GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE Little Grove City College of Pennsylvania has been struggling for five years against the U.S. Department of Education. According to Christian Herald of October 1982, the college lost a decision in a federal court of appeals. The court ruled that although the college accepts no government funding, it is a recipient of federal assistance because some of its students receive personal government benefits. This individual assistance to students puts the whole college under government jurisdiction. The college President says that appeal will be made to the U.S. Supreme Court because the decision of the appeals court “threatens the existence of every private institution in society.”
GEREFORMEERD WEEKBLAD EXIT (Grand Rapids) After 37 years of publication “Gereformeerd Weekblad” (GW) has folded. The first issue appeared on July 6, 1945, only weeks after the complete liberation of the Netherlands after World War II. The final issue bears the date June 25, 1982. For financial reasons, caused by a diminishing readership, the publication was no longer feasible. It had also proved impossible to find a new editor for Prof. Plomp, who at the age of 70 wanted to resign.
The pages of G W reflect the spiritual and theological developments in the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (GKN) in the years between 1945 and 1982. This Dr. Herman Ridderbos, for many years editor and author of the familiar rubric “From Week toWeek,” pointed out in the lead article of the final number. In 1945 the Reformed Churches reeled from a double shock: the ruins and breakdown left in the aftermath of World War II and the brokenness of the churches left by the split in 1944 (when thousands under the leadership of K. Schilder and S. Greydanus left the church and formed the “Liberated” Reformed Churches. It was then that a group of theologians dared to start a new publication called GW. The subtitle added to it was significant: “. . . for the promotion of the interests of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.”
In those early days the focus of the writers (J. H. Bavinck, G.C. Berkouwer, G. Brillenburg Wurth, K. Dijk), was primarily inward, upon the Reformed Churches. Later the perspective broadened and became more ecumenical. Despite this diversity, those filling the pages of G W wrote from a common understanding of what was meant by “Reformed” and for a church which, despite its brokenness caused by the schism, had a unified outlook. Ridderbos now asks the question why it was possible then to produce a paper from a commonly held Reformed perspective but is not possible now. The changes that have come about in the intervening years are mirrored in the subtitle of the paper. Beginning as “GW for the promotion of the interest of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands” it became “. . . for the upbuilding of Reformed life,” and in the final years it was simply said to be “. . . , opinion paper for Reformed life.” The common basis and oneness in perspective that marked church life in the earlier years had disappeared.
Said Ridderbos, “That which gives me concern is the spiritual confusion which slowly makes not only Reformed life but also the Christian life and confession more and more undefinable and indefinite.” Alas, the periphery of the church has become more vague and the center more empty! (RES NE 8/4/82)
BIBLE VERSIONS Under the title, Why Stop Here? Jack P. Lewis comments on the New King James Version (NKJV) in Christianity Today for October 8, 1982. “Here” in the title refers to 1611, the date the KJV first was published. Even the KJV has undergone many revisions. The new KJV is based on the revision of 1769. The publishers themselves point out that between those dates there were 24,000 changes in text and punctuation. While the language of the NKJV has been modernized, among other things by using you and You instead of thee and Thou for God and men, they have retained to a large degree the textus receptus basic to the KJV translation. Dr. Lewis cites some instances in which there has been departure from that text, and asks why all the progress made in determining the text of Scripture should be disallowed and the clock turned back to 1611. He has several good things to say about this new “Bible,” but prefers those that are based on better texts in the original. In this connection Bishop Bastian of the Free Methodist Church contributes an article on “We Have Been Bible Samplers Long Enough.” He compares the Revised Standard Version and the New International Version (RSV and NIV). He comes out strongly in favor of the NIV as being the best version for use today, and recommends that Christians and churches stop using many different versions and concentrate on one for use in teaching, preaching and especially memorization. His advice is also apropos to the situation in the Christian Reformed Church.
NUCLEAR WARFARE: THEN AND NOW is the title of an interesting article by Russell Maatman, professor at Dordt College, in Pro Rege, the journal of that College. The special point he makes is the wonderful way in which, in the providence of God, the Germans under Hitler failed to produce an atomic bomb for use in their war with other European nations. They had made a lot of progress and had scientists second to none, but through lack of cooperation between the departments of government and other circumstances their efforts were frustrated. Meanwhile some of the nuclear scientists of Germany became exiles in the West, and, motivated by hatred of the Nazi regime, worked feverishly for the United States and succeeded in making a bomb in time for use against Japan.
THE COST OF ARMAMENTS Christian Herald (Oct., 1982) reports that Congressman Jim Wright, majority leader of the House of Representatives made an interesting suggestion in a recent speech. He proposed that both the United States and the Soviet Union reduce spending for arms by 10 percent a year for five years, and use the money saved to establish a fund “to benefit the needy of the world.” He estimated that after five years such reduction would provide $200 billion a year. Among other things this money could be used to equip hospitals in every town of more than 10,000 population in the world, build 250,000 schools, millions of miles of good roads, or “build 10 million homes to replace the world’s infested slums.”
Other News
ESCONDIDO, CA – The Reverend Robert B. Strimple, Th.D., Professor of Theology and Vice President for Academic Affairs, has been chosen as the first President for Westminster Theological Seminary in California. Beginning July 1, 1982, Westminster in California became an independent seminary associated with Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia and the Florida Theological Center (Miami). A new corporation, Westminster Theological Seminary Ministries, has been formed to facilitate academic coordination and fundraising for the three institutions. Westminster in California began classes in the fall of 1980 and graduated its first class in May 1982. Fall enrollment is expected to be about 70.