Book Briefs: December 4, 1970

Theologian—Christian—Contemporary

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, by Eberhard Bethge (Harper & Row, 1970, 867 pp., $17.95), is reviewed by Kenneth Hamilton, professor of systematic theology, The University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

That overworked phrase “definitive biography” would not be out of place if applied to Bethge’s monumental life of Bonhoeffer, issued in German in 1967 and now available in English translation. The book is definitive, not only because of its length and the thoroughness of its documentation, but also because of the qualifications of its author. From 1935, when he was chosen to be leader of the House of Brethren within the seminary at Finkenwalde, Bethge was Bonhoeffer’s most trusted confidant. His marriage in 1943 to Bonhoeffer’s niece brought him into his friend’s family. He was the recipient of the prison letters that, after he published them, soon made Bonhoeffer’s name world-famous. In addition to editing Bonhoeffer’s previously unpublished writings, for twenty years he has gathered and sifted material to make his biography a fitting memorial to the great man and great Christian he loved so well. The best account of Bonhoeffer’s life previously available in English, Mary Bosanquet’s The Life and Death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (London, 1968), owes much to the recollections of Bonhoeffer’s twin sister Sabine. Yet Mary Bosanquet acknowledges her principal debt in writing her book to have been Bethge, both because of his meticulous researches and because of his power of reflecting the spirit of the one who was his teacher and his friend.

The English translation is shorter than the original by nearly two hundred pages. Also, it has been shorn of more than fifty pages of appendices—mostly reconstructions of Bonhoeffer’s Berlin lectures during 1931–33. The abridgement has been deftly done, and the text reads smoothly. The illustrating photographs, rearranged, are larger and clearer than in the German edition. Long though the book is, few readers are likely to wish it shorter, or to find many pages that do not hold their close attention.

The fascination lies in the wide panorama Bethge presents. In the foreground is the man who lived so fully and so adventurously until his execution at the hands of the Gestapo at the age of thirty-nine. In the background are the world events from pre-1914 to the last weeks of the Second World War. The two are melded by Bonhoeffer’s involvement in his times: first as the German intellectual acquainting himself with the cultural patterns of Europe and America, then as the churchman and patriot actively engaged in the struggle of the Confessing Church and in the resistance movement against Hitler. This record is all the more compelling because it shows us what life in Hitler’s Germany meant, not simply for one man but for a whole family—and, indeed, for a whole segment of the German nation that saw the Fatherland as an integral part of Western civilization. At the same time, Bethge does not let us forget that his subject is more than a record of outward happenings and of forces at work in recent history. He keeps to the fore the continuity of the inward development of the life he is delineating, the life of a rare person who gave his mind to theology and his total loyalty to the life of faith within the Church of Jesus Christ.

The British edition carries Bethge’s original subtitle: “Theologian—Christian—Contemporary.” The American edition has substituted for this the subtitle “Man of Vision—Man of Courage.” The change is doubly unfortunate. In the first place, it perpetuates a dubious tradition. Bethge notes how, when in 1928 Barth’s The Word of God and the Word of Man was first published in America, the publishers “insisted that the word ‘theology’ must on no account appear in the title.” Bonhoeffer himself had harsh words to say about American resistance to the concept of theology. Thus passing over Bonhoeffer’s stance as a theologian and a Christian is inept; while highlighting the general qualities of vision and courage may well reinforce the notion—mistaken but nonetheless still current—that he finally identified Christian faith with liberal humanism. In the second place, the change of subtitle obscures a theme that Bethge has made indispensable to his entire narrative.

Bethge writes: “Theologian—Christian—Contemporary; those three, which seem at first sight to be a matter of course, do not often go together in history. Each of the two steps that Bonhoeffer took from one to the other changed the dimensions of his career.” He explains how Bonhoeffer was first a theologian, and only afterwards came to confess a fully personal Christian faith. Then his wartime experience of resisting Hitler’s tyranny on the political level (as a double agent) made him face the final implications of being a “contemporary” Christian. These successive breakthroughs, however, were cumulative. They were not experienced as alternatives. When the theologian became a committed Christian believer, his theological vocation was not abandoned but intensified; and when the disciple of Jesus Christ faced the challenge of the contemporary world, his Christian devotion was not lessened but rather took on a heightened significance.

Here Bethge’s presentation of the “nonreligious interpretation” sketched out by Bonhoeffer in his prison letters is put in perspective. He early calls attention to the way in which the ideas in the letters were exploited and distorted when they first broke into the public consciousness. He stresses that Bonhoeffer’s “secular Christianity” cannot be made into an apologetic, as many have tried to do. And he points out that the “nonreligious interpretation” is closely tied to its counterpart, the “arcane discipline” of the Christian worshiper. He writes (p. 785):

This means that he has no intention of simply including the religionless world within the Church or making the Church and the world the same thing.… The self-sacrifice of the Church in his non-religious interpretation, which Bonhoeffer was thinking, both for it and for himself, is not, then, to be at all associated with the loss of its identity. It is precisely this that is to be re-won.

In other words, the Contemporary does not loosen his hold upon the exclusive identity of Christian faith in order to meet the world on its own terms. Instead, it is as Christian and as Theologian that he has to wrestle with the form of contemporary witness to the Eternal and the Living Christ Jesus, so that the Church shall not cease to be His Church, proclaiming His message of salvation through the Cross.

The jacket of this book carries the legend, “The picture of Bonhoeffer is now complete.” So far as the external events of his life are concerned, this may be substantially true. But Bethge would be the last person to claim—or to hope—that the last word has been said about his real subject, namely, the Bonhoeffer who was theologian, Christian, and contemporary. Just as Bonhoeffer’s sacrificial life was not lived for its own sake but dedicated to God in Christ, so his mind reaches out to us, bidding us take up in our own day the task of faithful witness and loving service in the Church on behalf of a world that can find itself only in recognizing its Lord and receiving his forgiving grace.

Prophet’S Paradoxes

The Meaning of the City, by Jacques Ellul (Eerdmans, 1970, 209 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by David L. McKenna, president, Seattle Pacific College, Seattle, Washington.

The theological stage is set for a Karl Barth of the 1970s. Jacques Ellul may be the man. After the tragi-comic scenes that called for Christianity to come to terms with the secular city and the atheistic world, Ellul has stepped onto center stage with a theology of confrontation that pits biblical truth against the evolutionary developments of the modern world.

Ellul brings to his task his credentials as a professor of the history and sociology of institutions in the University of Bordeaux Faculty of Law. Introducing Jacques Ellul, edited by James U. Holloway (Eerdmans, 1970, $2.45), gives insights into his thought. As a social analyst, he is best known for his book The Technological Society, in which he ascribes the problems of contemporary society to the domination of technical processes over nature until the technique has become an end in itself. Ellul’s major purpose, however, is “to provide Christians with the means of thinking out for themselves the meaning of their involvement in the modern world.” Therefore, in approaching the saturated subject of the urban crisis, he begins with the Word rather than the world. In this brilliant, haunting study of The Meaning of the City, Ellul can be read as a fundamentalist, a Marxian, a Calvinist, a Barthian, a jurist, a sociologist, and an evangelical. It may be the contradictory elements in these varying viewpoints that give his work the ring of prophecy and the sound of paradox.

The Meaning of the City must be read as a “composition in counterpoint” against the idea that Christians find meaning in the secular city and hope in urban reform. In his closely reasoned biblical study, Ellul begins with Cain, who built the first city as a substitute for Eden and as a symbol of separation from God. Nimrod, the builder, extended the evil power of the city when he made it an agent of war. Babel was an illustration of man’s confusion when a city was used to say, “I killed God.” The curse culminates, then, in Babylon as the epitome of man’s counter-creation when it takes on the full identity and responsibility of collective evil by capturing the children of God.

The biblical history of the city slowly begins to turn when the kings of Israel build cities themselves. The curse becomes neutralized, and the prophets even speak words of hope. Nineveh, for instance, represents a city in the balance between condemnation and transformation. The balance tips when God adopts the city of Jerusalem as the center for his people. But the curse remains until Jesus Christ takes away the sacredness of the city as he becomes the Temple and as he separates man from the curse of the city, making him free.

The biblical future is now in a city, but not one of man’s making. The New Jerusalem will show how God uses the work of man to reveal himself. The curse will be lifted, the walls razed, the separation ceased, the confusion cleared, and the common sanctified. After judgment on the city, the ultimate purposes of God will be revealed.

Ellul is more prophet than redeemer. While giving his biblical history of the city, he speaks of Christians’ praying for the city, working for its good as bearers of the Word, and avoiding the power of its situational sin. But, in general, Christians are called upon to wait for events that are out of their hands.

Perhaps it is the prophetic nature of Ellul’s writing that prompted Stringfellow to say the book is “too biblical for most Christians.” At times, Ellul wrings out the meaning of revelation until his exposition becomes oppressive. At other times, he makes logical jumps from paradox to paradox without feeling the need for resolution. For example, the city is both the place of God’s curse and man’s refinement in civilization. By personifying the city, Ellul develops a form of cultural determinism, but he still calls for individual freedom. He speaks of urban ills as examples of collective sin but gives no hope for urban reform by Christian action. Paradox may be the privilege of prophets, but it is difficult to accept Ellul’s prophetic authority when he labels counter-arguments as ridiculous or assigns his unresolved questions to the mysteries of God’s election. This problem takes on larger proportions after one reads The Technological Society. There are times when it appears as if Ellul has substituted the “city” for “technology” in order to superimpose his own sociological analysis of contemporary society upon biblical revelation.

The frustrations of reading The Meaning of the City do not cancel out the major value of Ellul’s work. He has dared to take on a task that evangelical Christians have avoided. With the Bible as his primary source, he has tried to relate revelation to the issues of an urbanized society. The fact that he begins with the Word of God means that he must be read. That he will disturb every reader—evangelicals and liberals, theologians and sociologists, politicians and urban planners—only adds to his credibility. Ellul may be the prophet who will shake us wide awake with the realization—in fact as well as theory—that man’s design is not God’s plan. He will be stoned, but he cannot be ignored.

Newly Published

Paul Tillich’s Dialectical Humanism: Unmasking the God Above God, by Leonard F. Wheat (Johns Hopkins, 1970, 287 pp., $9). An economist with an avocational interest in religion claims that Tillich was an atheist whose “thought is as much as anything a matter of giving new substance to formulations and concepts taken from Hegel,” and, to a lesser extent, Marx.

Theology Through Film, by Neil P. Hurley (Harper & Row, 1970, 212 pp., $5.95). Explains man’s search for understanding and faith through the movie medium. Films, the author contends, reflect in each era that generation’s hungerings.

The Christian Woman in the Working World, by Martha Nelson (Broadman, 1970, 141 pp., $3.50). This is not a book advocating the rights of women; it simply assumes them. The question is, How are Christian women to conduct themselves? The answer: Like Christians.

A Shorter Life of Christ, by Donald Guthrie (Zondervan, 1970, 186 pp., paperback, $2.45). Written by an eminent New Testament scholar, this account is a helpful addition to the literature about Christ. It should be especially useful in introducing Jesus (and the background of the gospel narratives) to those whose knowledge is limited.

Voices of the New Feminism, edited by Mary Lou Thompson (Beacon, 1970, 246 pp., $5.95). An interesting, persuasive collection of essays by some of the leading advocates of this movement.

The Free Church and Seductive Culture, by Calvin Redekop (Herald, 1970, 189 pp., paperback, $2.95). A Mennonite sociologist critically studies religion generally and his own particular heritage with the confidence that Anabaptist principles are destined to become more widespread among Christians.

Media in Value Education: A Critical Guide, by Jeffrey Schrank (Argus Communications, 1970, 168 pp., paperback, $4.95), and Audiovisual Facilities and Equipment for Churchmen, edited by B. F. Jackson, Jr. (Abingdon, 1970, 313 pp., $7.50). The first deals with the use of films, records, and tapes in both secular and religious education, cataloguing many of them; the other discusses the equipment of communication—projectors, stereos, tape recorders, as well as telephone communications. They will be helpful to anyone interested in educational tools.

Towards a Theology of Development, compiled by Gerhard Bauer (The Ecumenical Centre, Geneva, 1970, 201 pp., paperback, $2.50). An annotated bibliography of more than 2,000 items in nearly seventy categories to aid theologians reflecting “on the nature, processes and purposes of economic and social development.”

The Revival in Indonesia, by Kurt Koch (Evangelization Publishers, 1970, 310 pp., paperback, $2.95). A highly personal and gripping account by a German who has traveled widely in Indonesia recently.

Reformation Views of Church History, by Glanmor Williams (John Knox, 1970, 85 pp., paperback, $1.95). Primarily on William Tyndale, John Bale, and John Foxe.

Where Are We Headed?: A Christian Perspective on Evolution, by Jan Lever (Eerdmans, 1970, 59 pp., paperback, $1.65). Nine radio talks by the professor of zoology at Free University, Amsterdam. He sees “evolution” as the creative process used by God.

The Power of Pure Stewardship, by Carl W. Berner, Sr. (Concordia, 1970, 125 pp., paperback). An unusual approach to the question of tithing that deplores many money-raising schemes as being on the ethical borderline.

Deadline for Survival: A Survey of Moral Issues in Science and Medicine, by Kenneth W. Mann (Seabury, 1970, 147 pp., paperback, $2.95). The ethics of modern science and technology in relation to progress are discussed in a rather pessimistic vein. The 1967 General Convention of the Episcopal Church fostered the ideas of the book.

Proclamation and Presence: Old Testament Essays in Honor of Gwynne Henton Davies, edited by John I. Durham and J. Roy Porter (John Knox, 1970, 315 pp., $9.95). Includes “What Do We Know About Moses?,” “Elijah at Horeb,” “Psalm 23 and the Household of Faith.”

World Mission and World Communism, edited by Gerhard Hoffmann and Wilhelm Wille (John Knox, 1970, 142 pp., paperback, $2.45). Seven addresses given during 1966–67 at the Hamburg Academy of Missions make it clear “that Communism has still an enormous power of attraction for the people” of the Third World.

Dare to Discipline, by James Dobson (Tyndale House, 1970, 228 pp., $3.95). An important, well-conceived book on the place and importance of discipline, countering both permissiveness and excesses of discipline of some parents.

Church Publicity, by William M. Lessel (Thomas Nelson, 1970, 221 pp., $4.95). A complete discussion of the basic (mechanical) principles of advertising, layout, and printing; valuable for church use.

Whose Land Is Palestine?, by Frank H. Epp (Eerdmans, 1970, 283 pp., $6.95). After discussing the subject from the historical viewpoint, the author concludes that the answer to the title question is, “Everybody’s.”

Some of the above books will later be reviewed at greater length.

In The Journals

“The Epistles of John.” The Fall, 1970, issues of the following journals are devoted almost entirely to this subject and are available for $1.50 each: Southwestern Journal of Theology (Fleming Library, Fort Worth, Tex. 76122), and Review and Expositor (2825 Lexington Rd., Louisville, Ky. 40206).

The entire September, 1970, issue of the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation contains articles with conflicting views on the evolution controversy (324½ S. 2nd St., Mankato, Minn. 56001; single copy $1.25).

“Concerns for the 1970’s: A Conservative, Evangelical Assessment,” by F. Franklyn Wise, Religious Education, September–October, 1970, pp. 402–8 (545 West 111th St., New York, N.Y. 10025; single copy $2). By a professor at Olivet Nazarene; based on a speech to a section of the National Council of Churches. In the same issue, Charles W. King writes on “Motivations for Teaching in Bible Colleges” (pp. 431–35).

The October, 1970, issue of Concordia Theological Monthly is devoted to biblical archaeology and includes major survey articles on the influence of archaeological evidence on the reconstruction of religion in Israel as well as “The Meaning of Archaeology for the Exegetical Task” and “Archaeology and Preaching” (3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63118; annual subscription $3.50). Available from the same address is the Lutheran Scholar. Most of its October, 1970, issue consists of a symposium by eleven men, several of them in Congress, on the topic “Violence in Contemporary Political Life.”

Three noteworthy articles in the October, 1970, issue of the Evangelical Quarterly are “Social Involvement in the Apostolic Church,” “Some Recent Literature on Missionary Studies,” and “Desiderius Erasmus: Some Recent Studies” (3 Mount Radford Crescent, Exeter, Devon., England; single copy $.75).

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