BOOKS - For Your Library

Essentials of Evangelism, Tom Malone, Kregel Pub­lications, Grand Rapids 6, Michigan, 1959, 152

pages, $2.25.

Essentials of Evangelism is a series of talks given for the "Lectures on Evangelism" at the Bob Jones University. Largely as a result of Dr. Malone's strong personal and evangelistic soul-winning min­istry, a church of thirty members in Michigan has grown into one of the largest and strongest evange­listic churches in North America.

The author is an indefatigable worker. In these lectures he endeavors to share his successful methods and burning inspiration. These talks describe many soul-winning experiences and examples of handling various case problems. It is obvious that the author is a man who passionately desires to introduce men and women to Christ.

We may wish to question his theology pertaining to the Lord's Sabbath, dispensationalism, and the events around the coming of Christ; nevertheless such chapters as "Preaching to Win the Lost," "What Happened on the Day of Pentecost?" "Have Faith in God," "Evangelism a Daily Business," "Why-Many Churches Are Dead and Forsaken," and "How the Church Should Prepare for a Revival Cam­paign" will without doubt warm the fires of evan­gelism in the minister's soul.

A. C. F.

This Is My God, Herman Wouk, Doubleday and Company, 1959.

Seventh-day Adventists believe that the Sabbath is of primary importance as a test of our submission to the authority of God. In addition to that, we believe that the careful observance of the Sabbath is of great benefit to man. In this volume a famous novelist, Herman Wouk, who is a strict Orthodox Jew, spends an entire chapter discussing the Sab­bath.

This book is a warm confession of faith on the part of a very intelligent man. The faith he holds to is not the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ's atoning work which we as Christians hold. Nevertheless, we must never forget that we believe that God revealed Himself in the Hebrew as well as the Christian scriptures. Seventh-day Adventists hold this perhaps more stoutly than any other Protestant group. Of course, it is in connection with the Sabbath that our stand is most conspicuous.

I urge you to read the chapter on the Sabbath. And while it may disturb you about the laxity of our own Sabbath observance, you may have your mind stimulated with such an unusual observation as this:

"The Sabbath seemed in philosophic trouble in the nineteenth century when the best scientists thought that the existing evidence showed an eter­nal universe, without a beginning in time. The Jew­ish idea of creation had opposed for millenia the Greek idea of time without beginning, but the dis­pute, for lack of observed facts, had stayed in the realm of word. Today the informed verdict is swinging the other way. The accumulating evidence, we are told, now increasingly shows a universe finite in extent and in duration."—Page 66.

This book may "provoke you to jealousy" with regard to the care you take in gratefully obeying our gracious God.

Sydney Allen

The Lisbon Earthquake, Sir Thomas Kendrick, J. B. Lippincott Company, New York, 1955, 254 pages, $4.00.

The Lisbon Earthquake, written by the director of the Bristish Museum, will be of special interest to Seventh-day Adventist ministers, not alone be­cause of its historicity and detail but for its inter­pretation of the effects that historic quake had on the spirit of the times. The author illustrates the impact of the earthquake on the economy, the philosophy, the theology, the scientific thought and literature of the years that followed the catastrophe. He depicts the conflict that followed between sci­ence and theology concerning natural cause and the wrath of God as related to earthquakes. The reader will obtain a revealing picture of both Catholic and Protestant viewpoints in his discussion and anthology of sermons and literature before and after the great disaster. One is led to believe that the effects of the Lisbon cataclysm materially af­fected the dying philosophies that had been ram­pant during the Dark Ages, and even played a signif­icant part in the French Revolution that ended the century. Of particular interest to us are the spirit­ual reactions of priest, minister, and layman in England, Germany, Spain, and in North and South America. Of special interest will be the writer's description of the religious awakening in England and of John Wesley's preaching following the Lisbon earthquake. Adventist ministers may find in this volume a very worth-while account of an event that looms large in our prophetic interpretation, and perhaps find comparable interpretations between the theological opinions of that day and ours. The Lisbon earthquake did more than change the Por­tuguese capital city and the nation. Kendrick ably illustrates how that eighteenth-century disaster changed the mind of Europe and the thinking of the civilized world. Herein lies the value of this book to pastor and evangelist alike. It merits thoughtful perusal.

Raymond H. Libby

How to Enjoy Work and Get More Fun Out of Life, O. A. Battista, Sc.D., Prentice-Hall, Inc., Engle-wood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1957, 220 pages, S4.95.

It is assumed that most religious workers have chosen their lifework because it is something they want to do more than anything else in the world, and thus they enjoy it to the full. And yet even such a chosen profession has repetition, some routine, and perhaps aggravating situations that may cause the weekly schedule to wear on one physically and mentally. A great many people start their work each day with about as much enthusiasm as a boy ap­proaching a dose of medicine. Of course, if a person finds he is really unfitted for his chosen profession, he should seek another. But perhaps what is needed to lend zest to work may be found amid the pages of this book.

Even though written for business and professional people in worldly lines of work, it has many chapters of real value for the pastor, shepherdess, teacher, Bible instructor, and office worker. Workable sug­gestions range from attitude, capacity, discipline, and proper organization, to how your family can and should help, how to enjoy working for and with people, and how to enjoy retiring.

Many personal rules for happiness and success in work were given the author by some of America's most industrious and successful men, such as Charles F. Kettering, General Motors' former president, H. M. Curtice, Dr. Johan Bjorksten, J. Edgar Hoover, and Henry Ford II.

Sir William Osier's dedicated philosophy closes the book: "I have three personal ideals. One, to do the day's work well and not bother about to­morrow. The second ideal has been to act the golden rule, as far as in me lay, toward my professional brethren and toward the patients committed to my care. And the third has been to cultivate such a measure of equanimity as would enable me to bear success with humility, the affection of my friends without pride, and to be ready when the day of sorrow and grief came to meet it with the courage befitting a man."

The Crowds Around Calvary, William F. Beck and Paul G. Hansen, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis 18, Missouri, 1960, 120 pages, $1.50.

It is not often that so much sermon material is obtainable for so little. The Crowds Around Cal­vary is a paper-bound book—or perhaps I should say a combination of two books. The first half is written by W. F. Beck and is entitled "Jesus Speaks to Us." Here are nine studies on the seven short statements Jesus made as He suffered on the cross, and the two questions asked by the risen Saviour: "Why are you crying?" and "Do you love Me?" William Beck has endeavored to review the events of Calvary and to inspire his readers with their meaning.

The second series of seven messages is by Paul G. Hansen, pastor of St. John's Lutheran church in Denver, Colorado. He examines the words, emo­tions, and actions of the crowd around Calvary, drawing from them applications for our own every­day living. How easily we can see the people of to­day in the throng around the cross. Basically, the Christian church is afflicted with the same problems and is in the same need of strong conviction in divine revelation. It is difficult to be different—a peculiar people. The multitude wants to be tradi­tional, normal—to go along with the group.

Apt illustrations and good evangelistic appeals will be found in the chapters about the violent, careless, hate-filled, thrill-seeking, lonely, frightened, and excited crowd around Calvary.

A.C.F