Editorial Qualifications and Experience

Highlights from the Adventist Editorial Council Convened at Washington, D.C., August 23-29

By M. E. KERN, President, S.D.A. Theological Seminary

In a chapter of the "Testimonies," on "Our Denominational Literature," we are told that "at this time God's message to the world is to be given with such prominence and power that the people will be brought face to face, mind to mind, heart to heart, with truth." —Vol. VII, p. 150. The accomplishment of such a task surely calls for workers of the very highest spiritual, intellectual, and tech­nical qualifications available.

Spiritual Qualifications.—Sometimes in enumerating qualifications of workers we say, "Last, but not least, the spiritual;" but I fear that we do not always make the spiritual upper­most. Intellectual brilliancy or scintillating literary ability sometimes obscures the lack of real spiritual vitality within. But without vic­tory over sin, without a conscience void of offense toward God and man, we are broken and unclean channels for God's miracle-work­ing grace on human hearts.

We are witnessing the fulfillment of a predic­tion that many a star admired for its brilliancy would go out in darkness. "Well, it seems that the Ps are going out," said a discerning wife to her husband, when the news came that another brilliant worker had been asked to surrender his credentials. It is really best that the "I's" should go out, for, as we are told in "Gospel Workers," "The self-sufficient, satisfied with themselves, can well be spared from the work of God."—Page 143. The tragedies of the advent movement are not its persecutions, martyrdoms, disastrous fires, or financial losses, but the unconverted preachers, teachers, doctors, editors, and businessmen who hold sacred positions and yet wield an ansanctified influence. The messenger of the Lord wrote, "Speech and pen are to be under the control of the Holy Spirit. If this is not the case with the writers for our periodicals, they might better lay aside the pen, and take up work of another order."—"Counsels to Editors," p. 12.

Educational Preparation.—Those whose future work is to be in editorial lines should have a liberal education. And a liberal edu­cation, to use the words of another, "is one which liberates, releases the soul from the little, the provincial, the immediate, and makes us at home in all lands and ages." The only truly liberal education is Christian education; and the only true Christian education is that which is Bibliocentric. I speak of this es­pecially, because today many of our inex­perienced youth are seeking higher education in the schools of the world, at the peril of their own souls and the peril of the church.

I would set down as a fundamental prepara­tion for prospective editors the completion of a course in one of our Seventh-day Adventist colleges, with special stress on Bible, religious history, Biblical languages, the mother tongue, and journalism. And then let them turn to some line of soul-winning work, and not to the university. This important and sacred work requires a background of personal soul-winning endeavor, which will demonstrate whether one is called to the Lord's work. After this soul-winning experience, some further technical training in the art of writing may be necessary. But most important is the need of the young editor for further study in the great fundamentals of the advent message, Bible doctrines, prophecy, religious history, the historical development of the doctrines of this message, the trends of modern thinking, the changing conditions in the world, and the fitness of the advent message to meet these conditions. Unless our workers engage in deep, wide study and strong personal thinking, they become shallow and lose their poise and power.

Other Requirements.—An editor speaks to larger audiences than any to which a min­ister can speak. His is a most delicate work. (See "Testimonies," Vol. IX, p. 241.) We have been warned against sending out matter prepared by only one mind. (Id., Vol. II, p. 67i.) One of our veteran workers, a good administrator and a keen observer, suggested that the matter appearing in our periodicals should have the approval of more than one editor before going to press. Lack of counsel brings grief to our cause.

The editor needs a well-balanced mind, that can rightly estimate values. He needs a judicial mind, that can weigh evidence and arrive at proper conclusions. He needs an analytical mind, that can see the component parts of an argument. He needs to be able to see things in perspective, to detach himself from a problem and consider it impartially. The editor must know history, but he must not live in the past. He should understand political and economic questions, and be able to evaluate social trends. He should be up to date on current issues. He must be both progressive and conservative, just as an automobile needs both a good engine and good brakes. One without the other means disaster or stagnation. Although advanced study will not ensure these qualities in the young editor, it will greatly help to develop the abilities suggested, and will af­ford opportunity for him to deepen his under­standing and broaden his views. It will also help him to know his limitations, and lead him to counsel with those who know the facts in various fields of knowledge rather than rush misstatements into print. It is tragic for an evangelist to say that all eclipses occur on Wednesday, or that Constantine changed the Sabbath.

And surely, as the depositaries of God's precious revelation, many more of our workers should know the languages in which this reve­lation was made. There are often points of vital truth, the demonstration of which de­pends on a knowledge of the original. Surely we must have more men who know these lan­guages to assist us in this time when every vital point of faith is being questioned. We bring ourselves and our cause into disrepute when we build up a doctrine on a single word or a text in a translation, the rendering of which is not correct.

Of all arts and crafts, that of writing suffers most under the misapprehension that "there isn't much to it." The aspiring piano player accepts as inevitable the long grind of finger practice. Painting, sculpture, and archi­tecture require concentration and practice. There is treasure, of one kind and another, in authorship. But this treasure involves risks and pains. One must sell all he has to get it. The pot of gold is said to be„ at the end of the rainbow. It is also at the end of a hard road. It is not enough to have something to say. The editor must say it interestingly. T. DeWitt Talmadge said that the unpardonable sin of a minister is dullness. The same might be said of the editorial writer. No one is compelled to read a periodical or a book, and no one will read it unless it interests him. How many souls have been lost because of our dullness !

Successful editorial work, aside from having a message to deliver, presupposes an aptitude for writing, a mastery of the mother tongue, and a lifelong study of the best way to say it. Workers in this cause ought to have practical experience in preaching this message in the field, Colporteur work is one of the best ex­periences in learning how to persuade men. Successful ministerial work is, to my mind, a necessary prerequisite to the most helpful editorial work. And teaching is most valu­able. The editor should come to his work fresh from the field, with his heart hot with enthusiasm for soul winning, and with a burning desire to give the message through the printed page.


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By M. E. KERN, President, S.D.A. Theological Seminary

January 1940

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