Robert M. Grant. They range all the way from almost exact quotations to some rather fantastic and, to us, meaningless ones. The emphasis in the work is upon the reader’s know ing the secret of ‘revealed’ meaning of the sayings, and then he can ex pect salvation. The opening portion says, “He who will find the interpre tation of these words will not taste death.” Thus it is evident that the Gnostic puts knowledge instead of faith. Two examples will have to suffice: “ Jesus said, He who knows the All in that he alone has need, has a need everywhere” (68). Inas much as these sayings come from a work that must have been written first by A.D. 150, scholars will study it with interest for some time to come. The Gospel of Truth, on the other hand, is further removed from the New Testament books. The opening lines, as translated by Kendrick Gobel, are as follows: “The Gospel of Truth is a joy for them who have received the boon, through the Fa ther of Truth, of knowing it by virtue of the Word who came from the Ple- roma, (the Word) who is the thought- and-mind of the Father, (the Word) who is called the Soter, that being the name (Soteria?) of the work he is to do for the redemption of those who were a-Gnostic of the Father when the Name . . .” (here the manu script is defective). The translation is from the Coptic, although scholars believe it was originally in the Greek. Bibles There is always some new version of the Bible in preparation. The re vised Scofield Bible has been under way for some years and will take a few more years to complete. Oxford University Press is the publisher. The New Testament portion of the “ Chil dren’s King James Bible” is due for delivery June 15. The sponsor of this project is Sovereign Grace Book Club, 1124 Southeast First St., Evansville, Ind. They also have a triple inter linear version of the New Testament in production, one volume of which has come out. The Lockman Founda tion of La Habra, California, is work ing on expanded New Testament ver sions in Spanish and Japanese. There is talk of completing the Old Testa ment in English for the “ Expanded Bible.” The “ expanded New Testa ment” has been a best seller in many religious bookstores for many months. Biggest news is “ The New English Bible” which is being prepared in England. It will be the British coun terpart to the American Revised Stan dard Version. Both Oxford and Cam bridge University Presses are spon- (Continued on page 34)
CURRENT CHRISTIAN L I TERATURE
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by Arnold D. Ehlert King's Business Book Editor
T he publication of religious books, and of evangelical books in par ticular, has come to a point where it brings a considerable amount of satis faction. There are certain things yet to be desired, but it is now possible to pick up on the average one important book a week throughout the year. To prove this we only have to mention two books that arrived for review dur ing the week in which this material was being prepared: The Old Testa ment Speaks by Samuel J. Schultz (Harper, $7.00), and W illiam Rags dale Cannon’s H istory of Christianity in the M iddle Ages (Abingdon, $5.00). For a number of years religious books have ranked third in number of new titles published, being topped only by fiction and juveniles. The following magazines run an annual book number containing lists of signi ficant religious books: Publisher’s W eekly, Saturday Review , Presby terian Life, Christian Herald, and United Evangelical Action. Although the bases are different, Saturday Re view and Action, for instance, in their latest annual numbers had not one single duplication in their respective lists of fifty books each. It becomes evident that the careful reader’s ad visor, whether in the library or book store, will not answer the question: What is the best book on such and such a subject, but he will rather counter with: Best for what? Guides The state of bibliographic coverage of books published and to be pub
lished has been brought to such a state that a good librarian or book seller, if he has the tools, can locate the titles of books on almost any sub ject. Two new publications issued this spring by the R. R. Bowker Company of New York list at the end of each month books that have been published during the month, and books that will be published during the following four months. Both are arranged by subject, the former, American Book Publication Record, being arranged by the Dewey Decimal classification, and the latter, Books to Come, broad ly by subject categories. New Manuscript' Discoveries Some new manuscripts in the vicin ity of the Dead Sea have been dis covered recently. The most exciting news, however, is the publication in English of two works belonging to a group of manuscripts discovered fif teen years ago in Egypt, but delayed in publication until now. Thirteen volumes of Gnostic papyri, consisting of nearly fifty different separate works, have been known for some time, but legal tangles relative to ownership have prevented their re lease for scholarly examination. Two of these have now been made available: The Gospel of Thomas (Doubleday, $3.50) and The Gospel of Truth (Abingdon, $4.00). The first of these is more significant for New Testament studies, since it confirms the so-called “ Secret Sayings of Jesus,” which is the title of the Doubleday volume. One hundred twelve of these sayings are given with comments by
JUNE, 1960
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