Book Briefs: April 9, 1971

Monument To Catholic Scholarship

Sacramentum Verbi: An Encyclopedia of Biblical Theology, three volumes, edited by Johannes B. Bauer (Herder and Herder, 1970, 1.140 pp., $49.50), is reviewed by George Eldon Ladd, professor of New Testament exegesis and theology, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

The six-volume Sacramentum Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology has already been reviewed in these pages (February 27, 1970, and January 29, 1971). Only in format is Sacramentum Verbi a companion piece for biblical theology. The major topics in Verbi are also treated in Mundi. The difference is that Mundi is post-Vatican II and simultaneously published in six languages, while Verbi was first published in German in 1959. Two German editions quickly sold out; a third revised edition was produced and translated “so that the English-speaking world first meets the encyclopedia in a thoroughly up-to-date and more comprehensive form.” It is an encyclopedia of articles on some 209 subjects written by fifty-three authors who represent the best of European Catholic biblical scholarship. Among them are such internationally known scholars as Jean Danielou, Franz Mussner, Josef Schmid, Rudolf Schnackenburg, and Anton Vogtle.

Judged by technical standards, the work is of high quality—splendidly translated, beautifully bound, and typographically almost flawless.

From the point of view of English-speaking scholarship, however, whether mediating or evangelical, the work is somewhat defective.

One of its strong points is its bibliographies, particularly of German literature. For example, the bibliographical references to “church” fill 4½ columns; to “Jesus Christ,” 2½ columns. Most of these works are in German. A bibliographical supplement lists many works published since the original German edition. English translations of German works are not cited, and many important English studies are overlooked, such as W. G. Kummel on Romans 7 and C. H. Dodd on the law of Christ.

In fact, the work is very uneven in its reference to Protestant scholarship.

It occasionally takes issue with Luther; it sometimes refers to contemporary issues in Protestant scholarship—Kasemann on Hellenistic influences, Cullmann on the sleep of the dead, an entire article on Bultmann’s demythologizing. However, these are the exceptions. Some of the topics are not usually included in the range of biblical theology—dream, emotion, mountain, sea, sickness, water; they are treated here in an attempt to draw out their theological significance.

As one expects, some of the articles reflect distinctly Catholic interests, such as those on the “brethren of Jesus,” “Mary,” and “virginity.” Furthermore, as is inevitable, Catholic theology intrudes itself into biblical interpretation in such matters as the theology of baptism, the eucharist, and the role of Peter. But the work as a whole is remarkably objective in its treatment of biblical themes. For example, one writer says that the question of the baptism of children in the primitive church cannot be answered in the New Testament with absolute certainty.

In two ways the work is somewhat less than a biblical theology. Sometimes it is more of a study of cognate biblical words than of a theological concept. And it is often more the history of a concept than a survey of the biblical teaching. It not only includes the books of the apocrypha as canonical literature but often includes pseudepigraphical books and the literature of Qumran as though they were Scripture. Furthermore, it sometimes moves beyond the New Testament to include early Christian literature. On a few occasions, it moves into later Catholic dogma and traces biblical concepts as they were interpreted by the later church (cf. “tradition”).

Two questions will be of particular interest to readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. The article on “Jesus Christ” is uncertain about the way in which Jesus revealed himself to his disciples. It is not at all clear that Jesus used “Son of man” as a messianic self-designation. However, another writer thinks that in the transfiguration Jesus unveiled himself as the heavenly Son of man. One finds less than an adequate treatment of the messianic self-disclosure of Jesus anywhere in the work.

Again, in the theology of “Scripture,” the writer affirms the inerrancy of what a given author intends to assert or teach.

The encyclopedia includes many long articles of great merit: “humility” (twelve columns), “love” (forty-seven), “church” (twenty-six), “kingdom of God” (twenty-seven). Other important articles are surprisingly short.

In one matter the encyclopedia is very uneven: most articles include the Old Testament aspect of a given subject; many—not all—pursue the subject into the literature of Judaism. But only a few provide the Greek background for a given topic. However, the article on “mystery” devotes so much attention to the Greek idea of mystery that the uninitiated reader may not grasp the biblical concept. The differences between the Hebrew and the Greek ideas of “truth” do not emerge clearly in the discussion. In light of the contemporary debate, far more should have been said about the Hellenistic idea of “knowledge” and its possible influence upon both Jewish and Christian thought.

One could list many points of specific disagreement, but a brief review will not allow it. In summary, this work should certainly be in every theological school’s library, but in view of the cost, pastors would be better advised to invest their money in volumes of Kittel’s Theological Dictionary or in The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Nevertheless, this work stands as a monument to contemporary European Catholic biblical scholarship and reflects the great degree of historical objectivity achieved by these scholars.

A Colorful Canvas Of Luther

Luther: His Life and Times, by Richard Friedenthal (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970. 566 pp., $9.50), is reviewed by Ronald J. Sider, assistant professor of history, Messiah College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“All Luther’s early writings are volcanic: they have a soft crust overlaid with his protestations of loyalty to the Church, which undoubtedly were sincere; underneath the lava glows, ready at any moment to burst forth.” This sentence illustrates Friedenthal’s vivid style, which even in translation often gives one the impression of personally encountering a dynamic historical figure. Luther and his contemporaries feel, think, and clash again in Friedenthal’s book.

Luther: His Life and Times is popularization in the grand style. It is based on extensive reading of both Luther himself and much contemporary scholarship. There are mistakes, of course, and wrong emphases, but the facts and the interpretations are generally reliable. A bibliographical list for each chapter partially makes up for the absence of footnotes, although the book is obviously for the information, inspiration, and illumination of the general reader, not for citation in scholars’ learned footnotes.

The heart of the book is Part II, in which about 300 pages deal with the decisive years between 1517 and 1525. Friedenthal devotes a much shorter Part I to the evolution of the rebel and a rather brief Part III to several somewhat arbitrarily selected events from 1525 to 1546.

The subtitle is not misleading. Friedenthal provides excellent insight into the political, social, economic, artistic, and cultural life of the period. There are engaging character sketches of major political figures such as the withdrawn Emperor Charles and the almost humorously cautious Frederick the Wise. The description of the political and social situation in the “Holy Roman Empire” enables the reader to appreciate the later quip that it was not holy, Roman, or an empire. The author also provides some understanding of the economic situation through his description of the machinations of the international banking houses such as the Fuggers. Nor is the common man forgotten. The daily lives, attitudes, and weapons of the contemporary mercenaries receive careful attention. The lively account of Luther’s notion of the devil and his lifelong personal encounters with very persistent demons is fascinating intellectual history.

The treatment of the theological issues is not as strong as the development of political themes. The theologians around Luther are not depicted as vividly as political figures like Hutten or Sickingen. Although Friedenthal discusses theology at the appropriate points, his presentation is not extensive; theology is obviously not his first love. His emphasis on political and social history may, however, be a useful corrective for those authors who seem to see nothing but theology in the sixteenth century.

There are other weaknesses. The tendency to exaggerate the importance of Luther at the expense of the very important circle of Wittenberg theologians results, in chapter 16, in the omission of Karlstadt’s crucial role in provoking the Leipzig debate. To speak of Melanchthon as the “second reformer” in 1520, is to read the post-1522 situation back into the earlier period. Luther’s university colleagues were not all silent after the dread papal bull arrived in late 1520; Karlstadt published a sharp, violent polemic against the papacy in mid-October! It is simply inaccurate to say of early 1522 that “Karlstadt had gained control over both university and town.” Nor is there evidence that he “organized” the iconoclasm that occurred. Friedenthal underestimates the political aspects of Luther’s return from the Wartburg. Despite a number of minor inaccuracies like these, however, the work is fundamentally reliable.

At a time when American evangelicalism has awakened from the long winter of intellectual hibernation and is producing a considerable number of serious scholars, it is well to note Friedenthal’s comment about the Catholic stalwarts such as Eck and Cochlaus who could barely find a printer precisely at the time when the presses were churning out a flood of new “heresy”:

They did not understand the language of the people. They wrote thick tracts containing numerous quotations from established authorities, and kept on appealing to tradition; no one read them. Their opponents [Luther et al.] “looked the man in the street in the mouth”.… They wrote bluntly and arrestingly [p. 293].

In our rush for scholarly excellence and respectability, we must not neglect the difficult task of effective popularization.

Friedenthal’s Luther is to be recommended highly for academic and public libraries, for the general reader, and also for the diligent scholar if he can interrupt his narrowly delimited research long enough to be stimulated by a lively artist accurately painting a multi-colored picture on a broad canvas.

The Storm Over The Holy Land

The Unholy Land, by A. C. Forrest (McClelland and Stewart, 1971, 173 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Leslie K. Tarr, administrator, Central Baptist Seminary, Toronto.

Twice I have been in South Africa within a few days of being in Israel. I know no two countries in the world with so much in common, unless it is Rhodesia and Israel.

But the Israelis make the South African whites look like babes in the woods when it comes to practising apartheid and keeping another race in its place and misleading the world about it.…

Israel is now a racist and aggressive state.

Most evangelicals would probably react violently against Dr. A. C. Forrest’s Middle East viewpoint, but everyone would have to give him full marks for perseverance! The editor of the United Church Observer has been the object of heated criticism over his magazine articles critical of Israeli actions. Charges of anti-Semitism were hurled at him, and he was accused of being a Canadian spokesman for the Arab League, a defender of Arab terrorists. Crank phone calls forced him to request an unlisted phone number, and another A. C. Forrest whose name appeared in the Toronto phone directory had to take the same step.

Those rough experiences should have persuaded him to content himself with writing about non-controversial, church-housekeeping affairs in Canada’s largest denominational magazine. But no—he has come out with a book that can be guaranteed to raise a storm. Even the title should get a reaction: The Unholy Land.

The prospect of renewed charges of anti-Semitism doesn’t bother him Forrest says—“Now it hurts me about as much to be called an anti-Semite by a Zionist as it does to be called a Communist by a John Bircher.” He has found he cannot “criticize the policies of the State of Israel, or question the philosophy of political Zionism, or tell my readers what the facts of the Middle East are, and escape slander and libel from the Zionist-Israeli community.”

The Unholy Land, while espousing a viewpoint, is actually a moderate, documented, and generally conciliatory book. Certainly many will deeply resent his comparing Israel with South Africa, but let it be said that an Arab apologist too would find statements in the book to which he would react violently.

Obviously, Forrest’s aim is to present the Arab side of the tragic tale of the Middle East. He contends that the North American press generally has discarded objectivity and has presented only one viewpoint. “I felt betrayed by the newspapers and broadcast media I had trusted,” he writes. “I still feel betrayed when I read the editorials, letters to the editor, and some of the news dispatches in my daily newspapers, or listen to a fundamentalist preacher explain, after he has had a free guided tour of Israel, how it was God’s will for Israel to take Palestine.” He objects to the selective reporting which, he says, headlines accounts of Arab terrorism and refuses to mention wholesale Israeli displacement of Palestinians or the Israeli use of napalm in the 1967 war.

A chapter headed, “Myths About the Middle East,” though sketchy, provides food for thought in assessing the complex Israeli-Arab question. Here Forrest treats fifteen generalizations that are often paraded in a North American discussion of the subject.

The book was released in late January, and already the storm has broken. One Toronto newspaper writer seized on Forrest’s comparison of Israel with South Africa and launched into a free-wheeling attack that failed to touch the main body of Forrest’s argument. Toronto Telegram columnist Doug Fisher has joined the fray and objected to Forrest’s being tagged with “the cursed label of anti-Semite.”

Whether or not Forrest makes his case, he is certainly not an anti-Semite. And whether or not one has settled views on the Middle East question, The Unholy Land warrants a reading.

In The Journals

The first issue of an annual journal, Sixteenth Century Essays and Studies (6477 San Bonita Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. 63105), appeared recently. The six articles include two on the Marxist interpretation of Anabaptism.

A bimonthly periodical, Science and Scripture, has begun publication (Box 1672, Beaumont, Tex. 77704; single copy, $.60). The articles express disagreement with many commonly accepted scientific theories.

Theological libraries who number readers of Japanese among their users should add to their collections a scholarly journal in that language just begun by the Japan Evangelical Theological Society. Write for information to Evangelical Theology, 8–15, i chome Hikawadai, Higashikurume, Tokyo.

With all the pressures upon the time of pastors, students, and teachers, how can they keep up with what’s being published in scholarly journals? One way is to subscribe to Religious and Theological Abstracts (121 South College Street, Myerstown, Pa. 17067). The price is $15 per year. But for this the subscriber receives four quarterly issues with about 400 paragraphs an issue, each of which summarizes an article from one of more than 150 periodicals from around the world and across the religious spectrum. The abstracts are descriptive rather than evaluative and are arranged topically. Evangelical journals are well covered.

Newly Published

Our Society in Turmoil, edited by Gary Collins (Creation House, 1970, 306 pp., $5.95). Sixteen evangelical scholars address themselves to such timely problems as race relations, student unrest, drug abuse, poverty, organ transplants, pollution, and war. The introductory essay by J. W. Montgomery on why evangelicals have been backward in many aspects of social concern is outstanding. Commendably the book closes with a chapter asking, “Where do we go from here?” This book deserves wide and thoughtful reading.

The Lonely Now, by Nicky Cruz (Logos, 1971, 143 pp., $3.95). Letters from young people tell of the emptiness so many feel today.

Suicide, by Earl Grollman (Beacon, 1971, 145 pp., $6.95). The author treats the problem with sensitivity and understanding. For all who want to be “gatekeepers”—those who want to help prevent suicide—this is worth reading.

A History of Christianity in Japan, by Richard H. Drummond (Eerdmans, 1971, 397 pp., $4.95). A very good survey of all major branches, with ample references to the literature in both English and Japanese. The author now teaches at Dubuque Seminary, having ministered in Japan for thirteen years.

The Birth of Methodism in England, by Elie Halevy (Chicago, 1971, 81 pp., $6). Two articles originally written in French in 1906. The author is widely known for his view that England was spared such violent upheavals as the French Revolution because of the stabilizing influence of evangelicalism.

The Poor: A Culture of Poverty or a Poverty of Culture?, edited by J. Alan Winter (Eerdmans, 1971, 136 pp., paperback, $2.45). Four papers, with responses, by social scientists presented at Temple University in 1969. Non-theological.

Radical Voices in the Wilderness, by Robert Sanders (Word, 1970, 172 pp., $4.95). Sermons emphasizing the social aspect of the Old Testament prophets’ preaching.

The Cure of Souls, by P. T. Forsyth (Eerdmans, 1971, 138 pp., paperback, $1.95). Harry Escott offers an expanded and revised collection of brief excerpts on practical topics from the writings of the great British pastor-theologian. Excellent for devotional reading.

Metropolis: Christian Presence and Responsibility, edited by Philip D. Morris (Fides, 1970, 205 pp., paperback, $1.25), and People and Cities, by Stephen Verney (Revell, 1969, 221 pp., paperback, $2.45). Interest in the meaning of the city is on the rise. Morris’s book deals with the city’s meaning through “a tale of urban parishes” (Roman Catholic). The other is for those who are “confused and concerned about the city, but who don’t quite know why.” Both are well-done, helpful studies.

The Threat and the Power, by Hans-Joachim Krause (John Knox, 1971, 107 pp., $3.95). An apologetic for sermons. An interesting title, with a correspondingly interesting content.

The Power to Be Human, by Charles C. West (Macmillan, 1971, 270 pp., $7.95). The author, in discussing metanoia, that change of mind and direction which the Bible quaintly translates “repentance,” creates meaning for the word that is confusing. Metanoia “involves a surrender and rediscovery of self in a new relation to reality, which is only possible for those who have first taken responsibility for their earlier commitments.” One wonders if in the search for “power to be human” man has lost the power to think clearly and rationally.

The Age of Alienation, by Bernard Murchland (Random House, 1971, 208 pp., $6.95). The author’s analysis of current literature is sound, but his history of the rise of alienation is faulty. He puts the blame on Augustine’s shoulders, misquoting and misinterpreting him.

Parsons and Pedagogues, by John Calam (Columbia, 1971, 249 pp., $10). A competent study of the educational work of the Anglican Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in America from 1702 to 1783

The Other Revolution, by Juan M. Isais (Word, 1970, 163 pp., $3.95). The story of Evangelism-in-Depth in the Dominican Republic. A gripping documentary.

From State Church to Pluralism, by Franklin H. Littell (Macmillan, revised, 1971, 224 pp., paperback, $1.95). What is probably the best short history of American Protestantism has been updated with a chapter on the sixties.

The Living God, edited by Dow Kirkpatrick (Abingdon, 1971, 206 pp., $5.95). Eight theologians each presented a paper at a conference sponsored by the World Methodist Council in Oxford, 1969. Sample titles: “Conflicting Theological Models for God,” “The Gospel as Power: Explorations in a Theology of Social Change,” and “Theistic Verification.”

The Swinging Church, by David J. Randolph (Tidings, 1970, 141 pp., paperback), and The Swinging Church, by Leslie H. Woodson (Vantage, 1970, 162 pp., $3.50). Randolph discusses “the movement between faith and culture, the establishment and the emergent,” ministering to night people, skiers, and those who frequent bars. This is Randolph’s “swinging church,” but Woodson’s is a dynamic evangelical church concerned with the promotion of the whole Gospel. No two books, both purporting to discuss the same topic, could be more dissimilar.

The Planting of the Churches in South Africa, by Jane M. Sales (Eerdmans, 1971, 170 pp., paperback, $3.45). A brief look at only the beginnings of the various denominations in the different parts of South Africa.

Death Shall Have No Dominion, by Douglas T. Holden (Bethany, 1971, 190 pp., $4.95). Explores the concept of death in the New Testament, concluding that “the Christian doctrine of death does not evade death, nor does it deny it. The Christian is led through death, not around it.” A sound but somewhat dull exposition.

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

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