RECIPROCAL MINISTRY

The Yoke of Christ, Elton Trueblood. Harper and Bro., New York. 1958. $3.00.

Professor Trueblood of Earlham College writes more like a Disciple than most Disciples. Such previous works as Your Other Vocation and Signs of Hope are rich with notions common to the Disciple heritage. As a Quaker Mr. Trueblood defends the concept of universal priesthood, and he repeatedly finds ways and means of narrowing the gap between clergy and laity. The Yoke of Christ is his latest contribution, being a collection of sermons or essays that were prepared for different occasions and which have no necessary connection with each other. These are diverse enough to cover the usual strong points of Trueblood’s philosophy — social ethics, moral responsibility, logical faith, priesthood of all believers, a militant church, Christian homelife.

One essay of especial interest is “A Faith for Scientists” which defines a true scientist as one “who is always trying to disprove his own hypothesis.” The reader will be impressed with the definition of faith given in this essay: “Faith is trust in a fundamental meaningfulness which is not wholly proved and presumably will not be wholly proved in our finite existence, but which makes more sense out of our puzzling world than does any conceivable alternative.” For faith to be real it must recognize that our knowledge is extremely fragmentary. Faith must also be honest. Trueblood believes that a devout man will accept the rules of logic. So a faith that is real will produce genuine humility and it will speak to the whole man. Faith is the enemy of all intellectual dishonesty.

The author feels that church union is not so much “the great new fact of our time” (quoting Archbishop William Temple) as is “the powerful drive in developing a universal ministry.” In his essay on “The Abolition of the Laity” Trueblood contends that early Christianity was a movement in which the distinction between clergy and laity was utterly unknown. He says, “Our conventional distinction between clerical and lay Christians does not appear anywhere in the entire New Testament.” He adds that “there was at first nothing that even approached the separated priesthood. Our task is not to abolish the clergy, but the laity! The mood of the primitive church was anti-lay rather than anti-clerical, for all God’s people are clergy. Trueblood argues that the purpose of a good pastor is to make the universal ministry succeed.

Other essays are equally stimulating. In “The Problem of the Crowd” the author shows that Jesus’ greatest work was done with small groups and within the inner circle. Every church needs a committed inner circle, which can become the answer to the problem of bigness. He points Out in his “The Salt of the Earth” that any good thing continues to prosper only through vigilant solicitude. The church, like soil, tends to erode unless laborious efforts are made to maintain it. Christ left no army; he left no organization in the ordinary sense; he did not even leave a book. But he did leave “the salt of the earth” in a little redemptive fellowship made up of extremely common people whose rotal impact was miraculous. A pinch of salt is effective Out of all proportion to its amount.

In his sermon on “Called to Be Saints” Trueblood explains what it means to be called a saint. He describes both the degradation and the glory of the church, and he shows that the church is necessarily made up of people who realize that they are sinners. People are reluctant to call themselves saints because they feel that only certain appointed leaders deserve such a term. But in the primitive church saint and member were synonymous terms. In his “Courage to Care” the point is made that the welfare of others, for people who love are the ones who sometime suffer heartache and disappointment. The reward of loving is better understanding, for insight comes through involvement.

To those of us of the Restoration Movement the insight that Trueblood has of the spirit of primitive Christianity is indeed encouraging. This quotation should provoke thought on the part of us who seem so confident that we have restored the ancient order.

It is hard for us to visualize what early Christianity was like. Certainly it was very different from the Christianity known to us today. There were no fine buildings. In most places there were, in fact, no Christian buildings at all. There was no hierarchy; there were no theological seminaries; there were no Christian colleges; there were no Sunday Schools; there were no choirs. Only small groups of believers—small fellowships. In the beginning there wasn’t even a New Testament. The New Testament itself was not so much a cause of these fellowships as a result of them. Thus the first books of the New Testament were the letters written to the little fellowships partly because of their difficulties, dangers, and temptations.

All they had was the fellowship; nothing else; no standing; no prestige; no honor. For a long time practically none were citizens of the Roman Empire. The citizenship of Paul was stressed partly because it was so rare. It was actually true, and not mere rhetoric, to say, “Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (I Cor, 1:26). The early Christians were not people of standing, but they had a secret power among them, and the secret power resulted from the way in which they were members one of another.

—LEROY GARRETT

SEGREGATION ISSUE

No North or South, Roger H. Crook, Bethany Press, St. Louis, Missouri, 1959, $2.50.

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down a decision which spelled doom to a way of life. It declared racial segregation in public schools to be unconstitutional. The full effect of that decision is not even now discernible.

Roger Crook, Associate Professor of Religion at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina, writes in a clear, concise, and objective way what he believes our attitudes as Christians and democracy-believing Americans should be in this present situation. He writes not as a rabble rouser but as one genuinely interested in bringing understanding and harmony to a tension filled problem.

He realizes that the greatest barriers to an answer to the problem is prejudice which he aptly defines as “a decision made and acted upon with sufficient information.” He points out that a Christian has pledged himself to seek for truth. “His search for truth may lead him to conclusions which are unpopular, and he may find himself at odds not only with his neighbor but with his own predisposition.”

Mr. Crook does not write in generalizations. He strikes at the tap roots when he investigates the arguments in favor of segregation such as the claim that the Negro is innately inferior. This is mistakenly supposed to be proven by the white man’s cultural superiority. But how many realize that there was a great Negro civilization in the 15th century in what is now French West Africa? There was a university in Timbuktu famous throughout Spain, North Africa, and the Near East. To this culture, destroyed in the late 15th century by the Moslems, we are indebted “for the knowledge of how to smelt and use iron are and for much of our legal procedure.”

He shows how we tend to judge the Negro by stereotype. He is pictured as lazy, carefree, dirty, dishonest, and ignorant. This concept is perpetuated by movies and radio programs such as “Amos ‘n’ Andy.” The things white people object to, he points out, are not racial characteristics but cultural, and as such are found in white people as well as Negroes.

He also treats the arguments that inter-racial marriages lead to race mongrelization, and that the Bible sanctions segregation. Concerning the latter, he gives an interesting expose of the “curse of Ham” found in Genesis 9:25-27. He deals also with the question most of us have heard voiced; “Would you want your daughter to marry a Negro?”

He writes with feeling as he tells about the life of the Negro school teacher under Jim Crow law. Although most of her dealings are with those of her own race who consider her first of all as a person, she may be subordinate to a superintendent of schools, a white man, who is reluctant to address her as “Miss.” “The facilities with which she works may be inadequate and inferior to those of her white neighbors. She can therefore never get away entirely from the fact that the conditions of her life are determined by white people largely on the basis of the fact that she is a Negro.”

Mr. Crook also approaches the problem positively as he lists what we can do to help answer the problem. One of these, the most important for those who profess to be the followers of Jesus is to bring our racial attitudes under the judgment of God.

Roger Crook approaches racial segregation as fundamentally a moral problem and one which falls within the province of the Christian gospel. He challenges us to live by our faith realizing “our citizenship is in heaven.”

 —HAROLD HENDERSON

CHURCH HISTORY

The Story of the Church, A. M. Renwick, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. 1958 (paperback) $1.25.

This volume of 222 pages is a concise history of the church. Added to this fact the economy of the paperback and we have a book worth consideration. I think it is possible, especially for beginners, to become so involved in a ‘several volume’ church history, that learning becomes the more difficult. Learning is an accumulative process and we are limited as to how much we can ingest at one time. Therefore, to begin our studies a good one volume church history has the more merit.

Mr. Renwick says, “Church history is the story of the Christian community and its relationship to the rest of the world throughout the ages. This study is not merely one which satisfies our curiosity as to what happened in past times; it is of great practical value for the present. Man is essentially the same in every age, although his surroundings and the circumstances of his life may differ. He has had, essentially, the same weaknesses and the same aspirations all through history. In spite of changing circumstances, and the presence or absence of certain factors, man has basically varied but little within historic times.”

We remember how God worked in the history of the Jews. That the lives of all the great personages, and the outstanding events in the history of the nation were known beforehand by God. They were not only known, by God, but were designed to delineate the Christian system “the Reign of Messiah.” At the time of God’s foreknowledge and foreordination, Israel was acting as a free moral agent, choosing their own destiny. If this be true, the all superintending providence of God relative to the Jewish nation, is it also true of the kingdom of Christ? Have the great events of history happened by chance? Especially those effecting His people? Are their any accidents in history? Or can we trace behind these events the hand of Providence guiding all that comes to pass?

After John was given the epistles to the seven communities in Asia, before being allowed to step into the future, he was shown the “throne scene” in chapters four and five. The reason, I think, was that before the future of the body of Christ was unveiled, with all its woes, corruptions, and persecutions, the throne scene was to set forth, to those students of ender spirits, that all things emanated from and resolved themselves into the “throne occupant.” That He was and is, both center and circumference of the universe. That all things will work to the glorification of “Him who is seated on the throne.”

All of this demonstrates the importance of church history. Is God still superintending His people? Can we see the hand of Providence directing the affairs of the world, down through the ages? Renwick says, “Consider, for example, how the Reformation was saved, just when it seemed that nothing could prevent Luther and his associates from being crushed. The emperor Charles V, having made a peace treaty with his enemy, the King of France, was trying to stamp out the new movement when there came a new distraction. The Mahometan Turks came marching up the Danube in their thousands, and were thundering at the gates of Vienna in the very heart of Europe. Thus Charles V had to make peace with his Protestant subjects and seek their help against the common enemy. As a result the Reformed Church escaped probable annihilation.”

If we can see God working with His people, in mass, will it not make it easier to recognize His working with us individually? Then we are just a step from conceiving the idea of our life as a plan of God. A study of God’s dealings with His people is rewarding.

—CLINT EVANS

The Ecumenical Movement and the Faithful Church. John Howard Yoder. Herald Press, Scottdale, Pennsylvania. 1959. 42 pages. 50 cents.

This booklet is an honest attempt to face up the problem of ecumenicity, as it affects the Mennonites. In the section dealing with early efforts toward Christian unity, no mention is made of the work of the Campbells, Stone, and their fellow laborers. That fact made the book of more than passing interest. The members of the disciple brotherhood need to learn that others have concerned themselves with the tragedy of division, and have striven for a scriptural answer.

The author, an instructor in Goshen College Biblical Seminary, has completed requirements for the Doctor of Theology degree of the University of Basel, Switzerland. He appears eminently qualified to deal with the challenge of a movement which is at the forefront of discussion in modern religious circles. In his statement of the problem, he is especially apt and discerning in laying a proper foundation for study of the question.

He says: “We must remember, lest we be not only pharisaical but clearly dishonest, that we are not a faithful church. No Biblical Christian can affirm that he, his congregation, or his broader brotherhood is fully faithful.” Proceeding on this basis, the author rejects some of the “easy” methods of approach which are so superficial and over-simplified. He concludes that the answer “can be found only if we search the Scripture. We must ask whether the New Testament knows anything about the ‘ecumenical problem’ and, if it does, we must find, and accept, its answer.”

The entire thesis is interesting and contains proposals which might well become the subject of forum discussions among all of us.

—W. CARL KETCHERSIDE

DEVOTIONAL CLASSICS
(See inside back cover for listing)

Man is prone to extremes, and monomania is one of them. We, who are endeavoring to restore primitive Christianity, can become so involved in a legalistic approach to the religion of Christ, that we lose sight of the inner life, or spiritual values, of the first Christians. This legalistic approach, or confidence in knowledge, is a form of conceit. Man, in pursuing knowledge feels more sovereignty and less dependence on God. If he can reduce his relationship to God to mere ritualistic patterns then he becomes, almost, the sovereign arbiter of his own conduct. Though this ritual be ever so simple and true in its form, to the New Testament concept, without a corresponding consecration and dedication of self and life, it is merely a legalism. Listen to James 1:26, “If any man among you seem (presume) to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.” “Religious” in the original is an adjective. The kindred noun means the “ceremonial, ritualistic service” of religion; the “cultus.” A man who is religious is careful of the outward form, practice, or ritual of Christianity. He may be as scrupulous in keeping the outward forms of the religion of Christ as Peter was in keeping the same of Judaism (Acts. 10:14). Still, if he controlled not his tongue (words) his religion, these outward forms, were vain. James continues verse 27, “Pure religion and undefiled,” unfeigned and chaste outward practice of religion, “before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world (deeds).” The outward practice of religion is worthless apart from a subjection of self “in word and deed” to the authority of the Lord; a bringing of self into captivity to the Christ. This seems to be the import of James’ words. The leaders of Restoration thought, knowing this, proclaimed that in order to a restoration of primitive Christianity, there must be a reformation of life. However, man’s knowledge and attendence to duty, which this knowledge implies, seldom equal one another. Knowledge and duty seldom, if ever, equal one another. Man desires to classify, label and file God in the proper place, because he dreads responsibility. Responsibility implies dependence, dependence w e a k n e s s, and weakness misery “doing or suffering.” Therefore, he becomes very “religious” and often time, all the while, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, and as those at Laodicea, nauseating to the Lord (Rev. 3:14-17) .

Could we be prone to make our religion a religion of the head, to the neglect of the heart? A religion of the head would resolve everything into debate. Reason would become a sun rather than an eye; a revelation, rather than the power of apprehending and enjoying it. The mind, just as the body, has rules or laws whereby it functions. Hence, we can have anomalies in minds as well as in physical bodies.

We have no panacea for the above problem; it is a personal one. However, we believe that what a person reads has a tremendous influence on the thinking of that individual. Hence, we would like to suggest some devotional books to read. Books that will tend to cause us to meditate; that will compel a deep searching of the inner life. Each contain short, thought provoking readings of a religious nature. One quarter of an hour daily to “thoughtful” spiritual reading can enrich our life.

The first we would suggest is Psalms. It is listed above in a paperback RSV vest-pocket edition. This version gives close attention to the poetic structure of the book. Horne says, “The Psalms are an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the purposes of devotion. They treat occasionally of the creation and formation of the world; the dispensations of Providence, and economy of grace; the transactions of the patriarchs; the exodus of the children of Israel . . .. the advent of Messiah, with its effects and consequences; his incarnation, birth, life, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, kingdom, and priesthood; the effusion of the Spirit; the conversion of the nations; the establishment, increase, perpetuity of the Christian church; the end of the world; the general judgment; the condemnation of the wicked, and the final triumph of the righteous with their Lord and King. . . Heroical magnanimity, exquisite justice, grave moderation, exact wisdom, repentance unfeigned, unwearied patience, the mysteries of God, the sufferings of Christ, the terrors of wrath, the comforts of grace, the works of Providence over this world, and the promised joys of that world which is to come; all good necessarily to be known, or done, or had, this one celestial fountain yieldeth.” The book of Psalms contains a summary of all Scripture, and an abridgment of its most important instructions and sweetest consolations.

A Dairy of Readings is a selection of 365 readings of one page each, from the main stream of devotional writings; one for each day of the year. They are chosen for their value in stimulating serious thought and contemplation.

Pascal’s Thoughts was first published in France in 1670. The volume consists of notes he had written in preparing to write in defence of Christianity. He died before he was able to finish the work. There are 631 of his thoughts in the book, arranged to give them continuity. They range in length from a sentence to three or four pages. A portion of one of his longer thoughts I want to record:

“ . . . We can then have an excellent knowledge of God without that of our own wretchedness, and of our own wretchedness without that of God. But we cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing at the same time both God and our own wretchedness . . .

All who seek God without Jesus Christ, and who rest in nature, either find no light to satisfy them, or come to form for themselves a means of knowing God and serving Him without a mediator. Thereby they fall either into atheism, or into deism, two things which the Christian religion abhors almost equally.”

Theologia Germanica is an anonymous work that grew out of fourteenth-century Europe. A Europe faced with tragic, distressing events. For nine years (1314-1322) Germany was divided in her loyalties to two emperors: one party, backed by Pope John XXII, chose Frederick of Austria as emperor; the other faction, supported by many princes of Germany, held loyalty to Louis of Bavaria. This latter party was desirous of separating the State from the Church; it also wanted to bring about reforms within the Church. The death of Frederick in 1322 did not stop the controversy; it only called Pope John XXII to direct action: he excommunicated Emperor Louis; he forbade priests to perform the Mass and the sacraments, excepting baptism and extreme unction, in those cities where Louis was supported. Some cities overruled the Pope’s interdict, and forced priest to perform their sacred duties. But it was a time of discomfort, controversy, and discord in religion and politics.

“The Great Schism” occurred within the Church. No longer did the enthusiasm of the Crusades prevail in established religion; the Church was weakened by her own inner division. From 1309 to 1377 the popes were mere puppets of France, Rome having ceased to be the residence of the Vicar of Christ. By 1309 the residence of the pope was moved to Avignon in France. For the next seventy years—called “The Babylonian Captivity”—eight popes ruled Western Christendom from their place of exile in Avignon. In 1378 Gregory XI moved the Papal Court back again to Rome. Then resulted “The Great Schism.” Urban VI became the Pope at Rome; Clement VII was elected the Pope at Avignon. This schism lasted from 1378 to 1417.

This devotional classic composed of table-talk to young monks is written anonymously. We today wonder why the author did not attach his name to the document. In the Middle Ages there was more interest in a writers ideas than in his personality; to leave one’s name unattached to a work showed the virtue of humility—the Friends of God especially withheld their names from their writings; sometimes copyists were negligent to prefix the name of the author. The author says of himself: “I would be to the Eternal Goodness what a man’s own hand is to himself.”

Kahn’s books are devotional nature studies. They are parabolic presentations drawn from nature.

Through the Valley is based on the 23rd Psalms. The principle of God’s creation is told in parables and provides the reader with thought to handle trouble triumphantly.

Feeling Low places in our hands the stimuli to know our selves, and our relationship to others.

Pathways to Understanding leads us Out of the busy and narrow confines of our own life into the wonderful natural world of which we are so much a part, and provides an effective antidote against two of mans most destructive enemies boredom and haste.

Thoughts Afield are delightful, intimate, meditations, through the seasons. The creature and situations in field and wood, in pond and lake, and the many sided situations in our own lives are reflectively considered. These modern day parables on The Kingdom of Heaven provide insights into what we are, what attitudes we should take toward life and its creator, and the way in which we may grow.

—CLINT EVANS