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Concordia Theological Monthly CONCORDIA THEOLOGICAL MONTHLY Matthias Flacius lllyricw. HENRY W. REIMANN The Pastor's Role in ~ocial Action NORMAN TEMME Brief Studies Homiletics Theological Observer Book Review VOL. XXXV February 1964 No.2 BOOK REVIEW All books reviewed in this periodical may be procured from 01' through Concordia Pub­ lishing House, 3558 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Lotlis, Missouri 63118. MULTIPURPOSE TOOLS FOR BIBLE a dry-as-dust chronicle? He is in for a sur- STUDY. By Frederick W. Danker. Saint prise! He is in for a great many surprises, Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1960. as a matter of fact, surprises that will delight, xviii and 289 pages. Cloth. $3.75. inform, challenge, stimulate, and - most So many students of the Sacred Scriptures important - drive him back to the sacred have been purchasing and recommending text. this admirable guide as to necessitate a new Danker writes with flair throughout. His printing. This review is written for the bene­ qualifications for doing this book are excep­ fit and encouragement of those pastors, lay tional. He has a comprehensive grasp of Bible students, and librarians who have not both the older and the newer literature that yet acquired a copy. transcends denominational and religious lines The preacher-teacher will find it ? lfT)ost (most of his readers will not feel cheated indispensable, once he has begun to use it. by such bibliographical defects as exist with From it, for 1:1 anee, he will disco"lcr how~ reference to ,yorks in French, Sp ioll, and great a contribution his Nestle's Novmn Italian). He reveals a fine sense of objec­ Testamentztm Graece, his Kittel's Biblia He­ tivity, not least in his refusal to let personal braica, and (if he has been foresighted preferences dominate his commentary recom­ enough to acquire it) his Rahlfs' Septuaginta mendations. His critical judgment is bal­ can really make to his effectiveness as an anced, and he has the practical sense of interpreter of the Sacred Scriptures, after a pastor turned professor without ceasing to this book has taught him how to unlock the be a pastor, plus a profound and pervading vast resources that generations of patient reverence for the written word of the living scholarship have cached within the covers God. of these books. But this is only the begin­ The pastor who does not have Multipur­ ning. Does the reader want a critical assess­ pose Tools in both his own and his parish ment of the King James Version or the library should not deprive himself or his Revised Standard Version? He has it here. people of its help any longer! Does he want to have the contributions that ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN archaeology has made to Biblical interpreta­ tion evaluated? There is a whole chapter CHURCH DOGMATICS (Kirchliche Dog­ on the subject, plus another devoted to the matik). VoL IV, Part 3. By Karl Barth. Qumran scrolls. Does he want to know Translated by G. W. Bromiley. Edin­ which commentary to buy? He will find burgh: T. & T. Clark, 1962. 963 pages. a full and up-to-date discussion, plus a check­ Cloth. Two volumes. 50/- per volume. list of the best commentaries in English With the appearance of these two half published during the last five decades on volumes the entire Church Dogmatics of each book of the Sacred Scriptures. Does he Karl Barth as far as it has been published imagine that the history of grammars and is now available to the English reader. lexicons of the sacred languages has to be The volume constitutes the third part of 116 BOOK REVIEW 117 the doctrine of reconciliation and deals with For Barth, in contrast to Tillich and the meaning and scope of the prophetic office others, Jesus as the Light of life is also the of Christ. (A fourth part on the ethics of only Prophet whom we should follow. There reconciliation will be published in German is no other prophet to shed light, no other in 1963.) It is notable that Barth would approach to God, just as there is no other expend such monumental labors on this sub­ Mediator and bearer of righteousness. ject when earlier theologians have given it Barth, however, separates Christ the only only perfunctory attention or bypassed it Prophet from all prophecy and apostolic altogether. It might, however, be pointed preaching; these are only a secondary word out that earlier theologians (for example, of God which derive from the primary Word Calov) have said much on the prophetic and are subjected to it. This curious division office of Christ in their section de ecclesia, which was already apparent in Vol. I, Parts whereas Barth here considers the doctrine of 1 and 2, is due to Barth's failure to dis­ the call, church, and ministry under the head­ tinguish between a material and a formal ing of reconciliation, or Christ's prophetic principle of theology, inasmuch as he makes office. Barth's reason for dealing so thor­ Christ both. But this becomes quite an im­ oughly with the subject is his conviction that possible position when, for instance, he reconciliation is not a mere past act of God, maintains that the Vlord of the Bible is true but that it discloses, mediates, and reveals when it "coincides with the Word spoken in itself today, and thus summons us to con­ Jesus Christ." In contrast to Barth, orthodox scious) graceful, anG. intclli15 .......... .t'.... .L ..~""':pation theology has a: .. _1 o :.~:":' ..:...• ..;..~ .t'.ophetic in its occurrence. Reconciliation is not a and apostolic Word is the Word of Christ. dark and dumb event, but a perspicuous and A surprise in the present volume is Barth's vocal one. discussion of "a true word" being proclaimed Barth ;nir;"tes his work on the prophetic by those totally extra muros ecclesiae, even office under the present-tense heading outside the pale of Christianity. It is not "Christ Lives." This is the objective fact be­ entirely clear what Barth means at this point hind all preaching - and also behind and whether this position can be reconciled Christ's prophetic office, which transcends the with his former denial of namral theology. Old Testament concept of prophet in that He But this much he says: "It is no fair test if is Mediator. At the same time Old Testa­ we dismiss these words in advance on the ment prophecy is thoroughly Messianic. The ground that we have in them only the basi­ history of Israel is His history, its revelation cally and finally unilluminating insights and His revelation. And this revelation is self­ virmes of the natural man and therefore authenticating. It involves a betrayal even to splendida vitia." The length and difficulty ask how all this can be proved, as Feuer­ Barth has with this consideration indicates bach did. On this important point (particu­ that we have a sort of appendage here to larly in our day of confident empiricism) some of his earlier strong statements against Barth speaks very well, although he has still natural revelation. Barth at this point is not told us the means and vehicle whereby striving to avoid Docetism and to maintain God authenticates His revelation of Jesus that the setting and background of the event Christ. "The declaration of the life of Jesus and revelation of reconciliation is a real Christ is valid as and because it is a declara­ creaturely world. This is highly necessary tion concerning the life of Jesus Christ." after some of his inferences in former vol­ And if this is a circle, it is a circttlus vir­ umes of his dogmatics. titosus. In this long double volume we perhaps 118 BOOK REVIEW see. two reasons why Barth has enjoyed such saints in light, and the great High Priest that a long popularity and why theologians have is passed into the heavens," is in this re­ been willing to read thousands of his pages: viewer's opinion every whit as good as the Barth does a lot of preaching in all his dog­ other two. There is the same humor, albeit matics and his theology is hopeful and opti- generally gentler and less mordant; the same mistic. ROBERT D. PREUS awareness of what we human beings are, even when we are in Christ, the same prac­ DAS GEMEINKATHOLISCHE MITTEL­ tical skill in applying the abstractions of ALTERLICHE ERBE BEIM JUNGEN theological reflection. Primarily concerned LUTHER. By Gottfried EdeL Marburg­ as it is with two of the most elusive loci an-der-Lahn: Verlag Dr. R. F. Edel, c. in dogmatics, the doctrine of the angels and 1962. 128 pages. Paper. DM 7.80. the doctrine of the last things, the book in­ The author propounds the question: "How evitably will not command intellectual assent did the young Luther understand, apply, use to every statement from every reader, but [Roman} Catholic doctrine?" He holds that this will not significantly impair its value none of the varied answers given to this as a manual of devotion or a basis for edi­ question has been satisfactory. To obtain a fication. Don't wait till next Michaelmas satisfactory answer, he believes, the ground to get a copy; order one now. must first be prepared for further investiga­ ARTHUR CARL PIEPKORN tion. This dissertation, presented to the THE CULTIC PROPHET IN ANCIENT Philoso:,h;~D 1 Faculty of the John Gutenberg University at Mayence, is intended as a be­ ISRAEL. By Aubrey R. Johnson, Sec­ ginning towards that purpose. It deals with ond edition. Cardiff: University of Wales Luther's early concept of tradition. The Press, 1962. viii and 91 pages.
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