OFFICE NOTES

 

One of our faithful readers in North Carolina sent a note of appreciation for introducing her to William Barclay’s 17-volume Daily Bible Study. I sent it on to the professor in Scotland, knowing he would appreciate this grass-roots commendation of his efforts. She and other Barclay readers will want his new book, A Spiritual Biography, which is sort of his life story. He weaves his personal experiences in with his theological problems: “Why should my mother, lovely in body and in spirit, good all through, have to die like that?” He tells how his sicknesses as a boy kept him out of school, enabling him to get a better education through reading at home! This book is well worth the 5.95 we have to charge you.

Lester McAllister of Christian Theological Seminary and William Tucker of TCU have collaborated in giving us Journey in Faith: A History of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The price is high at 12.50, but this is a definitive history of over 500 pages with many pictures and charts. It dates the beginning of the Christian Church in 1830, when the Mahoning Baptist Association dissolved and gave way to the Disciples of Christ, a date that can probably be defended, for up until then the Movement was a reformed effort among the Baptists. It dates “Churches of Christ” as on their own and separate by 1906, but is less specific as to when Independent Christian Churches became a separate group, though it cites the1937 North American Christian Convention as the beginning of the division. It discusses the early period within the backdrop of 19th century American religion in general, and does it very well indeed. The writers make it a fast-moving journey of faith, giving the issues and developments a fair shake. The struggles between “strict primitivists” or “rigid restorationists” and the more liberal wing are discussed with reasonable objectivity, whether the question be resident ministers, missionary societies or instrumental music. But once a division occurs the history of the Disciples goes on uninterrupted. No effort is made to trace developments in “Christian Churches” and “Churches of Christ” after they leave the Disciples, though the story of the departures is told sympathetically and with a fair presentation of the diverse points of view. This will no doubt be the “official” history of the Disciples for a long time to come, replacing as it does the renowned work of Garrison and DeGroot. For this reason the more serious students of our history should have it on hand.

For 4.95 we will send you a very valuable study by William Neil (University of Nottingham, England) on The Difficult Sayings of Jesus. He takes 24 of the more baffling statements of Jesus and deals with them in the light of what they meant then and what they mean now. These include “All who take the sword die by the sword,” “Whoever does the will of God is my brother, my sister, my mother,” and “If your hand is your undoing, cut it off.” Others deal with what he said about marriage and divorce, the unpardonable sin, life after death, the Jews, the kingdom of God, and children. It is a highly resourceful volume, worthy of both one’s time and money.

George Eldon Ladd is a very responsible New Testament scholar at Fuller Seminary. His I Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus will give you just about the last word in confirming this cornerstone of the Christian faith. He deals with all the usual problems, including the inconsistencies of the resurrection narratives, but ends up with a strong, defensible evangelical faith. 2.95.

A woman sometimes has a lot to say to the church. Edith Schaeffer does so in Christianity is Jewish. She dares to say that the early church, being Jewish, could not have been anti-Jewish, for if anything, it was anti-Gentile. She takes you through the Bible with a Jewish slant, and we suggest it for your fall reading. 5.95.

Other new titles sort of speak for themselves. Crowded Pews and Lonely People is a study of the famine of love in the church and some workable solutions (2.95). A psychologist and his wife write on How to Handle Pressure (5.95), and a prominent pastor, with his marriage broken and his life shattered, rebuilt his life, which he tells about in Dream a New Dream (4.95).

The editor’s public visits this month will be in Tulsa and Houston. Oct. 10-12 he will share in the Fellowship Forum at the Bassett Church of Christ, 12 W. 38th, Sand Springs, Ok., which has an all-day service on Saturday as well as a Friday night gathering. Oct. 24-26 he will be with the Southeast Christian Church, 8811 Frey Rd., which is off the Gulf Freeway near Almeda Mall. Meetings will be Friday evening, all day Saturday, and the usual Sunday arrangement.

Early this year we asked our readers to help us double our subscription list in 1975, which is of course a large order. While this has not yet been realized, we are enjoying a vigorous growth, adding a few hundreds of new readers each month. With your help we can still attain our goal by winter. We still offer the unusual bargain of this paper, 200 pages a year, for only 1.00 per name per year in clubs of five or more. You send us the five names and addresses of people you believe to be open enough to read what we have to say, and we’ll send them the paper for a full year for only 5.00. Send as many names as you like at 1.00 per name. Many of our longtime readers were introduced to the paper in this way. You might do more good than you realize. We hope you’ll respond to this and help us double our readership by January.