Full Text for CTM Theological Observer 15-10 (Text)
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ple do not want tl em nor thi.nk th necessary. ie,
there are exceptions in each group, but inarticulate exceptions.
"Our school was successful because of two things. First, the hard
work and self-sacrificing spirit of our teachers; and second, because of
the loyal support of the parents whose children were under our care.
Both of these groups believed so strongly in what we were doing and
trying to do that they pushed the school forward in spite of the churches.
"The idea which once I had tried to urge was not the establishment
of parochial schools in the strict sense of the word, i. e., where the support
and responsibility of the school would rest solely upon one parish (such
a school in our Church would be rarely feasible) - but where one
church, with the most adaptable parish hall, would house the school, and
all the parishes in the district stand behind it.
"Such was the setup of our school. After much persuasion, all
the rectors in. the surrounding area - some ten in a11- agreed to allow
envelopes to be given out in their parishes once a year for the benefit
of the school. The result was comical. I remember the offering from
the wealthiest parish - with over 1,000 communicants - $1.72. And so
it went.
--)U may possibly think that the rE for the a! ae
churches had some local or personal angle. But the testimony of any
parent, or any outsider who kne'w the work we were doing, would
correct such a notion as that. I am forced to the conclusion that the
real reason for the lack of interest on the part of the churches is that
the people, like the priests, are not convinced that Church schools are
important to the life and health of the Church.
"This is a sad thing. Even some of our larger and long established
schools have died for lack of nourishment. We believe that the Church
is important and that our Lord intended that His Gospel be transmitted
through this medium. We also believe that a child, nurtured and tutored
by the Church, will have a better chance to understand the truths of
our religion and appreciate its mysteries than will the grown-up whom
we pounce upon to save his soul! . . .
"Many of our boys and girls were not from Church families, but
were led into the Church by instruction and confirmation. And some
of them brought their parents with them. I remember one brilliant
little first-grader, whose parents had no connection with the Church
whatsoever, but who came to our school on the recommendation of an
eminent New York educator. The child developed such an interest in
the Church and took his instructions so to heart that both his father
and his mother eventually came into the Church.
"The boys and girls who come out or our Church schools may not
seem different from those who come from other schools. But I am
sure that undernc;:,.!~ ~:;,--,-~.:.:rwoven in~v ~:.I.'_.!. tern of thc__ __ __ . is
a clearer picture of their Master and at least a better understanding of
the Church's mission to the world." A.
Superlative Reviews. - America (July 15) contains a sharp criticism
of modem "superlative reviews" by Harold C. Gardiner, worth reading
also in our circles by both reviewers and readers of reviews. 'Ve
698 Theological Observer
offer the criticism in a condensed form: "A metropolitan paper's
review of Thomas Mann's recent Joseph the Provider set me pondering
a bit on the remarkable gifts of book reviewers in the matter of
superlatives. Personally, I find that I am rather parsimonious with
superlatives - after I have used 'fine' and 'splendid' or one or two
others of similar rather neutral tone (1 bar 'outstanding'), I am about
finished. Not so our fecund reviewers. A favorite trick, of course,
is to indulge in a great deal of comparative literature, to state that the
book in question will without doubt rank close to Tolstoy or Voltaire,
that it is another Red Badge of Courage or a blood brother to Moby Dick.
The eager reader, who probably knows little of Russian or French
literature, or even of our American classics, feels that, oh boy, oh boy,
here is the chance to keep up with the current output and to get
the savor of other literatures - all for the price of one book. Now,
the recent review in the New York Times (June 25) is characterized
by the same intemperate use of superlatives; without so much as an
'in my opinion' the reviewer pedestals Mann as 'the greatest con-
temporary master of narrative and the word.' Later, we hear that
the book reminds us that 'God and man are mutually dependent upon
each other in a common aspiration for development'; that God's
chastisements 'become suspect in the light of His blessing or arbitrary
favoritism' (the surprised italics are all mine). The point is that
either this is a very bad review or, in this regard, at least, Mr. MalLTl
is by no means a great master of the word. If Mann has not those
woolly obfuscations in the book, then the review is bad; if he is so
bemuddled, then his own thought lacks clarity, and his style betrays
it and, despite all modern criticism that emphasizes the psychological,
the psychiatric, the neurasthenic, the what-have-you 'overtones' of an
author, the first and indispensable and cardinal virtue of prose is to
be clear. I fear that to a great extent Edgar Allan Poe unmasked
the sycophantic nature of much of our American criticism and reviewing
when he wrote his creed as a reviewer; he would, he said, yield 'no
point either to the vanity of the author, or to the assumptions of
antique prejudice, or to the involute and anonymous cant of the
Quarterlies, or to the arrogance of those organized cliques which,
hanging like nightmares on American literature, manufacture, at the
nod of our principal booksellers, a pseudo-public opinion by the
wholesale.' That must be the reviewer's creed, else American criticism
sinks to the level of 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours.'''
As clarity is the cardinal virtue demanded of an author, so sincerity
and truth are the indispensable virtues of a reviewer, and this is true
also in the field of definitely religious books. What the reading public
desires to know is what kind of product a certain book is and what
its strong points and its shortcomings are. In short, it wants to know
the truth about a book. J. T.IVL
Roman Catholic Mission Methods. - The correspondent of the Chris-
tian Century for India, Mr. P. Oomman Philip, reports Ln the July 19
issue of the journal mentioned what a friend writes him on the work
of the Roman Catholic missionaries among the Gonds, "an aboriginal
Theological Observer 699
people of the Central Provinces." Mr. Philip states that according to
information which - 'lim the for _ thods are i 11:
"1. To teach Gond children in their school to say Jai Ishu (victory
to Jesus) instead of Jai-Ramji-ki, which is the usual Gond way of
grepting.
"2. To sprinkle holy water on the faces of children and even adults.
Naturally t..~e water sometimes touches the lips, and a few drops even
enter the mouth. The general belief of the Gonds is that if they
drink water from the hands of Christians, their caste is polluted, and
they also become Christians. This belief is taken advantage of by
the propagandists of the mission.
"3. To call the 'sacrament' (Holy Communion) sakkar-meeth (sweet-
meat) and give it to the Gonds.
"4. To employ even illiterate persons as propagandists at inflated
salaries. These persons are simply overzealous hirelings and employ
all sorts of means to bring the Gonds into their net.
"5. To offer and lend large sums of money, thus securing the Gonds
in their grip. Sometimes the debts are written off if the Gonds accept
Christianity. Most of the Gonds, being poor, fall a victim to this
~ The money=le! ,.; bait is tt mpting one ". ____ Ie
Catholic missionaries are employing." A.
The Roman Church after the War.-Looking mto the future and
speculating on what conditions the Roman Catholic Church will find
itself in after the war, America (Jesuit weekly) writes, "There is no
reason to be unduly alarmed about this prospective state of "ff~ivo ~that
is, the domination of the world by the United States, Great BritaLn, and
Russia]. The association between religious strength and political power
has grown very loose in our time. Governments of Catholic nations more
often than not are Catholic in name only, if that. International relations
are managed 'regardless of race, color, and creed.' The various religious
communities have ceased to utilize state power as a decisive element in
their growth, competitive and otherwise. The Catholic Church, in partic-
ular, can very well dispense with the support which it derived in former
centuries from mutually privileged connections with certain great powers
of their day. As the States unite people regardless of creed, so the
Church unites people regardless of citizenship. It must be noted, how-
ever, that the disappearance of all major Catholic powers will coincide
in time with the emergence of violent readjustments necessitated by
the liquidation of totalitarianism. The Church, true to its eternal mission,
had to find and did find a modus vivendi with the various anti-democratic
and non-democratic authorities that got control over so many countries
of Europe. It is inevitable that the ov£>rflow of these goverD_rnents will
create numerous problems for the Church and the Catholic population.
'C_:~:~_, both friendly and hostile, have forecast a period of unprecedented
anti-clericalism in Italy, believing that the long association of the Vatican
with Fascism will reap its harvest of hatred and persecution.' This
passage from Sherman S. Hayden's report on the foreign policy of the
Vatican will probably apply to other countries. In France some bishops
felt themselves constrained to lend their support to the 'forces of law
700 Theological Observer
and order' against the underground movement. Then there is Spain.
According to Newsweek (Feb.14, 1944) Russbr! foreign policy has not
been neutral toward Spain since the civil war; but Russia has not been
in a position to do anything about Spain. 'Reliable sources in London'
indicated to Newsweek that Juan Negrin has offered to be the Soviet's
man in Spain, working for the overthrow of Franco in favor of a regime
acceptable to Moscow. In the case of Germany, the elimination of
Catholic Austria from the framework of the Reich can hardly be viewed
as an unmixed blessing. Other things being equal, a Germany half-
Protestant and half-Catholic would seem preferable to a Germany two-
thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic. German Catholics have always
been a major stabilizing factor both domestically and in the international
field. They and their leaders can better afford to stand on their record
than any other large group in Germany. . .. In some of the smaller
countries, too, Catholics will have to face very severe problems. Catholic
Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary will have to conform in one way or
another to the fact of geographical propinquity to Russia. The Catholics
of Croatia will have to find their place in a new J ugoslav commonwealth
of radical social and political leanings. In the reconstruction of Czecho-
slovakia the present co-operation of Father Tiso with the Nazis will be
an ufl.rlp~~$tl1t memory~ if not more,n
We leave it to our readers to separate the wheat from the chaff in
the long passage quoted. However, there ought to be added what the
writer in America, says about the role to be played by the Roman
Catholic Church in the United States. "All this adds up to an increased
responsibility of Catholics in the United States and, to a lesser degree,
in Britain. Of the world's 340 million Catholics, only the 23 million
living in the United States and the four million living in Great Britain
will be in a position to participate in the determination of the actions
of major secular pOweroS. The Vicar of Christ may look to them for an
increased effort to help him in his care for their co-religionists in Europe
and South America. American Catholics, in the field of secular causation,
will be the foremost national Catholic community in the world. One can
only hope and pray that their feeling for the unity and interdependence
of all the members of the mystical body of Christ will be as intense and
real and alive as their feeling for the unity of their nation and people."
Rome evidently is girding its loins for some major efforts in the recon-
struction of the world. How about us Lutherans with the everlasting
Gospel? A.
The Stigma of Stigmatization. - In view of the fact that Romanism
today is so very active in promoting itself and propagandizing boLh. its
doctrinal and hierarchical views, it is well to consider its claims and
re-study its doctrines. Considerable attention has been given l-ecently
to the alleged phenomenon of stigmatization, especially during the past
Lenten season, The Calvin. FOrt~m (April, 1944), in a very readable
article, analyzes this phenomenon, which, according to The New Schaff-
Herzog Encyclopedia, is "the spontaneous formation of wounds on 'L,
persons of Christians similar to those received by Christ from the crown
of thorns, the crucifixion, and the spear." That this phenomenon has
Theological Observer 701
actually occurred, The Calvin Forum declares, cannot well be denied.
"The Roman Catholic Church claims, lm !,"~~~'U,e grounds, that no less
than eighty cases of authentic stigmatization, either in whole or in part,
can be cited as historical facts." Stigmatization by Romanism is ac-
cepted "as a mark of divine endorsement," indeed, as "a mark of special
sainthood." The writer of the article, however, holds that "there is
nothing supernatural about it and that a purely natural explanation is
most worthy of consideration. It may well be considered as a striking
example of the mysterious power of mind over matter." He argues:
"It is a matter of common knowledge that it is possible to become really
sick because one thinks that he is sick; that it is sometimes possible to
effect cures by hypnotism; that there is no hope of recovery for a patient
who has lost the will to live. Why, then, should not morbid, fanatical,
hysterical imagination be able, in extreme cases, to produce the marks
and bleeding of stigmatization?" But even more suspicious is the
phenomenon when viewed from a religious and spiritual angle. In the
first place, "there is the extreme concentration on the pain and blood of
the crucifixion of Christ, which the Bible does not favor." In the second
place, "there is a fanatical zeal to reproduce the agonies of Christ in
one's body and soul. This is a bold and improper desire, nowhere
ized in Scr _ turc. No one may reproduce the suffering of C ist.
It was unique. It cannot be repeated. He said: 'It is finished.' When
Paul wrote in Galatians 6: 17 of bearing the stigmata, the marks of Christ,
in his body, he spoke of the scars of battle as proof of his apostleship.
He got them from enemies while witnessing for Christ. They were
normal. Stigmatization is accomplished in self-appointed, morbid con-
centration, in the cloister, on the gore of Calvary. It is abnormal from
every point of view and, by that token, suggests the suspicion of stigma
in stigmatization." In the third place, "there is the practical issue of
stigmatization. What purpose did they serve? Tens of thousands of
pilgrims came to see. But what did they see? Not the wounds of
Christ. In the excitement they were forgotten. All the attention was
for these bearers of marvelous marks. There was no preaching of the
Gospel of salvation through Christ's blood in those marks. It is hard
to see how they could promote the glory of God. They fascinated with
the drawing power of the strange, the mysterious, and the grotesque.
The impression they made had nothing particularly religious about it.
Strong sensation was its mark rather than high spirituality. There was
nothing delicate nor dignified about the display of the marks to the
public. We Protestant and Reformed Christians are frankly suspicious
of such ado about persons. Our motto is: 'He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord: Right at this point stigmatization is most vulnerable.
The center of attention is found in the wrong place. People went away
impressed with the greatness of these saints rather than by Lhe great-
---- -': the Savio:- m - ---dily admit L'- ~ ~ ... , ~ ')ility that '. ~. so
intended. Nevertheless the deplorable fact remains.;; - There is much
food for thought in what the writer says. Lutherans perhaps see the
wrong involved in stigmatization still more than do the Reformed because
of their insistence upon the means of grace as the only means, signs, and
: of divine gra,·. Anyone looking upon stigmatization as "the mark
702 Theological Observer
of divine endorsement or of special sainthood" thereby repudiates the
Vlord of God as the only authentic and dependable proof of God's grace.
Stigmatization belongs to the "sheer enthusiasm" which Luther so
severely condemns in the Smalcald Articles, where he writes: "For the
Papacy also is nothing but sheer enthusiasm, by which the Pope boasts
that all rights exist in the shrine of his heart, and whatever he decides
and corcl1nands with[in] his Church is spirit and right, even though it is
above and contrary to Scripture and the spoken Word." (Triglotta, 495.)
J.T.M.
Synarchist Outrages in Mexico. - Mexico is having religious trouble.
There is a fanatical section of the population which desires to be loyal
to the Roman Catholic Church and, inspired by this loyalty, engages
in persecution of those who are non-Catholics. In certain places Protes-
tants have been expelled from their homes and have been forced to hide
in mountains and forests to escape being butchered. A correspondent in
the Christian Century writes that the Government is taking steps to
counteract these attacks on Protestants. He states, "On June 22 the
attorney general issued telegraphic instructions to all his prosecutors
throughout the country to the . effect that 'no permission should be
granted to the synarchists to hold meetings.' An investigation had led
the attorney general to the conclusion that the synal'chists "nere a S1..""'-
versive element and had been instigating the people and the army to
rebel against the present goverrnnent." A.
Bib' Reading L'l the Public Schools of Canada. - From British Co··
lumbia comes the information that in that Province, beginning this fall,
the Scripture "without teacher comment" will be read in the public
schools. If pupils object for conscientious reasons, they will be per-
mitted to leave the room for that period. The Canadian Institute of
Public Opinion tried to ascertain what the people of Canada held on
the question whether the public schools should offer a course of religion
or whether this matter should be left entirely to the churches. The
answers received from all parts of the Dominion of Canada show that
fifty per cent of the people approved the suggestion that religion be
taught in the public schools, while 41 per cent disapproved and 9 per
cent wavered.
In our own church body there always has been a difference of
opinion, as far as we can ascertain, on the question whether the Bible
should be read in the public schools. Those who oppose it point to the
principle of separation of Church and State, which forms one of the
pillars of our national structure. Those who favor it remind us of
the necessity of the teaching of morality in the schools of the State,
and they hold that if Bible reading is introduced in public schools, the
State does it not in order to teach a certain religion, but to inculcate
principles of right conduct and to give these principles a firm foundation.
That this involves the teaching of religion is, so they assert, simply in-
cidental. Others, again, hold that there is a higher law than adherence
to the letter of the pr' J? - -paration of Church and Sf -, -.:nely,
that of the salvation of the human soul, and since there is no salvation
except through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we should rejoice whenever
Theological Observer 703
this Gospel is brought to people. But does this not involve acceptance
of the prhciple {h ,t the end just! ~ es the 3? A Igh, in
partial treatment of the whole subject will be given a warm welcome.
A.
Theological Trends and Developments among Congregationalists.-
Writing in the Christian Century on the topic "What Is Disturbing Con-
gregationalists?" Prof. Wilhelm Pauck of the Chicago Theological Sem-
inary and of the divinity school of the University of Chicago submits
these interesting paragraphs:
"A growing number of ministers and also of laymen, trying to get
out of this confusion, have turned with passion to the faith of the
fathers. They are not interested in rediscovering the old theological
orthodoxy, although their critics like to label them as neo-orthodox,
but they seek to understand the distLl1.ctness of the Christian gospel and
to appropriate it spiritually as well as intellectually. A new evangeli-
calism has come into being which is nourished not only by the Christo-
centrism of historic Congregationalism, but also by the reaffirmation of
the teachings of Paul, Augustine, and Luther on the nature of man in
the work of such thinkers as Brunner and Reinhold Niebuhr. A group
of mostly younger ministers who share this concern for a Christ-
ceD;.I~red faith and who wish to see it spread, organized themselv2s, two
years ago, under the slogan of 'Christus Victor.' Their activity is still
quite inchoate, but it has found considerable response. Under dynalulc
leadership, it may develop into an influential movement. If this should
turn out to be the case, the now latent distress of many Congregational
ministers at the change of the theological mood may become acute.
"Some of the older leaders of Congregationalism are not a little
disturbed about the fact that the liberalism which they imbibed in their
youth and to which they adhered throughout their careers is rather
coolly greeted by many younger men. Because they are almost as un-
bending as fundamentalists in their unswerving allegiance to the spirit
of that prewar Protestantism which endeavored to 'make religion intel-
lectually respectable' by interpreting it in terms of modern 'progressive'
philosophy, history, science, and sociology, they suspect that anybody
who regards Paul's teachings as the key to the understanding of the
New Testament or who thinks that Reinhold Niebuhr has understood the
meaning of the Christian faith, wants to go backward and 'put the
brakes on the progress of Christian enlightenment.' These men are
disturbed and say so openly. They fail to understand, it seems to me,
that the younger generation is reacting against liberalism not in order
to recover the old authoritarian orthodoxy, but in order to liberate the
Protestant faith from its entanglements with the spirit of humanistic
self-sufficiency, so that it may be able to evangelize a world in which
man has turned against himself." A.
Concerning Dispensationaiism. - At the meeting of the Southern
Presbyterians in May onc of the topics of discussion was dispensa-
tionalism. Reporting on the meeting and the attitude taken toward
this subject, a writer in the Christian Centtl,ry says, "A paper on dis-
pensationalism was adopted. Many of us feel that here was a thing
of real value. Dispensationalism grows out of premillennialism. This
704 Theological Observer
somewhat literal view of the second coming has a fair following
.rnong us. It condemn it"1 this paper those vrho believe that
Christ is coming again to set up some sort of thousand-year reign
here on earth. But we do condemn in no uncertain terms those who
go on from this point to declare that our fathers were wrong in their
whole understanding of the plan of salvation. The matter is too
complicated for full discussion here, but it is a question of importance
to our denomination and to others. There are one or two rather
aggressive institutions here in the South that are strongly 'dispensa-
tional.' A considerable stream of influence pours into Southern (and
Northern) pulpits from this source. The famous Schofield Bible is in
all but countless homes, and the Schofield Bible is distinctly separate
from Presbyterianism in spite of the fact that Dr. Schofield died as
a member of the Dallas Presbytery. Just what the next chapter in this
story may be, no man can forsee, but it is at least clear that Presby-
terianism in these parts is not ready to turn itself over to any group
of fanatics who think they alone are in possession of all the secrets of
God and commissioned to reveal these to some picked company
which will be in a position of special prominence when things begin
to happen a la 'Green Pastures.''' Too bad dispensationalism was not
condemned outrightly. Ostensil: - on the Scriptures, it is in
reality a perversion of what the Scriptures teach. A.
Church Truth Universal- AUM. - The letters a-u-m do not rep-
resent, as one may surmise at first, the initials of an organization, for
example, Association of United Metaphysicians. AUM is said to be a
word denoting the "pulsating conscious life-action," the yogi union
with the Cosmic Soul, the at-one-ment. The leaders of Church Truth
Universal (members of the fair sex) operating at Highway Highlands,
Calif., claim that AUM, or universal truth, has been revealed to them.
As other occult teachers, so this group proceeds from the premise that.
man is a divine fragment and that he must learn to appreciate his
divine origin and nature. In their official publication, The Spiritual
Life-Magazine ("the love-wisdom message") the claim is made that
"Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, Krishna, and all other Divine In-
carnations were in the Cosmic God Consciousness." By making contact
with the "god-conscious masters" each individual being, or "atman,"
learns that he is "an individualized expression of the infinite." The
"atmen" (maybe it ought to be "atmans"), who had passed out of
Reality into Relativity, had lost their way in "maya," or the great illu-
sion, and after long wandering finally had completed the circle (is this
the Buddhist wheel of life?), arrive at the Father's house, and con-
sciously live in the great AUM (Buddhist Nirvana?), are united with
the Cosmic Soul, in short, are gods. The entire system is about as
synthetic as anything that has come to our attention. It is a mixture
of elements L ___ ':' ~ __ ::1ristian ScL ____ , =~_ .. Thought, :'---~~J> = __ osophy,
Spiritism, pseudo-metaphysicism, e. g., Rosicrucianism, The Ascended
Masters (The Great I Am, alias Ballards), Yogism. For good measure,
the leaders employ high-sounding phrases, reminding one of Father
Divine's Peace Messages. Its appeal is the same as Satan's to our first
parents: "Ye shall be as God." F. E, M.
Theological Observer 705
Women Elders Thought of for the Church of Scotland. - A corre-
spondent from Edinburgh, in the Ch'Iu;tiar. Cec/l-tuiY, "lales that the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, held in June, passed reso-
lutions favoring the election of women for the position of elders in the
Church. The correspondent writes: "The question whether women
should be eligible for the eldership was keenly contested. Those who
were opposed to it argued mairJy on doctrinal grounds. though other
drew terrifying pictures of women swamping the kirk sessions and menc
ceasing to take an active interest. In the end it was by a large majority
that the assembly decided in favor of women elders. As it is a matter C
affecting the constitution of the church, it will now be sent down to
presbyteries under the Barrier Act, and if a two-thirds majority of the'
presbyteries favors the proposal, it will then become part of the law of'
the church. It is too early to predict the outcome of this referendum
to the presbyteries." It is too bad that these people take a course which:,
is a violation of what the Apostle Paul has taught 1 Cor. 14 and 1 Tim. 2 ..
Why not be ~atisfied with standing on the foundation of the inspired!
Apostles? A.
Three Blasphemous Parodies. - Under this heading The Sunday
School Times (July 29, 1944) directs attention to the fact that three
times in hi~ 'Be our Lord warned agaiJ
Christs (Matt. 24: 5, 23, 24). "For m;:my shall come in My name, saying,
I am Christ; and shall deceive many." - "Then if any man SL "y
ll."1to you, Lo, here is Christ or there; believe it not." - "For there shall
arise false Christs." This prophecy (as the article shows) is being ful-
filled in the case of the "Dean of the Universe," the "Father IVL J. Divine,"
whose paper The New Day is dated thus: Jan. 1, 1944, A.D. F. D., mean-
ing: "In the year of our Lord, Father Divine, 1944." In this paper there
occurs the following broadside by one of his followers: "Peace and:
Praises and Thanksgiving to you FATHER for your precious holy body'
and for the blessings you have bestowed on all mankind, and for your'
peace and protection with which you have covered America, we do
humbly thank you, Father. And we thank you that all mankind will
enter into the recognition of the body of God upon this earth and in
the spirit of the one eternal Christmas day." Another outburst of
praise closes with the words: "Praise Him, 0 creation, for he is Lord
of lords and King of kings. For Thy blessed holy works, dear Savior,
we truly thank thee." Blasphemy indeed! And these are only a few
of the m, ny quoted in the artic1cc - But Father DivLne also has enemies.
His "Cent,~r" in Philadelphia (corner Broad and Catherine) is not far
away from the large Temple of colored Father Grace, one of 145 in.
the United States devoted to the cult of this Negro who identifies him-
self with the Grace of God. Father Grace's photograph shows him in
the headgear of the plains, with long hair like Buffalo Bill. Hp.;c !"c}
as blasphemous as is Father Divine, for the announcement under the
photograph says: "This is the man you have been looking for the
Lord's Anointed. He has fought many battles; also won in all, Bishop
Grace, the Founder of the United House of Prayer for all People, of'
the Church on the Rock of the Apostolic Faith. He went to the great.
45
706 Theological Observer
city of New York and with a smile took heaven from Father Divine.
He was the only man who could do it." - Blasphemy again. "Many
Christs," said our Savior. - Christian Science as a delusion is not as crass
as these black ones, on the face of it. Nevertheless Mother Eddy at-
tributed to her own confused writings an authority equal to that of
the Word of God. Science and Health is now being issued in a sub-
scription edition of 1,000 copies at $100 a copy, plus twenty-five copies
"to be placed with outstanding typographical examples of Bibles and
other great books in the leading libraries of the world." The official
statement runs: "It is a volume which will place our textbook Science
and Health with the finest Bibles of the world." The paper for it (says
the article) was made in a three-hundred-year-old paper mill on the
Darent River in Kent, England. It is handmade and watermarked with
the trade-mark approved by Mrs. Eddy for all the authorized Christian
:Science publications, namely, the Cross and Crown emblem. As to the
type, it was cut especially for this volume and modeled on the type
,of beautiful handwritten m~uscripts of the Laurentian Library at
'Florence, Italy. William Dana Orcutt, an internationally known de-
.signer of books, decorated by the Italian Government in 1921 "for in-
terpreting Italy to America in the sister arts of literature and typography,"
,had charge of the manufacture of this edition of Science and Health.
'The inks used will last for centuries and were mixed from pigments
especially made for this edition; so, too, the sumptuous Morocco billd-
ings manufactured from special importations of skins from India. The
article closes with the words: "So do they vainly attempt to put a human
production on a par with the Word of God. It is a magnificent mauso-
leum indeed, but the Word is seed and life. A single frayed copy of
John's Gospel, with 3:16 underscored, is infinitely more powerful for God
than the entire de luxe edition of Mrs. Eddy's handbook." Yet, after all,
these various antichrists, blasphemous and pernicious as they are, are
crude and amateurish compared to the great Antichrist at Rome, who
in a subtler and therefore more dangerous way "shows himself that
he is God," substituting for the divine authority of God's Word his own
fallible human authority. To the three blasphemous parodies we may
add the false, perfidious advertisements sent out by the Religious In-
formation Bureau (Knights of Columbus) as, for example "The Catholic
Church, Mother of the Bible," to beguile unwary Protestants into the
net of the Papacy. Rome still leads all antichrists in insulting Christ
and His Gospel. J. T. M.
Observations on "The Autobiography of a Philosopher." - 'Jnder this
heading, Ernest Gordon, himself a student at Harvard with both Pro-
fessors Palmer and James, in The Sunday School Times (July 29, 1944)
makes some very startling "observations" on the widely read book The
Autobiography of a Philosopher by Dr. Geo. H. Palmer, formerly pro-
fessor of philosophy at Harvard University, through whose popular
classes more than 15,000 students have passed. Professor Palmer came
out of a Christian family, to one of whose members we owe the great
Christian hymn "My Faith Looks Up to Thee." His salary came from
money left by Captain John Alford for missions among Indians. But in
his courses in philosophy and ethics his real objective was to dechris-
Theological Observer 707
tianize such Christian students as attended his classes. Dr. Gordon, for
example, quotes him _~ ~aying: ! peopl _ ___ _ afraid UL c:uticism.
They say, 'Oh, if you send a boy to college, he will go to doubting
everything.' Certainly, that is what he is here tor. He cannot come
to personaZ certitude till he has doubted. [Italics by Gordon.] Clarified
beliefs are in fact commonly the result. All dictation [what is meant
is Christian belief] is [at Harvard] taken off during these maturing
years. At least we try to take it off." What Professor Palmer had in
mind was to destroy Ille faith of the student. But, as Dr. Gordon re-
marks, "to break down is easy enough, yet to build again is not easy.
If a Christian boy followed them [Professor Palmer's suggestions], as
many no doubt did, he would land in the shallowest and stalest Uni-
tarianism." This is not an exaggeration, for according to Professor
Palmer there is no place for miracles - miracles of healing and of the
casting out of devils-in religious belief. Professor Palmer, moreover,
revamped the old objections of deism. The withering of the fig tree
was "an act of petulance!' "The Pharisees were not the hypocrites we
picture." "Athletics are as religious an act as going to a prayer meeting."
"The idea of a substitutive sacrifice is frequent in the Old Testament,
but passed away with the Gospel." For Christ to pray to God, if God
and He were identical, seemed to Professor Palmel ;;J "shocking pro-
cedure." "Jesus showed us by example that the difference between God
and man is only one of degree." These and other quotations are given
to prove that Harvard University has been one of the most prolific
sources of Modernism. Writes Gordon: "Some years ago a Harvard
student leader, editor of the Crimson, and Rhodes scholar, stood up in
a meeting of 700 students, President Lowell being present, and roundly
denounced his university for its godlessness." Another brilliant student
defined the three most striking characteristics of Harvard students as
"indifference, snobbishness, and godlessness." Together with Palmer,
Professors James and Royce formed a famous trio, much talked of in
their day. But like Palmer, so also Professor James was absolutely
negative in his belief. He regarded the Bible as a human book, having
absolutely no authority in religious matters. Prayer he repudiated as
foolish and artificial. He claimed that he never experienced God's
presence and that he never believed in personal immortality "securely."
How James "clarified the faith" of a brilliant student, Charles A. Strong,
son of Dr. Augustus H. Strong, pious president of Rochester Theological
Seminary and author of a widely used work on systematic theology, is
briefly told. Young Mr. Strong was studying for the Baptist ministry
and went to Harvard for a year of training in philosophy. "That year,"
says Gordon, "destroyed every trace of his Christian faith and left him
a lifelong atheist." In dosing the article, Dr. Gordon writes: "Harvard's
'clarified' belief is the saddest wraith of a faith, as thin and impalpable as
a bit of dissol";.ng ~loud on ::: June day. Wh,.t have thes.:: men to offe).
to take the place of the Gospel? Nothing but logomachies and wranglings
and uncertainties. James calls the philosophy of his colleague Santayana
'the perfection of rottem1ess'; Harvard systems he describes as 'Royce's
voluntaristic-pluralistic-monism,' 'Muensterberg's dualistic scientificism
and platonism,' 'Santayana's pessimistic platonism,' 'Palmer's ethereal
708 Theological Observer
idealism,' and 'my pluralism.' ... 'The world might ring with the
struggle if we devoted ourselves exclusively to belaboring each other.'''
No wonder Roman Catholicism is spending millions on colleges and uni-
versities of its own creed and belief! And shall we Lutherans forget
,our own struggling Valparaiso University? Certainly there must be in
'our circles some place for Christian learning where our Christian stu-
·dents are free from destructive vanities of atheistic humanism.
J.T.M.
Brief Items. - In Birmingham, Ala., the National Baptist Sunday
;School and Baptist Training Union Congress were in session recently.
9,000 delegates attended the meetings. It is stated that this was the
largest Negro gathering ever held in the South.
The Soviet commissar of education is quoted as having said, "I find
that religion is like a nail; the harder you hit it, the deeper you drive
it in." If the statement was made, it signifies that the Russian leaders
have given up the attempt to exterminate religion. Let us hope that
;this is the case.
It is said that at the present time there are 150 ordained ministers
'of the Jewish race in the Church of England and about an equal number
in the Nonconformist churches. During the last half century three
bishops of the Episcopal Church had been Hebrew Christians. Yet it
is said by some that missions among the Jews amount to nothing.-
Watchman-Examiner, Aug. 3, 1944.
Senator Arthur Capper of Kansas, according to the Congressional
Record, stated the following, "In the first nine months of this year, 1943,
the arrest of girls under twenty-one years of age for offenses against
common decency increased 69.6 per cent over the same period last year,
while the arrests for girls under twenty-one for crimes against property,
such as robbery, burglary, larceny, and other related crimes, increased
33.6 per cent. But that does not tell the whole story, because in 1942
arrests increased over 1941 and so on. Even today more boys and girls
eighteen -years of age are being arrested than in any other group. As
a matter of fact, 17-year-olds alone accounted for 25.3 per-cent increase
in arrests in the first nine months of this year over 1942." What hor-
rifying facts!
In 1640 the Calvinistic Baptists of England sent Richard Blunt (or
,BlotLl1t) to Holland to be immersed (the first time English Baptists prac-
ticed this method), and he upon his return immersed others. - Watch-
man-Examiner, August 10, 1944. Cf. Thomas Crosby, History of the
English Baptists, Vol. I, p.l03.
In the robot plane we see the dehumanization of man himself. Man
has been on the way to this undoing of himself for a long time. Our
obsession with science, which has been the paramount feature of Western
culture, invoking the gradual exclusion of the humanities and spir-
itualities of life, has now born its double fruit: the development of
mechanisms of death which operate impersonally, but as if they were
'human, and the degradation of man to the level where he can operate
as a mechanism in utter unconsciousness that he is a man. So low
'has our "Christian" civilization fallen! Paganism never fell so low.
Stanton A. Coblentz in the Christian Century of July 26, 1944