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LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY. THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. V May, 1934 No.5
CONTENTS
Page
Die rechte Mitte in del' Liturgie und Ordnung des Gottes-
dienstes. L. Fuerbringer . . . • . . . . . . • • . • . • • . • • • • • • • . • .• 337
The Story of the German Bible. P. E. Kretzmann. • • • • . . • • •• 344
ZUl' Lehre von del' Reue. Th. E n(elder • • . • • • • . . . . • . • • • . .. 369
Sermons and Outlines. .. . . .. .. .. .. . . . . .. . . .. .. .. . .... 382
Miscellanea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 388
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches .... 394
Book Review. - Literatur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 409
Ein P rtdfgel' musa nicht alleln w..wu..,
al80 W3 er die Schafe untenreise, wie
sie rechte Christen aollen &ein, aondem
auch daneben den Woelfen weAren, dass
'rie die Bchaf n1cht angreifen und mit
fa1t,cber Lebre yerluebren nnd Irrtum eln·
fuebren. - L ulhe·.
Es at keln Ding, das die Leute mehr
bei der Kirche bebaelt denn die gute
Predigt. - Apologia, ..trl. ~
If the trumpet give an uncertain Bound,
who sba U prepare himself to the battle f
J Cor. If, 8.
Published for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBLISHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Ko.
ARCHIV
394 Theological Observer. - Stird)fid):,tJeitgefd)idjtridjes.
Theological Observer. - ~itdjndj.geit!lefdjidjtndje~.
I. 2lmerika.
Has Science Arrived at Bankruptcy? - For those of our readers
to whom the Ohristian Oentury is inaccessible we submit the chief thoughts
of a lengthy editorial which appeared in the January 24, 1934, number of
this journal under the caption "The Revolt against Science." President
Hutchins of Chicago University is quoted as saying in his address at the
December convocation of the University: "We do not know where we are
going or why, and we have almost given up the attempt to find out. We
are not disturbed because the keys which were to open the gates of heaven
have led us into a larger, but more oppressive prison-house. We think
those keys were science and the free intelligence of man. They have
failed us. We have long since cast off God. To what can we now appeal?
The answer comes in the undiluted animalism of the last works of D. H.
Lawrence, in the emotionalism of demagogs, in Hitler's scream 'We think
with our blood.'"
The editorial continues quoting some more statements which President
Hutchins made. "Fact-gathering," says Mr. Hutchins, "has reduced scholar-
ship to triviality. We have been diverted from the task of understanding
our facts. 'Modern empirical science, which in origin was the application
of mathematics to experience by means of measurement and experiment,
has come in recent exposition to be considered exclusively an affair of
experiment and measurement.' 'During the nineteenth century and since
we have been flinging piles of green wood on the fire and have almost
succeeded in putting it out. Now we can hardly see through the smoke.'
Mr. Hutchins proposes what seems in effect to be a return to the deduc-
tive method. What he calls 'rational analysis' is, he insists, in defiance
of Francis Bacon, logically prior to empirical operations. 'Rational
thought is the only basis of education and research.' 'Our bewilderment
has resulted from our notion that salvation depends on information.'
'Rational analysis flnds and orders abstractions which can be organized into
systems, and it is by recognition or application of these systems in con-
crete material that we understand things in nature.'"
In another paragraph of our editorial the following comments on
President Hutchins's address are submitted: "The president of at least
one great American university thus takes his stand with those critics of
our 'scientific' civilization who penetrate clear through to the cause of
our cultural ills. Though his emphasis is expressed with originality and
courage, he is not alone. For a generation the leaven of the same protest
has been working in the body of Western culture. Voices like those of
Chesterton and Beloc from the Roman Catholic side, like T. S. Eliot and
Lawrence Hyde in the field of criticism, like the humanistic school of
Irving Babbitt and Paul Elmer More, like Prof. A. E. Taylor and the late
Bishop Gore as the finest representatives of the Anglo-Catholic movement,
like Professors Whitehead and Wieman and Tilich and Reinhold Nie-
buhr, - such voices, despite much dissonance when they all speak at once,
are nevetheless in essential unison on the major matter, namely, that the
Theological Observer. - ~itd)lid)~.8eitgefd)id)Uid)es. 395
method of science, as it has been standardized by the special sciences, falls
tragically short of yielding results worthy of the power of human in-
telligence. The revolt against science has been gathering force for a long
time. It is not a revolt which would destroy science, but which would
put it in its true place and save both science and culture from the fallacy
and tyranny of irresponsible experimentalism. There is a given element
in human life; it is given in science no less than in other forms of ex-
perience. Science cannot get on without it, and our greatest scientists,
like Eddington and Compton and Jeans, are recognizing this given element
in terms of the great human presuppositions which underlie the most
rigorous scientific method. . .. For a culture uncritically to relax the
bonds of its own self-identity and to put itself at the mercy of the spirit
of irresponsible experimentation is to vitiate experimentation and lose its
own soul. It is intellectual wantonness. Yet our ·Western culture, in its
enthusiasm for experimental science, has followed the lure of this siren .
. . . We can look back to the period when science seemed about to over-
whelm our culture with an avalanche of materialism. Happily that day
is gone. But the false naturalism which succeeded it is still with us,
a naturalism which reduces the supreme expression of nature, namely, our
cultural values, to the biological factors into which scientific analysis
thinks it can resolve them. Scientific sociology has been dominated by
this fallacy. . .. Thousands of parents of high-school and college youth
are in revolt against an educational system which robs their sons and
daughters of that fine sense of devotion to the cultural values which fill
life with significance. . .. The mediocrity of the mine-run of our scholars
is becoming apparent. Many of them are no better oriented in the world
of culture than the barber across the street from the college campus. Their
lack of any high awareness of the nobility of life is beginning to be rec-
ognized. They are not to be harshly blamed. They are themselves the
product of an educational system which worships at the shrine of a trun-
cated seience, and they do not know the treasures which tradition and art
and religion have carried down the centuries and laid in our laps." -The
editor thinks that this revolt against science will arouse resentment among
scientists, and he fears, in addition, that it will give comfort to Funda-
mentalists. It certainly does demonstrate that anybody who considers
science an infallible guide is certain to be disillusioned sooner or later.
The editorial concludes with a thought about which we should not
remain silent: "The supremely important fact about all these elements of
our religion is that they belong to the cultural heritage which we have
received, whatever may be their source or the route by which we have
received them. Our religion is what it is. We shall never deal adequately
with it till we see it, not as a theology nor an ecclesiology, but as a cultus,
a phase, and the most radical and creative phase, of our total culture.
Our theology deals with religion on a too narrow basis. It assumes that
the creeds must be proved; otherwise they are false." This is saying that
it does not matter whether what we believe is true or not, that the only
question must be whether it is satisfying and helpful. From such a view,
which is really nothing but the old skepticism, hiding behind barricades of
emotionalism, may God mercifully preserve us! A.
396
Presbyterians Not "Extreme Fundamentalists." - Ohristianity
To-day firmly repudiates the charge that Presbyterians who are loyal to
the Westminster Confession of Faith are "extreme Fundamentalists" and
suggests as a more appropriate designation the term "consistent con-
servatives." In many respects the editorial voices our own sentiment and
OpInIOn. "Ve quote the editorial in part: "This paper (Ohristw,nity To-
day) is not an organ of 'Fundamentalists' unless it be understood that
the word is used in its broad sense as an antonym of the word 'Modernism.'
In that sense we are 'Fundamentalist' and rejoice to be classed as such.
'Modernism,' in any of its consistent forms of expression, we look upon as
a form of religious thought and life that lack everything distinctive of
real Christianity. This means, therefore, that, when employed in this
broad sense, the word 'Fundamentalist' includes all those who hold to
the Christianity of Christ and His apostles as it found expression in the
Bible and as it has found more or less adequate statement in the great
historic creeds. It is true of course that the word is often used in
a narrower sense, as when it is used, for instance, to designate those who
belong to the World's Fundamentals Association and who regard the
brief creed of that or some similar organization as adcqute. We have
great sympathy for 'Fundamentalists' in this less inclusive sense of the
word and rejoice in their testimony to the Bible and the Gospel it con-
tains. In our judgment their testimony is not so much false as in-
adequate. It seems to us that we stand for all they stand for, and more.
Be that as it may, what we stand for is the Reformed faith as it has
found expression in the Westminster Confession of Faith. "Ve stand not
merely for the five doctrines in that confession that the Auburn Affirm a-
tionists have denied or declared unessential, but for that confession as
a whole. In all heartiness and sincerity we have accepted that Con-
fession of Faith as containing the system of doctrine taught in Holy
Scripture. . .. Rather it seems to us the fullest and most adequate
statement that has as yet come from the hand of man of all that enters
into the substance of, and gives content to, the religion we profess and
which must be conserved if evangelical Christianity is not only to persist,
but in some measure to conquer the world.
"It is hardly necessary to add that we regard ourselves as 'extreme
conservatives' as little as we do 'extreme Fundamentalis.' We do not
object to be called 'conservatives.' We admit the charge. What we deny
is that the genuine 'conservative' is a reactionary standpatter. Rather
we claim that 'conservatism' is a condition of true progress_ The trouble
with the so-called 'progressive,' as a rule, is that he does not discriminate
between motion and progress. Moreover, it should be remembered that,
while the 'conservative' thinks of Christianity as a 'deposit,' as 8, faith
'once for all delivered to the saints,' he thinks of it at the same time as
a dynamic, as an energizing force, in human life. The Christ in whom
he trusts is not an inert Christ, and the Christianity he professes is
not a quiescent thing, but an omnipotent energy that will continue to
turn and overturn until all the promises of God are fulfilled. It would
be more accurate, we think, to call us consistent conservatives. That at
least is what we seek to be. It is a consistent body of truth, not a hodge-
podge that meets us in the Westminster standards." J. T. M.
Theological Observer. - .Ritdjndj~Seitgefdjidjt1idjes. 397
H;ow. the Chiliasts Interpret Scripture. - The favorite method of
chiliasts is literalism. VVill the Jews as a nation be converted and be
invested with the leadership of the Church of the Millennium? Surely;
for it is written: "He shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather
together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth,"
Is. 11, 12. Occasionally, however, where the plain meaning of the text is
unacceptable, a more heroic method is employed - a more fitting word is
substituted. "And so all Israel shall be saved," Rom. 11, 26, is made to
read: And then all Israel shall be saved. Then, again, anything is made
to mean anything. That is the method used by Dr. J. H. Ford for the pur-
pose of proving his case for the Jews. He writes: "The greatest sign of
all is the Jew, who is once more in the center of the picture and who is
evidently moving to his ancient homeland, Palestine. The Jew is the
miracle of the ages and has been on the verge of annihilation many times;
but it is God's purpose that the Jew is to become a blessing to all genera-
tions after the restitution of all things. Among the trees of the Bible the
fig-tree is th-e national symbol tor Israel. Jesus says: 'When his branch
is tender and putteth forth leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh.
So likewise ye, when ye see all these things, know that it is near, even
at the doors. This generation [Greek, race] shall not pass till all these
things be fulfilled.''' That is worthy of Origen at his best. And the
IAi-theran Companion (Feb. 10, 1934) saw fit to publish it. - What would
Dr. Ford make of Matt. 21, 19 in this connection? E.
University Pastor Deposed for Alleged Heresy. - The theological
fitness of Rev. Donald H. Stewart to serve as student-pastor of the Presby-
terian Church at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, has stirred the
commonwealth of Virginia and the Southeast somewhat deeply. The West
Hanover presbytery meeting in Charlottesville, December 12, 1933, served
notice on Mr. Stewart and all concerned that good works and an attractive
presentation of the Christian message alone were not enough. Not by
a long recital of historic confessions was it enough! The presbytery voted
30 to 6 to rescind a recent action putting Mr. Stewart on probation for
one year in the university pastorate and declared his theological views on
such questions as the Virgin Birth, the bodily resurrection of Christ, and
the inspiration of Scripture to be out of harmony with historic Presbyte-
rian dogmas. The withdrawal of :Mr. Stewart was set for January 1. He
came to the university from Birmingham, Ala., where he had been reported
in good standing.
"The case was brought to light for the second time since last October,
and final drastic action was taken upon the insistence of the Presbyterian
church of Covington, Va., that it be relieved of the responsibility of con-
tributing to the salary of the university pastor, which the presbytery had
agreed to share in raising.
"A similar case in the Southern Presbyterian Church was noted in the
university town of Chapel Hill, N. C., last year." - Christian Century.
The Church of Jesus Christ or "St. Blank's Club House." -In
a recent issue of the Lutheran, Pastor D. G. Jaxheimer of Freeport, N. Y.,
in an article "Happily Busy," writes, among other things: "Jesus Christ
has laid upon His followers a definite type of work and witnessing, and if
the Church fails to do it, no one under the sun will do it, and the light
398 Theological Observer. - .feircl)licl),,Beitgefcl)icl)tHcl)e§.
of the Gospel is hid under a bushel, and the salt is good for nothing. Sin
is committed by reason of the fact that the real work of the Church
remains undone while our women stand over the boiling pots of our church
kitchens or lean over a card-table for hours, and our people gather to
split their sides over the vaudeville attempts of our young people. If this
practise is to continue, we may as well be frank with ourselves and change
the names of our churches to read 'St. Blank's Club House.' This may
be putting the matter too strongly, but I feel strongly about it. The
Church is due for a complete overhauling of its methods and practises
and perhaps a thorough shaking up of its organizational life to conform
to its God-given task. More emphasis must be put upon our Leaching
program, if we have one. The Century of Progress in Chicago reminds us
of how far our moral and spiritual advance has lagged behind the scientific
and industrial march. We will never effectively impress our people with
the spiritual ideals of Christ nor permeate our communities with the spirit
of Jesus nor inject noticeably into the political, economic, and social life
of our times the leaven of justice, righteousness, and love by our present
methods. Instead of wasting the time of our workers on trivialities and
confusing the work of the Church, we ought to be training them, however
small the group at first, for the spiritual job of soul-winning. If this is
not the Church's business, whose is it? . .. You recall how the Augean
stables, according to the legend, contained 3,000 oxen and how they had
not been cleaned for thirty years. Hercules in a single day cleaned them
and accomplished the seemingly impossible task by turning the river
.Alpheus through them. The Church of Jesus Christ in these days is
due for an .Augean cleansing. Right-thinking leaders in our churches will
have to be Herculeses to turn the purifying and purging rivers of water
through the mess of worldly and unchurchly practises that have gathered
for years on the floors of our church activities. Without it the Church
will not measure up adequately to its God-given task and mission to lead
the world to righteousness and salvation. But it will not be done in
a single day. This kind of program requires of pastors a willingness to·
endure persecution and unpopularity. It requires searching prayer, work,
and everlasting push. We must be patient, but persistent."
J. H. C. F.
Dr. Macartney's Tribute to Luther. - Dr. Clarence E. Macartney,
pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, known to our readers
as an outstanding protagonist of Fundamentalism, recently toured Ger-
many. .After his return he paid this high tribute to Luther in the Pres-
byterian: "Luther was a man sent of God, a world-shaker, such as makes
his appearance only a few times in the history of the world. 'rhe two
great doctrines which he rediscovered and loosed upon the world were, first
of all, the Scriptures as the final authority for the Christians and, second,
justification by faith alone, but not by faith which is alone. To-day the
Protestant Church stands in sore need of a reemphasis and rediscovery of
those two great Reformation propositions. When Luther said, 'Here
I stand, I cannot do otherwise. So help me God,' he was taking his stand
npon the Scriptures. But where does the Protestant Church to-day stand
as to the Scriptures? Does it stand anywhere? .And when the authority
of the Scriptures is gone, all that we have is a vague 'I think so.' Human
Theological Observer. - ~itd)nd)~,(leitllefd)id)tfid)es. 399
wisdom and speculation is a poor substitute for a 'Thus saith the Lord.'
The other great doctrine of Protestantism, salvation by faith alone, that,
too, seems to be in a bad way to-day. The Roman Church, by its abuse
,of the doctrine of repentance and penance, had established the idea that
men are saved by their acts of penance, by their prayers, by the ministry
'of their priests, by the intervention of the Virgin, and, worst of all, by
money given for papal indulgences. Theologically [?] the Roman Church
'has always taught salvation by the merit of Christ's death; but practically
in Luther's day the above was true. Hence the mighty protest of the
Reformation. Now Protestantism, born out of the doctrine of salvation
by grace, by faith alone, has been turning more and more back again to
the weak and beggarly elements, the ill-favored doctrine of salvation by
works. This time not penance and indulgence and pilgrimages, but works
'of charity and philanthropy and personal character and integrity. This is
just as false as the other. 'When we have done what we ought,' said
Jesus, 'we are unprofitable servants.' The Luther commemoration will
have done the Church good if it shall bring us back to a contemplation
,of that soul-stirring truth, that tIle sinner is saved by his trust in the
infinite mercy of God, vouchsafed unto us in the death of His eternal Son."
Evidently Dr. Macartney has gained much by his trip to "Luther land."
Tet in his fine statement there is one sentence which has kept us guessing.
It is said that Luther taught "justification by faith alone, but not .by faith
whioh is alone." Both quotations are correct; only Dr. Luther never com-
bined them as Dr. Macartney does. When dealing with justification, Luther
taught; "We are justified by faith alone," and ther'e he stopped. vVhen
treating of sanctification, Luther said: "Justifying faith is never alone";
that is to say, justifying faith always proves itself by fruits, or good
works. But Luther always kept justification and sanctification apart.
If the two clauses are combined as they are above, they may be misunder-
stood in the sense of the papistic fides caritate tormata, or that faith is
rendered effective by works. vVe doubt whether Dr. JliIacartney thus wished
to misinterpret Luther, but the point is nevertheless worth calling at-
tention to. J. T. M.
Immortality Attacked and Defended. - An exchange relates that
a prominent official of Columbia University, New York, Dr. Howard Lee
McBain, dean of the graduate faculties of the university, recently in an
address spoke of immortality as an "unproved fact" and asserted that "the
certainty of an after-life would have graver and more devastating effects
upon us than the certainty of extinction." Another contention of the
dean's was that through the advance of science, belief in immortality had
lost much ground. Bishop JliIanning, the Episcopal leader in New York,
took up the challenge and the Sunday following the delivery of the dean's
address preached a sermon on "Immortality." We quote these paragraphs
from the sermon, which was based on the words of Paul: "Why should it
be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?":
"The suggestion is sometimes made that all people of intelligence or all
real scholars have given up their Christian belief; but a mere roll-call of
the Christian scholars and thinkers of the world would be sufficient answer
to a statement of that kind, and we must remember also that the deepest
things of God and the human soul are often hidden from the wise and
400 Theological Observer. - .Ritd)lid)~.8eitgefd)id)md)e!J.
prudent and revealed unto babes. It is true that we cannot prove the
fact of immortality by logical demonstration; but this does not in the
least detract from its credibility, as, of course, we all know. None of the
great ultimate facts of life can be proved by argument; but all sane
people accept them nevertheless. All material science relies ultimately on
assumptions which cannot be proved. Science acts on these assumptions
and accepts them as facts because they fit in with all that we know of
the universe. It is so with the fact of immortality. It fits in with all
that we know of God, of the world, and of ourselves. It gives us the
key to our whole experience of life, its disciplines, its training and
development of character, its sufferings, its joys, and its sorrows. In the
light of immortality our life has purpose and meaning. There is no ade-
quate or satisfying or reasonable philosophy of life if we limit our view
to our brief existence in this world. No God and no future! Then those
blessed relationships of life and fellowship which we are forming in our
lives here are to end only in blank hopelessness and crushing grief. If this
life is all that is given to man, who can blame him if he says, 'It is all
meaningless; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die'? Then, why
should life not end in a suicide pact such as we have just read of in the
case of two students of this university? It is God, our Oreator, who has
woven this hope of immortality into our souls. And to this hope, which
He has planted in us, God gives the answer, a perfect and complete answer,
in Jesus Ohrist." A.
A New Fuudamentals Association. - The SundaY-8chool Times re-
ports the organization of a New Fundamentals Association in Victoria,
B. O. The movement was launched in December, 1933, under the name of
Victoria Evangelical Association and is strongly supported by the Rev.
G. F. Oox, the "fighting Fundamentalist" of the Metropolitan Tabernacle
in Vancouver. The objects of the new association are described as follows:
Aggressive personal and mass evangelism, the presentation and defense of
the evangelical faith, the holding of meetings in the interest of spreading
the Ohristian truths, circulation of confessional Ohristian literature, and
above all the securing of central halls to give prominence to the visits of
outstanding Ohristian speakers in 'Vestern cities. - The doctrinal basis of
the New Fundamentals Association embraces the following truths: The full
divine inspiration, authority, and sufficiency of the Bible as the Word of
God; the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, with emphasis on the personality
of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the Virgin birth and deity of the
Lord Jesus Ohrist; the fall of man; his consequent moral depravity and
the necessity of regeneration for salvation; the substitutionary atonement
of the Lord Jesus Ohrist upon the cross and His physical resurrection;
election by sovereign grace, justification by faith alone, redemption through
faith in the blood of our Lord Jesus Ohrist; the regenerating and sanc-
tifying work of the Holy Spirit; the priesthood of all believers; the second
coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Ohrist; the resurrection of the body,
of the just to eternal life and of the unjust to eternal punishment. The
sharp emphasis on doctrine here voiced, is truly gratifying; yet we deplore
that no word is said about the function and efficacy of the means of grace,
which Holy Scripture teaches so clearly. Quite manifestly the doctrinal
platform of the Victoria Evangelical Association is strictly Oalvinistic.
Theological Observer. - ,reitdjTidj'3eitgefdjid)mdjes. 401
"Election by sovereign grace" then means absolute election, and the "second
coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" is His supposed "millennial
advent," which practically all Calvinistic Fundamentalists advocate. The
cleavage between confessional Lutheranism and Calvinistic :Fundamentalism
which showed itself at Marburg continues to this day. J. T. M.
Higher Criticism. - The following letter appeared in the correspon-
dence column of the Living Ghurch, January 13, 1934:-
"To THE EDITOR: Fr. Simpson has given a very interesting account of
the so-called results of the so-called higher criticism [L. G., November 4]_
It is not too much to say that, if the view that Fr. Simpson, speaking for
the cTitics, sets forth is true, the Old Testament is nothing but one gigan-
tic lie. This is in substance admitted by our author when he says: 'The
history of the nation was rewritten to enforce this lesson,' etc. And again:
' ... and the prophets [were] thus erroneously represented as alternating
their oracles of doom with messages proclaiming the future glory of the
nation.'
"The rock on which this whole 'critical' system shivers is archeology.
Throughout its whole career this science has been constantly demonstrating
the extreme accuracy of the Old Testament. Beginning with the 'critics'
of seventy-five years ago, who said that Sargon, as mentioned by Isaiah,
was a myth, the very first discovery of archeology was the palace of that
same Sargon! . . .
"Another curious thing about the 'critics' is their exceedingly limited
outlook. Beyond their main interest in the ejection of anything super-
natural and their method of pulling texts to pieces they seem unable to
see anything. . . .
"The Old Testament as a whole is great literature, probably [!] the
world's greatest literature. According to Fr. Simpson, representing the
'critics,' the bulk of this came from some unknown men among a small
body of oppressed exiles and amid a still smaller body of returned and
almost equally oppressed exiles (see Nehemiah, for example 9,36.37) and
was writtcn with a conscious effort to deceive. It is not so that great
literatures are written. They come from the living impact of genius upon
the circumstances of its times ....
"Or, again, - that same inability to see values, - take the Ten Com-
mandments. One has only to open any treatise of moral theology written
by any Catholic theologian, and by many another moralist besides, to find
that these Ten Words lie at the very basis of all moral sciencc. Did these
Ten Words, with their profound moral insight, come from a wandering
shepherd of a nomad tribe, or did they come from the majestic Source from
which the Catholic Church has always believed?
"And this brings us to anotller defect of the 'higher critics': their
rejection of all divine revelation. Fr. Simpson is not quite consistent with
himself in this article, but he represents the critical point of view well
enough in this sentence (and other): 'There the spiritual leaders of the
nation worked out a thorough and far-reaching reformation. Forced by
their contact with other peoples, who made great claims for their gods,
they thought out the implications of thei1' faith.' (Italics ours.) Truly,
a pretty poor substitute for 'Thus saith the Lord'! It is part of the
Catholic faith that the Holy Ghost ' ... spake by the prophets.' And, on
26
402 Theological Observer. - .Ritd)!id)~8eitgefd)id)tnd)e~.
the face of it, it is asking a good deal to believe that the Eternal Word
could, and did, utter no word on earth until His infant cry at Bethlehem.
This objection, of course would not appeal to a 'critic,' but should appeal
to a Catholic. . .. (Rev.) Edwin D. Weed, Duluth, Minn."
What the Pope Thinks of Protestantism. - "The New York Times,
in its issue of January 28, reported the gist of an address delivered by
Pope Pius XI to a delegation of Roman Catholics in which the Pontiff
pointed to the enemies of pure religion. Among them were Communism
and materialism. But the worst foe, the Pope is reported to have said,
is Protestant proselytism, because it misleads the people into dependence
on a form of godliness of which the substance is lacking. One realizes
once more that Romanism never changes, and one regrets that Pius XI ...
should not merely have linked Protestants with atheists and materialists,
but should have appraised them as more harmful to the kingdom of God.
The statement reaches the American people in the midst of wide-spread
efforts to assuage bigotry, and almost on the day when a commission con-
sisting of prominent Catholics, Protestants, and Jews returned to New
York after a transcontinental speaking tour 'in the interest of better rela-
tions among these groups.' Neighborliness among Protestants and Catholics
will not be improved when this papal statement is read in Roman Catholic
parishes. And yet it should not long surprise anyone who has given
a little attention to the teachings of Rome concerning herself." (The Lu-
theran, Feb. 8, 1934.) What surprises one is that, when representatives
of these three religions are sought to take part in a "forum" or a similar
conference, prominent Catholics are always found who are ready to do their
part. In view of the fact that the Papacy hates nothing so much as the
chief doctrine of Protestantism, justification by faith alone (see Oanons
and Decrees of the Ooundl of Tr-ent, Session VI, Canons IX, X, XI, XII)
and in view of the fact that every intelligent Catholic must know his
catechism and the mind of the Pope, it is surprising that Catholic men
are always found who are ready to serve at these gatherings. And these
affairs must also cause great surprise to the bishops, archbishops, and the
Pope. They know that the Protestant members of the conferences are
acquainted with the Canons of Trent and the pronouncements of the Popes
up to 1934. It certainly must surprise the bishops to find these Protestant
theologians willing to recognize the Pope as their spiritual brother. E.
Unionistic Practises. -In the Minneapolis Journal of February 12
appears the following announcement: "Preparations for the observance of
Lent, which begins Wednesday, have been completed by many church groups.
More than one hundred Protestant pastors of Minneapolis will assemble at
8 A. M. Wednesday for a day of spiritual fellowship in Grace Lutheran
Church, Delaware and Harvard streets, S. E.
"Dr. J. A. O. Stub of Central Lutheran Church will lead an opening
service of meditation and prayer, and Dr. Charles N. Pace, district super-
intendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church, will present a Lenten
message."
We have frequently called attention to such gross unionistic practises
of pastors of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America and of pastors
of other churches which are mem'bers of the American Lutheran Conference.
Theological Observer. - .reitd)1id)'8eitgefd)id)md)e~. 403
Up to this time we have not heard of any discipline or criticism of such
practises, and we are obliged to believe that they are becoming a fixed policy
in the American Lutheran Conference. Dr. J. A. O. Stub is a very promi-
nent pastor in the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, being the
pastor of the largest church of that denomination in Minneapolis. There
should be no question as to what attitude members of the Synodical Con-
ference ought to take toward these churches. That they are going the way
of the Reformed Churches cannot be truthfully denied.
J. E. T., in Luthera,n Sentinel.
Nielsen to Return to China. - Undaunted by six months as a pris-
oner of Chinese bandits last year, Dr. Niels Nielsen, missionary physician
and graduate of the University of Minnesota, is planning to return to his
station at Siu Yen, Manchukuo, this year. Dr. Nielsen was captured by
bandits in April of last year and held for 196 days. A ransom of $170,000
was asked, but finally he obtained his release by the payment of about $4,000
to discontented guards. - Ohristian Oentu,ry.
Controversy on Barth. - If the contention which is voiced at times
is correct, that one of the marks of a great man is that there is a disputc
about the meaning of his utterances, then Professor Barth of Germany is
entitled to the appellation of a great man. Some time ago the Ohristian
Oentury published an article by Prof. Henry Nelson Wieman, weU-known
religious philosopher of the University of Chicago, who somewhat critically
reviewed an English translation of sermons preached by Barth and
Thurneysen. This review was attacked in the February 28 issue of the
Ohristian Oentury, the champions of Barth being William Pauck of Chicago
Theological Seminary and E. G. Homrighausen of a Reformed church in
Indianapolis, Indiana.. Professor Wieman was shown the criticisms of his
review and wrote a rejoinder, which is published in the same number.
Here, then, you have a sort of symposium on Barth. The point in Pro-
fessor Wieman's review which is especially objected to is the charge that
Barth indulges in "day-dreams" cut off from "every test of truth" in "sub-
jective states of feeling." The following paragraph will best bring out
Professor Wieman's view: "When a man holds as true that which he be-
lieves and claims it is revealed to him by God and makes that an excuse
for absolute dogmatism, repudiating every test of reason and evidence, he
is opening the gates to witch-hunting, superstition, Spanish Inquisition,
fanatical cruelty done in the name of God, all that bloody horror into
which men have fallen when they have cast out the tests of reason and
intelligence and claimed that their beliefs and impulses were beyond ques-
tion because they were God's very own. That way leads back to the
shambles of religious bigotry and the nightmare of torturing beliefs and
practises which we have so hardly escaped." In another paragraph he
says: "Certainly the Church has struggled with the problem of the right
verification of its claims. In so far as we of the Church do that, our
procedure is worthy of respect and honor. But my whole criticism of
Barth was precisely that he does not struggle with this problem. He
repudiates the problem of verification. He pours scorn and contempt on
any attempt to verify. 'God reveals Himself,' says Barth, 'and our verifi-
cation has nothing to do with it." There seems. to be a good deal of truth
404 Theological Observer. - ~itcf)ncf)~8eitgefcf)icf)tricf)es.
in what Professor Wieman says. If Barth took his stand on the inviolable
Scriptures, he could repudiate what is here alleged against him - un-
willingness to verify his message. But he himself disavows the infallibility
of the Bible, and hence he is theologizing without a foundation. A.
II. ,l.u5itmll •
.8nitiinllc nnll )80tfolUlUniffe in bet ~etttidjen ~l1angclifdjelt ~itdjc.
,,~urdj )8erfilgnng be§ )Bifdjof§ bon )Bedin, D. Sfarolu§, bom 27. :;sanuar
1934 luurbe bem zsilqrer be§ jj3faner~lJl:otbunbe§, ~farrer ~JCar±in lll:ie~
miiller, ~aqrem, auf \'fnorbnung be§ !)teidj§bifdjof§ ... borHiufig bie ~ru§~
ilbung feiner nmt§gcfdjiifie un±n:iagt. ~er )Bruberrai be§ ®efamt~jj3farrer~
lll:o±bunbe§ er~ob gegen hiefe j8erfilgung gefdjloffen @:infprudj unb erfliirte,
baB er in feiner iilleife in ber Eage fei, bon jj3faner lll:iemiiller ab3uriiden,
folange bie firdjIidje Obrigfeit nidj± cine fadjIidje )Begrilnbung i~rer j8er~
filgung gebe unb flar fage, luorin fie lJie amt§luibrige &)aHung ~farrer
lll:iemiiller§ fe~e. :;sn3luifdjen luurbe ~faner lll:iemiiller aUf ®runb bon
§ 3 unb § 6 .ber reidj§firdjIidjen lJl:otberorbnung bom 4. :;sanuar 1934 bom
ffieidj§bifdjof af§ preuBifdjem Eanbe§bifdjof penfioniert unb mit fofortiger
iillirfung beudaubt." (Wllg. @:b.~Eutq . .\'t'il., 2. IDCiira.) &)iirt fidj hie gegen~
luiirtige firdjIidje Obrigfeit berpfIidjtet, iqre j8erfilgungen in