THE GOSPEL OF LUKE by William Hendriksen; 1122 pages, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich.; $13.98. Reviewed by John Vander Ploeg.

A commentator of the caliber of William Hendriksen comes along not once in a generation but more likely only once in a century. Just scanning, and here and there dipping into, The Gospel of Luke, whereby Hendriksen completes his series on Commentaries on the four Gospels, readily leads to hyperbole in the devout, conservative Bible student’s reception of it. Once again, Hendriksen presents us with nothing less than a stupendous achievement. Together with his other commentaries, this volume entitles the author to a place on the honor roll of those few and precious writers able to communicate the faith of the fathers, as revealed in Scripture, with both scholarly precision as well as the clarity and simplicity to which so many teachers have never attained.

Supplying his own translation from the Greek, Hendriksen gives s verse-by–verse commentary on Luke’s Gospel. However, while doing so, his treatment of the material is not atomistic but always part of a unified whole under the general theme, The Work Thou Gavest Him to Do with the following subdivisions: I. Its Beginning or Inauguration 1:1–4:13: II. Its Progress or Continuation 4:14–19:27; III. Its Climax or Culmination 19:28–24:53.

Replying to the significant question as to what light this Gospel sheds on today’s problems, Hendriksen gives this fourfold reply; MA. This Gospel is a Book of Doctrine Showing Us What to Believe; B. It is a Book of Ethics Telling Us How to Live; C. It Is a Book of Comfort Teaching Us Why to Rejoice; D. It Is a Book of Prophecy In· forming Us What To Expect.

Anyone familiar with Hendriksen’s writing knows that he does not circumvent difficult passages but that, having come to grips with them . he gives insights for which other writers so often leave the reader groping. Hendriksen is a master of the material on which he writes because it is so obvious that he himself has first been mastered by it. With a contagious enthusiasm, the keen mind of an exegete, and also with guidance gleaned from extensive study and experience, he leads his readers into an ever increasing knowledge of the living Word. With gratifying clarity he sets forth, for example, the meaning of “the kingdom of God,” our Lord’s teaching on divorce, and the proper method of interpreting parables.

Does the above strike you as being a rave review? The book is deserving of nothing less. It is to be deplored that also among us at times a prophet is not without honor save in his own land. What a tragedy it is to fail to see the acres of diamonds to be found at times right at our own doorstep.

Hendriksen wants nothing of the socalled new hermeneutic for which some are so ready to sell their birthright. for the proverbial mess of pottage. When asked by those who fee l the need of guidance to recommend Bible commentaries, it is a joy to this reviewer to wholeheartedly recommend those by Hendriksen as bcing second to none. It is good to be able now to add to the list The Gospel of Luke. May our Lord be gracious to spare Dr. Hendriksen further and also prolong his dedication and remarkable vigor to the end that more of his writings may still be forthcoming.

As a commentator, William Hendriksen always “contends earnestly for the faith of the fathers once delivered.” As such his books are a monument to his honor; and, above ail, as he would have it to be, for the glory of his Lord.

HENDRIKSEN‘S COMMENTARIES by Edwin H. Palmer

If I were a layman or a preacher marooned on an island and allowed only one New Testament commentary, as quick as a pebble drops I would pick Dr. William Hendriksen’s commentaries and thank God for them. I find it incomprehensible that any preacher is without all of his commentaries.

Another in his series has just appeared—Luke. This is the thirteenth New Testament book that he has exegeted.

Here are the reasons I would choose his commentary if I were shipwrecked:

1. Absolute fidelity to the Word of God. Every page breathes a reverent submission to the Bible as God‘s infallible Word. When reading some commentaries, the reader has to be on his guard against liberalizing lendencies. Typical of Hendriksen, however, is one sentence in his discussion of supposed “contradictions”: “Here again the ‘contradiction’ is in the mind of those looking for contradictions” (p. 261. Hendriksen believes that when the autographa of the Bible are correctly understood, the Bible is unquestionably true. even though we may not have the answers to all questions.

2. Thorougness

Too many commentaries are superficial frothy. But here is meat. 1122 pages of it!

And, laymen, do not be scared. You do not have to read it all. You can select and choose what suits your needs. For each chapter is broken down into several parts and most of it you can understand.

This is the way each section is divided:

a. Firat of all, there is I brief outline of the chapler. It is always helpful to gel a bird‘s-eye view of the material before you plunge into t he detail.

b. Then the author offers his own individual translation of the Greek in up-to-date, clear, dignified English.

c. Then comes the main body of the commentary. This can be understood by the average person with a high school education. No Greek is introduced here, yet the whole comment depends on Dr. Hendriksen’s superb, thorough understanding of the Greek. Hard problems are faced and discussed, but not in the language of theological gobbledegook.

d. Next comes a section entitled “Practical Lessons.” Here are tidbits for both layman and preacher, practical applications of the Bible text.

e. Following the Practical Lessons comes a section on “Greek words. phrases and construction.” The layman can skip over this, but the preacher will find this helpful in understanding the meaning of the text.

f. Finally, at the end of every chapter is a summary of the entire chapter. This is helpful, for the reader can see the whole sweep of the chapter without digressions and interruptions.

3. Clarity

Some commentators write thoroughly but obtusely. Others write clearly but with very little substance. Dr. Hendriksen, however, writes with thoroughness and clarity at the same time. One secret is that he continually breaks down a long discussion into separate points and paragraphs and enumerates them. The average person should be able to follow this commentary with understanding and profit.

4. Pastoral concern

It is remarkable to have a commentary that is as learned as this one is and yet one that comes from a warm. emotional, pastoral heart. This is revealed, of course, in the section on Practical Lessons, but also in the main body of the commentary. The main section is not all academic; rather bursts of pastoral concern come right out of the explanation itself. This is the way it should be, for the purpose of a commentary is not to satisfy our intellectual curiosity, but to teach us to praise God with thoughts, words and deeds.

5. Theological

The first thing a commentary should do is to explain thoroughly and clearly the meaning of the text. But this should not and cannot be done in isolation from the rest of Scripture. Again and again, Dr. Hendriksen relates the text at hand to all of Scripture on a particular subject. As a result, the reader not only gets to know Luke very well, but he also gets a thorough theological education.

So, if you know a pastor that does not have Dr. Hendriksen’s commentaries, take some of your tithe money and run–don’t walk—to buy one or more for him. Many pastors are marooned in a sea of worthless commentaries. And be sure to get one for yourself while you are at it.

ECONOMICS, MONEY AND BANKING (Christian Principles) by E. L. Hebden Taylor; The Craig Press, Nutley, N.J., 1978; 340 pp. Reviewed by Rev. John H. Piersma, Sioux Center, Iowa.

One of the goals envisioned when our fathers sacrificed to establish Christian institutions for higher learning was the production of worthy books on important subjects from the Christian perspective (which, for them, meant the viewpoint of the Reformed Faith). Looking back over the years one must confess that this goal has not been realized to the extent that the Kuyperian oratory of a half-century ago demanded. It is still a relatively rare event when our Calvin, Trinity or Dordt scholars publish a significant work. (Some of the fault for this lies, no doubt, in the fact that the “market” for such publications is very limited. Or, to put it in different language, when much more money is invested in television acts than in good books.)

An exception to this rather gloomy picture is this most recent of Prof. Taylor‘s publications. Taylor is well-known among us as a teacher of sociology at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa.

The subject of this book is quite technical, of course. But it can be read and understood by anyone willing to take the time and invest the effort (I did it!) And the things discussed are of the most practical concern imaginable. Nothing less than our money and possessions in terms of current economic policies and conditions is under discussion by Prof. Taylor. One reviewer summarized the contents as follows:

This well-written book of 14 chapters grew out of a series olledures Professor Taylor delivered in 1974 for the Christian Studies Center of Memphis, Tennessee. It deals with many pertinent issues of our day: (1) monetary inflation and the resultant rise in price levels. (2) the growth of big government run by fascistic-minded controllers, (3) fractional commercial banking built upon central banks and the fluctuations in economic activity brought about by the arbitrary creation and destruction of money and credit in fractional reserve banking systems, and (4) international trade and international banking.

In our schools the problem of Christian education is always the matter of the relationship of biblical principles to the various disciplines of study. On this score we have often been disappointed when we witnessed the reduction of “Christian education” to nothing more than a professing Christian teaching the same things anyone else would teach. with. at best, some pious reference to the providence of God. The actual relevance of the Bible as Word of God to such fields as economics was scarcely recognized, and sometimes denied.

Taylor shows that such anemic and un· satisfactory procedures can be replaced by a bold examination of crucial issues –even in such a field as economics!—from a Christian viewpoint. He shows us how biblical principles apply to such questions as the place of personal indebtedness in our society with acceptance of the interest costs involved, savings and capital investment. the nature and desirability of sound money, the matter of world poverty and hunger, and the place of civil government in the marketplace.

Modern “social science” is often characterized by the desire to establish and enforce pseudo-omniscient control over society. There is a seemingly incurable optimism around that any of society’s problems can really be handled by the vaunted intelligence of modern man. Taylor‘s attitude toward all this is reflected in this short quote:

They (modern bureaucrats and control-minded politicians, JHP) rejoice over wage boosts, but dislike the parallel price rises and the hardships caused to those with fixed incomes. They like one set of inflationary effects but decry the inevitable twin set. And, the “reformers” are always most anxious to do something about those undesired effects of their own financial policies. In order to “fight” inflation they want to curb our economic actions With a series of fascistic controls. They want credit controls, price controls, wage controls and all kinds of other government controls over our lives. Thus, the acceleration of the present long.range credit expansion cannot but lead America into exactly the fully controlled economy the “reformers” and planners want.

Successful, efficient businessmen are not scarce in the Reformed community! To them. and to any other interested reader. we recommend this book.

THE RELIGION OF PRESIDENT CARTER by Niels C. Nielson, Jr.; 160 paces; 1917; Thomas Nelson, Inc. Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee; $2.95. Reviewed by John Vander Ploeg.

Niels C. Nielsen, Jr., is head of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He is the author also of Solzhenitsyn’s Religion. Now he serves us well in giving us this insightful coverage of President Carter‘s religion. This is a matter of vital concern to us because the President of the United States is regarded as the most powerful man in the world and all his actions can be expected to affect us, either for better or for worse.

As men of good will, whether Republicans or Democrats, we want to be assured that the President is what he professes to be—born again, a truly Christian believer. Nielsen poses the question: “Is Carter a ‘phony’?” and then quotes the reply Richard Reeves gave in the New York magazine prior to Carter’s nomination: “Of course, he is. He is a politician, an actor, a salesman. What I like is that the product he’s peddling is one of the most interesting I’ve ever seen in a long time.”

Stating that “the majority of news people have not charged that Carter is a phony,” Nielsen affirms that “President Carter is by background a conservative Christian who takes seriously repentance and faith as well as the need for humility.”

Critical though we may be of Carter at limes, it should be recognized that he, at least, is no Johnny-come-lately in his religious profession. For about twenty years he has been teaehing Sunday School at Pisins. Georgia. Nielsen adds: “Jimmy accepted a pioneer mission assignment as the partner of Milo Pennington, a peanut farmer from Texas. In the late spring of 1967, they went door to door, witnessing to a hundred different families of non-believers, explaining their own faith and seeking conversions . . .” And after his widely acclaimed Camp David meeting wit h Begin and Sadat, appearing on television September 18, 1978, Carter professed himself to be a Christian for the whole world to hear.

Nielsen also calls attention to what Carter says in his book. Why Not the Belt? “I’m a father and I’m a Christian; I’m a businessman and I’m a Christian; I’m a farmer and I’m a Christian; I’m a politician and I’m a Christian. The most important thing in my life beyond all else is Jesus Christ.” One has reason to conclude that Jimmy Carter is an evangelical who believes that his religion must cover and make a real difference in every area of his life. Although apparently Arminian in his theology, Carter should be gratefully recognized for his unabashed and outspoken espousal of Christ as his Lord and Savior.

On the other side of the ledger there are disturbing items to which Nielsen also does not close his eyes. Attention is called to the fact that “during the election campaign, he [Carterl . . . attended mass while campaigning among Poles in Chicago.”

According to Dr. M. H. Reynolds, Jr., in F. E. A. News & View. (May-June 1978). “When President Carter met with Prime Minister Begin of Israel. he later reported his respect for this man because ‘he worships the same God I do and you do: When he met with President Sadat, he said he felt ‘an instant friendship with this man who reminded him that the Egyptians and the Jews, worship the same God, share a common heritage and a common faith’. Neither Prime Minister Begin nor President Sadat accept Jesus Christ as God .. . . When President and Mrs. Carter visited India, they publicly received the heathen Hindu mark (called a tilakl on their foreheads—an insuit to true believers in India who refuse these heathen marks of identification and worship.”

President Carter’s 1978 Thanksgiving Day Proclamation was a keen disappointment in that it made no mention at all of God or Jesus Christ but only of “Providence.” Moreover, Carter’s recent action normalizing relations with Red China and terminating the U.S. treaty with Taiwan shakes one’s assurance as to his Christian profession.

However, notwithstanding these and other apparent inconsistencies, due allowance should be made for the crushing and unrelenting pressure under which the President lives and labors day after day. The presidency is an awesome bllrden. It ought to be every Christian’s fervent prayer that the U.S. chief executive may be true to his profession not only in word but also in deed. No one is as much in need of our constant intercession as he.

CONTEMPORARY WORLD THEOLOGY, A LAYMAN’S GUIDEBOOK by Harvie M. Conn; published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publ. Co., Bolt 185. Nutley, N.J. 07110; 155 pages; $2.95. Reviewed by John Geels, Emeritus pastor, Pella. Ia.

The author of this informative volume is Associate Professor of Missions and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary prior to which he served twelve years as missionary in Korea. In this volume he makes the trustworthiness of the Bible the touch· stone of his appraisal of contemporary theology and criticizes the liberal or naturalistic theology from the perspective of the Reformed, Calvinistic position.

True to its sub-title. this is a guidebook that deals with the principal movements in contemporary theology and their chief exponents. Acknowledging the contributions these various theologies make. he exposes their basic fallacies resulting from their failure to hold to the inerrancy of the holy Scriptures.

Beginning with Barth, the rather of neo-orthodoxy and tracing the roots of his theology to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the Enlightenment, he goes on to treat Bultmann’s Form Criticism and Demythologization; Cullmann’s Heilgechichte concept; the theology of Secularization popularized by Robinson’s Honest to God and Cox’s The Secular City; Situation Ethics espoused by Joseph Fletcher, et al; Moltmann’s theology of Hope; Pannenberg‘s theology of History; Teilhard’s theology of Revolution; Hartshorne and Whitehead” Process theology; and Tillich’s theology of Being. He then treats Mysticism, pietism, Dispensationalism, Fundamentalism, Neo-fundamentalism and Neo-evangelicalism. Finally, he deals briefly with the Reformed faith called Calvinism.

This volume serves admirably as a guidebook to the proper understanding of Contemporary World Theology. It is a brief, candid snd lucid appraisal of these various movements in the theological world of the twentieth century in the light of Scripture from the vantage point of the Reformed Calvinistic faith. We heartily recommend this volume to the perceptive reader.

THE COUNTRY OF THE RISEN KING, Merle Meeter, Compiler; published by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan; 446 pp.; $12.95. Reviewed by Arthur De Jong, Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

This is a chance to slip away from our network dominated mass culture into the Country of the Risen King. The reader of this anthology of Christian poetry catches vivid glimpses of the countryside through the eyes of one hundred thirty Christian poets. The effect of this variety is that of a pointillistic painting, with its specks of vivid color forming a coherent picture in the mind of the viewer.

Merle Meeter devotes the first two-thirds of the book to one hundred contemporary poets. He not only places poems by giants like Eliot and Auden side by side with those of such established poets a, Luci Shaw and Chad Walsh, but audaciously includes a broad selection of poems by lesser known writers, teachers, students, administrators. housewives—many with familiar Dutch names.

Using “Christian content,” based upon the “normative teachings of Scripture,” as his final criteria for inclusion, Merle Meeter focuses on the incarnation, the work of redemption, and their implications for the lives of Christiana. This stress upon a clear Christian statement, sometimes at the cost of allusion and metaphor, makes this a readable collection of contemporary poetry not only for the poetic priesthood but for laymen who may not be inspired by the convoluted poetic algebra of the academic journals or the narcissistic lyrics of teen magazines.

This collection, however, is not to be mined for moralistic synthetic gems, no I will the reader find a helpful topical index featuring “poems for weddings and wakes.” Rather these poems are to be read when we forget “what people look like from outside of the oyster” or when we  need to be reminded that we often speak with the “nails of denial in our mouth.”

Some poems evoke empathy, usually without sentimentality, for a “Girl who Limps” or for those who “slumped into the arches and curves of age” with “old face like embroidered linen/Folded in upon themselves.” We are made to feel that “It is no easy thing/to bless the Lord in Buffalo/where you lie/stroke still and dumb.” These poems warn us t hat we minimize the work of Christ when “Christmas card madonnas/Smirk all thoughts of pain away” and that often we read the “heavy books” of 20th Century technicians and “in our faithless times I we sleep in fear.” Poems like those of Chad Walsh remind us, as we indulge in self–pity and pessimism, that when we say, “My God my God, why hast thou forsaken me?/From his perfect darkness a voice says, I have not.”

In the second part of the anthology Merle Meeter lists alphabetically thirty “Historic American and English Poets” whose poems are usually anthologized as representative works of some quaint or enlightened period of a nation’s history or as illustrations of technical or aesthetic achievement. Meeter’s dispassionate structure promotes fresh appreciation for many fine poems that should be a part of every Christian‘s library, poems like Dickinson’s “Upon the Burning of Our House,” Donne’s “Batter My Heart,” Milton’s “When I Consider,” Hopkin‘s “Pied Beauty.” . . . This section, containing only thirty “historic” Christian poets, may draw some fire about sins of commission and omission in response to the editor’s modest comment that he “may have missed one or two.”

The final section, “Medieval Poems, Renaissance Madrigals, Spirituals,” is too slight to merit attention and, one would think, inclusion. The volume closes with useful thumbnail biographic sketches of each poet, in addition to the standard indices.

This carefully focused anthology provides genuine pleasure and a wide variety of insights into the Christian experience. More importantly it helps the reader realize that the country of the risen King is not a pale abstraction but a real place inhabited by real people, people who suffer and doubt as well as praise and pray.

Prayer of John Calvin after his lecture on Daniel 11:27–32.

“Grant, Almighty God, that as we are instructed by thy Spirit and armed by thy sacred teaching, we may carryon the war bravely with open enemies and with all who boldly oppose true religion. May we also constantly despise all domestic foes and apostates, and resist them manfully. May we never be disturbed, even if various tumults should arise in thy Church. May we fix our eyes upon thee, and always expect a happier issue than appears possible at the time, until at length thou shalt fulfill thy promises. And may all events which now seem contrary to us, issue in our salvation, when thy Son our Redeemer shall appear. Amen.”

The “Dedicatory Epistle” in the introduction to the first volume of Calvin’s Commentary on Daniel also contains a passing observation that “God by his wonderful skill has carried forward the restoration of his Church further than I had dared to hope for” (p. 1xx).

   

(Books received from the publishers for mention and/or review John Vander Ploeg)

LORD HAVE MURPHY! by Joseph L. Felix, 152 pages: “Felix uses humor to reveal God’s hand at work in the complications we confront in everyday life”; Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers: $3.95.

APPROACHING THE DECADE OF SHOCK by Clifford Wilson and John Weldon. Dr. Tim La Haye states in the Foreword: “Their research convincingly demonstrates that we are rapidly approaching the time when the only solution to the world’s problems is a one world dictator—just as the Bible predicts”: 194pages: Master Books, a Division of CLP, San Diego, California.

JOURNEY THROUGH THE NIGHT by Anne DeVries. Four volumes (1) Into the Darkness (2) The Darkness Deepens (3) Dawn’s Early Light (41 A New Day; hard cover—each $4.95; for ages 14 and older. “After the Second World War, Anne DeVries was commissioned to capture the spirit and agony of those five harrowing years of Nazi occupation. The result was Journey through the Night, a four volume runaway best seller that has gone through more than ao printings in the Netherlands”: Paideia Press, P.O. Box 1450, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada L23 7Ja.

PIERRE AND HIS FRIENDS by w. G. Vande Hulst; for ages 10 and older: 175 pages: hard cover $3.95; Paideia Press, St. Catherines, Ontario.

THE COMING OF TilE KINGDOM by Herman Ridderbos; first published in 1962; now published by Paideia Press, St. Catherines, Ontario; 556 pages: paper cover $7.50.

STORY BIBLE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN by Anne DeVries; translated into English by Baukje Gray and David Rudston from the Dutch original; for children 4 to a years old; “. . . the most read children’s story Bible in the world. It has appeared in ten different languages”; 254 pages; hard cover $9.95; Paideia Press, St. Catherines, Ontario.

STORY BIBLE FOR OLDER CHILDREN by Anne DeVries, Old Testament; first published in Dutch; translated by Theodore Plantinga; 346 pages; for ages 8 to 14: hard cover; Paideia Press, St. Catherines, Ontario; $12.95.

WAITING FOR CHRIST’S RETURN (on Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians) by Herman Veldkamp; translated from the Dutch by Theodore Plantinga; 127 pages; Paideia Press, St. Catherines, Ontario; $2.95.

DREAMS AND DICTATORS (on the book of Daniel) by Herman Veldkamp; 251 pages: translated by Theodore Plantinga; Paideia Press, St. Catherines. Ontario; $4.95.

REFORMED DOGMATICS by Heinrich Heppe: revised and edited by Enst Bizer: translated by G. T. Thomson: Foreword by Karl Barth; 721 pages; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids. Mich.; paper cover $7.95.

THE BOOK OF REVELATION – a Simplified Commentary. by Harry Buis. Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Nutley, N.J., 1974. Reviewed by Rev. S. Vrootman.

Harry Buis is pastor of the Hudsonville Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Though also a member of the faculty of Hope College, it is no doubt his pastoral interest in the average lay-reader which motivated him to write a simplified, devotional commentary on Revelation.

The style of the author is a short, simple verse by verse exposition which is both concise and clear. The brevity is in large part found in the fact that he is not led astray by incidental details. However, this does not prevent him from dealing with the main thrust and the major problems of each verse.

Author Buis identifies himself with the preterist school of interpretation, and gives so me reasons for doing so. Proponents of this school contend that, with but few exceptions, the book of Revelation is prophetic of the period of the early church during which she underwent severe persecutions at the hand of the Roman Empire. The basic message then of Revelation, according to this view, is that as Cod cared for and preserved His church during those dire years, so He will always, through all ages, be directing and overruling events on her behalf.

Buis takes up the cudgels for the amillennial as versus the premillenial and postmillennial views of the future and gives his reasons for doing so by means of a general appeal to Scripture, creeds. Christian scholars, and the creeds of Christendom.

Though this reviewer subscribes to the parallelistic method of interpretation, which holds that this hook contains seven parallel sections, each of which covers generally the entire dispensation from the first to the second final coming of Christ, he does find much that is commendable in this book. The author‘s avowed purpose in writing a simple devotional commentary for the average layman is admirably accomplished. The book reflects sound scholarship while maintaining simplicity of expression. This seems to reverence the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. His appeal to the creeds implies their having been formulated under the leading influence of the Holy Spirit. Simple, sound principles of interpretation have served as safeguards against the fantastic interpretations that abound.

This reviewer has no problem in recommending this book as an earnest and reasonably successful attempt at presenting the teachings embedded in the symbolism and prophecies of Revelation in a form understandable to the average layman.

WHO‘S WHO IN CHURCH HISTORY by William P. Barker; 319 pages; Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich.; $2.95. Reviewed by john Vander Ploeg.

First published as a hardcover in 1969, this is another in Baker’s list of inexpensive reference books. Biographical data (alphabetically arranged from Abdon of Fleury to Ulrich Zwingli) on “more than 1500 men and women all of whom left an imprint on the history of the church is readily available in this little volume. The author is Director of Continuing Education at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. A handbook of this kind can be put to good use.

While appreciative of Barker’s article on John Calvin, we do demur in being told that “Arminius was the author of reformed[?] theology known as Arminianism as a reaction against the sternness of Calvinism.” Unfortunately, Barker‘s Who’s Who in Church History making no mention of such outstanding figures as Herman Bavinek, Abraham Kuyper, Geerhardus Vos, Charles Hodge—all of whom do rate an entry, for example, in Elgin S. Moyer‘s more extensive Who Was Who in Church History (Moody Press). Allowing for these strictures, Barker does, however, make a wealth of information available for handy reference.

WHY JOHNNY CAN’T LEARN by Opal Moore; published by Mott Media, Milford, Michigan; 1975; 164 pages; $2.95. Reviewed by John Wm. Borst.

There is today an increasing public outcry against educational institutions for their failure to do the job of maintaining a literate society. “Back to the Basics” has become a popular slogan, as parents and employers see a dearth of fundamental skills amongst a large segment of school age children.

The author of this little book agrees, but points out that the problems in schools arc significantly deeper and more sinister.

What parents should really be concerned about is the secular humanism being foisted on their children, as shown in the denial of absolutes, the failure to transmit a cultural heritage, classroom procedures based on the innate goodness of man, failure to exercise the memory, etc. These and many other philosophical problems have made a virtual wasteland out of schools that arc essentially anti-Christian in their approach.

The book is intended to bring into sharp focus the conflict of Christianity find secular humanism, dearly showing how this all-pervasive view has a strangle hold on the minus of children. A host of significant questions are raised which deserve answers—answers which are best supplied by Christian principles.

Although the iluthor has some good, workable solutions to the problems raised a word of caution should be noted regarding some generalizations. For example, “common sense dictates,” says the author, “that desks should be placed in straight rows all facing one direction.” Other classroom arrangements could be beneficial to the learning process. Innovation and creative ventures should be encouraged.

In this well-documented volume, the author builds a case that should stir the heart of every Christian parent to action, the kind of action that will hopefully salvage the public schools of our land or lead to the establishment of a Christian School when possible.

This book is of particular interest to parents and educators who are concerned about Christian education.