arnurnr~tu mqtnlngital :SntdJJly Continuing L EHRE UNO WEHRE MAGAZIN · FUER E v.-LuTH. HOMILETIK THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY· THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Vol. XIX August, 1948 No.8 CONTENTS Page The Universal Priesthood and the Pastor. R. R. Caemmerer .. _ .... _. 561 Is Doctrinal Unity a Luxury? Th. Engelder ....... _ .. _._. ___ ...... _ ... _ .. ___ . 583 &says in Hermeneutics. M. H_ Franzmann .... __ . _____ ......... _. __ . ___ ._._ .. ___ .. 595 With Reference to the Formula of Absolution. W_ G. Polack-. ___ 606 The Nassau Pericopes .. -.. ___ ... __ .. __ ... _._._ .... _. ___ .. _._. __ _____ ._. ___ . __ ._._ .. __ 610 Miscellanea ._. __ . __________ . ________ . ___ ._. _______ __ . ___ . ____________________ . _____ . _____ _ G18 Theological Observer __ __ _________________ _____ __ .. __ . _. __ .. ___ ._. ___ ... ___ ._._ .... ____ ._ ... __ ._ 631 Book Review _ __ . _____ ._._ .. ___ ._. ___ ...... _._. __ . ____ ._. ___ . ___ . __ . __ ._. __ . _______ 633 Ein Prediger muss nlcht allein wei- den. also dass er die Schafe unter- weise, wle sle rechte ChrIsten sollen sein, son dern auch daneben den Woel- fen wehren., dass sie die Schafe n1cht angrelfen und mit falscher Lehre ver- fuehren und Irrtum elnfuehren. Luther Es ist kein Ding, das die Leute mehr bei der Klrche behaelt denn die gute P redlgt. - Apologie, Arl. 24 If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? -1 Cor. 14:8 Pu1.lIished by The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod CONCORDIA PUBLISIDNG HOUSE, St. Louis 18, Mo. pBIN'DD IN C'. s. A. Theological Observer Items from Religious News Service. - Three women - first in the history of the Danish State Lutheran Church - were ordained as ministers at Odense, Island of Fyn, in the presence of 1,800 per- sons, among them 45 clergymen. The ordaining prelate was Bishop Hans Ollgaard of Odense. During the ordination, Bishop Ollgaard preached the sermon, in which he declared that as the Easter tidings were first told to women with the injunction to announce them to men, "so should we allow women to do it today in the church." A bill permitting ordination of women in the Danish Church' was passed recently in parliament despite numerous pro- tests by clergymen and lay leaders who declared that such an innovation was contrary to Christian tradition. Protestant churches in Spain have gained strength in the past twelve years despite "repression and violence," Dr. Benjamin J. Bush, representative of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. to the W orId Council of Churches' Department of Reconstruction and Interchurch Aid, declared in Geneva. According to Dr. Bush, there are about 4,000 Plymouth Brethren in Spain; about 2,000 members of the Evangelical Church of Spain, which is a union of Evangelical, Congregationalist, Methodist, Dutch Reformed, and Presbyterians linked in tradition to the Presbyterian Church in Ireland; and about 1,500 Baptists, now related especially to the Southern Baptist Convention. He estimated the total number of Protestants in Spain at approximately 30,000. Recent religious pronouncements of Indian Socialists have taken on added significance since their decision to break away from the Congress Party, thus forming a two-party governmental system. A ten-point Socialist program put before the nation just before the split was announced, included a call for educational reform. The program demanded that educational institutions of a "denominational nature or name" be closed down or converted into non-denominational bodies, and that religious teaching in schools and colleges be stopped, except in theological schools. Soviet authorities in Berlin have issued a license for the publication of a new monthly magazine by the Evangelical Church in Germany to be devoted to promoting religious instruction in schools. The new publication will be called Die Christenlehre, and the first issue will appear shortly. Each issue is expected to con- sist of 300,000 copies, far more circulation than that of any other religious periodical licensed by the Western powers in Berlin. In addition to the four state-controlled colleges and two Roman Catholic institutions of higher learning, the first Evangelical school, Augustana College, has been opened in Bavaria in the American Occupation Zone. Located at Neuendettelsau-Heilbronn, the new Protestant college has been the subject of considerable debate as [631] 632 THEOLOGICAL OBSERVER to whether it should receive financial support from the state or should be entirely financed by the church. Dr. Hans Meiser, bishop of Bavaria, addressed the inaugural assembly of the college and ordained Dr. Georg Merz as rector. The first national conference of Campus Religious Adminis- trators was held in New Haven, Connecticut, from May 4 to 7. Over 100 college and university chaplains - more than two thirds of the total in America - attended the conference. Dean Charles W. Gilkey, dean [emeritus] of the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Chapel, was general chairman of the conference. The six major program areas of the conference included: 1. The religious climate of the campus, 2. functions and philosophy of the college chap- lain, 3. development of voluntary religious activities, 4. the per- sonal religious ministry of the chaplain, 5. the college chapel pro- gram, and 6. the educational ministry. Sales of Seventh-Day Adventist literature in 1947 totaled more than $10,000,000, according to a report issued in Omaha, Nebraska, by Walter P. Elliott of Washington, D. C., head of the denomination's publishing department. The sales include religious and health books and magazines sold by a corps of 1,600 col- porteurs in addition to 800 student salesmen from Adventist col- leges who worked during the summer months. Federal school inspectors and teachers have been ordered to eliminate musical works of a religious character from the curricula of all Mexican schools. The order was issued by the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature, which acts for the Mexican government in matters affecting musical instruction in the schools. Novedades, a Mexico City daily, charged that the Institute is con- trolled by Communists. A new richly carved bronze door, which took twelve years to make and weighs six tons, was installed in Milan's Roman Catholic Cathedral on May 27, the feast of Corpus Christi. It is the first of four doors being added to the famous medieval church. Carvings on the door depict the Edict of Milan by which the Em- peror Constantine, in 313, granted Christians in all parts of the Roman Empire freedom to exercise their religion. The project was executed by the Italian sculptor Arrigo Minerbi. Celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania took place in Philadelphia during the week of May 23-30. Guests for the celebration included Archbishop Erling Eidem, primate of Sweden, and Dr. Hanns Lilje, Evangelical Lu- theran bishop of Hanover, Germany. ~ ..