Book Briefs: August 6, 1971

Declaring Luke Evangelist

Luke: Historian and Theologian, by I. Howard Marshall (Zondervan, 1971, 238 pp., paperback, $2.95), is reviewed by W. Ward Gasque, assistant professor of New Testament studies, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.

This new book by one of the foremost of the younger New Testament scholars in Britain today is certainly the most important contribution to Lucan studies since the controversial study of the theology of Luke that Hans Conzelmann published in 1954.

Over the past decade and a half scholars have engaged in much debate about whether the author of Luke-Acts should be understood primarily as a historian of early Christianity (the traditional view) or as a creative theologian who stands alongside Paul and John (the more recent view). Among those who have stressed the theological aspect of the Third Gospel and Acts, some, mostly Germans, have tended to take a rather dim view of the historical value of these writings.

Marshall argues that there need be no contradiction between the two roles of historian and theologian—indeed, that it is important to recognize both aspects. Conzelmann, Haenchen, and others have rightly recognized that Luke was an interpreter of the tradition he received concerning Jesus and the early Church; but they have been wrong in insisting that his theological aims caused him to play fast and loose with the historical data.

The best way to understand the nature of Luke’s writings is to view him primarily as an evangelist. He is one who proclaims the message of salvation. This “message of salvation” is not concerned simply with bringing about “self-understanding” on the part of the hearer, as many modern theologians allege. Rather, the message is a report of actual happenings, to which we are to respond because they are true. If God was not in fact acting in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, then the message is vain. But if he has so acted, and we do not believe it, still it remains just as true, and we are the ones who are lost in vanity.

In a brief review one cannot give a full account of Marshall’s monograph. It is a fairly technical work and will be appreciated most by the advanced student. The early part of the book deals with the contemporary scholarly debate over Luke’s writings, in particular the question of theology versus history. But the greater portion of the book (pp. 77–125) analyzes the fundamental theological themes of Luke-Acts. These Marshall organizes under the heading of salvation (rather than “salvation-history”), thus detailing the content of Luke’s evangelistic thrust.

Luke: Historian and Theologian is highly commended to the advanced student as the best of the recently written introductions to the theology of Luke-Acts as well as to the questions raised by contemporary Lucan research. The publishers are to be thanked for making a work of this caliber available in such an inexpensive form.

Milestone In The Quest

New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus, by Joachim Jeremias (Scribner, 1971, 330 pp., $10), is reviewed by Paul Garnet, assistant professor of theological studies, Loyola College, Montreal, Quebec.

Professor Jeremias starts from familiar form-critical grounds but arrives at some surprisingly conservative conclusions. This is because he thinks form critics have relied too exclusively on the “criterion of dissimilarity” for judging which gospel material is authentic. He adds his own criterion: the linguistic. Certain expressions in the Gospels are found to be peculiar to the Aramaic language (consequently an early tradition) or even to the style of Jesus himself.

These elements do not guarantee authenticity, since it is conceivable that creators of the tradition were consciously or unconsciously imitating the dominical style. “Nevertheless, … the linguistic and stylistic evidence … shows so much faithfulness and such respect towards the tradition of the sayings of Jesus that we are justified in drawing up the following principle of method: In the synoptic tradition it is the inauthenticity, and not the authenticity, of the sayings of Jesus that must be demonstrated.” This confidence enables him also to use the criterion of attestation by multiple sources.

The author has a high estimate of the reliability of Luke. Its divergences from Mark are due not to editorial composition but to the use of an independent source that included the logia. These were not a document (Q) but a highly stable block of oral tradition appearing in different forms in Matthew and Luke. As for the elements peculiar to Matthew, these are often to be explained by the presence or absence of a tradition available to the author, says Jeremias, rather than as theologically motivated redactions.

Professor Jeremias finds that Jesus regarded himself as the eschatological Prophet and Bearer of the Spirit that had long been quenched through Israel’s sin. He saw his mission in terms of the Suffering Servant, not the Son of man; the latter term applied only to his coming exaltation. The resurrection of Jesus was experienced by the disciples as the parousia, and Matthew 27:51b–53 records a genuine reminiscence. Jesus foretold his own violent death and spoke of its vicarious atoning value.

The book contains a mine of information involving extensive exegetical as well as critical work. Unfortunately, there is no subject or author index. Even the index of biblical references is not altogether complete, though nearly so. Although the subject matter is inevitably quite technical, the English of the translation is very readable.

This is an important milestone in the new quest for the historical Jesus. We await succeeding volumes to complete Jeremias’s study of New Testament theology.

For Love Of Earth

Technology: The God That Failed, by Dorothy M. and Gerald H. Slusser (Westminster, 1971, 169 pp., paperback, $2.95), Ecology Crisis by John W. Klotz (Concordia, 1971, 176 pp., paperback, $2.75), and Celebrate the Earth, by Donald Imgland (Augsburg, 1971, 96 pp., paperback, no price given), are reviewed by Janet Rohler Greisch, Woodbridge, Virginia.

It has become popular to blame Christianity for the current deplorable condition of our environment. Despite the apparently damning evidence in Genesis (“subdue the earth”; “be fruitful and multiply”), this is an accusation difficult to balance with the high view of nature in the psalms and in Jesus’ words. Yet Christian communities have indeed failed God’s creation, if not by overzealously subduing it, then by their non-existent-to-mild protest against the ravishing of it.

But that kind of failure is hardly limited to Christians, as the Slussers note in Technology: The God That Failed. It is, they claim, a failure common to both secular and sacred communities because of their separation from one another. At first, science was a kind of natural theology—a process of learning about God through nature. Later, when it began to describe everything as bits of matter in a variety of spatial relationships, science provided for the reduction of nature to something inanimate. That assumption—that nature is a thing to be used rather than life to be shared—along with the evolutionary assumption that survival, as a struggle in an inhospitable world, requires an every-man-for-himself existence and the capitalistic assumption that growth and progress are man’s most important products, underlies the technological outlook currently common to Christian and non-Christian alike. Secular men of all religious persuasions readily step on lower life forms—apparently assuming they exist for that purpose—in the climb toward success (material success, that is).

The real culprit, then, according to the Slussers, is the daddy-fix-it technology that, like an overindulgent parent, came up with bigger and better toys (bought from buck-chasing capitalist competitors) and in the process devalued life. Not until that technological god is desacralized, warn the Slussers, can the situation improve.

All three books in chorus declare that saving the environment (including man) will require of humanity a value-conversion. Man must reevaluate his place in nature, learning to see himself as part of the ecosystem (indeed, as a parasite in it), not independent of it; man the consumer must become man the conserver.

The pollution output of technological man is the subject of scientist Klotz in his broad (but poorly edited) survey of the Ecology Crisis. Clergyman Imsland pleads (note his book’s imperative title, Celebrate the Earth) for a change in human attitudes to be achieved by putting the problem in perspective: the earth is a minute speck in the universe; man is an infant on an ancient planet. (By now ecology has developed a rather standard platform with planks for overpopulation and pollution of air, water, and soil, and these books stand on it with, as one might expect, considerable overlapping. Though all three merit attention, this review focuses on the Slussers’ book because it offers the most comprehensive treatment of both problem and solution.)

A radical change in life style will not be easy, particularly for Americans, whose competitive way of life has assumed the proportions of a religion—and not even for Christians, whom Jesus instructed to “take no thought for tomorrow.” The basis for change suggested in these books, most notably in Technology: The God That Failed, is love—sacrificial and unselfish. Unfortunately, man has never learned to love his brother very well; little wonder he has so badly slighted “sister earth,” as Imsland calls her. But man must learn to love the world—plant, animal, and human—or risk the demise of all life. The conclusion that love does indeed (or can, if practiced) “make the world go ’round” is supremely Christian, recalling God’s example of sacrificial love and casting new light on the words often glibly quoted from John 3:16.

Lifted—The Heavy Hand

The Survival of Dogma, by Avery Dulles (Doubleday, 1971, 240 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Clark H. Pinnock, professor of theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Bannockburn, Illinois.

In this collection of essays and addresses, Avery Dulles, son of John Foster Dulles, examines the role of faith, authority, and dogma in the contemporary Catholic Church. He is a prominent American voice for the moderately progressive theology of Rahner, Kaiser, and Schillebeeckx. He wishes to combine a reverence for the historic Christian symbols with the freedom to strike out in new directions and even undertake revisions. He is convinced that churchly tradition has been too statically conceived, and needs to be viewed historically. Faith has too often been made burdensome because it has been tied to the thought-forms and styles of earlier ages. Dulles believes that an irrelevant form of faith is really a form of infidelity, since it fails to confront the challenges posed by its moment of history. The Christian understanding and structures should be overhauled, he says, to correspond more exactly with the concerns and ideas of the contemporary world.

Several of the essays bear on the kind of apologetics needed in our day. Dulles feels that apologetics in the past has concentrated too exclusively on objective evidences extrinsic to man; it ought to emphasize more of a phenomenological approach. One of the most impressive things about the Christian message is its ability to meet man’s aspirations and speak to his anxieties and needs. Hope is a deeply rooted human response to the world, and cries out for a rationale. Spes quaerens intellectum. Man’s hope exceeds his hopes. What is it that drives him to hope even against hope? Surely it is, according to Dulles, a deep preconceptual experience of the God who has made himself known in Jesus Christ. Dulles is right in saying we need an apologetics of hope.

In an essay on the irreformability of dogma, Dulles allows us to place him within the stream of contemporary Catholic thinking. He is certainly not happy with the scholastic right wing, which understands dogma as fixed and unchangeable formulas. Neither is he at ease with the existential left, which has abandoned the infallibility of the church. Dulles wishes to retain an authentically cognitive role for Christian truths. He affirms the doctrinal infallibility of the church while allowing for reformulation in terminology and concept. Dogma once stated can be developed in the presence of a new context and new questions. The book came out too soon to have had to face the challenge of Hans Küng to the whole concept of infallibility. Progressives like Dulles are now on the spot. Development of dogma, when taken to the lengths that men like Rahner take it, begins to resemble very closely a reversal of thought and a change of mind.

In this book we find some well-written essays from the progressive wing of American Catholicism. The theology is in transition. The heavy hand of authority has been lifted. This fact lends an aura of excitement to the work.

Newly Published

Biblical Revelation, by Clark H. Pinnock (Moody, 256 pp., $4.95). Argues that the Bible is God’s written Word to man, that it is completely truthful, and that its central purpose is to present Christ. “Because Christ’s attitude toward Scripture was one of total trust, we confess inerrancy, even though we cannot yet demonstrate it.” Inerrancy “is restricted to the intended assertions of Scripture.” A significant and timely work.

The Reality of God, by Louis Cassels (Doubleday, 112 pp., $4.95). A sprightly, unpretentious rationale for belief in God by UPI’s religion editor. Written for “wistful agnostics and reluctant atheists” by one who was both. Believers can find in it useful models for their own pre-evangelism. The theological underpinnings vary.

A View From the Streets, by Ron Willis (Broadman, 128 pp., $3.50). The passionate testimony of a young Southern Baptist ministering to the people of the streets. Cutting across simplistic answers and shallow categorizing, he pleads with the Church to get outside its cloisters and face people as people.

The Trial of Luther, by James Atkinson (Stein and Day, 212 pp., $7.95). This vital historical event is related with immediacy and momentum. The book marks the 450th anniversary of Luther’s trial. Welcome reading.

Jerusalem and Athens, edited by E. R. Geehan (Presbyterian and Reformed, 498 pp., $9.95). An all-star cast of twenty-five evangelical thinkers (including Berkouwer, Dooyeweerd, Holmes, Jewett, Montgomery, and Pinnock) interacts negatively and positively with the thought of Cornelius Van Til, in whose honor this volume is published.

International Directory of Religious Information Systems, by David O. Moberg (Sociology Dept., Marquette Univ., Milwaukee, Wis., 88 pp., paperback, $2.95). Descriptions of nearly eighty widely varying agencies with such concerns as bibliography, statistics, and institutional administration.

The Beatitudes, by Thomas Watson (Puritan, 307 pp., $4.50). Sermons by a London preacher first published in 1660.

Discern These Times, by S. I. McMillen (Revell, 192 pp., $4.95), and At the Time of the End, by C. O. Meyer (Vantage, 300 pp., $4.95). Two more in the endless stream of books, ever since the apostles, that seek to correlate current events with signs that are immediately to precede Christ’s return. McMillen is “mid-trib”; Meyer is “pre-trib” and equates biblical Tarshish with America.

A Plea for Evangelical Demonstration, by Carl F. H. Henry (Baker, 124 pp., $3.95). Six lectures by the well-known theologian on such topics as evangelism, revolution, and social justice. Assumes that “the social crisis today has reached proportions so acute that … Christian moral protest has become imperative.”

Catholic Ethics and Protestant Ethics, by Roger Mehl (Westminster, 126 pp., $4.95). A brief, irenic study of traditional and contemporary divergences and convergences.

Mission Theology Today, by John Power (Orbis, 216 pp., paperback, $3.95). A Catholic reaffirmation of the continued need for evangelistic missions in a time when many Catholic thinkers seem to be denying their validity. Also examines the relation between missions and economic development. Outgrowth of a high-level conference of theologians, but written on a non-technical level.

The Harvest of Hellenism, by F. E. Peters (Simon and Schuster, 800 pp., hardback, $15, paperback $4.95). The chairman of the classics department at N.Y.U. presents a highly readable overview of the Near East from Alexander the Great to the triumph of Christianity.

Tongues, edited by Luther B. Dyer (LeRoi, Box 1165, Jefferson City, Mo. 65101, 151 pp., paperback, $2.95). Six Baptist theologians give an excellent overview and evaluation of tongues-speakers from Pentecost to the present. Deserves wide circulation.

Faith Without Religion, by Fred Brown (SCM, 156 pp., $2.28). Former Salvation Army officer says that although “secular man” has outgrown Christian doctrines and institutions, he is unconsciously in tune with the mind of Christ. Derivative and shallow.

Sexual Understanding Before Marriage, by Herbert J. Miles (Zondervan, 222 pp., paperback, $1.95). A basic book for a church sex-education program—too basic for people old enough to marry.

Ascent of the Mountain, Flight of the Dove, by Michael Novak (Harper & Row, 240 pp., $5.95). A philosophical-theological voyage culminating in the discovery of personal identity (through subjective analysis of truths the author now considers subjective, once considered absolute). Those who choose to accompany him shouldn’t expect much.

The Untapped Generation, by David and Don Wilkerson (Zondervan, 256 pp., paperback, $1.95). A meatier-than-usual book from the Teen Challenge people.

Research on Religious Development, edited by Merton Strommen (Hawthorn, 904 pp., $24.95). A definitive and indispensable survey of the results of seventy-five years of social-scientific study of religion. The twenty-two chapters, prepared by specialists, treat such topics as “the religion of youth,” “religion and mental disorder,” and “development of internal moral standards in children.”

When Love Prevails: A Pastor Speaks to a Church in Crisis, by J. Herbert Gilmore, Jr. (Eerdmans, 141 pp., $3.95). Sermons from the former pastor of the First Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Gilmore and 300 members of that church left in 1970 when the congregation refused to admit two Negroes.

Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Volume III, edited by Davis Collier Woolley (Broadman, 512 pp., $9.95). Supplements and updates the original volumes, issued in 1958. Greatly extends the usefulness of this reference work.

The Future of the Christian World Mission, edited by William J. Danker and Wi Jo Kang (Eerdmans, 181 pp., $5.95). A dozen essays in honor of a leading Protestant missiologist, R. Pierce Beaver. Topics include the church in northern Sumatra, the home base and world outreach of evangelicals, the Catholic missionary crisis, and dialogue with non-Christian religions.

Southern Baptists and Their History, by H. I. Hester (Historical Commission, SBC, 144 pp., $1.95). A description of how one denomination has done something about preserving the records and promoting the study of its past. A good example for others to follow.

The Unitarian Conscience: Harvard Moral Philosophy, 1805–1861, by Daniel Walker Howe (Harvard, 398 pp., $15). An award-winning study of the Boston area elite when that city was the nation’s cultural center. Shows that theological radicalism can be very much at home with political and social conservatism.

The Gospel and Unity, edited by Vilmost Vajta (Augsburg, 207 pp., $5.95) Six Lutheran scholars write on such topics as “ecumenical endeavor and its quest for motivation,” “Roman Catholic and Lutherar relationships,” and “secular ecumenism.”

The Problem of Evil, by M. B. Ahern (Schocken, 85 pp., $4.50). An extensively footnoted, dry attempt to face the whys of evil. The author cites C. S. Lewis’s The Problem of Pain, a clearer, more vigorous analysis.

In The Journals

American theological libraries should be sure to have A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain (SCM, 56 Bloomsbury, London W.C.l, England), the fourth number of which has recently appeared. Each issue has about ten articles. Sample titles: “Mormons in Britain,” “Religious Activity in a Northern Suburb,” “The Spiritualist Meeting,” “The Faith Mission,” “Conflict in Minister/Lay Relations.”

Probably the leading conservative Wesleyan journal is the quarterly Asbury Seminarian (Wilmore, Ky. 40390; $3 per year). Articles in recent issues look at work and leisure, conscience and war, and computers and Christianity.

Higher Education: A Christian Perspective (Box 711, La Mirada, Cal. 90638; $8 per year—three issues) makes its appearance at a time when economic reality is forcing re-evaluation of the necessity and institutional forms of Christian liberal-arts colleges. The three articles in the first issue are a statistical report on student values, a historical survey of Christianity and American colleges, and an essay on the Christian professor.

Recently there has appeared a small Pentecostal-sponsored quarterly “free to address itself to any legitimate issue,” the Academic Forum (Box 21366, Chattanooga, Tenn. 37421; $2 per year). Articles on the environmental crisis, the role of laymen, and methadone are in the first two issues.

Both of the Missouri Lutheran seminaries publish worthwhile theological journals. The less well known is The Springfielder (Concordia Theological Seminary, Springfield, Ill. 62702), a quarterly. The June issue contains an address by Walter Kunneth, a leading conservative German theologian (yes, there are such), “Christology as a Problem in our Day.” Other articles look at allegory and at the historical-critical method of New Testament study.

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