Book Briefs: March 12, 1971

Piety In The Flesh

A Call to Christian Character, edited by Bruce Shelley (Zondervan, 1970, 186 pp., $4.95), is reviewed by John A. Baird, Jr., vice-president, Eastern Baptist College, Saint Davids, Pennsylvania.

Ralph Keiper, one of the contributors to this forceful book, says that some Christians think of the Holy Spirit as a sort of mother-in-law. His statement reflects the contemporary distaste for piety. The word itself and the concept behind it are unpopular. Many people confuse piety with piousness and think it refers to a rigid and hypocritical stance. In such a climate, how can much be achieved by a volume with the audacious subtitle “Toward a Recovery of Biblical Piety”?

Bruce Shelley’s introduction affirms the need for believers to recapture a significant personal devotional life and to understand what true piety is, realizing that it has a dimension of its own between mechanical social action and characterless identification with the culture of success. This study proposes to show piety as a life-style featuring Christianity in the flesh, one based on personal discipline that includes prayer, Bible study, and public worship. First Peter 1:15 provides the pivot for this plan for quality living: “As he who called you is holy, so you must be holy in all your conduct.”

The eleven articles in the book are based on chapel talks given by faculty members at the Conservative Baptist Seminary. Shelley, who is professor of church history, pairs piety with the Pentateuch, the Psalms, the Prophets, and other parts of the Bible. Other chapters relate piety to psychology, theology, home, and church. One of the best concentrates upon piety and Christ with a skillful approach to the Sermon on the Mount. The writers maintain a strong biblical foundation, making some 470 references to Scripture.

Piety is shown to be a present possibility, though the godly man has always been a person ahead of his time. God’s people are attacked today in a variety of ways. The personal commitment of many seminarians is weak. Contemporary substitutes for spirituality abound, and “Brand X” religious experiences press upon us with unending beguilement.

Piety is handicapped by being partially negative (unrighteous means and ways must be avoided); in our Dale Carnegie culture this becomes a significant obstacle. Many think that negative thoughts indicate improper motivation, and tolerance has become the most admired Christian virtue.

How honest is this book? Does it include a frank admission of the shortcomings of some evangelicals? Is there acknowledgment that piety may skirt close to pharisaism? Will the reader learn that holiness and good health are not always concomitant? The answer to each question is yes, and rank assertions like these give the messages a wholesome integrity. There is a candid acknowledgment that too much church business may separate families instead of bringing them together, and that expository preaching may fail when unrelated to current problems.

This collection is a creditable achievement. Varied writing makes an engaging blend with unity of purpose, and piety comes alive as Spirit-controlled maturity in Jesus Christ throughout all aspects of life.

The Apostolic Church, Inside And Out

Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, by Leonhard Goppelt, translated by Robert A. Guelich (Harper and Row, 1970, paperback, 238 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by George Eldon Ladd, professor of New Testament, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California.

Dr. Guelich has done a great service to the English-speaking Christian community by making available one of the best fruits of German critical scholarship in a thoroughly readable and idiomatic translation. In terms of scholarly output, German biblical scholarship constantly puts American scholarship to shame. Goppelt’s work appeared in German as the first volume of an eighteen-part history of the Christian Church.

German theology has often been noted for vigor and novelty rather than for sound conservative scholarship. It is refreshing to have a work embodying the best of German scholarship that is not hostile to traditional positions. Goppelt rejects the “purely historical” (i.e., naturalistic) perspective which is that of a modern philosophical world view rather than the perspective of the Church itself. “The picture of primitive Christianity is just as impossible to ascertain ‘purely historically’ as is the picture of Jesus.” The Church was born under a twofold stimulus: Jesus’ messianic proclamation and the Easter event. Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God had the purpose of gathering a redeemed community through faith that would respond to the God of Israel. The resurrection appearances cannot be reduced to mere visions. Paul had visions when the Exalted One disclosed himself through the Spirit; at Easter, Christ appeared bodily, i.e., in person. The empty tomb is no later legend but had to be interpreted through the appearances when the disciples encountered the Risen One in person.

The Church began as a religious party within Judaism, similar to, yet different from, the Qumran community. The Essenes considered themselves the true Israel; the Church thought of itself as the new Israel, the people not of the end time but of the new eon that had dawned with the resurrection. Goppelt regards the early sermons in Acts as embodying trustworthy traditions, accurately reproducing the outlines of the earliest apostolic kerygma. He outlines the life and thought of the Church in Palestine, the development of Hellenistic Gentile Christianity, the inner and outward separation of the Church from Judaism, its mission in the world of Hellenism, its conflict with syncretism, and its consolidation in the Roman Empire down to 135 A.D.

The book skillfully weaves together the external history of the church and the internal development of its life and thought. It constantly interacts with alternative solutions, particularly in German scholarship. Goppelt believes that Hellenistic Christianity arose before Paul, and that while its kerygma reflects the influence of Hellenistic thought, it embodies a common tradition with Hebraic thought. Paul’s essential message was not fundamentally different from that of Jerusalem. Goppelt treats not only factual history but the history of theology, and of church organization, and life.

The book is well documented by references to contemporary literature. The translation has added books available in English. All in all, in my judgment this is one of the best histories of the apostolic age ever written.

New Light On Freud

Theology After Freud, by Peter Homans (Bobbs-Merrill, 1970, 254 pp., paperback, $4.25), is reviewed by Glenn R. Wittig, reference librarian, Speer Library, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, New Jersey.

Peter Homans, assistant professor of religion and personality at the University of Chicago Divinity School, has attempted to create, not another psychology of religion, nor another pastoral psychology, but a framework for a psychology of Protestant doctrine—specifically that of transcendence—on the basis of an “iconic” reading of Freud, a reading that supersedes the common mechanistic and dynamic understandings. The result of his efforts (arranged as theological responses to, and post-Protestant theological experimentations with, Freud) is a penetrating analysis and synthesis of psychology and theology.

Homans is equally at ease in the two disciplines and has drawn testimony from writers in both groups. He is also a persistent inquisitor. He analyzes and interrogates all viewpoints, and extracts from the various positions connecting links toward new paradigms. The images he finds most fruitful toward reclaiming the lost dimension of transcendence are fantasy, nostalgia, hope, and especially distance.

At this point a similarity with the death-of-God theologians can be detected. Homans, who is not to be classed with the radicals though he may be sympathetic with their cause, works on a psychological plane in a fashion similar to what Altizer does with the history of religions. His talk about abandoning the concept of the object so it can become once again a “transcendental guide” presents a dialecticism similar to that employed by Altizer.

Homans succeeds in giving Freud a new day in court. Freud is no longer a villain to theology. He can be read in a new way; psychoanalysis can be construed as a theory of cultural interpretation as well as a therapy. Freud, rather than being only reductive, can offer a way of mediating between the “gaps” created by a deficient theology.

The effectiveness of Homans’s work is, however, lessened by a poor presentation of several key concepts. His interpretation of transcendence is presumed throughout Part One. When he does explain the term, he gives it a predominantly psychological, self-aspiring connotation, with no acknowledgment of the place and function of revelation. Transference, likewise, is shrouded in an obscure and circuitous discussion of Freud’s thought.

Furthermore, after Homans has won a case for a higher reading of Freud, and has examined Norman O. Brown, David Bakan, and Phillip Reiff as ingenious post-Protestant experimenters with Freud, his implication that Jung’s work embodies the necessary constructive approach to the present task is perplexing.

Yet Homans has accomplished more in the synthesis of theology and psychology than anyone else. He has indicated the value of psychology for a post mortem dei theology, and has provided a feasible structure for further investigations. This important work should be studied.

Newly Published

Abortion: The Myths, the Realities, and the Arguments, by Germain Grisez (Corpus, 1970, 559 pp., paperback, $6.95). A comprehensive, well-documented investigation by a philosophy professor at Georgetown University. It is intended not only for reading but for reference, and demands consideration by all who would speak to the issue.

Marriage in Black and White, by Joseph R. Washington, Jr. (Beacon, 1971, 358 pp., $7.50). An outstanding book by a religion professor at the University of Virginia. Fully documents laws, opinions, and practices regarding interracial sex and marriage. Illumines hypocrisy. Urges that black-white marriages be fully acceptable though the author doesn’t expect them en masse.

The Two Natures in Christ, by Martin Chemnitz (Concordia, 1971, 542 pp., $12.50). A major writing by one of the greatest sixteenth-century Lutheran theologians is finally offered in English translation by J. A. O. Preus.

Church Cooperation and Unity in America: A Historical Review 1900–1970, by Samuel McCrea Cavert (Association, 1970, 400 pp., $15). Traces, in a reasonably objective way, how Christians in the United States have worked together in such fields as missions, evangelism, education, research, and social action. Specialists in these fields collaborated with the author, a gentlemanly ecumenist of considerable renown. Includes a forty-two-page definitive bibliography.

Let’s Know the Bible, by John W. Cawood (Revell, 1971, 152 pp., $3.95). The style and structure make this a good book for introducing late grade-school and early high-school children to the Bible. Adults with little knowledge of the Bible also might benefit from this study.

Can Man Hope to Be Human?, by Wallace E. Fisher (Abingdon, 1971, 160 pp., $3.95). Without forsaking biblical principles, the author examines the problems facing the majority of those “outside the Church,” those who in no way claim to be Christians. He offers sound guidelines for winning those people—the first one being listen.

The Song of Songs, by Arthur G. Clarke (Walterick, 1971, 112 pp., paperback, $1.95). A popular, conservative commentary that sees Solomon as trying to come between a Shulamite and her shepherd-lover. Refreshing.

Christian Baptism, by B. F. Smith (Broadman, 1971, 180 pp., $4.95). A documented survey by a Baptist of the history of baptism from the first century to the present.

A Reader’s Introduction to the New Testament, by Addison H. Leitch (Doubleday, 1971, 160 pp., $5.95). A simple, sparkling book-by-book survey intended to lure the reader into encountering the New Testament for himself. The author teaches at Gordon-Conwell.

The Suicide of Christian Theology, by John Warwick Montgomery (Bethany Fellowship, 1970, 528 pp., $7.95). Montgomery’s admirers will welcome this collection of more than twoscore of his essays and lectures of the sixties (many first appeared in CHRISTIANITY TODAY). Even those who don’t admire him can find food for thought (and to choke on).

Elizabethan Puritanism, edited by Leonard J. Trinterud (Oxford, 1971, 454 pp., $11.50). An outstanding collection of sixteenth-century documents, divided into three groups by the degree of activism of those seeking reform. Important for understanding the origins of a major influence in Anglo-American history.

Historic Patterns of Church Growth: A Study of Five Churches, by Harold R. Cook (Moody, 1971, 128 pp., paperback, $1.95). The favorable responses to the Gospel of the ancient Armenians and Irish and of the modern Hawaiians, Karens, and Bataks are summarized and then compared. A valuable aid to discussing missions strategy today.

The Spirit of the Reformed Tradition, by M. Eugene Osterhaven (Eerdmans, 1971, 190 pp., paperback, $3.45). Frequent quotations from Calvin and his spiritual heirs do not keep this book from being one man’s view of what ought to be instead of what actually is. More often than not one feels that the Christian tradition as a whole is what the author is speaking for. When distinctively Reformed views are presented, the discussion is too brief.

The Third World and Mission, by Dennis E. Clark (Word, 1971, 129 pp., $3.95). An important discussion of the problems of missions and the Church in the third world, a term that is used “to refer to the independent nations of Asia, Africa, and South America who increasingly want to determine their destinies apart from the influences and pressures of the so-called great powers.” The author combines description of the problems with narration (italicized) of situations that have actually occurred.

Christ Matters!, by Joe Hale (Tidings, 1971, 87 pp., $1). An apologetic for the complete Gospel—social concern and action fused with the preaching of salvation through faith. The author is a United Methodist evangelism director.

Aspects of Religion in the Soviet Union 1917–1967, edited by Richard H. Marshall, Jr. (Chicago, 1971, 489 pp.). An indispensable work on the subject. Eighteen authoritative, documented essays by specialists on such topics as Khrushchev’s religious policy and anti-religious organizations and on most of the various groups, such as Muslims, Mennonites, Lutherans, Catholics. Jews, and Orthodox.

Christ the Crisis, by Friedrich Gogarten (John Knox, 1970, 308 pp., $7.95). A translation of the final book by one of the more influential academic theologians. Intended as a prolegomenon to a Christology for our times.

The Great Debate Today, by Cornelius Van Til (Presbyterian and Reformed, 1971, 239 pp., paperback, $4.50). To quote from the conclusion: “The great debate today concerns the question: Who and what is Christ? Is he what the traditional Protestant creeds … say he is, or is he what modernist and neo-orthodox theologians say he is? We have discovered that these two positions stand squarely opposed to one another at every point.”

Gospel Radio, by Barry Siedell (Back to the Bible, 1971, 158 pp., paperback, $.75). Hardly exhaustive, but the best overview yet of evangelism via the air waves. Chief failure is insensitivity to the potential of Christian proclamation within the context of secular programming.

Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation, by John F. Walvoord (Moody, 1971, 317 pp., $6.95). A major commentary by the president of Dallas Seminary, understanding Daniel as supporting a premillennial eschatology, but considering alternate views.

Integration and Development in Israel, edited by S. N. Eisenstadt et al. (Praeger, 1970, 703 pp., $20). Twenty-eight previously published articles providing an excellent overview of the socio-economic situation in Israel.

Our Rebel Emotions, by Bernard Mobbs (Seabury, 1971, 127 pp., $3.50). An excellent study that should be helpful to most people.

Beyond Feminism, by Marilyn Brown Oden (Abingdon, 1971, 112 pp., $3.50). The Christian feminist recognizes responsibility beyond the fight for rights. “The woman of faith speaks with authority, listens with sensitivity, and responds with love.” This author has done just that.

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

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