The Gospel Blimp by JOSEPH BAYLY Windward Press, Havertown, PA, 1960; 85 pages, $2.25

This is a very funny story. In fact, in places it is so ridiculous that in laughing about the story, one can miss entirely its real point. The lesson this story teaches is not something to laugh about. Instead, it is a lesson every true and loyal follower of Christ must learn if he or she wishes to be an effective witness for the Savior. Actually this story is a commentary in caricature on the way in which many churches and individual Christians engage in “missions.” Perhaps this story could be called the “Parable of Ineffective and Mistaken Mission Effort.”

The author of this story is president of the Evangelical Press Association. a service organization of edition: and publishers of 150 Protestant periodicals. He has also spent some 16 years in student work with the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. During part of this period. he was editor of HIS magazine, and the director of the INTER-VARSITY PRESS.

Though Mr. Dayly perhaps underrates the value and need for sound organization and good program in any continuing evangelization effort, yet he is concerned to make an important point. His point is that Christians will go to any lengths to avoid the one thing that is ultimately the most fruitful way of witnessing for Christ; namely, a face-to-face, personal, friendly involvement with the non-Christian that is designed to lead to evangelistic conversation and commitment. This is what the Christian family in the GOSPEL BLIMP also did. They just about literally went around the world to avoid going next door in their efforts to evangelize their neighbor.

Writing in a half-humorous vein, the author tells of the sincere efforts of a Christian family to reach their next-door neighbors with the gospel. Along with a few other Christian friends, they purchase a war-surplus blimp which is used to trail a long banner through the sky. On the banner they inscribe, in large letters, gospel texts and religious slogans that arc easily read by persons on the ground. Their “Mission” efforts gradually grow into a large complex organization, complete with corporate structure, nil the paraphernalia of modem promotion, a women’s auxiliary, a public relations expert, fancy uniforms, and a financing program. The difficulties that are encountered, especially with the local television station, are both ludicrous and disastrous. You will smile and even laugh as you rend this book. Yet, you will also find that this smiling and laughing will gradually be tempered by the painful realization that perhaps you are really looking in a mirror.

In the last chapter of the book, the author gives an interpretation of his story. The blimp stands for all the impersonal, external means by which we Christians usually attempt to fulfill our evangelistic responsibilities to our neighbors. The complex missions organization described in the story beautifully exemplifies how our mission efforts are often so concerned with literature, programming. committees, meetings, and other gimmicks that we never get around to the point of going to “Matthew’s house” or “Zaccheus’ house” or into the stream of community life to talk with people face to face about Christ.

The reading of this book should not only disturb us who can be so busy doing this kind of “Christian service,” but should also induce us to make considerable changes in our attitudes and efforts toward reaching the unsaved around us. We recommend this book for church libraries, for all ministers, and especially for those actively engaged in local church evangelistic activities. The book would also make good discussion material for many a Sunday evening visit with friends, and for the ladies’ morning coffee kletz. However, talking over the lesson of the book with each other should issue in appropriate action too, otherwise we have wasted our time in reading it.

JACOB W. UITVLUGT

A Guide to the Teachings of the Early Church Fathers ROBERT R. WILLIAMS Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1960, 224 pp. $4.00

Despite certain weaknesses Williams’ study of patristic literature is to be m gently recommended to thoughtful Christians, to students, and to pastors. Apart from its contents, two aspects of its form are noteworthy. First, unlike the usual manual of patrology, the treatment is topical (e.g., “The Faith and Fellowship,” “The Faith and Formula,”) so that pertinent doctrinal and ecclesiological matters are surveyed more effectively. Second, all the quotations From the church fathers are from the Eerdmans reprints of The Ante-Nicene fathers and The Nicene and Post-Nicene fathers, so that both the Guide and the source materials can be used side by side.

The philosopher Santayana once observed, “Those who have forgotten the past are condemned to repeat it.” Hence the importance of Williams’ study. It is an available and popularly written account of our Christian past during those early centuries when certain basic doctrines were formulated and defined. It is also good writing and excellent reading.

Certain weaknesses have been referred to. Perhaps central to these is the approval at times of the philosophical syncretism effected between Greek and biblical thought. Thus, Williams comments:

As Paul was inspired in his day to bring about a reconciliation between Moses and Jesus in the thinking of his own people, so were Justin and other Apologists of the second century used by the Spirit of Cod to bridge the chasm between Christianity and Greek thought (p. 40).

He slates also, with reference to Origen, “In the light of the Greek ideal, he is aware of an absolute distinction between God and man” (p. 154) . With reference to the first quotation, it can be stated that the work of these Apologists rather undercut biblical thought and paved the way for the spiritual dereliction of the Church. With reference to the second, Greek thought could and did emphasize a great distinction between God and man, but not an absolute one, since its premise, the continuity of being, made the distinction one of degree on the scale of being rather than between created and uncreated being. In Greek thought, when an “absolute distinction” appeared, it was alien and dualistic, not theistic. There are other another strange observations, as witness his comment, with reference to John’s Gospel and Clement of Alexandria: “To both John and Clement perfection is attained through an apocalypse or vision. As man gazes upon the face of God he finds his eternal rest” (p. 95).

On the other hand, Williams, in discussing “The Faith and Fallacy,” clearly and sharply emphasizes the fact that “The concept of potentiality cannot be applied to God” (p. 115). His discerning comment concerning the Monarchians can be well applied to contemporary neo-orthodoxy: “They took the activity of God as the basis of their knowledge of Him…This theory made God dependent upon His expressions, instead of the other way around” (p. 116). The chapter on “The Faith and Fallacy” is superbly written, as is also “The Faith and Fetters.” In the latter chapter Williams strikes sharply and ably at the myth of the capture of the church by Constantine and the empire:

It was the State that surrendered, not the Church. There was never anything like a concordat. No political matter was discussed at Nicea. The emperor was n mere guest at the Council. He stood until he was told to sit. It was the State, not the Church, that came to recognize a new Master. Before the end of the fourth century Jesus of Nazareth, a crucified alien, had become the spiritual Head of the Empire. Hence the Church of those days never compromised with the State or gave up any of its peculiar prerogatives (p. 183).

The empire, Williams declares, had to recognize and tolerate Christianity in order to survive. It finally fell because its acceptance of the faith was too little and too late.

Williams is an able writer, and many a familiar scene is sharply and briefly invoked. as witness his description of the convening of the Council of Nicea:

Constantine, who was of lofty stature entered the council last, with a few of his attendants. He did not take a seat until he was granted permission by the presiding bishop. He sat on a low stool in the center, where heretics or those tried by the council usually sat. He was surrounded by what appeared, according to Thodoret, like an army of martyrs. Some were without eyes: others, without arms or the use of their hands, such as Paul, Bishop of Neo-Caesarea. They had come there on mules, asses, and horses. supplied by the State. TIle emperor’s heart went out to this assembly of suffering saints, and he urged them to discard their differences for the sake of the concord and the unity of faith (p. 195).

Familiar figures cross the pages, such as Paul of Samosata, who pleased the mobs and made himself rich in the ministry, to remind us of the presence of his spiritual sons in our midst. We are reminded also of the antiquity of current ills as we glance in at the Council of Orange (529), a minor and both anti-Pelagian and anti-Augustinian assembly which ruled against double predestination, declaring that God has predestined no one to damnation. (The same assembly declared that all baptized persons can, if they will, work out their salvation).

It is a great and moving struggle, the doctrinal development and controversy of the early church, and Williams gives it to us in a highly readable account.

ROUSAS JOHN RUSH DOONY

Our Dependable Bible STANLEY E. ANDERSON Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1960, 248 pp., $3.95

It is a pleasure to read of Dr. Anderson’s earnest concern for a dependable Bible. infallible and inerrant. This concern he documents in a defense written for thoughtful laymen and students. The book is highly readable. full of apt quotations and interesting data.

In spite of all this, the Reformed reader will feel a dissatisfaction with Dr. Anderson’s apologetic method, which is to “prove” the Bible by means of reason, a method which immediately establishes reason, in spite of Dr. Anderson’s Wishes, as the higher authority, for as Scripture itself declares, “without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better” (Hebrews 7:7). According to Dr. Anderson, “Many infallible proofs of the Bible’s dependability are funneled into this volume from great scholars” (p. 9). This would place the “infallible proofs” in the realm of reason and science. Dr. Anderson himself quotes one telling opinion to the contrary from a missionary in Brazil, Royal H. Calley, calling it an “intriguing observation:”

If I should take the view that some paris of the Bible arc not inspired, what or who would guide me? If I say, my reason, I must be certain that it is absolutely perfect, for if I acknowledge any part as inspired there is no room for error, since it is possible mistakenly to reject inspired Scripture.

If I may decide what is and what is not to be accepted, may not my neighbor also? But perhaps he may not see it as I do and he rejects one part whereas I have rejected another. Is one portion of Scripture true for me because I believe it so, but false for my neighbor because he does no! believe it? Furthermore I may change my mind tomorrow so what is true today may be false tomorrow and so on. Shall the Spirit guide me? But how can I try the spirits except by the Word? (p.27f.).

This is more than an “intriguing observation”; it is the beginning of a true apologetics. A faith which looks for proof in the realm of science and reason thereby establishes the priority of science and reason over Scripture. Dr. Anderson believes in the infallible Word, and we can rejoice that he docs. But he asks us to believe on the grounds of “many infallible proofs” which undercut the primacy of God and His Word.

HOUSAS JOHN RUSHDOONY

The Biblical Doctrine of Judgment LEON MORRIS Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1960, 72 pp., $2.00

Leon Morris has added to his already important biblical studies a work of major importance on The Biblical Doctrine of Justice, a book of great value to both the student and the pastor. A study of Hebrew and Greek words for judgment and their meanings, it is a concise and richly rewarding book.

A number of general doctrinal conclusions are readily apparent. A few are the following: Judgment in antiquity was never ,secular but always religious. Moreover, as Morris comments with reference to shaphat, judgment and salvation are inseparable doctrines; “one and the same verb may mean ‘to punish’ or ‘to deliver’” (p. 17). Thus “Judgment has a salvation aspect” (p. 18). Not only is judgment inseparable from salvation hut it is also “inseparable from the concept of the covenant” (p. 19). The modern soft-pedaling of judgment, we may conclude, is thus a neglect also of salvation and the covenant.

Furthermore, the doctrine of judgment is inseparable from the love of God, and from the doctrine of God Himself, so that we may say, “no judgment, no God” (p. 69f.). Again, Without judgment, true progress is impossible. There is “a creative element in judgment” (p. 23), and “the Christian view of judgment means that history moves to a goal” ( p. 72).

It is apparent from these few references that this study is important both theologically and exegetically. Moreover, it is very readable and consistently to the point. One regrets the omission of a section on the relationship of judgment to election, a subject often present in Scripture and an important aspect of Romans 9–11. Nevertheless, the study is excellent both in content and in readability and is necessary reading.

ROUSAS JOHN RUSHDOONY

The Gospel Miracles RONALD S. WALLACE Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1960, xi & 161 pp. $3.50

While this volume docs not equal some of Wallace’s previous studies, it is impossible not to approve of its intent. Wallace seeks: to restore the Reformation relationship “between the pulpit, the lecture room, and the discipline and pastoral life of the Church” and to overcome the academic specialization of modern scholarship (p. x). He seeks therefore to combine scholarship with contemporary interpretation.

The weakness in execution is in the scholarship, and an occasional hint of allegorizing. The doctrinal emphasis is often very slight as against the “application” to everyday life. In spite of this, there is often a healthy and insistent emphasis on Scripture itself, apart from its contemporary or “existential” meaning. Wallace states, “The man of faith is inevitably a man of the Bible” (p. 43). He is emphatic at times that “we have to learn in the life of faith to be content with the Word…. God’s Word continues to contradict everything we see. God expects us to believe in the Word and to live by the Word and to act as if the Word were more true than our own experiences” (p. 46).

His identification of Nain and Shunem is a surprise (pp. 49, 135), one made without the citation of any authority. His sermon on “The Raising of the Widow’s Son” (Luke 7:11–17) is nonetheless an excellent one, both in exegesis, doctrine, and contemporary interpretation. Several such sermons leave the reader grateful in spite of weaknesses elsewhere.

ROUSAS JOHN RUSHDOONY

History of Interpretation FREDRICK W. FARRAR Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1961, li, 553 pp. $6.95

Farrar’s study, the Bampton Lectures for 1885, is a very able and scholarly work of great merit and obvious defects. Farrar reflected the theological liberalism of his day. As a result, his history of biblical interpretation was anti-theological and anti-philosophical, sharing as he did in the common illusion that “scientific” studies abolish bias and achieve a “non-theological and a non-philosophical factuality,” as though such factuality ever existed! He was thus a believer in autonomous man’s objective and total ability to be the discoverer of a factuality which has meaning in and of itself, and apart from God and his Word. This illusion becomes all the more pronounced and apparent as he comes to the Reformation, postReformation, pietistic and “scientific” schools of interpretation. On the other hand, Farrar, by his extensive and excellent quotations and citations, the fruit in part of his very dedication to factuality, serves to negate his own premises and conclusions at many points.

It should be noted that Farrar is often quite partisan and unfair. Thus, he is sharp in condemning the continental exegetes of the post-Reformation era, who indeed did have, as he notes, a strand of Greek rationalism in their thinking, but he is respectful of the English scholars of the same period, whose virtues and weaknesses were no different. Similarly he was ready to give no small praise to Calvin, safely dead, but was savage to a contemporary champion of orthodoxy, Hengstenberg.

Farrar was a particularly discerning and eloquent writer at times, as witness his comment on medieval man: “Like the Israelites of old, the mass of men did not wish to hear the voice of God. They had said to the pope, ‘Speak thou to us. Let not God speak with us: ‘And the people stood afar off.’” (p. 298 f.). Again and again, as he describes rabbinic, Alexandrian, patristic and medieval theories of interpretation, his magnificent use of language and material excites attention and invites quotation.

Despite its defects, Farrar’s work is an important and highly readable one, and its republication in so excellent a format is to be welcomed and commended.

ROUSAS JOHN RUSHDOONY

Is Christ Divided? by LESSLIE NEWBIGIN Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 41 pages. Price $1.25

This booklet is announced as “A Plea for Christian Unity in a Revolutionary Age.” Anyone who loves the church will be able to join the author in such a plea. However, the booklet is weak in understanding the problem and in its argumentation. The exegesis of such sections as Ephesians 3:7–10 and John 17 :22, 23 is “impressionistic” and erroneous. Denominational divisions arc marked as “scandals” and “shame,” of which the church must repent. The author was ordained a minister of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian), but is now the General Secretary of the International Missionary Council, and he states, “I cannot wish for every human being to be a Presbyterian” (p. 12). He assumes that divisions in the church are due to attachments to men and that they are comparable to the condition in the Corinthian Church (I Cor. 1–3). Though the author is disturbed by the divisions, yet his solution of the problem smacks of mysticism. He writes, “We have 10 ask the Holy Spirit Himself to show us in our day what visible forms of unity He wills for us” (p. 17), hut he ignores the fact that the Holy Spirit reveals His will in the Bible and that the divisions of the church must be traced 10 different interpretations (valid or not) of the Scriptures.

Of course, I join the author in his yearning for the outward unity of the church. Who wouldn’t? I likewise understand the difficulty missionaries encounter, not only abroad, but also at home, when the church presents a divided front. However, it seems to me that this is not the greatest difficulty, The greatest difficulty is the gospel itself. This is ever a stumbling-block and foolishness to Jews and Gentiles (I Cor. 1:23–25). When these have been surmounted by the grace of God’s Spirit in the hearts of men, then, I assume, the problems of denominationalism will be reduced to their proper proportions. An earnest and thorough study of the Bible and a willingness to adjust our thinking and conduct to it, is the solution to the problem of denominationalism. I am sorry the author does not seem to appreciate that.

NICHOLAS J. MONSMA

De Jehovah’s Getuigen en de Bijbel by REV. H. J. SPIER Published by J.H. Kok, N.V. Kampen, the Netherlands, 1961 – 160 pages. Price f 1.50.

1be author of this little volume is a minIster of the “Gerefonneerde Kerk” of Rijswijk, the Netherlands. He has succeeded admirably in reproducing the tenets of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (formerly Russellites) in a brief, but clear compass. These tenets are compared with Scripture and found wanting not only, but blatantly contradicting the teachings of the Bible. Mr. Spier was well qualified to do this. He has not only consulted the literature published by this sect, but visited its headquarters in Brooklyn,

N. Y., and conferred with the leaders. Since this sect makes tremendous propaganda throughout the world, anyone able to read the Dutch should not fail to study this booklet. It is concise and clear. Besides, the last chapter constitutes a sort of miniature encyclopedia, describing as many as 69 conceptions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This enables the reader to learn the teachings of ,this sect easily and in a minimum of time.

Of course, every aspect of the origin and activity of this sect could not be discussed by the author. Space did not allow it. However, on p. 129 the remark is made, in a note, that it is remarkable that all three leaders (Russell, Rutherford, and Knorr) hailed from a “decidedly (beslist) Christian Church.” The author wonders whether their reaction against the church “as an instrument of the devil” is so violent for that reason. Granted that such a psychological explanation deserves consideration, it nevertheless seems to this reviewer that much more is involved in the origins of sectarianism upon American soiL But Rev. Spier could not be expected to discuss this at length. The booklet merits hearty endorsement. It should be read widely.

NICHOLAS J. MONSMA

Van Til by R.J. RUSHDOONY Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1960.

This monograph is part of a series 0n Modern Thinkers. We think both editor and publisher for their work and sacrifice. We hope that through a study of the modern thinkers we come to know the rich contributions of Christianity to the world of knowledge.

The material presented in this pamphlet is a survey of Van Til’s perspective on the development of Christian thought. It is a brief and brave defense of Van Til’s position. Rushdoony says: “The issues raised by Van Til are to be reckoned with, and no man can claim to espou.se a Christian philosophy without coming to terms with these presuppositions as outlined by Van Til” (p. 50).

The author does not question that Van Til is unique and right. This should be permissible as long as one remains a student and not a disciple of his. For above all, Van Til himself is a disciple of Christ and a student of the Christian religion. The reviewer believes, therefore, that any defense of Van Til without constructive criticism is destructive to the advancement of a Christian philosophy.

It has been my personal experience and observation that Van Til is better known and appreciated in the Protestant community outside of our Reformed circles. It is my hope that this monograph and other writings on and by Van Til will lead to an improvement in the Christian philosophy within our own circles.

Without a doubt Dr. Van Til is at the same time both a Christian thinker and ultra-modern, but this reviewer still wonders why Van Til is placed in the company of modern thinkers who oppose that which he tries to bring about, namely, a Christian philosophy. I wish to state that this monograph by Rushdoony conveys the idea that a Christian philosophy is not on the defensive, but on the offensive.

I recommend tllis booklet most heartily to everyone.

PHILIP BOM

I Saw The Light by H.J. HEGGER Translated from the Dutch by H. De Jongste. Published by the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Philadelphia, 1961. Price $3.75. 171 pages.

This is an extraordinary and intensely personal book. It is an autobiography of the author, who is an ex-priest of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the evident purpose is to describe his transition or conversion from Roman Catholicism to Protestantism. This was no sudden and impulsive change, but a laborious and tortuous process lasting some four years and ending July, 1948.

Rev. Hegger describes his life from his paternal home is the southern Netherlands, through his preparatory and academic years of study for the priesthood, through part of his work as a Rodemptorist father, and to his professorship of philosophy in Brazil. Here, in Brazil, as a young and learned priest, he broke with Roman Catholicism and ultimately became a minister in the Gereformeerde Kerken of the Netherlands. This occurred through contacts the author sought with Methodist and Presbyterian ministers and believers, and also through our own Rev. Wm. V. Muller, missionary in Brazil.

The learned author is very frank and honest with himself in writing this book. He has the gift and courage of unsparing introspection. Unabashed he discloses the inner motivations of his heart and the deep yearnIngs of his soul. Of course, he himself and God are the sole judges in this realm. Though one is tempted to ask the author to enlarge on some of his descriptions, the realization that the field is too delicate for anyone else to enter causes us to hesitate and even to refrain.

The account of the author may be approached from various angles. One might be inclined to read this book being moved by mere inquisitiveness. To us as Protestants the inner workings of the imposing Roman Church are ever matters of curiosity. We wonder just what occurs ill the closed monasteries and at the confessionals. Rev. Hegger does tell us something about such matters, but the book is anything but sensational. He has 1I0t disclosed these things for the purpose of satisfying vain curiosity.

One could also approach this book as a scholar and engage in a comparative study of Roman Catholic and Reformed theology. Moreover, there is material in this volume which a student of the psychology of religion and of conversion might desire to utilize. However, I feel that the author would not attain his purpose if his readers’ Interest would be restricted to such realms.

It seems to me that the heart and the deep purpose of the book is described in Chapter XII, “The Glory of His Presence.” Rev. Hegger begins this section by writing, “I will sing now of my Saviour, my King, and my Lord. I will relate the wonders He has worked in my soul. I will stammer out my gratitude for Him to hear…” Then follows, as it were, a psalm, in a sense a lyric psalm, to the praise of God. The author is the only one who could have composed this song, because he was delivered by wonderful, sovereign grace out of the clutches of Roman Catholicism, out of the boredom, the lovelessness, the legalism of monasticism, to the glorious grace and liberty of the children of God. In fact, this book, and especially its 12th chapter, puts us as “born” Protestants to shame. How smooth God has made our way! How little heroism we usually display! What a wondrous power of grace it was which brought about the Protestant Reformation! How little we appreciate our glorious heritage! At the same time the question occurs whether we do not abuse our liberty. In Roman Catholicism and in monasticism the strict observance of rules, governing even the thoughts of the heart, is mandatory. Do we always realize that we are bound to Christ as His servants and that our every thought must be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and that we are e:under our great Task-master’s eye?

am very thankful for this book and urgently recommend its reading in this age of limp ecumenicity. Most of all, the book gives evidence of the wondrous grace of God. And, I think, that’s what Rev. Hegger wants it to be.

NICHOLAS J. MONSMA

Christelijke Encyclopedie Vol. V. Editors, PROF. DR. F.W. GROSHEIDE and PROF. DR. G.P. VAN ITTERZON Published by J.H. Kok, N.V., Kampen, the Netherlands, 1960.

This is the fifth volume of the second and revised edition of the Christeliike Encyclopedic, published by the well-known Netherlands firm and appearing about 30 years after the first edition. The volume covers the subjects Middelaar -Ruyter.

The publication of this great work is not only a credit to the enterprising publishing house of Kok, but reflects very favorably upon the Christian community able to produce it. One wonders whether such an undertaking could occur anywhere else in the world. To say the least, this Encyclopedie gives evidence of the energy and momentum of the renascent Calvinism as this took place in the Netherlands during the latest decades or century. Comparing this second edition with the first, one is impressed by the changes which have occurred in conditions and emphases.

The bibliographies found at the end of many articles are not complete. Of course, I realize that it would be impossible to mention all references. Yet I expected to find Dr. B. B. Warfield’s two-volume work on Studies in Perfectionism to be mentioned on p. 425. But it is omitted. Moreover, one likewise finds a few articles which are gratuitous in their position and statements. The article on Paleontology is an example of this. It proceeds throughout from the disputed theory of uniformitarianism (cf. Morris & Whitcomb, The Genesis Flood).

However, these remarks notwithstanding, it must be stated that the second edition of the Christeliike Encyclopedie supersedes the first admirably. The one is by no means a reprint of the other and the purchase of this second edition is not superfluous. All who have access to the Dutch will find it to be an invaluable reference library.

NICHOLAS J. MONSMA