<1tnurnrbtu
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Continuing
LEHRE UND WEHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LuTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. IX March, 1938 No.3
CONTENTS
Page
Growth in Exegesis. w. Arndt ___________ ____________________ . ___________________ 161
When does the New Testament Economy Begin? W. F. Beck ______ 168
Jes.53 und "die Decke ueber dem Alten Testament"
P. E. Kretzmann ______________ • ___ 173
Sermon Study on 1 Pet. 1:17-25. Th. Laetseh _______ • ________________ 182
Recent Manuscript Discoveries. R. T. Du Bran ___________________________ 195
Miscellanea _______________________________ . ___________________________________ 203
Theological Observer. - Kirchlich-ZeitgeschichtIiches _________ 209
Book Review.-Literatur ____ ._._. __ . _____ . ____ _ .___________ . _______ .______ _ 229
Etn Predlger muss nleht alleln toei-
den. also dasa er die Schafe unter-
weise. wie sle rechte Christen sollen
!eln. sondern such daneben den Woel-
fen toelmm. d888 sIe die Scha!e n1cht
angrelfen und mIt falscher Lehre ver-
fuehren und Irrtum elntuehren.
Luther
Es 1st keln Ding. das die Leute
mehr bel der ltirche behaelt denn
die gute Predigt. - Apologie. Art. 24.
If the trumpet give :Ill uncertain
soW1d who ahall prepare hlllUlelf to
the bnttle? - 1 Cor. 14. 8.
PubUshed for the
Ev. Loth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBUSBING BOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
ARCHIVE
Theological Observer - ~itd)1idH:3eitgeid)id)md)eg 209
Theological Observer - Sfitd)lidJ~.8dtgefdJidjtIid)e~
I. .2lmtrikll
Lutheran Chiliasts. - Reviewing, in the Lutheran Standard of Jan-
uary 8, The Word of Prophecy by two Augustana clergymen (Samuel
M. Miller and Halvar G. Randolph), Prof. E. C. Fendt of the Columbia
Seminary says among other things:
"The authors believe that what is known in our circles as millen-
nialism is the doctrine of the Scriptures. Yet their book differs from
most of the other books on this subject in that the features incidental
to the millennium are made more prominent than the millennium itself.
Much space is devoted to the national and spiritual restoration of the
Jews; the parousia of the Lord, when He comes for His saints, living
and deceased, who are caught up to meet Him in the air; the tribula-
tions that shall follow this event for those left behind on the earth;
and the return of the Lord for judgment on His enemies. In order not
to say that there will be two comings of the Lord, the parousia is not
classified as a coming, but only as a 'stage of His coming,' the Lord
merely descending from heaven (not reaching the earth) and the caught-
up saints meeting Him in the air. With the saints safely out of the great
tribulation, who are the elect on the earth for whose sakes 'those days
shall be shortened' (Matt. 24: 22) ?
"The millennial teaching of the two resurrections is likewise ex-
pounded. Believers will be raised and judged at the first stage of Christ's
coming. Unbelievers will be raised after an interval of a thousand years
and judged at the return of the Lord in glory. H that is so, why did
the Lord Jesus use the singular for 'hour' in John 5:28, 29? The theory
of two resurrections and two judgments, with an interval of a thousand
years between them, cannot be made to harmonize with the plain state-
ment of Jesus. The teaching of Scripture regarding the suddenness of
the Lord's coming (Luke 10:40; 21:34, 35; 2 Pet. 3:10) becomes meaning-
less for the millennialist, e. g., 'It is only to unbelievers that His return
will be as a thief.' (P.155.)
"If the authors were not so well known and if the name of the
Lutheran Bible Institute were not found on the title-page, one might
suspect that this book had been published under the auspices of another
Bible institute, whose eschatological teaching is gaining adherents in
many denominations, especially among those better known as Funda-
mentalists. Yet when Fundamentalism and millennialism become synon-
ymous (they have for some), the old duality of authority between Scrip-
ture and tradition, Scriptural revelation and human reasoning, is revived.
Men read their expectations into Scripture, then proclaim them as Scrip-
ture, and Scripture goes begging for its own witnesses. The false hope of
an earthly kingdom beclouded the eyes of many of God's people at the
first advent of the Lord; will not millennialism do the same regarding
His second advent?" E.
14
210 Theological Observer - .Rird)lid)~,8eitgefd)id)tlicge~
Striking Excerpts from Dr. J. A. W. Haas's Recently Published Dog-
matic Compend ''What Is Revelation?"-In recent years theological
professors of the U. L. C. A. have published a number of dogmatic com-
pends in which they set forth their more or less liberal views and, in
particular, their often considerable deviations from the Lutheran Con-
fessions. Dr. Haas's recently published compend, brief though it is, is
no exception; it, too, is badly infected with the rationalizing enthusiasm
of modern Continental theology. In our review of the book we have
already pointed out a number of such departures from the Lutheran
standards of faith; we shall add a few more at this place in order that
our readers may see the more clearly how even a supposed conservative
in the U. L. C. A. has in many points left the ancient paths of Lutheran
orthodoxy. On the prevalent disunion of the Lutheran churches of our
country Dr. Haas writes: "In the American Lutheran Church there is
more doctrinal unity than in any other Protestant Church; but the great
hindrances to a closer unity are a too strict adherence to sixteenth- and
seventeenth-century theology and an unwillingness to allow for the
freedom of varying theological inferences and speculations, resting upon
honestly differing interpretations of the Word, which do not impair the
validity and integrity of revelation." (P.152.) In our opinion hardly
anything more unfair could have been written on the matter than just
this. The "theological inferences and speculations" of which Dr. Haas
speaks do not merely rest upon "honestly differing interpretations of ihe
Word." Nor is it true that they do not "impair the validity and integrity
of revelation." The points in controversy are, for instance, the verbal
and plenary inspiration of the Bible, the sola gratia, the question of
faithful Christian profession, and the like. The matter at stake is to keep
out of large Lutheran circles such destructive things as Modernism,
rationalism, syncretism, and the decadence of Lutheran teaching and
practise in general. Men like Dr. Haas represent Melanchthonianism
rather than Lutheranism.
Dr. Haas does not believe in the verbal inspiration of the Bible. He
writes: "Men were never saved by a Bible that was mechanically perfect
in its verbality." (P.1S.) As the context shows, this statement does not
mean that today our copies are no longer without faults, but that the
Bible itself is not verbally reliable. In a discussion of the doctrine of
Scriptural inspiration Dr. Haas says: "A theory of the action of the Spirit
upon men in producing revelation long prevailed that the recipients
were altogether passive. They were supposed to be mere penmen, to
whom the Holy Spirit dictated everything down to detailed and single
words. This idea was wrongly called inspiration, and it consisted in
the action of the Holy Spirit merely pouring the truth into the minds
of men who remained purely passive and whose minds could be com-
pared to blank tablets upon which the Spirit wrote. But the actual con-
dition of the revelation deposited in the Bible is different. There is
a human factor receptive of the divine, and there is a double nature as
there are two natures in Christ. . .. The minds of men do not become
submerged, but they are under the constant guidance of the Spirit, whose
influence is not to be underestimated." (P.83.) While our Lutheran
teachers insisted on the verbal inspiration of the Bible and sometimes
Theological Observer - .Rird)Hd)'8eitgefd)id)tHd)es 211
also used the tenn dictation, current especially among Roman Catholic
theologians of that time, they stated at the same time that the holy
penmen of God wrote volitionally and intelligently and not as the ancient
prophets of pagan idols issued their cryptic message, in a state of en-
thusiasm, in which they were unconscious of what they said. Dr. Haas's
own view of the Bible is that of a book which is essentially human, but
which was composed under the guidance of the Spirit, whose influence
of course (what a wonderful caution!) must not be underestimated.
When Dr. Haas says that "there is a human factor receptive of the
divine" and that "there is a double nature [in the Bible] as there are
two natures in Christ," he is repeating the view of Barthian and other
neorationalist Continental theologians, who regard the Bible as entirely
human in most parts, but divine in those which "urge Christ," that is,
in which the doctrine of salvation is set forth.
And Dr. Haas seems to champion synergism. Of course, he speaks
very guardedly and in places apparently in entire agreement with the
Lutheran Confessions, which affirm the sola gratia. But he also says:
"Regeneration is wholly the work of the Spirit, while conversion includes
our turning to God by the renewed wm of regeneration." (P.121.) That
may not sound very bad; but apparently Dr. Haas teaches that through
regeneration a person is enabled to convert himself by his renewed will,
so that here we have the old Latermannian form of synergism, which
claims that a person converts himself by means of endowed spiritual gifts
or powers. That this really is the sense of Dr. Haas's words is clear from
the statement made a little later: "As man's effort is included in con-
version, and it is not a purely passive operation, it leads on to the
development of spiritual life, generally termed sanctification." (P. 122.)
Dr. Haas here intenningles conversion and sanctification and makes the
activity of the regenerate person in sanctification depend on his activity
or cooperation in conversion.
But let this suffice. The issue is certainly not on minor differences in
interpreting the Bible, but on essentials. In an age when ma"lY Refonned
theologians are reaffirming the doctrines of verbal and plenary inspiration
and of the sola gratia against the encroaching forces of Modernism, it is
a pity to see Lutheran theologians speak in tenns of doubt and denial on
these weighty doctrines. J. T. M.
The U. L. C. and the World Council of Churches. - In the Lutheran
of January 26 the editor writes: "For a while at least we have no in-
tention of becoming excited over the fact that the President of the United
Lutheran Church has been authorized by our Executive Board to be
named one of the sixty persons who will assemble in Holland next May
in order to draft a constitution for the proposed World Council of
Churches. This Council, which will number sixty persons, will serve as
the executive committee for a larger body to be elected by the groups
who were represented at the Oxford and Edinburgh Conferences last
summer. At the latter the United Lutheran Church was officially repre-
sented, but not at Oxford. We were in attendance at a 'continuation
meeting' of the delegates to the two conferences which was held in
Washington, January 10-12. We learned that Western non-Roman
212 Theological Observer - .!titcl){icl)'3eitgefcl)icl)tH~s
groups of Christians were assigned twelve out of the sixty who will
constitute the Council, that Canadian communions get two of the twelve
and American denominations the remaining ten. Unless changes are
made, Methodist and Baptist groups will each have two of the ten, in
recognition of their numbers and of the divisions into Northern and
Southern conferences. There will be an alternate for each primarius.
The alternate for Dr. Knubel was not announced.
"Beyond question, representatives of the Lutheran Church are cor-
dially welcomed in circles such as the one we visited in Washington.
The late Dr. Steimle, Drs. Wentz, Flack, Greever, and the others who go
to the representative conferences of Protestant denominations are heard
respectfully, even when they express limitations to cooperation and dis-
sent to methods and principles proposed. One occasionally hears ex-
pressions of wonder that the Lutheran convictions must be so tenderly
protected from confusion and corruption as to require isolation. But
these are lobby comments and not official expressions. And they are
very politely and carefully phrased. We ourselves sometimes wonder
what would happen if Lutheranism occasionally took a chance on being
infected by contacts. We, however, feel incompetent to draw any con-
clusions.
"But Protestantism with Lutheranism absent is a fifty-per-cent.
group. Protestantism with Northern Europe and Central Europe out of
the Conference really leaves the battle against hierarchy to be waged by
a part of our evangelical forces. Some observers are seeing hierarchy
and dictatorships or hierarchy and Fascism as allies and citing phe-
nomena of rather startling resemblance to portents of a combination of
the two.
"We personally rejoice to know that American Lutherans and at least
a section of Europe's faithful see their way to connection with the World
Council of Churches."
What becomes of the anathema which the apostle hurls at those who
teach another gospel, which is not another? A.
Celibacy Advocated by Some Anglicans. - From London comes the
report that six prominent laymen of the Church of England have ad-
dressed a memorial to its archbishops suggesting that the endeavor be
made to provide an unmarried clergy especially in the foreign field.
The memorial says: "They [i. e., the ordinands] should be invited to con-
sider whether they may not have a true vocation to remain unmarried.
H any man should respond to this invitation, he should be asked to
undertake that he will not marry for five years after ordination except
with the consent of the bishop in whose diocese he is at work. At the
end of the five years he would resume his freedom to embrace either the
vocation of marriage or that of celibacy. It is by this means, without
any violent change, that the gradual evolution of a body of unmarried
clergy is contemplated."
These people mean well, but are they not aware that they are
playing with fire? Voluntary celibacy has always been within the realm
of possibility for the clergy. One is here reminded of how the celibacy
of priests arose in the Church, namely, first as something voluntary,
Theological Observer - ~itd)lid)~.3eitgefd)id)md)e~ 213
which, however, in the course of time was made a yoke from which
there was no escapeo One reaction to the proposal is said to be the
wide-spread view that candidates should remain unmarried for five yearso
A.
The Revised Version again to be Revised. - The International
Council of Religious Education, custodian of the American Standard
Version of the Bible, has ordered a further revision when funds are
available. The King James Version was revised in 1881 by a company
of British and American scholars. The American committee diverged
somewhat from their English colleagues and in due course produced their
Revised Version in 1901 with the consent of the English section. Now,
after a generation of language study and archeological research, there is
held to be a need for another revision. In addition, the statement of the
committee voiced the desire to seek a version which would approximate
the purity of the English of the so-called Authorized Version. In spite
of undoubted excellencies of scholarship neither of the revisions has ever
displaced the 1611 version for devotional purposes and for public reading.
The Presbyterian
The Child Labor Amendment in Kentucky. - The commonwealth of
Kentucky by its Court of Appeals has unanimously declared invalid, and
therefore without effect, the recent ratification by its Legislature of the
so-called Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States. It is the court's contention: first, that a State having once acted
on an amendment has no right later to reverse its vote without a re-
submission of the question to Congress; secondly, that an amendment is
definitely rejected and ipso facto outside the field of further consideration
if more than one fourth of the States have affirmed their rejection of
any measure submitted; and thirdly, that further action by a State has
lost its potency and is therefore invalid if taken after failure to reach
decision "within a reasonable time" following submission. So writes
Dr. Ewing in the Presbyterian of December 30, 1937. He tells us that
Kentucky, in 1926, rejected the amendment. In January, 1937, the action
was reversed. "It is the claim of the Kentucky Court of Appeals that
to reassemble the Legislature of a State and repeat an election after an
amendment has been submitted and a decision given is to do violence
to the Constitution and therefore to the only method we have of enacting
laws, and that the act purporting to ratify the Youth Control Amend-
ment of January 13, 1937, is therefore without effect." A.
Citizenship Refused to Conscientious Objectors. - In the Living
Church we read that Rev. Theodore Bell, rector of St. John's Church,
Del Monte, an Englishman by birth, was refused citizenship papers be-
cause he stated "that he would be willing to take part only in a war of
defense and that he himself and not the State would have to decide
whether the war was one of defense or agression." The case has been
appealed. Before a decision is handed down, disposition of a test case
now before the United States Supreme Court will be awaited. From
the same source we learn that in Chicago a Mennonite minister, Abraham
Warkentin, was denied citizenship by a decision of the United States
Circuit Court of Appeals because he refused to promise that he would
bear arms when called upon to do so by his country. That the Episco-
palian was right in stating that, while he was willing to obey the
Government of the United States, he would consider it his prime duty
to observe the principle voiced by the apostles "We ought to obey God
rather than men," ought to be conceded. Different is the case of the
Mennonite, who states that he under no circumstances will bear arms
under the flag of his country. If a government refuses to grant citizen-
ship to people holding such tenets, it is within its rights. The Mennonite,
it is true, will argue that he, too, merely gives first place to the principle
that we must obey God rather than men and that he refuses to bear
arms because this, as he sees it, is contrary to the will of God. The
State, however, has a right to say that with such tenets held by its
citizens its existence is impossible and that hence it cannot acknowledge
as citizens people of this type. A.
An Episcopalian Teesterite. - In 1934 Albert Teester, a Holiness
preacher of Sylva, N. C., got a lot of publicity when he allowed a rattle-
snake to bite him, publicly, in his pulpit, in order to prove the truth of
his religion and the power of God to protect him. An epidemic of
"rattlesnake religion" thereupon broke out. Other Holiness people were
demanding similar "signs" from their preachers. Just now the daily
press is reporting the doings of Dean Israel H. N oe of the Memphis
Cathedral. On January 2 he inaugurated his fast, abstaining from food
and water, on the plea that the Church needs to offer living proof of
man's immortality to bring doubters to its services. He declared from
the pulpit, as quoted by the secular press and the Living Church, that,
"unless the Church of Jesus Christ in this twentieth century can produce
a demonstration of the fact that the whole Gospel can be lived here and
now by man, the Church will be compelled to close its doors, and the
sooner it closes its doors, the better it will be for men." He further
declared that through abstinence from material food and "taking strength
from the divine source" man can "put on the Godhead bodily." His
only material food was thc sip of wine and Communion wafers he was
taking three times weekly. Next year, he said, he will require nothing.
Naturally there was a lot of publicity. "A lot of strange faces" appeared
at his services and a member of the cathedral chapter testified: "He
gave me a conception of religion I never had before, and I am not the
only one who feels that way." On January 20 the bishop removed him
as dean of the cathedral. This and the continued fast told on the dean,
and on January 23 he was removed to a hospital, where forced feeding
was at once started in an effort to save his life.
The Living Church of January 26 commented on the affair as follows:
"No doubt the dean is trying to illustrate his thesis by his sensational
tactics; but he is pitifully wrong in the way he is going about it. 'The
whole Gospel' does not counsel men to do without bodily food, nor does
it substitute the Bread of Life for material sustenance. God might have
made man a pure spirit like the angels, but He did not do so. . . .
If Dean N oe is trying to force God to perform a miracle by sustaining
his life without food, he is engaging in an act of presumption that is
dangerously close to blasphemy." E.
Theological Observer - .Ritd)lid)~3eitgefd)id)md)e~ 215
The Barthian View of the Bible. - In reply to a question on this point
Christianity Today (December, 1937) offers a very satisfactory descrip-
tion of the Barthian view of the Bible. Since Barthianism forces itself
upon the attention of theologians also in our country, a few striking
quotations from the excellent article may be well in place in these
columns. The writer says: "It is important to keep clearly in mind that
the Barthians do not use the phrases 'the Bible' and 'the Word of God'
as synonymous. The significance they attach to the Word of God cannot
without qualification be attached to the Bible. To perceive the relation
between the two as they understand it, we need to remember that Barth
distinguishes three forms of the Word of God: 1. the Word of God as
given to the prophets and apostles or as spoken through Jesus Christ
(original revelation); 2. the written Word of God (the Bible); 3. the
Word of God in sermon or proclamation. The Barthians distinguish more
sharply between the Word of God in the first form and the Word of God
in the second form than Christians have generally done. They never
identify these two forms. Hence they never say that the Bible is the Word
of God. They hold rather that the relation which the Bible sustains to the
Word of God is indirect, somewhat like the relation that the sermon
sustains to the Word of God. As the latter hold that the contents of the
sermon are to be regarded as the Word of God only in as far as it is
a true exposition of the Bible, so the Barthians hold that the Bible is the
Word of God only in as far as it brings to men a knowledge of this
original revelation or since this primary revelation is timeless only as
God Himself speaks to them through the words of the Bible. The Bible
contains the witness of the prophets and apostles to the Word of God
that was spoken to them; but their words are never identified with the
Word of God. It is important to keep this in mind lest we apply what
Barthians say of the Word of God directly to the Bible. How little the
Barthians are disposed to identify the Bible as a whole with the Word of
God is indicated by the freedom with which they assert that the Bible
contains errors and contradictions and is overgrown with legend. They
frequently disavow belief in the infallibility of the Bible, including of
course the verbal inspiration; for they hold that science and historical
and literary criticism have made such beliefs impossible. Many of them,
probably most of them, accept the conclusions of the destructive Bible
critics. Bultmann is one of the most radical of the New Testament
critics. Brunner confesses: 'I myself am an adherent of a rather radical
school of Biblical . criticism, which, for example, does not accept the
gospel of John as an historical source and which finds legends in many
parts of the synoptic gospels.' Barth himself writes: 'The Bible is the
literary monument of an ancient racial religion and of a Hellenistic
cultus religion of the Near East. A human document like any other, it
can lay no a-priori dogmatic claim to special attention and consideration.
This judgment, being announced by every tongue and believed in every
territory, we may take for granted today.' What has been said has
perhaps sufficed at least to indicate the difference between the Barthian
and the orthodox views of the Bible. According to the latter, the Bible
as a whole is the Word of God, the infallible rule of faith and practise,
not merely human fallible words concerning the Word of God. It has
216 Theological Observer - ,reitd)lid)~.8eitgefd)id)m~~
served to indicate, moreover, that the Barthian view of the Bible has
marked resemblances to the Modernist view." Afterwards the writer
expresses the caution that Barthianism must not be identified with
Modernism, since "Barthians are neither Fundamentalists nor Mod-
ernists." Nevertheless, while Barthians are not Modernists of the com-
mon order, their rationalism, which rejects the Bible as the sole source
and norm of faith, is of the same stripe as that of ordinary Modernism,
the difference between the two being only in degree, not in kind. Both
are departures from the divine truth and as such destructive of true faith.
J.T.M.
An Anti-Evolution Philosopher. - Those of our readers who are
philosophically inclined will relish a few sentences from a book review
in the Christian Century in which a work by Mortimer J. Adler having
the title What Man has Made of Man: a Study of the Consequences of
Platonism and Positivism in Psychology is described. (The work is pub-
lished by Longmans, Green and Company, and the price is $3.50.) The
writer, in the four lectures constituting the book, exalts, so we are told,
the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas as the non plus ultra in this sphere.
"Dr. Adler has no use for the incursions by modern scientists into phi-
losophy. Let them stick to their own lasts and not have the brazen
cheek to make raids into the domain of being as it is. Again and again,
in the lectures and the supplementary notes, he maintains that the
lamentable messes into which modern philosophy has repeatedly got
itself, all the way from Descartes to Bergson and Whitehead, have re-
sulted from the wild speculations of scientists off their proper beats and
reckless attempts of philosophers to build up systems of metaphysics
from the findings of the scientists. An adequate knowledge of St. Thomas
Aquinas would have curbed their wilful heaven-soaring pride and saved
them from mental confusion." While this was the position of Dr. Adler
in the first lecture, in the second and the third, according to the reviewer,
he pursues the same themes and sets forth these thoughts: "It is because
of the same fund,i((ental cO!l.iusion that we find modern philosophy
affected with subjectivism, or psychologism, from Descartes to Kant,
giving rise to dualism, materialism, subjective and objective idealism,
and then capitulating to evolutionism in the nineteenth century or giving
up the ghost as positivism. To the same confusion is due the variegated
crop of mutually incompatible psychologies, all the way from introspec-
tive associationism to mechanistic behaviorism and Gestaltism. It is
a sad toll of lost souls, wandering in the darkness, ignorant of the
towering lighthouse that rose from Aquin and has shone ever since."
As far as Dr. Adler's affirmations deal with modern views, we are dis-
posed to hold that they are true. But whether the remedy Dr. Adler
proposes, a return to the position of Aquin, is satisfactory, one is in-
clined to doubt. A.
The Roman Catholic Church and Fascism. - In a vigorous article
appearing in the Christian Century Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, professor at
Union Seminary, assails the Catholic Church for favoring Fascist views.
He has given his article the heading "The Catholic Heresy." We quote
some of his striking sentences. "It is becoming daily more apparent
that the Catholic Church has cast its lot with fascistic politics. In Ger-
Theological Observer - Ritcf)1id)'3eitgefcf)icf)mcf)e~ 217
many the Church is reduced to the pathetic role of begging the Nazis
kindly to let it cooperate in their anti-Communist campaign, since the
Pope hates Communism as much as Hitler does. Many a liberal
Catholic, particularly in America, does not like Fascism. Political liberal
Catholics do not deny that their choice of Fascism is a hard alternative.
They justify it by the assertion that Fascism does not intend to destroy
the Church, while Communism does. One might answer that Fascism
intends to destroy Christianity if it should not succeed in corrupting it
and making it serve its purely national purpose. But that does not make
an important contribution to the problem. The Catholic might answer
that sufficient unto the day are the evils thereof. For the moment only
German Fascism is avowedly antichristian. In Austria Fascism is com-
pletely clerical, and in Italy it has made a cynical bargain with the
Church. A real problem is whether the Catholic position is justified
from the Christian standpoint. . .. The real basis of the Catholic posi-
tion in modern politics lies in the most characteristic of all documents
of the Church, its identification of the Church with the kingdom of God.
For the Catholic the Church is an unqualifiedly divine institution. It is
Christ on earth in history, as the Pope is the vicar of Christ." Professor
Niebuhr then quotes as altogether wrong an English writer, whom, as
he says, he holds in the highest esteem, V. A. Demant, who made this
statement: "Where formal atheism and antichristian paganism are at
issue, however much in line with Christian justice the aims of the
secular movement may be and however oppressive, corrupt, super-
stitious, and worldly the Church may be, I will not allow the sins of
the Christian bodies to prevent my siding with those who uphold the
Church against those who would destroy it. It would be a tragic and
unholy choice, but it would have to be made, because the essential
content of the body of Christ is a more ultimate thing than the most
perfect system of social justice." When Professor Niebuhr speaks of
the "identification of the Church with the kingdom of God as a Roman
Catholic position" he of course has in mind that Roman Catholics make
the Church an external organization and power. He arrives at the con-
clusion that there is no difference ultimately between the Catholic
position and that of Fascists and of Communists. On both sides he
finds "the very quintessence of sin, the tendency of man to make him-
self god." We must of course not overlook that under the gracious
providence of God even in the corrupt Roman Catholic Church some
fragments of Gospel truth have remained and people are brought into
the kingdom of our Savior. A.
A True Appraisal of Science. - A strange message it is, appearing as
it does in a modernistic journal, which the editor of the Christian Cen-
tury, Dr. Morrison, sounds forth in its issue of January 12, 1938. In
a lengthy editorial with the caption "Can Science Save Us?" he com-
ments on the recent meeting of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science held in Indianapolis and quotes prominently the
words of the president, Professor Conklin of Princeton: "Why should not
science count religion an ally and not an enemy in this process of domes-
ticating and civilizing the wild beast in man?" Science is worried,
218 Theological Observer - .Ritd)nd)<8eitgeid)id)tlid)e~
Dr. Morrison maintains. For one thing, it finds in the world today a ten-
dency to destroy its freedom of research. But there is something more
alarming. "The other thing which is happening is that the civilization
which has grown up under the inveterate freedom of science for the
past three centuries is itself in a state of near collapse. This huge fact
stares the scientist in the face at the very moment when he arises to
defend his freedom. He cannot make a plausible apologetic for scientific
freedom, or ask for its continuance, without reckoning with the embar-
rassillg fact that it is a scientific civilization that is in trouble. If it
were a religious civilization, or a primitive civilization, or a superstitious
civilization, that confronted the scientist, he could boldly and plausibly
prescribe science as the cure of the ailment that afflicts it. But it cer-
tainly is not a primitive or a superstitious civilization but a highly
sophisticated one, and the Christian Church is just now waking to the
fact that it is not a religious civilization in any Christian sense. Chris-
tianity maintains hardly more than a vestigial existence in the Western
World. The place formerly occupied by Christianity has been taken by
science, which sets the effective patterns of Western culture ... , When
scientists rise to defend their freedom and offer science as the cure of
our social illness, it is inevitable that they will be asked to give a
steward's account of the freedom which science has enjoyed in the past.
Any attempt to answer this demand will lead, in our opinion, to the
conclusion that science does not afford a sound basis for civilization.
The bald truth is that science itself is part of the problem which civiliza-
tion now confronts. . .. Our knowledge has outstripped our devotion.
The springs of faith and humility have been allowed to dry up. In his
preoccupation with science, man has made an idol of his own knowledge
and has fallen down before it. . ., Science has made man ill. In the
delirium of his egoism he goes forth into his world of sky-scrapers and
telescopes and radios and aeroplanes and machine industry and medicine
and exclaims, 'Behold great Babylon that I have builded!' But man
by himself cannot build an enduring civilization. A civilization which
rests upon a humanistic foundation is an artifact, not a natural creation.
The very science which is used to create it will be seized by tyrants to
destroy it. . .. This explains what is meant above by the statement
that science is itself a part of the problem which civilization confronts.
Science cannot claim to be the solution of this problem. It has added
vastly to the complexity of the sheer business of living. It has not made
living easier, but harder. Its marvelous discoveries call for something
which it cannot itself supply. They call for the recognition of an object
of supreme devotion, a God who transcends all our scientific knowledge
and our pursuit of knowledge, in whose hand are the forces with which
science works, whether in physical nature or in history or in the con-
temporary social order, whose is the power and the glory in every
achievement of man's hand and mind. Only religion-only the Chris-
tian religion - can sustain a scientific civilization. . " If today the
Church is waking from its complacency, becoming aware of its own faith,
and girding itself for a great undertaking in preaching the Gospel which
has been given it of God, there is no more strategic place for it to begin
than to evangelize science itself."
Theological Observer - ~itcf)licf)'8eitgefcf)icf)tlicf)es 219
If the editor in speaking of evangelizing science means that scientists
need the message of Christ and should be brought to worship at the
foot of the cross, we agree with him. Generally speaking, his words
should be noted by all who are unduly impressed by the claims of
pseudoscientists and their numerous followers, as well as by all religious
workers who have been slighting their chief duty, that of spreading the
Gospel. A.
Catholic Action against Gambling. -A peculiar "Believe It or Not"
(apologies to Ripley) greeted the public of Milwaukee and its environs
November 19 when the front page of the Milwaukee papers carried
columns of news bearing this caption, "Catholics Ban Gambling," and
went on to tell that Archbishop Streich of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
sent letters to his clerical constituency that all games of chance, such
as bingo, paddle-wheels, and the like, should be banned from their
bazaars; also, that the selling of beer at these affairs should be dis-
continued. This had come about by an investigation of the Ministerial
Association of Milwaukee of the taverns and night life of the great city.
A committee of three pastors had spent six months investigating in-
cognito the taverns and night life of the city. When the report was
issued to the papers, a great furor arose. The tavern-keepers were
horrified to learn of the dens of iniquity they were running, and im-
mediately letters began pouring in to the papers telling the Church to
clean its own heels or to cast out beams in their own eyes first.
Immediate attention was called to the churches that were conducting
lotteries and selling beer at their social affairs. And of course this hit
the Catholic Church the hardest. So much pressure was being brought
to bear upon the three pastors who brought in the report that they had
to call to the churches of the city and their members for support. But
thanks be to God, the churches have responded, all of them offering
their support, even the Lutherans. And now the Catholics. Only one
of the papers (and that supposedly controlled by the Catholics) points
out this loophole in this Catholic action. The letters were addressed
to the pastors of the churches and not to the Catholic fraternal organiza-
tions, which are the worst offenders. Weare all waiting with bated
breath to see what happens. "Believe it or not."
The Lutheran, Dec. 15, 1937
Brief Items. - The Dawn, a Jewish-Christian periodical, is respon-
sible for the repetition of the statement that "seventeen years ago,
through the Associated Press in the United States, there was offered
one thousand dollars to anyone who could demonstrate an unquestioned
contradiction between a fact of science and a statement of the Scriptures.
The thousand dollars is still in the hands of the bureau." Here is a chance
for the "militant godless" in Russia or the aggressive and blatant atheists
in America. Perhaps, judging from surface conditions, they may think
that an attack on a book unused by so many would not create sufficient
disturbance. But even if it did, the judgment of the authority of the
Scriptures by the yard-measure of science is not of prime importance.
The heart and soul of the people is beyond that measure. - The Lutheran.
When recently a stewardship conference was held in Philadelphia,
which was attended by more than 200 delegates representing 18 religious
220 Theological Observer - mrd)!id);,{leitgefd)id)Hid)es
bodies in the United States and 2 in Canada, a fact that was given
prominence was that according to the view of 9,500 representative
citizens religion is not gaining but losing in our country, and moral
standards are not improving but deteriorating. The following, according
to an exchange, represents the situation with respect to the finances:
"Governmental and other statistics indicate that since 1932, although
Americans have increased their annual income by 61 per cent., gifts have
actually decreased by 18 per cent. to colleges, by 24 per cent. to com-
munity chests, by 29 per cent. to general benevolences, and by 30 per
cent. to churches. Out of the average American dollar only 2 cents go
to religion and welfare, according to the survey." If this information is
correct, conditions are lamentable.
Dr. Williams Adams Brown of Union Seminary, lecturing recently
in the University of Chicago, stated that he agreed with Dr. Hutchins,
president of the University of Chicago, in the demand that a university
must find some unifying principle which will give its activities meaning
and direction. According to the Christian Century Dr. Brown holds that
such a principle is to be found not in metaphysics, as President Hutchins
contends, but in theology. One cannot suppress the question whether the
theology which Dr. Brown's proposal might make prominent in the cur-
ricula of universities would not be very much akin to Dr. Hutchins's
metaphysics, after all, because in all probability it would not be Biblical
theology but human speculation.
In certain circles people are becoming agitated over the question
which a Congregational minister in Detroit asked his congregation mem-
bers, "Must we have sermons?" 54.43 per cent. of the members gave an
affirmative answer. It is to be noted, however, that 42 per cent. desire
to have services now and then without sermons. It was but a small
section, 3 per cent., that would rather have no sermons at all in the
services at any time. Perhaps this paragraph ought to include the remark
that the question under consideration was first put by Bruce Barton.
A lengthy article in the Living Church opposes joint Communion
services. While many of the arguments employed are trivial or un-
tenable, there is included likewise the following consideration: to hold
a joint Communion service "is morally dubious, if not sacrilegious, on
our part, because we invite those 'not discerning the Lord's body' to
receive the blessed Sacrament." A further argument is worded thus,
"It substitutes unity in action for unity in faith." The editor could have
made his case much stronger if he had dwelt more thoroughly on the
unionistic features of such services.
A report from London says that the Church of Abyssinia has been
compelled by the Italian masters to become independent. Heretofore it
was connected with the Church of Alexandria, a Monophysite body.
From Berlin comes the information that of the pastors who were im-
prisoned on account of opposition to Nazi church policies, thirteen are
still in confinement, among them Pastor Martin Niemoeller.
A 1936 copy of The Fellowship, a paper published by E. Stanley
Jones, contains remarks in reply to the question of one of our mission-
aries, in which it becomes evident that E. Stanley Jones looks upon the
Gospel as including the message of healing of physical diseases. When
asked how people who hold divergent views on the doctrine of justifi-
cation by grace, through faith, could belong to one and the same church-
body, he replied: "The center around which the scheme [that is, the
scheme of union] revolves is that you and your brother would both
accept the confession of Peter 'Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God.' If you do, that is sufficient agreement to unite on. As to the other
question of justification by faith and by works, you will probably find
that each needs the corrective of the other at that point, just as Paul
and James in their epistles correct each other and give the additional
emphasis. (See Jas. 2: 14-26.)" According to this, it would not be difficult
to unite Christ and Belial.
In the Madras Mail it was reported that at a recent meeting of the
South India United Church, a unionistic body, the matter of prohibition
was discussed at length. Among other things the report said: "The
assembly was glad to know that in at least four of its eight constituent
church councils one of the qualifications for an office-bearer in the
church was total abstinence from alcoholic drink. The assembly resolved
to urge all church councils to adopt the same rule and seriously to con-
sider whether the time had not come in South India to make total
abstinence a condition of membership for all desiring to join the church.
Where such is not already the practise, the assembly resolved to urge
upon the councils the use of non-fermented grape juice or its equivalent
in the central act of the worship of the church." Laxity with respect to
doctrine, fanaticism in regard to adiaphora - a sad story.
That there still are people who are not swept off their feet by the
tendency to let the churches go into politics can be seen from a statement
made by Dr. A. C. Headlam, Bishop of Gloucester, England, last summer.
Stating that he is opposed to the World Conference of Churches, he said
according to the Manchester Guardian: "Over many years I have fol-
lowed the resolutions passed by Christian churches on political, social,
or semipolitical matters, and they often seem to me to appear inex-
perienced and ill considered. A World Council of Churches might lead
to considerable friction between the nations and might very likely be
a cause rather than a prevention of war."
With amazement we read that St. John's University of Shanghai,
though it could not begin its autumn term at the time scheduled but
had to wait till October 18, nevertheless now is carrying on its work
again, the university campus on the outskirts of the city having been
temporarily abandoned and the school being conducted in a huge office-
building in the heart of the business district. We are told that no one
connected with the university was killed or wounded.
Committees of the Episcopalians and the Northern Presbyterians are
now trying to bring about a closer union between the two denominations.
The Episcopalians, it will be recalled, decided at their last convention to
invite the Presbyterians to join them in the declaration that the two
bodies are willing formally to declare their purpose to achieve organic
union. The matter has now been discussed by the committees and was
expected to be on the agenda of the General Council of the Presbyterian
Church in the United States of America, which will meet in Philadelphia
March 1.
In Canada a famous author has died, Dr. Charles W. Gordon, better
known by his pen-name Ralph Conner. His wholesome novels are said
to have circulated by millions.
Bishop Lane of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church died on De-
cember 4, 103 years old. On the same day another colored bishop died,
Rev. Elias Cottrell, 80 years old. Both men were born in slavery.
With respect to the situation in Russia one of our exchanges quotes
the Russian Commissar of Education as follows: "For the moment we
will change our fighting tactics against the Church. During the past
twenty years [nearly] we have used every sort of force in our fight
against religion. That period is at an end. The new period will witness
a spiritual fight against religion. This fight will call for even greater
efforts than violence. Above all, we shall need a large number of highly
trained and cultured propagandists. When the second period shall be
closed, then the third and last period will be entered upon, in which
religion in the Soviet Union will exist only as a historical memory."
Is it not as though the old pagan persecutors had come back to life?
A.
The Tnl.e Cause of ~ii" ~um.i..ag of the Lutheran Fathers to Australia.
Under this subtitle, in a comprehensive article having the heading "A Hun-
dred Years of Lutheranism in Australia," the Australian Lutheran Almanac,
in a special centenary edition (1838-1938), offers a splendid review of
the history of the founding and development of our sister Church in that
land. The Almanac itself has been gotten out very attractively, em-
bellished with numerous illustrations, of great use to readers especially
in our own country, and a very beautiful cover. But the principal
feature of the year-book is the article on the growth of our Lutheran
Church in Australia. We regard the matter as sufficiently important to
offer at this place a number of valuable excerpts.
We read: "The real reason-and the only reason-given by the
Prussian records why the Lutheran fathers were subjected to coercion
and persecution was their conscientious refusal to obey the king,
Frederick William ill, in matters affecting their Church, religion, and
conscience. The king himself was not, and never had been, a member
of the Lutheran Church. . ., The Lutherans refused obedience chiefly
on two grounds, (1) because the state church taught doctrines and ad-
vocated principles at variance with the teaching of the Lutheran Church,
and (2) because the king had no right and authority to dictate to them
in matters pertaining to their faith and religion. The consequence was
the enactment of laws and the issuing of decrees designed to bring the
'recalcitrant' Lutherans to their knees. But no coercion and persecution
could crush the spirit of resistance and defiance manifested by these
Lutherans. Fines were levied; goods and homes confiscated; pastors
deposed from office; churches forcibly taken; tempting offers of promo-
tion and special emoluments held out to those pastors who would cease
their resistance; imprisonment ordered; the military employed to crush
Theological Observer - .Ritd)lid)~2eitgeid)id)md)e!l 223
the Lutherans; divine services prohibited; and a comprehensive system
of police espionage inaugurated. But all in vain; these Lutherans could
not be induced to act contrary to their honest and conscientious con-
victions. Even official declarations that the marriages performed by Lu-
theran pastors were 'illegal' and the offspring of such marriages 'illegiti-
mate' could not induce these Lutherans to forsake their pastors, renounce
their faith, and submit to the demands of the king. Far sooner pay fines
and suffer imprisonment or migrate to another country in search of
liberty of conscience. This latter course was eventually adopted."
How hard it was for those faithful Lutherans to leave their homes,
is further described as follows: "The most heartrending circumstances
were connected with the voluntary expatriation and migration of the
'fathers.' Interesting and touching accounts are related by reliable eye-
witnesses. . .. A writer, not a member of the Lutheran Church, says:
"These Silesian Lutherans were devotedly attached to their fatherland;
they had to undergo a terrible struggle to tear themselves away from it,
and they sold their land, houses, and furniture with many tears. The
most sacred ties of relationship had to be rent. Though the pictures
drawn of religious liberty to be enjoyed on the other side of the world
might be ever so attractive, the parting from the homes of the fathers
and the scenes of their childhood and youth, the long voyage over the
great ocean, the perils to which they were exposing themselves in their
small, frail vessels, and the uncertainty of the future in a foreign land
weighed heavily in the opposite scale. There were other distressing
circumstances, since young men liable to military service could not ob-
tain a passport and had to remain behind, children under guardianship
were refused permission to accompany their relatives, and in some in-
stances even husband and wife were torn asunder, the one thinking it
a sin to go, the other to remain." Of the sacrifices made by the
Lutherans for the faith the article next says: "Many of the persecuted
Lutherans were in poor circumstances financially and had not the means
to cover the expense of the voyage. In such instances the wealthier
members of the congregation came to their assistance. In one parish
alone four farmers came forward with 20,500 thaler to enable the poorer
members of the congregation to join their more fortunate brethren."
When the Lutherans refused to pay the heavy fines levied on them for
refusing to yield obedience to the government in matters of conscience,
the persecution reached its zenith. Since the fines were not paid willingly,
they were extracted by the government by distraining. Of this the
writer says: "These distraints gradually grew more and more oppres-
sive; the day-laborer's cow and necessary household furniture were
taken away, and even the bed of the widow was seized. In this way
the poor people lost more than double the original fine imposed; for
when their goods and chattels were put up for sale by auction, they went
for next to nothing because very few people chose to bid at all, under
the impression that a curse must lie on goods thus violently wrested from
poor people who, as everybody admitted, were as loyal to their king and
government as any other citizens in the land, except that they refused to
the state the right to dictate their religion and compel them to forsake
the faith of their fathers and join the state church established by the
224 Theological Observer - ~itq,nq,~8eitgefq,iq,mq,es
king." When describing the impression which finally this resistance
made upon the government officials, the article declares: "That thousands
in Prussia should be willing to leave their dear fatherland for the sake
of their Church and creed was so unexpected and amazing a thing to
the Prussian authorities that they became bewildered and gradually
learned to heed the decided veto church history records against all at-
tempts to coerce religious conviction."
The whole article is so well written that we wish it could be dis-
seminated for general reading in wide circles also in our own Church
by publication in pamphlet form; for it very clearly teaches our own
weakening generation the virtues of loyalty and fortitude in the pro-
fession of the pure Gospel and of our blessed Lord. J. T. M.
The Lntheran Church in Finland. - An article published in the
Lutheran Companion of December 16, 1937, and January 6, 1938, by the
Rev. Oscar N. Olson contains the following:
While Finland has not been entirely uninfluenced by the various
cross-currents and religious movements that have passed over Prot-
estantism, such as pietism, orthodoxy, rationalism, and Modernism, it has
been remarkably free from internal schisms and separatism. In this
respect it is probably the most Lutheran country in the world, 98 per
cent. of the entire population of 3,500,000 being members of the Lutheran
Church, even since the Church is no longer a state church nor member-
ship is obligatory ....
The orthodoxy of the seventeenth century was followed by the
pietism of John Arndt and Francke, upon which the rationalism of the
eighteenth century made little impression. While the official religion as
expressed in doctrination, churchgoing, and the use of the Sacraments
may have appeared to many as dead and formal, it did furnish the fuel
which the divine spark could kindle into a living flame. This happened
in the revivals of the nineteenth century. These revivals broke forth
in different places and times seemingly independently of one another-
and yet fed from the same source. Each moment, however, had a char-
acter of its own, which has continued down to the present day.
These revivals started in Northeastern Finland. A peasant, Paavo
Ruotsalainan (1777-1852), was the leader. The movement was character-
ized by a deep sense of sin. Men and women knelt in the fields, praying
for the salvation of their souls. Sturdy men swooned in the churches
during the preaching; only the reassuring word of pardon for sins could
revive them. Another group laid great stress on prayer. At their prayer
sessions they would literally wait upon the Lord until the Spirit moved
them, much in the manner of the Quakers.
A movement known as evangelical was started by F. G. Hedberg
(1811-1893), whose followers were called Hedbergians. The movement
may have had some influence on the so-called "Northland Readers,"
some of whom were pioneers in our own synod [Augustana]. In this
movement the universality of God's grace and the objective factors of
Christianity, the Scriptures, and the Sacraments were strongly stressed.
It probably served as a wholesome check upon a too great subjectivism
usually associated with revivalism.
Theological Observer - .reitd)1id)~8eitllefd)id)md)e~ 225
One of the most noteworthy manifestations of the spiritual revival
was that known as Laestadianism, which was started by L. L. Laestadius
(1800-1861). Its main features are ecstatic emotionalism and emphasis
upon private confession and absolution either to the pastor or among
themselves. The movement originated in Lappland, whence it has spread
especially to Northern Finland. While the spontaneous ecstatic outbursts
of this movement undoubtedly are grotesque, its regenerating effect on
morals have been undeniable.
All these movements have sprung up within the Church itself and
have remained loyal to it, differing in this respect from such separatistic
movements as Methodism, Waldenstromianism, etc. The pietistic revivals
in Finland have been born of the Lutheran spirit [?] and bred on Lu-
theran literature and have not, as in Sweden, suffered much from Re-
formed influences. Exotic sects like the Pentecostals, Baptists, and Ad-
ventists or any tendency toward separation find little response in Finland.
E.
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±eiIt bie ,,~. @i. S3. ~." ba£l ~oIgenbe mit: ,,$£lie jillarfdjauer fat~oIifdje
~re1feagentur liringt cine IDlelbung au£l .llRo£lfau, bie cinen lDidung£lboI1en
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,;sa~te£l 1936 in£lgefamt 42,800 od~ob06e @IeiftIidje ,Iiquibied' tlJorben feien.
@Sie feien aum Steil etfdjoffen, aum Steil in ben .8tlJang£larlieit£lragern in
@Siliitien bem ficf)eren Stob aU£lgefe~± tlJorben. ~on ben 200 ebangeIifcf)en
~aftoren, bie im ~a~te 1917 in ffiuf;Ianb tiitig getlJefen feien, fcien ljeute
nut nodj bier am S3even. ~on ben 810 @Ieiftricf)en unb adjt mifcf)ofen bet
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bet meiften @IeiftIicf)en bet anbetn ~itcf)en gdeift. ~rrein im ,;sa~t 1936
feicn 800 @IeiftIicf)e gefangengefe~t tlJotben, bon benen nacf)lDei£lIicf) 102 et"
lcf)offen tlJotben feien. '3)ie illiriaen JolIen betfdjicH tlJotben iein." $£liefet
\8etidjt itimmt mit anbcrn, bie au£l ffiu13Ianb m~nIicf)e£l mitgtda ~alien.
jillefcf) cine unau£lflltedjhdje mtutaIitiit fteclt bodj im Unglauben, tlJenn et
fteie S)anb ljat, feinen S)an gegen ba£l Gl:ljtiftentum aut ~u£lfU~mng au
vtingen 1 ~. St. IDl.
~ie I5tellnug bet SHtdjen im untillnnHII~innftifdjeu Stnnt. ~uf biefe
t\'rage fam ber S)ett ffieicf)£lminiftet fUr bie fitdjIicf)en ~ngelegenljei±en, ~ettl,
bei cinet Sfuubgeliung bet ~@S$£l~~. in ~ulba am 24. ~obemVet au fptecf)en.
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fdjen @Staat". jilli! fonnen bem, lDa£l bet IDliniftet wet "pofitibe£l Gl:~tiften"
tum" unb "lietgebetfetenben @IIauben" fagte, nicf)t auftimmen. @ir bet,.
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ocitungen betoffentIicf)ten meticf)± be~ $£l~m -; "jillit ljalten e£l fUt unfete
15
226 Theological Observer - ~it4J{i4J~2eitgef4Ji4Jt1i4Je~
l13flid)t, ben SDeutfd)en bie reI i g i 0 f e iY rei ij e i t unter alIen Umftiinben
au getoiiijdeiften. ~~ ift ba~ perfonlid)e !Red)t be~ einae1nen, fid) bie !Reli~
gion~gefelIfd)aft fellift au~aufud)en. SDie nationalfoaialiftifd)e !Regierung qat
bie l13flid)t, bafUr au forgen, bat ein poIitifd)er mij3oraud) ber !Religion unter
allen Umftiinben bermieben toitb. ~~ ift an fid) nid)t bie ~ufgaoe ber natio~
naifoaiaIiftifd)en !Regierung, hie ~rqaltung bon S'i!ird)en burd) z3ufd)iiffe unb
burd) @lieuern bon fid) au~ au fid)ern. SDa~ ift bie ~ u f gao e b e r @ Iii: u ~
o i g en, benen e~ ooIiegen mut, fUr bie S'i!irclje au forgen, 1IU ber fie ge~
qoren toollen. imenn bie~ aud) nid)t fofod burd)gefUljd toirb, fo fteijt e~
bod) aI~ 8 i e I fef!." SDa~ ftimmt boIIig iiberein mit ben @runbfaten unb
8ielen ljinfid)tIid) be~ merljiiltniffe~ bon S'i!ird)e uub @liaat, fUr bie toir in
unferer iYreifird)e feit ZSaljrileqnten eingeiteten finb, nid)i nur mit imoden,
fonbern aud) burd) bie !itat, inbem toit unfer S'i!ird)entoefen oqne ftaatrid)e
?8eiljiffe burd) freitDilIige @aben ber @Iiiuoigen aUfted)terljaUen qaoen.
SDer minifter toie~ im toeiteren merlauf feiner !Rebe barauf qin, bat
bie oeil:)en groten Stird)en in SDeutfd)Ianb, bie romifd)~failjoIifd)e unb hie
ebangeIifd)e, 1Iufammen jiiljrIid) 105 milIionen mad an @liaat~Ieiftungen
erljarten qiitten unb bat aUBerbem ber @ltaat fUr fie iiiljrlid) 200 miIIionen
mad an S'i!ird)enfteuern eingeaogen ljabe 1 SDer nationalfuaiaIiftifd)e @ltaat,
fo edIO:de &Jerr S'i!erd, fonne nid)t meqr an einem @ltaai~fird)entum feft~
qarten, ba~, toie immer e~ auclj im einaeInen geadet fei, auf bem @runbfat!
tute Cuius regio, eius religio (ba~ ljeiBi, bie !Religion ber Untedanen qat
ficlj nad) ber !Religion be~ .l3anbe~qerrn ober mad)tqaber~ au rid)ten). SD~
?8eftreoen ber nationalfuaiaIiftifd)en Stird)enpoIitif fei bieImeljr, bie polili~
fietenben S'i!ircljen toieber in toaijrqafi reI i g i 0 f e @ e m e in f d) a fie n
UlnilutoanbeIn. ZSn @lacljen ber bom ~iiljrer angeurbneten S'i!ird)entoaqlen
berljarte fid) ber @liaat auniicljfi aotoadenb, nacljbem fie bon ben Stird)en~
padeien borerft feIoft aogeleljnt toorben feien. ~ine einijeitIid)e !Rid)tung
fei in ber ebangeIifd)en S'i!irclje nid)t qerauftellen. SDie S'i!orperfd)aft~red)te
feien ben S'i!itd)en oefaffen toorben; bud) fonne ber @ltaat e~ fid) nid)t oiden
Iaffen, baB S'i!ulIefien augunften einaeIner S'i!ird)en 13 art e i en, unb urb~
nung~toibrig gefammeIt, nnb au ftaat~feinblid)er l13ropaganba miBoraud)t
toiirben. ~u~Iiinbifcljen l13reffeftimmen gegeniiber oetonte ber minifter am
@lcljIut nocljmag, baB ber nationalfoaiaIiftifd)e @ltaat in feiner imeife in~
teteHiert fei an ber @riinbung einer nationaIfoaiaIiftifd)en @liaagfird)e.
m. im. in bet ,,~l1.~.I3uiij. ~reifird)eu.
"mlldjt nnb meibe." (2. ZSaqrg., &Jeft 5. @leptemOer~()ftooer 1937.)
imir fonnen nid)t umqin, noclj einmal auf biefe toid)tige 8eitfd)rift fUr ~afto~
ten unb .l3eqrer, ijerau~gcgeoen bon unfern ?8riibern in @liibctmetifa, auf~
medfam au mad)en, in ber &Joffnung, baB l1ielIeid)i bod) nod) mand)er unferer
l13aftoren barauf aoonnieren unb fo ba~ ?8anb ber ?8efanntfd)aft uub .l3ieoe
atoifcljen un~ unb iijnen oefeftigen ljelfen mod)te. imir ertoarten, baB fie
Iefen, toa~ toir fd)reiOen; toarum benn aoer nid)t auclj umgefeljrt? 8ubem
ift "imad)t unb imeibe" auclj toirfIid) feqr Iefen~toerl. SDie Ielr?te lnummer,
bie toir qier aur ~ni!eige oringen, entljiiU folgenbe ~rtifef: ,,~uBeroiOnfd)e
8eugniffe iioer ZS~f~", "SDie fpanifd)en ?8iOefiibetlelr?ungen", "martin
@ltepqan" (ber iYiiqrer ber fiid)fifd)en ~u~toanberer), ".I3utljer~ lnad)fommen~
fcljaft", "S'i!Ieine l13rebigtftuhie", "S'i!ated)efe", ,,@ld)IuBe6amen in unfern
@ld)ulen", eine "portugiefifclje l13rebigt aur Stonfirmation", feijr einfaclj, fd)Iid)t
Theological Observer - ~itd)nd)<.Beitgefd)id)t!id)es 227
unb fiar, audj roa~ ba~ ~lJradjndje lietrijft, unb enbfidj "l/ladjridjten unb
mWeHungen". @~ ift 10mit ein feljr reidjljartige~ l13rogramm, ba~ bem
Eefer ljier bargeboien tvirb. \l!u~ bem intereffanten Wrtifef liber bie flJani~
fdjen failieIiiberfel;)ungen laffen tvir ljier einige~ folgen, unb atvar in~befon~
bere, roa~ liber bie fetne iiberfel;)ung be~ im ~aljre 1594 im mI±er bon
74 ~aljren in tyranffutf aI5 l13aftor einer Iutljerifdjen ®emeinbe berftorbe~
nen ~afioboro be !Reina gefagt roitb. jillir feTher ljaben bie flJanifdje iiber~
fetllng fdjon Ianne belDllnbert; ift lie bodj fo aUlIetft fIar, f{iellenb unb bem
®tunbte;t;t getreu. SDer ~djreilier urteirt: ,,~eine [!Reina~] iiberfetung if±,
mit fIeinen ~eranbetungen, bie ljente bon ben faibeIgefeUfdjaften liei lDeitem
berbreitefie unb bon lJroteftantifdjen l13rebigem unb Eaien mcif! gebraudj±e
faibel in flJanifdjer ~lJradje. !Reina entftammte ciner maurifdjen tyamiIie
unb rourbe um ba~ ~aljr 1520 in ®ranaba geboren. Wf~ bie Eeljre ber
!Reformation in ~lJanien befannt rourbe, fief iljr !Reina oljne faebenfen au.
@r tvar ein geoiIbeter mann, flJradjIidj ljodjbegaot. SDa er tvegen feine~
®fauben~ in ~lJanien nidj± fidjer roar, ging er nadj @nglanb, too er in bet
~iinigin @Iifabe±lj eine tyreunbin unb ®iinnetin fanb. ~ier madjte et fidj an
hie Ulierfel;)ung bet failieI. l/ladjbem er meljrere ~aljre baran gearbeUe±
ljatte, ging er nadj ~tra13butg unb nodj flJatet nadj faafe{, tvo er feine Wrbeit
lieenbe±e. ~onleidj begann er mit bem SDrucf. Wm 14. ~uni 1569 roar bie
ganae faiber in flJanifdjer ~lJradje fertig; e~ tvar cine Wuf{age bon 2,600
@;;t;emlJfaren. SDiefc ~ilier ift befannt unter bem lJlamen Biblia del Oso, nadj
bem ~ite!bfa±t, ba~ einen ~aren barfterr±, ber, aUfredjt an einem lBaum
fteljenb, an cinet Sjoninroabe feefi. 2roiiff ~aljre ljatie !Reina an ber iioer~
fetung nearlieitd. ~eine faibeHiberfetung tvar oafb bernriffen. ~iele
@;t;emlJlare famen in bie Sjanbe ber l13riefter unb rourben berbrannt, fo baB
cin nroBer mannel an fjJanifdjen ~ioeIn borljanben roar. SDa~ ~eblirfni~
nadj einer neuen WUflane rourbe immer brinnenber. ~o madjte fidj benn enb~
Iidj ~ilJriano be mafera an bie Wroeit. Wber er Hefetie nidjt eine neue iioer~
fel;)ung, fonbem berbeffetie bie iiberfel;)ung bon !Reina, bergIidj fie jilloti fUr
jillort mit bem ®runbte;t;± unb gab iljr bie ~lJradje, bie ljeute nodj in ber
flJaniidjen Ei±eratur ba~ ift, lDa~ Eu±ljer~ iiberfetung in ber beutfdjen ift.
SDie flJanifdje failief, bie tvir georaudjen, tragt feinen l/lamen. @r tvurbe in
~ebma im ~aljte 1532 neooren. ~n~ ~lingIing trat er in~ mofter ~an
~fibro bef ~amlJo ein. @ine !Reilje miindje naljmen bie Eeljre ber !Refor~
mation an, berIieBen l)eimIidj ba~ mofier unb gingen in~ ~u~Ianb, unter
iljnen audj ~aleta. jillir finben iljn fdjIief3fidj in @nglanb, bem Eanb, tvo
aUe ~eriagten 2uf{udjt fanben. .\'?ier ftubietie er aUf ben Uniberfitaten
~ambribge unb O;t;forb. Unter ben bon iljm berfal3ten @5djriften tvaren au
nennen ,l13alJft unb meffe', unb bie iioerfel;)ung ber Institutiones bon ~arbin.
~ein SjaulJt1Detf aber OfeiOt bie iioerfetung ber lBiber, tvie roit fie jel;)t ljalJen,
ffaHifdj in ~lJradje unb hen nadj bem ®tunbte;t;t, eine Wroeit bon alDanaig
~aljten, aber bodj nidjt eigentIidj )8aleta~ iioerfetung. jillie fam e~ aoer,
baB bie flJanifdje faioel nut be ~afeta~ l/lamen tragi? ~djurb batan tvar
nidjt be ~afera. ~n einem fangen, fdjiinen ~orroort ljatie be malera frat
unb frei gefagt, baB er ~afioboro be !Reina~ ftberfetung nur berbefleti, nidjt
aoer cine eigene gefiefeti lja6e. ~n feinem morrootf fagt er aum ~eil:
,~afioboro be !Reina, getrieoen bon frommem @;ifer, Die @ljre ®otte~ au fiir~
bern unb feinem moIl cincn SDienf± au erlDeifen, ljat, im Eanb ber tyreiljeit
228 Theological Observer - ~ird)lid)~8eitgefd)td)md)e~
Ielienb, wo et teben unb @olie?l 6aef)e lieireiben fonnie, angefangen, bie mille!
au iilierfejpen. ~tefe ijat et auef) bollenbet, unb 10 ijat er im ~aijte 1569
feine 2,600 ®6cmIJIare gebrucft, bie buref) @olie?l matmljetaigfeit in biden
@egenben berbreite± finb, fo baf3 man ljeute feine ®!emIJIare meljr liefom~
men fann, auef) roenn man fie faufen woUte. ~amit aliet unfenn ~ou ein
fo gtof3er 6 ef)aJ? , roie bie 5BibeI e?l ift, in feinet 6IJtaef)e nief)t feljIe, ijalien
wit un?l bie )))Wlje genommcn, iie au Tefen unb bieIe male wieber au refen,
fie mit neuen \l(nmedungen