Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 113:451 (Jul 1956)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

Book Reviews

Neo-Orthodoxy—What It Is And What It Does. By Charles Caldwell Ryrie. Moody Press, Chicago, 1956. 62 pp. $1.00.

Professor Charles Ryrie has achieved an unusual feat in this concise book in that he presents in brief and simple form the intricate subject of neo-orthodoxy. The advanced scholar as well as the ordinary Christian layman seeking to understand what is meant by neo-orthodoxy will profit alike by reading its pages. Drawing upon a background of several years of graduate study at the University of Edinburgh where he had opportunity to study neo-orthodoxy in its European background, Dr. Ryrie not only presents a thorough analysis of the subject but advances as well reasons for evangelical Christians questioning the findings of this school of theology.

Tracing the personalities and the historical and theological origins of neo-orthodoxy, he begins with a discussion of Barth, developing especially the dominant note of divine sovereignty in Barth’s theology. This is followed by treatment of Brunner and his view of human nature, and an analysis of Reinhold Niebuhr’s leadership in neo-orthodoxy in America. Neo-orthodoxy itself is examined from the standpoint of its total theological position in relation to God, angels, man, salvation, the church, and future things, concluding with the neo-orthodox view of the Bible. Three chapters are then devoted to summarizing principal criticisms of neo-orthodoxy and drawing general conclusions.

This inexpensive volume should be in the library of every christian Minister and worker and should be given widespread distribution to lay readers as well. There is nothing in print which presents this major aspect of twentieth-century liberalism with such clarity, simplicity, and devout scholarship.

J. F. Walvoord

The Return Of Jesus Christ. By Rene Pache. Translated By William S. LaSor. Moody Press, Chicago, 1955. 448 pp. $4.95.

For those who want a comprehensive treatment of the doctrine of the second coming written from the premillennial and conservative theological point of view, this volume will prove, in many respects, a worthy book. It is written in compact style characteristic of the author, and is carefully outlined and substantiated by Scripture texts. The various important doctrines relative to the return of Christ are discussed in detail. Most modern premillenarians will

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find themselves in hearty agreement with the great majority of the author’s viewpoints.

In a volume of this size, some inconsistencies are inevitable. The use of Matthew 24:31 as referring to the rapture seems inconsistent with the author’s previously declared pretribulational rapture of the church. The translator was moved to insert a footnote to the effect that the author’s interpretation of Revelation 12 was “full of difficulties.” Dr. Pache in his discussion had represented the woman as meaning “the people of God of all ages” rather than the usual premillennial interpretation that the woman represents Israel. In some cases the author seems unaware of alternative explanations within the general framework of premillennialism.

Taken as a whole, however, the work is a solid contribution to Christian truth and is highly commended to those who love the truth as a book worthy of careful study.

J. F. Walvoord

Christian Ethics And Moral Philosophy. By George F. Thomas. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1955. 539 pp. $5.75.

While obviously produced in the matrix of modern theologi...