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CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY . : .. volume 45, Number 3 . - x ... . . ,, ?::m>:D ~q'jf : : - i. 2;iiif,{ LJCLC3' 5 < , ,; : .-. I. JULY 1981 ................................................................ Announcement Perennial Problems in the Doctrine of Justification ...................................... Robert D. Preus A Linguistic Analysis of Glossolalia ...................................... Theodore Mueller Reformed and Neo-Evangelical Theology in English Translations of the Bible ............................................ Michael R. Totten The lMirror of God's Goodness ............................................... B.A. Gerrish Hermeneutics in Thomas Aquinas ................................. John Franklin Johnson Homiletical Studies .......................................................... Book Reviews ................................................................. Books Received ............................................................... Book Reviews DON'T BE AFRAID: SIX LENTEN SERMONlC STUDIES AND SIX LENTEN LITURGIES. By Gerhard Aho and Richard Kapfer. Concordia Theological Seminary Press, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Paper. 123 Pages. $3.95. Dr. Aho of the seminary faculty and Pastor Kapfer of Ames, Iowa, team up to present an immediately useful volume for the pastor who wants to present to his congregation a set of unified sermon studies and worship services for Lent. Each of Aho's sermon studies consists in ten parts: (I.) general setting; (2.) immediate context; (3.) text in vernacular; (4.) text in the original; (5.) truths of the text; (6.) parallel passages; (7.) central thought; (8.) goal; (9.) illustrations; and (10.) the sermon outline itself. The preacher prepares the sermon. but the sermon ingredients are all placed out for him. Kapfer has prepared a Lenten liturgy to fit each of Aho's sermon studies. Hymns are suggested and prayers and litanies are provided. Along with the copyright notation, permission is granted for copying the services. Pastors choosing to use them can immediately proceed to do so. The phrase "don't be afraid" has been incorporated into each of the sermon titles. The topics handled are love, being alone, admitting wrong, being accepted, speaking up, and doing right. The pastor in using each study has the opportunity to go along step by step with Aho as he prepares the sermon. Don't Be Afiaid will make Lent a little easier and richer for many pastors. lt-may be ordered directly from the seminary bookstore. David P. Scaer - ---- EINlGKEIT IM GLAUBEN UND IN DER LEHRE. By Hans Kirsten. Verlag der Lutherischen Buchhandlung Heinrich Harms, Zahrenholz, Grosz Oesingen (Germany), 1980. 279 pages. Dr. Kirsten has graciously dedicated this book to Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, as a token of appreciation for its recent conferral on him of the degree of Doctor of Divinity honoris causa. Dr. Kirsten has served the Lutheran free churches of Germany with distinction since the time of World War I1 as pastor, church president, and theological professor. That which makes this book extremely valuable is that the author chronicles for posterity the very significant years of Lutheran theological church happenings between 1945 and 1949. He was an eyewitness of and a participant in the shaping 01 thc 3kLK (Selbstaendige Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche) during these years. 1 ne story is all here, both in narrative account and also in documents that formed the basis of the formative proceedings. A second volume is in the planning stages, in view of the fact that this book traces only the initial years, chiefly up to 1949. It is a poignant, often pathos-filled, story of the struggles that faced these independent Lutheran churches (separate from the state churches) as they emerged from the ruins of World War I1 and picked up the pieces. But more than a story, it is really a documentary of names, places, events, happenings, and documents that have played a role in the shaping of the SELK, the loyal, conservative, genuinely Lutheran synod of churches faithful to the Scriptures and the Lutheran confessions. Expressions of gratitude for the Missouri Synod's help during the critical years of reconstruction become explicit in names such as J.W. Behnken. L. Meyer, Herman Harms. When President Behnkenand Meyer flrst met wlth some or the remnant, specifically President Petersen o! krlln, a- midst the ruins of Berlin, in November of 1945, their meeting place was a field ln Zehlendorf; there was nothing else. Behnken'sWBrethren, how can we help you?" will forever be remembered by these fellow-Lutherans of the Reformation's 246 CONCORDlA THEOLOGlCAL QUARTERLY heartland. CARE packages from the U.S.A. were one thing, and important; but also vital was the spiritual edification that came through theological nurturing. The German churches had great need not merely to build buildings, but also to establish a sound basis for church fellowship. Missouri urged them on. This process eventually led to the merger in 1972 of the various independent remnant churches into the SELK. For the attainment of this ultimate goal the years between 1946 and 1949 were crucial; Kirsten has detailed the account, often with quotations from letters, personal experience, and firsthand aquaintance with events and individuals, some now dead, a few still living. There was trauma. He tells the story of Drs. Hopf and Sasse, who at great personal cost of station and reputation in the scholarly community, stood up for confessional Lutheran theology and practice. There were the Bad Boll conferences, sponsored by Missouri, which established contacts with other Lutherans from the state churches that had not been explored for a hundred years or more. Lutherans from one side of the ocean met with those from the other side, in order to discuss basic doctrinal issues in theology. Kirsten is fair in describing the spell of euphoria which at first prevailed, as well as the naivete of the Missourians, who, with some exceptions, thought that many of the statechurch theologians were actually taking them seriously in their quest for church fellowship grounded upon agreement in doctrine and practice. Bad Boll, a health spa in Swabia, was in many respects a "bad ball game" that came to haunt Missouri through the influence that it had on the synod's own "new orientation" of theology in the late 1950's and 1960's. There is reason to believe Kirsten's (and Oesch's and Sasse's) judgments that "St. Louis" was star- struck and bamboozled by its firsthand contacts with the high-browed the~logy and theologians of Europe. In this situation it was the loyal German Lutherans who helped most -even though they were greatly involved in trying to effect the unificaticn of their own ranks -to show their brethren from America that not all that glitters is gold, not all that claims to be Lutheran is the real thing. Approximately one-third of the book, the last part, is devoted to the important documents, essays, theses, etc., which were vital to the restructuring of the Lutheran free churches into a viable and enduring entity, along with its theological school at Oberursel. As the subtitle states, Kirsten has succeeded in depicting graphically "the way of the Lutheran free churches in Germany after the last war." We commend the book heartily to every reader who is still somewhat at home in German; Dr. Kirsten's style is smooth and uncomplicated. The volume is an invaluable record of the recent history of our sister church in Germany. An interesting file of selected photos adds luster to the appendix. E. F. Klug HOW MELANCHTHON HELPED LUTHER DISCOVER THE GOSPEL: THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION IN THE REFORMA- TION. By Lowell C. Green. Verdict Publications, Fallbrook, California, 1980. Cloth. 274 Pages. $9.95. Dr. Green's reworked doctoral dissertation was presented in its original form in 1955 to the University of Erlangen. Green, now a professor of church history and systematic theology at Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, sees 15 18 through 1520 as the years in which Luther came to his mature understanding of justification. The dating of Luther's full understanding of justification is important since scholars recognize that the earlier Luther held to the Augustinian view that justification was freely given (sola gratia), but this justification was a quality infused into the believer through faith. Green Book Reviews 247 convincingly defends the view that under the exegetical guidance of Melanchthon, who in turn was somewhat dependent on Erasmus, Luther came to see justification not as a quality given to believers, but rather as a proclaimed and alien righteousness. The sinner is found acceptable because of Christ's righteousness. Righteousness is an attitude in God which is proclaimed to the sinner. Green carefuIly lays out the historical options in trying to determine Luther's concept of justification. One group sees the true Luther in his pre-15 18 writings. With this view justification centers in the believer and not in God's declaration. Justification is seen as a quality freely given. Another group holds that Luther held to the forensic view as early as 1512 and sees no development in the Reformer's thought. By locating Luther's own comments on his development and through careful literary study of the Reformer's writings, Green presents a formidable defense of the position that Luther did change from the Augustinian to the forensic view and that MeIanchthon was largely responsible for this change. Of course, this means that Luther's writings before October 1518 and even some as late as 1519 and 1520 do not contain his real thoughts on many subjects, especially justification. These writings would include his lectures on Romans and the Ninety-Five Theses themselves! While crediting Melanchthon with helping Luther discover the real meaning of justification by grace, Green shows that it was Luther and not Melanchthon who made this principle the center of theology. At points Melanchthon's theology did not remain true to the principle which he had grammatically uncovered. Without endorsing humanism, Green argues that without humanism's linguistic achievements, Luther's Reformation would not have occurred - humanly speaking, of course. Green's historical research is thorough and convincing, but much more important are the theological implications of such a study, especially one bearing the sub-title of "The Doctrine of Justification in the Reformation." A church which has never feIt uncomfortable with the charge of "repristination theology" can namly avoid giving careful consideration to such a work. Green introduces into his presentation two significant terms: "analytical justification" and "synthetic justification." Though not immediately recognizable as part of our dogmatic tradition, they are extremely useful. "Analytical justification" refers to that view which holds that God sees faith in an individual and counts and regards that faith as if it were righteousness. Faith becomes in God's eyes the substitute for the good works that Christians should do. With analytical justification, full justification is a future possibility, but never a present reality. It cannot be complete. Sanctification does, in fact, replace justification. Here the believer focuses on himself, and works in some sense become part of justification. Justification becomes a process. "Synthetic justificationw refers to a declarative justification; is it God's favor existing in Christ which is proclaimed by preaching to sinners. The question of whether a person is righteous is not ultimately answered by looking at something, even faith, in the believer, but is answered already in the word which proclaims or declares this righteousness. An adequate abbreviation of this view is Luther's simul justus et peccator; the Christian appears to God as a justified saint, even though he appears to the world as a sinner. There is no suggestion here that Luther was a libertine, but the Christian is a wretched sinner as long as he lives. Melanchthon agrees with Luther here: " 'But in this present life, although God dwells within those who are holy, nevertheless our other nature is still full of Impurity and sinrul Weaknesses and lusts . . .' " (p. 264) Green builds much of his case on how Luther changed in his preaching on the peficope of the Pharisee and 248 CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY the tax collector as justified in the very moment of the acknowledgment of his wretchedness. Green's work not only serves as a guide to Luther, but is a corrective of that dreadful pietism into which Lutheranism too frequently slides. The seventeenth- century pietists interpreted Luther's view that the Christian was saint and sinner, not simultaneousl~v, but chronologically. Let Green make his own point: "They thought one was a sinner and then a just person (in a before-and-after arrangement) rather than as simultaneously sinful and just through forensic justification. The new life of obedience was thereby emphasized to the point of perfectionism, to the utter ruin of justification. Of course, pietists have never liked the concept of justification. But whenever they forgot that the believer is simultaneously sinful and righteous, they strayed from an evangelical under- standing of justification. Thus. they abandoned the theology of Luther and Melanchthon" (p. 264). There are very few, if any books, which should receive an unqualified endorsement. This one should. Green did his work first under Werner Elert and, after his death, under Paul Althaus. Available here is profoundly important theological and historical work, which is at the same time easy to read and relevant. It may be ordered from the seminary bookstore. A price-tag of only $9.95 for a work of this kind is almost coo good to-be true. More than adequate documentation is provided in the footnotes, which are in many cases deiightful mini~t heological discussions. David P. Scaer THE ARABS. By Peter Mansfield. Penguin, Baltimore, 1978. 572 pages. Paper. $4.95. More and more historians are now persuaded that "the Arab Renaissancew will rank as one of the top two stories of the late twentieth century. One of them is Peter Mansfield. This book is a brilliant defense of that thesis. Born in India, educated in England, long resident in the Arab East, Peter Mansfield brings to his writing decades of experience as a diplomat and news correspondent. The reading public is familiar with his work from the pages of the Financial Times, Economist, and Guardian, as well as such previous books on the Middle East as Nasser: A Biography. Combined with experience and education is a deep and abiding sympathy for the aspirations of the Arab people. All these forces cooperate to produce a book of compelling excellence. This comprehensive study of the Arabs from antiquity to modernity is divided into three parts: Part 1 is a rapid chronological survey of the Arab past, concentrating on both the Golden Age of the Umayyadand Abbasid Caliphates as well as the silent centuries of foreign rule (both Ottoman and Western), climaxing in "the Arab Awakeningw that led to the "year of decision," the "turning point" politically, economically, and militarily for the Arabs vis a vis Israel and the West - 1973. Part I1 is a quick geographical survey of the Arab World, ranging from Morocco, "the Kingdom of the Far West," to Iraq, "the dynamic outsider," with sufficient attention to the millions in the middle, whether the residents of "Eldorado States," such as Kuwait, or the inhabitants of such potential superpowers as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Part I11 is a short psychological analysis of contemporary views of the Arabs in the West as we11 as Semitic self-perceptions. The forecast with which the volume concludes is an arresting and compelling one, anticipating a revival of Islam and Arab political influence as central features of the twenty-first century. For the Christian leader this is a crucial book for an understanding of the rapid shifts in world power that have facilitated the "resurgence of Islam" and the "Arab Renaissance." Book Reviews 249 AS is the case with any book of this size, there are errors offact. Most scholars believe there are 750 million, not 500 million, Muslims (p. 21). Napoleon fled Egypt in 1799, not 1800 (p. 120), onespeaks of the Christian powers of the West, not the Near East (p. 126), and references to the Shah of Iran and the "White ~~~olution" as models for the Moroccan monarchy now seem terribly dated and highly debatable. Furthermore, the Western reader will find provocative statements of opinion at critical points in the text. These, in my opinion, add to the value of the book - as a catalyst to some long over-due creative thought in the West about the Arabs and Islam. C. Gcvrge Fry Note: The review of E. Glenn Hinson's The Integrity of the Church published in the previous issue ofthe CTQ (pp. 148-149) was written by Albert L. Garcia.