Page 5816 – Christianity Today (2024)

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At a Billy Graham team meeting at which I spoke late last month I learned that Mr. Graham will speak to America via television on New Year’s Eve. Since a national hook-up was not available the message will be broadcast at different hours in various parts of the country.

Churches that hold watch-night services might consider bringing in a large TV set for the Graham telecast. He has a powerful and needed message at a critical point in world history. I hope all our readers will be sure to hear him on December 31.

In this issue I commend to your attention the article on “Comets in the Bible,” a subject that may have important implications in the days ahead. And feast your hearts on Tom Howard’s perceptive thoughts on the need for mountain-top moments, for experiences in which we scale the heights that then lead to the valleys.

The people in the Old Testament looked forward to the Incarnation, and we look back on it. But we look forward to the second coming of the Lord. At this Christmas season I send you greetings from the CHRISTIANITY TODAY staff, and our word to you is this: Jesus came; he is coming!

John Warwick Montgomery

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Conscientious readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY (and is there any other kind?) may recall my articles of several years back on the Paris theater (issues of July 17, 1970, and January 15, 1971). These essays were predicated on the conviction that it is a mark not of spirituality but of unspirituality to “throw all secular theatrical activities into outer darkness.” Now—encouraged negatively by the memory of the delightfully unprintable letters I received after those articles, and positively by C. T.’s new arts feature, “The Refiner’s Fire”—I am ready to go at it again.

But what is an inveterate francophile doing in London? Admittedly, I share the strongest characteristic common to my Scots ancestors and my adopted French countrymen: suspicion of the English. I generally use Heathrow Airport as a necessary evil in the flight from Paris to Edinburgh. However, my tune has had to change in light of the ethereal quality of the current London theater season. Is there anywhere else in the world where one could see on stage in a single week Alec Guinness, Paul Scofield, Kenneth More, Anthony Newley, Lauren Bacall—and, to counter the racial imbalance, the greatest of contemporary Scottish folksingers, Kenneth McKellar?

As in all great theater (think of the drama of the Greek golden age and the medieval Everyman plays), theology abounded. Sometimes it was indirect, sometimes almost painfully direct; always it was there. The theater by its very nature tries to say something about the universal man, and you can’t touch life’s mainsprings without touching its relationship to heaven.

The most explicitly theological production was an often irreverent but thought-provoking musical, The Good Old Bad Old Days!, written by and starring the irrepressible Anthony Newley. (Americans will recall him as Rex Harrison’s sidekick in the movie version of Dr. Doolittle.) The story line is really cribbed from Genesis 18 and the Book of Job: God (“Gramps”) and Beelzebub (“Bubba”—Newley) observe the human drama, and the Lord asks himself if the time has not come to destroy the race for its repeated acts of selfishness.

The succession of tableaux offers a Cook’s tour through history from ancient times to our century, which begins in a lavatory, features such events as the World Wars (“a cast of millions—all dying”), and terminates with signs proclaiming KIDNAP, RAPE, FAMINE, DRUGS, POLLUTION. During all the scene changes, the stable element is the leaning tower of Pisa—representing man’s bent world and perhaps also suggesting Babel. In spite of the cop-out ending (Gramps and Bubba go off together for a holiday!), the production has some deeply moving and significant moments; the historical high point is the Puritans’ endeavor to find a new Eden, and few will forget their song: “Aren’t you glad you’re alive this glorious Thanksgiving Day?… Thanks for a world that’s always new.”

Kenneth More assured the success of Signs of the Times, whose theme is astrology. This light-hearted comedy centers on a cynical newspaper man who has the misfortune to be chosen as the London Times’ first astrological columnist. As it turns out, he really does have a prophetic gift, though it depends not upon the stars but upon a latent psychic power in him. The play underscores the reality of the super-sensible, while warning against simplistic interpretations of it. There are some classic lines, such as: “Religion is what you believe in but don’t act on; superstition you don’t believe in but do act on.”

Far and away the most important of current London plays is Christopher Hampton’s Savages, starring Paul Scofield (who brought Thomas More to life in A Man For All Seasons). The plot is deceptively simple: a slightly pompous, jaded English diplomat is captured and finally killed by Brazilian revolutionaries. His experiences—woven from actual events of current Brazilian history—show how little difference there is between Western capitalist exploitation of the natives and Marxist, revolutionary exploitation. In neither case do the “civilized” protagonists really care for the native: their interest is his absorption into their world-view and value system, even if it destroys him. French structural anthropologist Lévi-Strauss, to whom the playwright is indebted, explicates the lesson in his classic L’Origine des manières de table, when he notes that Sartre’s adage, “hell is other people,” is but a modern heresy (we love to attribute the problems of human nature to “the others”—the Communists, the capitalists, etc.), whereas the myths of certain primitive peoples remind us that “hell is ourselves.”

A particularly effective scene in Savages is the diplomat’s visit to a missionary compound, where the sincere, activistic American missionary (not at all stereotyped as in Michener) nonetheless hopelessly confuses the task of preaching the Gospel with the need to give the natives “a sense of private ownership.” How terrible when this confusion occurs, for then the natives’ true needs—to which their myths point—are lost in the imposition of a non-revelational lifestyle. Cried the Brazilian aborigine: “There is no joy in the field of the dead”; may our missionary church present only Christ, not the American way of life, as resurrection!

Habeas Corpus, by Alan Bennett, though it stars Alec Guinness, does not plumb such archetypal depths. Guinness plays an aging physician who, like all those around him, is preoccupied by sexual fantasies, and who imagines that somehow his problems would evaporate and life take on meaning if he could only have new and different physical experiences. “He is a doctor; what more does he want?” “Not more; different.” But this is a foolish illusion: “Having you I didn’t want you.” The playgoer is reminded that “if you get your heart’s desire, death will claim it all” anyway; and the Anglican clergyman in the play, instead of offering the corpus Christi as the true solution, is himself embroiled in a life of fantasy: “We could be at the forefront of Anglican sexuality: married and free!”

Bennett’s play, of the several current London productions, most reminded me of the one Broadway import I saw: Applause, with Lauren Bacall. Again the theme was aging and again the error was the confusion of fantasy with reality (this time, fantasy = show business itself). How common it is for us to sacrifice ourselves or our nation on the altar of a false god. “What are you living for? Applause!”

A good counteractive was Kenneth McKellar at the Palladium. I’m not ashamed to admit that he brought tears to my eyes when he sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic: “In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea / With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me.” That transfiguration is the only corrective to illusion, the only way to pass from life’s stage to eternal habitations when the curtain comes down.

- More fromJohn Warwick Montgomery

James S. Tinney

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Relations between American blacks and American Jews, deteriorating during the past five years, took a sudden turn for the worse with recent Mideast conflicts.

While Jews rallied to raise millions of dollars to support Israel (some even flew over to fight), blacks were supporting American-Arab appeals and even considering becoming CO’s if U. S. troops were called into the battle. The Afro-American Newspaper chain asked editorially, “Will Blacks Be Forced to Kill Africans?” Such reactions were not entirely new. The National Black Political Convention last year took a stand in favor of Arab nations, following the lead of dozens of black nationalist groups. (Blacks are aware that Arabs and many Africans share a common Islamic faith, and that, in fact, some of the African states are indeed Arab states).

If such moves appeared suicidal ten years ago when some civil-rights organizations were benefiting from Jewish contributions, they no longer do so, what with increasing political consciousness among blacks. It was almost ironic that Atlanta, for example, which last year saw Jews give the prestigious Temple Award to black insurance executive Jesse Hill, Jr., saw Maynard Jackson become the city’s first black mayor, wresting the reins from the city’s first Jewish mayor—and scarcely hours apart from the Mideast eruption. (Jackson, however, did credit local whites, including some Jews, with supporting his candidacy, but he refused to comment on the Mideast situation.)

Caught in the middle of all this are thousands of blacks who follow the Jewish faith. (In 1969, Time reported there were about 350,000 black Jews in the United States, a figure many feel is exaggerated.) And though reports have not as yet come back, it is thought that the Mideast war put increased burdens on hundreds of blacks in Israel, expatriate Americans, some of whom had already been ordered to leave.

Who are these black Jews? And what do they believe? There are at least three categories of blacks who follow some form of black Judaism in America (in addition to blacks in white Jewish synagogues, and in addition to the Falashas—Jews in Africa dating to the sixth century b.c.): Black Jews, Black Hebrews, and Black Israelites.

Black Jews as a separate, small grouping are black Americans who believe that Negroes are truly Jews but who accept Christ as a prophet.

These Black Jews are divided into at least two organizations: the Church of God and Saints of Christ (COG-SOC) dating from 1896 in Lawrence, Kansas (current headquarters: Portsmouth, Virginia), and the Church of God (Black Jews) with slightly later origins in Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia COG represents a more cultic variation. Started by Prophet F. S. Cherry after Christ supposedly appeared to him, this group substitutes the Passover observance for the Lord’s Supper, while retaining baptism by immersion. It uses Christian hymns, the Bible and Talmud, Yiddish and Hebrew, and practices no unusual dress except for skullcaps during worship. Members are, however, forbidden to speak in tongues, eat pork, observe Christian holidays, divorce, or take photographs. They may drink moderately. Pianos, public collections, and emotionalism in worship are shunned also.

The COG-SOC has developed similar traditions. Founded by Prophet William S. Crowdy, its 38,000 members in 217 churches opened a modern 110-acre youth camp in Galestown, Maryland, in 1970. To this camp come hundreds of youths all summer, many of them at the direction of court officers. The church also operates homes for orphans and the aged, schools, farmlands, and missions in Africa and the West Indies. Like other Black Jews, they worship on Saturdays; but two distinctive practices are the use of water rather than juice or wine for Communion, and the practice of smearing the exteriors of their homes with animal blood during Passover seasons.

Neither of these can be called Zionistic. The COG considers white Jews impostors and thus would tend to support Arab causes, while the COG-SOC claims to be only “the lost tribe of Israel,” and therefore identifies with all other Jews.

The second major division, Black Hebrews, includes numerous groups, mostly in large Eastern cities plus Chicago, St. Louis, and, surprisingly, Salt Lake City. Most local congregations look to either New York or Chicago for origins; the former identify with white Orthodox Jews, and the latter with white conservative Jews.

A few weeks ago, during Yom Kippur, Rabbi W. A. Matthews, for fifty years a leader of the Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, led a hundred Harlemites on a walk to the East River in New York where they ritually pleaded for their sins to be cast into the depths of the waters and forgotten. Matthews’s group refuses to be called Negroes (“we are the original Hebrews”), and it also practices conjuring. Other than that, this group of reportedly 150,000 followers in seven cities differs not at all from Orthodox Judaism.

Matthews himself is from Africa. Because his father was a Falasha Jew there, Orthodox Jews consider Matthews entitled to rabbinic instruction, and he has studied in Cincinnati and Berlin. With a long history of association with white Jews, his group operates many businesses in Harlem as well as a home for the aged.

The Chicago following has about half a dozen congregations known as the United Hebrew Congregation, the House of Israel, and the Hebrew Cultural Center. One of the leaders, Rabbi Robert Divine, was educated in Conservative Judaistic schools, and this group also looks toward white Jews (though their whiteness is seen to be a result of a curse).

The Black Hebrews in Chicago predict they will return to Israel some day, though not any time soon. Even though they regard the U. S. as “Egypt,” they are attempting to build a huge synagogue in Chicago. Like New York followers, they would support Israel in any Arab-Israeli conflict.

The last American grouping, the Black Israelites, has attracted the most publicity because of its attempts to migrate to Africa and then to Israel within the past few years. Technically it uses the name Original Hebrew Israelite Nation, and represents thousands of followers in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago (where a political unit is known as Bonazi-King).

Although as many as 1,000 have migrated to Israel since 1969, all but perhaps 400 have returned to the United States. The Israeli government refused to admit more of them; it says they form a “fifth column” within the state and in fact tell the others, “You’re not the real Jews. We are.” Politically, the migrants support the Arabs, many joining “Black Panther” groups of Middle East and African Jews, and there have been fights between them and Zionists. A recent issue of Flash, an official publication from Damascus, identifies their continuing struggle with Israel as a racist-political one. And the Black Israelites heighten the contest by declaring, “Israel will one day be a country run totally by black men.” Last month the Israeli government put off expelling more Black Israelites until December. But the group has vowed not to leave. Twenty-eight recently renounced their American citizenship at the U. S. Embassy there.

Three women, recently returned to Chicago, report there is also much internal strife among Black Israelites in Jerusalem. The women tell of enforced polygamy, enforced silence of the women, refusals to work, and fights among the men. The leader, Ben-Ami Carter, is reportedly in a power struggle with Warren Brown and Louis A. Brian, also emigrants from Chicago.

Of the various types of black Jews, the Black Israelites are the farthest from traditional Judaism in beliefs and practices. Their “Soul Messengers,” sixteen singers and a jazz ensemble—all emigrants from the United States to Israel—have won the attention of African kings, European crowds, and even Zionists.

Altogether, the three groups of Black Jews, Black Hebrews, and Black Israelites vastly outnumber both the more traditional black members of white Jewish congregations and the Falashas. The Falashas number about 50,000 East Central Africans who have practiced Judaism since 600 B.C., and who claim to be descendents of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. They observe all Jewish rites, sacrifices, and festivals except Hanukkah. No estimate is available as to the number of blacks in white synagogues. But the Orthodox Jews in the United States maintain a center in New York City, Hazaad Harishon, that gives special attention to the needs of these.

Nazarenes: Black Quest

Holiness churches, which once were strong voices crying against slavery and repeal of prohibition, may once again be honing the edge of their social awareness. That is the conclusion one draws after witnessing the recent Conference on Urban Ministries sponsored by the 394,000-member Church of the Nazarene at its headquarters in Kansas City, Missouri.

In the matter of race relations, the Reverend Roger Bowman, director of outreach for the denomination’s Home Missions Department, declared to the sixty ministers who attended that ethnic evangelism is the greatest challenge of the church. “We are far behind, but I believe God will forgive us for our neglect if we move quickly,” he said.

Although the Nazarenes abolished their segregated black conference in 1948—years before their kin, the Methodists, did so—black congregations have since languished for lack of support. There are now fifty-eight black Nazarene churches, actually fewer than there once were. And only around 300 of the denomination’s 4,654 churches have blacks attending. But that may change under Bowman, who recently became the first black to serve in a Nazarene administrative post. In 1974 he will conduct conferences on interracial evangelism across the nation for the Nazarenes. “Whites can win blacks, and blacks can win whites,” he believes.

JAMES S. TINNEY

Religious America

Religion has never really made it big on prime-time television. Nevertheless, the Public Broadcasting System, which supplies programming to educational stations across the country, is going to give it a try next year with a new thirteen-part series, “Religious America.”

The program, a sympathetic treatment of various deeply held religious beliefs, starts in January. Although PBS is undecided on day and time slot, it has promised prime time (usually defined as after 8 P.M.). Series producer Philip Garvin, 25, is a freelance filmmaker working with $525,000 from various foundations. He put the product together for Boston’s WGBH, which will distribute the programs to more than 300 other PBS-affiliated stations.

Described by Garvin as “intensely personal” and “non-analytical” views of each religious group, the documentaries run the gamut from an exuberant ultra-Pentecostal church to a serene Trappist monastery and a yoga sect. In each case, said Garvin, he was trying to capture the “reality” of the faith.

Garvin admits the program is an outgrowth of his own search for spiritual reality. After a totally non-spiritual upbringing in New York City, he said, a meeting with a group of Lubavitch Jews showed him that for some people religion is a deeply felt reality. Garvin spent several months in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand, then returned to the United States and became involved with Teen Challenge Pentecostalism and the Jesus movement on the West Coast. The series and pilot film, “Meeting in the Air,” about that Pentecostal church, grew from his West Coast experiences.

BARRIE DOYLE

Stalled

Evangelical students at Vanderbilt University Divinity School last spring asked that evangelical material be included in the bibliographies of the various courses and that an optional course in contemporary evangelical theology be offered for credit. While faculty response to the bibliographical proposal was said to be positive, it has not been implemented yet, and a recent memo on the suggested course showed the faculty in agreement that “other curricular needs” overshadowed the need for evangelical representation.

Religion In Transit

Southern Baptists will be asked to approve a $37 million budget next year, up $2 million. Meanwhile, in Dallas, site of the next SB convention, First Baptist Church adopted a budget of $4 million for 1974.

The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern) has budgeted a $10.5 million financial base for its mission programs next year, involving sixty-seven staff professionals to guide domestic work and 400 missionaries in twelve foreign countries.

As part of the centennial observance of evangelist D. L. Moody’s first preaching visit to Britain, a team of sixty-five students and staffers of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago will retrace some of Moody’s steps in a three-week evangelistic tour.

Seventh-day Adventists postponed until next year action on the ordination of women after a study committee told the 350-member ruling council it could not reach a decision. The council meanwhile adopted a record 1974 budget of $65.7 million, more than half of it earmarked for overseas work. The denomination has 2.2 million members.

DEATHS

AGATHA AVERY, 69, pastor of the Avery Bible Holiness Church in Chicago, who every week for the past thirty years conducted a much-publicized counseling program at Chicago’s Cook County jail; in Chicago.

LOUIS W. GOEBEL, 89, first president of the former Evangelical and Reformed Church (now part of the United Church of Christ) and ecumenical leader; in St. Louis, of a stroke.

ALAN WATTS, 58, ex-Episcopal priest and poet who popularized Zen Buddhism in America; in Muir Beach, California, of natural causes.

Schism continues in the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern) as conservative factions in churches throughout the denomination press for disaffiliation—and membership in the breakaway Continuing Presbyterian Church. PCUS officials meanwhile have made a resource file and a “legal memorandum” on church property available to members loyal to the PCUS in such disputes.

Estranged: the 600-member Brotherhood Synagogue and the 125-member Village Presbyterian Church in New York, which have shared the same Greenwich Village building for nineteen years. Rabbi Irving J. Block and Pastor William Glenesk have been squabbling ever since Glenesk arrived two years ago. The breaking point occurred when Block posted a victory-to-Israel sign out front and Glenesk published regrets for it in his church bulletin. Brotherhood says it will leave.

Is he or isn’t he? A computer that tabulated ballots at the annual convention of Texas Southern Baptists awarded the presidency to Fort Worth pastor James G. Harris, who held a press conference and was written up in all the newspapers. But a later hand count turned up an error, and Austin pastor Ralph Smith was declared winner. Amid blushes and smiles, Harris graciously bowed out.

Happy birthday: the Reformed Episcopal Church celebrated its centennial December 2. It was founded in New York in 1873 by Protestant Episcopal bishop George David Cummins to perpetuate the “low church,” evangelical, non-sacerdotal witness of the English Reformation, says Presiding Bishop Howard D. Higgins, who heads the 7,000-member denomination.

Personalia

Astronaut William R. Pogue, 44, pilot of the Skylab 3 mission, is a member of suburban Houston’s Nassau Bay Baptist Church, where he has been a deacon and Sunday-school superintendent.

Rector Charles H. Osborn, 51, of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon, was elected executive director of the American Church Union. He succeeds the retiring Canon Albert J. DuBois, who was in turn elected ACU president. The ACU represents the Anglo-Catholic or “high church” wing in the Episcopal Church.

Theologian Carl F. H. Henry, former editor of CHRISTIANITY TODAY, has resigned as professor-at-large from Eastern (Baptist) Seminary in Philadelphia to become “lecturer-at-large” for World Vision both overseas and on American campuses.

Pastor Robert Lohnes of Maple Avenue Baptist Church in Georgetown, Ontario, was elected president of the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada at the group’s annual convention recently in Toronto.

Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) general overseer Ray H. Hughes was elected chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of North America at the group’s twenty-sixth annual convention.

Hundreds of harassing phone calls and a bomb threat were reportedly part of the housewarming when black pastor Leon Sullivan of Philadelphia’s Zion Baptist Church, founder of the self-help Opportunities Industrialization Center program, recently bought a $69,500 home in Rydal, a white suburb of Philadelphia (his three children have attended a private Quaker school there for four years).

Muhammad Ali turned down a million-dollar offer to star in a movie about a white boxer who never had a chance to fight and then is reincarnated as Muhammad Ali. Black Muslims don’t believe in reincarnation, said Ali.

The pastor and members of the East Whittier, California, Friends church are resisting pressure from other Quakers to ask President Richard Nixon to resign from membership. Pastor T. Eugene Coffin says a church committee discussed the matter and concluded it would be an unchristian request. Nixon has not attended there since his mother’s funeral in 1968.

World Scene

The Quichua church in Ecuador grows on. Recently some 400 Quichua Indians gathered in the Chimborazo region to witness the baptism of ninety new believers by two Quichua pastors. Fiftyone were baptized the following week. An entire village has reportedly been converted. About 5,000 of the nation’s two million Quichuas are now believers, up from 200 five years ago. Some 300 are in seminary extension programs.

More than 150 Southern Baptist laymen and pastors traveled at their own expense to Korea for a week of evangelism. Sponsored by the independent Dallas-based World Evangelism Foundation, they teamed up with missionaries and nationals, visiting schools, jails, factories, shops, and churches. They reported 14,000 decisions for Christ.

The schoolbooks of Israel today contain the most sympathetic picture of Jesus that any generation of Jewish children has ever been offered, says Israeli government press officer Pinchas Lapide. For centuries Jewish tradition forbade even the mention of his name, he points out. Jesus is seen as a martyr of the Roman cross, and “although a few texts speak of the ‘divergences’ of Jesus from the normative Judaism of his time, references to his ‘loyalty to Torah,’ Bible-rootedness, and his Jewish ethos predominate by far.”

WINNERS

Dust of Death by Os Guinness, voted this year’s most significant book for evangelicals by Eternity magazine, outpolled the year’s bestselling religious book, Hal Lindsey’s Satan Is Alive and Well, which placed twelfth in a list of twenty-five. To promote good evangelical writing such as that noted by Eternity, the Evangelical Press Association sponsored a Christian Writing Contest for Youth of Minority Races. Among the eight winners, Eugene T. Sutton of Washington, D. C., took first in non-fiction and Debbie Ann Owens of Brooklyn nabbed a first in poetry. No first place was awarded for fiction, though second went to Sheila Manning, also of Washington, D. C. Meanwhile, a Salvation Army documentary film, No Man Is an Island, took first place in the religion and ethics category at the annual Columbus International Film Festival.

The four-year-old Free Evangelical Theological Academy of Basel, Switzerland, the only German-language university-level theological school committed to inerrancy of Scripture, has moved to larger quarters in the suburbs to accommodate its eight students.

More trouble for Archbishop Ieronymos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church. Stung by a number of legal and administrative setbacks over the past year (including the replacement of his hand-picked Holy Synod with a number of bishops who insist that he honor his tendered-but-later-withdrawn letter of resignation), Ieronymos postponed indefinitely last month’s scheduled meeting of the hierarchy. He said forty-two of the sixty-seven Greek bishops approved his action. The government is investigating rumors of financial scandal in the church.

Greater Europe Mission will purchase an eighty-two-bed hotel and two smaller adjoining buildings near Barcelona for its proposed Spanish Bible Institute and Seminary—if cash and pledges for the $225,000 purchase price are on hand by the end of December.

European church leaders are faced with a home-mission challenge: there are reportedly more than 12 million migrant workers on the move throughout Western Europe.

- More fromJames S. Tinney

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On the closing day of his St. Louis crusade last month, evangelist Billy Graham was asked by a local newsman if there were factors that made the campaign different from those held in other cities. Yes, said Graham (who celebrated his fifty-fifth birthday at the crusade). He cited support from the Roman Catholic community as one of two aspects that distinguished this crusade from the rest.¹The other he mentioned was the extent of enthusiastic support from the black Christian community and from local black media people.

“When we were here for meetings twenty years ago,” Graham said, “I don’t think Catholics were even allowed to attend.”

This time, the official weekly newspaper of the St. Louis archdiocese carried an editorial giving the ten-day crusade unqualified endorsem*nt (see reprint, this page).

Such turnabouts are becoming more common these days. They are the result not simply of an ecumenical spirit or the influence of the charismatic movement, as is generally supposed, but of a growing new appreciation for basic Christian virtues on the part of Roman Catholics at the grass roots (see also the editorial on page 30).

“I’m a fundamentalist,” said one Franciscan trainee for whom Graham’s St. Louis meetings represented a spiritual feast. That many Roman Catholics share his sentiments was attested by their wholehearted participation in the crusade. About fifty Catholics, including some sisters, were reported to have taken the pre-crusade counselor-training courses. Several nuns sang in the choir regularly. It was impossible to determine what percentage of the audience of 20,000 that jammed the St. Louis Arena at each meeting was Roman Catholic. But among those who respond to the invitation and complete commitment cards in the Graham meetings, the Catholic proportion is now up to 10 per cent in cities such as St. Louis and Cleveland where there are large Catholic populations. In St. Louis, Catholic contacts were referred to one of the more than 2,000 specially organized interdenominational “nurture groups” for spiritual follow-up. (This more intensive follow-up program is the result of studies done at another recent crusade.)

A number of evangelical Protestant enterprises besides Graham’s are attracting increasing Catholic interest. These include Young Life, Campus Crusade, Neighborhood Bible Studies, and Bill Gothard’s Institute of Basic Youth Conflicts. Kathryn Kuhlman draws more rank-and-file Catholic interest than any other Protestant figure.

Roman Catholic history has been punctuated by a number of attempts to return to fundamental biblical principles, the most obvious of which resulted in the Luther-led split we now know as the Reformation. Since the Reformation, many Protestants have feared that Rome was out to recapture the losses. But Pope John and the Second Vatican Council caused such an upheaval that many Catholics no longer are sure what they are supposed to believe. In the resulting vacuum there has been a surge of interest in Bible study and a quest for deeper spiritual reality. Many Catholics feel free to consort with Protestants who have the same interests, and some indeed look to Protestant ministries for inspiration and fellowship. Commenting on current developments, a number of Catholic leaders of spiritual-renewal efforts said in interviews that nothing less than “an evangelical awakening” is going on.

St. Louis has apparently been an especially fertile ground. Dioceses in Missouri were the first of some forty around the country to give public support to Key 73, and Catholics in St. Louis have been particularly active in such Key 73 projects as Scripture distribution.

Leighton Ford, Graham’s evangelist brother-in-law, also found Catholics sympathetic to a crusade he held in Milwaukee in October. Reporters noted at the time that the campaign was the first event of its kind in the area to have Roman Catholic support. As in St. Louis, Catholics were told in the diocesan weekly that the hierarchy approved of their participation.

Members of Roman Catholic religious orders feel they have been much more open to the new “enthusiasm movement,” as many call the spiritual renewalists, than diocesan churchmen. The latter represent the more institutionally oriented segment of the church and have more reason to toe the official Vatican—and national Catholic headquarters—line.

Most Protestants do not know that Roman Catholicism has at least two diverse “wings,” so they tend to associate hierarchical statements with the whole of the church. Catholics themselves tend to be doctrinally bewildered these days, which is undoubtedly one reason why a recent poll found that attendance at Mass has dropped sharply among older people. Use of the confessional is also reported to be dwindling.

A new kind of ecumenism is emerging. Thousands of Catholics attend Protestant-organized Bible-study groups around the world. There would undoubtedly be more if Protestants were more receptive to their participation. Younger evangelicals who do not share the militant anti-Catholic sentiments of bygone years are helping to break down the barriers, and intermingling is quite common in charismatic circles. Catholic parishes often do not provide as many fellowship opportunities as are usually found among evangelical Protestants, which may be another reason why many Catholics get involved in inter-Christian groups. The feeling may also be growing among both Protestants and Roman Catholics that the issues separating them are becoming less important than their common perils in an increasingly secular and atheistically dominated world.

The charismatic movement is currently the most remarkable phenomenon in the Roman Catholic Church (see June 22 issue, page 36). But there are other trends in the church that, while less spectacular, are nonetheless having a profound effect. One is the Cursillo Movement (cursillo means “short course”), which sponsors occasional three-day retreats in each participating diocese aimed at winning persons to Christ, promoting deeper relationships with God, and getting members involved in personal evangelism. The retreats are followed by weekly “sharing” meetings in which participants help one another to persevere. The movement was started by a priest and his laymen in Majorca, Spain, in the late forties.

Cursillo national coordinator Gerald Hughes, 44, of Dallas says part of the Cursillo strategy consists of selecting leaders in a given “environment” of society (advertising, education, communications, medicine, politics), then attempting to convert them and link them together in an ongoing witness. Those so reached make a threefold commitment: to nourish their spiritual life through prayer, to study (the Bible), and to “Christianize” their environment. A national conference on evangelization of environments will be held next July in the midwest.

Mary Redefined

America’s Catholic bishops in their annual meeting last month “redefined” the role of the Virgin Mary in an attempt to pacify traditionalists while maintaining an open door to ecumenicity.

In a fifty-six-page, 20,000-word pastoral letter, the bishops sought to “allay the fears” of Catholics who think Mary was “deemphasized” by Vatican II, said Marian theologian Eamon Carroll of Catholic University in Washington, D. C. Carroll, prime author of the statement, added that he hoped it would also give Protestants a new view of Marian theology. “We ask our brothers in other Christian churches to reexamine with us Mary’s place in our common patrimony.”

The document, approved by the 250 bishops at the meeting in Washington, couches Mary’s position in careful phraseology. While not disavowing Mary’s title as “Mother of God,” the bishops acknowledged the title had created tension with non-Catholics. For most of the letter, she’s referred to as “mother of the church.”

Also redefined was the contentious claim that Mary is a “mediatrix” between man and Christ. Mary, while occupying a special position, does not take precedence over man’s direct access to Jesus, “the supreme intercessor.” Instead, said Carroll at a press conference, Mary should be looked on as a “daughter of the church; sister of the faith.” That redefinition, he acknowledged, reflects a change in Catholic thinking “but not a loss.” She is still to be accorded devotion.

Describing Catholics as weak on biblical moorings, Carroll pointed out that the document spends ten pages carefully tying doctrinal positions to biblical passages. (He said, however, that he personally does not interpret all Scriptures literally—leaving open the question of what he does take literally.)

In all, said Carroll, the document provides a “good, clear, authoritative basis for the doctrine of Mary in the church.” And, said he, the document has “a stronger biblical basis for the doctrine than existed before Vatican II” along with a “greater sensitivity to ecumenism.”

BARRIE DOYLE

Overseas Missions: Stalled?

North American foreign-mission agencies are barely keeping ahead of 1969 levels, according to statistics in the 1973 Mission Handbook, published this month by the Mission Advanced Research and Communication Center (MARC), a subsidiary of World Vision.

The triennial handbook sets the total number of Protestant missionaries overseas at 35,070 as of the end of last year, an increase of less than 2 per cent over 1969. On paper, mission giving increased about 10 per cent—not enough to overcome the rate of inflation and devaluation. Mission giving in 1972 is listed at $393 million, including $30 million in estimates by researchers to cover gaps (some agencies failed to provide financial information).

Researcher William L. Needham, author of the MARC book, points out that while the number of career missionaries has remained somewhat static there has been a rapid rise in the number of short-term missionaries.

Brazil has the most U. S. and Canadian Protestant workers (1,986). Japan has 1,917, Mexico 1,294, India 1,195, and the Philippines 1,185.

The Southern Baptist Convention leads in fielding missionaries (2,507). Others in the top ten include: Wycliffe Bible Translators, 2,200; Churches of Christ, 1,623; Seventh-day Adventists, 1,546; Youth With a Mission, 1,009; The Evangelical Alliance Mission, 922; Assemblies of God, 967; United Methodist Church, 951; Sudan Interior Mission, 818; and the Christian and Missionary Alliance, 803.

The MARC report covers approximately 95 per cent of the denominational and independent missionary-sending organizations in the United States and Canada.

WHERE IT’S AT

Kids are changing. In its latest survey of 26,000 high school leaders, Who’s Who Among American High School Students of Northfield, Illinois, found that:

• 77 per cent believe religion is relevant to society and 66 per cent attend religious services regularly (last year it was 63 and 57 per cent);

• 83 per cent favor traditional marriage (71 per cent—including 66 per cent of the Catholics—would seek a divorce if the marriage was a failure);

• 72 per cent have never used drugs (though 82 per cent said drugs were readily available on or near campus), but only 19 per cent had never drunk alcoholic beverages;

• 95 per cent say their relations with their parents and other family members are good;

• 72 per cent say they have never engaged in sexual intercourse (up from 60 per cent in 1970), but only 41 per cent do not approve of pre-marital sex (up from 34 per cent four years ago).

Catholics lead in attending religious services (83 per cent attend, Protestants 70 per cent, Jewish youth 16 per cent), with attendance highest in the South and lowest in the Northeast.

The Ford In Our Future

Vice-President-designate Gerald R. Ford is a man “very committed to God,” says his son Michael, 23, a seminary student. “He’s not outspoken or vocal about his commitment—he’s not that kind of a man,” he said in an interview. “Dad is more a man of action who incorporates his faith into his work.”

The quiet faith is what makes Ford a “real man” to his old friend and Constituent, evangelist Billy Zeoli. Zeoli, president of Gospel Films in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and also noted for evangelistic work among professional football teams, says Ford has taken a definite Christian stand. “I can say he has accepted Christ as his Saviour and that he is a growing Christian.” Zeoli says he has spent time praying and studying the Bible with Ford for years.

Ford, a football star at the University of Michigan (he was voted outstanding player in 1934, when his team won only one game), and still a fan, accepted Christ at a Washington Redskins-Dallas Cowboys pre-game chapel service Zeoli conducted two years ago, according to the evangelist. Since then, Zeoli has met often with Ford, who as House Minority Leader invited the evangelist to lead Congress in prayer on October 11—as it turned out, the day following former Vice-President Spiro Agnew’s resignation. Ford and Zeoli also jointly sponsored an athletes’ luncheon the day of the Presidential Prayer Breakfast last winter.

Ford, 60, a lifelong Episcopalian, attends Immanuel (Episcopal) Churchon-the-Hill in Alexandria, Virginia. His home church is Grace Episcopal in Grand Rapids, where parishioners remember him as a Sunday-school teacher “who believed in what he said,” according to a Detroit Free Press story by reporter Hiley Ward.

While awaiting confirmation, Ford’s closely knit family was apparently finding growing unity through prayer. Said his son Michael: “It’s been an uplifting experience. We’ve all been drawn closer together and we’re giving each other spiritual support through prayer.… [The prospects] are so crucial, so demanding, that I know he’s getting deeper into the faith.”

Michael Ford, a first-year student at Gordon-Conwell Seminary in Wenham, Massachusetts, said he plans a career in full-time Christian service as a youth minister. The decision to drop out of a political science-law program (the course his father followed) and opt for the ministry came after he made a commitment to Christ at Wake Forest University last year. It caused some surprise at home, Michael said, “but Dad knew my Christian faith was playing a strong part in my decision.” He said his father helped him investigate seminaries, warning him away from “liberal” schools and suggesting instead a seminary that held a “strong orthodox view of Christianity.”

With all eyes on the vice-presidential post, the Ford family is hesitant about discussing the possibility of his becoming President (the family believes President Nixon will see his term through), Michael said. “Dad takes one step at a time.”

Ford, a leader of the congressional prayer groups, spends time in prayer meetings with Presidential Assistant Melvin Laird, says Zeoli. “He [Ford] has a real evangelical involvement.” To help him along, Zeoli sends him a weekly letter containing a Bible verse and a prayer.

The Ford family’s lifestyle has changed from the moment he was picked as Agnew’s successor, said Michael. “But I think it’s brought about a real revival of our dependence and trust in God. I think all of these events show that God is going to work his will for the glory of his Kingdom.”

BARRIE DOYLE

Urbana 73

A record crowd of nearly 15,000 is expected to attend Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship’s tenth triennial missions convention December 27–31 on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. Advance registrations were running well ahead of the 1970 pace.

IVCF traces its roots to a Christian student movement that arose one hundred years ago in England. It spread to the United States in the late thirties, and in 1941 IVCF was chartered. In 1945 the Student Foreign Missions Fellowship merged with it, and in 1947 Inter-Varsity joined with similar groups in other countries to organize the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

Inter-Varsity has about 120 campus staffers who assist chapters at more than 400 college and university campuses and 300 schools of nursing. Missionary preparation and activities are emphasized at 125 Christian colleges.

From its inception IVCF has stressed missionary work. Its stated purpose is to assist faculty and student members to evangelize, to grow spiritually, and to “discover God’s role for them in the world mission of the Church.”

The first missionary convention was held at the end of 1946 in Toronto. It drew 575 delegates representing fifty-two denominations and 151 campuses—along with representatives of fifty-six missionary agencies. Each successive convention grew in size, and at Urbana 70 there were more than 12,000 delegates from sixty-one nations. Over the years many hundreds of young people have volunteered for overseas missionary service. A computer at Urbana 70 helped to match prospective missionary candidates with sending agencies, a service that will be offered again at this year’s convention.

SUNDAY IN SLOW MOTION

Neither the church nor soccer suffered much, at least at the outset, when Holland banned Sunday driving because of the current oil crisis. (Few spectators showed up for the horse races, though—and even some horses didn’t get there.) Despite fears, the Reformed churches’ traditional fall offering for missions apparently held up well on the first car-less Sunday.

Undertakers took the day off; there were no traffic deaths (Sunday’s usual toll is eight). Special permission was granted some 16,000 doctors, midwives, journalists, and others (including a few pastors) to drive. Even so, there were only two accidents: a collision between a Belgian and a German car (foreign visitors were allowed on the road), and a horse and buggy that went out of control.

More than 80 per cent of Dutch oil comes from Arab countries, which shut off the flow because of Holland’s support of Israel. No-car Sundays may become the rule in the forseeable future. Many Dutch families in the cities have traditionally donned their Sunday best and pedaled to church on bicycles. But the outcome of the oil crisis may be a decline in church attendance in rural areas, where attendance has been best. A number of small congregations served by visiting preachers are already planning a cutback in the number of church services.

JAN J. VAN CAPELLEVEEN

A battery of ninety seminars arranged in interest clusters (medicine, education, media, evangelism, religions) will be offered at Urbana 73, says director David Howard. Among the speakers will be Anglican pastor John R. W. Stott, Samuel Escobar (IVCF’s Canadian director), missionary Samuel Moffett of South Korea, pastor-educator Philip Teng of Hong Kong, several students, and a lay worker from Colombia.

The event will conclude with a New Year’s Eve communion service in the huge assembly hall.

Sabbath Security

In the first court action it has undertaken to enforce the prohibition against “religious discrimination” in employment under the provisions of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, the U. S. Department of Justice has filed suit against the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, for discharging a fireman who is a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Salomen Zamora was dismissed in October for refusing to work on Saturday, his sabbath.

The suit asks that the city be ordered to reinstate Zamora to his previous position in the fire department with back pay to date of discharge, allow him to observe his sabbath in the future without loss of leave time or other penalty, and correct its alleged discriminatory practices with respect to all city employees.

GLENN EVERETT

The Millennium: A Bad Beginning

Correspondents Gordon R. Lewis, a professor at Conservative Baptist Seminary in Denver, and Cal Thomas of KPRC-TV news in Houston covered last month’s “Millennium ’73” visit of Guru Maharaj Ji (see September 28 issue, page 46) to the Astrodome in Houston. The following story is based on the reports they filed.

The Millennium was ushered in last month in Houston, but it got off to a poor start. Instead of the 85,000 who were expected to be on hand to herald the coming of teen-age Guru Maharaj Ji, less than 15,000 (police said 10,000) showed up for the three-day event in the 66,000-seat Astrodome (estimated rental: $75,000). These included thirty-seven chartered plane-loads of disciples (twenty-five of the planes were from other countries). Nevertheless, the self-proclaimed “perfect master” unabashedly declared it to be “the most important event in human history.” And his devotees acclaimed him as the only true contemporary spiritual master, and they crowned him “king of kings.”

Why was it history’s most important event? “Just the fact that the guru is here,” said former anti-war activist Rennie Davis, coordinator of the affair who publicly kissed the guru’s feet. Previously the guru’s special “knowledge” was limited to monasteries, but “this is the first time there has been a perfect master to make the knowledge available to the whole world,” explained PR man Richard Profumo.

Yet the knowledge didn’t seem all that available. Maharaj Ji talked about love, peace, harmony, unity with God, light, and energy in three discourses, promising a “practical realization” of it all. To “receive knowledge” of these things is akin to a conversion experience, but Maharaj Ji had delegated the giving of the knowledge to mahatmas (great souls). Only thirty or so mahatmas were seated near the guru’s throne, which was perched atop a thirty-five-foot-high stage amid water-falls, lakes, and fountains. Many in the audience were unable to reach the mahatmas for the required seven-or eight-hour knowledge session, and they left frustrated and angry—without the millennial peace. The PR people seemed undisturbed; the sincere will receive knowledge at the right time, they said.

Getting the knowledge is the central objective, commented Rennie Davis. “Then we can do what the street people sought in the sixties—abolish capitalism and other systems that oppress.”

There were dramatic productions on Christ and Krishna—two earlier spiritual masters (there can be only one at a time), slide and light shows, a 50-piece rock band, offerings, hawking of guru merchandise (pennants, T-shirts, buttons, records, books, even ear plugs at 50 cents), demonstrations (HareKrishna chanters and several Christian groups held forth at the entrances), and a press conference.

Maharaj Ji packed the news conference with his own people and called mostly on them. He brushed aside the few questions reporters managed to ask (“Why don’t you look that up yourself?” and “Ask one of my devotees about that”). Then he abruptly concluded the session when a reporter asked him about his stomach ulcer, his Rolls Royce and expensive homes, and the starving people all over his homeland of India.

On the final night of the event Maharaj Ji disclosed that his Divine Light Mission will build a “divine city” at a site yet to be determined, a city where everyone in need of food and clothing can come and receive it free; payment will be in the form of service. Architect Larry Bernstein said the self-supporting city will have non-polluting factories and it will run on solar energy.

To build that city will cost a lot of money, a commodity that does not seem to be in short supply as far as the guru is concerned. He stayed in the Astroworld Hotel’s $2,500-per-day Celestial Suite (he brought his own sheets—“they’re very clean people,” explained a hotel staffer). The camera equipment that recorded Millennium ’73 for a film cost $500,000. Maharaj Ji says he gets all his money from tax-deductible contributions—apparently from sources other than offerings in meetings (the Astrodome offerings were not large).

The boy guru had to pay a $13,000 bond to the Indian government before leaving. In passing through Indian customs recently he was found to have thousands of dollars of undeclared cash and jewelry, and his passport was temporarily lifted.

While his devotees seek the millennium’s peace, Maharaj Ji is apparently already enjoying its prosperity.

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Dulling The Numinous

The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land (Eerdmans, 141 pp., $1.95 pb), and C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian (Regal, 242 pp., $4.95, $2.95 pb), both by Kathryn Ann Lindskoog, are reviewed by Cheryl Forbes, editorial associate, CHRISTIANITY TODAY.

Part of the business of a literary critic is to analyze, synthesize and explicate the meaning behind the words, the tools of literature. Images, symbols, themes are all necessary considerations in such critical endeavors. The business of a “popular” critic, one who writes for the layman rather than the scholar, is to communicate the joy of literature and stimulate the desire to read. Kathryn Lindskoog’s two volumes on Lewis straddle the line between these two purposes. Such straddling is not necessarily bad; Lewis himself sometimes did it. But Lindskoog’s books do not fully succeed on either side of the line.

Lindskoog’s theological treatment of Narnia in The Lion of Judah in Never-Never Land (originally a master’s thesis at Wheaton under Clyde Kilby) deals with three subjects: nature, man, and God. She follows Lewis’s theology in a fairly consistent manner. However, the most important aspects of Narnia are found not in the theology behind the stories but in the stories themselves. Lindskoog discusses theology at the expense of imagination. As Lewis himself said, the Christian elements of Narnia were secondary to his desire to spin a tale.

Lindskoog also reveals an unfortunate misunderstanding of allegory when she forces Narnia into that mode. She has support for it from such a discerning critic as J. R. R. Tolkien, who disliked the seven chronicles because of what he saw as allegorical overtones. However, Walter Hooper in “Past Watchful Dragons” (found in Imagination and the Spirit, edited by Charles Huttar) convincingly argues against seeing Narnia as allegory. For example, Lindskoog finds a direct correspondence between Aslan and Christ. Hooper points out that Aslan is not the atoner for Narnia but merely Edmund’s redeemer. According to the text itself (The Lion, the Witch and the Ward-robe), any innocent person familiar with “the Deeper Magic from the Dawn of Time” could have volunteered for the sacrifice. Lewis himself once commented that Aslan was never intended to be Christ:

If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity in the same way in which Giant Despair represents Despair, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, “What might Christ become like, if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?” This is not allegory at all [Letters of C. S. Lewis, edited by W. H. Lewis, Harcourt, 1966, p. 283].

As a “theological guidebook” through Narnia to provide non-devotees of Lewis with background, Lindskoog’s simply written volume has merit. However, those interested in Narnia should first read the chronicles and then the criticism. And here is where Linkskoog falls short of fulfilling the popular critic’s function; her treatment of Narnia is not compelling enough to urge nonfantasy readers to travel to this other world.

The second book, written with the same general purpose, paraphrases Lewis’s pungent thoughts along broader lines. Lindskoog considers such additional topics as death, heaven, and hell. C. S. Lewis: Mere Christian deals with his major apologetic works as well as his fiction, while only occasionally mentioning his literary criticism. Included at the end of each chapter is a helpful list of “Further Reading About C. S. Lewis,” and in the “Afterword” Lindskoog compiles “Special Resources for C. S. Lewis Readers,” which is perhaps the best contribution of the volume. But the “Annotated Chronological Listing of C. S. Lewis” proves inadequately annotated.

Lindskoog’s works suffer when compared with Mary McDermott Shideler’s Theology of Romantic Love: A Study in the Writings of Charles Williams, which also criticizes topically. She dulls the numinous quality that characterizes all Lewis’s writings.

An Outstanding Commentary

Colossians: The Church’s Lord and the Christian’s Liberty: An Expository Commentary with a Present-Day Application, by Ralph P. Martin (Zondervan, 1973, 192 pp., $5.95), is reviewed by Edmon L. Rowell, Jr., minister of the Lee Street Baptist Church, Danville, Virginia.

Professor Martin, now of Fuller Seminary, whose previous Pauline studies are well known and respected, now presents an expository commentary in the best sense of the term. Its purpose is to interpret for our day and situation the meaning and message of Colossians on the basis of an honest and thorough exegesis of its meaning for those to whom it originally was addressed.

Any who come here for help should come prepared to do some serious reading. So prepared, however, one will not be disappointed. The serious student will be hard pressed to find a clearer statement of the problems of interpretation presented by Colossians or a more comprehensive review of the most viable attempted solutions.

Martin’s introduction is concise but thorough. The intriguing but really less important—and sometimes confusing—questions of authorship, date, and place of writing he relegates to an appendix at the end of the commentary. He rightly insists that, for interpreting Colossians, the important preliminary question concerns the nature of the teaching of those “errorists” in the church, against which teaching the epistle is directed. Martin first suggests the possibility that the church at Colossae was a young church in what was surely an old and decaying community. He suggests further that heretofore the Christians in Colossae had remained faithful, but that evidently the novelty of the theosophy of the errorists was appealing to some and disturbing to others.

Martin believes that Paul saw at least three reasons why this false teaching was a threat to the young church: (1) it degraded Jesus Christ (docetism), (2) it robbed the Christian of his liberty (legalism), and (3) it engendered a haughty exclusivism and human boasting (righteousness based on supposed self-achievement). Martin outlines what can be known of this “fake religion” with its elements of ascetism, strict dualism, and astrology and suggests that, in Paul’s eyes, it was deadly dangerous to the incipient church. Colossians, therefore, is Paul’s remorseless exposure of that “philosophy of vain deceit” which threatened the young church.

The main body of the commentary is a section-by-section (distinguished from verse-by-verse) interpretation of the letter (under fourteen sections). The exegesis is thorough but generally not highly technical. Rather than using a lot of footnotes, Martin refers, within parentheses in the text, to readily recognized sources by an abbreviated title or the author’s last name.

Martin’s exegesis follows the RSV (printed at the head of each section), but the original is always in the background and transliterated Greek appears on almost every page—which should be clear to the reader who knows Greek, unobtrusive to the one who does not. Without burdening the page with detailed word studies Martin calls attention to the basic need for understanding the words themselves in their original context. His definitions usually are crisp and clear. For example, “grace is the undeserved favour of God reaching out to men who need his pardon because they are sinners”; “peace is not just ‘spiritual prosperity’; it is the salvation of the whole man both body and soul as the direct result of God’s grace.”

Unlike many running commentaries, this one presents each section as a complete unit. The section on Colossians 1:12–20, for example, could stand as an independent short study of this important passage. Yet each section is related to the whole: its introduction and conclusion serve both to make the section complete in itself and to relate the particular passage to the rest of the commentary. For a minister who no doubt will turn to this commentary for help with a particular passage this feature is of considerable importance.

At three places the author digresses from his running commentary to deal with two particularly important and difficult passages. There are two “notes” on Colossians 1:15–20 and one on 2:11–13. These “notes” are set in reduced type, at the most occupy only a few pages, and necessarily deal with some rather technical issues. Martin is adept, however, at reducing the “technical problems” to that which is necessary for honest interpretation.

His “Note B: The Setting of Colossians 1:15–20 and Its Application” is an example of the best kind of New Testament exegesis—sensitive to all the problems, aware of the important solutions, yet recognizing that despite the problems involved (some of which can never with certainty be solved) the meaning and message of the passage can come through. Of Colossians 1:15–20 Martin concludes that Paul’s concern is not at all cosmological speculation. Rather, “Paul’s chief concern is with the new creation, actualized in conversion and Christian baptism.… Redemption does not consist in knowing the cosmic secrets of the Universe but in the experiences of sin’s release and cleansing.” Let it be noted that the haughty, boasting modern needs that good word as desperately as did the errorists at Colossae.

An outstanding feature of this commentary that will be especially helpful to every serious student of Colossians (and, in fact, of Paul in general) is the author’s stated intention to express in “popular form” the important insights of other interpreters. With the reservation that the “popular form” here is a bit heavier than average, this intention is admirably realized. Martin reviews especially the important commentaries of Lightfoot, Scott, Moule, Lohmeyer, Masson, and Bruce, and includes a host of articles in recent journals and the relevant material in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. In addition he gives careful attention to a recent important critical commentary—Eduard Lohse’s (in Fortress’s “Hermeneia” series). Martin reviews both those important contributions with which he agrees and those with which he disagrees. Furthermore, he not only states his reasons for his own conclusions; he also fairly and clearly states the arguments in favor of conclusions with which he disagrees. This important feature greatly enhances, the usefulness of this commentary for today and the future.

In summary, the present work is a competent interpretation of Colossians by an experienced student of Paul who is fully aware of the contributions of others and who is adept in selecting what is most important and most helpful in relating the message of Colossians to our day. For this reviewer an important contribution of this work is Martin’s basic approach to the interpretation of Scripture. A statement in his preface indicates the nature of this approach: “Paul as apostle of Jesus Christ is primarily here writing in a pastoral context and concerned with a specific set of historical and cultural circ*mstances. What he writes has a timeless validity, but in its original form it is dressed in garments of its own day and age.” It is this sane and serious approach to biblical interpretation and this basic conviction of “timeless validity” that makes Martin’s commentary an important contribution to the Church’s ongoing task of rightly interpreting Scripture.

Philosophy Of Religion

Problems of Religious Knowledge, by Terence Penelhum (Seabury, 186 pp., $7.95), God the Problem, by Gordon D. Kaufman (Harvard, 276 pp., $10), and Risk and Rhetoric in Religion: Whitehead’s Theory of Language and the Discourse of Faith, by Lyman T. Lundeen (Fortress, 276 pp., $9.50), are reviewed by Robert Brow, Anglican Rector of Cavan, Millbrook, Ontario.

Penelhum’s work is elegant, readable, and rigorous. He is a thoroughly competent philosopher who also understands theology. Problems of Religious Knowledge should be required reading in university-level philosophy-of-religion courses, and many readers of CHRISTIANITY TODAY would profit by working through it. The aim is to clarify what is at issue between “the knowledge claims made in religious faith and the rejection of these claims by religious sceptics.” As examples of religious faith Penelhum selects St. Thomas Aquinas’s statement in the Summa and John Hick’s presentation of Protestant neo-orthodoxy in Faith and Knowledge (second edition, 1966). The argument, however, applies to a much wider range of theistic theology. Penelhum rightly takes it for granted that the proofs for the existence of God so far offered have failed.

He uses G. E. Moore’s “Proof of an External World” to illustrate the requirements for a successful indirect proof of the existence of God. This chapter alone is worth the price of the book if only to keep us from the perennial temptation to think we have proved the existence of God and the consequent implication of the stupidity of agnostics.

In the third chapter Penelhum argues that although no proofs of the existence of God have so far met the standards of proof, this is no proof that no proof is possible. A chapter on “Faith and Verification” has an important discussion of Hick’s doctrine of eschatological verification—the view that although no proof is possible now, the situation after death could verify the believer’s faith.

After a careful argument that revelation and proof need not be mutually exclusive terms, Penelhum suggests in a final chapter that St. Thomas’s dichotomy between faith and knowledge is not necessary. The man who has faith “considers himself to know certain things which the sceptic says he believes mistakenly.”

In the first four pages Penelhum notes and briefly dismisses two approaches to the philosophy of religion that stem from Wittgenstein’s later work. He refers the reader to the literature and to his own work on the argument that religious discourse is not intelligible. He also rejects “Wittgensteinian fideism,” a view that was never argued by Wittgenstein himself but can be vividly illustrated by the works of Castaneda. The argument is that neither Don Juan’s world of magic nor a Christian theistic world view can be criticized from outside the system. You can adopt or refuse to adopt, but you cannot say that it is wrong. Penelhum’s too brief but (I think) plausible answer is that “it needs a great weight of argument to force us to hold, a priori, that what men of faith proclaim and what unbelievers deny is not one and the same thing, and known to be.” Although discussion may not be possible between two world views like magic and theism, it should surely be possible for, say, a believing and an unbelieving scientist discussing their faith over a period of time in the same laboratory to understand what they are disagreeing about.

NEWLY PUBLISHED

Is the Day of the Denomination Dead?, by Elmer Towns (Nelson, 160 pp., $5.95). Towns is the unofficial publicist for large Baptist congregations. Two earlier books, The Ten Largest Sunday Schools (1969, Baker) and America’s Fastest Growing Churches (1972, Impact), overlooked giant Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and black congregations, among others. Drawing on his research Towns seeks to show in the present book that whatever benefits denominations—which, like church buildings, are admittedly extra-biblical—may have provided in the past, they are now in urban, technological, changing society more likely to hinder than to help the advance of the Gospel. His thesis will disturb many but deserves consideration.

The Jesus Scroll, by Donovan Joyce (Dial, 216 pp., $5.95). Sarcastic and bitter attack on Jesus and Christians. Joyce tells of a no longer available document he has seen in a language he doesn’t read which supports such wild speculation as that Jesus lived to be eighty. According to Joyce, early Christian writings turned the Lord “into the greatest bore the world has known.”

From Time to Time, by Hannah Tillich (Stein and Day, 252 pp., $7.95), and Paulus, by Rollo May (Harper & Row, 113 pp., $5.95). Both books are highly subjective and deal with Paul Tillich as a man rather than as a theologian. They read more like exposés than biographies. The first, by his wife, is a disclosure of their life together in intimate detail. The second, by a student and close friend, is highly psychoanalytical.

Theological Investigations, Volumes IX and X, by Karl Rahner (Seabury, 268 and 409 pp., $9.75 each). Thirty-four essays and lectures on a wide variety of topics, written 1965–67.

p*rnography: The Sexual Mirage, by John Drakeford and Jack Hamm (Nelson, 189 pp., $6.95), and Obscenity, p*rnography, and Censorship, by Perry Cotham (Baker, 206 pp., $2.95 pb). Two differing approaches by evangelicals to a current ethical issue, especially to what should be done about it. (It is noteworthy that those who have opposed laws against racial discrimination because “you can’t legislate morality” are sometimes avid promoters of anti-p*rnography laws.) Both books are worth reading.

Medical Ethics, by Bernard Haring (Fides, 250 pp., $8.95), and Human Medicine, by James Nelson (Augsburg, 207 pp., $3.95 pb). Two ethicists, a Catholic and Protestant, give excellent, readable analyses of such issues as abortion, euthanasia, birth control, and experiments on human beings. They examine all sides of the question, including their own opinions, from a Christian viewpoint.

Which Way?, by John and Karen Howe (Morehouse-Barlow, 136 pp., n.p., pb). Comments guiding young Christians on practical and theological problems in the Christian life. Brief treatments of major topics.

Whatever Became of Sin?, by Karl Minninger (Hawthorne, 242 pp., $7.95). A call by one of the foremost psychiatrists to recognize sin for what it really is. Informally written. Especially significant because of the author’s prominence and his closeness to a biblical view though he writes from a psychiatric rather than exegetical perspective.

Cutting the Monkey-Rope, by John Galen McEllhenney (Judson, 126 pp., $2.50 pb). A look at the question, “Is the taking of life ever justified?” The author decides it is not, whether judicially or by abortion or enthanasia. He uses both Scripture and literature, especially Moby Dick.

William Penn and Early Quakerism, by Melvin Endy (Princeton, 410 pp., $17.50). Detailed examination of William Penn and his relation to the Quaker movement and his own religious thoughts. Counters some established views on the origin and development of Quakerism.

Story and Reality, by Robert P. Roth (Eerdmans, 197 pp., $3.45 pb). A look at the Gospel in the framework of a narrative of life rather than, as is most usually done, philosophy. Roth sees the literary narrative approach to theology as the intended way of revealing truth.

Prayer in a Secular World, by Leroy T. Howe (Pilgrim, 159 pp., $5.25). An analytical rather than inspirational discourse on prayer, its structure and inner dynamics. Written for those who want to be Christians in some way but have trouble with the notion of praying. Howe teaches philosophical theology at Southern Methodist.

The Living God, edited by Millard J. Erickson (Baker, 513 pp., $7.95 pb). Thirty-three selections intended to acquaint students with a variety of views on what theology is, how God is known, and what God is like. Good refresher for those out of seminary. Tillich, Ramm, Bultmann, Warfield, Aquinas, Barth, Calvin, Berkhof, Henry, and Augustine are among the contributors. A much better balanced anthology than is customary.

Man in Motion, by Gary Collins (Creation House, 167 pp., $4.95, $2.95 pb). Fourth and final volume of the “Psychology for Church Leaders” series. The other titles—Man In Transition, Effective Counseling, Fractured Personalities—are each slightly longer and have the same prices.) Looks at learning, emotion, motivation, individual differences, interpersonal relations, and the psychology of religion.

The Old Testament Books of Poetry From Twenty-six Translations, edited by Curtis Vaughan (Zondervan, 710 pp., $9.95). The complete King James text of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon is compared with selected significant variations from one or more of numerous other translations.

Death in American Experience, edited by Arien Mack (Schocken, 201 pp., $7.50), The Phenomenon of Death, edited by Edith Wyschogrod (Harper & Row, 235 pp., $12, $3.45 pb), Deaths of Man, by Edwin Shneidman (Quadrangle, 238 pp., $8.95), Death and Western Thought, by Jacques Choron (Macmillan, 320 pp., $6.95), and The Mystery of Death, by Ladislaus Boros (Seabury, 201 pp., $2.95 pb). The first of two contain eighteen essays by scholars and professionals in various fields, looking at the impact of death from a variety of perspectives. The third is by a psychologist and grows out of his daily experience of work with dying persons and the similar and varying patterns he has found. The fourth is a rarity: a hardback edition of a work issued in paperback ten years earlier. It is a philosopher’s survey of thinkers from Socrates to Sartre, and has become a classic. Since the reality of death is one of the key thrusts of the evangelistic appeal, it is well for Christians to know something of the feelings and thoughts of men regarding it. The fifth is a paperback edition of a worthwhile philosophical and theological treatise.

A flaw in Penelhum’s otherwise sparking philosophical work is the assumption that the point at issue is whether or not God exists. “Perhaps God exists, and perhaps not. Philosophy will not tell us. But if God exists, then Abraham and Isaiah and Peter and John and Paul knew that he does.” Since Kant, it has been objected that existence cannot be a predicate. Penelhum merely notes the discussion of this question in modern philosophy but dismisses as “misguided apologists” the many who have difficulty with the proposition that God exists.

For myself, I cannot see that it is misguided to hold that propositions such as “mauve exists,” “justice exists,” “love exists,” “Jones exists,” or “an artist exists for this painting” are meaningless. If those are meaningless, then “God exists” can fare no better. Once we have decided to use “mauve,” “justice,” or “love” in an agreed way, it then makes sense to discuss whether a particular dress is mauve, whether a particular law is just, and whether so and so exhibits love. Having agreed that we are going to apply the name “Jones” to such and such a person, we can ask whether Jones still lives in Toronto.

Now it obviously makes sense to discuss whether this painting was painted by an artist or by chance splashes of paint. If we admit that there was an artist, we can discuss whether he is still alive, and whether he is or was a loving man, a just man, and so on. Similarly the proposition “God exists” is totally meaningless, and philosophers and theologians should be reminded that it is not asserted in any of the great creeds. What is asserted in the first chapter of Genesis is that our world was created, and whoever did this is given the name “Elohim” in Hebrew, “Allah” in Arabic, or “God” in English. According to this use of the word, an atheist is then someone who denies that this world indicates creation in any sense that includes personal intention. The fool of Psalm 14:1 said not that “God does not exist” but that “there is no Creator” or possibly “there is no Judge.”

Most modern atheists would assert that instead of being created by intention this world came into being by haphazard chance. It is also possible to believe that this world was created, and then accuse the Creator of injustice, lack of love toward oneself or others, and so on. In this case one is not an atheist, but a Marcionite or a rebel against one’s Creator, and the form of the argument required to justify God is quite different.

Happily Penelhum’s otherwise excellent account of the difference between theists and atheists could be restated without making “God exists” the point at issue. For “God exists” read “this world of mountains, fish, mammals, and men was created.” This proposition would then be what is common to most theists, and it is obviously denied by true atheists.

Our second work is a collection of essays and lectures by Gordon Kaufman of Harvard Divinity School. The aim is to explain “the logic of the concept of God.” This is therefore a philosophy-of-religion preface to the author’s Systematic Theology: A Historical Perspective (1968). A chapter on “Christian Theology” makes clear that Kaufman views theology not as the study of a God-given revelation but as the exploration of a perspective on life. Chapter three is entitled “Transcendence Without Mythology.” Kaufman views God “as a limiting concept”; the word “refers to that which we do not know but which is the ultimate limit of all our experiences.” He then lists four types of limiting experience, and picks an experience “on analogy with the experience of personal limiting as known in the interaction of personal wills.” He later explains that just as we find ourselves limited and frustrated in our relation to other persons, we have a similar sense of limitation and frustration in relation to our world as a whole. This would then suggest that we are faced by, or answered back by, a personal being behind our world that we can then call “God.” This move later enables Kaufman in chapter six to change the meaning of revelation from personal acts of God, which to him would be mythological, to the whole process of world history.

In a chapter on “God as symbol” Kaufman uses a quite different method of analogy. He views the whole of Western culture centered on our theistic view of God as providing a map. The map has many roads, which go off the map, but all point in the direction of the city of God. We can if we choose use this map to order our lives in certain characteristic Christian ways. No proof of the existence of God is possible, but if we adopt the map we have a focus in what we call “God.”

We then ask on what basis we choose the Christian map over any other. The answer is that we cannot choose and act without some kind of map. The result is that “one does not ask first whether it is true that God exists (a speculative question), but rather whether this is an appropriate life-policy for men to adopt.” Kaufman then argues that speaking of God is one way, and perhaps the only way, to view our world as a moral universe. In chapter nine Kaufman contracts “secular” and “religious” world views with the “theistic” one that he has recommended.

Kaufman’s introduction is written in the shadow of Wittgenstein, but he does not use the methods that Wittgenstein has opened up for philosophy and theology. It is quite wrong to speak of theological discourse as a “language-game.” Often several language-games would be needed to clarify even a simple theological statement. Thus to understand “God created the world” Wittgenstein would want to know the speaker’s language-game for “the world.” Various language-games for using the word “created” could be constructed: e.g., would a beautiful pattern splashed on a white wall by a car driving through mud be a creation? Only then would the speaker’s language-game for the word “God” become clear, or it might in turn require several language-games to bring the use into proper focus. What then would Wittgenstein do with the following assertion by Kaufman: “The master act of God (which he has not yet completed) is the temporal movement of all nature and history toward the realization of his original intention in creation”? Are we back to theistic creation as usual, or is this theism of the Teilhard de Chardin variety? And how would ordinary men and little children learn the proper use of the word “God”? It is time that theologians who wish to venture into the philosophy of religion discipline themselves by a thorough exposure to the methods of Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations.

Our third work is Lyman T. Lundeen’s presentation of Whitehead’s theory of language. The style is one of verbose obscurity, and philosophers will find the uncritical use of references extremely tiresome. Lundeen does succeed in showing that Whitehead wrestled with problems of language that are now commonplace since the modern linguistic turn in philosophy. Thus he notes Whitehead’s rejection of the notion of “substance.” “The standard of actuality is no longer the Cartesian independent substance, but subjects who are constituted by their experience of each other.”

Typical Wittgensteinian insights are that language deceives us into thinking that stones, planets, animals, and so on exist as distinct entities, and so we are lured into dangerous oversimplification. There is the denial of logical precision in any assertions except those of mathematics: “such clarity as is given is relative and partial. Things are clear enough for the moment.” It does not follow from this, however, that “religious assertions, like all other human claims about concrete experience, are a mixture of certainty, probability, and provisional projection.” “I have a headache” has nothing probable or provisional about it, nor does “I believe in God, Creator … and in Jesus Christ.”

The incredibly obscure string of statements about God collected from the works of Whitehead (pp. 149–53) cannot help anyone to do theology. This book may serve students of Whitehead as a collection of his thinking on language and religion, but it does not rate as serious philosophy.

L. Nelson Bell

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This column by the late Executive Editor ofCHRISTIANITY TODAYis reprinted from the October 8, 1965, issue.

“The just shall live by his faith.” Thank God for that one condition laid down for our salvation. But the seal of that faith, the evidence of its genuineness, is love and compassion for others. There is no such thing as a Christian with a right vertical relationship to God but without a right horizontal relationship to his fellow men.

One day a man asked our Lord which was the great commandment of the law, and Jesus replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Matt. 22:37–39).

For some of us this is very strong meat. We think we love God deeply because we have an unquestioning faith in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But we look around us and find it exceedingly difficult to love some of the unlovely, cantankerous, unwashed people with whom we come in contact.

Yet it is precisely at this point that we exhibit the validating seal of our faith. When the Apostle James wrote, “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Jas. 2:26), he was in no way contradicting the Apostle Paul’s affirmation, “By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9).

It is clear as crystal that a faith content with mere affirmations is spurious. True faith has a seal of its genuineness—love, concern, and action for others.

The story is told of a German church destroyed during World War II. Later, when the rubble was being cleared away, a statue of Christ was found with only the hands missing. A famous sculptor offered to restore the hands, but the officers of the church declined, saying that here was a symbol of our Lord’s dependence on the hands of his followers to serve him in loving concern and compassion for others.

How does this concern differ from that associated with the so-called social gospel? The difference is this: The latter can be an end in itself, but true Christian love and compassion is a by-product of the Gospel and a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Our Lord illustrated our need of compassion by the story of the Good Samaritan. A man was beaten, robbed, and left wounded, unable to walk. One religious leader came along and, seeing the victim, passed by as far as possible from where he lay. Another came close, took a look, and also left the man unattended. But a despised Samaritan came, sensed the situation and the need, and did something about it; he bound up the man’s wounds, carried him to an inn on his own animal, and made full provision for the days of recovery.

“Which of these three, thinkest thou,” Jesus asked, “was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go and do thou likewise.”

Does this make some of us uncomfortable? It should. We all too often wrap around ourselves the robes of orthodoxy while failing to exhibit love and compassion where it is so desperately needed.

The twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew gives us our Lord’s prophetic account of a coming judgment. What rivets our attention is the basis of the judgment: how men have responded to the needs of others. Here what matters is not what men have professed but how they have practiced it. The genuineness of faith is exhibited by love and compassion. Here in its stark nakedness one sees faith without works—dead, useless, spurious faith. Our Lord will recognize then—as he does now—the extent to which men are nothing more than pious frauds.

Our Lord’s depiction of this judgment scene makes plain the humility of those who serve him through their acts of mercy and the self-satisfaction of those who deny him by inaction.

The necessity of validating faith by actions of love in no way detracts from the prime necessity of faith, nor does it bypass the basic role of preaching in the ministry of the Church. Furthermore, social concerns can become distorted into a humanism that has no relation to Christianity. It seems that today the Church is often more concerned about making the prodigal comfortable and happy in the far country than about bringing him back to his Father through faith in Jesus Christ.

Where then is the dividing line between a faith validated by Christian action and social works centered in physical rather than spiritual welfare? Is not this division clearly found at the Cross? True Christian love and compassion should be a by-product of our love for the One who died for us.

It is possible to engage in all kinds of social action, not only without any Christian motive, but even to the detriment of the recipients of the action. It is also possible to call ourselves Christians but show neither love nor compassion to those who so desperately need both. Yet faith without works is dead, and social concern without spiritual concern is just as dead. Both are insidiously dangerous because they generate within us a satisfaction with ourselves that is wholly unjustified.

For twenty-five years the writer shared in the work of a large mission hospital in China. We had good buildings, good equipment, and well-trained doctors and nurses, and we tried to practice the best medicine and surgery possible in those days. But this humanitarian work was not an end in itself. In every way possible—by example, by word of mouth, by the printed page—we endeavored to preach and teach Christ as men’s basic and ultimate need. The cup of cold water was accompanied by the message of the saving Gospel. This long experience in “social work” has convinced the writer both that Christian love and compassion are an integral part of the Christian faith and that humanitarianism as an end in itself is a denial of that faith.

This is an area where Christians should search their own hearts and motives. Too often we pass by on the other side. And too often we look at human need without thinking of the need of the soul that Christ died to save. A hard orthodoxy without love and compassion is a travesty of the Christian faith. A sentimental humanism is likewise a travesty.

As Christians we must beware lest we belittle the efforts of some with whom we do not agree. After all, God is their judge. At the same time let us beware lest we deny our Lord by failing to love those about us with a love expressed in action.

- More fromL. Nelson Bell

Carl F. H. Henry

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Fourth in a Series

There is no need whatever to apologize that a Buddhist may chair a university religion department or teach in an elementary or secondary public school; public education can accommodate even proponents of the death of God or other momentarily fashionable views. Something else is at stake, however, when public education reflects the religious heritage of the West and the basic commitment of the citizenry mainly through the perspective of those who disown it, or professes to be neutral while denying adequate representation to traditional religion. Such a posture is akin to religious propaganda and not to academic objectivity.

The Supreme Court makes it clear that the teacher of the history of religion, comparative religions, and sacred texts must not endorse one religion over competing faiths in the classroom, nor give systematic indoctrination in any creed. The fact is that many religious colleges and day schools thrive in the United States mainly because American public education is thought not to deal adequately or fairly with the religious heritage and commitment of the masses. Some persons no doubt busily blast public schools as such in justification of private schools. But private schools do not depend upon inept public schools for their existence; they have a legitimacy of their own, whether public schools fulfill their proper role or not. The private school need not be in competition with the public school in the area of religious teaching and religious adequacy.

To be sure, the public campuses are not evangelical colleges or Christian elementary and secondary schools and are not expected to be so. But a school jeopardizes rather than protects its public character if it virtually excludes competent scholars who reflect the religious heritage of the West on its own presuppositions. Apart from a few noteworthy exceptions, the representation on secular campuses of evangelical scholars in religion and philosophy departments is proportionately very small; it might well be asked whether an anti-supernaturalistic and anti-evangelical bias has gained religious academic tenure.

Not only historic Protestant Christianity but the Catholic faith and traditional Judaism suffer maltreatment from such prejudices. Fair treatment must be accorded all religious perspectives, whether minority or majority faiths. We are now seeing on public campuses the rise of divisions of Jewish studies in affiliation with religion departments; divisions not only of Christian studies but of Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant and/or evangelical studies and of other alternatives as well may emerge unless a truly representative overall balance of scholarship is maintained, providing a comprehensive overview of the past religious heritage and of the present religious scene.

Unfortunately, modern academic tolerance often is reduced simply to indifference over questions of religion and ultimate values, and even to polite disdain for the Judeo-Christian heritage; current resignation to value-free education nurtures the peculiar suspicion that attention to religious traditions will somehow prejudicially taint education. The Schempp decision declares that a complete education requires “a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization.” If this is so, what can we say about a generation that has had virtually no academic exposure to Old Testament and New Testament religion, or whose impressions are often limited to the prejudices of those contemporary thinkers who dismiss the supernatural as mere myth or linguistic bewitchment?

Study about religion in the public arena calls, assuredly, for both academic competence and an academic spirit. It is remarkable that across the years few states have included religion as a required subject for teaching certification at the elementary level. Recently Michigan and California approved religion as a teaching minor; Wisconsin also has an approved program at Marquette. But religion has traditionally been taught simply in an introductory crash course. The question now arises whether only prescribed institutions are to hold a monopoly of religious training that counts toward state teaching credentials, or whether all accredited institutions preparing elementary and secondary school teachers will be free to declare religion studies a part of their teacher program. And are faculty recruits for religion offerings to be drawn from public institutions whose religion departments are prone to exclude candidates who do not bend easily to the prevailing religious orientation?

The Schempp decision applies in principle to public education at all levels. It is now often emphasized, however, that elementary and secondary education differ significantly from higher education. At elementary and most secondary levels, students stand in a compulsory educational relationship to educators; at higher levels this relationship is voluntary. Some observers would also add that elementary and secondary students are more prone to indoctrination by their teachers. This may be true, but in this mass-media age even elementary school children are not exempt from skepticism over television commercials; college and university students, on the other hand, frequently parrot or mirror the views of their professors even in areas like philosophy that presumably demand critical reflection.

The second point in the Schempp decision refers specifically to the Bible. Public schools obviously cannot be expected to teach the Bible in the same way as do church institutions. Many church-related schools, for example, insist that the Scriptures be taught by believers only, and that Scripture be presented as the Word of God or as qualitatively unique. The Bible, according to the Supreme Court decision, merits study “for its literary and historic qualities.” For an evangelical Christian to insist that the Bible cannot be studied as literature or history unless one is a believer, and unless the Bible is accepted in advance as the Word of God, is inexcusable. The believing instructor ought not to forget that faith is a divinely engendered response that not he but God presses upon man. It is equally inexcusable for a non-evangelical to insist that one must be a modernist or a disbeliever to appreciate the literary and historical facets of the Bible. [To be continued.]

- More fromCarl F. H. Henry

Ideas

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As recently as 1950, the Roman Catholic Church seemed a tightly organized, monolithic structure confident of its strength and of its unique calling and ministry. On November 1 of that year, Pope Pius XII promulgated the bull Munificentissimus Deus, elevating the long-standing tradition of the bodily assumption of Mary to heaven at her death to a binding dogma, one that has to be accepted for salvation (“Mariam … fuisse corpore et anima ad caelestem gloriam assumptam”). This reinforcement of traditional Catholic Mariology threw up a roadblock to fellowship with the Protestant denominations whose ecumenical enthusiasm had led to the establishment of the World Council of Churches only two years earlier. In addition, it was also an affront to the Eastern Orthodox, who had been celebrating the feast of Mary’s assumption for many centuries, but who steadfastly hold that no new doctrines beyond those approved by the seven ecumenical councils of the undivided ancient church may ever be made obligatory for believers.

Yet within a few years’ time, Pius XII had passed from the scene, to be replaced by the affable John XXIII (1958–63). The new pope convened the Second Vatican Council, and even before its work was finished, it was evident that the ancient, monolithic Roman church was being shaken to its foundations.

John XXIII had announced in his first encyclical, Ad Petri cathedram (July 2, 1959), that the chief goal of Vatican II was the growth of the Catholic Church. Aggiornamiento (“bringing up to date”), which involved liturgical reform, celebration of the Mass and other services in national languages rather than medieval Latin, the easing of many traditional rules, and the giving of more authority to the bishops than the monarchical papacy had previously allowed, was expected to reduce some of the traditional obstacles to Roman Catholic expansion and bring many “separated brethren” and perhaps even separated denominations “to Peter’s see.”

But the opposite happened. For example, theologian Hans Küng, whose timely interest in the theology of Karl Barth earned him a full professorship at Tübingen university, became so involved with Protestant thought that in the eyes of many he has ceased to be a Catholic. Gregory Baum, a Jew whose conversion to Roman Catholicism seemed to involve recognition of the unique claims of Jesus Christ, has now moved, and led others, in the direction of universalism and syncretism. The replacement of the old Latin Mass with modern-language translations, often of questionable quality, has confused and troubled countless faithful Catholics, leading to the establishment of rebellious “traditionalist” congregations. Some priests have advocated and practiced a “theology of revolution” that apparently owes more to Marx than to Aquinas or Jesus. Defection of priests and nuns has become almost a mass movement, and the number of “vocations”—decisions to enter the priesthood or a religious order—has dropped drastically. Previously vigorous Catholic evangelistic organizations such as the Paulist Fathers (established by a converted Unitarian with the goal of winning Protestants to Rome) have become little more than clubs for discussion of comparative religions.

Twenty-three years after Munificentissimus Deus, it is very hard to tell where the Roman church is going. It is evident that there is a tremendous evangelical stirring among Roman Catholicism’s world-wide constituency. Bible reading is encouraged. A kind of charismatic revival reminiscent of a genteel Protestant Pentecostalism has made great headway in Catholic parishes, often among precisely those Catholic people most interested in the spiritual reality and truth on which the papacy used to claim a rather strict monopoly. Attendance at Protestant services and evangelistic campaigns, formerly prohibited or severely limited, is not merely tolerated but often encouraged. At the same time, traditional Catholic leadership figures are either bogged down in doctrinal and disciplinary wrangles—such as the entanglement of the present pope in birth control and priestly celibacy disputes—and hence unable to give real leadership, or moving into such far-out “theologies” that they are no longer acceptable to the masses.

Evangelicals are finding that nominal Roman Catholics are increasingly sympathetic to the biblical Gospel proclaiming salvation by faith and the need for a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. What are the reasons for this? Perhaps a primary one is the fact that the Roman church has accustomed its adherents to think in terms of absolute truth and binding principles. They expect something more from religion than mere optimistic philosophizing or social altruism. Roman Catholicism in the past may not have given them a confidence-inspiring, satisfying personal faith, but it has conditioned them to look for one. They know about commandments that are meant to be obeyed, and they understand something of the seriousness of sin and of God’s judgment. Hence, unlike nominal Protestants accustomed to thinking in relativistic terms, they can understand it when they hear that God “now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). At evangelistic rallies, members of Catholic parishes are frequently disproportionately numerous among those coming forward.

What does all this mean for the evangelical trying to witness to Roman Catholics? He must be aware of the tremendous vacuum created by the virtual collapse of traditional Roman authority, and recognize the great opportunity offered by the hundreds of millions of Roman Catholics who have been led to expect something true and authoritative from God, but who have not yet heard the Gospel presented in personal and understandable terms. At the same time, he should be aware not only of the extreme disarray in Protestant churches, but also of the tenacity of the ties with which many Roman Catholics, even fallen-away ones, are bound to their church. He should not press a converted Roman Catholic to forsake all his Catholic traditions, especially if he cannot help him to find an adequate evangelical congregation where the sense of worship and of the majesty of God is strong. But, recognizing that authentic Bible teaching and biblical fellowship are rare within Roman Catholic circles, he should do his best to bring the evangelically inclined Catholic into a parallel fellowship, such as a Bible-study or prayer cell, where the Word is taught and believed.

Whether a world-wide breakdown of Roman Catholicism is imminent, and whether in view of Catholicism’s. tremendous role in Christian civilization our culture could survive one, is not clear. But it is clear that there is a tremendous hunger among tens of millions of Catholics today, and a corresponding opportunity to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them in simplicity and in power (see also News, page 46).

Willa Cather: Understanding God’S Ways

Attitudes toward Christianity play a major part in some of Willa Cather’s finest novels. Whether writing of Catholicism or Protestant fundamentalism, she explores the matter of hypocrisy and sincerity in those who profess Christianity. The novelist herself, born December 9, 1873, was raised a Baptist and later became an Episcopalian.

In One of Ours, which was written in 1922 and which won a Pulitzer Prize, Claude Wheeler’s mother is a member of an unidentified “fundamentalist” church. (To Willa Cather all denominations stressing personal conversion blend together; theological distinctions are ignored. Her characters are either Protestant fundamentalists or Catholics.) Claude knows “that nothing could happen in the world which would give her so much pleasure as to see him reconciled to Christ.” But sending him to a denominational school did not help:

Now he dismissed all Christian theology as something too full of evasions and sophistries to be reasoned about. The men who made it, he felt sure, were like the men who taught it.… Though he wanted little to do with theology and theologians, Claude would have said that he was a Christian.

Claude’s mother is a sympathetic character. Her Christianity does not keep her from concern for others. Cather juxtaposes that form of evangelical faith with that of Claude’s future wife, Enid, whose only desire is to become a missionary to China like her sister. Instead she marries Claude, neglects him for her faith, and eventually leaves him to nurse her sick missionary sister. She loves impersonally, out of duty.

The novels centering on Catholicism also explore appearance and reality. In Death Comes For the Archbishop, perhaps her most famous novel, Bishop Latour and Father Vaillant willingly sacrifice comfort for mission, and travel from France to Arizona to preach to the Indians. While the two men struggle to civilize the land and Christianize the natives, another priest robs his parishioners and lives in sinful gluttony. Father Vaillant is this priest’s antagonist; he is a man dedicated to God. Yet these dedicated Catholics love the world enough to spend time ordering it. Cather’s sincere Protestant Christians for the most part ignore order and concentrate on piety. This other-worldly element in fundamentalism disturbed the novelist, who found in trees and rocks and other earthly things beauty to be cherished. She resisted categorizing God’s ways and boxing his purposes and rebuked those who encouraged religious conformity. Perhaps her attitude toward Christianity may be summed up in Mrs. Wheeler’s later and less fundamentalist position: “As I get older, I leave a good deal more to God. I believe He wants to save whatever is noble in this world, and that He knows more ways of doing it than I.” While Willa Cather may not have understood God’s ways, her sensitive portrayal of characters who thought they did provides the reader with a firm reminder of the fallibility of man.

The Spirit Of St. Louis

Missouri’s largest city was named after King Louis IX of France (1214–70), who had a morally memorable reign. He was named a saint undoubtedly because of his participation in the crusades, but his conduct on the throne was marked by exemplary integrity. He was strong, able, wise, and above all, honest and compassionate. He kept very close tabs over his officials, gave personal attention to grievances of his subjects, and through it all went a long way toward achieving order at home and peace abroad.

The city of St. Louis also has a great reputation to live up to in its association with Charles Lindbergh. Billy Graham, in a sermon during his crusade in St. Louis last month, recalled how the famous aviator turned down a million dollars from a company that wanted him to endorse its product. Lindbergh maintained that his solo flight across the Atlantic in the Ryan monoplane “Spirit of St. Louis” was conceived as an investment in the cause of aviation, not to make money.

Key 73, headquartered in St. Louis, is a symbol of integrity in evangelism. Concessions could have been made to this or that group with some worthy ax to grind, but to its credit it has maintained a truly independent character with primary loyalty only to Christ. It didn’t sacrifice the best on the altar of the good.

Surely this is a day when people should be more sensitive to the need for integrity. When Graham’s St. Louis crusade is televised from coast to coast in the weeks ahead, we hope it will have this salutary effect.

American Genesis

To promote a more responsible celebration of Christmas, a Washington, D. C., group called Alternatives, founded by Bob Kochtit*ky, has published an Alternate Christmas Catalogue. The catalogue is “about a simpler lifestyle which does not violate or oppress other humans or the environment; a lifestyle which creates, nurtures and protects life instead of destroying it; a lifestyle rooted in the great traditions of our religions and nation and cultures and therefore responsive to all the earth’s inhabitants.” It suggests that people purchase no Christmas gifts, that they make whatever gifts they give, and that they give the money saved to organizations “helping people and the earth.” The goal is $5 million diverted from consumer products in five years.

There are needy libraries and individuals overseas that would deeply appreciate a complimentary subscription to CHRISTIANITY TODAY. You can designate the recipient, or let us choose from requests we have received. An overseas subscription is $8.50 for one year, $13 for two, and $16 for three.

We like the basic idea, though we wonder if the publishers understand that the basic motivations of people must be changed if their inclinations to buy up so many goods and services are to be reversed. Evangelicals, moreover, may prefer to make their own choices of groups to donate their Christmas money to. Many of the thirty-one organizations described in the catalogue, while claiming a religious affiliation, do not specifically proclaim the message of salvation through the one who came to earth on that first Christmas.

We would like to go beyond Alternatives’ Christmas idea to suggest that North American Christians think about an alternative New Year’s Eve this year. Let’s forgo the revelry (there’s little to cheer about, anyway), and instead gather in churches and homes in a spirit of repentance and confession. Pass up the parties and make Watchnight services a special time of quiet commitment, a new turning to God. If we mean business about the things that really matter, we can also forget about football and parades on New Year’s Day and use the time for spiritual meditation.

Such an observance could literally turn our continent around and give it a new beginning. A major reordering of personal and social priorities could result. The only question left is whether the God of judgment has brought us low enough to give us the motivation to do it.

Budget Input

If you have any say in determining a particular minister’s salary, or if you are helping to support a missionary or other type of church worker, you will want to keep in mind as you project your 1974 giving that inflation has taken a heavy toll this year. Rises in the cost of living hit particularly hard at those with small salaries from which a high proportion must go for food and other necessities. Many in full-time Christian vocations fall into this category. They need substantial increases simply to keep up.

Back To The ‘Old Ways’?

According to a survey of 26,000 high school leaders, recently released by Who’s Who Among American High School Students, there is a resurgence of traditional values in the religious and moral realms. For example, 77 per cent of those responding feel that religion is relevant in today’s society (84 per cent of the Protestants, 79 per cent of the Roman Catholics, 58 per cent of the Jews), while 66 per cent claim to attend religious services regularly (70, 83, and 16 per cent for Protestants, Catholics, and Jews). Sixty-eight per cent intend to raise their children in the same general way that they were raised. On the other hand, only 41 per cent say that they discuss problems with their parents, and a miniscule 1 per cent consult a minister about them (see also News, page 49).

Evidently the “revolutionary” mood of the late sixties has faded, and the pendulum is swinging back toward more traditional values. But it is also clear that there is much ambiguity and uncertainty. The radically new is no longer so attractive, but the “old ways” and their concrete implications are only vaguely discerned. There appears to be a longing for something substantial but uncertainty as to where it can be found—a clear challenge to Christians to proclaim what Paul calls “the whole counsel of God.”

A Holiday Sky Show

The energy crisis will probably pull the plug on a lot of decorative Christmas lighting this year, but a natural display in the holiday sky will more than make up for the loss. The recently discovered Comet Kohoutek is now moving around the sun and is expected to emerge spectacularly during the latter part of December. The comet is very large, and its position in relation to the earth and sun is ideal for a dazzling show. Astronomers predict that the comet’s tail may extend across one-sixth of the sky. Skylab III astronauts have been planning spacewalks to observe Kohoutek, including one on Christmas Day that will, it is hoped, be relayed to the world via television.

South Americans will be treated to an even more awesome display: an annular eclipse (one in which the moon covers all but a bright ring around the circumference of the sun) on the day before Christmas.

Perhaps we’ll be privileged through these unusual events to experience some of the thrill felt by those who saw the Star of the Nativity.

Cold Winter Coming?

The fact that our lives have become darker, slower, and cooler in recent weeks should encourage us all to face up to the facts of the energy crisis. It no longer seems like an idle threat or scare story; it is a reality that affects us personally. And some of us may yet feel it much more; already there have been record low temperatures in the eastern and midwestern United States.

There is no present crisis in supplies of energy, though there may be such a crisis in the future if the world continues to use energy at the current rate. The crisis today is caused by the decision of the Arab oil-producing countries to try to get by extortion what they have been unable to obtain through war or through the United Nations. They apparently are willing and ready to stop the machinery of production around the world even if it leads to a great economic catastrophe.

One can hardly deny that both the Arabs and the Israelis have a case. Who can blame the Jews for refusing to return all the lands they secured by conquest when to do so might threaten their very existence? And who can blame the Arabs for wanting to get back what they lost in the 1967 war?

The problem cannot be solved until both sides make real concessions. And no one knows at this point whether this will happen. Meanwhile the Arab oil producers have the rest of the world at their mercy. Even if one were to grant the justice of their demands, is it possible to condone their strategy?

The situation today demonstrates the interdependence of the world in which we live. No nation lives or dies to itself anymore. It also teaches us that we must develop new sources of energy, perhaps fuels of which we have no present knowledge. Meanwhile the United States must reduce its demands for energy and help to work out a peace settlement that will unlock the flow of oil for the world.

The current crisis once more shows the Christian that neither men nor nations, not even the most powerful on earth, are fully masters of their own fate.

The Miracle, The Mystery

A miracle has in it elements of mystery, for it apparently defies the laws of nature and, since it is not repeated, is not subject to verification. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is both miracle and mystery.

In the incarnation: (1) God assumed human form, and existed in unique fashion as both man and God; this was a once-for-all event. (2) A Hebrew virgin conceived by the Holy Spirit (this was no parthenogenesis because the child would then have had to be female). (3) The birth occurred in Bethlehem of Judea in accordance with the prophetic predictions; for Jesus to have been born elsewhere would have either nullified his claim to be the Messiah or invalidated the prophetic Scripture. (4) The event occurred at a particular time in history and was marked by what the Wise Men described as “his star in the East”; for Jesus to have been born at any other time would have removed him from the epicenter of God’s eternal plan of salvation and have left man without a redeemer or any hope of one yet to come.

At Bethlehem’s manger, miracle and mystery merge to form a pattern that defies explanation from any other perspective than that of divine revelation. God indeed has spoken decisively, but the fashion in which he spoke has been “a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles.” This is both the offense of the Gospel and its power to enlighten and save. In this Christmas season men must get behind the trees, the tinsel, and the toys to the cross that followed hard on the manger, and the miracle and mystery of the resurrection that far surpass the miracle and the mystery of his birth.

Eutychus

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Day Of Infamy

In doing the sort of in-depth research necessary for this column I went to one of the young secretaries in our office.

“Tell me,” I said, “everything you know about December 7.”

She flipped over the leaves of her desk calendar and announced, “It’s a Friday.”

“What else is it?”

“Let’s see,” she said, “the only holiday you know is Global Tree Frog Day but that’s in April. Sorry, there’s nothing on my calendar. You must have the wrong desk.”

“Try thinking history.”

“Oh yes,” she said. “Something happened on December 7. Hiroshima?”

“Nope.”

“End of the Second World War.” “Try Pearl Harbor.”

“Of course,” she said, brightening. “The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1947.”

“No—1941.”

“What do you expect? I wasn’t even born then.”

So much for the day that was going to live in infamy. Not only does the day not live in infamy, but the perpetrator of that infamous act is now our most important ally in the East.

In our state, a Democrat turned Republican has just won the governor’s chair. And in national politics a former Democrat has his eye on a future Republican nomination for President.

The point of all this is that in politics, whether international or local, expediency is the operational principle. Yesterday’s enemy becomes today’s ally. The Chinese are no less enemies of human freedom than they were in the days of the cold war, but their friendship is thought to be necessary in maintaining the international détente.

At one point in my immoderate youth I became a card-carrying conservative, rallying behind the banner of God and Man at Yale and “Human Events.” I even (blush) wrote a fan letter to Barry Goldwater.

My naïveté is so deeply entrenched and resistant to illumination that it took some years for me to realize that only the amateurs in politics operate on the basis of fixed principles. Professional politicians are champions of expediency.

Unfortunately, this principle has come to control a great deal of modern life. It’s easy to see it in operation in business arrangements and sometimes even in personal relationships.

Expediency says, “I’ll do whatever is in my own interest.” What we need to do is to recapture the principles of the radical from Galilee who demands that we do what is right even if it works against our own interests.

EUTYCHUS V

An ‘Iffy’ Leadership

Did I ever … thank [Cheryl Forbes] for all of the good press she’s given us? By reporting our activities she has helped us gain acceptance and support from the Christian community, which we need and want. One thing I like about her reporting is that she has the knack for picking up statements we’re making which seem to typify or epitomize the event for us.…

However, in her article on Jesus Christ Superstar (The Refiner’s Fire, “‘Superstar’ Brings Us Together—In Protest,” Oct. 12), she used the phrase “Moishe Rosen and his Jews for Jesus. Ordinarily that would be cool. However, I think it would be safe to say that I named the movement, but unlike Adam, our first father, who named the animals, then had dominion over them, the Jews for Jesus movement is mine by participation and influence, not any real authority.

Now here’s where the real problem comes in. The parents of many of these young people, and most of them are in their early twenties, think that I’m some kind of a Svengali who has succeeded in mesmerizing their children, then brainwashing them to do my will.

I’m a spokesman, but I don’t even have a figurehead position of leadership. Jews for Jesus in San Francisco is unofficially organized like a tribe and maybe I’m the tribal leader, but I’m the leader of the tribe by the consent of the others.…

Most of the decisions to demonstrate as we did at Jesus Christ Superstar are shared decisions. We have a staff or council meeting for two hours every Monday afternoon. About twenty-five people attend. The initiative for the Superstar demonstration came from Steffi Geiser. My role is chiefly that of a strategist. Anyone who attends the council meeting has the right to make certain initiatives. Then we follow an adversary procedure to try to find fault with the plan or the project. If there is any disagreement, we call for a vote.… Anyone who votes, even if he votes no, must participate in a group project. Since I’m the only one who is trained as a preacher, I get most of the speaking engagements. However, several of the group are in Bible college and a couple have graduated already. What I’m trying to say is that my leadership of Jews for Jesus is a sometime thing and an iffy thing.

MOISHE ROSEN

Jews for Jesus

Corte Madera, Calif.

Critics tend to be critical, but ought not always to go uncriticized. Hence this opening dialogue with Cheryl Forbes on her recent review of Superstar.

First, to the point of anti-Semitism. Christianity has had to live with this for a long time. But it occurs to me that for our time, the message is rather that his own people killed him—as you and I would be the first to do were Jesus to venture into 1973 America. Is it not true that the most pious of his time found him most uncomfortable to have around? And would not we? Indeed, do not we?

The tour theme fascinates me, as it did our youth group and confirmation class. It is novel to have a story of Jesus begin with a bus trip. But if Jesus got on that bus at the end, it escaped our eyes. I think that was intentional, and therefore a far stronger statement of the resurrection than the record Superstar was (which ends with a musical interpretation of John 19:41).… You and I long for a more faithful interpretation of the great Story, but we are not likely to be satisfied. Any telling is an interpretation, if only a voice inflection of the telling, or even the reading of the passages as printed.… I do believe that I can learn from even the worst interpreter of that story. At least one of the purposes of the coming of Jesus is that we might be provoked—thought-provoked, that Superstar has been faithful to the intent of God. As the line goes, “This was unexpected. What do I do now?”

JOHN R. MCELDERRY

The Wheat Ridge Congregation of the United Church of Christ

Denver, Colo.

Not By Us

I appreciated Howard Snyder’s needed and balanced treatment of spiritual gifts in (“Misunderstanding Spiritual Gifts,” Oct. 12). However, the exegesis is seriously amiss where he quotes David R. Mains.… Talents are genetic and learned endowments to be offered to God as a living sacrifice, and these natural abilities may be anointed and blessed of God for service. Spiritual gifts, on the other hand, have prior existence in the Godhead and are not brought into existence by our attitude. For example, the gifts of salvation and faith exist in the Godhead independently of any change in human attitudes toward them; so it is with all spiritual gifts.

NORMAN COPPIN

Calgary, Alberta

Wrong Way Of Words

Immediately after mentioning to my wife how helpful it would be for CHRISTIANITY TODAY to publish an article on our speech (conversations), I ran across your excellent article “The Two Ways of Words” (Oct. 12). I commend D. G. Kehl on his work and recommend the publication to youth ministers throughout our nation. Is my speech outdated (at only age twenty-nine), and is it becoming an accepted practice for youth men to use historically taboo words even when preaching? The words I am referring to go even beyond the type wormed at by D. G. Kehl. In my last two years at the National Youth Workers Convention, in keynote addresses the audiences have been subjected to [all the usual “four-letter” words].…

I can fully appreciate the context of these words and the purpose for which they were uttered, but I must totally reject the choice of words themselves. Is this the manner of conversation we are to project to a world which is already confused?

GARY R. WILLIAMS

Youth Director

Community Baptist Church

Manhattan Beach, Calif.

Good Words

The officers and staff of the American Bible Society are most grateful for the splendid coverage you give the program we have called “Good News for New Readers” (Oct. 12). The endorsem*nt contained in the editorial “Spreading the Word With Impact” is warmly appreciated and should produce new support for the Bible cause from those who love the Lord and wish to see his Word more widely known. The news story by David Kucharsky is thorough and factual, characteristics which we have come to expect from your writers.

LATON E. HOLMGREN

General Secretary

American Bible Society

New York, N. Y.

Editorial Kindliness

We have been intrigued by the kindly handling which Salvador Allende has had in some sections of the press. It seems to us that in their solicitude for him, the press reveals its own preference for Marxism over against democracy. In this opinion it seems the only requirement is that Communism come to power by the so-called democratic process. Some people seem to forget that however it comes to power Marxist Communism is still Marxist Communism—the very antithesis of the democratic way of life and the very opposite of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even though honestly elected to power (Allende, by the way, came to power with about one-third or more of the popular vote), the Antichrist would still be the Antichrist.

Your rather strange editorial “Repentance That Leads to Salvation” (Oct. 12) was by no means one of your best. We are sure that your apparent kindliness does not indicate that you join with those who would prefer Marxism over democracy just so Marxism comes to power by the use of what we know as democratic techniques.

THEODORE S. SMYLIE

St. Louis, Mo.

Luther Who?

Mark A. Noll’s article “Believer-Priests in the Church” (Oct. 26) opens with the sentence, “Martin Luther, as every school boy knows, challenged the Roman Catholic Church and founded Protestantism.…” Martin Luther did indeed challenge the Roman church and found Protestantism, but not every school boy knows it. I was appalled recently in announcing a showing of the film Martin Luther to discover that not one single young person contacted had ever heard of Martin Luther or the Reformation. All, however, had heard of Martin Luther King! Teachers are complaining that there is too much history to teach anymore, so I suppose there are historical priorities. At the same time many religious leaders are saying, Let’s have unity at the expense of doctrine. I suppose Martin Luther and his Reformation are caught in the squeeze—shall we say, victims of the latest phase-out?

JOHN M. KACHELMYER

Director

Christian Mission to Youth

Belen, N. M.

The Basic Formula

The editorial “New Reformation Aborning?” (Oct. 26) prompted me to make the following remarks.… I feel strongly that the “earlier Reformation allegiance” is exactly the place from which the “new Reformation” will come. This Reformation gave to all mankind a basic spiritual formula [which] … rests upon the assumption that it is the duty and sole function of the Protestant clergy to “preach the Word of God written.” It was the responsibility of the civil body to make and enforce such laws as would organize and control all of the activities of the civil body in accordance with the Law of God as found in the Word written. This is the democratic principle.

The alternative to this principle is, and always has been, the principle of the Oriental religions, and primitive religions, throughout history, viz., that both civil and religious authority and power were held by one man, the headman, by whatever name he might be called. This is the ontocratic principle.… There can be no freedom, either religious or political, as long as the powers of priest and magistrate, or the reverse, remain in the hands of one man, by whatever name he may be known.

This division of powers was the profound gift of God in Jesus Christ.

GEORGE L. TAPPAN

Minister of Pastoral Visitation

First Presbyterian Church

Binghamton, N. Y.

Question … And Answer

Cheryl Forbes’s statement that Bishop John Allin “will become, when consecrated, ‘chief apostle on earth,’ according to church tradition and polity” (News, “Bishop John: The New Chief Apostle,” Oct. 26) is simply untrue.… Ms. Forbes ought to let us know the source for such a bizarre assertion. Moreover, Allin will not be “consecrated”.… He has already been consecrated and ordained a bishop.… A presiding bishop … is of no higher order than his fellow bishops.

KENNETH D. ALDRICH, JR.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church

Westville, N. J.

I am an Episcopal parish priest, a former newsman with metropolitan daily experience in Chicago and Washington, and author of a story from the sixty-fourth General Convention of the Episcopal Church [a quote from which] has caused some consternation among your readers.… My error, I believe, was in attempting to describe a vague church doctrine known as “apostolic succession.” A life-long Anglican and a priest for four years, I have been brought up to believe apostolic succession to be a doctrine of the Episcopal Church, albeit a touchy one in this day of ecumenical negotiating. I have understood the doctrine to mean that bishops are successors to the apostles by virtue of the laying on of bands at the time of their consecration. And further, that this line of succession is unbroken from earliest times to today. Likewise, all priests were included in the apostolic succession by the laying on of hands. Thus, I wrote that the presiding bishop is placed in a special relationship to the apostles at the time of his consecration. In other words, he is an apostolic successor.

Secondly, I took a vow at my ordination to “reverently obey … [my] Bishop, and other chief Ministers, who according to the Canons of the Church, may have the charge and government over … [me].” Thus if the bishop is a modern-day successor to the apostles, then the presiding bishop is “chief apostle” among those over whom he has authority.…

I did not intend to create controversy. I thought I was honestly reporting church dogma. My error was in attempting to interpret it. However, I am amazed that I, a life-long Anglican from a family of Anglicans and a priest of the Episcopal Church, could have gotten an idea which many have termed “sheer fantasy.” What this says to me is that it is time the Episcopal Church reviewed the doctrine of apostolic succession and the tradition of the historic episcopacy. I would urge theologians and church historians to write papers on these subjects in hopes of exploring their relationship and perhaps giving some answers to the questions raised by William White in 1789.… If the doctrine of apostolic succession and the tradition of the historic episcopacy are vital to the Christian faith, let us understand what they mean. If we believe either or both of these “dogmas,” let us say so. If we do not, then let us abandon that which we do not believe. For it seems to me that these “dogmas” are very much at the heart of ecumenical discussions as to the validity of holy orders, the nature of ministry, and the authority for ministry.

If my unintended “offense” has caused some in the church to seriously consider these matters, then I am thanksful. And if I am simply one confused priest, then I appreciate the opportunity to be corrected and humbly apologize for sharing my ignorance in an official press release.

JAMES M. CORAM

St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church

High Point, N. C.

Forties-Style

Your [news story] “Youth for Christ: Now There Are Two” (Oct. 26) was interesting, but it missed a couple of important points. The reason for the creation of Youth Evangelism Association is to provide a fellowship of men and women who want to help each other without rigid control over direction so long as they meet the high standards of separation and an aggressive evangelistic drive using both mass and personal soul-winning. Each member organization will remain completely autonomous and may do their job using whatever personnel and facilities best fit their local people and situations. A major dynamic of Youth for Christ historically has been the autonomy of local ministries. The departure from this approach is an integral part of the current administration of Youth for Christ, Incorporated—U.S.A. A central control is now the stated goal. The original intent and purpose of Youth for Christ International was service to local rallies. Now this has been reversed, with local entities serving the top-heavy headquarters.… Again, historically, Youth for Christ was known as an aggressive evangelistic outreach … with open, public invitations.… Now a new approach is being taught in what was formerly called the Youth for Christ Director’s School but is now dubbed the Summer Institute of Youth Evangelism. Public commitments to Christ are no longer popular with those promoting the current Campus Life philosophy. The new approach is “Don’t advertise your deal as a Christian event. Don’t use the name Jesus, or Christ, or God in your announcements, or during your initial (image) events such as Burgerbash or Scream-in-the-Dark.” This approach has long been used by another youth organization, but it is a complete departure from the hard-hitting, front-door type of youth evangelism begun by Torrey Johnson, Billy Graham, and Bob Cook, continued for thirty years by Al Metsker, and protracted by many of the largest local Youth for Christ rallies in America. The present regime of Youth, for Christ—U. S. A., by innuendo just short of decree, despairs the mass-rally approach that has been the mainstay of Youth for Christ during its thirty years of existence. The gigantic Billy Graham crusades (with the majority attending being youth), the phenomenon of Explo ’72 in Dallas, the success of the Kansas City Youth for Christ Super Rallies, and the Tristate youth for Christ Faith Festivals … are virtually ignored by the Wheaton-based Youth for Christ people.

The five founders of Youth Evangelism Association have been members of the Youth for Christ Executive Council. All are veterans of more than ten years in the Youth for Christ ministry. Each serves as executive director of a youth outreach that functions from a locally owned (not-for-profit) corporation, youth center complex. The tangible assets (land, buildings, and equipment) total more than $3 million. The combined annual operations budget of these five ministries exceeds $1 million. More than 10 per cent of all high school Youth for Christ clubs in America are connected with these five local ministries. The aggregate Saturday-night rally attendance in the five cities averages more than 3,000 teen-agers. These ministries won more than 6,000 teenagers to Christ during the past twelve months. One founder is the former Eastern Area vice-president of Youth for Christ. One is a former state director. One is director of the largest local youth ministry in the world.

Our [group’s] purpose is to continue the type ministry begun in the midforties, but proven even more effective in the seventies, as the way to reach the maximum number of young people most efficiently and economically with the unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ.

GEORGE H. DOOMS

Vice-President

Youth Evangelism Association

North Evansville, Ill.

- More fromEutychus

Christianity TodayDecember 7, 1973

Fairy Tales For Women

Among the entertainments vying for the leisure time of women responsible for home management is the fiction in “women’s” magazines. Much has been said about the image of women in these glossy, colorful publications that promise help for achieving successful marriage and parenthood, beautiful hair, clothes, and figure, tastefully decorated homes, and good eating on a limited budget (without, of course, suggesting not buying the magazine as a step toward cutting cost). Indeed, they have felt the not-always-gentle prodding of some women’s groups. The purpose here is not to debate whether the magazines fit the image of women’s lib but whether reading them helps fit a woman to the image of God.

It is not an entirely just exercise: the magazines and their fiction make no claim of being Christian, and it is not completely fair to judge them by standards they do not set for themselves. Still, their readers must include thousands of church-going women and probably not a few minister’s wives. So it is not unfair to ask how the contents might affect Christian commitment.

To the mirror of biblical truth, then, we shall hold up thirty-six stories from fourteen issues (dated January through July, 1973) of Family Circle, Good Housekeeping, Ladies’ Home Journal, and Redbook. Eight of them are short, short stories—one or two magazine pages long. Nine are novelettes or condensed novels, and by length the rest fall somewhere between. Generally in this non-comprehensive sample the best stories—most entertaining and best written—were either short or long.

Only one has a clearly Christian theme. In “Mrs. Barton Declines” by Pearl Buck (LHJ, Feb.), a dying woman forgives her husband’s affair (he had committed suicide years earlier when she had refused to forgive him) and encourages her daughter-in-law to do likewise. The story concludes with a suggestion of salvation, resurrection, and eternal life:

“Of course,” Mrs. Barton said faintly but cheerfully, “I have to die sometime. Then … I’ll be buried in Boston.… But I’m not going to die. Not this time! I’m going to have a good night’s sleep as soon as Charles takes you home, Aline, and in the morning when you both come to see me, I’ll be resurrected!”

Mrs. Barton’s sisters and son had been called to her bedside on other occasions, but she had always rallied. This time, with those who trespassed against her forgiven, will be the last, the reader is allowed to believe.

Twice more in this sample an element of personal religion appears; in two stories frightened, lonely widows consider prayer. The woman in B. J. Chute’s “Turn of the Tide” (FC, July) believes she sees a gull being torn apart out on New York’s East River as she herself feels torn by fears of city life. “She thought she might pray,” Ms. Chute writes. “Pray that a boat would come along and run into the gull and kill it mercifully.… Or that the tide would suddenly rush in and whirl the gull away.” Finally the tide does begin to turn and she realizes the gull is actually a cardboard box. And a tugboat does appear: “It was the boat she had prayed for, and now it was here and she no longer needed it.” The point of the story is not her appeal to God for help but her realization that fear of the unknown is foolish and she might as well live one day at a time. It is an emotionally powerful story; the protagonist’s icy stabs of panic reach the reader, too.

Equally powerful for its depiction of terror is the condensation of The Crystal Mouse, by Babs H. Deal (LHJ, Jan., Feb.). Sara Hillstrom, just widowed, moves into her new apartment to discover she is the building’s only occupant. Strange night noises—most of which she makes herself—terrify her, but, she thinks, one o’clock is “too late to call anyone without a reason. And to whisper ‘Help’ is never any reason.”

Shamefacedly, and with a touch of self-irony, she looked up the number and dialed the Dial-A-Prayer. The line clicked, hummed, faltered, and a cheerful mechanical voice said, “The number you have reached is not in service at this time. This is a recorded announcement.”

It would not serve Ms. Deal’s story to have Sara find comfort. But it is significant that the appeal that fails is to a spiritual service. The next day Sara does find a companion: a young woman with whom she drinks lunch. Although the woman discloses she’s a “Jesus freak” and buys Sara a recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, Sara does not find through her the perfect love that casts out fear. Sara never finds it and ultimately dies. By spiritual standards, it is a bleak story indeed.

A similar failure occurs in a Good Housekeeping novelette, Search for a Little Girl, by June Lewis Shore (Jan.). While the parents, who had been returning home from vacation when their child was lost, and local people comb the snow-covered Kentucky countryside, the child is safe at the nearby farm home of a widower and his unmarried daughter. Before he could notify authorities about the child he fell ill and delirious. To his daughter Garnet the child seemed a replacement for the baby she’d lost, and for a brief time her severe depression lifted. The story suffers literarily from a lack of focus and spiritually from a lack of minister to comfort the desperate parents. And it is significant that Ms. Shore chose for the father of Garnet’s aborted baby a traveling evangelist.

Another ministerial indiscretion occurs in one of the most delightful of the stories, “How I Got Me a Bear,” by Robert Roper (RB, June). It is a country-music ballad in short-story form. A burly truck driver (the Bear), smitten by a Dairy Queen waitress, declares his love on the local radio station till the whole town knows he aims to claim her for his own. Embarrassed by the attention, she consults her cousin, who is a minister and who owes her a favor “since it was me that talked his Louisa out of going and getting a divorce when she caught him fooling with that Cherokee girl.” When the Bear returns and, before the assembled townsfolk, declares his love, she produces her clergyman cousin, who marries them on the spot. The story is a well-done bit of entertainment; only the minister’s escapade jars.

The minister in Shelby Hearon’s novel The Second Dune (RB condensation, June) appears moral enough; but his wife leaves him for another man. Harold’s divorce counters that of Ellen, the story’s narrator, who had left her husband to marry Harold’s lawyer brother. For the most part Harold is treated respectfully and sympathetically—and a bit patronizingly: the preacher is too tender to have to suffer this woman’s harshness. Ellen, however sees him in terms of her first husband—and no one worried whether he could bear the pain of losing his wife. It seems that Harold is a preacher just so he can appear pathetic (to his lawyer brothers at least)—as though such an appearance would be inappropriate for someone in another profession.

The only other appearance of organized religion is in The High Valley, a condensation of a mystery novel by Jessica North (GH, Feb.). The local Mexican priest is cultured, charming, intelligent, and understanding. He seems too good to be true. But at least he provides welcome relief from clergymen who show only the bad side.

Faith may not fare well in women’s fiction, but the happy nuclear family thrives. Indeed, more than two dozen of the three dozen stories feature love (or romance), marriage, and family life. Half a dozen times the main character’s family is diminished by death, but only four times by divorce—a far lower divorce rate than that usually cited by these magazines. For the fictional characters at least, the how-to-keep-a-marriage-humming articles seem to work.

A few of the love stories provide insight into the nature of love—and in the process offer the reader something to think about and an opportunity for growth. Two stories by Florence Jane Soman—“A Perfect Marriage” (GH, Mar.) and “Emergency” (GH, Jan.)—show the value of restrictions inherent in the choice of marriage and family over more casual liaisons. “Things That Last,” by Lauren R. Stevens (RB, March), describes fickle emotions: a boy concerned during his father’s terminal illness because his feeling of grief sometimes is overshadowed by other emotions wonders if his feeling of love for the girl he wants to marry will last through the flow of life’s events. The headstone he chooses for his father’s grave and the ring he buys the girl become symbols of lasting relationships.

Mostly the stories are less edifying variations on the boy-meets-girl-they-marry-and-live-happily-ever-after theme. And they are mostly mediocre stories. The preoccupation with happy romance is no doubt an appeal to readers’ fantasies, and the choice of stories suggests the editors believe those fantasies are of the type of which princes on white stallions slay dragons and carry off beautiful maidens. Perhaps so. Yet if women were to divulge their daydreams the world might also glimpse the creator of the great American novel, the discoverer of long-lost civilizations, the capable and profound exponent of a great truth. Indeed, such hopes of creativity and searches for truth bring a woman closer to the image of God than do dreams of fairy-tale romances. One could wish there were fewer fairy tales for women.

JANET ROHLER GREISCH