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What Kind of Revolution?

The Wilderness Revolt: A New View of the Life and Death of Jesus Based on the Ideas and Notes of the Late Bishop James A. Pike, by Diane Kennedy Pike and R. Scott Kennedy (Doubleday, 1972, 385 pp., $7.95), The Roman Siege of Jerusalem, by Rupert Furneaux (McKay, 1972, 274 pp., $6.95), and Jesus and the Politics of Violence, by George R. Edwards (Harper & Row, 1972, 168 pp., $5.95), are reviewed by John H. White, dean of religious services and assistant professor of Bible, Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.

Violence and proposals for violent revolution have become a mark of our time. Established powers have a ready response to violent revolution—the response of armed force. To the dismal sequence of violence and counter violence there seems to be no end. The Christian must ask: Was Jesus a violent revolutionary, a non-violent pacifist, or something else?

Here are three books that try to discover whether Jesus was a revolutionary, and if so what kind. Each is directly or indirectly concerned with the Brandon-Eisler thesis that Jesus complied with the political violence against Rome in first-century Palestine, and that the gospel record is, except for some remnants, a picture of Jesus depoliticized in order to pacify the Roman government.

The Wilderness Revolt and The Roman Siege of Jerusalem support the Brandon-Eisler thesis and seek to update it. The Wilderness Revolt is a posthumous publication of ideas of Bishop James A. Pike. Each chapter begins with a section entitled “In the Words of James A. Pike”; after the brief quotation comes the authors’ expansion of it with what is often a rather disorganized and inconclusive documentation.

For example: “Everything Jesus did and said would have been understood by him and by his disciples and Jewish masses in the context of Apocalyptic Messianism.” Jesus was willing to be the Messianic king who would lead the Jews against Rome, say the authors, but he would use violence only if there were a sign from God. He was a blend of Zealot and apocalyptist, a continuation of the freedom fighters in the Qumran tradition. In this interpretation, all the traditional events of Jesus’ ministry become political demonstrations. So the book concludes, “The disciples were in error about Jesus’ life but it can still have profound meaning for us today if properly understood.” Parapsychological phenomena may be the means both of discovering and of verifying that meaning.

What these authors give us is a complete reconstruction of the life of Jesus drawn from the flimsy evidence of the political situation of his day.

In A.D. 66 the Jews rebelled against their Roman rulers. In The Roman Seige of Jerusalem Rupert Furneaux offers a good perspective on the Judaism of that time. He specializes in the interpretation of military history, and in this book he captures something of the intrigue of the plots and betrayals that shaped those Palestinian events.

Furneaux, too, sets forth Jesus Christ as a Jewish nationalist. He says that Paul in his reconstruction reworked him into a deity. “To understand his career, we need to reject the emotional appeal of the Gospel story and to clear up the misunderstanding about the role of the Messiah.” The gospel writers were disguising a fact unpalatable to their readers, that the founder of their religion was put to death for political sedition. These authors either intentionally misrepresented or were ignorant of Jewish nationalistic hopes. Furneaux feels there is a Christian determination to misinterpret the Jewish concept that the Messiah was nothing more than an earthly champion filled with divine spirit.

Jesus and the Politics of Violence stands in contrast to these two books. It is an attempt to face issues of critical New Testament scholarship and contemporary politics. The author points out carefully and accurately that S. G. F. Brandon (Jesus and the Zealots) went through the Gospels seeking to fit Jesus into the mold of a militant Jewish nationalist.

Two chapters contain Edwards’s analysis of Mark’s Gospel. Brandon and others see the Book of Mark as a tendentious attempt to promote “rapprochement between Christianity and Rome,” explains Edwards, a revision of the previous picture of Jesus as a political revolutionary. In a chapter entitled “Mark Without Politics” Edwards attempts to correct that view by setting forth, with some reservations, William Wrede’s view of the secret messiah. He seeks to show that Mark’s literary purpose is not political apology but de-ethnicizing and depoliticizing the early Church’s understanding of the Messiah: “In an age when men assign political significance to all phenomena one must be careful in addressing political questions to a biblical literature which is ‘beyond politics.’”

It is regrettable, however, that in his analysis Edwards adopts the higher-critical view of the biblical evidence held by the writers whom he criticizes. Over and over he differentiates between Jesus’ self-image and the early Church’s view of him. He gives a moving argument for selective conscientious objection, but one wonders how that position springs out of the biblical data. Indeed, Edwards says that its defense comes from contextual ethics.

The paradigm for us as men is the pacific Christ. Yet Edwards, while trying to make it clear that the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith are the same, gives away the whole foundation of his argument when he says that Christ “stands on the boundary between faith and history.… If, furthermore, it could be shown that no such model man as the Gospels exhibit actually existed, then it would be forthwith necessary for the moral sanity of the world to create one.”

To those who take the words of Jesus at face value, The Roman Siege of Jerusalem and The Wilderness Revolt seem extremely radical. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount seems plain enough: the only consistently Christian way is the way of nonviolence. Yet some modern scholars maintain that the picture of the pacific Jesus is unhistorical, that it is a perversion of an earlier, more authentic portrayal of Jesus as a political insurgent against Roman oppression. There are, we are told, surviving fragments of this earlier picture, and they are clues to the real historical Jesus.

Accurate critiques have been given of this approach, and Edwards’s book adds to that number. Some readers will also be interested in the work of Martin Hengel and two books by Oscar Cullmann, The State in the New Testament and Jesus and the Revolutionaries.

In this reviewer’s judgment, the corrective to such exegetical aberrations is to have a correct approach to the Scriptures. They are primarily the history of redemption, and Jesus Christ must be seen in the total context of that redemption as the Second Adam. In the temptation, for example, he acts as the federal head of his people and rejects the role of a militant messiah.

Evangelicals, however, have been guilty of underestimating the influence of messianic movements on the doctrine and life of the early Christian Church. The Church has been influenced by opposing fads: on the one hand, the tendency of the political left to view Jesus as a proponent of revolution, and on the other, the tendency to think that Jesus baptizes the American way of life with his blessing. May such books as these call evangelicals to repent and to be gripped by the counter-cultural nature of Christianity. If we returned to Jesus, we would have a revolution indeed—a revolution based on the radical principles of Scripture.

Biblical Vision For ‘Faith Evangelical’

Brethren, Hang Loose, by Robert Girard (Zondervan, 1972, 220 pp., $4.95, $1.95 pb), and The Church in God’s Program, by Robert Saucy (Moody, 1972, 254 pp., $5.95), are reviewed by Marlin Jeschke, chairman, Division of Bible, Religion, and Philosophy, Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana.

The doctrine of the Church has fallen on hard times in recent years. Maybe euphoria is too strong a word, but certainly a mood of confidence and optimism marked the church world in the fifties and early sixties. It was the day of well-publicized ecumenical gatherings and a spate of books on the doctrine of the Church (e.g., Brown, Jenkins, Miller, Nelson, Newbigin, Welch).

But now have come falling attendance, flagging financial support, ecumencial uncertainty, and general perplexity about what the Church is and how it can become or remain relevant in our ongoing modem world. And just when the going has gotten tough, book publishing in general has deserted the field and followed the fads to new areas such as situation ethics and women’s liberation.

In the face of this it is good to see some new books about the church, and on both sides of the subject needing treatment, systematic and practical theology. Saucy tries to set forth the biblical model of the church, and Girard seeks to make the biblical vision come alive in a local congregation.

In my opinion, The Church in God’s Program does not quite strike fire. With its subtitles and clear organization, it seems intended as a text on the doctrine of the Church for courses in theology. But its textbook nature is not the problem. Nor is the content (though most of what is in the first three chapters on the nature of the Church has already been done in, e.g., Minear). On the whole Saucy comes to sane conclusions about the organization of the Church, its ministry, and the ordinances.

The problem seems to be a pedestrian systematic format imposed upon biblical materials. Heavily lacing his text with references, Saucy obviously tries to let the biblical model of the Church shine forth; but the organization of the book reflects Protestant thought of the 1800s, and this tends to get in the way of the biblical model. If Saucy wants to be biblical, he would do much better to let the organization of his subject emerge from the biblical materials themselves rather than cite scriptural texts to support a systematic theology coming from elsewhere.

This is where Robert Girard’s book comes in for comment—and I am glad I read these together. For when I had finished with Saucy’s book I got the feeling that, if it didn’t actually endorse the typical Faith Evangelical Church of Suburbia, it certainly spoke no prophetic word to it. And yet Faith Evangelical Church of Suburbia is exactly what Girard claims he for too long took as his ideal only to find it wanting. “The Glorious Evangelical Status Quo,” he calls it, which he had to abandon in order to discover how God wanted to work in the world.

Girard describes his experience with Our Heritage Wesleyan Church in Scottsdale, Arizona. Running a heavily programmed, outwardly “successful” evangelical church, Girard sensed a hollowness in it all, because he became convinced the “success” did not really represent the joy and power of the New Testament. And so Girard turned away from the pastorally planned program to let God build His church. And he turned to cell groups to find the spiritual life his church needed.

Girard’s story has been told before—and perhaps better—in Tom Allan, The Face of My Parish, Joseph McCabe, The Power of God in a Parish Program, and Robert Raines, New Life in the Church. But that doesn’t make it superfluous. Every testimony to a revitalized church is worthwhile because, like Paul’s reports in Acts, it is a story of God at work.

The book is a little repetitive in places, and it tends to sensationalize somewhat, reveling in the “wow!” of spiritual liberation. But perhaps the fault lies in the fact that churches by and large do not expect to live in the freedom and power of the Spirit; this makes the experience seem abnormal. The danger, of course, is that cell groups will become another gimmick. In the end the Church is not just living-room rap sessions. It is the body of Christ in the world, with a structure, a confession, a missionary task, and a prophetic witness to the world. But where the Church has not found authentic spiritual life, the courage to let go and test new forms may be a necessary step.

NEWLY PUBLISHED

A Commentary on the Minor Prophets, by Homer Hailey (Baker, 428 pp., $6.95). Fills a gap in most expositors’ libraries. Gives verse-by-verse help—neither sermonic nor technical—on background and meaning.

What Does God Want, Anyway?, by Okke Jager (Judson, 191 pp., $6.50). An admirable, well written discussion of how to find out.

The Psychology of Religious Doubt, by Philip M. Helfaer (Beacon, 345 pp., $19.95). An absorbing study of twelve Protestant seminarians (evangelicals and liberals) and their bouts with uncertainty. Helfaer, a clinical psychologist, provides insight into the problems but makes no attempt to solve them. Those suffering from religious doubt won’t necessarily find help here.

Techniques and Resources for Guiding Adult Groups, edited by Harold D. Minor (Abingdon, 159 pp., $2.25 pb). This book is divided into four sections: group life, guiding a study group, ways of learning, and resources for learning. Unfortunately, each main section has so many subheadings and divisions that the book becomes fragmented and hard to follow.

Liberated Love, by Chester A. Pennington (Pilgrim, 127 pp., $4.95). A sensitive little book that puts love in proper perspective.

Reason in Pastoral Counseling, by Paul A. Hauck (Westminster, 236 pp., $5.95). A clinical psychologist outlines a new technique for pastoral counseling based on rational-emotive therapy, an Albert Ellis brain-child. Shows, with case histories, how pastors can use elements of this approach.

A Literary Approach to the New Testament, by John Paul Pritchard (University of Oklahoma, 1972, 358 pp., $8.95). An interesting but perhaps not very helpful critical review. Discusses such literary techniques as symbolism, themes, and juxtaposition, as well as the stylistic development of some New Testament writers. Such an approach does give a good introductory background to the culture and historical setting of the New Testament.

Effective Counseling, by Gary Collins (Creation House, 202 pp., $2.95 pb). A handbook written to inform church leaders of changes and progress in the counseling field and how these can be applied to their ministry.

Healer of the Mind, edited by Paul E. Johnson (Abingdon, 270 pp., $6.95). Ten specialists in psychotherapy, including Paul Tournier and Donald Moore, speak freely of their personal quests for a faith to live by.

The Reality of the Devil: Evil in Man, by Ruth Nanda Anshen (Harper, 142 pp., $6.95). A strange book on the phenomenology of evil and the Evil One by a writer who takes the Devil seriously, though she is not committed to biblical Christianity. Contains many fascinating ideas, especially about the ambiguity of evil and its representatives, but needs to be supplemented by more reliably biblical material.

Wandering in the Wildnerness: Christians and the New Culture, by Robert Benne (Fortress, 115 pp., $3.25 pb). A plan for parish renewal incorporating the youth culture, the small-group movement, and organizational development.

The Church and the Ecological Crisis, by Henlee H. Barnette (Eerdmans, 114 pp., $2.25 pb). This attempt to couple a sacramental view of nature with a sketchy recital of well-known ecological data does not increase our appreciation for either.

How to Believe Again, by Helmut Thielicke (Fortress, 220 pp., $3.95 pb). Topical sermons by Germany’s most popular Protestant pulpiteer. Thielicke almost always gives evangelicals food for thought, and much of what he says is very useful, especially as guidance for a psychologically effective application of Christian truth.

Audio-Visual Media in Christian Education, by Gene A. Getz (Moody, 236 pp., $5.95). Revision of a thoroughly practical manual that should be in all church libraries. At times the material may sound simplistic, but many churches need to know the basics as well as the more sophisticated information Getz gives.

Puritan Rhetoric: The Issue of Emotion in Religion, by Eugene E. White (Southern Illinois University, 215 pp., $7.95). An introduction to and documents of the Great Awakening. Interesting, timely reading in light of the contemporary revival scene.

Then Joy Breaks Through, by George Benson (Seabury, 139 pp., $4.95). A Christian psychoanalyst compares the case history of a guilt-ridden teen-ager with the stages of growth in the life of the Apostle Peter, emphasizing the restorative power of the Christian faith.

The Unprivate Life of a Pastor’s Wife, by Frances Nordland (Moody, 176 pp., $3.95). A realistic assessment of the responsibilities and privileges of the pastor’s wife. Drawing on thirty years of experience, the author intersperses humor, Scripture, and personal illustrations in a highly readable account.

Ethical Resources for Political and Economic Decision, by Harvey Seifert (Westminster, 174 pp., $5.75). Ethical guidelines for radically altering our political and economic structures. Changes in beliefs and life-styles are seen as prerequisite to a successful adaptation to the next stage of human history.

Creative Congregations, edited by Edgar R. Trexler (Abingdon, 143 pp., $2.45 pb), and New Hope for Congregations, by Loren Mead (Seabury, 128 pp., $2.95 pb). Filled with case studies of “creative congregations,” these are both “can do” and “how to” books that should interest anyone whose local church congregation lacks vitality.

The Mental Health Ministry of the Local Church, by Howard J. Clinebell, Jr. (Abingdon, 300 pp., $2.95 pb), and Group Counseling in the Church, by John B. Oman (Augsburg, 128 pp., $2.95 pb). The central thesis of the first book (reprint of a 1965 title) is the healing-redemptive ministry of the local church in both the preventive and the therapeutic aspect of mental health. The second book is a guide for developing counseling groups in which the healing of persons is brought about through a caring community.

The Delicate Creation, by Christopher Derrick (Devin-Adair, 129 pp., $5.95). A brilliant and imaginative essay on the relation between theology and ecology. Derrick, a conservative Roman Catholic, interprets today’s crisis as a stage in the conflict between Christian (i.e., creationist and Gnostic-Manichaean (i.e., anti-creationist) thought.

Black Religion and Black Radicalism, by Gayraud S. Wilmore (Doubleday, 344 pp., $7.95). A historical analysis of the black religious experience stressing the centrality of that experience to the whole spectrum of black American history and culture.

A Social Action Primer, by Dieter T. Hessel (Westminster, 138 pp., $2.95 pb). A how-to-do-it handbook for groups interested in altering societal structures. In non-technical terms the author stresses strategic thinking and effective action. A final chapter is on local church involvement.

Three Popes and the Cardinal, by Malachi Martin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 300 pp., $7.95). A former Jesuit professor brings a detailed knowledge of history and contemporary Catholic church politics into play to predict the imminent disappearance of Roman Catholicism as a viable structure. Provocative but not necessarily reliable prophecy.

The Betrayal of Wisdom, by R. J. Kreyche (Alba House, 237 pp., $3.95 pb). A former president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association attempts to rescue philosophy from its current disrepute by urging a return to the idea of philosophy as therapy, wisdom, and understanding of life. Offers a creative human dimension along with a fresh treatment of selected philosophical themes.

The Dispersion of the People of God, by Richard R. DeRidder (Baker, 239 pp., $4.95 pb). A discussion of Matthew 28:19, 20 against the background of Jewish proselytism and Jesus’ apostleship, with an application to the life of the Church today. Originally a Ph.D. thesis at the Free University of Amsterdam by a former missionary who is currently a pastor in the United States.

Robert L. Niklaus

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The pen of General Mobutu Sese Seko, president of Zaire (formerly Congo), has proved mighty like a sword. He used it in a double stroke to render hors de combat more than 1,300 religious groups in his nation. The move radically altered the church scene in Zaire.

The first stroke of his pen signed into law on December 31, 1971, the requirement that all but three main churches reapply for permission to function. The three exempted were the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Christ in Zaire, which had united various Protestant denominations, and the Kimbanguist Church, an independent African movement (see March 17 issue, page 42).

The second stroke fell on March 27, 1972: the President signed three of the applications submitted by numerous churches and movements wanting to continue. The second group of three that joined the original trio were the Israeli Community of Kinshasa, the Islamic Community of Zaire, and the Greek Orthodox Church. All the other 1,300-plus groups except one had to disband and disappear (see May 12 issue, page 38).

Now the dust has settled enough to attempt an evaluation. The radical restraint on religious activities had both short- and long-term implications for Protestants in Zaire.

Cold-Blooded Politics

Some observers attribute President Mobutu Sese Seko’s crackdown on religion to his “Campaign for Authenticity.” Zaire’s African personality was in danger of suffocation by Western technology and culture, he charged late last year. The time had come to reassert authentic Bantu values in art, music, and every other aspect of national life. Some believed this meant the nation’s religious life as well.

Other Africa watchers, including the diplomatic corps in Zaire, suspect the sudden concern for Bantu personality may have been prompted as much by politics as by ideals. The authenticity campaign coincided with severe economic troubles caused mainly by an almost 50 per cent drop in the price of copper ore. This export garners four-fifths of Zaire’s hard currency. Waving the flag of authenticity helped divert public attention from increasing inflation.

Similarly, politics—not ideals—prompted the government’s action against religious groups on December 31, 1971.

Since independence in 1960, Zaire had become the breeding ground for a swarm of prophetic movements, secret cults, and splinter churches. A self-styled prophet or frustrated church leader or divided congregation seemed reason enough for a new group to organize and proselytize and hundreds did. The new organization often assumed an imposing name, in contrast to its small size, such as Church of Renaissance Love, Jehovah’s Church of Men of Goodwill, Israeli Army of Builders of the Kingdom of God, and Church of Faith by the Prophet Isaiah. One small city of about 80,000 in Central Zaire bred 150 different movements, the Lower Zaire Province more than 300. The Ministry of Justice knew of 1,300 groups nationwide, and hundreds more probably never bothered to declare themselves.

This epidemic stirred public criticism. A daily newspaper in the capital city of Kinshasa expressed the disgust of many citizens. Citing the practice by one group of sleeping in the cemetery at night, it condemned such irresponsible movements as a threat to public order—if not the security of the nation.

Other African states had as many or more such religious movements and did not consider them dangerous. Why should Zairians be so jittery? Because of their recent bitter experience. In just seven years of independence, Zaire suffered one full-scale rebellion, two coup d’états, three military mutinies, and two abortive secessions. Zairians attributed these troubles to irresponsible political factions. They were in no mood to tolerate erratic cults whose antics could cause more national grief.

No one appreciated this problem more than President Mobutu. Since seizing power in 1965 he had pushed the nation well uphill toward unity and stability. But progress was still precarious. If he stumbled, he knew he would be crushed as Zaire plunged downhill again to tragedy. The chaotic proliferation of cults could cause that stumble. If he didn’t move to control them, his enemies might.

The founder of one movement had already been accused of high treason. Emmanuel Bamba, leader of the Eglise congolaise, was arrested and hanged with other members of the “Easter Plot” against the President’s life in 1966. Since then, according to David B. Barrett, an authority on African religious movements, such groups in Zaire had become a political issue.

Bystanders Or Targets?

Legislators drawing up the bill for presidential approval assured troubled Protestant leaders that the measures were aimed only at the cults. Established churches and missions were not targets. But it may have been more than coincidence that just six months before, the Protestants of Zaire had suffered the severest split in their history (see April 14 issue, page 4). It was certainly no coincidence that the only Protestant group to survive the President’s slashing pen was the Church of Christ in Zaire (CCZ).

Dr. I. (Jean) Bokambanza Bokeleale, president of the CCZ, had linked church unity to politics since he took office in 1969. He preached that opposition to organic unity was tantamount to rebellion against the regime. This political overtone disturbed some churchmen, but Dr. Bokeleale realized early success toward a united church. He had given expression to a deep feeling among all kinds of leading Protestants for a more visible form of their oneness in Christ.

Trouble started in 1970 when the long-standing forty-five-member Congo Protestant Council formally became the CCZ. Unconstitutional aspects of the vote, plus theological objections, eventually forced many member denominations to withdraw. They and other groups reorganized along the lines of the former council.

Not being part of CCZ, the thirty-three members of this Council of Protestant Churches of Zaire (CPCZ) were hit by the President’s ultimatum of December 31. Although the council tried hard to meet the government’s stringent requirements, its efforts for legal status failed.

But the government dealt more kindly with the abortive council than with the spurious sects and cults. The latter were simply and severely told to disband; their followers could individually join one of the approved groups. The CPCZ was promised a listing of Protestant denominations permitted to function within the CCZ.

The list appeared seven suspense-filled weeks later. It shows what happens when politics goes to church. The united church jumped from its original forty-five members to seventy-two. Not only were all dissident denominations reintegrated; left-over groups unwanted by the other approved associations were also swept in (see July 7 issue, page 36). One of these groups, the Seventh-day Adventists, has the distinction now of being the only SDA group that is a part of a united church.

PLACED BY THE GIDEONS

The landlord offers us his space for let

And it is scarred, by other loners

And losers: the split and peep-holed windowshade

Winking with garish signs, the sprung window,

Webs in the drawers, the mattress unsprung

And burns upon the counterpane, up the plumbing

A red spider running on infinitely painstaken wires,

Like a moving star cluster; and the landlord

Offers us his solace, his book of loving,

Left behind after Gideon and the others slept,

Passage fallen open for a sign, a sign:

How many mansions there are prepared

In that other house, beyond the landlord’s room

He offers now, where every door closets the dark,

The spider threads an orrery, the plumbing perspires.

NANCY G. WESTERFIELD

Bokeleale protested strongly that the CCZ should have the right to choose its own members. He promised that the united church would soon produce its own approved list.

The government’s action toward the divided Protestants resembles a familiar “African solution”: no one wins all, no one loses all. The CCZ maintained its distinction as the only recognized Protestant church. All the dissident denominations were returned intact to the united church; not one was forced to disband or reorganize. Summing it all up, the weekly magazine Zaire (reputedly the President’s own) concluded: “All the Protestant communities have been put in the same sack and condemned to get along with each other.”

Assessing The Aftermath

The net result seems to be a return to the status quo. The only apparent change stipulated that all denominations (now called communities) and missions must work within the CCZ structure. The official list published by the government pointedly assured local autonomy of the united church members, a key issue raised by the CPCZ. A preamble to the actual list of authorized communities states, “These associations are grouped by executive order within the Church of Christ in Zaire while retaining their own legal status” (italics added).

One high-ranking government official told leaders of the disbanded CPCZ, “The internal affairs of the united church are your problems, not ours. If you don’t like the leadership or the constitution, you can always change them. But you must do so from within.” If this is indeed the government’s attitude, it has significant bearing on what the reunited CCZ members can do about the issues that still divide them.

Church workers in the provinces tend to treat the decisions and events in Kinshasa as just a bad dream. Hoping that little has changed, they plan to carry on as before. The average church member is uniformed and unconcerned. But in this writer’s opinion, significant trends have been activated that will increasingly shape Protestant life in Zaire. The government’s political decision set off a chain reaction of developments not all immediately apparent—and not all political.

Shrinking freedom. The precedent has been set for government intervention in the nation’s religious life. Religious freedom has been compromised. The Minister of Justice, perhaps unintentionally, made this clear in commenting on the December 31 law: “We have freedom of religion in this country just as we have freedom of the press.” Anyone connected with the mass media knows just how much “freedom” the press enjoys in Zaire.

Not only has the precedent of government control been set, but the channel has been simplified. Instead of dealing with seventy-two different church offices, the regime can work through the CCZ secretariat, which oversees and coordinates activities of the member communities.

Disappearing neutrality. Bokeleale’s insistence on “one leader, one party, one church” closely identified Protestants with Zaire’s only political party, the Mouvement populaire de la revolution. The government’s accolade of approval on the CCZ formalized that relationship.

Some local churchmen suspect that ties between the united church leadership and the government are financial as well as ideological. Although the CCZ secretariat has received almost no funds from member groups, it has been able to organize and finance provincial-level offices throughout the nation. Pastors of the CCZ Provincial Synod of Lower Zaire officially requested a report of the secretariat’s independent financial sources. Bokeleale has refused such an accounting in the past.

FREE PARASITES

Scamper and run free, dead leaves,

Crackle and fire the lower world.
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Admissions - Belmont Abbey College Course & Unit Catalogues 2024/25 Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education Abbey Online | North Carolina Online Catholic College

You were once fastened in lively slavery,

Responsive to the dew, the merry wind,

The clatter of birds, the bend and swoop

Of the green bough. Who can catch your

Elusive drive, now, or stoop

To find your crowded, dry bed

And bind you with unnatural grace

To the blood-rich vine where you can face

A greater beauty than your own;

Or dance in place, yet not alone,

With room for a rarer, wilder bloom?

So be an orchidic parasite,

Gaily prey on that anchor-tree

While life nods green and choice looms free!

ELLEN STRICKLAND

This close relation to the regime disturbs church workers accustomed to neutrality in political matters. One pastor confided an uneasiness shared by his colleagues: “The church is now little more than a shadow of the regime; if it falls, so will the church.” Disloyalty to the government is not the issue with these men; they readily acknowledge President Mobutu’s considerable achievements. Zaire’s short, turbulent history troubles them. The possibility of yet another upheaval and its consequences for the church is a horrible thought, but not unreasonable.

Too-close ties between the CCZ and the ruling party have another drawback: the church risks alienating people who sorely need its ministry. Like every one-party system, Zaire’s government has its excesses. Will the victims of these excesses turn for spiritual help to a church fulsome in its praise of the regime?

Continuing tensions. The united church’s organizational structure and leadership do not accurately represent the desires of its members. This is not only true of the dissident groups forced back into the CCZ, more convinced than ever that they are right. Communities that remained in the united church have cut off their financial support of the organization. Events since last December have largely polarized the church’s national leaders and provincial communities into two groups.

Bokeleale attempts to minimize the past months as a distasteful, minor incident, the quicker forgotten the better. But the issues will not be shrugged off. Tensions will remain and deprive the church of spiritual vitality until the local and national church leaders move to resolve their differences in Christian love and honesty.

Widening unity. The ecumenical dialogue is further advanced in Zaire than elsewhere in French-speaking Africa. Bokeleale and his staff have actively encouraged this trend, and would like to see more. Answering a question on unity by journalists, he countered, “You talk to me only about unification of Protestants. Why not about our uniting with the Catholics and Kimbanguists? The Church is one and indivisible.”

Currently the CCZ leader favors a council of the six religious groups. Yet a future church combining numerous confessions is not discounted. The secretariat’s director of information wrote several articles favoring a single national church. In one article he applauded a fellow journalist’s contention that all paths, even Islam’s, “converge toward the same goal which is God.” Later he wrote, “In the future, authentic Zairian ecumenicity should result in a single Christian Church neither Catholic nor Protestant nor Kimbanguist; a Zairian Church matured by the force of theological ideas and Bantu principles.”

Limiting missionaries. After the government announced its final position on churches and prophetic movements, one writer in a Kinshasa daily paper, Elima, proposed some follow-up action. He repeated the familiar accusation that “fundamentalists and other foreign missionaries” plotted Protestant disunity. Then he suggested, “The best thing would be to have fewer missionaries in our associations, but have them more honest and sincere.…”

Bokeleale tried unsuccessfully last year to take control over which missionaries could work in Zaire. Quoting as his authority an annual synod decision found nowhere in the official minutes, he informed the government that all future visa requests by missionaries should first be cleared by his office. By denying visas to certain missionaries, he could weaken the resolve of communities opposed to his concept of organic unity. Although the Foreign Ministry rejected his claim, several overseas embassies did receive instructions to refer missionary visa requests to Bokeleale.

Such action widens the gap between the secretariat and the member communities. The CCZ president repeatedly assured wavering communities that their autonomy remained intact within the united church. But his attempts to control missionary visas contradicted this assurance. He was in effect trying to deprive local groups of the right to choose who could work with them.

After the December 31 decision, an American embassy official asked the CCZ president about the future of missionaries in Zaire. “Missionaries who cannot work with us,” Bokeleale replied, “will have to look elsewhere for work, just like any other person whose company goes bankrupt.”

The Zairian government revised its visa system in August. Missionaries now wanting to work in Zaire will get only a three-month entry permit from overseas embassies, they must obtain resident visas after arriving in the country. Will Bokeleale use this change to cut off the inflow of missionaries unsympathetic to his concept of organic unity? He probably will try.

Turned-On Church Leaders

Offsetting these sobering possibilities are some positive aspects that could direct the Protestants of Zaire toward brighter days. Both President Mobutu and Dr. Bokeleale started these trends and have thereby done great service to the church.

Protestants now realize the government is keenly church-conscious. Gone are the free-wheeling days of dissent and divide in total disregard to what others thought. Although proliferation among Protestants did not reach the epidemic proportions of the prophetic movements, churches and missions had their problems. Some conflicts persist unresolved after ten years.

Now Christians have a tangible reason as well as a scriptural injunction to settle matters among themselves: they are being watched by a security-sensitive state. The more closely they follow the biblical norm of living together in love, the less likely they will experience further government intervention.

In short, the Church of Christ in Zaire has been given a second chance to sort things out and get along as Christians should. The weekly magazine Zaire said as much: “Now that the government has demonstrated anew its confidence in the Protestant communities, it is up to them as well as the CCZ leaders to show themselves worthy of this mark of confidence.”

Bokeleale may well be remembered for shouting from the housetop what other Africans were muttering under their breath. In pushing organic church union, he expressed a common sentiment among Zairians of many church backgrounds. They did not appreciate the historical reasons dividing Zaire’s forty-five Western denominations and missions; they do not feel constrained to perpetuate them. Leading churchmen and laymen disagree with Bokeleale on how far and how fast they should move toward organic union. But they agree on the basic principle of a more tangible structure of their common faith in Christ.

Bokeleale brutally but effectively clarified missionary thinking on this point. Once convinced he was right, the majority of missionaries were willing to step back and see what African believers and the Holy Spirit could work out. The few who refused to take this attitude are frequently the same ones who persist in their excessive influence over the local church.

The most significant, positive result of events inside and outside the CCZ is the aroused concern of capable church leaders in the ranks. Thanks to President Mobutu Sese Seko, these pastors and laymen are held more accountable for the church’s conduct than ever. Thanks to Dr. Bokeleale, the church is theirs as never before.

One experienced European church worker attended the annual sessions of the Congo Protestant Council at Bukavu several years ago. Observing the same leaders again at Mbandaka in 1971 during the first annual synod of the CCZ, she was astounded by the contrast. The delegates at Mbandaka, alert and articulate, were beginning to have their own ideas on the role and nature of their church.

These turned-on church leaders may spring the next surprise in the fast-paced story of religion in Zaire. Having been shaken loose from the past by both the government and Bokeleale, they could emerge as co-authors with the Holy Spirit of a glorious new chapter in African church history.

George M. Marsden is associate professor of history at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has the Ph.D. (Yale University) and has written “The Evangelical Mind and the New School Presbyterian Experience.”

- More fromRobert L. Niklaus

Edwin M. Yamauchi

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According to the sponsors of a recent forum held at Miami University, liberal leaders in the churches urge Christians “to empower minority people, end the war and racism,” and conservatives “urge Christians to seek inward peace and renewal.” Although this is neither a completely accurate nor a universally valid characterization, it is fair to say that in the last fifty years theological liberals have tended to stress social issues to the exclusion of the preaching of the Gospel to individuals, whereas theological conservatives have done the reverse.

To treat ethical pronouncements on social issues as a substitute for Christ’s redemptive message is a grave error—even from a pragmatic, sociological view. On the other hand, to avoid social issues is to retreat into a reactionary monasticism.

A survey of the responses of the early Christian Church to social issues may help us see the present dichotomy in a better perspective.

I. The Biblical Basis

Although the Old Testament is primarily concerned with Israel’s relationship to God, it also abounds with condemnations of social injustice and with exhortations to be concerned about those in less fortunate circumstances (e.g., Deut. 15:7).

Christ came to die for sinful men and to reconcile them to God. But he was also quite clearly concerned about the physical needs of the masses as he went about feeding the hungry and healing the sick. The criterion he set forth for the judgment of nations was the manner in which they would treat those who were strangers, naked, and imprisoned (Matt. 25:31–46).

Paul, in his earnest concern for the preaching of the Gospel, was at the same time occupied with the collection of funds to aid the poor Christians in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1–3; 2 Cor. 8). Christian benevolence was to be directed especially to believers, but also to all men (Gal. 6:10). According to Paul, all men and women were equal in Christ, where there can be neither (ouk eni negating not merely the fact but the possibility) “Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:11; cf. Gal. 3:28).

The earliest Christians even after Pentecost were not instantaneously cleansed from their old prejudices. In Acts 6 we read of a dispute between the Hellenist and Hebraist Jewish Christians because of discrimination against the former group. Wealthy Christians showed gross insensitivity and carnality by appearing drunken at the Communion table while their poorer brethren went hungry (1 Cor. 11:20–22). James 2 describes in vivid fashion the partiality of a Christian church (sunagōgē, possibly “court”) toward a man who is dressed in magnificent garb at the same time that a man in shoddy clothing is treated rudely. James (5:1–6) excoriates the wealthy who have defrauded the poor. He further (2:15, 16) denounces the hypocrisy of some Christians: If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? (cf. 1 John 3:17, 18).

Despite its imperfections, the Christian Church had a dynamic message of salvation that touched the hearts of many in every station of life. Converts included: slaves such as Onesimus (cf. Paul’s letter to Philemon); Africans such as the Ethiopian treasurer of Candace of the Sudan (Acts 8:27) and Simeon Niger (“the Black,” Acts 13:1); women such as Lydia in Philippi (Acts 16:14 ff.); soldiers like the centurion Cornelius (Acts 10); and officials like the governor of Cyprus, Sergius Paulus—a man who had once filled the highest elective office in Rome, that of a consul (Acts 13:7; the Greek anthupatos stands for the Latin proconsul).

The most striking testimony to the success of Christianity in reaching all classes appears in the letter of Pliny the Younger, an official over Bithynia and Pontus in northwestern Turkey, to the Emperor Trajan early in the second century:

The question seems to me to be worthy of your consideration, especially in view of the number of persons endangered; for a great many individuals of every age and class, both men and women, are being brought to trial, and this is likely to continue. It is not only the towns, but villages and rural districts too which are infected through contact with this wretched cult.

Ii. The Early Church And Social Needs

Even a writer as unfriendly to Christianity as the historian Edward Gibbon acknowledges the importance of Christian benevolence in the triumph of Christendom. The early Christian writers were themselves aware of the transformation Christ caused in their attitudes toward their neighbors. In one of the earliest apologetic works preserved, Justin Martyr (d. 165) writes:

We used to value above all else money and possessions; now we bring together all that we have and share it with those who are in need (cf. Acts 4:34–37). Formerly, we hated and killed one another and, because of a difference in nationality or custom, we refused to admit strangers within our gates. Now since the coming of Christ, we all live in peace. We pray for our enemies and seek to convert those who hate us unjustly … [I Apology XIV].

Tertullian (160–220) said: “It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another’” (Apology XXXIX).

Adolf Harnack lists in The Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries (reprinted by Harper, 1962), ten ways in which the early churches manifested their concern for mankind:

1. Alms in general. Even poor Christians were urged to give alms by stinting and fasting.

2. The support of teachers and officials.

3. The support of widows and orphans. According to Eusebius, the church in Rome in the third century supported 1,500 widows and persons in distress. This was one facet of Christianity that impressed even Julian the Apostate: “These godless Galileans,” he said, “feed not only their own poor but ours; our poor lack our care.”

4. The support of the sick, the infirm, the poor, and the disabled. Christians established hospitals in a number of cities.

5. Care for prisoners and for people languishing in the mines. Licinius, the last emperor before Constantine, passed a law directed at Christians to the effect that “no one was to show kindness to sufferers in prison by supplying them with food, and that no one was to show mercy to those who were starving in prison.”

6. Care of poor people requiring burial, and of the dead in general. Julian remarked, “This godlessness is mainly furthered by its philanthropy towards strangers and its careful attention to the bestowal of the dead.” Lactantius (c. 240–320) explained:

We cannot bear that the image and workmanship of God should be exposed as a prey to wild beasts and birds, but we restore it to the earth from which it was taken, and do this office of relatives even to the body of a person whom we do not know, since in their place humanity must step in [Institutes VI, 12].

7. Care for slaves. Slavery was a major institution of varied character in the ancient world. Slaves in the mines were barbarously treated. On the other hand, prisoners of war from Greece who became slaves were respected for their cultural superiority and were employed as teachers and secretaries. In Rome the slaves of the wealthy were better dressed and better fed than the poor, free citizens who lived off the doles of the emperor. Roman slaves could sometimes save up their own funds and buy their freedom after about seven years.

Unlike the Essenes and some Stoics, early Christians did not believe in the abolition of slavery. After Onesimus, the runaway slave, was converted, Paul sent him back to his Christian master Philemon with the confidence that Philemon would receive him back as a Christian brother. Early in the second century Ignatius wrote to Polycarp, advising: “Despise not slaves whether men or women. Yet let not these again be puffed up, but let them serve the more faithfully to the glory of God, that they may obtain a better freedom from God” [cf. 1 Cor. 7:21; 1 Tim. 6:2].

Slaves could become pastors. The Roman bishops Pius (140–54) and Callistus (217–22) were probably former slaves. To set a slave free was regarded as praiseworthy. Clement in his letter to the Corinthians (late first century), writes: “We know that many among ourselves have delivered themselves to bondage, that they might ransom others. Many have sold themselves to slavery, and receiving the price paid for themselves have fed others.”

8. Care for people visited by great calamities. In the reign of Maximin, an emperor who persecuted Christians, a great plague struck. According to Eusebius IX, 8:

Alone in the midst of this terrible calamity they [the Christians] proved by visible deeds their sympathy and humanity. All day long some continued without rest to tend the dying and bury them—the number was immense; and there was no one to see to them; others rounded up the huge numbers who had been reduced to scarecrows all over the city and distributed loaves to them all, so that their praises were sung on every side, and all men glorified the God of the Christians and owned that they alone were pious and truly religious: did not their actions speak for themselves?

During the famine of 367 Basil of Cappadocia in eastern Turkey preached against the avarice of the rich and organized relief for the destitute. He wrote to governors urging the remission of taxes for the dispossessed and the redress of injuries for the oppressed. In sermons on “The Rich,” “Avarice,” and “In Time of Famine and Need” “he drove home the fact that every man had an inalienable right to a living—a right that was not to be violated by the claims of property or possessions; and in the case of conflict, private rights must cede before common needs” (Francis Murphy, Politics and the Early Christian).

9. The furnishing of work. The Pseudo-Clementine Homilies advised: “For those able to work, provide work: and to those incapable of work, be charitable.” The author of the Didache was aware that there might be abuses of the Church’s generosity: “But if he has no craft, according to your wisdom provide how he shall live as a Christian among you, but not in idleness. If he will not do this, he is trafficking upon Christ.”

10. Care for brethren on a journey. The oldest account of worship on Sunday (Justin’s Apology I) reports that part of the collection was used to support strangers on their travels.

To be sure, there were also tensions and excesses in the early Church. Fanatical bands of circumcellions, extremists of the Donatist movement in North Africa during the time of Augustine (c. 400), used physical force to promote the equalization of wealth, burning the houses of those who resisted. They coerced landlords to free their slaves, and, reciting “deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles” (“He put the powerful down from their seat and exalted the humble” [Luke 1:52]), they forced wealthy men traveling in carriages to exchange places with their footmen.

Iii. The Early Church And Human Lives

Christians also expressed their compassion for their fellow humans by condemning practices that held life in cheap regard. Christians condemned suicide, abortion, and infanticide. They rescued and raised unwanted babies abandoned on dung heaps.

Entertainment in the Roman Empire was provided primarily by the sanguinary gladiatorial games. By the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41–54), 93 days of the year were devoted to games, and by the fourth century no fewer than 175. Trajan (early second century) celebrated his Dacian victories with four months of games involving 10,000 gladiators. Of all the Roman writers, Seneca’s voice was a lone one raised in protest. But Christian writers were unanimous in denouncing the carnage of the games. They finally ended in A.D. 404 when the monk Honorius rushed into the arena to stop the games and was killed in the process.

Though soldiers who were converted to Christ were not required to leave the army, the early Church retained a generally pacifist position down to Constantine. Christians did not take part in the defense of Jerusalem in the First Jewish-Roman War (A.D. 66–73), but were warned by a vision to flee to Pella in Transjordan before the fall of the city (Eusebius III, 5). According to the Latin recension of Eusebius’s Chronicle preserved by Jerome, Bar Kochba killed Christians because they refused to join the Second Jewish-Roman War (A.D. 132–35).

Roland H. Bainton, professor of ecclesiastical history at Yale, writes: “The age of persecution down to the time of Constantine was the age of pacifism to the degree that during this period no Christian author to our knowledge approved of Christian participation in battle” (Christian Attitudes Toward War and Peace). Tertullian declared that “Christ in disarming Peter ungirt every soldier.” Cyprian held that God had designed iron for tilling and not for killing. Arnobius even thought it was preferable for Christians to die rather than stain their hands with the blood of others. We read of a boy who was killed for his refusal to join the Roman army on the basis that he was a Christian (A.D. 295).

On the other hand, from the end of the second century A.D. there is evidence for the increased participation of Christians in the army, including the famous Thundering Legion under Marcus Aurelius. The conversion of Constantine and his military victory in the sign of the cross at the Milvian Bridge marked a turning point in the Church’s attitude toward war. Under Theodosius II in the early fifth century A.D., only Christians could serve in the army.

In an empire threatened by barbarian invasions, Ambrose and Augustine developed the doctrine of the just war, upheld by the Roman Catholic Church and most Protestants today. A just war is one that is just in intent—to restore peace and to vindicate justice—and just in conduct—without wanton violence and atrocities. According to Augustine, a war need not be waged on the basis of hate: “No one indeed is fit to inflict punishment save the one who has first overcome hate in his heart. The love of enemies admits of no dispensation, but love does not exclude wars of mercy waged by the good” (Epistle 138, ii, 15).

Iv. Historical Perspective

As historian George M. Marsden notes in a similar examination of the evangelical Church’s attitudes toward social concerns in more recent history (“Evangelical Social Concern—Dusting Off the Heritage,” CHRISTIANITY TODAY, May 12, 1972), “tradition, of course, is not a sufficient guide in our discussions of how we should apply the Gospel.” The early Church may have been mistaken in some of its interpretations and practices. Or, granting their correctness for past periods, we need to take into account changed social and political conditions. At the very least, however, a review of the early Church’s attitudes should force us to examine whether our attitudes toward social issues are as biblical as those of former generations.

- More fromEdwin M. Yamauchi

Dick Hillis

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Current reports that Chairman Mao is suffering from throat cancer, plus the fact that he is seventy-seven, make it seem likely that he will not live many more years.

Mao is certainly one of the most charismatic political leaders of this century. This charisma, added to his unwavering dedication to the goal of communizing and strengthening his nation, gives him greater stature than any other national leader today has in his own country.

The young Communist lieutenant who captured us and then lived in our home between battles during the Chinese civil war mirrored his chairman’s dedication. Just before he left us to join a battle in which he knew the odds against survival were twenty to one, I had a short conversation with this nineteen-year-old farm boy turned Communist.

“Sir, the defending army is better equipped than your army. It is protected by a moat, high walls, and iron gates that are heavily sandbagged.”

“I know that,” he replied, “but our enemy has no great cause to fight for and they will turn and run when the battle warms up.”

“What, really, do you have to fight for?” I asked.

“We are going to change the world in my generation.”

“But, sir, it won’t do you any good if you get killed during your attack on the city tonight.”

“Chairman Mao has told us we should be willing to die to change the world, and I am quite prepared to die to carry Communism a mile further.”

Today this young zealot lies beneath the soft dirt of the plains of central Honan Province. His dedication to his leader was typical of that shown by hundreds of thousands of other idealistic, and often deceived, youth.

Chairman Mao’s magnetism goes much deeper than simply passing his dedication on to his followers. The largest political party in the world has set out to deify him. He is the only god that millions of people have ever known. The old gods, the ancestral tablets, the temples and household shrines are all replaced by the all-seeing eye of Chairman Mao. Today it is the chairman and not the old gods whom the people thank for food, clothing, work, the birth of a child, a roof over their heads.

Does all this mean that Mao’s dynasty will last a thousand years? Are all the people of China really persuaded that Mao’s Communism is right for them and for their country? Will his passing be marked by an enormous display of grief among all the mainland Chinese?

The answer is a resounding No. Mao has many enemies. More than twenty years ago Chairman Mao promised his newly formed youth party that if they would follow him they would soon be in the saddle, helping him build and rule “the strongest nation in the world.” Millions of Chinese youth believed him. They sacrificed personal ambitions, education, and family to help him gain dictatorial power. They gave the best twenty years of their lives to their chairman, only to find he had deceived them. What did they receive from their sacrifice and struggles? Only disappointment. In their frustration and disillusionment they switched their allegiance to other national leaders.

The chairman sensed this threat to his own security and organized the new youth party in 1966. He named them “Red Guards” or “Little Generals.” He then ordered his youthful army of high school and college kids to sweep across their homeland, seeking out and destroying the “four olds”: old ideas, old customs, old habits, and old practices. The young zealots were also to wipe out anyone suspected of being anti-Mao. As an incentive they were promised promotions and positions in Mao’s paradise.

The Red Guards moved across China like a plague of locusts, destroying anything and anybody they didn’t like. For better than two years the devastation was terrible. Neither life nor property was safe from their wanton destruction.

And what was the reward for their work? Mao ordered the Red Army to transport the “Little Generals” to faraway farming communes, in effect putting them under detention. Out of the Cultural Revolution was born a quiet but deep hate for the “old pig” (a word only courageous youth would dare use against their former idol). The venom of hate flows through the bloodstream of the former “Little Generals” and their relatives, and also through the families of the so-called revisionists that the Red Guards had “struggled” to death. (“Struggled” is the Chinese Communist expression for accusation, persecution, trial, and often execution of any imagined enemy of the state.)

Mao has other enemies, including some who were among his earliest and most trusted comrades. He became obsessed with the notion that his close friend Liu Shao-chi, the president of Red China, was out to double-cross him and take over leadership of the country. To destroy Liu Shao-chi, Mao organized a massive propaganda campaign against the “Chinese Khrushchev” in his camp. He even allowed the Little Generals to “struggle” Liu’s wife. Later he was able to strip Liu Shao-chi of all authority and place him under house arrest. Does that look like a victory? Perhaps! But though Mao won a skirmish, he may have lost the battle. By mistreating Liu Shao-chi, the “fat god” (another Red Guard name for Mao) on his Peking throne made enemies of most of the Chinese with the surname Liu. The Liu clan number in the millions, and they share a hate for the man who toppled the most prominent member of their family.

The tightrope on which Mao was balanced was fraying in the middle. The party was no longer united solidly behind him. Its strands were unraveling before his dimming eyes.

Needing an heir, Chairman Mao turned to Marshal Lin Piao. This decision angered other military men who regarded Lin Piao as a “yes” man given his position because of his part in deifying Mao. More strands in the political tightrope snapped, and the list of highly placed malcontents increased.

To pile insult upon injury, Mao’s hand-picked heir apparently conspired with other military leaders and party members in an abortive attempt to assassinate Mao and seize power. Lin Piao’s intrigues backfired when a friend (possibly his daughter) betrayed him. It is believed that Lin Piao was killed as he fled to Russia in a jet plane. In any case, the Communist news media announced he was dead.

With the doing away of Lin Piao, the inevitable happened. Mao added a whole new clan of enemies, further weakening his personal security and the unity of his already splintered party.

Today Premier Chou En-lai is Chairman Mao’s most trusted lieutenant. He is a shrewd Communist politician and carries on most of the state business for the ailing chairman. Is he strong enough to hold China together when Mao dies? Is he enough of a diplomat to make friends of Mao’s many enemies? The answer to these questions is anybody’s guess. One thing is certain: No one man is strong enough to control China on his own. Only with the solid backing of the Communist party and the unwavering cooperation of the Red Army can Chou keep the country strong and united. Furthermore, to exist economically, Chou must tear down the bamboo curtain Chairman Mao so carefully constructed.

The Pastor Is A Lady

At last a congregation in the Southern Baptist Convention has a woman as its pastor—a first for the 11.8-million-member denomination. But Mrs. Dreucillar Fordham, widowed pastor of the black Christ Temple Baptist Church in Harlem, wasn’t ordained a Southern Baptist.

Mrs. Fordham’s church applied for membership in the SBC a year ago and received a “watchcare” relationship, the first step toward affiliation with the SBC’s Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. Last month it was finalized. Local SBC missions superintendent Kenneth Lyle said the action was “highly significant” for the convention, but added that the New York association thought it “no big thing.”

Mrs. Fordham was ordained in 1942 by New York City’s New Hope Baptist Association and has been pastor of Christ Temple since 1953. Congregations affiliated with the SBC have ordained four women, none of whom has filled a Southern Baptist pastorate. Mrs. Fordham said that the slight opposition to her pastoral role within the denomination didn’t bother her, since she had already experienced much of that in the Progressive National Baptist Convention, with which her church is also associated.

Lyle characterized Mrs. Fordham as “a very gentle person who is deeply concerned about Harlem and reaching people for Christ.”

Religion In Transit

A federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that college administrators cannot regulate length and style of students’ hair, but the ruling may apply to state-run schools only.

About 45 per cent of New York City’s high schoolers and 20 per cent of its junior high pupils use drugs regularly, according to a study commissioned by Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller. In five other large New York cities 25 per cent of the high schoolers are said to be users. Also mentioned: an “epidemic” of venereal diseases.

Religion—formerly the number one topic of interest in Minneapolis—is now number two after sports, reports a Twin City newspaper.

The 10,000-member American Church Union, a conservative Episcopal organization, came out against ordination of women to the priesthood. The Northern California Diocese of the Episcopal Church at its annual convention adopted a similar stance by a vote of 138–112. The issue is shaping up as a major concern for the Episcopal national convention next year.

Phoenix businessmen who bailed out the Arizona Ecumenical Council from bankruptcy a year ago refuse to give another cent. They are angry at the council’s alleged links to a farm workers’ campaign to recall the governor. Council officials deny they are involved.

If you’re over 65, you qualify for a 50 per cent discount in tuition at Columbia Union College, Takoma Park, Maryland, a Washington, D. C., suburb. The Seventh-day Adventist school is encouraging a growing trend among senior citizens to return to college.

Yale divinity graduate Robert Hamilton, 27, self-described “bi-sexual” pastor of a church for homosexuals in Cleveland, wants backing and money from the United Presbyterian Church, whose area officials say they are “undecided” about the request.

The twenty-year-old Baptist Bible College of Denver has expanded its graduate school offerings this fall to include a full three-year seminary program. The independent school serves congregations that deem the older Conservative Baptist Seminary of the same city as insufficiently orthodox.

Philadelphia Inquirer religion writer Andrew Wallace in a survey found that the routine pastoral visit to a parishioner’s home is going out of style in many church circles. Pastors are busier, and more laymen are helping out with such visitation.

The financially ailing National Council of Churches got a $100,000 shot in the arm from the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation of Columbus, Indiana.

More bad news for church activists trying to muster opposition to Gulf Oil’s operations in Angola. On the basis of on-site study, a Harvard University report concludes that sale of the school’s Gulf stock worth $16.4 million would have no effect in advancing black Angolan independence.

The Lutheran Church in America’s theological education unit wants unification of the LCA seminaries in Gettysburg and Philadelphia.

Due soon from the U. S. Supreme Court: important decisions on parochaid, abortion, and compulsory chapel attendance at the military academies. Meanwhile, the court has upheld Minnesota’s right to refuse to license a marriage between two men. And it refused to hear the appeal of Mrs. Billie McClure, formerly associated with the Salvation Army in Atlanta, thus avoiding entanglement in intrachurch policy.

DEATHS

IAN THOMAS RAMSEY, 57, Anglican bishop and a leading theologian of the Church of England; in London, of a heart attack.

EARL L. DOUGLASS, 85, Presbyterian clergyman and long-time editor of an annual commentary on the International Sunday-School Lessons; in Princeton, New Jersey.

After thirty controversial years, motive is dead. The magazine, cut loose last year by the United Methodist Church, devoted its final issue of 128 pages to furthering the cause of gay liberation.

A judicial commission of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern) is investigating the action of a church in Cynthiana, Kentucky, that voted 98–62 for independence from the denomination.

Stoney Cooks and Rom Offenburger, top staffers of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, quit in protest against personnel cutbacks. The SCLC reported a deficit at its annual meeting.

An annual survey by Christian Life magazine shows the independent First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, to have the largest Sunday school in America (weekly average attendance: 5,917, with nearly half transported on the church’s seventy-six buses).

CBS television, following a storm of protests by Southern Baptists, told denomination officials it will not show “X” or “R” movies without editing out objectionable scenes.

Personalia

Presbyterian layman Donald E. Warner, a health expert and former space scientist, is the new director of the World Vision Relief Organization.

Philadelphia Baptist minister Leon Sullivan, founder of Opportunities Industrialization Center (it grew from an abandoned jail in 1964 into the nation’s leading privately sponsored anti-poverty program), was widely feted during national OIC day last month.

Mrs. Jeanette Ridlon Piccard, 77, has wanted to be an Episcopal priest ever since girlhood. Believing the church may soon allow ordination of women, she has entered an Episcopal seminary in New York.

Mrs. Helen Birch, a retired high school teacher, is the first woman to be elected moderator in the 266-year history of the Philadelphia Presbytery of the United Presbyterian Church.

The Assemblies of God radio department is distributing a tract entitled, “God Had a Better Idea.” It contains the testimony of Harold C. MacDonald, a Ford Motor Company vice president.

World Scene

Spanish evangelicals, under the leadership of José Grau of Barcelona’s Central Bible Institute, are planning an Iberian Conference on Evangelism for next year.

The Vatican convened an interfaith conference last month, but the guests never showed up. Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist leaders had been invited.

New Guinea is in the grips of famine because of drought and crop failure, according to emergency requests received at Seventh-day Adventist headquarters in Washington, D. C.

South Africa has banned all performances of the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. It emphasizes the crucifixion instead of the resurrection, complains a government official, and it would alienate further those who do not believe in Christ.

The Vatican ordered bishops in two dioceses in Holland to withdraw immediately as “gravely deficient” a new catechism for high schools that is critical of the church and reflects views of liberal theologians.

Anglican Archbishop Marcus Loane of Sydney sees in the Anglican-Roman Catholic Agreed Statement on the Eucharist encouragement for “biblically minded Catholics and Anglicans alike.” But the statement’s “lack of clarity” on the presence of Christ (Catholics can interpret it as transubstantiation) “is no service to the cause of truth,” he says in the first top-level Anglican comment on the statement.

United Nations official Robert Jackson says there is no evidence of starvation in Bangladesh, but he acknowledged that “malnutrition” exists.

The Christian Council of Tanzania, with leadership help from the Lutheran World Federation, will handle the resettlement of 15,000 Burundi refugees in central Tanzania.

More than 150,000 Polish Catholics gathered at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp to honor a priest who gave his life thirty-one years ago to save a fellow inmate. Concelebrants of a mass included John Cardinal Krol of Philadelphia, the first American Catholic prelate to visit inside the Soviet bloc, and Polish primate Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski.

Campus Crusade’s week-long Explo ’74 is expected to attract 300,000 to Seoul, Korea, in August of 1974, says Crusade director Bill Bright. He predicts students from 5,000 colleges and universities around the world will attend.

Christian Literature Crusade is setting up a program in Recife, Brazil, to prepare Brazilians for foreign missionary service.

The Gideons have raised $200,000 to distribute 500,000 Portuguese New Testaments in Brazil.

The Soviet newspaper Pravda in a front-page article calls for renewed efforts to stamp out religion. Communist party members and officials must stop attending religious services, it demands, and atheistic education of the young must be stepped up.

United Methodism’s youngest bishop, Onema Fama, 36, new leader of 122,000 Methodists in Zaire (formerly the Congo), says the top priorities for his church will be evangelism, education, and medical work.

Pope Paul VI says the Vatican is willing to renegotiate its forty-three-year-old agreement with the Italian government. The agreement, signed in 1929 by Pope Pius XI and Mussolini, ended the church’s temporal power in Italy but assured state recognition of canon laws.

A delegation of North Vietnamese Roman Catholics visiting Canada last month claimed they have had more religious freedom under the Communists than under the French and Japanese. “Only under socialism have we been allowed to practice our real faith,” contended Pierre Vu Thai Ho, identified as editor of a Catholic magazine. And, added a woman lawyer, Ho Chi Minh “was the kind of man Jesus Christ would have wanted us all to be.”

Protestant youths smashed their way into a Catholic church in Belfast, damaged religious objects, and set fire to the church hall.

- More fromEdward E. Plowman

Decourcy H. Rayner

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Hundreds of Pentecostal Christians, many of them young people, have been jailed and their churches closed within the past year in Ethiopia. Leaders among the 176 delegates who attended the assembly of the United Bible Societies held recently in Addis Ababa (see following story) worked behind the scenes in an apparently vain attempt to secure their release. When the UBS delegates left the city, at least seventy Pentecostals were known to be in prison, while many others were out on bail. They were arrested on unsupported charges that ranged from immorality to occultism. Trials were scheduled last month, but the government had issued no confirmation or information on them late in the month.

UBS officials were able to piece together information from a variety of sources. The sources indicate that a revival broke out about eight years ago in the northern part of the country, led by a Finnish Pentecostal group in the city of Asmara. Ethiopian converts formed their own independent Pentecostal movement. They opened chapels in rented houses and ordained elders as they sought to build an indigenous church. Most of the converts were young people educated but poor.

The next step was to register with the government, as required by law of all religious groups, but official recognition was not granted. The number of converts increased, with as many as 1,000 attending charismatic conferences.

Opposition arose. In 1967, a crowd attacked a Sunday-morning gathering of the faithful in one city, injuring several and burning Bibles and hymnbooks. Police arrested some of the Pentecostals, including a few of the injured.

Leaders of the movement appealed to Emperor Haile Selassie, and he appointed an investigative commission. The accusers produced an allegedly hired witness with an infant purported to have been born in the chapel that had been attacked. This later proved to be a fabrication, it was reported, and the results of the inquiry were not made public.

In another appeal, the government security agency declined to recognize the movement on the grounds that public services might provoke further disturbances. The movement then submerged somewhat, although services were often conducted openly. Membership continued to grow, and young converted teachers in the public schools had a strong influence among their students. By 1971, the indigenous Pentecostals were established in every province of Ethiopia and had strong groups in the four largest urban centers.

In December, the security agency circulated a seven-point statement of charges, accusing the believers of widespread immorality, wearing long hair, abusing strangers, and stealing. Further, it said, the group preached that Christ would return in three years and that everybody should join the Pentecostals.

Leaders vehemently denied the charges, but many Ethiopians apparently believed the document. Some attended meetings out of curiosity and were themselves converted. Opponents tried to link the group to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose refusal to salute the flag and support the government has gained them wide disfavor. Hostility increased; there were more attacks, beatings, and arrests. After another appeal, the emperor reputedly rebuked security officers who had imprisoned and beaten believers in the town of Harrar. But when meetings began again at Harrar, more jail sentences and fines were handed down.

Upon subsequent appeals, Selassie is said to have asked for solid evidence to substantiate the seven-point document and to have appointed a new commission to review the situation. Still, no findings were released and no permission was granted to hold meetings.

In the absence of a permit the Pentecostals this year closed their chapel services and began meeting in homes. In August, about 275 were gathered on the grounds of an English nursing sister’s home when police broke up the meeting and jailed most of the participants. (Simultaneously, similar raids were apparently carried out elsewhere in the land.) They were charged with holding an unlawful meeting. The civil code prohibits more than five in a non-religious meeting. To no avail the believers insisted their meeting was religious. A few pleaded guilty and were fined, but the majority denied any wrongdoing and went to jail. Some lost their jobs as a result.

Several hundred Jehovah’s Witnesses were arrested at the same time; seven landowners bailed them out and hired a Christian attorney to defend them.

Many Ethiopian Pentecostals believe the opposition has been inspired by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which claims about 40 per cent of the population. One priest reportedly complained to a charismatic leader, “You are getting all the young people and leaving us with beggars and the aged.” And it is no secret that the Orthodox patriarch, Abuna Theophilos, views the movement as a threat; it is attracting large numbers of young people from Orthodoxy. It all amounts to an outcropping of the Jesus movement in Ethiopia.

An American Presbyterian layman, who recently visited Pentecostals in a women’s prison, said the believers there looked on their confinement as an opportunity to spread the Gospel among fellow prisoners who might not otherwise hear. They have formed a choir that sings nightly, he noted.

A close observer of the scene believes the situation will be resolved if the charismatic movement catches hold among the Orthodox in Ethiopia as it has in Egypt, where the movement is thriving with little public opposition.

Marriage, Swedish Style

Marriage seems to be going out of style in Sweden—and church leaders say it’s because belief also is passé. A study recently released by the state statistical bureau tells how bad the situation is.

Since 1966 the number of marriages has plummeted 35 per cent, and 1971 recorded the lowest number of marriages in a century. The sharp decrease is most evident in the age bracket of twenty-three to twenty-six. Bureau head Erland Hofsten says couples no longer consider marriage necessary. “Our love is so strong there’s no need) for a ring or a marriage certificate,” chant young couples.

But such a free-wheeling view of marriage causes problems for children (see July 7 issue, page 36), and Sweden’s legislators are concerned. For three years they have been at work on new marriage and divorce laws. A proposed law would make it more difficult for couples with children to get divorced than for those without any.

Superstar Over Israel

Jesus Christ Superstar is being filmed in the ancient Nabatean city of Avdat in the central Negev. The National Parks Authority provided the main-location site to the film company free of charge, along with Herodion (near Bethlehem) and the Beisan Roman theater, in hopes of attracting tourists and encouraging more foreign film-makers to come to Israel.

While there is uneasiness in Israel over Superstar’s popularity, no one would compare it to the offensive Oberammergau Passion Play. Israel’s national radio regularly features the heavy beat of “What’s the Buzz?” and the tender strains of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”

Still, the uneasiness is there, and some have moved to allay it now that the crews are on location, and especially because the film promises to get wide exposure in the theaters of the land—unlike the stage version. Reassurance came from Geoffrey Wigoder, Jerusalem Post writer on world Jewry and anti-Semitism, who wrote at length telling Israelis why they shouldn’t get uptight over it. There are problems in the stage version (Jews are portrayed as more violent than the Romans), but the film version promises to be more kosher, he assured his readers. Wigoder quoted from an assessment of Superstar made for the American-Jewish Committee: “It does not repeat the myth of the Jews as Christ-killers condemned by God for all time; it does not claim that all Jews of Jesus’ time knew him and forsook him.”

Besides, he notes hopefully, the film is being made in Israel (authorities have screened the script) and produced by Norman Jewison, who showed “an uncanny empathy” for the Jewish soul in Fiddler on the Roof.

DWIGHT L. BAKER

Zeal In New Zealand

There is talk of revival among New Zealand’s three million inhabitants. A series of Jesus festivals over the past few months culminated with a “march for Jesus” that was said to be the largest march in the nation’s history. More than 20,000 denominational people, Catholic Pentecostals, and counter-culture youth linked arms and sang outside Parliament in Wellington, the capital.

Prime Minister John Marshall, an active Presbyterian, joined other Christian leaders on the speakers’ platform and declared that “only through conversion” can lives—and the nation—be changed. Minutes later, 400 registered their decisions for Christ.

DAVID W. VIRTUE

Pakistan Tragedy

Gloom still hangs over much of the Christian community in Pakistan following the government take-over of nine Protestant and Catholic colleges and a serious incident of violence associated with it, according to a missionary source.

The Christian community numbers less than a million, but up to 10,000 at a time marched in peaceful protest in Lahore just prior to the nationalization move, said the source. But in Rawalpindi, about 2,000 Christians—mostly women—were marching from the century-old Gordon College (founded by United Presbyterians) to the President’s house two miles away when police stopped them. As their leaders discussed the situation with the police, the marchers sat along the road praying and singing.

Suddenly, the police attacked with tear gas, then began shooting, the source stated. The main leader was shot in the back and killed as he tried to quiet his people. Three others died and about fifty were injured. Many were jailed.

The police and press next day reported that the Christians had fired first, a charge denied by Christian leaders who were there. The turmoil has subsided, but tensions still run high.

The Christian colleges were founded at a time when no other colleges existed. Over the past two decades, noted the source, control of the schools was transferred to national Christians. At least 90 per cent of the students are Muslims.

Britain’S New Church

Britain’s first union across denominational lines occurred last month with the merger of the 175,000-member Congregational Church in England and Wales and the 60,000-member Presbyterian Church of England. They are now the United Reformed Church (URC).

The two churches began negotiating union in 1945, at times facing “hurdles in our path that seemed impossible to overcome.” URC moderator John Huxtable told the thousands crowding Westminster Abbey for the wedding ceremony and millions more watching on TV. (Huxtable was formerly the executive minister-secretary of the Congregational Church.)

Even now there are problems. Two dissenting Presbyterian churches have decided to form an outpost of the Church of Scotland, and some Congregationalists have formed a continuing Congregational association. Fewer than 20 per cent of the Congregationalists bothered to vote at all on the merger.

The URC is being urged by officials of other denominations to take the initiative in arranging multilateral union talks between others in the “Big Five”: Anglicans, Church of Scotland, Methodists, Baptists, and Catholics. “If the national communions in this country do not unite,” warned Huxtable, it will lead to a condition of confused impotence for the church.

DAVID COOMES

The New Rabbis

Israel has two new chief rabbis, outspoken Shlomo Goren, now head of the Ashkenazic Jews, and soft-spoken Ovadia Yosef, new leader of the Sephardic Jews.

Goren is a retired brigadier general, former army chaplain, and paratrooper, who won recognition for his helicopter front-hopping and for consecrating holy places as fast as the Israeli armies recaptured them during the 1967 Six-Day War. And he was the one who blew the shofar (ram’s horn) from the Wailing Wall at its recovery. He was Golda Meir’s choice for the top rabbinical post (most of the world’s Jews, nearly 84 per cent, are Ashkenazim).

Goren is also known for his stand against Israeli civil marriages and for his antagonism to “Christian-Jewish dialogue” (see August 25 issue, page 41). He said he did not intend to deviate “one iota” from ancient Jewish law.

Yosef’s goal is to “restore the rabbinate … to its former glory.” Less flamboyant than Goren, he got exposure when he ruled that slacks—previously outlawed—were less indecent than mini-skirts for Israeli army women.

The two rabbis (both of them defeated incumbents, a first in Israel’s rabbinic circles) have some hard problems to consider, problems left unsolved by their predecessors. Among these are civil marriage, divorce, conversion, and most difficult of all, the definition of a Jew. Goren seems confident that his tenure will bring solutions.

Objection Overruled

American missionary-evangelist Spiros Zodhiates, head of the American Mission to Greeks, was acquitted of charges of proselytism in a trial in Pyrgos, Greece, but was found guilty in another trial of making unauthorized appeals for funds. Both he and George Constantinidis, his embattled Greek associate (see June 9 issue, page 47, and August 11 issue, page 39), were sentenced to five months in jail. They are free pending appeal.

The charges were brought by Archimandrite Germanos Paraskevopulos of Pyros. He alleged that newspaper ads placed by Zodhiates sought to convert Greek Orthodox readers to Protestantism. The ads held that salvation was by faith alone, he complained, whereas Orthodoxy teaches that salvation is only in the Greek Orthodox Church and that sins must be confessed before an Orthodox priest. Arguments centered on what Orthodoxy really teaches.

Two Orthodox priests of the Patriarchate of Alexandria testified on behalf of Zodhiates. They revealed that two Greek Orthodox newspapers published in Cairo and Alexandria carried the ads. Both papers are financially supported by the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria, who would have intervened to forbid publication had he disagreed with their content, they argued.

A Pyrgos church official informed Patriarch Nicolaos of Alexandria about the priests’ testimony; the pair later received a registered letter dismissing them from service in the patriarchate.

It was the second time in three years that Zodhiates won anti-proselytism cases in Pyrgos. But in a succeeding trial, it was established that Constantinidis received a $4 donation from a Pyrgos evangelical in response to an ad appealing for funds for mission workers in West Irian, New Guinea. The archimandrite pointed to a law forbidding such public appeals without special permission from the Greek Ministry of Welfare. Zodhiates said he had never heard of the law before and pointed out that contributions had been received from other parts of Greece with no hassles from the government. Other journalists testified that they regularly publish such appeals without permission. The public prosecutor moved for acquittal, but the judge went ahead with sentencing.

Bible Breakthrough

A breakthrough in Bible distribution in Eastern Europe through official and legal channels was reported at the twenty-fifth anniversary meeting of the United Bible Societies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A UBS regional secretary said Bible work had tripled in Eastern Europe in the past five years and is progressing without hindrance in all Iron Curtain countries except Albania. Modern speech versions are being prepared in Yugoslavia, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia. Four translations are in process in the Soviet Union. Distribution is mainly through churches, but some bookstores are selling Bibles.

A total of 176 delegates from seventy countries attended the World Assembly, the UBS’s first. Emperor Haile Selassie, who brought greetings, was given a historical catalog listing the 1,399 languages into which at least one book of the Bible has been published.

A goal of distributing 500 million Bibles worldwide annually by 1980 was set. Another aim is to prepare Scripture selections for use in literacy programs in thirty-two new languages each year. Last year 181 million Bibles and portions were distributed throughout the world.

The UBS seeks to coordinate the program of fifty national Bible societies at work in more than 150 countries.

DECOURCY H. RAYNER

Brethren In Spain

Taking advantage of Spain’s new Law of Religious Liberty, delegates to the twenty-sixth annual meeting of the nation’s Plymouth Brethren booked a downtown Madrid theater for a public evangelistic rally. Well-known Brethren evangelist Fernando Vangioni of Argentina preached to a packed house, and more than one hundred prayed to receive Christ at the invitation. Many Scripture portions were distributed, and numerous Christian books were sold at the theater’s entrance.

It was an evangelistic first for the Brethren, Spain’s largest Protestant denomination (ninety-five churches with 120 full-time workers). Brethren assemblies sprouted throughout the northwest and northeast regions soon after the arrival of the first resident British missionaries in 1868, but groups date from 1836 in Madrid.

JOSE FLORÉS

- More fromDecourcy H. Rayner

Glenn D. Everett

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Liberation—Still The Agenda

Since most of the sixth annual convention of the 800-member National Committee of Black Churchmen was closed to the press, there were few things for reporters to write about. Executive director J. Metz Rollins, Jr., said discussion centered on a re-evaluation of the committee’s role in the black liberation movement. Seattle Baptist pastor Gil Lloyd was elected president.

Afterward, about one-third of the 150 clergymen and laymen attending staged a commemorative march from American Methodism’s first Methodist church, located on John Street in New York, to the site of the first African Methodist Episcopal church. Brooklyn A.M.E. Zion pastor Calvin B. Marshall recalled that 176 years earlier black founders of the A.M.E. church had left John Street to “find a place where they could worship God under their own vine and fig tree.” The black church is still struggling for the liberation of blacks, he asserted.

Rollins called on blacks to resist oppression “with whatever tool you have at hand.”

CHRISTMAS CHOICE

The United States Postal Service has again issued two Christmas stamps, one with a secular (Santa Claus) and one with a religious theme. The religious stamp depicts a detail from a National Gallery of Art painting, “Mary, Queen of Heaven,” by an unknown sixteenth-century painter. The print order calls for one billion stamps each, the largest ever for Christmas stamps or any other commemorative issue.

GLENN D. EVERETT

Singing In Our Church

Millions of television viewers know that God’s eye is on the sparrow because of a bubbling black woman who had all eyes on her at a testimonial-birthday dinner (she is 76) in Los Angeles last month. Accompanied by Billy Graham pianist Tedd Smith, Miss Ethel Waters sang the famous spiritual to the more than 1,000 wet-eyed attendants.

Among the guests were Billy Graham and his wife, Bop Hope, Hugh Downs, who served as master of ceremonies, Julie Harris, with whom the singer worked in Member of the Wedding, and Tricia Nixon Cox, representing the President and his family.

The tribute also marked Miss Waters’s sixty years in show business. Guests previewed Time to Run, a film of her life made by World Wide Pictures, an arm of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Organization.

Graham presented her with a silver plate engraved, “With love and appreciation for fifteen years of singing in our church.”

Learning The Hard Way

Oregon priest Emmet Harrington, director of education of the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, learned the hard way about the way it is in the Catholic Church.

Harrington had released four doctrinal guideline booklets that, according to Archbishop Robert J. Dwyer, “did not conform to the doctrines of the church.” With that, the archbishop suspended the Catholic educator.

The offending pamphlets dealt with penance, baptism, confirmation, and communion. Dwyer said the booklet on baptism minimized the doctrine of original sin. The one on communion covered its aspect as a community meal but not as the sacrifice of Christ (the essence of the Mass), he asserted; it therefore minimized Catholic belief in the communion elements. As for the pamphlet on penance, the archbishop said it rejected the obligation for individual confession—contradicting a specific directive he had issued.

Dwyer reconsidered his decision after six days of conferences with Harrington and his staff. In a compromise statement the education director agreed to withdraw the controversial “source books” from circulation and to submit all future teaching materials first to the archbishop for approval.

One Million Watts

Application has been filed with the Federal Communications Commission by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) for permission to operate a one-million-watt shortwave radio station from a mountain on the island of Maui, Hawaii. If granted, it would be the most powerful privately owned shortwave station in the world, capable of covering most of the South Pacific and the Far East.

The FCC, however, has had a freeze on new applications for years because of a shortage of frequencies, the complicated technology involved, and the need for new rules, according to an FCC official. He says the new rules should be out by June. Frequencies are assigned through mutual agreement with other nations that have signed the International Radio Agreement. (The Communist-bloc nations have not signed.)

Currently there are only three private shortwave stations operating in the United States: WNYW, a Mormon station in Massachusetts beaming its programs to Europe; Far Eastern Broadcasting Company’s KGEA in Belmont, California, an evangelical missionary station; and WINB in Red Lion, Pennsylvania. The latter is owned by Bible Presbyterian minister John Norris of nearby York; it operates at 50,000 watts of power, beaming five hours of gospel and conservative political broadcasts daily to Africa and Europe. (Norris also owns WGCB of Red Lion, an AM station involved a few years ago in the Supreme Court’s landmark decision upholding the FCC’s “Fairness Doctrine.”)

The BGEA project has been on the drawing board for twelve years, said a spokesman. Building estimates exceed $2 million. A 1,100-acre site on the slopes of Mt. Kailili has already been acquired. If the facility is built, a curtain antenna will be suspended between two 500-foot towers on the property in order to radiate the million-watt signal. (The largest government-run stations operate at 250,000 watts.) Programming will include educational, news, and cultural broadcasts, as well as religious ones. Studios of KEIM will be used; it is a 5,000-watt AM station in Honolulu owned by evangelicals. Broadcasts will cover South Pacific islands never before reached by such a station, said the Graham spokesman.

In other radio matters, Moody Bible Institute has applied to the FCC for a license to operate a 100,000-watt educational FM station in southern Florida. WMUU-AM and WMUU-FM, operated by Bob Jones University, have refiled for license renewal (held up since 1969), claiming management is trying to hire blacks and increase minority-group programming. And a federal court upheld an FCC decision to withhold renewal from WXUR of Media, Pennsylvania, owned by Faith Seminary in suburban Philadelphia. The case’s central figure is controversial radio preacher Carl McIntire, Faith’s president and de facto station director.

GLENN D. EVERETT

Modest Ecumenism

Lutherans and Episcopalians have taken a “modest” step toward pulpit and altar fellowship. In a report released last month, theologians of both traditions unanimously recommended that intercommunion on the local level be initiated.

After three years of talks the nine Lutherans and nine Episcopalians stated that the two denominations are in essential agreement on the primacy and authority of the Bible, the doctrines of the two creeds, justification by grace through faith, baptism, and the apostolicity of the church, though the latter proved somewhat controversial. Traditionally, Episcopalians have doubted the validity of ordinations not performed by a bishop who was himself not ordained “in apostolic succession.”

Each side submitted a paper to the theological studies division of the Lutheran Council in the U. S. A. The Lutheran paper, signed by members representing the three major Lutheran bodies (the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church, and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod), stated, “If we do not yet recommend complete altar and pulpit fellowship, we do believe that we have examined sufficient areas in sufficient depth, and have found sufficient agreement, to take the recommended modest steps.”

A Lutheran press spokesman said that intercommunion on the local level is happening now “and has been happening for some time, but it’s extralegal.” Each of the Lutheran presidents must decide how he wants to handle the report. “It will take convention action to make it official policy” of the three participating bodies, the spokesman said. He added that this will probably be “very easy to get for the LCA and the ALC, though Missouri might balk.”

Recommending intercommunion before all doctrinal matters have been considered is “not the tradition among Lutherans,” the theologians said. Indeed, this is the very problem raised by Missouri in discussing union or pulpit and altar fellowship with the LCA and the ALC. If intercommunion is “officially” accepted, it may appear that Lutherans can agree more easily with Episcopalians than with one another.

- More fromGlenn D. Everett

Barrie Doyle

Christianity TodayNovember 10, 1972

Many churches and mission boards, some with a tradition of church-state separation, may not care to admit it, but they are getting money from government agencies in both Canada and the United States to help fund overseas programs. There are strings attached: the church agencies must agree to use the money solely for development of needy countries and not for proselytism. It comes from the U. S. Agency for International Development (AID) and from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Some groups—World Vision, Christian Children’s Fund, and Lutheran World Relief—collect from both governments by having both Canadian and U. S. offices. World Vision, for instance, gets more than $1.4 million from the Canadian government plus another $250,000 in ocean freight subsidies from Washington.

Both governments demand that the grants be given to specific overseas development programs. Both require accountability, involving reams of paper work.

An AID official said his agency tries to safeguard the independence of each mission and church organization. “They may get into trouble with their constituency if they’re too involved with government,” he said. “We respect that and would never consciously try to jeopardize that independence.”

In the 1970–71 fiscal year, CIDA helped twenty-one religious organizations, including eleven distinctively evangelical groups. Among the aided are Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship ($30,000), The Evangelical Church ($50,000), Overseas Missionary Fellowship ($390,000), the Sudan Interior Mission ($615,000), and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada ($1,400,000). Many U. S. groups receive food under the PL480 plan (a public law superseding the Food for Peace plan), ocean freight subsidies, and surplus government property at home and abroad. Agencies getting aid last year included the American Mission to the Greeks ($4,000), Christian Children’s Fund ($158,000), Mennonite Central Committee ($270,000), World Relief Commission of the National Association of Evangelicals ($1.1 million), and World Vision ($260,000).

Most aid is for programs in health, education, and agriculture in developing nations, explained the AID source. Africa, he said, is the target of the most highly organized programs, but Asia receives more money “primarily because of the vast amount of aid sent to Bangladesh.” Once the food (mostly grains) and supplies arrive at the designated country, the volunteer organizations are completely responsible for them. “They arrange for shipment inland, distribution, and conversion of grains into foods. And we have a very rigorous body of rules to account for every ounce. We have all kinds of audits.” Each group must also prepare financial statements once a year showing how much is spent overseas, and how much goes into administration.

To qualify for the money, church agencies must agree to a non-proselytizing rule. The government cash and supplies must not be used in conjunction with preaching or conversion but strictly within the development program. Most groups, noted the AID man, seem to conform. “There’s a very clear demarcation between the proselytizing and the relief services.”

Among the strong church-state separatist groups is the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nevertheless, in the 1971 report of AID’s Voluntary Agencies Division, the church is listed as receiving more than one million dollars’ worth of donated food under PL480 plus another $400,000 in subsidized shipment of the food to the designated countries. The church’s $1.7 million government assistance amounts to nearly 40 per cent of its $4.6 million overseas aid funds.

In addition to receiving government cash for specific programs, many of the church agencies are also often hired by the government to run projects the government conceived and sponsors. The NAE’s World Relief Commission received $14,000 under this system of government contract in 1970, while the Christian Children’s Fund earned $158,000.

Biggest AID recipients are the Catholic Relief Services ($83 million), Church World Service of the National Council of Churches ($11.2 million), and Lutheran World Relief ($5.1 million). In Canada, CIDA’s biggest handout went to the Canadian Council of Churches, which represents most of the major non-Catholic churches. It amounted to approximately $12 million. Other big recipients were the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada ($1 million), the Mennonite Central Committee ($1 million), the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada ($1.4 million), and the Unitarian Service Committee of Canada ($1 million).

Most agencies also seek private contributions in addition to the AID and CIDA grants. While AID gives $200 million annually to non-governmental private agencies, about $325 million (including $200 million for Israel from American Jews) is raised in the private sector through fund-raising appeals, direct mail, and advertising. (CIDA gives approximately $9 million while another $35 million is raised privately.) Ostensibly, with such government help, more of the private donations can be used to pay staff salaries, purchase expensive headquarters equipment, and maintain modern office facilities.

Government aid is not limited to overseas work. In Canada, CIDA and other government bodies help with domestic programs too. In the United States, churches and home mission boards can receive financial aid through ACTION (the combined Peace Corps and Vista programs), the Office of Economic Opportunity, and the Department of Labor’s JOBS program. Again, aid is given only to designated non-proselytizing programs.

Few groups are willing to publicize the government handouts, mostly because of fears that church-state separatists may stop giving.

Private volunteer agencies—partially subsidized by government money—may soon be the major vehicle of American foreign aid. Government-sponsored aid projects are being curtailed in many countries as their capacity for self-development increases. Churches and church-related bodies, however, are still able to enter most countries with development programs. As a result, AID is planning to expand its grant program to private agencies. Churches and para-church agencies are among the groups most likely to receive the cash.

- More fromBarrie Doyle