Book Briefs: January 27, 1978

The Nazi Master Race

Of Pure Blood, by Marc Hillel and Clarissa Henry (McGraw-Hill, 1977, 256 pp., $10.00), is reviewed by Richard V. Pierard, professor of history, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, Indiana.

One of the vexing theological problems of our times is Nazi Germany. How was it possible that in the land of the Reformation and in the “enlightened” twentieth century the National Socialist regime could come to power (with the active support or at least passive acceptance of most Christians) and then embark upon the systematic destruction of millions of human beings whom they regarded as racial inferiors, including the entire Jewish population of Europe? What does this inscrutable event tell us about the presence of sin in the world, about the times we live in, about ourselves?

The most appalling feature of Nazi racial policies was the deliberate, dispassionate way in which they were carried out. The surviving documents reveal an impersonal, bureaucratic precision of frightening proportions, both in the destruction and creation of life. The story of the efforts of Heinrich Himmler, the mousy little ex-chicken farmer who headed the SS and held almost complete control over the police and security forces of the Third Reich, to foster the development of the pure “Nordic” master race by eliminating the inferior races—Poles, Gypsies, Jews, and others—has been told many times, and the full magnitude of the barbarity utterly eludes comprehension. One aspect of this madness that up to now had not been adequately chronicled was Operation Lebensborn (Fountain of Life). This was the counterpart to Nazi genocide, the selective breeding of the new Germanic super race that would occupy the vacant space from which the lesser folk had been cleared off.

It started with the establishment of maternity homes where pregnant women, married and unmarried alike, who had the proper racial credentials (blond hair, blue eyes, wide hips, a minimum height of five feet, three inches) could receive the finest of care during their confinement. The Lebensborn organization, financed by money and property expropriated from Jews, rapidly expanded and its network of homes around Europe soon became the “stud farms” of Nazi Germany. Men and women were selected and mated on the basis of their size, shape, and coloring, and a woman could perform no higher service than to bear a child for the Führer. The children produced were graded, and the ones who were most fit physically were supported at public expense or put up for adoption in racially good homes while the poorer ones were “disinfected,” i.e., killed.

The other side of the program was the wholesale kidnapping of Nordic-appearing children in the German-occupied areas of Europe. Thousands of youths between the ages of six months and twelve years were rounded up, the few who possessed desirable features taken to Lebensborn homes and Germanized, and then adopted by Nazi couples. The others were simply exterminated. According to the medical superintendent, Dr. Gregor Ebner, “thanks to the Lebensborns, in thirty years time we shall have 600 extra regiments.”

The tragedy of these young people who were to be the advance wave of the master race was two-fold. Few of the ones who had been kidnapped were ever reunited with their parents in spite of the most diligent detective efforts by them and international relief agencies after the war. As for the Lebensborn-bred children, a nun who helped care for a group of them liberated by the American forces reported: “These children did not know what tenderness was. They … were frightened of any grown-up who approached them.… The three-and four-year-olds could not even talk.… They were very backward in mental development in comparison with other children of the same age.”

Truly, this brings us face to face with the all-pervasiveness of sin and makes us realize how desperately the world needs the redemption found in Christ. As the reader confronts the human suffering detailed in this gripping book, he or she cannot help but be drawn to contemporary problems. The Lebensborn program gives a penetrating insight into where the far-reaching schemes for human engineering so widely discussed nowadays may be leading us. The hundreds of thousands of innocent babies destroyed annually in the United States by needless abortions bitterly reminds us of the Polish children who perished in the death camps through no fault of their own except that some person decided that they were “inconvenient.” While condemning the downgrading of women and the brutalization of children that resulted from the Nazi racial policies one must also examine what is happening in our own time to those who are trapped in urban ghettos.

As American Christians it is impossible for us to look into the mirror of history and not see our own national sins and shortcomings. Although we recoil in horror from the idea that the Nazis really believed they could create a people “of pure blood,” we must not remain indifferent to the suffering around us.

An Introduction To Thielicke

The Hidden Question of God, by Helmut Thielicke (Eerdmans, 1977, 183 pp., $4.95 pb), is reviewed by Michael H. Macdonald, professor of German and philosophy, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington.

This is a selection of some of Thielicke’s addresses, articles, and chapters as well as a condensation of a section from the recently published second volume of The Evangelical Faith. The book is designed as an introduction to this leading German Lutheran theologian. The book will be useful to pastors and thoughtful Christians who want to relate their faith to the issues facing modern man.

There are five chapters, in which Thielicke deals respectively with religion, the church, man, truth, and God. The heart of the work is his discussion of the nature of man, in which he has an excellent critique of Marxism. Thielicke points out, correctly, that in spite of Marxism’s original concern for man, it essentially makes man a thing. Man’s value does not rest on his divine likeness; there can be no ultimate significance of each person. Man’s nobility is due to his ability to control nature, to produce. Marx inherited from Hegel this secondary role of the individual. It is not individual man, but man as a type that is accentuated. Man achieves fulfillment by becoming a social man. And then in the final classless society, evil somehow ceases to exist. Thielicke wonders whether man has not ceased to exist also, “becoming simply a synonym for humanity, the sum of all the positive and self-completing qualities of man.”

Thielicke emphasizes Marxism’s false anthropology. He exposes Marx’s doctrine of man, particularly obvious in the thoughts of the young Marx. Marxism is not just an economic theory; if it were, then Christianity and Marxism would have no reason to be diametrically opposed to one another, because Christianity has no single economic theory. Indeed, as many religious socialists have shown, Christianity is compatible with Marxist economic theory (cf. Tillich, The Socialist Decision, Harper & Row, 1977). But Marxism and Christianity take opposing metaphysical viewpoints. In Christianity God exists, spirit is primary, and man has a heart that needs to be transformed. Marxism is atheistic, materialistic, and concerned primarily with society.

Thielicke’s theology does not begin with a statement concerning the nature of God but with the work of the Holy Spirit. His central epistemological thesis is that truth is known only when it is seen incarnate in a person. The ultimate goal is not to grasp the truth, but to be in the truth by the power of God’s Spirit. Thielicke is a complex thinker and difficult to categorize, but he seems at times to set up a dichotomy between reason and revelation. For example, he singles out the theological faculty as “a little university of its own,” as if theologians alone had a set of presuppositions with which they work. Yet theological “control beliefs” are different only in substance, not in form. Everyone has a perspective on reality to bring to a theoretical inquiry. Christians should not be apologetic for control beliefs that determine which theories and explanations they consider live options (cf. Wolterstorff, Reason Within the Bounds of Religion, Eerdmans, 1976).

Thielicke is thorough and well-read; the book is meaty, though somewhat obscure in spots. He mixes his primary and secondary sources skillfully. Reading Thielicke is rewarding, for he is well-acquainted with the issues facing our age. Chapter three alone is worth the price.

Christian Marriage: Can Books Help?

The Christian Couple, by Larry and Nordis Christenson (Bethany Fellowship, 1977, 186 pp., $5.95), Honest Questions—Honest answers to Enrich Your Marriage, by George and Margaret Hardisty (Harvest House, 1977, 222 pp., $3.95pb), Toward a Healthy Marriage, by Bernard Harnik (Word, 1976, 166 pp., $6.95), Living in Love, A Guide to Realistic Christian Marriage, by Ruth Ann and William M. Jones (John Knox, 1976, 160 pp., $7.95), and After the Wedding, by Philip Yancey (Word, 1976, 160 pp., $5.95), are reviewed by Norman Stolpe, editorial director, Family Concern, Wheaton, Illinois.

With hundreds of books on the subject available, I wonder if anything more can be or needs to be written about Christian marriage. Perhaps because of this, the production of “Christian marriage” books had slowed to a trickle; but lately the flow has begun again. These five books represent the new type of Christian marriage books, though others could have been as well selected. They demonstrate that to make a real contribution in this field is a difficult task. They also show that vigorous writing about Christian marriage is not only still possible but also worthwhile.

Criteria for evaluating the new Christian marriage books must go beyond whether they are true and even beyond the usual guidelines for measurements whether they are practical. Too many books have already been published, yet too many Christians still struggle with their marriages, unhelped by the torrent of advice. The goal of the usual Christian marriage book is to inspire couples. Besides being difficult to do in a fresh way, this approach tends to be a source of guilt feelings and frustration. No couple reaches the ideal Christian marriage, no matter whose biblical interpretation it is based on.

The author who wants to make a genuine contribution to the marriages of contemporary Christians must discard inspiration as the primary method and idealism as the principle message. With varying degrees of success, each of these five books reflects that premise. The criterion for evaluating the new Christian marriage books might be called redemptive realism. It is Christ’s word of hope and healing for all couples who struggle seriously to represent Christ’s character in their marriage.

Philip Yancey’s After the Wedding meets the standard of redemptive realism. The full force of the Christian Gospel and the human condition hits the reader. Yancey does not start with biblical exposition or sociological exploration. He starts with the lives of his friends. These people obviously mean a lot to him, and he shares in both their wounds and their triumphs.

By skillfully blending interviewer and storyteller, Yancey enters the minds of nine couples to help them tell their own marriage histories. Like Yancey, each couple has been married about five years. Each couple contends with a serious challenge or threat to their marriage. For some the struggle draws them together and for others it drives them apart. Yet these are not textbook illustrations for success and failure principles. They are people with whom Yancey ached and cried. He found something of himself in each couple.

I am glad that Yancey does not include discussion or thought questions at the end of each chapter. Instead, he writes a provocative commentary that follows each couple’s story. He points out patterns that seem to be constructive or destructive to them. Perhaps most important, he asks embarrassing questions. He puts himself and every married reader of the book on the spot. He challenges conventional idealism about Christian marriage when it doesn’t work for these couples. The emotional power of the accounts is exhausting and his observations are difficult to read. Many readers will not want to make the effort. However, the reward for that discipline will be the possibility of a fresh surge of the Gospel in one’s marriage.

Yancey is startlingly honest, not only in terms of the outcomes of various couples’ struggles, but also in the kinds of things he relates. He does not flinch when sensitive issues such as sexual conflict, spiritual deception, or parental hang-ups are at the root of a problem. But neither is he embarrassed to show sensitivity, love, growth, or the healing of the Gospel. After these moving examinations of young marriages, Yancey concludes with the depth of hope that can only come from such mature marriages as those of Charlie and Martha Shedd and Paul and Nellie Tournier.

No one should miss Larry and Nordis Christenson’s The Christian Couple. It is not the “same biblical insight and practical wisdom that made The Christian Family a best seller,” despite the dust jacket. Of course it is based on the same approach to biblical interpretation and the same principles for family relationships. But The Christian Couple is a much more incisive and significant book. It demands that Christians rethink some of the logic of their marriages.

The first, and the broadest, area of challenge is in the question of roles. Although people with feminist inclinations will hardly find the Christensons to be allies, others who have partitioned the home off for women will be discomforted by this book. The Christensons call men to make their families more important than their careers. Their own words state the case more strongly than any summary could:

“The feminist movement is a strident declaration that women cannot and will not homestead the domain of marriage and the family by themselves. If the husband assigns a low priority to the home, then the wife will downgrade it also. If job … [is] more interesting to a husband than his marriage, then the wife will begin to look outside the marriage for her fulfillment also. Feminists have tapped into a tragic reservoir of resentment on the part of women. But the real source of resentment is not primarily that men have excluded women from full participation in the institutions and power structures of society. It is, rather, that men have withdrawn themselves from full and creative participation in the adventure of marriage.… Family life will continue to go downhill until husbands give it a higher personal priority” (pp. 45 and 46).

The Christensons have isolated an issue of much greater significance for Christians to resolve in their marriages than the customary polemics of feminine submission and masculine headship. Although family books for men is an increasingly interesting topic for publishers, whether such books will be read by men remains to be seen. Until men accept that homemaking and nurturing responsibilities are dignified enough for themselves, the claims that they are dignified enough for women will mean little.

The Christensons have raised another challenge to the usual way roles are taught in the church. “Headship,” they write, “is a means of serving others”. Although some women may not welcome the kind service Christensons describe, men who use headship to get their wives (and children) to perform their wishes will not get any help from this book. Calling on the New Testament (i.e. Mark 10:42–45), the Christensons write that the husband’s headship makes him the servant of his wife. Though much of this discussion is only a rehearsal of traditional masculine and feminine roles, these elements will stretch the thinking of feminist and traditionalist alike. The Christensons are making a serious attempt to confront the realities of marriage with the message of the New Testament.

The Christian Couple approaches another issue that will stir even more controversy: contraception. The Christensons “feel that couples should be warned against the unthinking acceptance of contraceptives.” They suggest that the use of contraceptives, along with abortion, is part of an “anti-baby” mentality in western culture that should be resisted by Christians. They suggest the “Sympto-Thermic” method of birth control, which is a somewhat more sophisticated way of determining the woman’s fertile period than the rhythm method. In addition to the ethical and health benefits, this is claimed to benefit the couple’s sex life as well. Whatever the merits of these arguments, the Christensons have demonstrated that the debate over contraception is not over.

Of course The Christian Couple is much broader than these two rather controversial issues. But in these areas the Christensons have done the church a service by challenging popular positions. Little in the rest of the book rises above inspiration and idealism, but these two confrontations might provoke readers to rethink these issues. I was not persuaded, however, that such rethinking was necessarily profitable.

The Hardistys’ Honest Questions-Honest Answers is not as successful at redemptive realism as the previous two books. Ostensibly the questions they ask came from people whom the authors met at their seminars. Though many of the questions cover topics that few Christians would have written about a generation ago, few of them probe deeply into the meaning of marriage. This limits the answers, making them superficial and technique-oriented.

Many marriages, perhaps most marriages, are lived on a mundane level. Honest Questions-Honest Answers seems to imply that smoothing out the mundane and even trivial is the way to approach the ideal. The book is light, easy reading—for those not inclined to argue—that will find its audience. The common advice will help some couples but will not stretch or challenge many.

Living in Love by Ruth Ann and William M. Jones is also a rather typical collection of marriage advice. Although it is not quite as readable as Honest Questions-Honest Answers, it has more depth. Addressed to couples at the start of their marriages, it covers the usual range of sex, money, and in-laws. Unattainable idealism has been exchanged for restrained realism. Following each chapter of principles, methods, and applications, the authors explain how they have handled each issue. These conversations are friendly and personal but lack the warmth and power of the Shedds and Tourniers in After the Wedding.

The Jones do discuss two often neglected but important questions: the relationship of work and church to marriage. Although it doesn’t show much excitement for the church, the chapter “Finding a Church Community” does offer a solid presentation of the importance of the church in the life of the married couple, especially the newly married couple. In the shared life of the church, Christians can experience redemptive reality. With regard to work, the Jones have the courage to ask, “why work?” and the honesty to question the value of work. They write:

“Most of us work because we need money to live. Some members of our society have been saying for a long time that we work harder than we need to if that is our only reason for working. Some of our college-educated friends are now working only a few hours a week. ‘We’re selling as little of ourselves as possible.’ … ‘I have enough to live happily,’ he says. ‘Why should I try for more?’ Such a pattern of non-work helps us understand the sometimes obscure real reasons for working” (p. 50).

Bernard Harnik’s Toward a Healthy Marriage is in a different class. It is addressed to the marriage counselor rather than the couple. Harnik starts with the case history of a very troubled woman and her marriage; the realism is frightening. Then he extensively analyzes unhealthy marriages. Not until the final two chapters and thirty pages does the nature of healthy marriage or the redemption of Christ clearly appear. A familiarity with secular psychotherapy is required for full appreciation of this book. Care should be taken not to brand either the book or the author as sub-Christian because of these things. Pastors and counselors who devote much of their time to helping deeply troubled marriages will find the book stimulating, provocative, and helpful. The couple looking for encouragement will find that it is not a self-help tool.

In the last chapter of After the Wedding Philip Yancey raises the troubling questions of redemptive realism. Anyone who wants to write about marriage, help married couples, or live in marriage must ponder them.

“Is our ideal of marriage too exalted?… Does marriage ask too much? Is the goal too exalted for the fallen man? My answer is precisely yes, in the same way the goal of the Christian life is too exalted for man.… Does it do any good to spiritualize about how marriage is like the Christian life and how true love is God’s love? Only if you believe marriage can be a crucial settlement in God’s Kingdom. It is exalted, not because it is so different from the rest of life, but because it allows us a frontier to practice God’s value system, so that we may derive strength to present that system to the rest of the world.… In marriage we are tiptoeing through a field of land mines on the way to paradise” (pp. 143–145).

Briefly Noted

Those who want to know about ministering through the print or electronic media should read the newly revised Careers in Religious Communications (Herald Press, 243 pp., $4.95 pb) by Roland Wolsely, long-time journalism professor. Enhanced by numerous case studies and practical hints on beginning a career, this volume provides an excellent introduction to the field.

Hymn and Scripture Selection Guide, compiled by Donald A. Spencer (Judson, 176 pp., $6.95), is a handy reference work designed to eliminate the random search for hymns by people planning worship services. The interdenominational work is divided into three sections: hymns listed with the Scripture normally associated with them, Scripture references with complementing hymns, and an index of the 380 hymns classified in the volume.

TESTIMONIES. Do you like to read stories about Christians, both the famous and the not-so-famous, but you want them in small doses? Here are some recent collections with a dozen or two tales in each volume. Profiles by Helen Hosier (Hawthorn, 184 pp., $6.95) looks at Christian leaders like Pat Boone and Catherine Marshall. On the Trail of God by William Proctor (Doubleday, 151 pp., $6.95) is on such widely-known celebrities as Pat Boone, Mark Hatfield, and David Nelson (son of Ozzie and Harriet). Twelve Who Cared by Dorothy Wilson (Christian Herald, 263 pp., $6.95) offers selections from eleven of her full-length biographies, with a tilt toward medical doctors, especially missionaries. Overwhelming Victory by Graham Turner (Harper & Row, 224 pp., $7.95) is by a Britisher, but the well-told stories of conversions come from several continents. Twelfth Man in the Huddle by Dave Diles (Word, 187 pp., $6.95) is aboutthe faith of several pro-football players. He Walks With Me by David Graham (Simon and Schuster, 210 pp., $7.95) is about country music stars. For a glimpse at people from earlier centuries as well as our own, see Saints in Times of Turmoil by John Sheridan (Paulist, 130 pp., $2.45 pb) with chapters on Jerome, Aquinas, and Elizabeth Seton, among others.

Directory of Christian Work Opportunities has recently made the first of what is to be a twice yearly updating of Christian personnel openings worldwide. The 781-page first issue lists more than 18,000 opportunities. The publisher is Intercristo (Box 9323, Seattle, Wash. 98109). Single copies are $40. Naturally this work belongs in any library or career-guidance office that serves Christians. Individuals can learn more about the ministry of Intercristo by writing or by calling toll free, (800) 426–0507.

A young person’s search for a vocation is never easy. But Christian Career Planning (Multnomah, 151 pp., $7.95 pb) is designed to ease the difficulty. Written by John Bradley, an experienced guidance counselor, the book helps the student (who should have at least one year of college) to determine his interests and abilities, then aids him in matching those to job opportunities. The strength of the book lies in its remarkable depth and realism concerning the job market and required skills (it goes far beyond the simple doctor-lawyer syndrome); its weakness lies in the large amount of time required to complete the process.

For an intimate glance into the life of Mrs. Billy Graham, read her book of poetry, Sitting By My Laughing Fire (Word, 245 pp., $17.95). Although the poems may not have immortal qualities, they are warm and personal and enhanced by the many beautiful illustrations.

AFRICA. He Gave Us a Valley by Helen Roseveare (InterVarsity, 188 pp., $3.95 pb) is her account of medical missionary work in northeast Zaire between 1966–73; War to Be One by Levi O. Keidel (Zondervan, 239 pp., $4.95 pb) tells of the experiences of one American missionary in the early 1960’s when Zaire was granted independence; Nambia by Colin O’Brien Winter (Eerdmans,234 pp., $4.95 pb) is the account of a now-exiled Anglican bishop who served for thirteen years in the South African-ruled territory of South West Africa; Battle for Africa by Brother Andrew (Revell, 156 pp., $6.95) is a brief, continent-wide overview of the confiict between Communism and Christianity.

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