Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 130:517 (Jan 1973)
Article: Revival in Indonesia Three Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

BSac 130:517 (Jan 73) p. 62

Revival in Indonesia
Three Book Reviews

[George W. Peters, Professor of World Missions, Dallas Theological Seminary.]

The revival in Indonesia has been widely discussed. The following three books are representative of much that has been written on this subject.

Miracles in Indonesia. By Don Crawford. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1972. 160 pp. $1.25.

Like a Mighty Wind. By Mel Tari as told by Cliff Dudley. Carol Stream, IL: Creation House, 1971. 161 pp. $3.95.

The Revival in Indonesia. By Kurt Koch. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1970. 310 pp. $2.95.

The three books above are stirring the religious public of America especially because of the miracles they report. The present writer confesses that it is most difficult to review these books because the average American Christian seems to be so bankrupt in his faith experiences that he demands the spectacular to convince himself of the reality of his Christian faith. Therefore the reported miracles must be true, they must be facts. If you do not accept uncritically what is reported, you must be a rationalist in your life view or a liberal in theology. Yet in spite of such labeling some of us dare to investigate to find facts and historical events behind spectacular stories. I want to assure the reader, however, that I believe in the possibility and reality of present-day miracles and I find no difficulty in such a faith. A supernatural God is always able and free to act supernaturally.

BSac 130:517 (Jan 73) p. 63

My personal studies took me to Soe, Timor, Indonesia (the center of Timor revival) to meet with the church leadership. Thirty-five group leaders and other “witnesses” were also interviewed and services were attended. I listened and taped testimonies of missionaries and neighboring church leaders, some sympathetic to the revival and others not. Notes were exchanged with other men who had studied aspects of the revival.

Hereupon I discussed details with Dr. Theodor Mueller-Krueger, now retired to Tuebingen, Germany. He is recognized as the most informed authority on Indonesian Church History, having taught this subject for years in Indonesia and written several standard texts on the church. I reviewed the total situation with Dr. Pieter Middelkoop, now retired in Driebergen, Holland, Dr. Middelkoop is the best acquainted man with Timor—its history, language, people, and religious life—and universally acknowledged as the foremost authority on Timor. Next I studied similar and related revivals as they had appeared previously in Timor and elsewhere in the non-Western world.

On the basis of such studies it has become po...