MUTUAL SHARING

A Message to Catholics and Protestants, Oscar Cullman (trans. by Joseph Burgess). William Eerdmans, Grand Rapids. 1959. $1.50.

The author of this highly readable little book (57 pp) makes no attempt to provide a basis for uniting Catholics and Protestants into one church. On the contrary, he strongly affirms that at the moment this is humanly impossible. The reasons he gives should satisfy both groups. But he does believe that a brotherly attitude can and must be created between the two faiths. His proposal for realizing this “Christian solidarity” is concrete, specific and easily within reach of all who find it appealing.

After citing the usual New Testament pleas for unity (but with more than usual force and logic), Cullman admits that despite the offence of division there is no hope of ending it, since for each group the very concept of the church is involved. It is not a matter of bad intentions, or of a long history of bad feelings. The difficulties are basic and the European theology professor sees no way out.

But his book is not defeatist. He has a proposal which he hopes will at least reduce the scandal of the separation. We should add love gifts, he says, to the January prayer week which Catholics and Protestants devote to petitions for unity. The prayer is good, especially since we can see no way of uniting, but it must be accompanied by deeds. In this plan, Catholics would offer gifts to poor and needy Protestants and Protestant groups would reciprocate.

The expected objections have already been raised against Cullman’s plea, but he meets them with persuasive logic. He insists that such gifts would not have to mean recognition of one another as “right.” Both sides will and should go right on stressing sturdy faith in their views. But this insistence on being doctrinally right could, as a result of the love offerings, be made with brotherly feeling in an atmosphere where we may at least learn enough to “repeat the viewpoint of our opponent correctly and without distortion.”

Another objection comes from Protestants embittered over persecutions in Spain and Colombia, where Catholics can depend upon worldly power. Cullman replies that we deplore these things, but many Catholics also do. “They exist as the result of a reactionary public opinion in those countries. For them the concept of ‘separated brothers’ does not exist and we are simply heretics for the glory of God. If some day who must be subjugated by force my proposal should be propagated throughout the world, and if someday an offering should be taken for the Protestants once a year in Spain and in Colombia, then the thought that we are brothers in Christ would penetrate into the minds of the Catholics in these countries and after a time would make these regrettable persecutions impossible.”

The author cites several instances in which the plan has already been adopted to the enrichment of mutual understanding. He considers some of the practical problems of administering the love offerings, suggesting, among other things, a mixed commission for solving delicate questions.

This is a book which anyone concerned about religious divisions should read. The plea that we change how we feel, since we cannot now change what we are, and that we create brotherly attitudes while we pray to God to help us find our way out of this dilemma of divided Christendom, is appealing to this Reader.—Robert Meyers

CHRISTIAN EDUCATION

Train Up A Child. William Barclay. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia. May 2, 1960. 288 pages. $4.50.

The author, a lecturer in New Testament and Hellenistic Greek at Glasgow University, delivered the Kerr Lectures at Trinity College, in 1957, on the theme, “Educational Ideals in the Ancient World.” This volume contains the substance of those lectures. Dr. Barclay has already gained a host of friends among Biblical students in America, as a result of his previous works, and this publication will greatly enhance his stature as a scholar and researchist. He has left no stone unturned in delving into ancient literature bearing upon his subject, and the result is a work, not only informative, but actually fascinating.

The foundation of procedure is found in the author’s own statement: “The importance of such a study for the correct understanding of the New Testament is certain beyond argument. Before we can understand the reaction of the Jewish and Graeco-Roman world to that which Christianity brought to it, we must first understand what it brought to Christianity.” In pursuit of this policy, there are four chapters, as follows:1. Education Among the Jews—the training of the individual in the service of God; 2. Education in Sparta—the obliteration of the individual in the service of the state; 3. Education Among the Athenians—the training of the individual in the service of culture; 4. Education Among the Romans—the training of the individual in the service of the state. One of the outstanding characteristics of Dr. Barclay is the adequacy of his preparation for a written work, and the tremendous amount of substantiating and documented material he incorporates in a volume. The reader is literally astounded at the scope of his treatment of the subject in this instance.

The student of the scriptures of the new covenant will be especially concerned with the chapters following the ones above mentioned. In the one entitled, “The Christian Attitude to Pagan Culture,” it is shown that Christians could not, even though they regarded themselves as strangers and pilgrims on earth, make a complete breach with pagan culture. While they opposed the evils accruing from false philosophies, they were not opposed to education. “It is proved abundantly that those who were defending the Christian case, and those who were writing the Christian literature, of the early church, were men of a knowledge and an academic background unsurpassed in the Roman Empire. Here were no rude, ignorant and unlettered men. Here were men able to address even Emperors, to associate with great pagan teachers, and to be equals with those who might appear in any company. Most of them were willing to use the riches that pagan culture gave them, as a gift from God. The writers of the Early Church were not deliberately ignorant obscurantists.”

Of genuine interest in the chapter on “The Child in the Early Church” is the statement that “the Church did not and could not set up schools for its own children,” so “the Christian child received his general education in a pagan school without any question.” It is said again, “The Church never wrought out any primary education system of its own. It simply used the existing system of primary education.” It is the conviction of this reviewer that those who read this book will return to it again and again as a source for material to be utilized in many and divergent fields. We commend it to all who are enrolled in “the fellowship of the Concerned.”—W. Carl Ketcherside

PRIMITIVE DOCTRINE

The Doctrine of Grace in the Apostolic Fathers. Thomas F. Torrance. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 150 pp. $3.00

This book is Dr. Torrance’s dissertation presented (in English) to the University of Basel in fulfillment of requirements for the Doctorate of Theology. Dr. Torrance’s purpose was

by inquiry in the literature of the Apostolic Fathers, to probe into the early Christian understanding of grace, and to discern how and why there came about in the history of that doctrine so great a divergence from the teaching of the new Testament.

In a lengthy introduction Dr. Torrance traces the meaning of grace (charis) in Classical, Hellenistic, and post-apostolic, non-Christian Greek; traces corresponding concepts in the Hebrew Old Testament; then establishes the meaning of the term in the New Testament. In the latter, he maintains, grace

is such a new word … that it cannot be interpreted in terms of antecedent roots or ideas. Rather is it to be understood in the light of a singular event which completely alters the life of man in basis and outlook: the Incarnation. God has personally intervened in human history in such a way that the ground of man’s approach to God, and of all his relations with God, is not to be found in man’s fulfillment of the divine command, but in a final act of self-commitment on the part of God in which He has given Himself to man through sheer love in such a fashion that it cuts clean across all questions of human merit and demerit. All this has been objectively actualised in Jesus Christ so that Christ Himself is the objective ground and content of charis in every instance of its special Christian use.

Having set forth the meaning of grace in the New Testament, the author next examines both linguistically and theologically the use of charis and its cognates in the context of the theology of each of the Christian writers of the second century. These writings in the order in which they are considered are the Didache, First Clement, the epistles of Ignatius, the epistle of Polycarp, the epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, and II Clement (pseudo-Clement). Ignatius is given the most extensive treatment and is the one whom Dr. Torrance finds to be nearest the Pauline concept of grace. Yet even Ignatius places such an emphasis on man’s attaining a state in which he is worthy of union with God that Dr. Torrance concludes that grace “in the mouth of Ignatius must be judged as having itself fallen from grace.” II Clement is farthest from the N. T. idea of grace, for whenever charis is used here it has the meaning of credit.

In the “Conclusion” Dr. Torrance summarizes his findings and restates his thesis. In the writings of the apostolic fathers, he concluded

The Gospel became erected into a New Law. Certainly the asperities of the old legalism were not always apparent, but in principle there was no change, even when the substance of the ethical teaching was taken from the teaching of Jesus Himself. The law can never be fulfilled. No more can the ethical ideal which always recedes out of grasp, for the dualism between the is and ought can never be bridged from the side of men.

But by transforming the Gospel into a New Law the Apostolic Fathers returned to the impossible situation from which Christ came deliberately to redeem.

Why and how was grace transformed into law? Dr. Torrance offers several reasons. First, the concept of grace was so new that men coming out of Judaism and paganism could not readily grasp it, but re-cast Christianity in their old legalistic concept (at least partly) of earning God’s favor. Second, many accepted Christianity as a kind of universalized Judaism—Judaism without its former ethnic narrowness. Also the Greek translation of the Old Testament obscured the basis there for the idea of grace.

The change in the doctrine of grace marked a movement toward the Roman Catholic doctrine in three respects. (1) Grace was disassociated from the person of Jesus and regarded as something extended by God to make up for the Christian’s falling short of perfect obedience. (2) Grace came to be considered an indwelling principle given by God to enable man to keep His law. (3) “The Church as the body of Christ was looked on as the depository of pneumatic grace, which might be dispensed in sacramentalist fashion after the analogy of the mystery religions.”

One incidental matter deserves some comment. In accounting for the lack of emphasis on the person of Christ and other fundamental Christian beliefs in the Didache, Dr. Torrance refers to Matt. 28:19 and comments that the Didache “attempts to teach candidates for baptism the commandments of the Lord.” If so, this procedure in itself is a significant departure from the commission Christ gave his apostles, for such teaching was to follow baptism, and form the practice of the apostles (Acts 2:41-2). It is, however, what one might expect from the change in the doctrine of grace that occurred concomitantly.

Since this book is replete with quotations in German (the latter, however, are nearly always used in footnotes in support of some point made in the text.), persons with some background in these languages (especially Greek) would profit most from the book. Nevertheless, the main argument could be followed without such accomplishments, but the losses would be considerable. In spite of the difficulty of the book for the person with limited linguistic training, the study is an extremely valuable one. It is a powerful antidote for legalism. And for its explanation of grace and its elucidation of the doctrinal history of the church, it has value for the Christian scholar. —Robert C. Grayson

COLLEGE IDEALS

The Idea of a College, Elton Trueblood, Harper, New York, 1959, 207 pages, $4.00

The specter which haunts us, Trueblood thinks, is that of triviality in the houses of grandeur. He believes the college is derelict in its duty if it does not provide an atmosphere in which some people of potential worth will develop powers which otherwise would never have been recognized even by those who possess them. The college exists in order to work toward an unrealized ideal. She inspires her students with a vision of a society of learning and teaching and pioneering that continues to be a community of understanding whatever the prejudice and confusion of the surrounding world.

The book is full of good ideas on education in general and as to what makes a good college in particular. He believes students must have a meaningful plan which leads to some end and with some adequate means of judging total achievement. So, much of his work will be prescribed for him by those who know what is best for him. The elective system has been carried too far. He thinks technical studies should come first, then the humanities, which is reverse of current practice. I disagree with him when he says that high school students are not ready to study politics or ethics and that they should therefore be restricted to science, math and grammar, leaving the humanities until college. The main reason he is wrong is that there just is not that much difference between the 12th and 13th grades. But I do agree with him when he argues that philosophy and humanities should be studied earlier in college than they are at present. He is right in believing that this might challenge the student intellectually much sooner, thus breaking the academic lockstep that comes with the habits of laziness formed during the first two years of college. There should be strong, tough, specific courses as early as possible. I will go beyond Trueblood and apply this to the high school (especially the senior year) as well as to college. He is right in insisting that courses should be as specific as possible. A course in general knowledge is an absurdity.

He says the best and most exciting teachers should teach the freshmen, though they are usually reserved for the advanced students. It interests me that Plato and Socrates show up in this book as often as they do. Well, after all, Trueblood is a professor of philosophy, and it is manifest that his love for the Greek thinkers is at the heart of his educational theory. For instance, he introduces Plato to tell us that it was he who taught all the world how easily men can be wrong even in their most cherished opinions. Socrates is introduced to show that part of good teaching is to learn to ask the right questions. He thinks that all good teachers are in some measure disciples of Socrates.

Some of Trueblood’s ideas would revolutionize modern educational practices. Textbooks should be rarely used in college courses. Students should take only three or four courses each term instead of five. Too much time is spent attending classes; more of such time should be spent in library in independent study. Graduation should not depend upon the completion of so many hours of credit, but upon the achievement of academic integrity. The ability to read and speak a foreign language is better than having so many hours credit in the subject. While the graduate should be a master of one subject, he should also show evidence of general knowledge. There should also be such skills as intelligent conversation and the ability to think. He also lists refinement as another condition for graduation from college. Colleges should not graduate students who do not attain such standing. It is also the task of the college to give students something to live for. Education must be meaningful. He believes that gracious living is also a part of college life, such as may be found in refined dinner service in the dining hall. Hurried cafeteria meals off a bare table lends little to graciousness.

You would not expect a college professor to say that a college education sometimes harms men and women, but Trueblood says it. If a girl gets such a wrong slant on vocational training as to say later in life, “Oh, I’m just a housewife,” then the college has been derelict in teaching the glory and dignity of motherhood. He refers to Plato once more in his assertion that a girl will be a better lover, teacher, priestess and queen of the home if she has encountered the Greek philosophers. Trueblood believes that a college education is to be intellectual, thus giving a person understanding. This will prepare him for the whole of life.

The most serious charge made by Trueblood is “the tyranny of the majority” that deliberately limits achievement. He states that the student will be persecuted who seeks to rise above mediocrity to excellence. Many do shoddy work simply because it is unpopular to be ambitious. There is the cult of mediocrity. There is danger that the ideal of excellence will be lost. The college must provide an antidote to mediocrity. The “average man” is a kind of religion in America, which makes intellectual aristocracy unpopular. Franklin and Jefferson are pillars in American democracy; yet they were aristocrats in the true sense of the word because of their disciplined lives. They read books and maintained elevated standards of conduct. This kind of men is rare in an age that deifies the average man. We must restore respect for aristocracy.

This book makes good reading. It will inspire you to be a better person. It depicts a philosophy of life even more than a portrayal of what makes a good college. It deals with the fundamental of what makes a good man. Should you take the time to read the book, you will be glad that someone took the time and trouble to write and publish it. It is part of the answer. Thank God for books! —Leroy Garrett

PLAIN TALK

Is God at Home? by J. B. Phillips, Abingdon Press, New York, 1957, $1.75.

This little volume of 109 pages contains 30 brief messages on basic Christian beliefs. The aim is to talk to the modern man in language that is free of theological jargon. Phillips feels that the church’s failure in communicating its message to the world is due to the technical language employed by clergymen. He denies that it is necessary for the church to have its own specialized vocabulary as does nearly every other form of human activity, whether it be medicine, music, architecture or engineering. If the gospel is the good news intended for all people, then it should be conveyed to the masses in the simplest of terms.

Phillips’ thesis is strengthened by a look at primitive Christianity. Linguists searched for centuries for an explanation of “Biblical Greek”, supposing that it was a kind of special language of the Holy Spirit given to the church as a secret society. But with the discovery of Greek papyri and the research of Adolf Deissmann it was learned that the Greek of the New Testament was nothing more than the language of the common man—the koine (common) Greek it was called, which was very unlike the educated Greek of a Philo or a Plutarch. Fully aware of this fact, Phillips says in his Preface: “It is significant to me as a translator that in the province of God the New Testament was written, not in the majestic and beautiful Greek of the classical period, but in Greek of the market place and the port, the lingua franca of the then-known world.”

And Phillips does talk in the koine in this book. In his chapter on “The Comfort of the Atom Bomb” he shows that the bomb has brought home to us the futility of materialism. In the world of the atom bomb things like steel and concrete are less substantial than a puff of cigarette smoke. Only the spiritual is secure. Love, faith and courage are as invulnerable to the atom bomb as the sunbeam is to the thrusts of a sword.

In his chapter on “May I Take It to the Light?” he shows that many people say that nothing is really right or wrong since there are so many ways by which things can be judged. But the daylight is the best light. This is why we ask the clothier if we may take the garment to the light. The author then assures us that there is “a real light” by which actions can be properly judged. This light is Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

And you should read his essay on “The Dumb Blonde” in which he tells why some men want their women dumb-the dumber the better! There’s a reason. Then there is “God and the College Degree” and “Are You a Man or a Mouse?”

Phillips does not sound like he is in a pulpit. But neither was Jesus or Paul. Incidentally, whence cometh the pulpit, pulpiteers, and pious platitudes? —Leroy Garrett