and the 735 date for Obadiah, preferred by Davis, Raven, and Young. He effectively summarizes each book’s date, authorship, and contents, and also its historical background and interpretation. Freeman is abreast of critical problems, e.g., watersheds like Isaiah 7:14, the authenticity of Habakkuk 3, and the identity of Daniel’s four empires. One misses mention of Jeremiah’s Scythian problem and the relation of Amos 9 to Acts 15. One may also wonder about “the futility of attempting to recover an acrostic poem” in Nahum 1, the ranking of Zephaniah as “apocalyptic,” the interpretation of Haggai’s “desire of all nations” as meaning the Messiah, and the assertion of double fulfillment for Malachi’s predicted Elijah; but these in themselves indicate Freeman’s comprehensive grasp of crucial issues.

Some evangelicals may find too many references to a millennium. Certain pre-mils, in fact, would hesitate over finding Antichrist in Daniel 8, and would wonder whether millennialism really has much to do with Daniel, outside of 2:44b and 7:12, 27. But though Freeman entertains dispensational tendencies, his stance also suggests his own surname; e.g., an openness to question an atoning millennial altar, and to question the assertion that “the Old Testament kingdom prophecies never speak of the blessings of the present age of the gospel.”

All in all, the author and Moody Press are to be complimented on an excellent production.

Studies Eucharistic Liturgy

Eucharist, by Louis Bouyer (University of Notre Dame, 1968, 484 pp., $14), is reviewed by Robert H. Gundry, chairman, Division of Biblical Studies and Philosophy, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California.

This large and expensive book is devoted to the development of Christian Eucharistic liturgy from ancient times to the present. Interaction with opposing scholarly views plays a large part in the discussion. Although one may disagree, he has to admire the verve with which the author consigns to his “own private little hell” those liturgists who are “merely scholars, not to say common pedants or commonplace hobbyists,” and “liturgical archeologists” who “soil the whole tablecloth with their grimy hands” because “they undoubtedly came to the Lamb’s banquet without much of an appetite”!

Bouyer traces the beginnings back to the berakoth in the Old Testament and in the pre-Christian liturgy of the synagogue. Consisting of praises to God in the form “Blessed [be Yahweh] …,” the berakoth proclaimed his mighty deeds and expressed human gratitude. But these proclamations were more than mere recollections; they had the character of objective re-presentations to God of his past actions in order to guarantee the continuance of his salvific activity. Compare the vitality of the prophetic word to effect its own fulfillment. Then, with an appeal to J. Jeremias’s view (generally rejected) that “Do this in remembrance of me” means “Do this so that God will remember me when he brings the Messianic kingdom,” Bouyer concludes that the Lord’s Supper possessed in similarly objective reality. As Gentile Christians failed to understand the Semitic notion of memorial objectivity, it became necessary to stress the sacrificial character of the Eucharist.

The rest of the book consists of a form-critical exercise in the evolution of Eucharistic liturgy. With varying degrees of convincingness, Bouyer stresses the Christianization of Jewish models. His chief criteria for evaluating the liturgies that evolved are correspondence to early liturgical forms and fidelity to the doctrine of real presence or objective reality. Thus Cranmer, to say nothing of Zwingli et al., fares none too well.

Despite a pervading tone of anti-Protestantism (“The misfortunes of the Protestant Reformation on this point as on many others …”), Bouyer magnanimously gives his nihil obstat to the Eucharistic liturgies of Taizé, the Church of South India, and the American Lutheran Church: “If the Christian communities that use these formulas are to take their original place one day within Catholic unity, we see no reason that would prevent them from continuing their use.” Indeed, liturgical renewal is seen as a means for reuniting the Church, Eastern as well as Protestant, under the Roman umbrella.

Bouyer’s control of the literature on his subject is impressive. Though weak in philosophico-theological aspects of the Eucharistic debate, the book is a mine of information on the liturgy as such. Not the least virtue are extensive quotations of the historic liturgies in English translation. The book should prove exciting to those who are liturgically minded, tedious to those who are not.

Establishing Communication

The Family in Dialogue, by A. Donald Bell (Zondervan, 1968, 168 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by Leonard O. McDowell, pastor, Weeden Heights United Methodist Church, Florence, Alabama.

After twenty-one years of experience in the field of marriage and family counseling, Dr. Bell says, “I still find communication the basic problem.” For example, when a marriage breaks down because of unfaithfulness it is not just the unfaithfulness that is the problem, he says, it is the lack of communication in trying to work out difficult situations. Bell cites Dr. Viktor Frankl, who says our basic sin today is “God-shyness.” We are afraid to talk about spiritual things, even within family relationships.

The author believes that dialogue can help bring solutions in the major problem areas of poor preparation for marriage, lack of goals, and missing spiritual emphases. Family experiences that show how the dialogical approach can be used are presented in developmental order: friendship, courtship, romance, engagement, marriage, the child, the teen-ager, the family as a group, and the adult as he matures. To complete the picture there is some discussion of the single adult. In all these settings Bell emphasizes the need for dialogue between family members, as well as conversation between home and church.

The minister and Christian-education worker will find in the appendix many practical helps for developing a local church ministry to families. Among these are outlines of special family programs and suggestions for incorporating good principles of Christian family living into the regular curriculum.

Book Briefs

The Centrality of Preaching in the Total Task of the Ministry, by John Killinger (Word, 1969, 123 pp., $3.95). Affirms the centrality of preaching in the minister’s task and explores its relation to the other activities of a minister and his church.

God’s World Through Young Eyes, by Roy G. Gesch (Concordia, 1969, 160 pp., $3.95). Devotions for nine-to-thirteen-year-olds.

Faith and Understanding, by Rudolf Bultmann (Harper & Row, 1969, 348 pp., $7.50). English translation of a work that has already made an impact upon the theological world.

Up From Grief, by B. Kreis and A. Pattie (Seabury, 1969, 146 pp., $3.95). Explores the phenomenon of grief resulting from the death of a loved one, and suggests ways of dealing with one’s own grief or the grief of others.

Contemporary Catholicism in the United States, edited by Philip Gleason (Notre Dame, 1969, 385 pp., $10). Essays describing and evaluating American Catholicism in a period of upheaval and transition.

The Catholic Case for Contraception, edited by Daniel Callahan (Macmillan, 1969, 240 pp., paperback, $1.45). Articles and documents by prominent Catholic theologians and laymen affirm the right of Catholic couples to make a conscientious decision in favor of using contraceptives.

Discovery in Film, by Robert Heyer and Anthony Meyer (Paulist, 1969, 219 pp., paperback, $4.50). This addition to the “Discovery” series examines human needs and values as expressed in contemporary short, non-feature films that are available for purchase or rental.

Goforth of China, by Rosalind Goforth (Dimension Books, 1937, 364 pp., paperback, $1.75). A reprint of the 1937 biography of this spiritual giant.

Pot Is Rot, by Jean C. Vermes (Association, 1969, 127 pp., paperback, $1.75). In a style designed to speak to youth this book offers factual data revealing the psychological, moral, and physical dangers of smoking, drinking, drug addiction, and promiscuous sex relations.

The Church Business Meeting, by R. Dale Merrill (Judson, 1968, 126 pp., paperback, $1.95). A guide to parliamentary procedure in the church.

Eastern Orthodox World Directory, edited by Joe Kuzmission (Branden, 1969, 305 pp., $25). Includes in one volume statistics covering all branches of the Eastern Orthodox movement.

Brain, Mind and Computers, by Stanley L. Jaki (Herder and Herder, 1969, 266 pp., $7.50). A thoroughly documented rebuttal of contemporary claims regarding the existence or possibility of man-made minds.

Contraception: Authority and Dissent, edited by Charles E. Curran (Herder and Herder, 1969, 237 pp., $5.95). Takes the position that Catholics can be loyal church members and still dissent from the papal encyclical that views artificial contraception as illicit.

The Problem of Eschatology, edited by Edward Schillebeeckx and Boniface Willems (Paulist, 1969, 167 pp., $4.50). Catholic theologians investigate the doctrine of eschatology.

New Ways in Theology, by J. Sperna Weiland (Newman, 1968, 222 pp. $5.95). A useful introduction to contemporary theological discussion.

Kindlings, by Ian Macpherson (Revell, 1969, 159 pp., $3.95). A collection of more than one hundred useful “sermonstarters.

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