Chapel Talks, C. B. Eavey, Minister's Handbook Series, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1959, 116 pages, $1.75.
The purpose of this little gem is to provide Christian truths as a basis for thinking and speaking. Ministers, college and academy chapel speakers, and young people's workers will find the author's skill that sees precious truths in familiar Bible texts. These he sets forth into practical Christian living with an appeal and flavor to catch the attention and the heart of youth. These 54 chapel talks are brief enough to quickly prime the pump for deeper reflection, and where a more complete presentation is needed, combinations suggest themselves, for here is good organization.
The publishers may be commended for including this excellent "handbook" in the ministerial series. A few of the subjects treated are: Attractiveness, Books and Reading, Difficulties in Doing Right, A Life for God, Our Two Natures, Money, Temptation, The Bible, God, Understanding the Bible, and Witnessing. Dr. Eavey hardly needs an introduction to young people's leaders, for he has authored at least a dozen other books of equal value.
Louise C. Kleuser
They Found the Secret, V. Raymond Edman, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1960, 159 pages, $2.50.
How do you think it would be to conduct a testimony service with an audience of some of the world's most devout Christians and successful soul winners? Can you imagine the thrilling stories of persona] experience they would have to tell—stories of struggles, searchings, and findings of the good things in the Christian life?
We might ask them, What has been the secret of your personal power in Christian living and witnessing? Then one after another they would proceed to reveal to us how "they found the secret" that transformed their lives and touched them with beauty and success.
All this and more we find in the new book They Found the Secret, by V. Raymond Edman, president of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois. These are actual testimonies by the men themselves of how they found the more abundant life in Christ their Lord. Many of these men had been Christians for a number of years and were doing an acceptable work in their Christian ministry, but they yearned for a deeper spiritual power.
Here are the personal testimonies of twenty transformed lives which reveal the touch of God upon them. It is the story of their emerging from discouragement and defeat into victory; coming out of weakness and weariness into strength; out of ineffectiveness into success. Some of the men and women bearing these testimonies are John Bunyan, Amy Carmichael, Charles Finney, A. J. Gordon, John Hyde, D. L. Moody, Andrew Murray, Charles Trumbull, and Frances Havergal.
The chapter titles give a key to the contents of the book. The chapters deal with such topics as the cleansed life, the radiant life, the powerful, the burning dynamic, abiding, satisfying, soul-winning, holy, and adventurous life. The book may be considered emotional and should be read with wise, balanced thinking. Nevertheless, it does picture a spiritual perception seldom realized by most people.
Andrew Fearing
The Emphasized Bible, Joseph Bryant Rotherham, Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1192 pages, $12.95.
This is a unique translation of the Bible, embracing features not found in any other English translation. It is aimed to give the English scholar the same advantage as the student of Biblical languages, as far as that is possible.
The unusual arrangement of the pages shows at a glance the structure of the sentences, the importance of the paragraph, with the narrative so arranged that the speech, parallelism, and the logical analysis are all seen on sight with the text.
This translation stresses emphasis by the use of various indentations and a unique system of symbols embodied in the text, plus helpful footnotes where needed. Those who are interested in the wealth of meaning in the original languages of the Bible will certainly find this book a gold mine of sermonic material. This Emphasized Bible claims to be based on the scholarly Masoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible produced by Doctor Ginsburg, and the standard critical text of the Greek New Testament by the well-known scholars, Westcott and Hort.
H. W. Lowe