Concoll()ia Tbeological Monthly SEPTEMBER 1950· ARCHIVE BOOK REVIEW All books reviewed in this periodical may be procured from or through Concordia Publishing House, 3558 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis 18, Missouri. THE MYSTERY OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. The Secret of Jesus' Messiahship and Passion. By Albert Schweitzer. Translated with an Introduction by Walter Lowrie. The Macmillan Company, New York. 1950. 174 pages, 51;2 X 81;2. $3.00. This book, written in German, was originally published in 1901. In 1913 Walter Lowrie, then an Episcopalian rector in Rome, translated it into English. At first German New Testament scholars rather ignored it, but after in 1906 the famous work of Schweitzer Von Weimarus 2U Wrede had appeared, in which he stresses the development of research and criticism in the area pertaining to the life of Jesus, he was recognized as a scholar who had to be reckoned with. Schweitzer sponsored the 50-called eschatological view of Jesus' work and teaching Opposing the libFral theologians who had made Jesus' message cons is chiefly of he th.ree principles: the Fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of man, and the value of the human soul, and who had labeled Jesus' teaching on the end of the world and the coming judgment a non-essential feature of His proclamation, Schweitzer took the position that if Jesus did teach anything with clarity and vigor, it was the coming of the great final catastrophe, ending the world's existence, and the necessity to prepare for it. Schweitzer, sad to say, taught this in a thoroughly destructive way, saying that Jesus expected the end to come a very short time after His death, when He would return in the clouds of heaven as the triumphant Messiah; Schweitzer added that, of course, Jesus was mistaken in this expectation, but he urged that this fact should not keep us from seeing clearly what Jesus' teaching had been. One sees that here we have a case of tiger eating tiger, one negative school attacking and attempting to demolish the other. When Lowrie's translation was made, Schweitzer's eschatological views were still much debated, especially in England. But soon most scholars, both liberal and conservative, saw that while he had exposed some of the unhistorical views of the so-called "liberal" school, he had himself fallen into grave errors, interpreting everything in the Gospels from his particular point of view and throwing true objectivity to the winds. Around 1912 Schweitzer went to the Congo as a medical missionary and came to be much admired for the service which he was willing to render human beings living in utter wretchedness. That admiration has continued, but his eschatological interpretation has been discarded more and more. In fact, nowadays it is referred to as an aberration, interesting on account of 713 714 BOOK REVIEW its author, but otherwise not entitled to serious study. Why was the book reprinted? Undoubtedly on account of the deep interest in Schweitzer, created the last years not only through his trip to America and his famous contribution at the Goethe Celebration at Aspen, Colo., July, 1949, but on account of other books that hav appear d on his lif and his unselfish "mission" endeavors and his many extraordinary accomplishments. The publishers must have believed that a reprint of Schweitzer's early work would be enthusiastically received. Those that particularly enjoy reading books which present bold, even if thoroughly unorthodox, speculations, or, to think of a motive of a somewhat higher kind, those that would like to know what views Dr. Schweitzer expressed as a young man, will be drawn to this book. If they love the Jesus of the Gospels, they will be repelled. One of the chief views of Schweitzer is that Jesus predicted His suffering from an early date in His ministry, because He looked upon Himself as the Messiah and the opinion was prevalent that the days before the revelation of the Messiah would be days of great affliction; and that Jesus told His disciples they too would have to suffer in the interim. The suffering which Jesus expected to endure, so Schweitzer contends, was regarded by Himself as something by which He would be "purified untO perfection" (p. 110 f.). When at Caesar.:-a Philippi Jesus had cold His disciples about His coming Passion, the new note which He sounded and which startled them was that He would first have to suffer alone, even before the affliction of the last times (ib. ). The disci pIes, however, did not understand. One sees how truth and error are here intermingled. Alas! the present-day negative critics of the New Testament have not become more conservative; they simply declare the eschatological discourses unhistorical, not delivered by Jesus, but ascribed to Him gradually as tradition was taking on its form or forms. "And wisdom is justified of her children." W A . RNDT CHAPTERS IN A LIFE OF PAUL. By John Knox. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York-Nashville. 168 pages, 6x9. $2.50. When one peruses this well-written and delightfully printed book, one soon becomes aware that a New Testament scholar of marked ability is speaking. Dr. Knox is professor of sacred literature at Union Seminary, N. Y., having come to his present chair from a New Testament professorship at the University of Chicago. It very soon becomes evident, too, that in his critical decisions he sponsors decidedly negative views. The book of Acts is held to contain serious errors in its delineation of Paul's career, and of the Letters bearing the name of Paul not only the Pastorals, but Ephesians, too, is declared unauthentic. Is the Tuebingen School coming back to life, albeit in a new garb? Baur and his followers called Acts a document which presents history in a tendential way, suppressing important 'occurrences and coloring others in order to produce a certain impression. A very definite and courageous opposition to this position BOOK REVIEW 715 developed, and a very different view was set forth ultimately by Th. Zahn, A. Deissmann, Wm. Ramsay, A. T. Robertson, and many others. The historical reliability of Acts was triumphantly vindicated. For a while it seemed that the Tuebingen views were as dead as Baur himself. But now the old negativeness is stalking again, though in a somewhat altered form. Acts is held to be in disagreement with Paul's Epistles and to lack in reliability. The basis for these views are the old charges, refuted many a time, alleging that at vital points, f. i., in matters of chronology, contradictions exist between the writings of Paul and those of Luke. The author is so captivated by his own theories that he does not notice thl" inconsistency he becomes guilty of when in some instances the argument from silence does not mean a thing to him, and in others he makes it a deciding factor. Thus he holds (p.58) that when Paul in Galatians 1 mentions his activity in Syria and Cilicia, he could have said, too, that he had labored in Galatia and Asia, in Macedonia and Greece. "It is true that he does not mention these various fidds in Gal. 1: 21. But there is not the slightest reason why he should." The unbiased reader will say that Paul mentions only Syria and Cilicia because during the first fourteen years after his conversion he did not go farther west. But Dr. Knox, placing the conversion of Paul late, holds that In spite of the silence of the text on this point, the activities of Paul in western Asia Minor and in Europe, which we connect with his first and second missionary journeys, must be assumed to have taken place before the visit in Jerusalem mentioned GaL 2: 1 ff. (a visit which he identifies with the one briefly reported Acts 18: 22). On the other hand, the argument from silence is invoked (p. 63) to prove that the so-called famine visit Acts 11 :29-30 cannot be the same as that spoken of Gal. 2: 1-10 ("except for the fact that Barnabas is mentioned with Paul there is no point of correspondence between them"). The author arrives at the amazing hypothesis that "it was from Ephesus or Corinth, not from Antioch, that Paul made his trip to Jerusalem 'after fourteen years.''' Weare quite sure that the critical positions of the author, implying as they do the existence of serious errors in Acts, will not win much credence. But the book is not solely, and not even chiefly, concerned with chronology. It is composed of three parts, bearing the headings: Concerning Sources; The Career of the Apostle; The Man in Christ. Though the presuppositions throughout are those of naturalistic theology, some valuable observations occur in the sections dealing with the fundamental teachings of the Apostle. Intensely interesting is the section in which the author sketches what Paul has to sayan "forgiveness." He points out that the term found so frequently in the Gospels occurs very seldom in the Pauline Letters; but he shows that the entire message of the Apostle is permeated with the blessed truth that God forgives sins. In that connection these sentences are found: "The place of 'forgiveness' is taken in Paul by two terms, 'justification' and 'reconciliation.' 'Justification' is es-716 BOOK REVIEW sentially a legal term and means 'acquittal'; 'reconciliation' is essentially a personal term and means the restoration of community" (p. 146). The author's view that Paul in his analysis of what is meant by God's forgiveness separates divine justice and divine mercy and "that the division which Paul made in he meaning of fo give ness was on of he mos agically fateful developments in the whole history of Christian theology and therefore in the intellectual history of mankind" (p. 147), we, of course, reject. The author, furthermore, is troubled by the apparent antinomy formed by the concepts "forgiveness" and "repentance" when their equivalents (for the terms themselves are rarely used by the Apostle) are studied in Paul's writings (p.154). He thinks that Paul has not presented a satisfactory explanation of the relation between these factors (p. 154). The Lutheran theologian here at once thinks of the difficulty arising in our mind when the concepts "objective justification" and "subjective justification" are stu.died in their relation to each other. But why not take the course of Paul? Where the metaphysician sees problems, he saw great realities which he proclaimed with grateful conviction. While the last chapters of Dr. Knox's book contain much that arouses our dissent, they compel us to study anew the blessed message of the Apostle, which means a great gain for everyone of us. In conclusion, it should be stated that the book is not intended to b a "life of Pau!," but "an attempt to dea! with a few problems which a writer of such a life would have to consider" (page 7). W. ARNDT "BARNES ON THE OLD TESTAMENT." Two volumes, Psalms III and Isaiah 1. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Mich., 1950. 408 and 509 pages, 9 X 6. $3.50 a volume. These two volumes represent the latest additions to the famous "Barnes' Notes on the Bible" edition by the Baker Book House of Grand Rapids. In form and make-up they strictly follow their predecessors. In his running exposition of the Biblical text, Dr. Barnes selected only the difficult expressions, but to these he added exhaustive and practically helpful explanations. Thus ad Is. 25: 7: ... "in victory" we find the remark: "Heb. lanezach. Paul, in 1 Cor. 15: 54, has translated this, eis nikos -'unto victory.' The word nikos (victory) is often the translation of the word (see 2 Kings 2:26; Job 36:7; Lam. 3:18; Amos 1:2; 8:7)," etc. The remaining remarks on the rendering of lanezach with eis nikos defend this free translation of the LXX and the N. T. The "Notes" were originally written to aid Sunday school teachers in their work of teaching, but they are a rich treasure of exegetical, doctrinal, and practical expositions for busy pastors. We recommend also these two new volumes of "Barnes' Notes" to our pastors. "Barnes' Notes" are a fine companion volume of the "Pulpit Bible," so much in use in our circles. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER BOOK REVIEW 717 A SCIENTIFIC MAN AND THE BIBLE. A PERSONAL TESTIMONY. By Howard A. Kelly, M. D., L1. D. Harper & Brothers, New York. 158 pages, 7Yzx5;/:i. $1.50. Conservative Christians will welcome this fine "Anvil Reprint" of Dr. Kelly's simple but stirring and convincing defense of the Bible and its fundamental doctrines -the Whole Bible the Word of God, the Deity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, the Blood Atonement, the Resurrection of the Body, and the Lord's Return. The last chapter is millennialistic, though Dr. Kelly presents his millennialistic views only moderately. The introductory chapter, "How T Came to My Present Faith," is one which every pastor should discuss with his Bible or other classes of youths and adults that study Christian doctrine, because of its great inspirational values. Despite occasional flaws the book deserves a place in every school and Sunday school library, for it presents the personal witness of the Christian faith by one of the greatest surgeons that ever served at Johns Hopkins' renowned medical school. Dr. Keliy was one of the "big four" of this famous school's four famous surgeons. Nevertheless, despite his vast medical knowledge, surgical skill, and personal fame he remained one of Christ's sincere believers, who after his retirement devoted his enme time to bearing witness to the Christian truth by personally speaking to those he met and distributing apologetic books and p a m p h l e t ~ written by himself. We cordially recommend Dr. Kelly's fine popular apologetic to our Lutheran circles for careful study. The many conservative works, quoted among the "Anvil Reprints," we are glad to say, testify to the rising tide of conservatism in American theology today. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER AN ECCLESIASTICAL OCTOPUS. A Factual Report on the Federal Council of the C h u r ~ h of Christ in America. By Ernest Gordon. Fellowship Press, Boston. C. 1948. 171 pages, 5 Yz X 8Y4. Cloth bound, $2.00; Paper bound, $1.25. In 1926 Ernest Gordon published his well-written The Leaven of the Sadducees (Bible Institute Colportage Ass'n), a study of Unitarian invasion of mission, religious education, and the theological seminaries. The present book repeats some of the same material and all of the same attitude and applies them to the Federal Council of Churches. Mr. Gordon is still facile at turning a phrase. He seems to be influenced to the point of phobia by his hostility toward Rockefeller money and the social gospeL He breaks several lances against whiskey and tobacco and lauds the social victories of Aberhard and Manning in Alberta as a contrast to the social fruitfulness of the F. C. C. With some of the premises with which Mr. Gordon operates we must perforce agree -the essential of regeneration because of the redemptive work of Christ, the essential of the Church as an agency for this regeneration. How valid some of the documentation and propaganda of this book is demands careful inquiry. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER 718 BOOK REVIEW CONRAD GREBEL. THE FOUNDER OF THE SWISS BRETHREN. By Harold S. Bender. The Mennonite Historical Society, Goshen, Ind. 327 pages, 91/2X6Y2, $3.50. This is the sixth volume in a series of seven historical works, "Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History," sponsored by the Mennoni e Historical Sociery, which has its headquarters at Goshen College, Goshen, Ind. Study No.6 is to appear in two volumes, of which this is the first, the two together bearing the title The Life and Letters of Conrad Grebel. The volume before us closely follows in method and make-up John Horsch's The Hutterimz Brethren, which appeared in 193 L It is well written, carefully documented, historically accurate, scholarly in its approach, and graphically descriptive, so that it makes fascinating reading. It is a book that should be in every college and seminary library where the history of the Reformation is being studied. So much on the Anabaptist and Mennonite history has been written by opponents of this movement that the student is buund to welcome a work by one of its friends and supporters. Dr. Bender is fully competent to write on the history of Anabaptist pioneers. After he had completed his theological studies at Garrett and Princeton, he secured his master's degree in history at Princeton University, (hen continued his studies at Tuebingen and Heidelberg. graduating from the latter school in 1935 with the earned doctorate of theology in church history. He is the founder and editor of the Mennonite Qttarterly Review, president of the Mennonite Historical Sociery, and author of several scholarly books on Mennonite history and biography. Conrad Grebel was a pioneer worker on behalf of Anabaptism in Switzerland and died at the age of 28 years. His struggle with Zwingli, the leader of the Zurich Reformation movement, the presentation of his doctrinal views, and his sufferings for the cause which he represented, make interesting and profit-able reading. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER THE MYSTERY OF GODLINESS AND OTHER SELECTED SERMONS. By John Calvin. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. 1950. 212 pages, 5 Yz X 8%. $3.00. Fourteen sermons of John Calvin are herewith reprinted from a collection by John Forbes printed in 1830 in New York. They are useful for getting an understanding of Calvin's expository method. "The Salvation of All Men" (p. 97 f.) is a useful summary of Calvin's doctrine of particular election and of his equation of saving grace and predestination. It would be helpful to know more of the setting of these sermons and whether their original is French or Latin. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER PREACHING THE MIRACLES OF JESUS. By Hillyer Hawthorne Straton. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York and Nashville. 223 pages, 5%x8%. $2.50. This book combines the breadth of scholarship with the interests of the practical preacher. The bibliography is unusually useful. Dr. Straton BOOK REVIEW 71£) gathers the miracles of Jesus under six major headings. While not beyond rationalizing some of the miracles, Dr. Straton is ready to employ faith concerning the power of our Lord. His first concern is to deriv!: the lesson for the faith and life of Christians which Christ and the Evangelists sought to teach through the miracles. While the experienced preacher will have found other emphases from time to time to be more preachable, he will find the book stimulating nevertheless. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER JESUS AND THE DISINHERITED. By Howard Thurman. Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, New York and Nashville. C. 1949. 112 pages, 5Y