471 - And God Saw That It Was Good

And God Saw That It Was Good
By James F. Armstrong

THE contemporary revolution in technology, which more and more is focusing man's attention upon his physical environment and the benefits that environment can confer, may be a phenomenon of providential auspices. One of the products of this revolution is "secular man"-man who has come to love "the world and the things of the -world" and who has profound doubts about what have been regarded as the superior spiritual values. It is difficult to find in the stock religious dictionaries very many complimentary things to say about such a fellow. But, like the popular candle-light musician who was pompously derided by the critics, he cries all the way to the bank."

It is not bard to understand why religious values have tended to display a distaste for things physical. Throughout most of human history the physical environment has been unfriendly: material goods have been in short supply and have been acquired only by arduous

472 - And God Saw That It Was Good

labor coupled with a fortuitous absence of catastrophe. In the biblical phraseology, the ground was "cursed" and only with the utmost Unwillingness would it yield its increase. Physical comfort, except for the privileged few, could not easily be associated with things of the spirit; indeed, the Old Testament even ventured the suggestion that the poor were the righteous, a theme that re-emerges in the sixth chapter of Luke.

In spite of the wedge that appears to have been driven between things worldly and things spiritual, the biblical record also carries another theme. In the first chapter of Genesis we read, "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Only later was the natural harmony between man and the rest of creation disrupted, and prophetic vision announced a glorious future in which the harmony would be restored. If the world was unfriendly, it was so only on an interim basis. Thus, when in OUT own day the possibility of a radically friendly environment has appeared, perhaps it can be said that we stand not so much in a time of crisis as in one of opportunity-the opportunity to see afresh the goodness of the world from whose dust we were fashioned. If this be the case, then certainly the task of re-formulating our structures of value and meaning should be infused with excitement and with joy.

The greater part of this issue of THEOLOGY TODAY is concerned with questions that the new age has forced upon us.

Ultimately the problem of apologetics is the problem of meaning. How is the gospel to be presented so that men will respond positively to it, and what should be construed as a positive response? In the lead editorial, The Open Option, Hugh T. Kerr undertakes a reexamination of the apologetic task in terms of the new outlook that characterizes the mid-twentieth century. Traditional apologetics, we are told, was concerned with the unity of truth and with showing that "Christian faith makes some sort of sense of the whole of reality." Meaning lay not in the individual "pieces" but in the unison of the parts. Today, however, meaning is being shifted from the whole to the parts-from ultimate reality to the everyday world -and the Christian is pressed for a way of Understanding and presenting the gospel that will be authentic to this new outlook.

473 - And God Saw That It Was Good

The devotional piece for this issue, "Can the Source Also Be Resource?" has been contributed by Charles P. Price, the Preacher to Harvard University and a Lecturer on Pastoral Theology in the Divinity School. He reminds us anew that our biblical heritage has given impetus to the scientific revolution; that creation's goodness can be perverted by the actions of men; and that the -resources of Zion are desperately needed for human renewal at the present hour.

If one wished to carry owls to Athens, one could comment at length upon the fearful caveats that have accompanied man's newly found ability to understand and control his environment. And there is much here to be said. It is clear that cybernation threatens to eliminate countless jobs upon which men depend for a livelihood and a sense of identity; it is not so clear what new jobs, if any, will be produced in their place. Furthermore, many people find much cause for alarm in the possibility of centralized control over education and communication, which could pose a serious threat to freedom as we know it. There are, however, sounds of hope in the air too, and some of these are given expression in William Hamilton's "The New Optimism-From Prufrock to Ringo." The article suggests that, in spite of our fears and reservations, the dominant mood today is one of optimism about the future of man and his institutions. This attitude can prevail because a sense of the tragic is virtually a cultural impossibility. This new optimism "faces despair ... with the conviction that the human conditions that created it can be overcome ... [and] is both a cause and a consequence of the basic theological experience we call today 'the death of God.'"

As readers of THEOLOGY TODAY well know, William H. Hamilton is the William Newton Clarke Professor of Christian Theology and Ethics at Colgate Rochester Divinity School. In the last issue of the journal he appeared as the author of "The Playboy and the Christian, I" the conclusion to which is published in this number.

When contemplating the voluminous literary output on the subject of sex that appears in a current magazine, one is tempted to recall the comment made some years ago about another prolific writer: He never had an unpublished thought. The fact remains, however, that this is a topic of very great importance for men and women

474 - And God Saw That It Was Good

today, and one upon which the church has been known to give some less-than-helpful guidance. Part of the problem lies, perhaps, in a failure to isolate the genuine ethical issues at stake and to relate them to the question of meaning in human life. "The Playboy and the Christian, II" by Harvey Cox represents an attempt to bring ethics and creaturely existence back together, possibly in realization of the truth in Jesus' suggestion that the law has been designed for man rather than man for the law. If the reader missed Part I in the October 1965 issue, he would be well advised to pick that up before turning to the present piece.

A graduate of the Universities of Pennsylvania, Yale, and Harvard, and an active participant in the civil rights movement, Harvey Cox currently is Associate Professor of Church and Society at Harvard Divinity School. His recent volume, The Secular City (Macmillan, 1965), has received wide attention and acclaim. Part II of "The Playboy and the Christian" was first given on the CBS television program Look Up and Live on Sunday, February 7, 1965.

We read in the Apology that Socrates inquired of the Athenian poets concerning some difficult passages in their works, and concluded after the interrogation that the artists did not understand what they themselves had written. It may be presumed that the reader is supposed to lend his sympathies to the philosopher in this instance, but wisdom may caution another approach. Perhaps the problem rested with Socrates, who persisted in seeking an explanation in terms foreign to the artistic medium. This excursus is simply a prologue to the presentation of the next article, "Be My Guest," by Seward Hiltner. An exploration of some possibilities residual in a new service provided by American Express, the article-like a piece of literary art-is its own best interpreter.

No stranger to this journal, and a member of its Editorial Council, Seward Hiltner is Professor of Theology and Personality at Princeton Theological Seminary. Well known for his extensive contributions to the field of pastoral theology, and a lecturer much in demand across the country and abroad, he is also a consultant in psychiatry and religion at the Menninger Foundation, Topeka, Kansas.

When we think of drama in the church, there usually come to mind the plays and pageants of a religious nature that have become

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stock items with many congregations. In his article, "Drama in the Church: An Experiment," Alvin Carmines comes at the subject from a different angle. He shares with us a program that was instituted by the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village, whereby the church made available its facilities to local playwrights and agreed to produce (simply, of course) in those facilities scripts that appeared to have promise. The decision was made to do very little "religious drama," particularly because the writers in the area did not lean in that direction. This undertaking on the part of Judson Memorial Church was found to have two salutary effects: it was a ministry to the community in that it met the artists' deep need for a chance to have their works displayed and criticized, and it was a ministry to the congregation in that the excitement of drama came to affect the total life of the church. The format of the Judson experiment probably would be inappropriate for most congregations, but the project easily could provide ideas that other churches might pursue with profit.

Alvin Carmines has been since 1961 the Associate Minister in charge of the Arts at Judson Memorial Church. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Union Theological Seminary, New York, he also is the holder of the off-Broadway award for "The Best Music Composed during 1963-64." The present article is taken from an address that he gave at the Institute for Religious and Social Studies in the winter of 1964, and it is published here with the permission of the Institute.

The final regular article, "Concepts, Symbols, and Sentences" by Robert P. Scharlemarm, takes us back to a question that was current in the streets of Athens, namely, what it means to say that anything is. With this question he seeks to associate another: what it means to say that God does something. The argument is by no means easy to follow, and the reader is cautioned to approach his task well fortified with rest. He also might wish to review his classical philosophy, for the discussion of the universal subject and the universal predicate at times is reminiscent of the ancient concern with pure form and pure matter. In addition, some guidance might be provided by John H. Hick's brief note, "Vapor Theologicum," which appears in the Critic's Corner.

476 - And God Saw That It Was Good

Robert P. Scharlemann is Assistant Professor of Historical and Contemporary Theology at the Graduate School of Religion, University of Southern California. In the. spring of 1964 his volume entitled Thomas Aquinas and John Gerhard was published by the Yale University Press. The holder of a doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, this is his first appearance in THEOLOGY TODAY.