The Preacher and His Work, Charles E. Weniger, Review and Herald, 35 cents.
From time to time we get requests from assistant pastors and lay preachers for homiletical helps for busy men. Recently we came into possession of a 32-page booklet reprinted by the Review and Herald under the above title. It is written in simple form, it contains some basic principles to which every lay preacher and every minister should give attention, and we think that it contains helpful material for the men who occupy the pulpits in our churches from Sabbath to Sabbath.
No one knows the art of preaching sufficiently well to be able to ignore the laws of preaching that are so vital if we are to raise the standards of our pulpit performance. No one will claim that our standards are so high that we can afford to ignore this kind of material. We are all transgressors of the basic rules of preaching, and if we could cure ourselves of some of these errors, it would be greatly to the joy and blessing of our hearers. One could hardly find elsewhere such helpful counsel in such small compass.
H. W. Lowe
The Death and Resurrection of Christ, Abraham Kuyper, D.D., LL.D., Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 150 pages, $2.50. (Translated from the Dutch by Henry Zylstra, 1960.)
This reviewer has been profoundly impressed with the author's deeply spiritual approach on these greatest of themes for the Christian. Coming from the pen of Abraham Kuyper, better known abroad than in America, it is a master work in logic, profundity, and Bible truth. Dr. Kuyper, born in the Netherlands, and. one of the world's greatest theologians, assumed his pastoral charge with mind and heart inclined toward modernism. In the providence of God he came under the influence of a godly laywoman in his church, who tactfully led him to see his need—the truth of salvation in Christ's blood. After this experience the author went out to preach with new power and perception. While active as prime minister of his country, he wrote numerous theological works and meditations. This book, The Death and Resurrection of Christ, is now being popularized as a Lenten classic. It will strike a responsive chord in the life of the minister, providing new inspiration for his church members.
Abraham Kuyper claims that only in the light of the resurrection can Gethsemane and Golgotha be penetrated. "The Lord's humiliation, with the end not reached until the grave has been opened, begins not at Golgotha but in the manger." The author here presents more than the seven words from the cross; he endeavors to plumb the very depths of our Saviour's passion, with scriptural emphasis on the completion of Christ's atonement. As the reader follows through his twenty-nine messages in brief chapters, rare texts reveal new vistas of God's love for humanity. There are a very few spots where we might raise a question on some theological point.
You will not want to overlook this book. Incidentally, it is a gem of good language.
Louise C. Kleuser
The Book of Jeremiah, H. Cunliffe Jones, The Macmillan Company, New York, 287 pages, $3.50.
This. is one of a series of small commentaries which are being produced for the general reader of the Bible. The authors have been asked to remember that the Bible is "more than a quarry for the practice of erudition; that it contains the living message of the living God."
The author of this volume on Jeremiah is a principal of a Congregational college in England, and he has written other commentaries besides this one.
This little commentary is the portrait of a bitterly unpopular man with an unpopular message. Yet Jeremiah was a man whose faith rose above empires and tragedies and saw the glorious things of God's new covenant. The author's style is direct and terse, with the result that he packs a great amount of material into a small space. It is the result of sound, conservative scholarship, and will be a valuable addition to the library of a minister who requires an extra volume here and there on special parts of the Bible. Those who know the Torch Bible Commentaries will welcome this addition.
H. W. Lowe
A Commentary on the Epistle of Jude, Richard Wolff, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 150 pages, $2.50.
This is almost a word-by-word exposition of the little-known Epistle of Jude, and it impresses us as being packed full of helpful information. The author is of Jewish descent and was compelled to leave Germany in 1938. He came to the United States in 1951. He seems to have a remarkable aptitude for languages, although there is nothing in the commentary that will embarrass a man without a knowledge of languages.
The author uses the short, pungent sentence to great advantage, and succeeds thereby in covering a lot of ground. A bibliography is provided, but there is no index. We like the manner in which the author uses numerous quotations from many sources, but cuts them all to convenient lengths.
H. W. Lowe
Commentary on I and II Peter and Jude, C. E. B. Cranfield, Torch Bible Commentaries, The S.C.M. Press, Ltd., Bloomsberry Street, London, England, 192 pages, S3.00. (12 shillings and 6 pence in England.)
Ten years ago the author, a lecturer in theology in the Durham colleges, University of Durham, England, wrote a commentary on the First Epistle of Peter, which has been expanded in the present volume, and 2 Peter and Jude have been added.
This commentary is full of Biblical references, the style is direct, and the exposition appears to be soundly conservative. This will be a valuable addition to the convenient small-sized Torch series. The American distributors are The Macmillan Company.
H. W. Lowe
