Theology Today - Vol 21, No. 2 - July 1964 - EDITORIAL

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Struggling with Prepositions
By James F. Armstrong

In his high priestly prayer, Jesus defined Christian discipleship as existence in but not of the world. Among the many ways in which the history of Israel and the church may be read, one of the most suggestive is in terms of these two prepositions. A constant theme of our canonical literature is that the world has meaning in itself and is not merely an interlude before the great and final portion of the drama. On the other hand, the world does not have meaning of itself; the source of value and purpose resides solely in God. Israel had her Hoseas to call her back from living "both in and of" the world, and her Jonahs to proclaim the infidelity of attempting to live "neither in nor of" the environment. And reformers have done the same throughout the long history of the Christian church.

At the present time the problem of the prepositions is especially acute. The church is extraordinarily sensitive to its own shortcomings-to its assimilation of worldly values and to its failure to identify with suffering humanity after the manner of Christ himself. The voices of reform and renewal everywhere may be heard. In such a situation, when we can so easily be carried along on the wings of a cliché be it "religion less Christianity" or something else-it is imperative that the patterns of renewal be subjected to the most searching of critiques, so that the tension between "in" and " of" the world may not be overlooked. The five articles in this issue of THEOLOGY TODAY take up some of the problems that the church now faces as it seeks to reform its own life and witness. Comments from our readers, as always, will be welcome.

The guest editorial by Thomas F. Torrance on "Science, Theology, Unity," is a pertinent reminder, especially for those who tend these days to deprecate systematic theology, that "dogmatics" claims to be a scientific way of thinking. Indeed, the connection between the creativity of Reformation theology and of modern science is more than incidental. In his incisive way, the author relates such doctrines as predestination and justification to the mod-

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ern scientific concern for objectivity and also to the emerging new theological thinking promised by discussions at Vatican Council II.

Thomas F. Torrance is Professor of Dogmatics at New College, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. The author of many volumes, the latest being Karl Barth: An Introduction to His Early Theology, 1910-1931 (1963), he is also the Editor of The Scottish Journal of Theology. The substance of this present discussion appeared first in the pages of The Scotsman, the well-known Edinburgh newspaper, and is here reprinted with permission.

In his brief but eloquent homily, "The Love that God Defines," Paul Scherer engages heart, mind, and soul in contemplating the relation between God and love. "God is love" is the biblical affirmation; but that declaration is not exactly reversible, for we cannot say "love is God" as if we already knew what love is.

One of the great preachers and teachers of our day, a gentle but dedicated mentor to budding homiletes, Paul Scherer magnified the pulpit of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York for twenty five years. After a fifteen year appointment as Brown Professor of Homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, N. Y., he has been serving for the past three years as Patton Professor of Homiletics at Princeton Theological Seminary.

"American Fiction and the Loss of Faith," by Robert Detweiler. Thesis: "The loss of faith which has characterized our fiction . . . seems to have consisted of three steps: first, an awareness by writers and critics of the decline of traditional Christian values and often an accompanying disavowal of them; second, a sense of loss precipitated by the failure to find adequate substitutes for those values; third, a re-evaluation of those values from a standpoint of disillusion, resulting in a new recognition of the Christian heritage but without the vitalizing ingredient of personal commitment."

Educated at Goshen College, the University of Hamburg, and the University of Florida, Robert Detweiler currently is Assistant Professor of English in the last-named institution. He has contributed articles on religion and literature to several journals and periodicals and is the author of Four Spiritual Crises in Mid-Century American Fiction (1964). The reader also is referred to William

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R. Mueller's supplementary item, "A Note on American-European Fiction," that appears in the Critic's Corner of this issue.

"The Theology of True Secularity," by William O. Fennell. Thesis: "In Jesus Christ the radical separation between church and world has not simply been transcended, but broken down. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, for God so loved the world.... If in Jesus Christ the world has been reconciled to God, then there are no longer two realms, a godly and an ungodly, standing in irreconcilable enmity toward one another. There is now only one realm, the created, creaturely, fallen yet reconciled and renewed realm over which Jesus Christ reigns as Savior and Lord."

William 0. Fennell is Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of Graduate Studies in Emmanuel College, Victoria University, Toronto. He was one of the founders of the Canadian Journal of Theology, and he currently serves as an Associate Editor of that publication. Among his literary contributions is a chapter on United Church doctrine in The Unity We Seek (ed. by W.S. Morris).

"Can the Church Renew Itself from Within?" by Harmon L. Smith. Thesis: "The basic presupposition of the principle of internal renewal is that churchmen, united about the center of their faith in Jesus Christ, become more fully and effectively conscious of their participation in a worshiping community which is at the same time responsively entrusted with the task of reconciling the whole of life in the world to the God and Father of their Lord Jesus Christ. This affirmation carries with it explicit denial of any ultimately constructive contribution to the church's renewal from non-Christian groups."

A Methodist, Harmon L. Smith is a graduate of Millsaps College and Duke University. He has served parishes in the North Mississippi and North Carolina Conferences, and currently is Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics in the Divinity School of Duke University. This article represents his first appearance in THEOLOGY TODAY.

"Educating the Layman Theologically," by David E. Engel. Thesis: "Some way needs to be devised for better theological edu-

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cation among the unordained laity. Dialogue between those engaged

in the theological education of the clergy and those concerned with the theological education of the rest of the clergy and those concerned with the theological education if the rest of the laity needs to be effected. Theological education is at a turning point. Unless greater relationship between the presently divergent forces in the theological education is made, the ministry of all the laity will be seriously impaired."

A graduate of Wesleyan and the Union Theological Seminary, David E Engel served until January, 1964, as the Presbyterian university pastor at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, in addition to his courses in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Administration and was moderator of a weekly television program called "Christianity and the Arts." He currently is engaged in graduate studies at Columbia University.

"Historical Events and Ethical Decisions," by J. Milic Lochman. Thesis: "During the second half of the twentieth century it has become absolutely clear that 'everything is connected with everything else.' An explosion on the other side of the globe which would not have concerned us at all fifty years ago now has direct repercussions on our own lives. This is particularly clear in relation to the question of peace and war: on this planet we are all in the same boat. Whereas for thousands of years the primary problem facing mankind has been how to control nature, today our primary problem is history, or more specifically, how to control the future history of mankind."

Jan Milic Lochman was born in Nove Mesto, Czechoslovakia, and studied at the Universities of Prague, St. Andrews, and Basel. Currently he is Professor of Systematic Theology in the Comenius Faculty of Theology, Prague. He is the author of several volumes in Czech and German, and his dissertation was on the subject of the "Problem of Realism in the Theology of Reinhold Niebuhr." The present article is derived from an address that was given on his United States lecture tour during the early months of 1964. In the Critic's Corner of this number, Charles C. West comments on Lochman's position; see "On Accepting but not Glorifying History."