Book Briefs: May 29, 1981

A Biblical Radical

The Radical Wesley and Patterns of Church Renewal, by Howard A. Snyder (Inter-Varsity, 1980, 188 pp., $5.25), is reviewed by Paul A. Mickey, associate professor of pastoral theology, Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina.

Was John Wesley Anabaptist? Yes! Was he Anglican? Yes! Author Howard Snyder says so.

Was John Wesley Establishment? Definitely! Was he a Charismatic? But, of course! That, too, is Snyder’s word on Wesley.

Come, come now, one might protest. But Snyder insists—and I agree—that Wesley was a radical in the truest biblical sense of the word. The secret to the radical Wesley is his doctrine of the church (pp. 5–7) that at one and the same time places emphasis equally on inner experience (Moravian, Anabaptist, Mennonite influence), the sacraments (Church of England and Roman Catholic influence), and the outward, social witness through the Classes and Societies (Wesley’s own theory).

In Chapter 11, “The Wesleyan Synthesis,” we are told how the unique and powerful theological and practical syntheses of apparent opposites were kept in balance as John Wesley rediscovered and reintegrated the radical biblical themes of institutional and charismatic dimensions of the church and Christian experience (pp. 150, 154).

The other equally radical aspect of Wesley’s ministry was his identification with the poor. In his Journal, March 31, 1739, he writes, “At four in the afternoon I submitted to be more vile, and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation.” The Wesleyan revival spread primarily because “it was a movement largely for and among the poor” (p. 33).

I found greatest help in chapter 3, “Preaching to the Poor,” and in chapter 12, “Wesley and the Church Today,” in which a critique of Wesley’s social and political conservatism is offered (pp. 150–60).

Snyder provides a very insightful study of Wesley, illuminating the spiritual depth, theological strength, and social radicality of Wesley, the reformer and evangelist. The evangelical spirit in Wesleyan circles is on the move again, and Howard Snyder is an excellent guide to challenge that move to the depths that made John Wesley the biblical radical he was and wanted his followers to be.

The Celtic Church As Example

Renewal in Christ, As the Celtic Church Led “the Way,” by Edward W. Stimson (Vantage Press, 1979, 372 pp., $10.00), is reviewed by Robert M. Sutton, professor of history and director of the Illinois Historical Survey at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

Every now and then a book appears that seems to have more than one audience in mind. Renewal in Christ is clearly one of those books. It is on the one hand a historical treatise that explores the activity and vitality of the early Celtic church in Britain, Scotland, and Ireland; but it is also a plea for late twentieth-century church renewal based upon the fundamentals of the faith as practiced by Celtic believers of the early Christian era.

Edward Stimson is a scholar and an evangelical Christian now retired after a long and fruitful ministry in the United Presbyterian church. One cannot help being genuinely impressed by his skillful weaving of history with tradition, as well as his sincere and deeply felt personal concern for the “Way.”

The history of the early church with which Stimson deals is largely unknown in this country. Reconstructing what at times must be a shadowy account of the interaction of secular and clerical leaders, he frequently allows the participants to speak for themselves from the sources. This is especially true of his treatment of Saint Patrick and his remarkable accomplishments during the fifth century A.D.

There is a ring of prophetic truth about the volume as the author shows from history how the Celtic church not only evangelized the greater part of the British Isles, but also renewed the faith in Europe with a missionary zeal that reached all the way from Ireland to Lombardy, Switzerland, and lands beyond the Rhine and Danube. Implicit in all of this is Stimson’s deep concern for the church in our world today, and his strongly held hope that the example of the Celtic church may serve as a paradigm to call his own beloved United Presbyterian church back to a more wholesome balance between biblical nurture and legitimate social concern.

Perhaps Stimson’s prescription could have an even wider application. Can anyone doubt the need for the Celtic heritage with its emphasis on the New Testament “way” of truth and life in Jesus Christ to reawaken and inspire us all?

Theology For A New Generation

Lectures in Systematic Theology, by Henry C. Thiessen and revised by Vernon D. Doerksen (Eerdmans, 1979, 450 pp., $13.95), is reviewed by Charles C. Ryrie, professor of systematic theology, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.

In his time, Thiessen, the late chairman of the faculty of the graduate school at Wheaton College, stood as a giant of orthodoxy. His one-volume theology was widely used during the 30 years before this revision was done by Vernon Doerksen, associate dean at Talbot Theological Seminary.

Anyone acquainted with the original work will especially want to know what kinds of revisions have been made. The preface indicates that certain sections—such as those on inspiration, election, imputation, pretribulationism—have been “extensively revised”; newer source material has replaced some citations from older authorities; a bibliography has been added; and the NASB has been used in place of the ASV.

The revision appears, on rough calculation, to be about 70 pages shorter overall. Indexes have been adapted; there are relatively few footnotes, new or old, though there are many Scripture references. The revision preserves the very teachable outline and often polishes it. The original pretribulational, premillennial position of Thiessen has been strengthened in the chapter on the Rapture.

Any reviewer can find something he might wish had been added or elaborated; but certainly, five lines on inerrancy in a section that was extensively revised, is far too little for the 1980s.

Especially interesting are the evident differences between Thiessen and Doerksen. Thiessen believed foreknowledge on which election was based was prescience; Doerksen relates foreknowledge to actual choice. Thiessen allowed for a long interval between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2; Doerksen prefers not to do so. Thiessen was noncommittal about the length of the creative days; Doerksen may prefer solar days. Thiessen favored the Augustinian view of imputed sin; Doerksen proposes the “corporate personality view.” Certainly the inclusion of these alternate views is desirable; but one wonders about the propriety of not indicating in any way which views are not Thiessen’s.

Laymen, pastors, and teachers who liked the original Thiessen volume will find this revision even more useful.

Early Christian Communities

The Community of the Beloved Disciple, by Raymond Brown (Paulist Press, 1979, 204 pp., $3.95), is reviewed by David W. Wead, pastor of Boones Creek Church of Christ, Johnson City, Tennessee, and assistant professor of Bible at Johnson Bible College, Knoxville, Tennessee.

This work comes out of research requisite to Brown’s presidential address before the Society of Biblical Literature in 1977 and the Shaffer Lectures he delivered at Yale in 1978. The book portrays the development of one segment of the earliest church, that connected with the “Beloved Disciple,” in the period 30 to 60 years after the lifetime of Jesus.

Brown believes that the original group who accepted Jesus as the Davidic Messiah joined with another antitemple group who understood Jesus against a Mosaic background. Together they developed a high, preexistent Christology that led to their expulsion from the Jewish synagogue. This high Christology also led to a split separating them from certain elements of Jewish Christianity. In a third stage, one segment of this community, “the secessionists,” denied that Jesus was fully human and took a path that ultimately led to Gnosticism. The orthodox group, seen in the Epistles, confessed Jesus’ full humanity and ultimately came back into union with the Great Church.

Brown bases his “detective work” on the presupposition that the Sitz im Leben of that particular segment of Christianity would lead them to preserve in their writings (the Gospel and epistles of John) those events and teachings from the life of Jesus that had become a part of their own experience. Thus we can trace the history of the community of the Beloved Disciple from its choice of events, and the attitudes important enough to be preserved in the writings.

Not everyone will agree with Brown’s thesis; however, the study done and the lines of thought opened up make for interesting reading. It is well worth the effort just to keep one’s own perceptions sharpened up.

Pornography Rejected

Pornography: A Christian Critique, by John H. Court (InterVarsity, 1980, 96 pp., $2.95), is reviewed by Robert C. Roberts, Department of Philosophy and Religion, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

J. H. Court, a clinical psychologist, examines some arguments for allowing pornography to be available to the general public. He aims much of his discussion at the 1970 Presidential Commission Report on Obscenity and Pornography, which concluded that pornographic materials do not increase sex crimes, and indeed, tend to decrease them by diverting potential offenders from crime into harmless looking at magazines and watching of movies. It also suggested that if pornography is freely available, people soon tire of it and sales drop off, reducing the criminal activities associated with the trade. Another argument holds that restrictive laws against pornography violate freedom of speech.

Along with the arguments above. Court expounds three other “arguments.” He points out that perverts like the Marquis de Sade prefer hatred to love, and might argue that pornography is good because it is destructive. Some revolutionaries argue that it is a good thing because it leads to the destruction of the family, while others argue that it is good because it loosens up traditional standards of sexual morality. These “arguments” are obviously not the sort that would be used in a presidential commission report. Neither would the first two be likely to have wide appeal as arguments. The book, which is organized around these various “arguments,” thus gives a certain feeling of organizational artificiality.

Court therefore is addressing two rather different challenges to Christian intuitions about pornography: one is sociological, and one is philosophical. I cannot give expert judgment on Court’s sociological arguments, but they seem convincing to me: all the arguments holding that when pornographic materials become more available sex crimes decrease and the public becomes satiated are either bad arguments or based on highly questionable data. The truth seems to be that sex crimes do increase with greater availability of pornography.

I also accept Court’s philosophical observation that you cannot argue morals with people whose world view is that destroying people, or the nuclear family, or people’s moral inhibitions about sex, is a good thing. In contest with such people, all we can do is to continue to hold up the Christian world view, and warn those who are well disposed toward it not to be duped by the tactics of the destroyers. In response to those who say that restricting pornography violates freedom of speech. Court insists that freedom of speech must always be qualified: we do not allow people the freedom to libel one another, and similarly we should not allow them the freedom to corrupt our minds.

If the book were written more clearly, I would recommend it without qualification. As it stands, I simply recommend it.

The Final Triumph Of God

Songs of Heaven, by Robert E. Coleman (Revell, 1980, 159 pp., $6.95), is reviewed by Sylvia Rose Rolland, librarian, Renewal Center, Florissant, Missouri.

What about worship in heaven? In this unusual devotional study, the author highlights the “songs heard around the throne” as he presents and explains the Book of the Revelation in language that every adult reader can understand.

He states his purpose is to “lift out the songs in the Revelation, see them in their context, analyze their essential messages, and then apply some pertinent aspects of the truth to our lives today.” He achieves this goal in an appealing manner throughout the book. Some of the appeal seems to stem from the character of the book, which is meditative-reflective, rather than academic-disputative.

Occasional overstatements occur. I note, for example, Coleman states in chapter 3 that “redemption is solely the unmerited gift of eternal love,” that “Jesus literally paid it all,” that “all man can do is quit the futile game of pretending to be self-sufficient, affirm the completed work of Christ, and by simple faith receive the transfusion of the Savior’s life.”

There are Christians who might contend that this fails to convey the total truth, and that faith without works is dead. However, it should be pointed out that in chapter 10, in explaining the judgment of the righteous, Coleman does emphasize the necessity of good works in addition to and as a result of faith.

There is consistency in the presentation of all known theories and/or explanations of the Scripture quotations used. This is definitely a good feature that helps the reader realize that no single interpretation is being pressed. The relationship of the Book of the Revelation to our everyday life is well delineated, giving the book a strong, practical value. An additional asset is the book’s extensive and thorough bibliography.

The spirit of this book is twofold: one of peaceful reassurance of the final triumph of good, and one of joy in our own participation now in heavenly worship.

Anyone who wants to find the right blend of ingredients to make the Book of the Revelation appealing, satisfying, and useful in living the Christian life more deeply will surely find it here.

A Very Great Man

John R. Mott, 1865–1955: A Biography, by C. Howard Hopkins (Eerdmans, 1979, 816 pp., $19.95), is reviewed by William C. Ringenberg, professor of history, Taylor University, Upland, Indiana.

Lives of great men oft remind us,

We can make our lives sublime;

And departing leave behind us

Footprints in the sands of time.

C. Howard Hopkins presents John R. Mott as both a great and a unique man. While the label “great” is ascribed to more people than it actually fits, and while few people are truly unique, Hopkins convincingly supports his claim for his subject.

Under Mott’s direction at the turn of the century, the American college YMCA movement reached its peak as the most widespread student Christian organization in American history. Almost simultaneously he became the director of the Y’s missionary arm, the Student Volunteer Movement, (SVM), through which thousands of superbly trained and able youths committed themselves to careers as foreign missionaries. Mott traveled almost constantly to organize and visit student organizations.

In 1891 he made the first of over 100 Atlantic crossings to study and promote the international student movement. A 20-month world tour in the mid-1890s resulted in the formation of the worldwide counterpart of the American Y movement, the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), the leadership of which he then added to his continuing duties with the American student Y work and the SVM.

Just as Mott sought to unite Christian students throughout the world into the WSCF, so also in his later years he became increasingly interested in the unity of Christians of all ages and countries. His efforts contributed significantly to the growing ecumenical movement that in his lifetime culminated in the founding of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Unlike many of the leaders and supporters of the WCC and the YMCA, he did not abandon his concern for personal evangelism as he became increasingly interested in social concerns and church unity.

Mott enjoyed the privilege of being honored as a prophet in his own time. President Woodrow Wilson spoke for many when he described him as “certainly one of the most useful men of the world.” His repute is further illustrated by the attractive positions that were offered to him—and which he turned down (e.g., the presidencies of Moody Bible Institute, Oberlin College, and Princeton University; the deanship of Yale Divinity School; the leadership of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ; and the post of ambassador to China). He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1946. Perhaps no one has exerted so much influence for good on American college students. Few Americans have been as well known—and appreciated—abroad.

Despite Mott’s great importance in the history of Christianity during the first half of the twentieth century and before, he has not been a well-known figure to the modern generation. Therein lies the importance of this book, for it is the first comprehensive biography of Mott. He now should become increasingly recognized and appreciated. My fear, however, is that the book is so comprehensive that its great length will limit the number of readers. Rarely should a popular biography exceed 400 to 500 pages—not even for a Mott.

Whatever the ultimate readership of the book, Hopkins has written a biography worthy of his subject. He literally followed Mott around the world in search of source material, and committed 15 years of his life to the project. Hopkins’s qualifications for the task were as great as his dedication to it, for he previously authored standard histories of the YMCA in America, and the social gospel in America. The result is a very good biography of a very great man.

BRIEFLY NOTED

Numerous books covering the Reformation have recently appeared. Surveys, as well as primary sources, are among them. In particular, works related to neglected Reformation traditions are appearing in greater numbers.

Surveys. Lewis Spitz’s valuable 1971 The Renaissance and Reformation Movements, two volumes (Concordia), has been republished in paperback. It will be gratefully used by a new generation of students; unfortunately, however, the bibliographies were not updated. A straightforward, somewhat political history of the time is Europe in the Reformation (Prentice-Hall), by Peter J. Klassen. Theology and Revolution in the Scottish Reformation (Christian Univ. Press/Eerdmans), by Richard L. Greaves, are nicely done studies in the thought of John Knox. Rome and the Counter-Reformation in Scandinavia (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo; Columbia Univ. Press), by Oskar Garstein, is volume two of a study, this one covering 1583–1622. The work is without peer on the subject and certain to be definitive. The notes and bibliography alone cover almost 200 pages.

Sources.Luther: Early Theological Works (Westminster), edited by James Atkinson, contains four important works from 1517–21. The Theologia Germania of Martin Luther (Paulist), edited by Bengt Hoffman, is a fine translation of Luther’s 1518 version of this important earlier work. Luther placed it next to the Bible and Augustine in value. Melancthon and Bucer (Westminster), edited by Wilhelm Pauck, is primarily the Loci Communes Theologici and De Regno Christi. Analysis of the Institutes of the Christian Religion of John Calvin (Baker), by the late Ford Lewis Battles, is an excellent outline of Calvin’s Institutes. Erasmus on His Times (Cambridge Univ.), by Margaret Mann Phillips, is a shortened version of The Adages of Erasmus, now in paperback. John Eck’s Enchiridion of Commonplaces Against Luther and Other Enemies of the Church (Baker) has been translated by the late Ford Lewis Battles. This is the only available English translation of Eck’s controversial work. Martin Chemnitz’s Enchiridion has been nicely translated into English by Luther Poellot in Ministry, Word, and Sacraments (Concordia). J. C. Wenger has put together selected writings from sixteenth-century Anabaptists in A Faith to Live By (Herald Press).

Studies. H. G. Haile has written an experimental biography, developing primarily the later years in Luther (Doubleday). The Life and Faith of Martin Luther (Northwestern), by Adolph Fehlauer, will be appreciated by high-schoolers. Reflections on Luther’s Small Catechism (Concordia), by Daniel Overduin, is a set of four short paperbacks that effectively develops Luther’s basic thoughts. A major contribution to Luther studies is Luther and Staupitz (Duke Univ. Press), by David C. Steinmetz. No Other Gospel (Northwestern), edited by Arnold J. Koelpin, is a helpful collection of essays in commemoration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the Formula of Concord. The Role of the Augsburg Confessions (Fortress/Paulist), edited by Joseph A. Burgess, is an irenic collection of Catholic and Lutheran essays. Potchefstroomse University for Christian Higher Education, R.S.A., has made available two valuable works; Contemporary Research on the Sixteenth Century Reformation and the nicely illustrated From Novon to Geneva: A Pilgrimage in the Steps of John Calvin (1509–1564), both by B. J. Van der Walt.

Heinrich Bullinger and the Covenant (Ohio Univ.), by J. Wayne Baker, is a major work that analyzes Bullinger’s place in the covenantal reformed tradition, arguing that he was the first covenant theologian. Two interesting works deal with the “radical reformation”: The Reformers and Their Stepchildren (Baker), by Leonard Verduin, and The Golden Years of the Hutterites: The Witness and Thought of the Communal Moravian Anabaptists during the Walpot Era. 1565–1578 (Herald Press), by Leonard Gross. Both are excellent studies.

The Waldensians: The First 800 Years (Claudiana/The American Waldensian Aid Society, 475 Riverside Dr., N. Y.) is an illustrated, helpful survey of this important tradition.

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