Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 132:525 (Jan 1975)
Article: Book Reviews
Author: Anonymous

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BSac 132:525 (Jan 75) p. 83

Book Reviews

Baker’s Dictionary of Christian Ethics. Ed. by Carl F. H. Henry. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974. 726 pp. $16.95.

The publisher claims “263 well-known evangelical scholars from all over the world” contributed to this valuable reference work. A wide range of topics are included in the work. Classical as well as contemporary issues are defined and discussed. Some of the topics seem to this reviewer to be rather remotely related to Christian ethics. The editor contributed several articles, among them, the one on the American Council of Christian Churches. His bias is obvious in what amounts to a rather onesided emphasis. The topic “Neo-Orthodoxy and Ethics” makes one wonder why, if that is significant, it would not be equally significant to have topics on other theological positions and ethics.

John Gerstner, on the topic “Fundamentalism,” presents a strange and rather novel picture. Without attempting to distinguish between what he calls prominent cultic and classical fundamentalists, he lists among others Billy Graham, Bernard Ramm, Leighton Ford, Carl McIntire, and Bob Jones (p. 257). Some of the men in his listing would be proud to be called fundamentalists, but others would consider the label an insult and have made it clear in print that they do not wish to be called fundamentalists.

A great amount of work by competent scholars has gone into this work, and it will no doubt find its place with other vital reference works especially helpful for the pastor and teacher.

R. P. Lightner

The New Sovereignty. By Reginald Wallis. Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1974. 120 pp. Paper, $.95.

The purpose of this book is to emphasize “the Lordship of Christ as the condition and goal of true regeneration” (p. 5). By “Lordship of

BSac 132:525 (Jan 75) p. 84

Christ” is meant the rule of Christ over the individual’s life, for “the genuine Christian is one in whose heart the Lord has made a throne and a royal palace for himself” (p. 5).

The thesis is reinforced by statements such as “there are no rebels in the Kingdom of God” (p. 46) and “the principle of the new birth is the acknowledged sovereignty of Christ in the heart” (p. 50). Yet in answer to the direct question, What is the gospel? the author quotes 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (p. 78). He also states clearly that “salvation is not dependent upon the measure of the believer’s faithfulness, but upon the faithfulness of God in the provision of a perfect Saviour, and the sinner’s reception of Him as his righteousness” (p. 69). Obvi...

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