Book Briefs: March 31, 1972

The Human Echo

Imagination and the Spirit, edited by Charles A. Huttar (Eerdmans, 1971, 496 pp., $9.95), is reviewed by Nancy M. Tischler, professor of English, Pennsylvania State University, Middletown, and president of the Conference on Christianity and Literature.

This festschrift for Clyde Kilby near his seventieth birthday is an impressive tribute to an outstanding teacher, thorough scholar, and devoted Christian. As one would expect, the contributors are largely Kilby’s colleagues and students. They provide delightful insights into the teaching methods and the enthusiasms of this man who has found his calling teaching English literature to several generations of Wheaton students. The selections indicate Kilby’s scope and special interests. Except for an opening section on aesthetics and a final one on pedagogy and on Kilby himself, the book deals with literary criticism.

The philosophical debate on the relation between Christianity and literature in the opening section is quite appropriate. Kilby was one of the founders of the Conference on Christianity and Literature and served as its first president. His concern for beauty and for religion resulted in his drafting of a Christian aesthetic that was published in 1961 as Christianity and Aesthetics. Thomas Howard’s contribution to Imagination and the Spirit, “Mimesis and Incarnation,” explores the theological implications of aesthetic form and states. “The Christian vision affirms the significance of the mimetic act. It does so because it sees here the human echo of activity connate with the origin of things, and because its own understanding of the world is one that involves the notion of the Incarnate Word.” Chad Walsh, in a delightful foreword, delves even further into this parallel between the word and the Word, the creative writer and the Creator of writers. He insists, as does Arthur Holmes, that the aesthetic experience liberates the imagination and opens people to new experiences and transformed sensibility.

The literary subject matter of the collection is quite varied, dealing with Anglo-American authors from Chaucer to O’Connor. The range in tone is also remarkably wide—some are folksy and personal, some scholarly and heavily documented. The contributors also vary in their critical methodology—some impassively cite the facts, some passionately join the conflict. They in fact display some of that multitude of aesthetic approaches available to the Christian critic of literature. Some deal with Christian authors, some with Christian ideas, some use a metaphysical point of view for criticizing pagan materials. For example, David Jeffrey’s scholarly piece on the Middle English lyric shows the “salutary effect of mendicant methodology on standard New Testament theology.” Charles Huttar, the editor, explores with considerable insight and relevance to the modern the identity crisis that Milton and his Samson undergo. Robert Siegel precisely explicates the good and evil (serpent and dove) imagery of “Christabel.” Calvin Linton acts as literary historian and prophet in chronicling the recent classical revival and predicting its future.

The section on C. S. Lewis and the Oxford mythmakers will be, for most readers, the most exciting part of the collection, largely because it is the fullest. Paying tribute to Kilby’s own zeal and scholarly work on this contemporary Christian author, the writers explore Lewis’s literary and personal background, his associates, his conversion experiences, and his use of myth. Walter Hooper, who served as secretary to Lewis, has a long and informative discussion of the use Lewis made of fairy tales that enriches the reader’s appreciation of Lewis’s fiction. An especially delightful article is Corbin Carnall’s exploration of Eros as a means of grace, an article that brings new insight into Scriptures on love as well as explaining some of Lewis’s fresh ideas.

In short, the volume is too full of stimulating ideas to describe adequately in a review. Many of the writers are well known to readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY. They represent a kind of triumph for Kilby, who in forming the Wheaton Writers’ Conference and in his writing and teaching has striven to unite his evangelical Christianity with scholarly and creative excellence. Although few readers will want to follow every scholarly argument in the 496 pages of this rich collection, most will be gratified to discover here a combination of Christian vocation and literary scholarship.

Comparing Commentaries

The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary on the Bible, edited by Charles M. Laymon (Abingdon, 1971, 1,386 pp., $17.50), is reviewed by Carl E. Armerding and W. Ward Gasque, who teach biblical studies at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Recent years have seen the appearance of several new or newly revised one-volume Bible commentaries. Evangelicals will naturally compare this new addition to the field with last year’s revision of The New Bible Commentary, though it is more of a competitor of the revised Peake’s Commentary (1962) and the Jerome Biblical Commentary (1968). A comparison of the four works may prove helpful.

All these recent one-volume commentaries are prepared chiefly by university or seminary professors. Theologically. The Interpreter’s One-Volume Commentary represents a broader spectrum of churchmanship (includes several Roman Catholics and at least two Jews, but no conservative evangelicals) than the other works and hence less uniformity of viewpoint. The dominant nationality is American (like JBC but unlike NBC and Peake’s), with a sprinkling of English and Canadian authors.

Following in the tradition of the other Interpreter’s volumes, the IOVC is attractive in layout and typography. It is alone among the four commentaries here considered in integrating with the text a large number of well-chosen illustrations, mostly photographs supplied by H. G. May. This will certainly enhance its value to scholars and general Bible students alike. IOVC is slightly longer than NBC and Peake’s, but shorter than JBC; like JBC it includes commentaries on the Apocrypha as well as the canonical books.

The commentary is based on both the Revised Standard Version and the New English Bible, providing helpful comparisons where these translations differ. Additional features include a good index of Scripture and subject and the best collection of maps to be found among these four commentaries (drawn from H. G. May’s Oxford Bible Atlas). Perhaps the most disappointing feature of the work is the bibliographical material, which tends to include only the very basic English-language books that are in regular use among middle-of-the-road Protestants and which are extremely dated (contrast the more extensive and much more up-to-date bibliographies of JBC).

The most valuable feature of IOVC is the inclusion of many more introductory articles than are found in the other works, even including several written with the ordinary church-school teacher in mind. Critically and theologically, the articles are dominated by a moderate criticism that generally eschews the extremes of some German critics on the one hand and traditional literalism on the other. The articles fall into six categories: (1) Biblical Interpretation, (2) Geographical and Historical Setting, (3) The Making of the Literature, (4) The Religion of the Bible, (5) Text, Canon, and Translation, and (6) The Bible and Life.

According to the preface, IOVC has been written for “ministers, lay and nonprofessional persons engaged in studying or teaching in the church school, college students, and those who are unequipped to follow the more specialized discussions of biblical matters, but who desire a thoroughly valid and perceptive guide in interpreting the Bible.” This is the general aim of each of the commentaries under discussion. How successful has it been fulfilled?

For sheer technical scholarship, IOVC is hardly the equal of JBC or Peake’s, though one doubts that JBC has been or will be of much use to the “educated layman”—whether Roman Catholic or Protestant. IOVC meets the needs of the educated church-school teacher or lay Bible student much more directly than does either JBC or Peake’s; however, it presupposes an audience that is open to a more critically oriented scholarship than most laymen actually are. The NBC, by contrast, is certainly a layman’s commentary and, because of its more definitely faith-oriented approach, will be found more acceptable to the general Christian public.

Among areas covered in IOVC’s introductory articles (forty-five in all) are the history of biblical interpretation, the importance of the historical background for the interpretation of the Bible, the theological study of the Bible, the unity of the two Testaments, “The Word of God” (admonishes the student to read his Bible prayerfully, expectantly, obediently, within the context of the church, and under the lordship of Jesus Christ), the environment and people of the Old Testament world, Old Testament history, archaeology, and the importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Other topics covered are the literary forms of the Old Testament, non-canonical Jewish and early Christian literature, the relations among the Gospels, and the letters of Paul.

In discussing the languages of the Bible, K. Grobel admits that the civilizations surrounding Israel were writing long before the time of the Exodus, but he nevertheless concludes it is improbable that Israel (because of its rural character) ever wrote any of its own traditions prior to the age of David and Solomon. L. Silberman breaks new ground for a Christian commentary by his Jewish approach to the subject of the canon, denying that Jews were interested in the question in the way Christians have heretofore represented it. The much-discussed “Council of Jamnia” is reduced quite properly to a rather loosely structured discussion of rabbinic scholars around A.D. 85. There is a rather long but very helpful study of biblical manuscript transmission that will do much to help the reader who has not studied Hebrew and Greek to understand the reasons for textual variants. Two essays offer the general reader the story of the translation of the Bible into ancient and modern languages.

In an attempt to relate the Bible to contemporary life and culture, there are essays on the biblical influence on literature, art, and social life since Roman times (a section that could have been greatly expanded with profit), on the Bible and preaching, on teaching the Bible to children, and on teaching it to adults.

All in all, the general essays are very good, though much of the material they contain would be found in a good Bible dictionary. The commentaries are more difficult to evaluate. No one would question the competence of the scholars involved, nor the general adequacy of their treatment of the material (given the limitations of space, purpose, and point of view). However, the real question is whether the commentary proper is better than other one-volume works designed for the general Bible student. And the answer is: probably not.

It is impossible to do full justice to commentaries on all the Old and New Testament books and the Apocrypha in a brief review. What follows attempts to be simply representative.

In his commentary on Genesis, J. H. Marks tends to avoid extremes of criticism and exegesis, a fact that is particularly appreciated in contrast to the corresponding commentary in Peake’s, where S. H. Hooke’s “myth and ritual” concern dominates the discussion. It is surprising to find that Marks does not see creation ex nihilo in the so-called P theology, and one might wish for a more adequate discussion of problem passages such as Genesis 4:6, 7 (cf. NBC and JBC).

N. K. Gottwald affirms origins for Deuteronomy that are “older than the reform of Josiah” but certainly not as old as the time of Moses. The new element in 622 B.C. is understood as the tying of the “D” traditions to the single sanctuary in Jerusalem (see NBC for a more conservative view).

First and Second Kings by J. W. Wevers offers good discussion of the sources named by the author(s) as well as the various points of view represented by traditional criticism. A very helpful explanation of the temple is included, supplemented by illustrative material, though many will not follow him in his conclusion that Solomon’s prayer of dedication represents a post-exilic viewpoint. The commentary on the Chronicles by C. T. Fritsch is very brief, though discussion of content and purpose is adequate.

H. Anderson’s treatment of Job will be found especially helpful to the preacher; indeed, this is one commentary that truly fulfills the general aim of the entire volume. Anderson questions prevailing views that relegate the epilogue of Job to a later writer, arguing on both theological and literary grounds that the book must be seen as a unity. One feels the force of his conclusion that “among Old Testament books this is perhaps most of all a book for our time.”

L. E. Toombs presents a thorough and eminently readable introduction to the literary types in the Psalms, though he seems too facile in affirming, in company with many recent writers, a New Year festival in Israel as the basis for certain enthronement psalms. His comments on the text are both practical and illuminating; particularly useful are the form-critical analyses and the titles given to each psalm.

The commentary by P. R. Ackroyd on Isaiah is disappointing in its failure to discuss items related to the Christian understanding of the messianic hope in the Old Testament. In his discussion of 7:14 there is no mention of the New Testament use of the passage, nor reference to the problem of ’almah (virgin or young woman?). Again, in chapter 53 we look in vain for a more detailed discussion of Christian interpretations, nor are we happy with Ackroyd’s attempt to emend or retranslate the “odd” reference to the Servant’s being with a rich man in his death, though no textual problem is involved.

To move on to the New Testament, the commentary by M. H. Shepherd, Jr., on the Fourth Gospel is probably the best on the Gospels found in these commentaries, though his conclusions are not necessarily representative. In fact, his work illustrates the relative independence of critical opinion among many of the American contributors to the New Testament section, a characteristic that is probably both a vice and a virtue.

W. Baird on Luke and Acts gives an extremely one-sided approach to the subject, often stating as fact what is, at best, hypothesis (such as Conzelmann’s conception of Lucan theology).

E. C. Blackman writes an admirable commentary on Romans that is a model of scholarship written with the general reader in view—would to God all the contributors had this gift! The commentaries on the Corinthian letters by J. L. Price and on First and Second Peter and Jude by C. H. Thompson will also tend to enlighten rather than confuse the layman.

V. P. Furnish is original and often stimulating in his comments on Galatians, Ephesians (non-Pauline, ca.A.D. 90), and Philemon—if not always convincing. W. A. Quanbeck on Hebrews and S. Gilmour on Revelation explain difficult portions of the New Testament in a manner that will appeal to many preachers and church-school teachers.

As a whole, the IOVC is disappointing. The general articles and selected illustrations of the Bible are its most useful features, and these will be of value to all students of the Bible. The commentaries, however, with notable exceptions, do not come up to the standards of scholarship found in JBC and Peake’s, nor are they likely to appeal to the layman in the manner of the more conservative NBC. The IOVC will undoubtedly have a large circulation because of its association with the well-known Interpreter’s Bible and Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, but we hope librarians and students will not consider it an adequate substitute for the JBC, Peake’s, or the NBC.

The Middle Way

First and Second Corinthians, edited by F. F. Bruce (Oliphants, 1971, 262 pp., £3.50), is reviewed by E. Earle Ellis, professor of biblical studies, New Brunswick Theological Seminary.

Fourteen volumes of the New Century Bible, based on the RSV text, have now been published. They offer pastors and students a via media between the more technical commentary and the layman’s commentary of the Tyndale or Clarendon Bible variety. Professor Bruce’s valuable addition to the NCB exemplifies the careful and judicious scholarship for which he is known. He has not hesitated to refer to the Greek text to clarify (or to criticize) an RSV rendering and, on occasion, to treat a particular problem in considerable detail. At the same time, he has maintained a flowing and readable style that captures and holds the reader’s interest. This volume of the series no longer gives space to printing the biblical text. Even so, the commentary is disappointingly brief in many passages. (Only 100 pages are devoted to the whole of Second Corinthians!).

On theological matters Bruce, following Dodd, sees a development in Paul’s eschatology between First Corinthians 15 and Second Corinthians 5. His exposition of the former passage is particularly good, as is his treatment of Paul’s teaching on marriage (1 Cor. 7) and on food offered to idols (1 Cor. 8). In concluding that for Paul demons are “impersonal forces” (1 Cor. 10:20), however, he may have allowed a philosophical abstraction to obscure the realism of Paul’s thought. (A discussion here of the relation of the daimonia to Satan and to the “principalities and powers” would have been helpful.)

Much critical discussion in recent years has focused upon the occasion and sequence of the Corinthian letters and the identity of opponents. Bruce offers a brief but valuable critique of Bornkamm’s division of Second Corinthians into five letters and an instructive discussion of the theory identifying Second Corinthians 10–13 with a portion of the “letter of tears” (2 Cor. 2:3 f.). With considerable justification, he concludes that Second Corinthians 10–13 is, instead, a subsequent letter that has been appended to Second Corinthians 1–9.

The discussion of Paul’s opponents is less satisfactory. Is it really sufficient to identify their primary offense as opposition to Paul’s authority? Or is their deprecation of his authority only an entrée for more basically objectionable teachings? Only on the latter assumption, apparently, can one explain the difference in the Apostle’s attitude here and in, say, Philippians 1:15–18. The opponents are “Hebraioi” (2 Cor. 11:22) and probably are a part of the ritually strict group in Acts 6:1, who elsewhere are termed “the circumcision party” (Acts 11:2; Titus 1:10). Whether they belong to the Judaizing wing that appears in Galatians and Philippians (3:2) or (more probably) to the gnosticizing—i.e., syncretizing—wing that appears in the Pastorals is difficult to determine. But it is this general context and not opposition to Paul’s authority that discloses the deeper issue between the Apostle and his opponents and the reason for his vehement words against them.

A Great Divorce

The Social Passion: Religion and Social Reform in Canada 1914–28, by Richard Allen (University of Toronto Press, 1971, 385 pp., $9.50), is reviewed by Leslie K. Tarr, administrator, Central Baptist Seminary, Toronto.

Protestant ministers have played a decisive role in Canadian political life, especially in western Canada. Yet to be written, however, is a book tracing that involvement and its divergent expression in the socialist and Social Credit movements.

Richard Allen, who is professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan, focuses rather on the fifteen years prior to the Great Depression. His book is not a biographical study of the individual participants. Rather, in his own words, it’s “a study of the history of ideas especially with reference to the conjunction of the movements of religion and social reform in Canada in the years 1914 to 1928.”

Allen makes those years come alive. And exciting years they were! They housed the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike, the emergence and decline of the Labor Church movement, the seedbed of the Canadian socialist movement that has emerged as the New Democratic Party, the drive for church union that led to the United Church of Canada, and the changing fortunes of the temperance movement.

In searching for a theological basis for churchmen’s social concern. Allen finds it in Methodist and (to a lesser extent) Presbyterian evangelicalism. He sees it growing out of the emphasis on divine forgiveness followed by holy living.

The eventual divorce of social concern and evangelical theology must be regarded as a tragedy still affecting evangelicalism to this day. One can detect in this book the defensive mentality that led to that separation. Most evangelical leaders failed to distinguish between legitimate social concern and the liberal theology of those who frequently pinpointed the issues. It became the old case of evangelicals reacting rather than acting in the social arena. Consequently most references to evangelicals in this excellent book roused little sense of pride in this evangelical.

Liberal partisans, however, will find only slightly more comfort in this volume, which chronicles the disillusionment of the social activists with the church establishment even then in the hands of the liberals.

In The Journals

Admirers of F. F. Bruce will welcome the tribute to him published as number 22 of the Journal of the Christian Brethren Research Fellowship. Brief articles on Bruce as scholar, teacher, friend, and church leader are followed by a twenty-seven-page bibliography of his writings supplementing the one in the Eerdmans festschrift for him, Apostolic History and the Gospel. (Available for $.60 from Regent College, 5990 Iona, Vancouver 8, B.C., Canada. Some sixteen other papers in the CBRF series are also available; ask for a list.)

Some evangelicals believe God wants Christians to form political parties (or something similar) to promote lawful change of our present way of government. For their viewpoints see The Christian Patriot (The Christian Government Movement, 804 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15221; 11 issues for $1/yr.) and Politikon (National Association for Christian Political Action, Box 185, Sioux Center, Iowa 51250; 8 issues for $1/yr.).

Newly Published

True Spirituality, by Francis Schaeffer (Tyndale, 180 pp., $3.95, $1.95 pb). Thirteen lectures foundational to the ministry of L’Abri and available on tape since 1964. They originated in the author’s reevaluation of his own Christian life in the early fifties after many years as a minister. See editorial, page 25.

The Jesus People, by Ronald Enroth, Edward Ericson, Jr., and Breckinridge Peters (Eerdmans, 249 pp., $5.95, $2.95 pb). Two Westmont professors and a recent graduate combine to produce the best long, comprehensive description and assessment of the variegated Jesus movement. Well illustrated.

A Psychologist Looks at Life, by Gary R. Collins (Key [Box 991, Wheaton, Ill. 60187], 167 pp., $1.95 pb). An excellent look at anxiety, anger, pride, loneliness, phoniness, rigidity, and a half-dozen other traits. Deserves wide circulation.

The Spiritual Crisis of the Gilded Age, by Paul A. Carter (Northern Illinois University, 295 pp., $8.50). The generation of 1865–95 saw the permanent division of American Protestantism into what we now call its ecumenical and evangelical sides. The earlier Unitarian revolt had been contained; the later fundamentalist controversies only revealed publicly what had happened in the “Gilded Age.” Carter sympathetically focuses on the liberal side of the split in a well-documented, well-written study.

The Black Church in the United States, by William Banks (Moody, 160 pp., $2.25 pb). The first half briefly surveys 1619–1953. The second offers one black evangelical’s perspectives on the contemporary scene. He disapproves of segregation and feelings of racial superiority, whether black or white. Bigoted whites will feel he’s too “uppity,” but many blacks will feel he is too easy on their historic oppressors.

Justification, by Markus Barth (Eerdmans, 90 pp., $1.95 pb). Karl Barth’s son offers interesting if complex insights into the spiritual meaning of justification, based on the analogy with legal thinking and a five-day poetic framework patterned after the seven days of Creation.

Abelard and Heloise, by D. W. Robertson, Jr. (Dial, 238 pp., $7.95). An attempt to set the record straight (and to show how it got crooked) on probably the most romanticized of medieval “romances.” Very readable. Reveals not only the theology of the times but views of love subsequently.

“And the Two Shall Become One Flesh,” by J. Paul Sampley (Cambridge, 177 pp., $14.50). A detailed and unusually expensive analysis of Ephesians 5:21–23 that accepts Käsemann’s views that the epistle is “a mosaic of traditional formulations.” Does present helpful material on personal relations within the family and on Christ’s relation to the Church.

The Heart of the Old Testament, by Ronald Youngblood (Baker, 108 pp., $2.95 pb). A competent evangelical looks briefly at nine major themes, including sovereignty, covenant, sacrifice, and redemption. Highly recommended as an introduction.

God and Caesar, edited by Robert Linder (Conference on Faith and History [Dept. of History, Indiana State, Terre Haute, Ind. 47809] $1.95 pb). Eight essays by evangelical historians on such topics as “Anabaptists as Subversives,” “Christian Faith and Loyalty to the State,” and “Protestant Church in Nazi Germany.”

False Presence of the Kingdom, by Jacques Ellul (Seabury, 211 pp., $4.95). A long-delayed translation of a 1963 French work, False Presence is Jacques Ellul’s repudiation of those who take the “Christian presence” idea to mean only work in the world and social action without any specific, verbal proclamation of Christ, and who praise materialistic reformers and revolutionaries as God’s agents without recognizing their enmity toward God and his people.

A Second Touch, by Keith Miller (Word, 156 pp., $1.25 pb). Inexpensive edition of a book highly recommended for devotional reading.

A History of Conservative Baptists, by Bruce Shelley (Conservative Baptist Press [Box 66, Wheaton, Ill. 60187], 140 pp., $2.50 pb). An extensive rewrite and enlargement of an earlier book. Shelley is fair to the various positions, while making his own clear, in the controversies leading up to the separation of the movement from other northern and western Baptists, both evangelical and not, in the forties, and the subsequent severe internal struggles of the movement, which persisted through the mid-sixties.

On the Other Side: Love, Sex, Marriage, by Wes Mullings (Vantage, 60 pp., $2.95). A young, black evangelist applies biblical norms to practical problems he has found among those to whom he ministers.

1972 Catholic Almanac, edited by Felician Foy (Our Sunday Visitor [Huntington, Ind. 46750] 704 pp., $7.50, $3.95 pb). Standard reference on American Catholicism; formerly published by St. Anthony’s Guild and Doubleday.

Christ and Counter-Christ, by Carl E. Braaten (Fortress, 152 pp., $3.50 pb). A stimulating book, full of incisive criticism of contemporary Christian and secular follies, and offering illuminating insights into the problem of making Christian doctrines mean something real. Nevertheless it is marked by a rejection of historic biblical Christianity and biblical authority, an uncritical devotion to a number of errant guides such as Paul Tillich and Ernst Käsemann, and a parrot-like reiteration of certain apprehensions of the New Left.

The Human Quest, by Richard H. Bube (Word, 262 pp., $5.95). A new, determined, and capable effort to clear up old misunderstandings between the sciences and Christian faith. Seeks to be at once irenic and obedient to biblical revelation.

The Validity of the Christian Mission, by Elton Trueblood (Harper & Row, 113 pp., $2.95). Dr. Trueblood says in his preface, “In my earlier years it did not occur to me that I might write a book on the Christian mission.” But, he continues, last year he “saw that the idea of mission, far from being something peripheral or incidental to the Christian faith, is actually the factor which brings the entire Christian cause into focus.” His book is a strong statement for the necessity of missions.

Selections from E. Stanley Jones, compiled by Eunice Jones Mathews and James Mathews (Abingdon, 255 pp., $4.95). Over 500 excerpts from sixteen of Jones’s twenty-six books, topically arranged.

The American Religious Experience, by Frederick Sontag and John K. Roth (Harper & Row, 401 pp., $10.95). Two philosophers review American theology in its colonial, romantic, and pragmatic antecedents and its more recent neo-orthodox, process, death-of-God, and black expressions as a prelude to reflection on the future of theology.

Twentieth-Century Theology in the Making, three volumes, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan (Harper & Row, 416 pp. each, n.p., pb). The standard German encyclopedia of religion is Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, currently in its third edition (1956–62). This very useful set collects in translation articles from the second edition (1927–32), which are often the best summary statements of their views by the leading academic theologians. The nearly ninety articles (on twenty-eight topics) include Bultmann on Paul, Brunner on grace, Tillich on myth, and Söderblom on reunion movements.

An Introduction to the Psychology of Religion, by Robert H. Thouless (Cambridge, 152 pp., $7.50, $2.75 pb). The author’s own second revision of his 1923 work is a model of clarity and modesty; he carefully avoids any suggestion that psychology can explain religious belief and judge its truth. He considers social, natural, emotional, intellectual, and other factors involved in religious behavior, as well as psychotherapy and ESP. His own religious position is expressed, but he is unfair to no one.

Tolerance and Truth in Religion, by Gustav Mensching (University of Alabama, 207 pp., $7). Evangelicals, being everywhere a minority, naturally (unless inconsistent) are staunch advocates of religious tolerance, but not because they believe other religions have equal claims to truth, as Mensching seems to say in this stimulating global survey.

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