Looking at the Past: A Book Survey

Before looking at various categories consider these ten titles of special significance for the study of the church’s past that were published in the United States during the last half of 1977 and the first half of 1978.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church edited by E. A. Livingstone (Oxford) is a skillfully done abridgement of the 1974 second edition of one of the standards in its field. School libraries should have the unabridged edition (which includes extensive bibliographies), but most individuals and congregations will find the concise edition adequate. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church (1974, Zondervan), a revised edition of which is just out, remains our first choice for this type of reference tool, but the concise Oxford Dictionary makes a good second choice.

What do you expect from a title like The Christians? Well in this case one has a pictorial feast illustrating the diversity within Christianity from its beginnings to the present. Author Bamber Gascoigne’s text, striving for neutrality, is not particularly distinguished, but the ancient reproductions and the modern photographs, mostly by his wife, Christina, make the book worth acquiring. The publisher is Morrow.

Two three-volume sets are massive treatments of their respective topics and belong in all theological libraries. Both were originally in French and have previously appeared in British editions but are here mentioned because they have found American publishers: A History of Christian Spirituality by Louis Bouyer (Seabury) and A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea by Jean Daniélou (Westminster).

Of at least as much importance to students of the New Testament as of the early church is The Nag Hammadi Library in English edited by James M. Robinson (Harper & Row). Since these writings by Gnostic heretics (Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Philip, Apocalypse of Peter, and so forth) will be referred to in the media and by opponents of apostolic orthodoxy, it is convenient to have them collected in a handy volume.

A leading scholar of the period, C. R. Elton, provides us with a splendid, well-written narrative that will probably become the standard for many years. Reform and Reformation: England, 1509–1558 (Harvard).

Three monographs on American religion should be of special interest to evangelicals. Religion in the Old South by Donald Mathews (University of Chicago) shows how evangelicalism came to predominate in the century before the Civil War in the region where it was originally weakest. Catholic Revivalism: The American Experience, 1830–1890 by Jay Dolan (Notre Dame) carefully documents the little remembered phenomenon of the parish mission by Catholic revivalists complete with emotional appeals. Contemporary Catholic charismatics will be interested in his precursor. I hope it will quell some of the sneers against revivals by those who have assumed they were peculiar to debased forms of Protestantism. Armageddon Now! The Premillenarian Response to Russia and Israel Since 1917 (Baker) is by Dwight Wilson, who is himself a premillenarian but who shows how so many of the best known proponents of the teaching have been rather incautious, to say the least, in their identifying of what were then contemporary figures and events with biblical prophecies. Of course today’s best-selling authors on prophetic subjects show no inclination to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. Besides, caution hurts at the cash register.

Combining a look at evangelicalism of today with a call for greater appreciation of the often-ignored post-apostolic church is Wheaton College professor Robert Webber’s Common Roots (Zondervan). This important book deserves to be read widely and thoughtfully.

GENERAL Most books of historical interest can readily be classified by time or place, but (in addition to the ones mentioned earlier by Bouyer, Gascoigne, and Livingstone) here are some others that roam beyond normal boundaries.

If you plan to go looking at old or traditionally constructed and furnished church buildings in Britain, take along Church, Monastery, Cathedral: A Guide to the Symbolism of the Christian Tradition by Herbert Whone (Enslow [Box 301, Short Hills, NJ 07078]). Among the hundreds of terms that are defined: “armarium,” “mensa,” “rood.” Outstanding photographs to help prepare for the journey, and to relive it, accompany helpful texts in The Evolution of Church Building by Jack Bowyer (Watson-Guptill) and The Pilgrims’ Way by John Adair (Thames and Hudson). Closely related is The Meaning of Ritual by Leonel Mitchell (Paulist), which gives a brief historical overview of Christian ritual.

A. Daniel Frankforter’s History of the Christian Movement (Nelson-Hall) cannot be recommended as the introduction it purports to be, though it has its good points, particularly on the Middle Ages. Roman Catholicism is well served by two popular histories: A Concise History of the Catholic Church by Thomas Bokenkotter (Doubleday) and Pilgrim Church by William Bausch (Fides/Claretian), an edition of a work whose title is shared with a widely known book of an earlier generation that reported on underground churches over the centuries that were persecuted by the Catholics.

Beginnings in Church History by Howard Vos (Moody) and the even briefer The Church by Russell Spittler (Gospel Publishing House) are revisions of short introductions by evangelicals. A conveniently small reprint of Who’s Who in Church History by William Barker is now available from Baker.

Both Jews and Christians will appreciate Jerusalem History Atlas by Martin Gilbert (Macmillan) with 66 maps and 116 illustrations of its past 2,000 years.

The first few volumes of a lengthy series. The Classics of Western Spirituality, are now available and are being heavily promoted through the mails by Paulist. Many individuals and all libraries should consider subscribing, at least to receive the volumes by Christians.

For those who like brief, popular-style biographies see Saints for All Seasons edited by John Delaney (Doubleday) and confined to a score of authorized Catholic saints and Woman’s Way to God by Anne Fremantle (St. Martin’s), which roams widely to include not only the likes of Joan of Are and Teresa but also the founders of the Shakers and Christian Science.

THE EARLY AND MEDIEVAL CHURCH Besides the already mentioned Nag Hammadi Library and Daniélou’s trilogy, one of the more significant books is The Early Versions of the New Testament by Bruce Metzger (Oxford). This book is useful not only for light on the New Testament text but for information on the spread of Christianity throughout the ancient world.

Another edition with extensive revisions is now available, in paperback, of J. N. D. Kelly’s widely commended Early Christian Doctrines (Harper & Row).

A major study of Julian the Apostate by G. W. Bowersock (Harvard) is a welcome corrective to the widespread distortions about the emperor who tried to reverse the tide toward Roman support of Christianity. An even more fascinating Christian figure was Origen, but the book about him by Theodore Vrettos (Caratzas [246 Pelham Rd., New Rochelle, NY 10805]) is a novel. As such it can arouse interest in further understanding him even if literary plaudits are restrained.

In Early Christianity and Society, Robert Grant (Harper & Row), one of the leading scholars of the period, seeks to show how, contrary to “golden age” advocates, the early church wasn’t so different in many ways from the bourgeois mentality that is deplored today.

Popularly aimed are Women in the Middle Ages by Frances and Joseph Gies (Crowell) and The Albigensian Crusade by Jonathan Sumption (Faber [22 S. Broadway, Salem, NH 03079]). More specialized works to note are Meister Eck-hart, Mystic and Philosopher, translations with commentary by Reiner Schürmann (Indiana University). The Church in Italy in the Fifteenth Century by Denys Hay (Cambridge) and a reprint, Early Christian Ireland by Máire and Liam de Paor (Thames and Hudson).

The greatest influence of Cistercian monasticism was in the Middle Ages following its founding in 1098. A definitive history, bringing the story down to the present, is offered by Louis Lekai in The Cistercians: Ideals and Reality (Kent State University). (Writings on monasticism by the most famous modern Cistercian, Thomas Merton, are collected in The Monastic Journey edited by Patrick Hart [Sheed].)

THE MODERN CHURCH There are so many books dealing with some aspect of Christianity since 1500 that we will consider them by the major geographical areas after first mentioning some titles that range more widely. Modern European Thought: Continuity and Change in Ideas, 1600–1950 by Franklin Baumer (Macmillan) is an informative and interpretive account by an expert, a book that merits wide reading and reflecting. Of more specialized interest is Religious Origins of Modern Science: Belief in Creation in Seventeenth-Century Thought by Eugene Klaaren (Eerdmans).

Relevant to current debate is The Battle for the Gospel: The Bible and the Reformation, 1444–1589 by Marvin Anderson (Baker). Teachers of Reformation history will welcome back in print The Reformation: A Narrative History Related by Contemporary Observers and Participants edited by Hans Hillerbrand (Baker). Researchers will welcome the 28,000-entry Mennonite Bibliography, 1631–1961 edited by Nelson Springer and A. J. Klassen (Herald), continuing a bibliography of the movement’s first century compiled by Hillerbrand. The first four volumes, covering A through G, of the microfilm holdings of the Center for Reformation Research (6477 San Bonita Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105) are now available.

In the area of denominational studies we have three popular titles, Our Anglican Heritage by John Howe (Cook), A Brief History of the Presbyterians: Third Edition by Lefferts Loetscher (Westminster) and God’s Army by Cyril Barnes (Cook) on the Salvation Army.

Wesleyans will welcome The Arminian Arm of Theology: The Theologies of John Fletcher … and James Arminius by Howard Slaatte (University Press of America), a major biography, John Wesley: His Life and Theology by Robert Tuttle, Jr., and an important collection of essays edited by Leon Hynson, The Development of Wesleyan Holiness Theology (Wesleyan Theological Society [215 E. 43 St., Marion, IN 47952]). Reprinted is A. Skevington Wood’s biography of Wesley, The Burning Heart (Bethany Fellowship), which focuses on his evangelism.

A major reinterpretation of the Counter-Reformation with far-reaching implications is proposed by Jean Delumeau in Catholicism Between Luther and Voltaire (Westminster).

The twentieth century has been noted for the variety and complexity of movements within Christianity. Arthur Johnston provides a thorough study of the great modern congresses on evangelism, starting with Edinburgh 1910 and focusing on Berlin 1966 and Lausanne 1974, in The Battle for World Evangelism (Tyndale). He demonstrates that the battle was not simply against non-Christian foes, but over crucial differences between ecumenical and evangelical understandings of what faithfulness to God requires. Johnston’s book is important reading, especially for those who would minimize the differences. Meanwhile evangelism has continued on a mass scale, most notably through the ministry of Billy Graham. See Why Billy Graham? by David Poling (Zondervan), Billy Graham: His Life and Faith by Gerald Strober (Word). Billy Graham: The Man and His Ministry by Mary Bishop (Grosset and Dunlap), and a technical study, An Assessment of Mass Meetings as a Method of Evangelism: Case Study of Eurofest ’75 and the Billy Graham Crusade in Brussels by William Thomas (Humanities Press).

Aggressive outreach characterizes many besides evangelicals. Dynamic Religious Movements edited by David Hesselgrave (Baker) has a dozen in-depth studies of rapidly growing movements in various parts of the world, two-thirds of them Christian deviations. The Cults Are Coming! by Lowell Streiker (Abingdon) and Christ and the New Consciousness by John Newport (Broadman) are brief overviews. Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church by Frederick Sontag (Abingdon) is informative, even if too sympathetic. Experimentation in American Religion: The New Mysticisms and Their Implications for the Churches by Robert Wuthnow (University of California) reports sociological research.

CONTINENTAL EUROPE Because of his logical and systematic style, Calvin comes off as cold-hearted to many. A warm welcome therefore to The Piety of John Calvin: An Anthology Illustrative of the Spirituality of the Reformer edited by Ford Lewis Battles (Baker). An easy-to-read introduction to the great reformer is Man of Geneva by E. M. Johnson (Banner of Truth).

Luther was battling not only Rome but those around him who wanted what they considered a more consistently biblical reformation. In the past, access to Luther’s opponents has largely been through unsympathetic reports. Now we can readily see both sides speaking for themselves in Karlstadt’s Battle With Luther, ably translated and commented upon by Ronald Sider (Fortress).

The Writings of Pilgram Marpeck, edited by William Klassen and Walter Klaassen (Herald), makes available in English the key works of one of the most important early Anabaptist reformers. Also belonging in all theological libraries (especially since they tend to be overloaded on the Calvin and Luther side) is a major study of the man often considered the most important thinker among the early Anabaptists, Balthasar Hubmaier: Anabaptist Theologian and Martyr by Torsten Bergsten (Judson). In some ways Hubmaier’s views are more like the later Baptists than Mennonites. In any case they are well worth studying.

Other neglected areas of the continental reformation are treated in The Renaissance and Reformation in Germany edited by Gerhart Hoffmeister (Ungar) with special reference to German humanism and The Historiography of the Reformation in Slovakia by David Daniel (Center for Reformation Research).

The Lutheran Reformation culminated 400 years ago with the Formula of Concord. To honor the anniversary there appeared essays in Discord, Dialogue, and Concord edited by Lewis Spitz and Wenzel Lohff (Fortress) and The Formula of Concord: An Historical and Bibliographical Guide by Lowell Green (Center for Reformation Research).

Growth Patterns of German Speaking Baptists in Europe by William Wagner (William Carey) is especially welcome since so little is available in English about this movement that began in the nineteenth century and provides the undergirding for much of the evangelical work in Eastern Europe.

Of special interest for Catholic studies: The Church Militant and Iberian Expansion, 1440–1770 by C. R. Boxer (Johns Hopkins), Pascal’s Provincial Letters: An Introduction by Walter Rex (Holmes and Meier), Catholic Theology in the Nineteenth Century by Gerald McCool (Seabury), and The Catholic Church and the Soviet Government, 1939–1949 by Dennis Dunn (Columbia).

THE BRITISH ISLES Besides the work by Elton mentioned at the beginning of this survey two other major works are Milton and the English Revolution by Christopher Hill (Viking), giving a historian’s approach to a great man in turbulent times, and The Dissenters From the Reformation to the French Revolution by Michael Watts (Oxford), the first volume of a thorough history of the English and Welsh free churches.

A statistic-filled work of great importance is Churches and Churchgoers: Patterns of Church Growth in the British Isles Since 1700 by Robert Currie, Alan Gilbert, and Lee Horsley (Oxford).

Among books of wide interest are Wilberforce by John Pollock (St. Martin’s), on the great evangelical social activist (see also He Freed Britain’s Slaves by Charles Ludwig [Herald] for a fictionalized account for younger readers); The Knox Brothers by Penelope Fitzgerald (Coward), about four extraordinary sons of an evangelical bishop, one of whom became a Catholic translator of the Bible; Whatever Happened to the Jesus Lane Lot? by Oliver Barclay (InterVarsity) on the first hundred years of the evangelical fellowship at Cambridge; Change and the Churches: An Anatomy of Religion in Britain by David Perman (Transatlantic Arts), a comprehensive survey of the contemporary scene; and Charles Simeon of Cambridge by Hugh Evan Hopkins (Eerdmans) on the most influential evangelical minister of the early 1800’s.

Of more specialized interest: Church and Society in England: Henry VIII to James I edited by Felicity Heal and Rosemary O’Day (Archon), The Indifferent Mean: Adiaphorism in the English Reformation to 1554 by Bernard Verkamp (Ohio University or Wayne State University), The Triumph of the Saints: The Separate Churches of London, 1616–1649 by Murray Tolmie (Cambridge), and Tom Brown’s Universe: The Development of the English Public School in the Nineteenth Century by J. R. deS. Honey (Times Books).

NORTH AMERICA: GENERAL Teachers of American church history, as well as those who want refresher reading of a nontextbook nature will welcome a collection of twenty-seven previously published, and commended, essays edited by John Mulder and John Wilson, Religion in American History (Prentice-Hall).

Essays by representative scholars of various groups reflect on American Religious Values and the Future of America edited by Rodger Van Allen (Fortress). Blacks, Jews, Catholics, women, and ecumenical Protestants are included. As is all too common, evangelicals had no one to speak for them. Nevertheless the essays and the responses to them are worthwhile and—who knows?—maybe the next time there is such a forum room may be made for someone for whom evangelicalism is alive.

Miscellaneous essays in both French and English (with summaries in the other) are compiled by Peter Slater in Religion and Culture in Canada (Wilfrid Laurier University).

A massive two-volume treatment belonging in all college and seminary libraries is A History of Philosophy in America by Elizabeth Flower and Murray Murphey (Putnam). The role of Christian thought is given due recognition.

Consortium Books (Box 9001. Wilmington, NC 28401) published a set of eight volumes, Faith of Our Fathers, each by a different author. The first two survey Christianity beginning with Christ himself through the Reformation. The remaining six present the history of Christianity in America with two volumes each on the colonial period, the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century. The books are nontechnical and of necessity selective. But they do convey more information than the customary introductory survey and hence might be of use in adult education and high schools. The authors represent various denominations and theologies.

Church musicians and music-lovers have available a brief but serious study by James Sallee, A History of Evangelical Hymnody (Baker). (Two books to note about one of America’s best-known hymnwriters: Blessed Assurance: The Life and Hymns of Fanny J. Crosby by John Loveland [Broadman] and Fanny Crosby Speaks Again [Hope Publishing Co.] consisting of the words of 120 previously unpublished hymns.)

The Word Carrying Giant by Creighton Lacy (Carey) tells the story of the American Bible Society from its founding in 1816 to 1966. The Story of Catholics in America is a concise introduction edited by Don Brophy and Edythe Westerhaven (Paulist). Evangelization in America by David Bohr (Paulist) is also about Catholicism, giving theological and practical discussions along with a historical survey. It would be useful to compare with Protestant counterparts. Congregationalism in America by Manfred Waldemar Kohl (Congregational Press [Box 1620, Oak Creek, WI 53154]) is a brief overview, with the last few pages reflecting the stance of the Congregationalists who did not merge into the United Church of Christ. Three of the six projected volumes of A Time to Remember edited by Barry Callen (Warner) have been released. Short extracts from previous writings enliven these historical works on the nearly one-hundred-year-old Church of God headquartered in Anderson, Indiana. Meet Southern Baptists (Broadman) by Albert McClellan is a well-illustrated introduction.

NORTH AMERICA: BEFORE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY At the beginning of the survey Catholic Revivalism and Religion in the Old South were mentioned.

As usual there were a number of fine books on some aspects of Puritanism. Two that are of popular interest and also treat other colonists are In Small Things Forgotten: The Archaeology of Early American Life by James Deetz (Doubleday Anchor) and a well-written and documented study of The Protestant Temperament: Patterns of Child-Rearing, Religious Experience, and the Self in Early America by Philip Greven (Knopf).

An important theme of the preceding book is brought into the nineteenth century in Children in the New England Mind: In Death and in Life by Peter Gregg Slater (Archon). Much of this ground is also ably covered in The Puritan Way of Death: A Study in Religion, Culture, and Social Change by David Stannard (Oxford). Many things about Puritan child-rearing practices that seem unusual to us are more readily comprehensible when we are reminded how high was the infant and child mortality rate.

The Faith of the Pilgrims by Robert Bartlett (United Church Press) is an extremely sympathetic account of the Plymouth Colony, as distinct from the far more influential Bay Colony. Primary sources are compiled and commented upon to give a distinctly unsympathetic account in Puritans, Indians, and Manifest Destiny by Charles Segal and David Stinebeck (Putnam). The tragic conflicts between peoples of different cultures and technologies have been a permanent strand of human history. Puritans and other Christians, though hardly blameless, are certainly far from the worst examples.

Two important works by the greatest Puritan and colonial thinker are combined in Apocalyptic Writings, volume five in The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Yale). Stephen Stein edited a never published commentary on the last book of the Bible together with a response by Edwards to the decline in fervor following the Great Awakening. The lingering impact of Puritanism, particularly in Hawthorne and Melville is the subject of The Middle Way: Puritanism and Ideology in American Romantic Fiction by Michael Gilmore (Rutgers).

Far more typical of later religious history than New England were the Middle Atlantic states. Jon Butler compares four denominations and shows that colonial religion was not so “democratic” as often asserted in Power, Authority, and the Origins of American Denominational Order (American Philosophical Society).

The Revolutionary period is well represented by Christians in the American Revolution by Mark Noll (Eerdmans) and The Sacred Cause of Liberty: Republican Thought and the Millennium in Revolutionary New England by Nathan Hatch (Yale), both of whom are able younger evangelical historians. By contrast, the confidence and frequency with which judgments of what God must think are expressed in The Light and the Glory by Peter Marshall and David Manuel (Revell) and America’s Revolutionary Spirit: The Evangelical Religious Heritage of the Nation by John Terry (Exposition) are reminiscent of a much older style of historical writing. There are weighty theological reasons for refusing to identify America with either the old or the new Canaan.

Two recent historical studies with considerable significance for the relationships between Christianity and science are Protestants in an Age of Science: The Baconian Ideal and Antebellum American Religious Thought by Theodore Dwight Bozeman (University of North Carolina) and Creation by Natural Law: Laplace’s Nebular Hypothesis in American Thought by Ronald Numbers (University of Washington).

A major study, especially helpful for those only familiar with polemics, is Foundations of the Seventh-day Adventist Message and Mission by P. Gerard Damsteegt (Eerdmans), in which the focus is on 1850–1874. A friendly nonmember and critic, Geoffrey Paxton, traces to the present the Adventist tension between traditionally Protestant and Catholic ways of viewing salvation in The Shaking of Adventism (Baker).

Sympathetic biographies of a variety of nineteenth-century religious leaders to note: The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney by Thomas Gary Johnson (Banner of Truth reprint), Dagger John: The Unquiet Life and Times of Archbishop John Hughes of New York by Richard Shaw (Paulist), McGuffey and His Readers by John Westerhoff III (Abingdon), God Sent Revival: The Story of Asahel Nettleton and the Second Great Awakening by J. F. Thornbury (Heritage (Box 411, Lewis-burg, PA 17837]), Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority by Robert Peel (Holt), the third volume of a trilogy, and The Night Cometh by Rebecca Winter (Carey), on Arthur and Lewis Tappan.

NORTH AMERICA: TWENTIETH CENTURY The noteworthy study Armageddon Now! was mentioned at the beginning of this survey. To help put religious developments in perspective by seeing them against the backdrop of the country generally, see Americans in a Changing World by William Appleman Williams (Harper & Row).

“Christian Change in a Changing America” is approached in various aspects and methodologies, but the needed comprehensive treatment is still lacking. Why Conservative Churches Are Growing by Dean Kelley (Harper & Row) is in an updated edition telling of one set of changes, and Richard Quebedeaux’s The Worldly Evangelicals (Harper & Row) tells of another. Climb Along the Cutting Edge by John Chittister et al. (Paulist) is a thorough study of one of the biggest areas of change in recent years, that of Catholic nuns. Prolific priest-sociologist Andrew Greeley tells of two other areas that haven’t changed so much as some would like to think: he celebrates Neighborhood (Seabury) and deplores An Ugly Little Secret: Anti-Catholicism in North America (Sheed). J. Russell Hale reports on a study he made in six scattered counties where church membership is very low to find out Who Are the Unchurched? (Glenmary Research Center [4606 East-West Hwy., Washington, DC 20014]). Increasing diversity in both secular and religious beliefs led to a conference whose addresses are included in Religious Liberty in the Crossfire of Creeds edited by Franklin Littell (Ecumenical Press [Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19122]).

Denominational studies include examinations of two major mergers in The Formation of the Lutheran Church in America by Johannes Knudsen (Fortress) and The Shaping of the United Church of Christ by Louis Gunnemann (United Church Press) as well as a major split in Anatomy of an Explosion: A Theological Analysis of the Missouri Synod Conflict by Kurt Marquart (Baker). Carl Brumback’s history of the beginning of Pentecostalism and the Assemblies of God is reprinted in two volumes, A Sound From Heaven and Like a River (Gospel Publishing House). The Church That Produced a President is an anecdotal introduction by James and Marti Hefley to their and Carter’s denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention (Wyden).

Two enthusiastic accounts of evangelistic movements: It’s a Sin to Bore a Kid: The Story of Young Life by Char Meredith (Word) and A Movement of Miracles by Bill Bright (Campus Crusade) on the recent Here’s Life campaigns.

Books on minorities are increasing. Black Redemption: Churchmen Speak for the Garvey Movement is a compilation by Randall Burkett of sermons in support of a major black movement of the twenties (Temple University). Also see Images of the Black Preacher by H. Beecher Hicks, Jr. (Judson) and This Far by Faith: American Black Worship and Its African Roots (National Office for Black Catholics). Brief but useful reports on another minority that involuntarily became part of American society are Christian Leadership in Indian America edited by Tom Claus and Dale Kietzman (Moody) and The Navajos Are Coming to Jesus by Thomas Dolaghan and David Scates (Carey).

Biographies of prominent twentieth-century religious figures: Eugene Carson Blake: Prophet With Portfolio by R. Douglas Brackenridge (Seabury), The Anita Bryant Story by Anita Bryant (Revell), Baker James Cauthen: A Man for All Nations by Jesse Fletcher (Broadman), George Burman Foster: Religious Humanist by Alan Gragg (Association of Baptist Professors of Religion [Box 2190, Danville, VA 24541]), From Power to Peace, an autobiography by Jeb Stuart Magruder (Word) and For This I Was Born: The Captivating Story of Louis T. Talbot by Carol Talbot (Moody).

LATIN AMERICA In his usual carefully documented style J. Edwin Orr tells us of Evangelical Awakenings in Latin America (Bethany Fellowship). The prevailing Catholicism and its recent major changes is the subject of Hugo Latorre Cabal’s Revolution of the Latin American Church (University of Oklahoma). W. Douglas Smith, Jr., has produced a careful study, full of charts, and discusses principles applicable elsewhere in Toward Continuous Mission: Strategizing for the Evangelization of Bolivia (Carey). Two non-Christian movements that are prominent in Jamaica and Rio de Janeiro, respectively, are The Rastafarians by Leonard Barrett (Beacon) and Macumba: The Teachings of Maria-Jose, Mother of the Gods (St. Martin’s).

AFRICA A major collection of scholarly essays that should be in seminary and Bible college libraries is African Religions edited by Newell Booth (Nok [150 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10011]). Two monographs: Politics and Christianity in Malawi, 1875–1940 by John McCracken (Cambridge) and Frontier Peoples of Central Nigeria by Gerald Swank (Carey).

ASIA-PACIFIC Three scholarly monographs have come to my attention that missions libraries should have: Christian Missions to Muslims: Anglican and Reformed Approaches in India and the Near East, 1800–1938 by Lyle Vander Werff (Carey), W.A.P. Martin: Pioneer of Progress in China by Ralph Coveil (Eerdmans), and Reluctant Mission: The Anglican Church in Papua New Guinea, 1891–1942 by David Wetherell (University of Queensland [c/o TIC, 5 S. Union St., Lawrence, MA 01843]).

One of the larger Christian groups in New Zealand, with a strong missionary outreach, are the Plymouth Brethren. See a detailed scholarly history by Peter Lineham, There We Found Brethren (GPH [c/o Everyday, 230 Glebemount Ave., Toronto, Canada M4C 3T4]).

Lords of the Earth by Don Richardson (Regal) is an especially good example of a popular mission tale. Although the focus is on an Australian, Stan Dale, and his ministry among the Sawi tribe of New Guinea, much of the exciting and moving narrative is related from the viewpoint of the people into whose midst these outsiders of strange ways and beliefs intruded. Other popularly aimed books: Fire in the Islands! The Acts of the Holy Spirit in the Solomons by Alison Griffiths (Harold Shaw), Amazed by Love, an autobiography by G. D. James, an Asian evangelist (Asian Action [G.P.O. 579, Singapore]), Servant of Love: Mother Teresa and Her Missionaries of Charity by Edward Le Joly (Harper & Row), Higher Ground by Eloise Cauthen (Broadman), a biography of her father, Wiley Glass, missionary to China, and Come Walk the World: Personal Experience of Hurt and Hope by World Vision leader W. Stanley Mooneyham (Word).

D. Bruce Lockerbie is chairman of the Fine Arts department at The Stony Brook School, Stony Brook, New York. This article is taken from his 1976 lectures on Christian Life and Thought, delivered at Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado.

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