A THEOLOGY AND ETHICS OF SEX
Sakae Kubo, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Washington, D.C., 1980, 129 pages, $4.50.
Christianity has reacted to the topic of sex in a wide variety of ways. Some Christians have rejected sex as inherently sinful, to be avoided at all costs. Many have viewed it warily, as something to tolerate in an imperfect world, to be kept within careful and rigidly narrow limits. Others have seen it as a wonderful gift from God.
How should the Christian relate to sex? Does Scripture take a theological position toward it? What forms of sex are proper for the Christian? What about the ethical issues raised by such practices as abortion, premarital sex, homosexuality, artificial insemination, cloning, and genetic engineering?
Noted Seventh-day Adventist theologian Sakae Kubo, president of Newbold College in England, examines both the scriptural concept of human sexuality and the ethical issues involved in the many sexual questions facing us today.
Dr. Kubo is the author of such books as God Meets Man, Calculated Goodness, and Once Saved, A/ways Saved.
By Orval Driskell
INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN WORSHIP
James F. White, Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tennessee 37202, 1980, 288 pages, $7.95, paperback.
The scope of the history and practice of Christian worship is so broad that the novitiate to the subject is easily discouraged. James F. White, professor of Christian worship at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, has been studying and writing about worship for the past twenty years. In this book readers receive the benefits of those years, without the effort involved.
White begins with a definition of worship in both a theological and applied sense and then proceeds to untangle the sometimes-confusing strands of worship tradition, setting in context the various traditions as they exist today. He suggests in the first chapter that the degree of diversity that occurs in worship traditions over time and cultural spreads is not so surprising as the degree of constancy that exists.
The balance of the book takes up the theme of a persistent dominance in the basic structure of worship, which the author sees as a "focus on time, liturgy of the hours, initiations, eucharist, and the various rites of passage" (p. 30). An excellent bibliography, divided into sections to correspond with the chapter divisions, provides direction to one wishing to go beyond the introductory nature of the book.
By Gary B. Patterson
TRAINING YOUR CHILDREN TO HANDLE MONEY
Malcolm MacGregor, Bethany Fellowship, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1980, 139 pages, $3.95.
Parents have been commanded in the Bible to "train up a child in the way he should go," and one essential part of training during this prime time is in the area of money management.
MacGregor talks about allowances, offerings, part-time jobs, stealing, and borrowing, and offers a whole list of possible jobs available to different age levels.
This book complements the "Spirit of Pioneers" emphasis and the new Family Financial Seminars from the Ministerial and Stewardship Association of the church. MacGregor has a background in business and finances and is a believer in spiritual growth through stewardship.
MacGregor earlier wrote a best seller, Your Money Matters ($3.95, 1977), a Financial Planning Seminar Workbook ($5.95), and has produced a series of eight cassette tapes to teach these ideals ($29.95), also available from Bethany Fellowship.
By Jerry Lastine
POSITIVE PREACHING AND THE MODERN MIND
P. T. Forsyth, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1980, 374 pages, $6.95.
These Yale lectures were first published in 1911, yet their theme is timeless. To the author, the cross of Jesus Christ is always central, the Word of God his constant guide as sparked by the Holy Spirit. His book will be a challenge to every truly converted gospel minister.
Forsyth's trenchant handling of the themes of the cross and one's need of the platform of the Scriptures is illustrated in two short, crisp statements in the chapter "The Preacher and His Charter." Speaking of Paul, Forsyth observes: "He fastened on the cross, if I might venture so to say, and pressed the whole divine life out of it for our healing." And again, "Our aim must be an ever fresh immersion in the Bible."
The reader will quickly discover that this is a book written by a preacher for preachers! The serious reader will joyfully embrace this thought: Biblical preaching preaches the gospel and uses the Bible; it does not preach the Bible and use the gospel.
His chapter "The Authority of the Preacher" is most refreshing. The author boldly holds that some preachers "spoil their work by an incessant strain after novelty, and a morbid dread of the commonplace." Nor does this book side with the layman who wants constantly "shorter sermons." Indeed, he will find no comfort at all.
Forsyth establishes the preacher's right to preach, not by the ordination of his church, but 'on other grounds: "He has his commission from God, from the church only his permission. . . . And all the church has to do is to discover if he has the commission, by the wisest, and even severest, tests."
By Dick Rentfro
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