J f'+.). ( l 1 ; ~ . . 11. _ L ~ ., -.. Concou()io Theological Monthly DECEMBER 1950 ARCHIVE BOOK REVIEW All books reviewed in this periodical may be procured from or through Concordia Pttblishing Hottse, 3558 Sottth Jefferson Avenue, St. Lottis 18, Missouri. DANIEL SPEAKS TO-DAY. By C. Ernest Tatham. Pickering & Inglis, Ltd., London, 1948. 96 pages, 5X7Y2. $1.50. A good word can be said about this short exposition of the Book of Daniel. The author is not under the spell of the higher critical viewpoint. To him the Book of Daniel is not a pseudepigraphical tract written by an unknown author at the time of the Maccabees in the second century B. C. He lets Daniel be a genuine prophetic utterance from the Babylonian Exile. To the author's credit it can also be said that he knows and presents the glory of Jesus as the Savior from sin and the Lord of the universe. And yet, as an interpretation of the message of Daniel the book is utterly useless. The basic viewpoint of his exposition is the crassest kind of chiliasm. This aberration mars almost every page. It is set forth again and again in words such as these: "The despised and crucified Jesus will return in power and great glory and will assume in righteousness the throne of His father, David, and bathe the whole earth with the glory of His righteous kingdom for a thousand years" (p.16). WALTER R. ROEHRS THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. By Charles R. Erdman, Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, N.]. Westminster Press, Philadelphia. 160 pages, 4Y2X7. $1.25. The publishers make this announcement: "The well-known Erdman Commentaries, many of which were forced out of print during the war, are now available again in complete sets. Their format has been standardized and their attractiveness enhanced by uniform title pages. Clearly printed and of convenient pocket size, the books are bound in a dark-red cloth, which has been impregnated in such a way that it will withstand much handling and will not show fingerprints." The complete set of 17 volumes costs $18.00. The theology of the Commentary is that of moderate Calvinism. The style is pleasing and the presentation simple and practical. A sentence from the exposition of Rom. 9: 19-24 deserves being quoted here: "The sovereignty of God is absolute; yet it is never exercised in condemning men who ought to be saved, but rather it has resulted in the salvation of men who deserved to be lost." W. ARNDT 949 950 BOOK REVIEW SOLA FIDE. Eine exegetische Studie ueber Jakobus 2 zur reformatorischen Rechtfertigungslehre. By Max Lackmann. Guetersloh. 1949. 130 pages. DM 5.50. As the subtitle indicates, Lackmann's thesis is that the Reformation doctrine of justification sola fide stands in need, not of correction, but of modification, of expansion and amplification: Die Heilige Schrift sagt mehr als die reformatorische Formel des Dogmas .... Nicht das "sola fide," aber das Verstaendnis des "sola fide" im reformatorischen Denken wird durch die Heilige Schrift ueberholt. (P.10.) Another sentence from his introduction indicates the line that this expansion and amplification must take. Nur ueber eine Wahrheit gedenke ich nicht mit mir reden zu lassen: dass das Werk in die Rechtfertigung gehoert und dieser Satz kein Verlassen des reformatorischen "sola fide" bedeutet. Bines ist: als wirkender Gott recht werden, ein Anderes ist: auf das Wirken sein Vertrauen setzen. Dieses ist gottlos, jenes ist die Seinsweise des Gottesfuerchtigen, der Gott kennt und von ihm erkannt ist. (P.14.) The Holy Scripture that Lackmann would have us particularly listen to is James 2: 14-26, and the major portion of his study is devoted to a detailed exegesis of this passage, an exegesis marked, in the main, by a close grappling with the text and an abundance of telling observations. There is much good grain to be reaped here, and one feels that the study (begun in Dachau, by the way) is anything but an academic matter for the author. This section is marred, however, by the fact that the author too often anticipates his main thesis and that there is, consequently, a too-loud obbligato of polemical footnotes. The second portion of the study treats "Das Problem" and traces the history of the tension between faith and works from Apostolic times to the present. One is forced to question his judgments at many points: e. g., his statement that the Apostolic Fathers preserve in pristine purity the original New Testament paradox of faith and works, "unverkuerzt und durch keine Dialektik oder Rhetorik aufgehoben" is certainly saying too much. In general, Lackmann does not altogether avoid inconsistencies here, and it is difficult to get a clear picture of his exact position. He is far removed from any crass synergism, but at the same time his proposed revision of the Reformation doctrine is a radical one, more radical than appears in his careful formulations. If Lackmann had been more explicit in his position on the doctrine of original sin (which comes in for incidental criticism), we might be in a better position to evaluate his strictures on the doctrine of justification. As it is, one can be grateful for the strong and insistent reminder that St. James is in the canon and that fides is nunquam sola; but that the works of man belong "in die Rechtfertigung" either in St. James or in BOOK REVIEW 951 St. Paul has not been demonstrated. It is, in fact, a major weakness of the study that James 2 and St. Paul are pitted against each other in a way that the context and scope of James 2 do not warrant. To Lackmann's plea that James 2 be taken seriously as God's Word to us, we can only say Amen; but we dare not make James 2 say more than it does -James 2 is not, after all, a full and explicit exposition of justification, such as we have in Romans; it speaks of justification from a certain point of view only, in a definite antithesis only, and from one concrete "seelsorgerische" situation only. To infer from it that works are somehow, with whatever modifications, a determining factor in God's verdict of acquittal upon the sinner is to bring St. James into conflict, not only with St. Paul, but wi th St. James himself: James 1: 18 remains unrivaled in all the New Testament as the most drastic statement of God's sole initiative in man's salvation and of faith's "passivity" over against it. St. James says as plainly as St. Paul that God is the God that justifies the ungodly, the God who by His word creates ex nihilo. Lackmann is at pains to do justice to the fact that the sinner, under the verdict of God that pronounces him righteous, is not as a jug that is being filled, not an automaton, but a person, an "I" over against the divine "Thou." That is a justified concern on his part; but to draw in man's works to that end, even as a component of the faith that appropriates what God pronounces and gives, is to becloud and dishonor the only work that plays a part in the verdict, the work of Jesus Christ. One senses that here is the old fear that God in justifying the "ungodly" is pronouncing an "as if" verdict, that the reality of the sinner as he is coram Deo, propter Christum, is in the last analysis not really real. M. H. FRANZMANN PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF JAMES. By J. Nieboer. Our Daily Walk Publishers, Erie, Pa. 436 pages, 5YzX8. $3.75. This reviewer must confess to a bias against practical and popular expositions of Scriptures; not because they are popular or practicalhe has no undiluted passion for footnotes or for reference in divers tongues. But most popular expositions suffer from two serious faults: 1. They are prolix; they take entirely too much time to say what they have to say, and the student of the New Testament, confronted as he is with a continual stream of pertinent literature, becomes waty of his time and his eyesight. 2. Popular expositions are too dogmatic; the expositor lays before the reader the finished results of his studies, which may be very good or very bad; in any case, the student is not furnished with the evidence wherewith to check the expositor's conclusions. The present Practical Exposition of James cannot claim exemption from these strictures. It runs to 51 chapters and 436 pages. The expositor's comments are often good, for instance, on James 2: 14-26; but his conclusions are seldom documented, and some of the comment does not rise 952 BOOK REVIEW above the level of edifying anecdote. For those who like that sort of thing and have ample leisure, the book can be commended, despite the little tirade against the use of the Lord's Prayer on page 40 (which, after all, does have some basis in experience) and what the dust jacket calls "a free and easy style." For this reviewer, a style that overworks the word "nice" and confuses, for instance, "needy" with "needful," "disgustingly" with "disgustedly," "evangelistic" with "evangelical," to say nothing of carelessness III spelling and capitalization, is somewhat too free and not at all easy. M. H. FRANZMANN CHRISTIAN DOGMATICS. Vol. I. By F. Pieper. Concordia Publishing House, St.Louis, Mo., 1950. 577 pages, 9Yzx6Yz. $3.50. It is the reviewer's pleasant assignment to bring Dr. F. Pieper's Christfiche Dogmatik, in this new English translation, to the notice of our readers. This review is written not so much for the benefit of the generation that knew Dr. Pieper personally and is able to read his great work in the original as rather for such as, for lack of knowing German, must read his dogmatics in a translation, or also for such as have never heard of Dr. Pieper and his work. To them for several reasons this valuable work on doctrinal theology may appear as very much out of date. In the first place, Volume I of Christliche Dogmatik, which was the last of Dr. Pieper's voluminous works on systematic theology, appeared in 1924, or about a quarter of a century ago. That is a very long time so far as a textbook on theology is concerned, especially as since that time there have arisen new movements in doctrinal orientation and new methods in dogmatical approach, both in Europe and America, which could not be considered in this book. Many of the theologians against whose system Dr. Pieper wrote are unknown to the present-day student of theology, or at least, they are hardly regarded by him as men of eminent importance, with exception, of course, of the outstanding theological leaders who inaugurated special trends or movements that became prominent. Many of the men about whom Dr. Pieper in his day was concerned, and the theological emphases which then were vital, have disappeared from the present scene. The youthful student of theology thus finds himself, while reading Dr. Pieper, in a world that is a part of the past, and this may tend to lessen his interest in the study of the book. Again, the student of theology who reads this Christian Dogmatics deals with a translation, and translations at best are necessary evils. There is much truth in the statement that no translation is attractive and that every translation undoes the original. That is true especially in cases where, as in that of Dr. Pieper, authors in their books reflect their rugged individuality in such a way that the translation is at best but a most inadequate reproduction of the original. Had the author spoken the language of the land, he certainly would not have put down his thoughts in the words of the translator. Nevertheless, Dr. Pieper's Christian Dogmatics, also in this English trans-BOOK REVIEW 953 lation, is worthy of careful study by all students of theology, and the reviewer expresses the hope that those who buy Volume I will purchase also the two other volumes, which will appear in the near future. In the first place, Dr. Pieper's Christian Dogmatics is thoroughly Scriptural and fully in accordance with the teachings of the Lutheran Confessions. It is the theology of Luther and of the Lutheran dogmaticians that Dr. Pieper presents in his great work, and nothing else. In the second place, it is lucid and simple and never perplexes or confuses the student by means of unintelligible language. Thirdly, it is complete, setting forth the whole COfPUS doctrinae, or body of truth, the whole Christian faith. Fourthly, while many of the minor dogmatical trends against which Dr. Pieper argues, have passed by the board, the major opposing systems of theological thought, against which Lutheran polemics is directed, such as Romanism, Calvinism, Unitarianism, Enthusiasm, and the like, are still very much alive and very strong in their opposition to the teachings of Luther's Reformation. There is no other dogmatical work in English which so clearly and sharply contrasts the true Lutheran doctrine with these antitheses as does Dr. Pieper's. May therefore this valuable opus magnum on systematic theology find many interested readers, and may its influence be wide and lasting. The make-up of the book is excellent, and the price is reasonable. While some of the material in the original has been omitted, it is still a rich gold mine of sound and profound Lutheran theology. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER INITIA IURIS ECCLESIASTICI PROTESTANTIUM. By Johannes Heckel. Verlag der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Munich, 1950. 128 pages, 5Yz><9. Paper cover. This essay was presented December 2, 1949, at the convention of the Bavarian Academy of the Sciences. It is an important contribution to the study of Luther's early conception of church law and the unfolding of his thinking on the subject with its varied practical implications. The author's point of departure is the nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses. These, he says, are of greater significance for what they presuppose regarding Church and law than for what they actually say. He directs attention to the fact that from the very start Luther's thinking centers upon man's justification before God, and that from this center Luther directed his attention upon the divine Law and its task in the redemptive work of Christ. From this follows the place of the ecclesia abscondita in the entire matter of church law. And finally, the author draws the logical conclusions regarding the relation of Church and State according to Luther's conception of church law. He shows that Luther's teaching is fundamental to the principle of the separation of Church and State. This treatise should be of particular interest to American students of church law, but it should also render a valuable service to those German administrators who may be facing a reorganization of their respective churches. 1. W. SPITZ 954 BOOK REVIEW BEGEGNUNG. By Hanns Lilje and Others. Laetare Verlag, Nuernberg. 15S pages, 6xs. This is a collection of charming character sketches of twelve prominent churchmen by as many able writers, who contributed these literary portraits under the editorship of Bishop Lilje, who also wrote one of the sketches. A full-page photograph of each of the men thus honored adds to the value of the book. The following widely known men are commemorated: Hermann Bezzel, Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Paul Humburg, Ludwig Ihmels, Martin Kiihler, Samuel Keller, John R. Mott, Adolf Schlatter, Julius Schniewind, Rudolf Alexander Schroder, Nathan Soderblom, and Wilhelm Weigle -a group which indeed represents a broad area of church activity. The sketches, however, not only tell the reader about the men thus portrayed, but also reflect to some extent the character of the writers. We may judge a man by the company he keeps and the things he says about it. Regarding the sketches as a unit, one may get a general impression of the theological complexion of the Protestant (the Germans would prefer "Evangelical") Church in Germany today. Many churchmen there profess an appreciation of sound Biblical theology, they will even insist that the liberal theology of forty and fifty years ago is dead; and yet, it seems, some are a bit apologetic about it, fearing that they might be considered narrow. Thus in the present volume the author writes of Hermann Bezzel: "Fundamentally he was more broadminded than it appeared," adding, in order to substantiate his defense: "I have heard few people speak so sympathetically of David Friedrich Strauss as he did." However these words may have to be interpreted; theologians must beware, lest in speaking sympathetically of a denier of Christ they themselves deny Him. Christ did not try to appear broadminded by pampering deniers, but called them to repentance (Matt. 10: 33). When a volume has equal praise for a Bible-believing Christian and an outspoken modern religious liberal and unionist, the reader may well wonder whether Rev. 3: 15-16 does not apply. 1. W. SPITZ THE MIND'S ADVENTURE. Religion and Higher Education. By Howard Lowry. The Westminster Press, Philadelphia. 1950. 154 pages, 5 Yz XS. $2.50. This is one of the better books coming off the presses these days calling the educator's attention to the need of religion or at least some unifying philosophy to give values and true aims to education. Lowry begins with an analysis of some of the ideas and influences which have brought this nation where it is, and the bearing this has had on higher education. To him, and most readers will agree with him, the characteristic of our society today especially in education is that it "tends to concentrate on means and ignore ends, to believe that whatever worked was right." This moral relativism is the natural product of our secularism. The growing awareness that we have stressed the technical and the techniques without BOOK REVIEW 955 values has become apparent even to educators, and many of them are beginning to see that education has not nourished the highest values society needs. A sketch of the historical background of our American colleges, born out of religious needs and for the purpose of teaching eternal values, shows that they have gradually yielded to secularism. But during W orid War II a fresh conception of liberal studies has appeared which holds that religion has the right and duty to contend for its recognition. But does a liberal education need religion? Lowry sets forth the thesis that liberal education without religion is not liberal. "Liberal education itself creates the need for the examination of religion and religious values . . . it creates in thinking people a desire to weigh religious knowledge and gives them a kind of capability for doing so." For this the student needs a set of values, and religion at least offers him an opportunity to make a choice. Since the Christian religion is one of the three great cultures of the Western world, an educated person must have personal contact not with two, but with all three of these cultures if he is to be allowed to make his choice. The "cult of objectivity," the name Lowry gives to the spirit of secularism, would rule out religion because it is full of assumptions which no scientist has the right to make without losing his objectivity. But science is already guilty of an assumption when it assumes that observable data are the exclusive means of truth. One of its chief assumptions is that all life is secular. In fact, the "cult of objectivity" has failed to remain objective when it assumes that scholarship is or can be divorced from all personal background. "The conception of reason as an impeccable judge holding antiseptic court in a vacuum is a wilder kind of wishful thinking than that religion is so often accused of." One of the chief aims of liberal education is the integration of learning. Religion has a real importance as a means for such integration. When it becomes an actual faith, it is a powerful agent in gathering together the varied strands of life and in giving center and direction to education. The author continues with the analysis of the nature of the church college which is trying to be true to its religious purpose and at the same time to be a genuine place of higher learning and free inquiry. Pointing up certain problems which face the church college, he concludes that the church college not only has a place in higher education, but must make a decided effort to survive in the face of encroaching secularism and impending Federal control by way of support. In the final chapter the author looks forward to the second half of our century and to the part education mayor may not have in achieving some of our democratic goals. He tries to suggest also the kind of Christianity likely to have much significance for education and for human living. 956 BOOK REVIEW The book is stimulating throughout and deserves reading and rereading on the part of all who have college youth in their parish. It will help them realize the importance that their religion has as a means of integration. Lowry has been president of the College of Wooster since 1944 and before that Professor of English at Princeton University and General Editor and Educational Manager of the Oxford University Press. ARTHUR C. REPP LUTHERANISM AND THE EDUCATIONAL ETHIC. By Russell A. Peterson. Meador Publishing Company, Boston. 1950. 88 pages, 51;2 X 8. $1.50. Dr. Peterson attempts to set forth Luther's education theory, especially in the field of higher education, through a series of informal lectures written in the first person, as though Luther were speaking to the world today. The author says it is a restatement of Luther's creed. While this method makes for interesting reading, it has many pitfalls. It means that the author must not only know Luther's educational writings and his theological viewpoint, but must be able to interpret his ideas in such a way that the four-hundred-year gap will not distort Luther in making him say something of which he would never have dreamed. We feel that the author has fallen short in both ways. His Luther is not the historic Luther, but one who is more closely related to Melanchthon. In attempting to show that Luther's principles "have developed into a sane and thoroughly adequate philosophy of education a system which evolves out of the relationship between Church and State," he has made Luther speak not as the Gospel herald, but one who makes the principal goal of all education "the realization of one's duty to God, the State, and one's fellow men." His dynamic for ethics sounds more like the Law than the Gospel. A sentence like this: "The Godgiven aim of all education is the injection [italics ours} of the Christian ethic into the very being of humanity," may have been due to an unfortunate choice of words, but the reader gets the idea that Luther believed ethics are imposed upon the individual. Dr. Peterson comes up in the final lecture with a description of the school of the Church in which the State universities and the churches work hand in hand in order to meet their obligations. Using the State University of Iowa as an example, he shows how the Church can offer a religious program for the youth on the college campus, while the State, without jeopardizing its own function, makes it possible for the student to obtain such a total education. Without entering upon the merits of the author's plan we cannot envision Luther recommending to the modern world an inter-faith program including Jews, Catholics, and Protestants under State auspices for the furtherance of any objective of education. The method used by the author does not suggest documentation, but BOOK REVIEW 957 readers will wonder which statements of Luther have prompted Dr. Peterson's interpretations. The author is a Lutheran pastor in Flandreau, S. Dak., and was educated at Luther Theological Seminary, Union Theo-logical Seminary, and Columbia University. ARTHUR C. REPP A HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS. Edited by Vergilius Ferm. The Philosophical Library, New York. 1950. 642 pages. $6.00. In forty-seven chapters, specialists in their respective areas present in this volume a magnificent panoramic overview of practically every significant philosophical system of thought. Chapter One tells the story of Indian philosophy, and the last chapter reviews philosophies of religion. In between are chapters on Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Chinese philosophic systems, followed by twelve chapters on Greek, Roman, and Medieval philosohphy. The remaining chapters deal with modern and recent philosophic thought. All chapters are amazingly well done. A wellselected bibliography follows each chapter. The index is exceptionally exhaustive. Even graduate students, as the editor indicates, "will find here a fresh and invigorating review of historical material so organized as to present perhaps more clearly the outline of systems in all their variety and in their historical setting." PAUL M. BRETSCHER THE ROMANCE OF THE AGES. Meditations on the Song of Songs. By L. M. McPhee. Designed Products, Inc., Oak Park, Ill. 1950. 111 pages, 5Y:zX7%. $1.25. In reading this little book the reviewer was reminded of a remark made to his students by the sainted Dr. Fuerbringer: "No one can understand the Song of Songs who has not experienced the power of the love of Jesus in his heart." The author of these 106 meditations on The Romance of the Ages is qualified in this respect to expound the verses of this Old Testament book. Every page glows with the warmth and gratitude of a heart which has experienced the redeeming love of the Savior. So he says in the very first meditation: "It is a song of love, and if we think of Solomon as a type of Christ seeking His bride, we may expect to see in this little book a rich unveiling of the heart of Him who is our heavenly Lover" (p. 5). However, the question does arise whether the Song of Songs lends itself to such a treatment as is given it here. Can you take a poem, isolate one verse after another, and make each segment say something that is self-contained? Can you detach sentence after sentence from the great theme of the book and make it serve as a meditation on almost every phase of Christian living? It can be done, it seems to this reviewer, only by a forced exegesis and by resorting to symbolic interpretations that go far beyond the original intent and theme of the book. Such exegesis abounds in these meditations, and that is their weakness. WALTER R. ROEHRS 958 BOOK REVIEW THE HISTORIC FAITH AND A CHANGING WORLD. By Rev. W. N. Pittenger. Oxford University Press, New York. 181 pages, 8 % x5 %. $2.50. Dr. Pittenger is an Episcopalian, a "Catholic of the Anglican obedience," who teaches theology at the General Theological Seminary, New York. He describes his book as a "survey of the contemporary American scene and the troubles that beset modern man." Liberalism, as an impelling movement, he believes is dead. The new orthodoxy which has taken its place, fails to accomplish what it should, since it addresses modern man in terms that are not understood by him. The new society, however, which emerges, is oriented to an increasingly mechanized existence and is basically irreligious. The Church, therefore, must assert itself in promulgating the Catholic (not Roman) faith. To do its work, it must adopt the strategy of "cells," that is, it must gather "groups of convinced Christian believers, bound together by a dominant loyalty to the Christian Church's faith and its divine purpose" (p. 135). "Such a Christian group every parish or congregation is meant to be" (ibid.). The cell must build a Christian "mind," inaugurate parish schools, concentrate on Christian worship and the observance of the Eucharist from Sunday to Sunday, reach its members in all of the exigencies of their common life, such as births, marriages, deaths, and so forth, adopt a program of adult training, strengthen the prayer life of the communicants, and proclaim the Gospel of God in Christ in season and out of season. There must be a "dynamic and vital orthodoxy" (p.155). While the reviewer could not agree to every suggestion of Catholic Pittenger, he read the book with much profit and gratification. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER CROWDED TO CHRIST. By L. E. Maxwell. W m. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. 354 pages, 8l/zX5Y;z. $3.50. The author of this appealing volume of stirring, devotional addresses is the founder and principal of Prairie Bible Institute of Three Hills, Alberta, Canada. He is largely responsible for the unusual growth and spiritual atmosphere of this, in many ways remarkable, Bible school, which in 1922 had its beginning in an abandoned farmhouse, with only eight students attending. Today the Institute has more than 1,200 students and a large educational plant, spacious dormitories, classrooms, and large gardens, in which the necessary produce is raised for the table. All this the reader of this inspiring book must bear in mind to understand what the writer is driving at. The central thought of his addresses is absolute dependence on God's love for everything, despite the many ills that befall the Christian and the numerous weaknesses and failings to which he is subject. In fact, the very evils of this life, the constant battling of the spirit against the flesh, the temptations and onslaughts of Satan are all meant for good by our gracious Father in heaven, whose mercy in Christ Jesus never fails. There is much in these addresses to BOOK REVIEW 959 which Lutherans can hardly subscribe; but the general lessons of trust in God, of inward religion over against a formal intellectual religiousness, and of a venturesome faith are deserving of study. We believe that the book, despite numerous failings, has an important message for Christian ministers, teachers, and laymen with its earnest emphasis on the practical manifestations of faith, its rare insight into Christian experience, and its triumphant glorying in the Christian fight and work which are ours as children of God. JOHN THEODORE MUELLER SUNRISE IN THE NATION'S CAPITAL. By Dale Crowley. Van Kampen Press, Wheaton, JIl. 1950. 192 pages, 5 ~ X 7 % . $2.00. This book offers a selection of addresses presented by Evangelist Dale Crowley on his morning radio program in Washington, D. C. In an introduction Clinton N. Howard asserts that the evangelist, who has fifteen broadcasts a week in his area, is one of the favorite radio speakers of his community, and the jacket asserts that his broadcasts "are the most popular in the entire Washington area by Hooper rating." The messages are brief, attached to texts which are used, and explicit in speaking of sin and grace, grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER FACTS CONCERNING LODGES AND THEIR FIGHT AGAINST ANSTED BAPTIST CHURCH. Published for the Information of the Public by Ansted Baptist Church, Ansted, W. Va. 1950. 48 pages. 50 cents. Part I of this booklet is composed of two sermons by the Rev. L. M. McCauley, a Baptist minister of McClure, IlL, which he preached in Ansted Baptist Church and in which he sets forth the religious teachings of lodges. Part II is "the reply of the Church to a committee representing a large group of former members who had been excluded from membership in the Ansted Church because of their subversive activities against the Church on account of the controversy growing out of this Church's opposition to lodges." Ansted Baptist Church has rendered a distinct service to the cause of sound and evangelical Christianity by publishing this material. PAUL M. BRETSCHER JOHN CALVIN, EXPOSITORY PREACHER. By Leroy Nixon, l36 pages, 5;;2X8%. $2.50. THE DEITY OF CHRIST AND OTHER SERMONS. By John Calvin. Translated by Leroy Nixon. 302 pages, 5l/zX8%. $3.50. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Mich. 1950. A companion volume, The Mystery of Godliness, has been reviewed in a prior issue. Unlike that volume, the present work is a fresh translation. The editor has translated closely and describes noteworthy choices of words by footnotes. The reader will do well to approach Calvin's 960 BOOK REVIEW preaching through Mr. Nixon's study. He quotes copiously from secondary sources and makes his book a review of homiletics in general. However, he likewise quotes from Calvin's sermons and thus provides a survey of Calvin's outstanding teachings. For readers not in the Calvinistic tradition it may prove surprising to learn that Calvin preached a great deal, that he used the expository method exclusively, and that he regarded his preaching as his chief and most influential work. On paper the sermons are more cool than Luther's earthy and colorful paragraphs. Yet the thought is clear, and one can easily imagine the power of this preaching from the lips of a man who looked as though he consumed himself in the service of God. The sermon volume provides eight sermons on the Passion, one on the Resurrection, four on the Ascension, four for Pentecost, and three others. RICHARD R. CAEMMERER CONCORDIA PRIMARY RELIGION SERIES: Teacher's Manual. By Frank H. CoIba and William A. Kramer. 261 pages, 8 Yz X 11. $2.00. Old Testament Workbook, Grade 1. By Dorothy Bangert. 56 pages, 8YzX11. $.50. Old Testament Workbook, Grades II and III. By Verona BloedeL 64 pages, 8 Yz X 11. $.50. Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis. 1950. For some time primary teachers have been neglected by curriculum writers. Here at last are some excellent helps provided to assist primary teachers in building a rich and usable course. This material is part of a series which includes the basic texts A Child's Garden of Bible Stories and A Child's Garden of Song. While designed especially for the day schools, teachers in the Saturday school and vacation Bible school will find them equally usable. The manual provides additional source material for teaching doctrine, for worship, and individual and group activities. Almost seventy pages are devoted to supplementary stories to support and explain the teaching of the Bible stories. Workbooks for the New Testament stories are in preparation. ARTHUR C. REPP BOOKS RECEIVED From Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo.: Portals of Prayer No.1Ol.-Daily Devotions November 10 to December 31, 1950. By various authors.-1O cents. Andachtsbuechlein No. 101-"LOBET DEN HERRN MIT PSALMEN." Andachten fuer die Zeit vom 10. November bis zum 31. Dezember 1950. By Rev. Aug. H. Lange, P. em., D. D.-I0 cents.