Book Briefs: May 8, 1970

In The Tradition Of Warfield

The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, by René Pache (Moody, 1969, 349 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Robert Strong, minister of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Montgomery, Alabama.

Placing himself squarely in the tradition of Gaussen, Warfield, E. J. Young, and J. I. Packer, the president of Emmaus Bible School in Lausanne, Switzerland, gives us a notable exposition of the doctrine of verbal inspiration. This is a book for laymen; it is not so technical that it will defeat them. This is also a book for ministers; it is wide-ranging, abreast of recent scholarship, thoroughly competent. Evangelicals cannot but be enthusiastic about this work. Helen I. Needham, professor of French and English at Moody Bible Institute, deserves high commendation for her highly readable translation.

The careful organization of the book reflects Pache’s legal training (he holds a doctorate in law). Sub-headings make the argument easy to follow.

Half of the study is devoted to inspiration, which is thus defined: “We believe that in the composition of the original manuscripts, the Holy Spirit guided the authors even in their choice of expressions—and this throughout all the pages of the Scriptures—still without effacing the personalities of the different men.” Confidence in the inerrancy of the original manuscripts breathes in every chapter.

Pache squarely faces the critical problems. He deals with the documentary hypothesis and other suggestions from negative criticism. As he examines the major so-called difficulties in the Bible, it becomes clear that they constitute no barrier to full confidence in the Scripture. His discussion of the problems of the canonization of Scripture shows that the Bible made the Church, not the Church the Bible; the New Testament books, for example, made their way by an intrinsic authority of their own, which was recognized and deferred to by the Church.

The material on transmission of the text is a helpful condensation of the vast amount of work that has been done in this field. Pache appreciates the accuracy of the Masoretes and dwells upon the confirming significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The selection of quotations from great authorities is excellent and provides a storehouse of scholarly judgments particularly useful for laymen.

One of the best features of the book is Pache’s treatment of modern theology and its attitude toward Scripture. Barth and Brunner in their acceptance of negative criticism could not be expected to be safe guides in the world of theology, he says. Bultmann in his radical skepticism toward Scripture stands exposed as irrational and subjective. The neo-orthodoxy of Archbishop Temple and the essential pantheism of Tillich and Robinson are shown to grow out of their low view of Scripture. The author’s summaries of the modern contrary positions are accurate and useful.

Scripture’s self-testimony, its undeniable supernatural characteristics, its obvious superiority to all other sacred books, its beauty and power, its doctrine of God and salvation, its portrait of the incomparable Christ—these themes are forcibly developed.

The issue of all issues is Scripture. We should be grateful to Dr. Pache for his up-to-the-minute statement of the evangelical case for the full inspiration and truthfulness of the Bible.

Verbal Inerrancy Dead?

Is the Bible a Human Book?, edited by Wayne E. Ward and Joseph F. Green (Broadman, 1970, 159 pp., $3.50), is reviewed by Jerry Perrill, tutor in philosphy of religion, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Is the Bible a human book? This question is discussed by fifteen leading Southern Baptist pastors, professors, and denominational leaders. They are in accord in saying that the Bible bears the unmistakable mark of the men who wrote it. Conrad Willard discusses the writers, who were “very human people.” H. Leo Eddleman sees the Hebrew language as a testimony to the humanness of the Bible, while Scott L. Tatum reaches the answer by looking at the New Testament writers’ use of Koine Greek.

Robert J. Norman and John F. Havlik speak of the availability of the Bible when used by “human messengers” or “human witness” as a testimony to the human aspect of the Bible. Carl Bates concludes that without the Bible one is without God, and that this Book will stand and its power continue regardless of attack.

As a whole, however, Is the Bible a Human Book? does more than emphasize the human element involved in the production of the Scripture; it tends to conclude that errors are present in the Scripture and that the issue of verbal inerrancy is finally dead. (Brooks Hays says that verbal inerrancy is an “irrational and unhistoric position of a few literalists.”)

This issue shows itself in the neoorthodox concept that the Bible contains, rather than is, the Word of God. Notwithstanding James Flamming’s remark that such a distinction is “just so much theological shadow boxing,” this popular and dangerous concept removes the objective authority from the Bible and gives that authority to the individual. Thus John M. Lewis can say, “The Bible contains world-knowledge and God-knowledge.… This earthen vessel—the language of the writer and the limitations of his world knowledge—is not to be confused with the divine message of revelation itself.” Such a position removes “God-knowledge” not only from the Bible but ultimately from its availability to men. By this same Barthian reduction principle, John R. Claypool can speak of the “mistakes and errors and conflicting opinions of the biblical record” and its “authenticity” all at once!

Claypool also states the case against an authoritative Scripture in another way, hoping to render the discussion of inerrancy irrelevant:

The ultimate authority in a living religion can never be something as static as a book.… It must be none other than God himself, authenticating his truth in his own freedom and in the most personal of ways.

This is why it borders on the heretical to speak of the Bible as the final authority in all matters religious.… The biblical name for such a practice is the sin of idolatry! [p. 28, italics his; cf. p. 134].

Such a position borders on the absurd. What employee would get away with ignoring a letter of instruction from his boss by saying that he did not take orders from any printed letter, but from the boss only? In the quotation above, Claypool rejects the authority of Scripture in favor of some mystical personal experience but then cites Scripture in support of his position.

W. Boyd Hunt closes his article with the question implied in the title: “Is the Bible less inspired because it is so human?” The contributors to this volume have answered “No!” but in so doing some have answered a tragic “Yes” to another important question: “Must the Bible err because it is so human?” This question could be asked of our Lord Jesus, who was really human. The answer to this question with respect to both Jesus and the Bible must be, for the evangelical Christian: inerrant though human.

Black Power Defined

Black Self-Determination, by Arthur M. Brazier (Eerdmans, 1969, 148 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by William Henry Anderson, Jr., professor of sociology, Virginia Union University, Richmond.

The Rev. Dr. Arthur M. Brazier provides much of the leadership of The Woodlawn Organization (TWO), a neighborhood community organization in Chicago. Black Self-Determinationconsists of a narrative account of several aspects of TWO’s life put between two chapters on power. These two chapters are the meat of the book. The first is a definition of black power and the last is a short study of the biblical justification for the use of power.

Black power is a rational means of applying leverage to the political and economic structure. This explanation makes sense, but whites get confused about black power by its rhetoric in the black community. Most of the mature leaders do hold a reasoned view of black power, and Dr. Brazier’s view of it is adequate.

The last chapter, on biblical justification for the use of power, is not very convincing. It seems to be a post facto excuse for what has already been done. I am not sure whether I got this impression from the unfortunate placement of the chapter at the end (as an afterthought) rather than at the beginning (as a guide for action), or because the argument is weak. No rigorous exegesis is used, and the eschatological basis is lacking.

I myself am an activist in the social and political arena for philosophical reasons based on a mix of implications of the Decalogue, the Beatitudes, and love of neighbor held together by eschatology—realized and futuristic. I think that the ideas of the Quakers and old-fashioned pacifists against the use of power have an eschatological base that is more biblical than the material in Black Self-Determination. Hope is the only game around, and it is located in the Kingdom of God.

The book is valuable and useful for those who need some assurance that Christians have a stake in the shaping of the future. Also, the multitude of readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY who live in the shadow of the Chicago Tribune can get a fuller account of some local events of religious significance. Finally, an evangelical publisher is to be commended for publishing such a book.

Urbanization And The Church

Will the Church Lose the City?, edited by Kendig Brubaker Cully and F. Nile Harper (World, 1970, 256 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Richard K. Morton, professor of sociology and religion, Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida.

Expanding urbanism has rather commonly meant expanding Catholicism and expanding secularism, which has led to a weakening or abandonment of the central-city ministry by Protestant churches and other religious centers. Experienced members of the faculty of New York Theological Seminary have gathered in this volume discerning evaluations of the modern city and its relation to religion and the churches. These include historical, sociological, economic, psychological, aesthetic, and integrative views. Another section takes up the structure and functions of the city church, while the concluding one describes some projects being carried on by various churches.

Because of the limitations of space, presumably, the book suffers from superficiality. Much that needs to be said from a sociological and psychological perspective is missing. Also questionable are certain broad statements, such as, “The church provides the city with a means of identity.” And, from a psychological viewpoint, what is the actual meaning of the affirmation that the city man lives in a world of deeds? Nevertheless, much of what is here is enlightening and useful analysis of the impact of the urban area upon the Church and vice versa.

It is disappointing and serious, I think, that the book does not first ask, Will the Church lose its own soul and abandon its historic Gospel? Will it simply become absorbed in an attempt to be relevant to a socio-economic situation that it ought to fight hard to change in some respects? The Church must learn to understand the socio-economic and ecological problems of the city, but it must also be able to deepen, strengthen, and redirect its historic mission so as to be more than a voice for morality and for religious ceremonialism in a dynamic and pluralistic society.

I think that we need a rediscovery of the Gospel and especially of the indwelling Christ, whether we are in the city or elsewhere. I think, too, that we need a new and dynamic evangelism and a broader ministry that can bring Christ and his redeeming love and power to men wherever they live, whatever the problems and difficulties they struggle under.

Descriptive Literary Criticism

The Apocalyptic Vision in Paradise Lost, by Leland Ryken (Cornell, 1970, 239 pp., $7.50), is reviewed by Virginia R. Mollenkott, associate professor of English, Paterson State College, Wayne, New Jersey.

For those of us who deny the necessity of a gap between Christ and culture, it is encouraging to see serious contributions to scholarship and criticism from people who are clearly working within the evangelical tradition. Of these contributions, The Apocalyptic Vision in Paradise Lost is a stellar example. Leland Ryken, who teaches English at Wheaton College, has produced a model of descriptive literary criticism that simultaneously illuminates the reading of Paradise Lost and provides correction for many of the methods and conclusions current among Miltonists.

Ryken uses the term apocalyptic to designate “a transcendental state that is not located in history and the order of nature but that is placed either above or prior to ordinary time.” He uses the term vision to indicate that Milton views the transcendental state as remote from fallen reality, as related to a higher truth, and as an ideal emancipation from anxieties and frustrations. After a brief theoretical consideration of the doctrine of accommodation, the Platonic theory of ideas, and Christian humanism, Ryken analyzes the techniques by which Milton embodies his apocalyptic vision. First among these are various types of contrast, such as the use of enameled images of jewels and gold that lend “a quality of sculptured permanence” to Heaven and Paradise, yet are juxtaposed with images of abundant life and motion. Concludes Ryken, “These contradictory motifs … [combine] two empirical phenomena to suggest a transcendental realm in which the sum is greater than its parts.”

Other Miltonic techniques for describing the divine realms include negation, which stresses the great gulf between nature and transcendence; analogy, which stresses certain similarities between nature and transcendence (including anthropomorphic depictions of God); remoteness, by which Milton makes the apocalyptic vision oblique rather than direct, at a distance from ordinary reality; and apocalyptic imagery, much of which is deliberately conceptual rather than sensory, generic rather than individual, or olfactory/aural rather than visual. The final chapter demonstrates how these elements, by interrelating and reinforcing one another, contribute to the organic wholeness of Paradise Lost.

Because Ryken is consistently descriptive rather than impressionistic, he can unequivocally identify certain inaccuracies in many respected studies of Milton’s work. If literary criticism deals in general impressions and subjective evaluations, then it is impossible to label a specific interpretation as right or wrong; but if the critic submits himself to the surface facts, describing what is there, then it is usually just as possible to identify errant readings as it is to identify errant biographical or textual information. By patient enumeration of Miltonic techniques and consideration of their effect within the apocalyptic context, Ryken is able to explode many misconceptions about Milton’s art and ideas: that he has no sense of mystery, that his descriptions are vague, that his concept of God is too anthropomorphic, and the like. The footnotes provide a valuable annotated bibliography for each topic touched upon, and there is a useful index.

It seems impossible to overestimate the importance of this book. Bravo, Professor Ryken!

Fresh Approach To The Psalms

Psychology in the Psalms: A Portrait of Man in God’s World, by Morris A. Inch (Word, 1969, 202 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by Charles Lee Feinberg, dean and professor of Old Testament, Talbot Theological Seminary, La Mirada, California.

Commentaries and expositions on the Psalms are available by the scores. For the most part they treat the book devotionally, since here is found the unsurpassed devotional literature of the Christian faith. But Inch’s work is refreshingly distinct. His aim is to treat man from the standpoint of both theology and the behavioral sciences.

The twelve chapters deal with the nature, degradation, and salvation of man; Christian experience, with emphasis on the nature of the regenerate life and the need for maturity; the critical aspects of the Christian life; and finally, man in time perspective, with considerations of history, hope, and present help. Of the thirteen psalms covered, seven are well known (8; 14; 32; 1; 2; 22; 23) and six (20; 52; 67; 76; 87; 135) are less known. A free translation of the text precedes each chapter. The approach is experimental.

This is not the place to seek customary exposition of the passages; of some 117 items in the bibliography, only six are on the Psalter proper. Inch has a different purpose, and he has done his work splendidly. His discussion is orthodox, reverent, well informed, and eminently practical. He is well acquainted with the theological issues involved and with the works of both sociologists and psychologists. His chapter on Psalm 135 is exceptionally acute, revealing a fine grasp of the philosophy of history.

Book Briefs

An Evangelical Theology of Missions, by Harold Lindsell (Zondervan, 1970, 234 pp., paperback, $2.45). Reprint of an earlier work in which the editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY sets forth a theology of missions that is rooted in the Scriptures and is aware of what is happening in the world.

The Gospel of John and The Epistle to the Romans, by F. L. Godet (Zondervan, 1969, 1110 pp., and 530 pp., $9.95 and $6.95). Zondervan has performed a valuable service in reprinting these two classic works of one of the outstanding leaders of evangelical Protestantism. Godet combines a warm devotional spirit with solid scholarship, and his works are a worthy addition to any library.

Parents on Trial, by David Wilkerson with Claire Cos (Spire, 1970, 174 pp., paperback, $.75). First paperback edition of this penetrating challenge to parents.

Who’s Who in Church History, by William P. Barker (Revell, 1969, 319 pp., $6.95). Brief sketches of more than 1,500 men and women who saw themselves as part of the Christian community and who left an imprint on the history of the Church.

The Politics of Doomsday, by Erling Jorstad (Abingdon, 1970, 192 pp., $4.95). A documented study of the views and activities of Carl McIntire, Billy James Hargis, and Edgar C. Bundy with fewer mistakes and more attempt at fairness than most such works by non-admirers.

Men Who Knew God, by William Sanford LaSor (Regal, 1970, 196 pp., paperback, $.95). A study of God’s dealings with some of the great personalities of the Old Testament.

Words of Wisdom, compiled by George M. Wilson (Tyndale House, 1967, 299 pp., paperback, $1.95). Using the Living Psalms and Proverbs paraphrase, this volume arranges daily readings from Psalms and Proverbs so that both books can be read in a month.

Who Shall Live?, edited by Kenneth Vaux (Fortress, 1970, 199 pp., $6.75). A variety of contributors wrestle with some of the issues raised by the twentieth-century revolution in medical and biological technology.

The Biblical Philosophy of History, by Rousas J. Rushdoony (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1969, 148 pp., paperback, $2.95). Sees the sovereign Creator God as the key to the interpretation of history.

Good News for Children, by Sheri Dunham Haan (Baker, 1969, 240 pp., $4.95). A Bible-story book arranged by topics and designed to be read by young children.

James: A Practical Primer for Christian Living, by Earl Kelly (Craig, 1969, 282 pp., paperback, $3.95). Thirty-three expository sermons on texts from the Epistle of James.

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