The Healing Ministry in the Church, Bernard Martin, Lutterworth Press, London, England-Book House: A. R. Mobray and Company, 28 Margaret Street, London. TJ.S. Agent: John Knox Press, 8 North 6th Street, Richmond 9, Virginia, 1960, 125 pages, 15 shillings (approximately $2.25).

The Ministerial office recently received some ex­cellent books from publishers in America and over­seas. We appreciate workers outside of America calling these to our attention, especially such books as bear investigation and have an orthodox trend and quest.

Bernard Martin, pastor of the Reformed Church, Geneva, is of Swiss birth. Along with his parish ministry he works at a psychiatric clinic in his city, presides at a monthly service for the sick in his parish, and is a member of the Order of St. Luke— a spiritual fellowship of the healing ministry of the church. The publishers state realistically: "There are many books on healing, but this one keeps close to the Biblical evidence and the life of the Church as a healing community."

The Ministerial Association has responded to the request that this book be evaluated and reviewed in The Ministry. Few books are without points that we as a denomination do not entirely accept, and some will be found in this book. However, this pastor is a sincere Christian without a bias or fanat­ical burden to make the healing ministry the only approach to the needs of the soul. With us he has become conscious that divine healing is Biblical, timely, and urgent today, not confined to hospitals and clinics. Factually, there is a larger service awaiting the worker in making personal and home contacts and in prayer groups.

Some authors sincerely believe that healing is a necessity in connection with evangelization, public or personal; they point to the emphasis made by Christ and the apostles on this matter. It is not to be expected that all ministers have the rare gift that an occasional "healing evangelist" may have. In God's purpose the New Testament clearly teaches a variety of "gifts" and "helps," and warns the gospel worker not to think he has a "corner" on a method! In the books of Bernard Martin, and also those of John Pitts, last-day phenomena in the practice of the healing arts are broadly discussed and Biblically dealt with. Martin awakens interest in the humility of the worker who feels his depend­ence on God and senses empathy with the sufferer, in the doctor who labors inconspicuously in an attempt to bring relief to his patients. The follow­ing truth remains: The entire gospel team must spend itself for Christ.

Louise C. Kleuser

 

Faith Healing: Fact or Fiction? John Pitts, Flem­ing H. Revell Company, Westwood, New Jersey, 1961, 159 pages, $3.00.

John Pitts is well known through his active min­istry in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and the Bahamas. He is a college and seminary professor and author of several books in the field of psychology and religion. The reader will gather confidence from the following statement in the preface of his work: "This book has also grown out of a bitter personal experience, though I hope that I have not been embittered by it. In view of the positive conclusions set forth in the following chap­ters, it may evoke some surprise to be told that they were written from a wheel chair. Some years ago a 'medical accident' (to put it charitably) made it necessary for me to exchange the swivel chair of my study for a wheel chair, in which, for some time past, I have been obliged to carry on my work as a minister. As may be guessed, this has sometimes been far from easy." Pitts continues: "And even when bodily healing does not come (as in my own case) through either physical methods or spiritual techniques, or the combination of both, it does not follow that the spiritual factor was inoperative or ineffective." He concludes that "the burden of physical disability, of bodily pain, can be borne more courageously, and a sane atti­tude to life be more securely maintained, when the sufferer's inner life is nourished and sustained by prayer and faith."

Throughout the book the reader senses that a man of God is speaking out of a rich personal ex­perience and from a broad background of knowl­edge. Here are balanced, well-documented data that bring the entire problem before the reader in logical array. We consider it one of the best books personally studied this year and a masterpiece in this particular field. Here the joint services of the minister and doctor blend without each losing his distinctive identity. Because this is today one of a number of urgent emphases, we recommend this book for Seventh-day Adventist ministers and doc­tors. When a new idea of methodology receives strong enough emphasis, caution is necessary to hold it in symmetry, so it will not eclipse other techniques also important in their place. The author is conservative in his presentation, but he makes the reader conscious of the challenge of the hour—that doctors and ministers work together to meet the needs of suffering humanity, recognizing the distinctive calling of each while supplementing their God-given gifts.

Louise C. Kleuser


How the Catholic Church Is Governed, Heinrich Scharp, Herder and Herder, 1960, New York, 168 pages.

The subject of polity is one that interests most churchmen. To Protestants one of the distinguish­ing features of the Roman Catholic system is its military-type hierarchical government. The coun­terpart of this system is found in the dictatorships that have developed on the civil government scene.

This little book will help to answer many ques­tions that come to the mind of the thoughtful stu­dent of papal institutions. Such questions as "What is a cardinal and what power does he have?"; "Must a pope be elected by means of a secret ballot?"; "How is the day-to-day business of the Papacy conducted?"; "How does the pope spend his daily life?"

Annelise Derrick translated this version from the author's original Wie Die Kirche Regiert Wird. Miss Derrick uses the British idiom. The book is surprisingly frank while at the same time bearing the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur, which indicate that it is considered by the appropriate censors to be free from doctrinal or moral error.

We would recommend this little volume to any­one who wishes to learn more about the topmost level of Roman Catholic government. It tells us nothing about how the bishops outside of Rome conduct their business except to point out that they are more or less autonomous within their dioceses. Sydney Allen

 


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March 1962

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More Articles In This Issue

Pointers for Preachers

"On The Double", Manipulated Texts, Fallout Folly, Youth And The Truth

An Interesting Interview in the Middle East

RUBY WILLIAMS, a Bible instructor associated with Beirut, Lebanon, Evangelistic Center, was conducting a cooking school in connection with the meetings there when I met her and asked for an interview. Here are some or the en­suing questions and answers.

Discussion Techniques in Evangelism

Two recent experiments in applying discussion techniques to public evangelistic meetings have convinced us that certain suggestions in Ellen G. White's writings are workable both overseas and here in the United States.

The Pastor and Personal Visitation

Though the past two mil­lenniums in the church field have shown many drastic changes in pastoral visitation, the essen­tials remain.

Baptism

The Bible recognizes baptism for adults and by immersion. No other kind of bap­tism has the sanction of the One who com­manded us to baptize. Christ Himself was baptized by immersion, and He left us an example that we should follow His steps.

HE BEGAN HIS LIFE WORK AT 65!

When the Berkeley Bible came from the press in 1959 it was the fulfillment of a dream. Gerrit Verkuyl be­gan this translation at the age most men are retiring. Who is this man and what is his background for undertaking a work of such magnitude?

Islam—Our Greatest Challenge: Concluded

In the Moslem world we see a religious system so powerful that it is gaining rather than losing in the face of Christian witness.The question naturally arises, What is God's purpose in allowing such a non-Christian philos­ophy to develop and grow?

"Somebody Hath Touched Me"

One of the most serious problems that Christ's religion has faced through the ages and is facing supremely today is that of its nominal members. The Christian in general has not given to the world around him the correct conception of his Master's way of life.

Go, Teach All Nations

IT MUST have been a thrill­ing and wonderful experi­ence that day, nineteen hundred years ago, when a small handful of people, mostly fish­ermen and peasants, met with Christ on a mountain in Galilee.

Confidence Among Brethren: Concluded

Confidence is like a four-legged stool, and if one of the legs is taken away, confidence is weakened or broken down completely. The four "legs" upon which true Christian confidence is built are the fear of God, love for the brethren, trust, and understanding.

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