A WORLD TO WIN: PREACHING WORLD MISSIONS TODAY, edited by Roger S. Greenway. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1975. 135 pp. $3.95, paper. Review ed by Rev. Jerome Julien, pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa.
The six contributors to this book are experienced foreign missionaries. All but one, Arthur Glasser, contribute two sermons each. Juan Boonstra, Harvie Conn, Richard DeRidder, Addison Soltau, and Greenway contribute . Nine of the messages are on New Testament texts, two are on texts from the Old Testament. The challenge, necessity and meaning of missions are clearly laid out.
THE MAKING OF A MISSIONARY, by J . Herbert Kane. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1975. 114 pp. $2.95, paper. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome Julien, pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa.
A veteran missionary and now a teacher of missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois, Kane lays out some basic principles and important suggestions for young people contemplating work in missions. What is a missionary? How do I handle the obstacles before me? What really makes a missionary effective? What is the work of missions, really? All of these questions and more are answered. Besides being a good introduction for those contemplating missionary work, this book is helpful for those sitting at home. By it we can learn to appreciate the work of those called and sent forth from us.
MORE PSALMS FOR ALL SEASONS, “Expressions of the believing heart,” by David Allan Hubbard. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1975. 96 pages. Price $1.50. Reviewed by Rev. Louis Kerkstra, pastor of Kellogsville (Mich.) CRC.
This little book consists of meditations on twelve of the Psalms (4, 5, 10–12, 15, 18–20, 22, 24, 29). The author, Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California, first gave these meditations on a radio broadcast called “The Joyful Sound.” He believes that the Psalms are still so attractive to believers today due to three factors: 1) the readiness of the psalmists to face the facts of their existence; 2) the intimacy of the psalmists’ relationship with God; and 3) the ability of the psalmists to apply their faith to their circumstances.
These factors come out in various ways in the meditations on the twelve Psalms. Dr. Hubbard uses a variety of approaches in these meditations. Most of them contain helpful insights. The practical and experimental elements are well brought out. At times the author seems to engage in questionable speculation. In a few the basis for his particular exposition is not explained, leaving the reader wondering about how trustworthy they are. And in some, exposition plays a very minor part. But all in all there are enough helpful insights in this little book to make it worth the reading. This is especially so if the reader has other sources to double-check some of Dr. Hubbard’s conclusions.
WHY PSALMS ONLY? by John W. Keddie. 16 pages. 1978. Scottish Reformed Fellowship, Frankland, 3 Montpelier Terr., Edinburgh, Scotland E H10 YNE. 75 cents. Reviewed by Rev. Angus MacLeod, pastor of Ada (Mich.) CRC.
This small pamphlet attempts to defend the practice of the Free (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland which allows only paraphrases of the 150 Biblical Psalms to be used in public worship services.
Mr. Keddie’s basic argument is that there is no clear proof that the Lord in the New Testament ever sanctioned the use of any songs other than the inspired Old Testament Psalms for public worship. The author contends that the hymns, spiritual songs, and singing of praise mentioned in Ephesians, Colossians, and James should be considered to be various titles of the Hebrew Psalms, and in his view give no warrant for the use of “uninspired compositions” in public worship.
THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES AND PROPHETIC SPECULATION, by Edmond Charles Gruss. Presbyterian and Reformed, Nutley, N.J., 1972. 127 pp. S2.95 paper. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome Julien , pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses, known for setting dates for the end of the world, have an erroneous way of looking at Biblical chronology. This, Gruss, a former Jehovah’s Witness, points out. He challenges them to test their system of thought by the Bible. This is a valuable contribution on one aspect of the Jehovah’s Witness error.
A DECADE OF UNREST – The Issue of Women in Church Office in the CRC, Paul M. Ingeneri, Reformed Fellowship, Inc., 4855 Starr St., S.E., Grand Rapids, Mich. 49506. 32 pages, $1.50. Reviewed by John Vander Ploeg.
The unrest that the writer of this 32-page booklet with its close–knit reasoning seeks to allay is occasioned by the growing demand for making church offices available to women as well as men. The controversy to which Ingeneri addresses himself particularly is currently very much alive in the Christian Reformed Church of which he is a member.
“Paul Ingeneri,” we are informed, “is Director of Education and Evangelism for the Seymour Christian Reformed Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan. He was born in the Boston area, grew up as a Roman Catholic and was led by a liberal college education into total relativism. He came to know and appreciate the authority of the Bible as God’s Word as it led him out of his predicament into the knowledge of God and His Gospel. From this perspective he writes about the subject of women in church office.”
Ingeneri rightly stresses the point that women “in teaching/ruling church offices” is contrary to God’s creation–order of man’s headship over woman, of which today’s “role reversal” is a violation. At length he discusses the principles and perspectives from both the Old and the New Testaments anent this matter. With careful exegesis he also points out that the familiar New Testament passages excluding women from exercising authority in the church cannot be set aside as being time-bound or culturally–conditioned. In appointing His disciples, the Lord included no women. When it was deemed necessary to have a replacement for Judas, Peter said: “Of the men therefore that have companied with us . . . of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1:21, 22). Several objections to the historic position of men only in church offices are carefully considered and shown to be invalid.
If the sale of Ingeneri‘s valuable and informative booklet warrants a reprinting (as it well deserves) a more attractive format with divisions of the contents more clearly delineated would facilitate the reading of it and also make its contents more readily available for reference purposes.
The issue of women in church offices is under consideration right now in the CRC and will also be on the agenda of the com· ing synod. Those who insist that church offices are for men only must base their conviction not on mere tradition but only on the clear teaching of the Bible. For all who know that t
PREACHING WITH CONFIDENCE – A Theological Essay on the Power of the Pulpit, James Daane, Wm . B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich., 1980. 80 pages, $3.95. Reviewed by John Vander Ploeg.
There is in this little volume of 80 pages priceless counsel for every would-be preacher, counsel that was to this reviewer reminiscent at times of the late Professor Samuel Volbeda’s outstanding course in homiletics at Calvin Seminary. Presumably, James Daane had this same course in his time at Calvin and it is gratifying to know that, as professor of practical theology at Fuller Seminary, Daane (retired in 1979) obviously advocated much of the same homiletical techniques as to sermon content and structure that Volbeda in his day was so relentless in demanding of his students in practice–preaching class.
Daane’s Preaching with Confidence is a gem that every aspirant for the pulpit ministry will do well to read and reread to safeguard himself and the long-suffering congregation from the desultory rambling and shoddy pulpit performances that are neither conducive to worship nor edifying as the sermon should be. To appear in t he pulpit should be contraband unless the preacher has first agonized to come to a clear understanding of his text, to a lucid statement of the thrust of the text, and to a careful and well-disciplined organization of the thought he wishes to convey—all of which Daane insists upon in no uncertain terms and in a style that is as incisive as it is clear.
In a chapter on “The Current Status of Preaching” Daane diagnoses the situation well in saying: “For the most part, Protestants today have lost their confidence in the effectiveness of the pulpit . . . . Protestantism is impoverishing itself by abandoning the one great asset of its tradition: faith in the proclamation of the biblical message” (p. 1).
Daane rightly asserts that preaching the Word “with confidence” follows from the realization that: “The power of the Word is also apparent in the biblical teaching that the Word is able to make its own way. ‘So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ’ (Rom. 10:19) . . . . Nothing more needs to be done; no homiletical gimmicks or artificial techniques are required to make the gospel effective. The gospel is mighty to work its way to those who have ears but do not hear. It breaks hearts of stone to create hearts of flesh . . .” (p. 27).
However much the well–informed reader may take exception to some of Daane’s other theological thinking, this should not close our eyes to the merits of his book here under review.
THE TROUBLED WATERS OF EVOLUTION, by Henry M. Morris. CreationLife P ublisher s, San Diego, California, 1975. 217 pp. $2.95, paper. Reviewed by Rev. Jerome Julien, pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Pella, Iowa.
“This book” (not Morris’ first contribution on evolution) “covers the-historical background and modern influence of evolutionary thought . . .” The author lays out the basic principles of creationism over against evolutionism; he points out the evolutionistic principles seen in education, the various disciplines, ethics, racism, etc.; he explains evolution and shows its errors. Perhaps t his book could be considered a basic introduction to creationism as it is opposed to evolutionism.
THE CURE OF SOULS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF P. T. FORSYTH‘S PRACTICAL WRITINGS. Edited by Harry Escott. Paperback. Eerdmans. 137 pages. $1.95. Review by Rev. Frank Einfeld.
Forsyth lived from 1848 to 1921, in England. He was a University and Seminary professor, a minister of the Congregational Church and a writer. The first 27 pages of the book deal with Escott’s “Appraisement” of the man and his works. The rest of the book contains selections from Forsyth’s writings . These range from a single sentence to a page and a half in length. Though one may not agree with all that is said, they are interesting, thought-provoking, practical. Forsyth was a theologian and a sensitive Christian pastor. This book is worth your reading.