-Qtntttnrotu m~tn1ngital :lInntt,lg Continuing LEHRE UNO WEHRE -MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL M ONTHLY Vol. :xvn June, 1946 No.6 CONTENTS r.p The Protestant Purgatory. Th. EngeJder _______ __________________________ 401 God's Direction in Our Lives and the Element of Chance Eo W.llimichs --------__________________ _________________________________ 425 Outlines on the Standard Epistle Lessons ______________________ __ ______ :__ -;-_ 440 Miscellanea _ _________________________________ ___________________________________ 455 Theological Observer _____________________________________________ 462 Book Review _________________________________ ______________________________________ 476 Ein P rediger muss nicht allein wei- den, also dass er die Schafe unter- w eise. wie sie r echte Christen sollen sein. sondern auch daneben den Woel- f en wehTen, dass sie die Schafe nicht angreifen und mit falscher Lehre ver- ,fuehren und Irrtwn einfuehren. ItutheT Es ist kein Ding. das die Leute rnehr bei der Kirche behaelt denn die gute Predigt. - Apologie, An. 24 If the trumpet give an uncertain sound. who shall prepare himself to the battle? -1 COT. 14:8 Published by the Ev. Luth. SYnod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States CONCORDIA PUBLISHING BOUSE, S1. Louis 18, Mo. PIlINTED IN 11. S . A. Theological Observer "I Was an Hungred, and Ye Gave Me Meat." - Who can re- main unmoved when he reads the description of famine conditions obtaining in Germany and other countries of the world? Food supplies are rapidly vanishing, the crops now being grown will not furnish relief till fall, hunger stalks the land, the strong grow weak, children wither, the feeble collapse, despair grips the masses. If no help comes from the outside, these sections of the globe will become huge morgues with hardly enough healthy people about to dispose of the dead bodies in a decent manner. The next four months (May to August) will be decisive, according to Herbert Hoover's considered opinion. America has been appealed to by President Truman and Mr. Hoover voluntarily to become more frugal and saving, so that food will be available for the famine- stricken multitudes across the waters. It is estimated that from five million to eight million tons of food will be needed in addi- tion to the supplies that are in sight. The churches have an im- portant function to perform in this world crisis: they must preach love, love of our fellow men, as the Apostles and Christ Himself taught it. The account which our Lord prophetically gives of the Last Judgment is a text which may well be preached on these days. On the role of the churches in this program of fighting starva- tion abroad the Christian Century writes editorially (issue of May 1): "More responsibility in the local community rests on the churches, on Christian ministers, on Christian laymen and women than on any other institution or persons. Fifty million Christian churchmen could change the whole attitude of America toward this food-saving program within a month. By so doing, they would help to change the whole attitude of the hungry parts of the world toward America. But if the churches, if individual pastors and church members, do not begin immediately to chal- lenge the conscience of the local community, we do not believe that the savings Mr. Hoover says are absolutely required can possibly be gathered. "The churches must do this thing, or it will not be done. And until it is done, the churches that spend their time or strength or resources on other things are risking some bad future hours with their conscience. What difference will it make if denomina- tional programs for overseas rebuilding are fully subscribed, and the people overseas die of starvation? "Will the churches do it? Not enough are doing it so far, as the figures from the church relief agencies show. It is time to carry this issue right down through every congregation. It is time for pastors to see that in every congregation such questions as these are faced and answered: How many have Mr. Hoover's 'unseen guest' at every meal, or in other words, how many at every meal are contributing the money that would feed one other? How [462] THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 463 many are meeting Mr. Truman's call for two days of 'starvation diet' a week? How many are giving regularly to the church agencies for overseas relief? How many, if they have grains or fats, are bringing them out of storage for immediate sale? How many are leaving the black markets to choke to death in their own greed? As we answer these questions, we are also answering another: How Christian are we?" These are stirring words. Is our profession of love toward the needy and the starving the sentiment of our heart or is it merely on our lips? A. The Dogmatician's Teaching on Inspiration. - In the Augus- tana Quarterly of April, 1946 (Vol. 25, No.2), Prof. C. G. Carl- feldt of Augustana Theological Seminary, Rock Island, Ill., sub- mits an interesting article on the subject "A Heritage Partly Neglected." What he has in mind is that the period of orthodoxy which followed the death of Luther in a one-sided way empha- sized purity of doctrine, with the result "that the doctrines evolved did not in all respects follow the intention of Luther." The author believes that here we witness a partial neglect of the heritage of the Reformation. What interests us here is the view that Dr. Carlfeldt expresses concerning the teaching of the dog- maticians on inspiration. He writes thus: "The secret of Luther's strength as a reformer is to be found, partly at least, in his appeal to Scripture as the norma normans, as the ultimate guide for faith and life. In following that principle, orthodoxy went beyond both Luther and our Lutheran symbols in its development of the mechanical theory of inspiration. The foundation of this theory is to be found in Joh. Gerhard (d. 1637), who taught that God is the causa principalis of Scripture and that the men involved in its production were His amanuenses. So complete, according to Gerhard, was the inspiration of Scripture that even the letters themselves and the vowel markings in the Hebrew text had been inspired or dictated. Quenstedt (d. 1688) gives the idea of the verbal inspiration a still wider application and maintains that Scripture is free from all imperfections with respect to its lan- guage and that it is completely errorless, not to say binding, in its discussions of topics that belong to the realms of history, cos- mology, geography, and natural science. The intention of the orthodox theologians may have been the best, and by their em- phasis on this theory of inspiration they sought to safeguard the position of Scripture, but the result obtained was not that which they had expected. It is possible to become so interested in the method and manner in which the Scriptures have been produced that one might, to a certain degree at least, lose sight of the im- portance of Scripture as a message from God. The position taken by orthodoxy with reference to the Bible very easily laid itself open to this danger, and instead of Luther's regard for Scripture as the bringer of Christ to men, we soon have an overaccentuated biblicism, which in certain quarters assumed the form of a 464 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER bibliolatry. If various factions of Protestantism, and of the Lu- theran Church, had used the same energy in fighting the enemies of the Kingdom which they have employed in striving with one another by reason of differences of opinion regarding the origin of Scripture, our world very likely would not find itself in its present predicament." To us it is evident that Professor Carlfeldt overshoots the mark. J oh. Gerhard went too far in his defense of the inspired character of the Scriptures when he asserted that the very vowel points of the Hebrew text were given by divine inspiration. But, on the other hand, those people go too far who assert that the Scriptures are not entirely without error in every statement they make. The present sad condition of the world is not due to a zealous defense of the inspiration of the Scriptures - a defense which at times went to lengths that were unwarranted - but to the disregard of the divine message of the Scriptures brought on by rationalism, materialism, and secularism. It ought to be added that the position of the dogmaticians is often misrepresented and that certain statements of theirs are held to teach a mechanical inspiration when such an interpretation of their presentation is not at all necessary. Cf. the article of the sainted Dr. Dau on the topic "'Mechanical Inspiration,' the Stumbling Block of Modern Theology" in Vols.17 and 18 (1913 and 1914) of the Theological Quarterly, in which especially Quenstedt's teaching on inspiration is examined. A. The Calvin Forum and the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament. - In the Calvin Forum (April, 1946) Prof. Wm. Hendriksen, professor of the New Testament, Calvin Seminary, Grand Rapids, Mich., looks at the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament, which appeared some time ago. He scrutinizes it critically, but nevertheless fairly. He finds in it much to praise and much to censure. He reviews it also in the light of the special Introduction which is to help the reader in understanding the background from which the new version has been made. This Introduction, he finds, reveals the particular brand of theology which the nine translators represent. It shows also what these men think about the doctrine of inspiration. The concluding paragraph is worth quoting, because it points out several im- portant elements which the student of the Revised Standard Version must take into consideration. The paragraph reads: "Grateful for the many fine elements and numerous improvements which are to be found on every page of this new version, we nevertheless hope that a better one will be published some day. We do not hope that the Christian Reformed Church will ever officially recommend the Revised Standard Version for use in the churches. Let US keep the American Standard until an all-around better version appears. Meanwhile we hope that all ministers and students of theology will buy 'the most important publication of 1946' (so this version has been called) and subject it to a fair I THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 465 and candid examination. Much can be learned from it. In con- clusion, as we see it, the work of translating the New Testament anew should be undertaken by men who have at least the follow- ing qualifications: (1) They should know their languages: Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, English. (2) They should be able to exercise sane judgment with respect to problems of textual criti- cism. (3) They should be firmly determined to produce a transla- tion that will faithfully reflect the originaL (4) They should be- lieve in the infallibility of the Bible, i. e., of the autographa." This is similar to the rule of Dr. F. Pieper that no one should under- take to expound the Bible who does not believe it to be the in- fallible Word of God. J. T. M. Protestantism and the Public Schools. As the third article in the series "Can Protestantism Win America" there appeared in the Christian Century (April 17, 1946), under the heading given above, an article, written by C. C. Morrison, which discusses the problem of religion in the public schooL In it there are a number of propositions which are of great interest to Christians in America today. In the first place, Dr. Morrison holds that it is of primary importance to recognize that the prohibition of religious instruction in public education is not due to any objection arising from edu- cational theory; on the contrary, the modern theory of education leaves the door wide open for the teaching of religion. Again, Protestantism has not been aware of the impossible position in which it has been placed by its loyal support of the system of excluding religion from general education. Religion is thus dis- counted in the eyes of the youth. It does not seem to be jm- portant. In the third place, Dr. Morrison does not believe that the establishment of Protestant parochial schools is a practicable likelihood. This is not because Protestant churches do not have the resources to do it . . . but they are not likely to assume so great a burden, if for no other reason than that their devotion to their own faith is not equal to it. In the fourth place, Dr. Mor- rison believes that the function of the school and that of the church must be kept distinct, and so he does not advocate worship exercises with devotional Bible reading and prayer in the public school. Indeed, he believes that such an introduction of religion into the school system should be opposed. Nevertheless, he believes that there should be created an agency which teaches the children attending the public school knowledge about religion, so that the churches will be enabled to proceed with their own task of in- culcating religious faith and devotion without having to work within a mental vacuum. "Such a department," he holds, "would require that at least three broadly trained theological specialists- a Catholic, a Protestant, and a Jew- be added to the faculty. These should be selected as individuals, without regard to, or waiting for, any ecclesiastical action or appointment. That is, the project should be, from beginning to end, a pedagogical, not an ecclesiastical, project. It would express, primarily, the conscience 30 466 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER of the teaching profession, whose theory of education is distorted by a system which excludes this vast area of the communal cul- ture from general education. Its motivation would derive from the pedagogical faith that this anomalous situation is unnecessary and should be rectified." Confessing Christians will see at once not only the grave dangers latent in this system of religious education, but also its impracticability. On the basis of the divine Law written in the human heart, the State certainly can teach the moral values which are necessary for the preservation of human society by the ob- servance of the basic iustitia civilis. But as soon as the attempt is made to teach religion or even only knowledge about religion, the public school will become involved in endless difficulties, since neither the concept of religion nor the area of the "knowledge about religion" can be adequately defined. The "knowledge about religion" to be taught in the public school may satisfy Dr. Mor- rison, the Liberal, but it cannot satisfy the orthodox Christian, whose religion is that of the Holy Bible. J. T. M. Marriage Counseling. - Church groups who sponsor short courses in courtship and marriage and clergymen who give pre- marital counseling were lauded at the meeting in Philadelphia of the section on Religion and the Family of the National Confer- ence on Family Relations. In recommending marriage courses and instruction, the churchmen noted that such courses are be- coming standard procedure of an increasing part of the ministry. To strengthen family ties, the group suggested religious observ- ance of the great days of the year; use of music and other forms of art; dedication of homes and homemakers; the family counsels in a democratic spirit; thanks to God for food; recognition of the human service responsible for each meal; bedtime prayers for children and family prayers. Dr. L. Foster Wood of the Federal Council of Churches was elected chairman of the group for the ensuing years. Vice-chairmen elected were the Rev. Edgar Schmiedeler, National Catholic Welfare Conference; Rabbi Stan- ley R. Brav, Central Conference of American Rabbis; and Mrs. P. E. Hawkins, Cleveland Council of Churches. So reports the R. N. S. That some marriage counseling is beneficial cannot be doubted. It seems, however, that here, as elsewhere, for instance, in the field of education, the attempt is made to remedy evils through an elaborate process of regimenta- tion and standardization which costs a great deal of money and effort and whose beneficial results are negligible. A. The Impotence of the Modernistic Message. - In the Divinity School News of the University of Chicago an address is printed in which there is embodied a remarkable letter by a young min- ister who had served in the fighting forces and upon his return gave expression to feelings of helpless confusion in these words: "What I want is not a church that wants to be a church, but a theology that I can preach, be enthusiastic about, and that will THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 467 carry conviction. I didn't know the difference between salvation by grace and salvation by good works. I just knew that there was a God and somehow men who thought had to find him or they would go mad. I learned that tumbling out of airplanes with a hundred pounds of equipment in my parachute pocket. I wanted to be a minister and go out and teach the people what I felt, to show the way I, too, was hunting. I felt the world needed more than doctors or lawyers, good or bad. "The churchmen that I have met have been fine men. . . . They have vision and energy, but they are full of defeatism. There isn't one of them that can talk like the only liberal conserva- tive I have ever known - a Mennonite. There isn't one of them that has the self-assurance that the hell-fire Southern Baptist has. The churches are reflections of the ministers. We who claim to be the custodians of the most progressive liberalism in America- and that is what we claim - are going to have to pass it down to our members and make it a part of their lives. We are going to have to find a modern method of revival that will turn a com- paratively irreligious frontier into a stronghold of faith. . . . "I want a theology that can make men enthusiastic, that will set them on fire with the determination to bring God and his kingdom here on earth. I want a theology that will be so inter- esting that people will seek it, talk it, and not listen dully. We are fools to ask people to follow the bread and milk that we put out .... " What this man looks for is within his reach. The words of Paul Rom. 10: 6-9 come to mind: "But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above); or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the Word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." A. Horrors Perpetrated in Germany. - On this subject Dr. Otto A. Piper of Princeton writes in a newsletter which goes out under his name (we quote merely a small section). "We also remember all the scenes of horror that took place in the concentration camps of the SS. But the same camps are now used by Czechs and Poles and Russians; and the interned Germans die at the same speedy rate in the Stadium of Prague, in Auschwitz and Myslowicze as did the Jews and the opponents of the Nazis until a year ago. The concentration camp has become a useful instrument for the rulers of Poland and Czechoslovakia to flout the Potsdam Agreement, which demanded that the ex- pulsions of the Germans should take place 'in an orderly and humane manner.' The populations of whole localities are interned and by means of hunger and an 'appropriate' treatment 'elim- 468 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER ina ted' to save the trouble of organizing the exodus. I am not speaking of Nazis who are war criminals. This is a common prac- tice applied against people whose only fault it is to speak the German language. "The same fate befalls political dissenters in the Russian zone of Germany. Do you still remember the shameful names of Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen? There Social Democrats are languishing again as they did under Hitler. Anybody who does not agree politically with the Russian communistic policy 'dis- appears'; or, if he manages to escape to the western zone, his family is sent to a concentration camp, just as it was done under Heinrich Himmler. "Finally, there is the tragic fate of German womanhood. No- where does the indifference of the American public strike me more painfully than in the presence of the beastly raping of practically all the German women who came into view of the Russian army and the Polish militia. The sordid scenes of Danzig and Berlin are no exceptions; other cities of the East and all the small vil- lages of Silesia, Brandenburg, and Pomerania have the same story to tell. Do we have so little regard for the honor of our wives and mothers that we can keep silence when we see how any stranger in uniform is allowed to soil the pure bodies of mothers and faithful wives and to infect their systems with the poison of venereal disease? How can we teach our little girls decency and modesty but remain callous when thousands of German children have their tender bodies lacerated by the perversity and unre- strained lust of the Russian soldiery? You have to go far back in European history to find an instance where the sanctity of voluntary chastity in holy women was violated. In the German East, however, those nuns and deaconesses only escaped this shameful fate who by their resistance moved the enraged assailants to kill them. "I know that the sexual morals in all armies are different from those of a peaceful society. Yet in all the armies of the Western world a soldier who commits rape is courtmartialed. The ubiquity of the criminal treatment of women in the eastern sec- tion of Germany and the obvious impunity with which it took place - and still does - cannot be explained on the mere grounds of vodka and disciplinary difficulties. These are not incidental events or the explosion of a long pent-up passion. They all follow the same pattern and are but so many expressions of a basic con- tempt of the Moral Law, humanity, and international agreements." A. Church Conditions in Korea. - From Seoul, Korea, Richard T. Baker has sent this graphic description of conditions in that country for R. N. S.: "Dilapidated, undisciplined, confused, dazed, and leaderless is the state of the Christian Church in Korea today. It has come out of a period of oppression under the Japanese and of five years THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 469 without the presence of foreign missionaries in the country with its morale tottering, its property dirty and run down, and its ranks divided on the collaborationist issue. "This correspondent spent two weeks making dozens of calls on leaders of the church here, and did not find one of them in his office or available for interviews. At midmorning one day the doors of the Bible House were still locked. At the same hour no one was in the office or at the desk of the downtown Y. M. C. A. At 11 A. M. a padlock still hung on the outside door of the Christian Young People's Association building. This is an indication of the undisciplined routine which churchmen are following in Korea today. "'The church is confused and dazed,' one ex-missionary now serving with the American military government in Seoul told me. lt cannot make up its mind about church organization, has its denominations still functioning parallel to a publicly proclaimed union of the denominations. Meanwhile the most aggressive spiritual efforts are being made by the revivalist Holiness group, which was a banned organization during the war. "Circumstances in Korea over the past ten years and par- ticularly during the past five years have conspired to produce leaders who were better able to opportunize with the Japanese regime than to give real spiritual leadership to the churches. "A few flagrant cases of collaboration, such as the sale of churches to produce money for Japan's war chest and the installa- tion of a Shinto shrine in at least one Methodist sanctuary, have done nothing to increase the spiritual prestige of Christianity in this country. Some of the most famous names among Christian leaders in Korea have a most unsavory reputation today in the opinion of the politically aware man in the street. "Christian property is in a pitiful state. The main yard of Severance Union Medical College and Hospital has been used as a coal dump and looks more like a railroad yard than hospital grounds. The buildings are dingy and dirty. "The best-kept Christian building in the city is the Roman Catholic Immaculate Conception Cathedral. "Two main factors have contributed to this state of disrepair in which Christian properties find themselves today. One is the fact that the Japanese removed most of the fixtures from the build- ings, and there have been no materials for repairs during the war. The other factor is the Koreans' own responsibility for allowing churches and Christian institutions to become dirty and neglected. Business firms in Seoul, homes, and civic buildings are not as run down as church properties. "Christian properties were used for all kinds of purposes dur- ing the war ~ factories, rented schools, military barracks, ammuni- tion dumps. There is today an ammunition dump under military guard on the campus of Chosen Christian College. The Pierson Memorial Bible School near Seou1's west gate is today rented out to a private industrial school. 470 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER "Even though lacking in leadership and unattractive to the eye the churches are making real appeal to the people. Seoul is well churched. One can scarcely walk a few blocks without passing a church edifice or two. Large congregations crowd into these building for services on Sunday." Missouri Synod Chaplains Ministering to Prominent Nazis.- The following item in ReLigious News Service is of special interest to members of our church body: "Frankfurt, Germany. - Several of the Nazi war criminals on trial at Nuremberg have shown an interest in religion, according to Lieut. Carl R. Eggers of Eugene, Oreg., Protestant chaplain of the Missouri Synod, who formerly served in the Nuremberg prison. "Chaplain Eggers said fifteen of those on trial are Protestants in the sense that they were baptized and confirmed. Two of the prisoners (von Papen and Frank) are Roman Catholics, and two (Streicher and Rosenberg) do not profess any religion. "Four or five of the prisoners, according to Chaplain Eggers, indicate a willingness to attend church services. Von Ribbentrop, Raeder, Fritsche, and Saukel show a 'special interest' in religion, which is probably inspired by fear of death. "Chaplain Eggers was especially impressed by Field Marshal Keitel, who was unusually willing to discuss religious questions. Herman Goering is also disposed to discuss religion, but shows little interest in the Church, although he once told Chaplain Eggers he envied people with definite religious convictions. Hess has not committed himself regarding his attitude toward religion. "When Lieut. Eggers was chaplain at the Nuremberg prison, services were not held, but now Chaplain H. F. Gerecke, also of the Missouri Synod, holds Protestant services every Sunday." The United Church of Christ in Japan. - Under date of March 21 Religious News Service submitted the following infor- mation on the topic given: "The most important problem in Japanese Christendom today is what is to become of the Kyodan, or United Church of Christ in Japan. While no decision has yet been reached, the likelihood is that Japanese Protestants will try to save their organic union and let the dissenters secede if they choose. "Unification of Protestants in Japan was created by two dis- tinct pressures. One was the insistence of the government. The other was a movement, as old as modern missions in Japan, which has tried to unite the churches by mutual consent, on their own initiative. "A major reason church leaders in Japan want to keep the Kyodan is that they have always insisted it was a spontaneous union, not coerced by the government. To dissolve the union now, they feel, would be to lose face. "Throughout the war, the Kyodan was so concerned with church-state relations that it provided little spiritual leadership to the churches, and many Christians turned away from it for its THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 471 lack of message. 'It was just one more bureau of the govern- ment,' they say, 'and we were weary of being governed.' "Despite these charges, the Kyodan must be credited with having tried to do its job in a most difficult setting. The Rev. Mitsuru Tomita, as head of the union, traveled from north to south in Japan getting Christians out of trouble with the police. He went to the defense of the persecuted when he felt it was a Kyodan responsibility. More than anything, he kept the Christian church intact. "Japanese Christians are grateful to the Kyodan and its leaders for that. But many of them now argue that the price was high, that the compromises sapped the lifeblood of the church, that the men who made the compromises have no message for Japan's new day. "Within the past few weeks, a group of thirty-five young clergymen in the Tokyo area met and petitioned an irate Mr. Tomita to resign along with his whole staff and to permit the selection of new delegates to the general convention which will pass formally upon the new church constitution. Copies of this committee's action went to over 1,000 pastors in Japan and to the press. "Conscientious Christians who believe in a united Protestant- ism are worried about the stubborn attitude of the Kyodan leaders. They believe that the Kyodan's refusal to change its autocratic structure and its personnel will result in mass walkouts from the union, whereas a more liberal attitude and a wiping of the slate clean might save it. "The new constitution of the Kyodan is now being drafted by a committee chosen by Mr. Tomita. It is recommending the keeping of an organically united church with what it calls 'amend- ments to make it more democratic.' These include some decen- tralization of authority, abolition of the post of torisha, head of the church, and some ambiguities permitting differences of doctrine and polity within the Kyodan structure. None of the keen Chris- tian minds outside the Kyodan have been asked to serve on or advise this committee. "A large group of Christian leaders favor a complete dissolu- tion of the Kyodan, adjournment of its offices sine die, abrogation of the constitution, dismissal of the personnel, and the calling of a new constitutional assembly to draw up a loose federation of Protestant churches, organized around functions which they can perform better together than they can separately. "This group believes that even the Episcopalians and other non-Kyodan churches would co-operate with such a federation, and thus the advantages of union would be retained with none of the disadvantages of war responsibility which now mark the Kyodan and are driving people and churches away. "All the institutions of wartime Japan have been closely scru- tinized by General MacArthur's personnel for traces of militarism, 472 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER ultranationalism, and war guilt. All have been purged so far as possible. But punitive measures will not be taken, except in the most extreme cases, against the church. It is American policy not to meddle with people's religious convictions. "The result of this policy is that the United Church in Japan still holds within its membership and leadership many persons who in any other organization would long ago have been purged. "Meanwhile, the total energy of the Kyodan is being spent on organization details, and the job of evangelizing a spiritually bank- rupt nation goes begging." That the United Church of Christ in Japan is a grossly union- istic venture is evident. It should be dissolved as soon as possible. To what extent an organization for co-operation in externals which will not be unionistic can be formed is a difficult question. Brief Items from Religious News Service. - Joint production of Spanish and Portuguese Scriptures for use in South America is being planned by the American Bible Society and the British Bible and Foreign Society, Dr. Erich M. North, general secretary of the American group, reported in New York on his return from a two months' trip to Latin America. The Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. (Northern Presbyterians) approved a budget of $4,158,978 for 1946-47. The sum represents $399,050 more than last year's receipts. The increase, so the chairman of the board states, is necessitated by the return of missionaries to reopen fields abroad. Radio Station WNOX of Knoxville, Tenn., decided no longer to broadcast paid religious programs. A big protest meeting was held by the followers of Rev. J. Harold Smith, a Knoxville evan- gelist, who do not wish to see his program taken off the air. The evangelist had been broadcasting daily. The intention of the own- ers of the radio station is, as they say, to give more time to religious groups according to numerical strength. Mr. Smith and his fol- lowers contend that "free time is controlled time." In Imperial Valley, Calif., the life of Christ is to be filmed in technicolor by a group of people headed by John Shelton. Associated with Shelton are Anthony Quinn, actor son-in-law of Cecil B. De Mille, producer; Mark Lawrence, formerly of the Group Theater; and H. J. McFall, publicist. The theological adviser will be a conservative scholar, George McReady Price, known as a prolific writer against evolution. The Attorney General of Missouri, the Hon. J. E. Taylor, has ruled that transportation of parochial school children by public school carrier is constitutional. He holds that although the new State Constitution passed in 1945 holds neither the general as- sembly nor any State subdivision shall allot money in aid of any religious group, the State's compulsory school laws make it necessary to provide for public transportation of students who elect to attend a private school. THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 473 According to a decree of the authorities American soldiers in Europe are not permitted to marry German girls. The regula- tions prescribe that a waiting period of two months is required before our soldiers stationed in any foreign country can marry, except in Germany, where they are altogether forbidden to marry native women. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Killion, European Division chaplain of the Air Transport Command, has declared that this decree is manifestly unjust. From Hungary comes the report that Lutheran pastors are persecuted by Leftists, or Communist elements, in that country. In some instances it is stated Lutheran pastors were driven from their parishes by Socialists or Communists. A news item from Germany says that it is estimated 80 per cent of the Germans are opposed to the declaration of guilt with respect to the war adopted by the Evangelical Church of Germany. The resentment which has been voiced by German people concern- ing this declaration seems in some ways to be due to misunder- standing. The declaration referred to the Church and not to the German people. From the Ukraine, Russia, has come the news that the Uniate Church of the Western Ukraine has decided to sever its relations with the Vatican and to join the Russian Orthodox Church. Uniate designates a branch of the Roman Catholic Church which originated in 1596. At that time a number of people living in the Polish- Lithuanian State recognized the supremacy of Rome and the dog- mas of the Catholic Church, but were permitted to preserve their Eastern rite and the Slavonic liturgy. The Catholic Herald of London, England, says that this secession is due to political pres- sure constituting a "crime against freedom of religion." It is as- serted, too, by Catholic spokesmen that the secession has not taken on important proportions. Dismissal of pastors who are still pro-Nazi was demanded in resolutions adopted at a two-day meeting of the Council of Brethren, which represents the so-called "confessional wing" of the Evangelical Church of Germany. The meeting took place at Darmstadt and was presided over by Pastor Hans Asmussen. American occupation authorities have given permission for the printing of the first religious books in Berlin since the be- ginning of the war. It is planned to print at once 50,000 hymn- books for Sunday schools and religious classes in public schools and an equal number of Bible story books for religious classes in elementary public schools. Besides, 60,000 catechisms are to be printed and 5,000 each of a group of sermons dealing with Ger- many's war guilt. The University of Muenster in Westphalia, Germany, re- stored the honorary Doctor degree to Professor Karl Barth, which, owing to orders from Nazi headquarters, had been revoked. 474 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER Russian occupation authorities refuse to permit visitors to enter Hungary. Recently two American clergymen, Rev. George W. Sadler, representing the Southern Baptist Convention, and Dr. Carl E. Schneider, representing the Evangelical and Reformed Church at headquarters of the World Council of Churches in Geneva, applied in vain for permission to enter the country. Carl Hermansen, the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs in Den- mark, refused to grant permission to ordain women as ministers in the Lutheran Church. In a determined way he declared that during his term of office such permission will not be given. Church-sponsored relief programs are now being carried on in all zones of Germany, Pastor Eugen Gerstenmaier, relief direc- tor for the Evangelical Church of Germany, revealed here. He states that German churches through self-aid efforts have col- lected 20,000 tons of food and clothing in the British and French zones, of which 11,000 tons have been distributed in the Russian zone. In addition, 13 million marks collected by the churches have been distributed largely in the Russian zone, where credits are frozen. Concerning Protestant churches in Poland the Rev. Zygumt Michelis of Warsaw said that all Polish churches have suffered great losses in membership, congregations have been scattered, and church institutions destroyed. He declared that the Lutheran Church had suffered most, with only 64 of its 150 prewar parishes remammg. Other denominations lost large percentages because of the eastern boundary change. Methodists have been the most active among the groups, he added, pointing out that they have increased the number of their pastors from 30 to 35. Dr. Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, has invited three church leaders of England to meet him in order to discuss formation of a united Protestant Church of England. From Paris comes the information that a motion by Com- munist members forbidding religious processions on public high- ways was defeated by the prefecture of the Seine Department. The motion was an aftermath to recent disturbances at Ivry, where police tried to prevent Catholic paraders from carrying the famous statue of Our Lady of Boulogne on their shoulders instead of on a lorry, as demanded by local regulations. During heated debate on the motion the prefect of police said there had been only one incident during the tour of the statue through Paris and the city outskirts and that he did not think there was any need to pass a regulation which would divide public opinion. Secretary for War Jack Lawson announced in the House of Commons that the government plans to cancel or modify regula- tions providing for compulsory attendance of troops at Army and Air Force church parades. The announcement followed debate on an amendment proposing immediate abolition, which was not THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER 475 accepted for technical reasons. Lawson praised chaplains for their services during the war, but said he did not believe religion could flourish "in an atmosphere of compulsion or restraint." He as- serted the government's decision in no way represents "separa- tion of the Army from religion," but on the contrary would strengthen religious life and "make it more real." An Amish farmer who purchased a tractor and was subse- quently rejected from the sect for his concession to modern machinery has repented, sold the tractor, and is again a church member in good standing. - That means going even beyond the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin on the part of the scribes and Pharisees. Finding that fewer than half of the 13,000 pupils in Little Rock's public schools attend religious services regularly, the coun- cil representing 20 parent-teacher associations started a move- ment having as its goal encouragement of the children to attend church services on Sundays. In the elementary schools each child will be awarded a gold star every Monday morning, to be placed on a chart by his teacher, for attending a religious service of his choice during the week end. - Is this an attempt to bring in the kingdom of God by developing a certain machinery? The Union of American Hebrew Congregations voted at its 39th biennial meeting in Cincinnati to maintain strict neutrality on the issues of Zionism and anti-Zionism and to continue as a member of the American Jewish Conference. The war, so R. N. S. states on the basis of a report made by an observer of Christian missions, has intensified nationalistic feeling among the Arab states, and the tendency has arisen to identify these national movements with Islam. When the new cardinals were given their insignia of office they "swore to uphold, increase, and promote in every way the rights, even temporal, pertaining to the sovereignty of the Church and the Pope, their liberty, honors, privileges, and authority; and to inform the Pope immediately, or his successors, of any plots against them which the cardinals themselves are unable to forestall." In Chicago a separate office adjoining the courts where divorce cases are heard has been established and will be open daily from 9 A. M. until 4 P. M., where rabbis and ministers will serve on a purely voluntary basis, endeavoring to solve marital difficulties so that divorces may be prevented. A committee, called the Mar- riage Committee of Chicago, has been formed, which will see to it that the separate office will be manned and will function. The food situation in India is extremely critical. More relief must be furnished than has been done thus far if the worst famine in India's history is to be averted. This is the statement of Fred A. Moore, director of the Church Committee for Relief in Asia.