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LEHRE UND ~EHRE
MAGAZIN FUER Ev.-LUTH. HOMILETIK
THEOLOGICAL QUARTERLY-THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY
Vol. XI January, 1940 No.1
CONTENTS Page
Foreword. w. Arndt ____________ ____ . __ .. ... ____ ._____ . .. ____ . . .. _ ... _. __ _ ._. . 1
Der Lutherische Weltkonvent. Th. Engelder _____ . ______ .. _._. __ .... _ .. _ .. ___ ... _ .. _ 11
The Significance of the Doctrine of the Church and the Ministry
J. Theodore Mueller ____ .. __ .. . _ . ____ ... _. ___ .________ 19
Entwuerfe ueber die von der Synodalkonferenz angenommene
EpisteIreihe _________ .... _____ ..... ___ ... __ .. _. __ ._ .. _ .. __ ._______ .. _ . __ ._ ... . __ . ___ .. _______ 36
Miscellanea ___ __ ._. _____ . __ . _ .. ____ ._ . _____ .... . . ___ . __ ... _ .... ________ . ________ . __ . ____ ._. ____ ...... _____ . 50
Theological Observer - Kirchlich-Zeitgeschichtliches . ______ ._ .. _. ._. 59
Book Review - Literatur .. _____________________ ... ... _. _ .. _. __ .. _. __________ ._._._ _ 73
Ein Predlger muss nicht a1lein wei-
den, also dass er die Schafe unter-
weise. wie sie rechte Christen sollen
sein, sondern auch daneben den Woel-
fen wehTen, dass sie die Schafe nlcht
angreifen und mit falscher Lehre ver-
fuehren und Irrtum einfuehren.
LutheT
Es ist kein Ding, das die Leute
mehr bel der K1rche behaelt denn
die gute Predigt. - Apologie, Arl.24
If the trwnpet give an uncertain
sound. who shall prepare himself to
the battle? -1 COT. 14:8
Published for the
Ev. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States
CONCORDIA PUBUSHING HOUSE, St. Louis, Mo.
Book Review - S3iteratur 73
Book Review - £itcratur
All books reviewed in this periodical may be procured from or through Con-
cordia Publishing House, 3558 S. Jefferson Ave., St. Louis, Mo.
The Validity of the Gospel Record. By Ernest Findlay Scott, D. D.,
Professor of New Testament Criticism, Union Theological Seminary,
New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1938. 213 pages, 5X7%.
Price, $2.00.
This book is of real value to all theologians who desire to inform
themselves on recent developments and tendencies in the field of higher
criticism pertaining to the Gospels. Dr. Scott is known as an authority
on this subject, having held the chair of New Testament criticism at
Union Seminary, N. Y., for many years. While the author saddens us
through his rejection of the verbal inspiration and inerrancy of the
Scriptures, he is opposed to the destructive views of some modern
investigators who set out to deny the credibility of our gospels.
He opposes the view that from the very start the teaching of Jesus and
the report about it were altogether different things (p. 39).. Very
definitely he informs us that sound scholarship nowadays rejects the
view that our gospels are based on deliberate deception (p. 91). Engag-
ing in acute reasoning, he holds that the genuineness of the gospel
account is demonstrated by the inclusion of material which at the
time of writing no longer was intelligible to the readers or did not agree
with their principles of conduct (p. 104). What he has in mind is
illustrated by his pointing to the emphasis given in the teaching of Jesus
to the kingdom of God, an emphasis which, he holds, no longer was
found in the message of the Church when three decades or so had
elapsed. Though we cannot agree that what he says about the negligible
preaching of the Kingdom around 60 A. D. tallies with the facts
(Cf. Rom. 14: 17), the general argument that traces in the gospels testify
to the origin in an earlier age of the material presented deserves the
careful study of apologists.
The chief value of the book lies in its description and examination
of the views held by the so-called Formgeschichtliche Schule, which
arose in Germany after the World War and whose chief exponents are
Dibelius, Bultmann, and K. L. Schmidt. Men in our country who have
written on this particular form of criticism are B. S. Easton of the Epis-
copal Seminary in New York and F. C. Grant of Union Seminary in the
same city. The advocates of the position under consideration try to
go back beyond the time when our gospels were written and to determine
in what form or forms the material now placed before us in the gospels
existed and circulated during those early years. It is held that some
of it had the form of miracle stories, some that of parables, some that
of proverbial sayings, etc. The whole Christian teaching as it was
promulgated by the servants of the Church was, so it is assumed, cast
in definite patterns, and in these it was handed down till the gospel-
writers fused what was separate into connected narrative. What an
extraordinary exercise for one's fancy speculations of this sort afford
74 Book Review - ~iterQtur
can be seen without difficulty. From the work before us we obtain
information on the position of those who take this view of the situation
obtaining before and at the time of the composition of our gospels.
Dr. Scott deplores that the tendency manifesting itself in this criticism
is to throw doubt on the reliability of our gospels. He thinks that
"form criticism" has some foundation in fact, but he wishes to see it
remain sane and mindful of its limitations. Whatever is true in these
theories he believes confirms rather than weakens the credibility of
the records given us by the evangelists. The work will then be helpful
to those who have to defend the sacred accounts, even though they
refuse to share the wrong views on the character of the Bible for which
Dr. Scott and Union Seminary are known. W. ARNDT
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