arnurnr~itt
(UQtnlngiral flnutlJly
Continuing
LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. IX January, 1938 No.1
CONTENTS
Page
The Danger of Lowering Professional Standards
P. E. Kreizmann __ . ____ .___ 1
St. Paul and Woman's Status. J. T. Mueller .... -.-.--.-.--.-.--__ . __ 13
Abgoetterei unter dem Volk Israel im Alten Testament
P. E. KretzmallD-____ 21
Sermon Study on las. 4, 13-17. Th. Laetsch.-_______________ 32
Miscellanea _______ . ____ . ___ ._._. __ ._. ______ . ________________ 41
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-ZeitgeschichtIiches __ . _______ 51
Book Review. - Literatur __________ .. ________________________ 69
EIn Prediger muss nlcht alleln wet-
den, also dass er die Schafe unter-
weise. wie de rechte Christen sollen
seln. sondern auch daneben den Woe1-
fen wehTIm, dass de die Schafe nlcht
angreifen und mit faJscher Lehre ver-
tuehren und Irrtum elnfuehren.
Luthe1"
Es 1st keln Ding. das die Leute
mehr bel der Kirche behae1t denn
die gute Predigt. - Apologle, Arl. 24.
It the trumpet give an uncertain
sound who shall prepare hImself to
the battle? -1 Cor_ 14, 8.
Published for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBLISHING BOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
ARC IV
Theological Observer - .Ihrd;lid;,,seitgefd;td;t1id;es 51
Theological Observer - Sl'itdJlidJ.geitgefdJidJtIidJe~
I. 1lmeri1m
HllW ~iuch of the Bible is True? - That is the question the Modernist
who rejects the doctrine of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures has
to answer. The professor of the University of Chicago Dr. H. L. Willett,
who conducts the Question Box in the Christian Century, was confronted
with this problem when a reader asked, "How much of the Bible is to
be taken as factual and trustworthy, and how is one to make sure of
the portions that are to be believed?" Certainly an unavoidable question
for all who refuse to believe what the Bible says about itself. The an-
swer of Professor Willett will hardly be found satisfactory by his cor-
respondent. He says of the Old Testament Scriptures: "They embody
tradition, folk-lore, and imaginative material as well as authentic recitals
of actual incidents. They even include works of fiction, such as the
books of Ruth, Jonah, and Esther, as well as fables and parables, such
as those spoken by Jesus. A whole world of mythology lies back of the
literature of the Old Testament, and to this frequent reference is made
in the poetry and preaching of the Scriptures. One is not likely to be
misled in discriminating between statements of fact and the obvious
fiction of illustrative references." This is a polite way of saying that
there is no criterion which can be employed with the assurance that
one is differentiating between truth and fiction. The concluding para-
graph of Professor Willett's statement reads: "It is evident that it is not
only the privilege but the duty of the student of Scripture to exercise
his right of judgment regarding the statements of the Bible, remember-
ing the origin and character of the record and the fact that the freedom
to estimate the historical and moral value of all parts of the book, the
right of private judgment, is the foundation-stone of Protestantism.
Beyond this the introductions and commentaries offer useful suggestions."
There you are in a bog, bewildered and wondering who had the audacity
to offer you light and instead of it gave you darkness. A.
Is Jesus Christ the God-Man or the Divine Man? - In his book
Jesus Christ Our Lord (published by the Abingdon Press, 1937) Dr. Otto
Justice Baab of the faculty of Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill.,
applies a long series of honorific epithets to Jesus. He calls Jesus "the
Son of God," "the veritable Son of God," "the very Son of God." He
speaks of "Jesus' kinship with God," of "Christ's divine nature," "the
very divinity of Christ," abhors "the denial of the divinity of Christ,"
and insists that "it is the high and holy purpose of the Church to
demonstrate without equivocation the divinity of Christ, its Lord." But
he will not call Jesus God. He declares on page 41: "It is historically
possible and reasonable to believe that Jesus regarded Himself as a
divine being. . .. But this is quite different from ascribing deity to
Jesus. . .. It is hard to imagine His acceptance of the Johannine idea
of a metaphysical oneness between Himself and Deity." So all that the
high-sounding titles which the Modernist confers upon Jesus import is
that Jesus "is the embodiment of the greatest power in the universe,"
52 Theological Observer - .Ritcf;)Hcfh'leitgefcf;)icf;)t1icf;)eg
"the most significant embodiment of the divine power of integrating
understanding in all of history," "the divinity that was in His soul
expressed itself essentially in an attitude of understanding, all-embracing
love." We had read the booK: thus far for the purpose of review, but
at page 57 we stalled. "We mean, then, that Jesus is so uniquely and
concretely related to the power we call God that His divinity is beyond
dispute. In Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. In Him
the power of mutual and sacrificial love which is God has come to men.
After all the ages when various levels of existence in the evolutionary
process were struggling to incarnate the principle of mutual helpfulness,
blindly at first and then in the dim beginnings of conscious life, there
finally came to earth a human personality in whom this power had full
sway and effectiveness. No one save the Son of God could so sublimely
and completely surrender Himself as an instrument of this divine power."
We are stalled here for the present. We shall not write the review till
several points that here perplex us are settled. First, have these won-
derful powers of the evolutionary process come to a standstill? Could
they not produce a second Jesus? And with the power of Jesus' in-
fluence working for nineteen hundred years, why are not beings pro-
duced that excel Jesus? Has the evolutionary force exhausted itself
centuries ago? Again, what a wicked force must inheTe in the evolu-
tionary process to produce a being like Jesus, the acme of humanity,
who "regarded Himself as a divine being"! Evolution, producing the
noblest creature, has produced the most wicked creature! Then, too,
we cannot understand why Dr. Baab should use the phrase "there finally
came to eaTth." It has sense when we speak of the incarnation of the
Son of God. It has sense, in what is called on this same page the
"Jewish" conception, that "the Son or God was a heavenly creature set
aside for a special mission to men." But one who looks upon Jesus
as a mere man might say that He "appeared on earth" but should not
say He "came to earth." One who does not accept the Biblical account
should refrain from using Biblical phrases. E.
A 'iiVarning Concerning Unionism. - When in New Haven, Conn.,
Episcopalians met representatives of eleven other Protestant bodies,
a joint Communion was held, which was justly criticized by the Living
ChUTCh. The editor of that paper writes: "We must take this opportunity
to state as emphatically and unequivocally as possible our conviction that
'joint Communion services' in which priests of the Episcopal Church
participate together with ministers of Protestant denominations are a
wrong approach to the subject of Christian unity. We felt that the
united Communion service at Oxford was a mistake, even though it had
such high authority for it as the Archbishop of Canterbury. We feel
equally that the joint Communion service in Connecticut was a mistake
so far as the participation of Anglicans is concerned, and we hope that
it will not be allowed to stand as a precedent. Intercommunion is the
goal of the unity movement, not simply a step along the way. The
Episcopal Church is a part of Catholic Christendom. Catholics have
a very definite concept of the Holy Communion, a concept that we be-
lieve in all sincerity to be the only true interpretation of our Lord's
own teaching. We believe in the real, objective presence of our Lord
53
in the blessed Sacrament of the Altar when the Holy Communion is
properly celebrated by a properly ordained priest of the Catholic Church.
vVe believe that our Lord is present in the blessed Sacrament, not in
some vague, subjective sense, but actually and objectively, quite as truly
as He was present in the manger in Bethlehem or on the cross of Calvary.
He is to be worshiped on His altar-throne just as the shepherds and the
Wise Men worshiped Him in Palestine and as the angels, archangels,
and all the company of heaven worship Him there. Protestants do not
hold this belief. Not only do they not believe in the necessity of a sac-
rificing priesthood for the celebration of the Holy Communion, but most
of them do not mean the same thing that we do by this Sacrament. In
Baptist theology, for example, the Lord's Supper is not even described
as a Sacrament, but simply as an ordinance. Certain Liberals see in it
nothing but a memorial of a historic event. Some even go so far as to
share the Unitarian denial that Christ is God and so cannot believe that
He is present in the blessed Sacrament. When we join with our Protes-
tant brethren in the celebration of what purports to be a united Com-
munion service, when actually it means one thing to us, another thing to
orthodox Protestants, still another to liberal Protestants, and something
still different to Unitarians, we are not promoting Christian unity but
simply muddying the waters and confusing the issue. Moreover, if we
persist in united Connnunion services with Protestants, we shall endanger
our relationships with the Eastern Orthodox and Old Catholics, thus
disrupting the measure of unity that we have already been able to ob-
tain with our brethren with whom we share the full Catholic faith. We
wish to be as kindly and charitable in this matter as we can, but we feel
that we must speak out frankly and plainly. We hope that our Protes-
tant brethren will recognize that it is not lack of Christian charity but
devotion to one of the most fundamental doctrines of our faith that ani-
mates us in so doing."
Naturally, much is to be subtracted from the above before we can
subscribe to it. One wishes very much that the writer would have pre-
sented more fully his teaching on the Lord's Supper. It is evident that
he believes in the real presence; but whether it is the Roman Catholic
doctrine of the real presence which he accepts or that of the Lutheran
Church is not quite clear. When he speaks of worshiping Jesus on His
altar-throne, the fear inevitably rises in one that he holds Roman Catholic
notions concerning the Sacrament. But what is commendatory in the
editoriaL is th2 definiteness with which the author speaks against the
joint Communion services or people who are not agreed in doctrine, not
even with respect to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper. How people
whose teachings on the Sacrament of the Altar are conflicting can go to
the Lord's Table together is indeed an enigma for all who hold that in
the Church, if anywhere, the principles of honesty and sincerity should
obtain. A.
Unionistic lVi:ake-lBeIief. - The unionists try hard to minimize the
differences in the way of church union. They like to play up the points
of agreement. And they are satisfied with a great minimum. In an
article, 'The Outlook for Church Union,' discussing the results of Oxford
54 Theological Observer - .reitd)!icI)~{leitgefd)id)tlicl)es
and Edinburgh, the Christian Century of September 22, 1937, states:
"Edinburgh asked: Are our differences on this point and that insur-
mountable barriers to union? Here was realism. And it was the kind
of realism which was so honest and candid that even where the dif-
ferences were insurmountable, the discussion resulted in increased
mutual respect, coupled with hope that further fellowship and discussion
would lead to a common understanding." However: "But this realism
also led to the discovery of unsuspected margins of agreement. The dis-
cussion of the number of Sacraments is a good illustration. It was
pointed out that Protestantism generally holds to two, Baptism and the
Lord's Supper; Eastern orthodoxy holds, with Roman Catholicism, to
seven; Anglicanism has left the number indeterminate, but generally
agrees with the Protestant bodies in giving special place to two. How-
ever, it emerged in the discussions that we all have the equivalent of
seven sacraments, and perhaps more! Certainly the Orthodox and Ro-
man churches are not peculiar in holding marriage to be a 'divine ordi-
nance.' Also, every clergyman of the now liturgical churches performs
some act of grace for the dying, which is the equivalent of 'extreme
unction.' Moreover, all churches 'ordain' their ministers. There is also
in. the discipline of all churches at least a suggestion of 'penance.' Con-
firmation is a universal practise in churches which practise infant bap-
tism. And as for those churches which practise only adult baptism a new
'sacrament' is coming into wide use, namely, the dedication of infants
and their recognition as members of the Christian community for whose
care the church has peculiar responsibility." This is pathetic. E.
"Papam esse verum antichristum."-A paragraph from Dr. J. A. Dell's
review of Lenski's Interpretation of St. Paul's Ep'istles to the Colossians,
to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus, and to Philemon, published
in the Journal of the American Lutheran Conference, October, 1937, p. 73,
reads: "Perhaps you are interested in 'the man of sin' in 2 Thess. 2. 'This
is an apostasy (v. 3),' says Lenski. 'It is therefore to be sought in the
Church visible, not outside of the Church, - not in the pagan world, in
the general pagan moral decline, in Mohammedanism, in the French
Revolution, in the rise and spread of Masonry, in Soviet Russia, or in
lesser phenomena. We must not confuse the little antichrists with the
great antichrists, the antichrists outside of the visible Church with the
great Antichrist inside of it. . .. The secret beginnings were actively
stirring in Paul's own time, v.7. We may debate as to what or who still
held these beginnings down at that time (-to xu"];:lJ(ov - 0 X(J."];EJ(fJ)V). In
the writer's opinion the best view is that this was the Roman imperium,
a force (neuter), and this force represented in the person (masculine)
of the pagan emperors. This got out of the way, v.7, when Constantine,
the first Christian emperor, came to the throne. Only then did the
Papacy become possible. The great apostasy is Romanism.''' Instead of
quoting this paragraph from Lenski's commentary directly, we have pre-
ferred to call attention to its incorporation into the Journal of the Amer-
ican Lutheran Conference.
We cannot refrain, however, from quoting another paragraph from
the commentary, on page 444 f.: "What obstructs the vision of so many
Theological Observer - ~itcl)1ic()~3eitgefcl)icl)tlic()cs 55
and leads them to deny that the Pope is the Antichrist is a failure to
appreciate in their person the fact that justification by faith <:ilone is the
soul and center of all that is true Christianity. All other doctrines have
their roots in this one. vVe quote Franz Pieper: 'It is true, the open
unbelievers are raging enemies of the Church. But what Christians are
to think of pronounced unbelievers they know. By this they are not
deceived. How does it, then, come about that men are today disinclined
to recognize the Pope as the Antichrist? Whence this strange and de-
plorable fact that nearly all late "believing" theologians hunt about for
the Antichrist while he does his great and mighty work in the Church
right before their eyes? They are not established in the living knowl-
edge of the doctrine oj justification and in the imp01"tance of this doc-
trine faT the Church. From my own experience I must confess that in
my own conscience I was not vitally convinced that the Pope is the
Antichrist until, on the one hand, I realized what the doctrine of jus-
tification is and what its significance is for the Church, and, on the other
hand, that the Papacy has its real essence in denying and cursing the
dodI'ine of justification and by its show of piety and its claim to be
the only saving Church binds to itself men's consciences.' (Christliche
Doumatik, II, 669 f.) Beyond the curse pronounced by the Council of
Trent, sessio 0, canon 11, nothing can go in the way of antichristianity in
the official Church: Si quis dixerit, homines iustifica1'i vel sola imputa-
tione iustitiae Clwisti, etc ... , The confessional statement of the Smal-
cald Articles, II, Art. IV, (Trig!., 475), is true: 'This teaching shows force-
fully that the Pope is the very Antichrist,' " etc.
By the way, while we are studying Lenski's commentary on
2 Thess. 2, we shall glance at the exposition of vv. 13 and 14: "God hath
frorn the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto He called you by our Gospel."
"Chose; only the middle of aLQEw is used in the New Testament and
only the simplex. The sense is much the same as though Paul had used
Ih,Hyscri}m or JtQooQ[~EtV, although each verb has its own connotation. Here
Et1~u .. m means no more than that God 'took you for Himself,' took you
for His own, and in that sense 'chose you.' 'From the beginning.' ...
The sense is thus the same as 'before the foundation of the world' (Eph.
1,4), in eternity. . .. There is no other choice, or election, save this
one for salvation in connection with sanctification and faith. Some think
only of final salvation (heaven), i. e., of the 'glory' mentioned in v.14;
but sanctification and faith point to 'salvation' both here and hereafter .
. . . 'Ev (EV uy,c(()"!~0) does not mean 'in view of' or 'in the foreknowl-
edge of.' . .. None were chosen by God without this connection.
F. Pieper well says that sanctification and faith belong to the act of
choosing and not merly to the execution of the act, as Calvinists teach.
(Christliche Dogmatik, III, 538.) . .. What God did for the Thessalonians
in time rests on His timeless act: if no choice, then no call, etc." There
are statements in Lenski's commentary regarding election which are not
so clear, some that are not acceptable, but here all is clear: We owe our
salvation, our faith included, to the eternal election of grace. "If no
choice, then no call, etc." E.
56 Theological Observer - .RitdjTidj~,(leitgefdjidjmdjeg
"All Scripture is Given by Inspiration of God." - We have not yet
tired of transcribing portions from Lenski's commentary. It is a labor of
love. From the comment on 2 Tim. 3, 16 we select the following state-
ments: "Paul's passive ~EOJt'VEUO"to£" must in some way be ruled out.
Many follow the bold method: They let Paul say what he pleases; they
do not believe what he says. Many that are not so bold tone down the
idea of inspiration until nothing but the decorative word is left. Some-
how they at least do not like to give up the word. They generally, how-
ever, speak with contempt of what they denominate 'the verbal theory
of inspiration.' They propose a 'theory' of a totally different kind, cer-
tainly one that allows for more or less error in Holy Writ. . .. All of
it presents and reveals the fact of inspiration, only the fact. There is
no, theory about it, can be none. A fact is simply to be seen as a fact,
then treated as a fact, not to be dissolved into a theory. He who does
the latter may lose the fact; many already have lost it. - 'All Scripture'
is 'writing,' YQaq111. The pen traces words and combines these into sen-
tences and paragraphs. These words convey the thought. Erase the
words, and the thought disappears. These are not W oerter, vocables, but
W orte, words expressing thoughts. This is verbal inspiration. It is be-
fore us on every written page of the Book. The1'e is no other divine
inspiration. The thoughts cannot be separated from the words, which
are its vehicles. To speak of an inspiration of thought that is not an.
inspiration of the words is to disregard what the Scriptures show us as
a fact. To Q'Yj1%'V uJto TOU XUQLOU, 'the thing that was uttered or spoken by
the Lord' (Matt. 1, 22), was uttered in words, Yahveh uttered them,
Were these utterances fallible, errant in any way, in any word or ex-
pression? Does Yahveh ever err? 'Thy Word is truth,' rl)'11~ELa, John
17,17. 'Which things also we speak, not in words (AOYOl) taught of
human wisdom, but taught of the Spirit,' 1 Cor. 2, 13. The very MYOL
were taught by the Spirit by verbal inspiration, they are inerrant in
every word, unless we intend to charge the Lord and His Spirit with
errancy, fallibility." E.
The Harassed Presbyterian Church of America. - The troubles of
this new organization, led by Dr. Machen till his lamented death, Jan-
uary 1, are not few. A group has left it to organize a new body to be
called the "Bible Presbyterian Synod." This synod, as the Presbyterian
Tribune states, is intending to stand by the Independent Board, while the
year-old Presbyterian Church of America has abandoned the Indepen-
dent Board and taken steps to form its own committee on foreign mis-
sions. One cause of the dissension undoubtedly is that the men who
are at the head of the Bible Presbyterian Synod movement are premil-
lenarians, who, while they accept the Westminster Confession of Faith
and the catechisms, intend "to amend these standards in any particular
in which the premillennial teaching of the Scripture may be held to be
obscured." Another reason why the Presbyterian Church of America
severed its relations with the Independent Board is said to have been
the fact that some of the leaders of the Independent Board had not be-
come members of the Presbyterian Church of America. We have here
a plain demonstration of what unhealthy enthusiasm (Schwaermerei)
will lead to. A.
57
Developments at Princeton Seminary. - Under this heading Chris-
tianity Today (November, 1937) reports with undisguised fear two recent
developments at Princeton Seminary which show that the liberal ele-
ments in control of the seminary are trying to keep Presbyterian con-
servatism out of both the management and the teaching force of Prince-
ton. In the first place, Dr. Robert E. Speer has been elected to succeed
Dr. W. L. McEwan as president of the Board of Trustees, and this must
be taken as a step favoring the Auburn Affirmation group. Dr. Speer is
the first layman to be made president of the Board of Control of the
educational activities of the seminary. But what is even worse is the
fact that on October 12 the Board elected the Rev. Dr. E. G. Homrighausen
to succeed the late Harold L. Donnelly as professor of Christian Educa-
tion. Dr. Homrighausen is at present pastor of the Carrollton Avenue
Church (Evangelical and Reformed) in Indianapolis and lecturer on
Church History in the College of Religion of Butler University. The
liberal stand of this minister is proved by Christianity Today from his
recent book Christianity in America, from which it quotes the following
modernistic statements with reference to the inspiration of the Bible:
"The old idea of an infallible Bible, inspired in every jot and tittle,
which is often associated with preaching, has run its course." (P.10S.)
"While in many respects that scholarship [critical] has been destructive,
in a much larger sense it has liberated us from all these notions of an
infallible book." (P.llS.) "Few intelligent Protestants can still hold to
the idea that the Bible is an infallible book; that it contains no linguistic
errors, no historical discrepancies, no antiquated scientific assumptions,
not even bad ethical standards. Some might still claim for the 'original
copies' of the Bible an infallible character, but this only begs the ques-
tion and makes such Christian apologetics more ridiculous in the eyes
of sincere men." (P.121.) "The Bible is not the actual Word of God,
but merely a human witness to what the Word of God did in and with
men and history. The words of the Bible are not to be believed because
they are in the Bible. In reading the Bible, there comes to me a strange
language, there confronts me a real God, and there emerges before me
something about life that I do not discover anywhere else. It is because
the Scriptures do this that they are 'sacred.' Not all the Bible does
this for me. There is much in the Bible like chaff, or rather like the
seemingly insignificant parts of a watch. There is a residue in the Bible
that remains intact in spite of all its inaccuracies, its antedated cosmology
and science." (P.136.) In closing the report, Christianity Today re-
marks rather mildly: "With these statements before us, it seems difficult,
if not impossible, to suppose that Dr. Homrighausen holds that view of
Holy Scripture to which each and every member of the Board of Trustees
and faculty of Princeton Seminary is required to subscribe." Dr. Hom-
righausen, by the way, is a member of the critical wing of Barthian
rationalism. J. T. M.
Triennial Convention of the Protestant Episcopal ChLU'ch. - This
convention, which met in Cincin:nati in October, 1937, has attracted
a good deal of attention. Some of the chief news items reported in the
religious press concerning it are the following. The former presiding
bishop, Rev. James De Wolf Perry, was not reelected. The new pre-
58 Theological Observer - ~ird)!td)~.8eit\1efd)id)md)e!l
siding bishop is Bishop Tucker of Virginia, a man sixty-three years old,
who served prominently as missionary and Christian leader in Japan.
His election is held as indicating that a new era of missionary advance
will be inaugurated by his Church. "Under the new plan of organization
the presiding bishop will have a new place of leadership in the formula-
tion of the policies of the Church, for he will be president of the National
Council and will also be more directly in charge of the Forward Move-
ment. It is likely also that he will head the new commission on strategy
and policy." (The Living Church.)
The proposed World Council, which is to continue the work of the
Oxford and Edinburgh conferences, was enthusiastically endorsed, and
provision was made for the sending of one clerical and one lay delegate
to the preliminary conference to be held in Holland in May, 1938. With
respect to the office of the presiding bishop it was decided that he should
be elected for life, that is, till he reaches the retiring age of sixty-eight.
The presiding bishop was instructed to turn over the supervision of his
particular diocese as much as possible to his coadjutor, that is, the assis-
tant bishop, in order that he might give all of his time to the work of the
Church at large. With respect to marriage and divorce several attempts
were made to alter the present canon of the Church, "which permits
remarriage by the Church only in the case of the innocent party in a
divorce granted on grounds of adultery." One group tried to put the
decision of the question whether a divorced person seeking another mar-
riage might be granted this request into the hands of the diocesan bishop,
who after consultation with the parochial minister would have to say
whether the marriage could be authorized. Another group likewise
sought to invest the bishop with the authority of decision in such cases,
limiting them, however, to divorce obtained on the ground of adultery.
Both proposed alterations were defeated. While one must applaud the
action of the convention inasmuch as it refused to yield to Liberalism,
it is regrettable that the Protestant Episcopal Church is not adhering
to the full teachings of the Scriptures on this point, recognizing that not
only adultery, but likewise malicious desertion constitutes a valid reason
for obtaining a divorce. It must have been very impressive when it
was announced that the special collection of the woman's auxiliary,
gathered at a service in connection with the convention, amounted to
$861,000. The report of the Joint Commission on Approaches to Unity
says that a conference was held with rePresentatives of the Augustana
Synod, at which "a surprising unanimity on the subjects of the Holy
Scriptures, the historic creeds, and the Sacraments" was revealed. The
report continues: "Difference on the matter of holy orders was frankly
confessed and the way left open for further discussions. Numerous
suspicions were allayed, and many misconceptions were cleared away.
Progress will be necessarily slow in this direction, but the prospect is
encouraging." The Commission found itself largely in agreement with
the Commission on Unity of the Methodist Episcopal Church and will
continue its discussions with it. It strongly recommends reunion with
the "separated brethren," the Reformed Episcopal Church. As to its
discussions with the Northern Presbyterians, the commission proposed
that both churches, the Protestant Episcopal and the Presbyterian Church
Theological Observer - .!l'itd)Hd)~8ettgefd)id)tlid)es 59
in the United States of America, should accept the following declara-
tion: "The two churches, one in the faith of the Lord Jesus, the incarnate
Word of God, recognizing the Holy Scriptures as the supreme rule of
faith, accepting the two Sacraments ordained by Christ, and believing
that the visible unity of Christian churches is the will of God, hereby
firmly declare their purpose to achieve organic union between the re-
spective churches. Upon the basis of this agreement the two churches
agree to take immediate steps toward the framing of plans whereby this
may be achieved." This proposal was accepted and will be communi-
cated to the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. by the presiding bishop.
A.
"A Significant Statement by a Liberal Editor." - As a "significant
statement by a liberal editor" Christianity Today (October, 1937) quotes
the following editorial comment by Dr. Charles C. Morrison of the Chris-
tian Century: "For more than a hundred years the Church has been
engaged in the solemn business of forgetting its Gospel. It has not
repudiated or denied it but has allowed it to be so mixed and adul-
terated with the wisdom of this world that its own unique testimony
has been blurred with ambiguity. The fundamentals of the Christian
faith have been covered over with secularism, and our churchmanship
has proceeded upon the assumption that the Church's contribution to
human life must be made in terms of prevalent philosophies which
have no relation to the Christian faith." This brief description of the
insidious work of Modernism is so well founded that it merits careful
consideration. What Dr. Morrison here so nicely declares in his ex-
cellent analysis of the case is precisely the course which the high dig-
nitaries of modern rationalism, such as Schleiermacher and Ritschl, as
well as their many imitators have followed: they have mixed and ad1Ll-
terated the Gospel with the wisdom of this world! Not so adequate is
what Dr. Morrison writes next: "The rise of totalitarian states and the
manifest inability of secular society to get itself together, especially since
the World War, have set Christian men to the task of digging down to
the foundations of their faith, with the result that a conception of the
Church and of the Gospel is emerging which transcends the categories
of social reform in the secular sense and exhibits Christianity as the
only savior of the world." While it is true that the World War and its
aftermath are partly responsible for the bankruptcy of extreme rational-
ism, the real "digging down to the foundations of faith" is, properly
speaking, the good fruit of the testimony of scores of faithful witnesses
throughout the world, of Bekenntnisfronten which took their task seri-
ously. Incidentally, the "new conception of the Church and of the
Gospel, transcending the categories of social reform in the secular sense"
is largely only a "new rationalism," not essentially different from its
unlamented predecessor, just a new way of "covering fundamentals
with secularism." J. T. M.
When Patriotism Becomes Worship. - The Sunday-school Times
(September 4, 1937) under this heading calls attention to the seriousness
of the problem arising from the fact that the Japanese government in-
sists upon the participation of Christians, especially in Korea and Man-
60 Theological Observer - ,IHtdjHd)~8citgefd)id)md)e~
churia, in the Shinto festivities. The Times has discussed the problem
before and in the issue mentioned restates and reaffirms its position that
under no condition must Christians join in these rites of pagan worship.
Because of his uncompromising stand in the matter Dr. George McCune
was forced from the presidency of the Union Christian College and the
principalship of the Presbyterian Boys Academy at Pyeng Yang and
obliged to leave Korea. So far only one church-body has definitely
taken a stand on the question whether Christians in Japan, Korea, and
Manchuria, and especially the teachers and pupils in the Christian mis-
sion-schools and colleges there, may bow at the shrines, namely, the
Executive Committee of Foreign Missions of the Southern Presbyterian
Church. Regarding the claim that such Shinto obeisance is merely polit- ,
ical in nature and not in any way religious the Sunday-school Tinws
writes: "The Japanese government regards the Shinto shrines as the very
foundation of its policy of national patriotic education. Around the
shrines has been gathered all the folklore and tradition of Japanese
nationalism. They are regarded as the shades of the spirits of the em-
perors, the mythological ancestors of the country, and the heroes of the
empire. To do obeisance at the shrine is therefore, according to the
government, but the normal and rightful duty of every Japanese subject,
and shrine attendance is to be required of all pupils in schools as a part
of the necessary training in loyalty and patriotism. It is natural that
such policies should receive special emphasis at a time when extreme
nationalism is epidemic around the world, and it is evident that no let-up
is contemplated. Of course, the government takes the position that there
is nothing in all this that should prove in any way embarrassing to the
Christian schools, as, according to its claim, the shrines are purely patri-
otic in nature and have no religious significance. It is at this point that
the difficulties begin, for our missionaries are unable so to regard Shinto
shrines." Among the objections of the missionaries the following are the
most convincing: 1. There is a great volume of Japanese opinion and
scholarship supporting the view that Shinto is a religion. 2. Government
spokesmen apply all the terms of religion to the cult. 3. The objects of
veneration have ascribed to them the attributes of deity. 4. Shinto has
always been classified as a religion. 5. There are distinctly religious ele-
ments in the ritual. 6. Terms of religion are regularly employed. The
matter certainly is a most serious one, and one can readily understand
the appeal of the Times: "Surely Christian people everywhere should
unite in prayer for the missionaries and for their boards at home that
all may be true to the will and Word of God in this crisis time."
J.T.M.
Heathen Thefts from the Bible. - Under this heading the Sunday-
school Times (Nov. 20, 1937) argues a most important apologetic fact
which the Christian minister or teacher may occasionally use in his
defense of the Bible. The article is too long to be quoted here in full,
but even a few excerpts will suffice to acquaint the reader with the
weighty matter. We read: "Parallels to Scripture in Asiatic literature
have been diligently sought out in an attempt to disprove the uniqueness
of Christian ethics and of Scripture revelation and even in order to trace
a Buddhist or other origin of our Lord's words and miracles. The error
Theological Observer - ~ird)!ic{v3eitgei d) icf) tIicf)es 61
in these calculations is that they often reverse history. What is brought
forward as a heathen parallel or lofty teaching is quite often of Christian
origin, modified and reduced. Here, as so often, critics fail to take into
account the fluidity of the ancient world. Christian missions entered
India at a very early date. The tradition that Thomas went to India
and preached Christ in the kingdom of Gundophares was treated as
legendary until, in the last century, it was discovered that a monarch
of that name ruled in the Punjab at that very time. In A. D. 68 a colony
of ten thousand Jews emigrated en masse from Palestine to the Malabar
coast, and in A. D. 190 Pantaenus, who was sent to India to teach the
Brahmans, found a Christian church already established there. These
and other historical indications have their fatal correspondences in
Buddhist literature. The Jakata stories of a disciple walking on the
water and of Buddha making one loaf feed more than five hundred
people are of post-Christian date and obviously a theft from the gospel
narrative. The fact that Buddha as vyell as Christ preached on mountain
tops appears from the Lalita Vistara; but this writing, according to
Rhys Davids, is not earlier than the sixth century A. D. The Yale
Sanscritist, the late Prof. E. W. Hopkins, with the best of will could find
only five cogent parallels between Buddha and Christ, of the fifty col-
lected. And even these five are either not close parallels or are post-
Christian in date, such as that our Lord saw Nathanael under a fig-tree
and that Buddha also attained enlightenment under a fig-tree, or that,
when Buddha was a babe, the old Yogi Asita flew down from the Hima-
layas to prophesy the child's further greatness, as Simeon prophesied in
the Temple. Dr. Fosdick has ignorantly tried to parallel the miraculous
births of Buddha and of Christ. But pre-Christian Buddhists never
affirmed that Buddha was born of a virgin; and to compare the story
of the white elephant entering the body of Buddha's mother, later to
pass out of her side in the shape of Buddha, with the lovely and con-
vincing story of the first chapter of Luke, is an affront both to reason
and to good taste. The Bhagavad Gita ('The Lord's Recitation') is un-
questionably the best that heathenism has to offer in the way of litera-
ture. The Gita is the story of Krishna, and in its original form it some-
what antedates the Chrisian era. It was, however, remodeled and re-
wTitten in post-Christian times, and in meter and language was made
wholly different from the ancient Upanishads. The character of Krishna,
too, is entirely altered, and Christian elements are introduced. He is
thus represented as sin-forgiving, a conception wholly alien to Asian
religion. This process or stealing from the New Testament is obvious in
other Hindu literature, where Krishna is described as the guardian of
the flock, the sinless God, the Lord of the world who consented to die
that he might fulfil the word of seers; also in the story of the Stake Saint,
unjustly impaled with thieves. In the later Puranas (all post-Christian)
Krishna is man-God, born in a stable, one who later restored a widow's
son to life, healed a cripple, was anointed with a box of ointment, and
so on. The Bhagavad Gita parallels many Scripture-passages so closely
as to make the source of its quotations unquestionable."
The Times then quotes a large number of passages in parallel and
concludes: "Here is an extensive and convincing plagiarism of the ideas
62 Theological Observer - stitd)lid)",/3eitgefd)id)tHdjes
and expressions found in John's gospel. But how flat and colorless they
have become in the transition! Our Lord spake as one having authority;
but there is no accent of authority in these stolen heathen maxims,
although they come in the last analysis from the King Himself. His
words were gracious; these are insipid. The wisdom of the East, in this
instance, is neither wise nor Eastern. To sentimentalize over it is to leave
the living waters for broken cisterns. Dr. Hu Shih, the 'father of the
Renascence movement in China,' who is said to have the finest mind in
China today, says: 'China has nothing [in her civilization and religion]
worth preserving. You foreigners who tell China that she has, are doing
her disservice. You but add to her false pride.' This is equally true
of India." J. T. M.
Deaths. - On September 30, 1937, the United Lutheran Church of
America lost one of its prominent members through the death of Rev. Dr.
Augustus Steimle, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Advent, New
York City. He had been a represehtative of the U. L. C. at the recent
World Conference on Faith and Order in Edinburgh. - Luther College,
Decorah, Iowa, suflered the loss of Carl Doving, a prominent hymnologist,
who died October 2, 1937.
Brief Items. - How the Edinburgh Conference disposed for itself of
the differences in the doctrine held by its members touching the Lord's
Supper is shown by this paragraph of the official report: "We all believe
that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist, though as to how that
presence is manifested and realized we may differ. Every precise defini-
tion of the presence is found to be a limiting thing, and the attempt to
formulate such definitions and to impose them on the Church has itself
been the cause of disunity in the past. . .. Weare throughout in the
realm of spirit. It is through the Holy Spirit that the blessing and the
gift are given. The presence, which we do not try to define, is a spiritual
presence." The conference here was frankly unionistic. With respect to
Baptism, after using the ambiguous language "Baptism is a sign and seal
of Christian discipleship in obedience to our Lord's command," the report
says: "Since the time available precluded the extended discussion of such
points as baptismal regeneration, the admission of unbaptized persons to
Holy Communion, and the relation of confirmation to Baptism, we are
unable to express an opinion how far they would constitute obstacles
to proposals for a united Church."
The Episcopal convention held in Cincinnati in October occupied
itself with some political matters. It advocated liberalization of the
Japanese Exclusion Act and passed resolutions opposing Communism and
the Totalitarian State. Almost 450 separate resolutions are said to have
been considered during the twelve legislative days of the convention.
The Federal war on syphilis was sanctioned; but the convention did not
endorse the view that both parties requesting a church marriage should
be required to present a medical certificate showing that they are free
from venereal diseases. It did not endorse intinction with respect to
Holy Communion. It advocated that candidates for the ministry should
be given "medical, physical, and nervous examinations."
Theological Observer - ~itd)ficl)={3eitgefcl)id)tltcl)cs 63
When the Disciples of Christ, the followers of Alexander Campbell,
recently held their international convention in Columbus, 0., 2,500 del-
egates were in attendance. When a resolution was submitted which
stated that labor has the right to organize and to bargain collectively
concerning hours, wages, and conditions of work, opposition to it was
voiced by some of the members, who declared that it was divisive, that
it too specifically tied the Church to a certain course, and that it would
not be of any value. Nevertheless it was adopted.
"Unitarians were scored by their new president (Rev. Frederick M.
Eliot) for having spent entirely too much time in talking about social
action. Passing resolutions at conferences too often was a salve to the
conscience and a substitute for doing something. Also, Unitarian social
pronouncements were too much an imitation of the statements of other
bodies. The liberal Church should work out its own methods in accor-
dance with its own peculiar genius." - Christian Century.
On account of its gripping language a paragraph from a speech
delivered by Dean Umphrey Lee of the Vanderbilt School of Religion
in view of the coming bicentennial of the Methodist Church is here
quoted: "Anniversaries are dangerous, and Methodism must decide
whether it is a movement or a monument. We are talking of unification;
but if there is nothing to unite, there is no need for uniting. As another
once said: 'There is no point in changing the labels of empty bottles.'''
As the Ch1'istian Century reports, Lord Camrose of London and the
paper of which he is the editor-in-chief, the DaiLy Telegraph, sued a
Fascist paper called the Action for libel. Lord Camrose had been at-
tacked on the ground that he was of Jewish origin and a conspirator in
international Jewish intrigues. With respect to the first charge the
evidence submitted consisted in the marriage of Lord Camrose's nephew
to a Rothschild. For the second no support could be adduced. The jury
decided that the Action should pay Lord Camrose 12,500 pounds and the
Daily Telegraph 7,500 pounds.
When the Unitarians met in Niagara Falls for their Sixth General
Conference, they were addressed by Rabbi Hillel Silver of Cleveland,
who spoke to them on Kant's "Categorical Imperative." And then some
people are surprised that the Unitarian denomination does not grow
more rapidly.
Glasgow, Scotland, in September entertained the Sixth International
Spiritualist Congress. Seventeen countries were represented, among
them India. One group of the members, it is reported, listened to papers
on the scientific aspect of Spiritualism, while the other took up matters
pertaining to the religious side. This great delusion evidently still has
much vitality. A.
U. ,2l1ishml)
;tier ttniunitlmu§ bet lutijerifdjen 2anbe§firdjen. SDie ,,@b.~53u±~. g:rei~
fird)e" bom 19. @September 1937 icfjreili±: ,,:;5n ben .YJuUenfer Q3efcfjriiffen bon
biefem :;5afjre fja± bie calbiniftifd)e DhcIjhtng in ber lBdennenben Stird)e, bie
lJticl.jhtng bel' Q3ntbertii±e, ben 2.utIjerifd)cn in SDeutfd)Ianb bas ffied)t ou einer
feIbftiinbigen Iutl)erijd)en SHrcfje runb 10(g uligefprocfjcn. SDie lBrubertii±e
64 Theological Observer - .Ritcf)licf)~3eitgefd)icf)tlicf)eg
~aben ba§; mart~fdje ,matmer mefenntnW fiir Me entfdjeibenbe Worm et<
nart, nadj bet audj bie rut~erifdjen mcfenntniffe aus3ufegen finb. @:lie ~aben
jebet SHtdje Me QlcItung ag Stirdje unb jebem ~fattet bie Qlertuug ar§;
ebangefifdjer ~farrer aligefptodjen, roenn fie fidj nidjt in bicfem @:linne aUf
bas marmet [lefenntni§; betpffidjten faffen. Sl:latauf ~at nun bet ,mat bet
ebangcnfdj