Concerning the Bible, the author states, in effect, that to claim the Bible as the only infallible rule o f faith and practice is "idolatry” (p. 39). He vehemently denies the doctrine o f the verbal inspira tion o f the Scriptures (p. 43). Whereas the Bible distinctly states p that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, yet this author claims that while in all probability Jesus was actually born in Nazareth, that the writers o f the New Testament, in order to make something o f Him that He was not, took a rather obscure prophecy out o f the Old Testament and applied it to Jesus, thereby claiming that He was born in Bethlehem. And the writer concludes that Jesus Him self may have been misled in His understanding o f the Old Testa ment even though He seems to have spent a great deal o f time throughout His life in its study (pp. 39-41). O f course, the most blasphemous part o f the book centers around the person o f our Lord Jesus Christ. Dr. Ferre claims that Jesus Christ was a man born in a normal manner as are all other v men and that He was a sinner like all other men (pp. 28 & 29). He states that the doctrine o f the virgin birth was invented in an effort to make Jesus appear as a sinless being (p. 29 ), and that He was never God, the second person o f the Trinity (p. 35). He speaks o f God’s becoming incarnate but he makes it very clear that • to him this "does not mean that . . . the human Jesus is God . . . Such is the nature o f the grand myth which at its heart is idolatry” (p. 83). This recalls to mind the pronouncements o f Harry Emer son Fosdick o f the previous generation and his blood - chilling words, "The peril o f worshipping Jesus.” Dr. Ferre even takes to task the World Council o f Churches for its tendency to raise Jesus to a pedestal above the rest o f His fellow human beings! (p. 35). He denies completely the doctrine o f the atoning work o f the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross by stating that such a doctrine creates the image o f a "bloodthirsty God” (p. 31). He declares that the Second Coming o f Christ is "the darkest” doctrine, shut ting out the living God, and that there is a question as to whether Jesus even taught such a doctrine (p. 33). One could go on at length disclosing the unscriptural views by this doctrinal deviate. However, the theological viewpoints o f Dr. Ferre would have no particular significance for us were it not for the fact that there are an appreciable number o f widely-accepted religious leaders who "respond with approval and enthusiasm to Dr. Ferre’s thesis, in the words on the jacket o f the book. Among these religious leaders is Bishop Gerald Kennedy o f the Methodist Church, who states that The Sun and the Umbrella was "written in the power and spirit o f the New Testament. . . . We have stood in need o f this clari fication o f the person o f Jesus . . . it will thrill sincere world- minded Christians. Nels Ferre has given us the clue for a truly universal Christianity.” Dr. E. M. Poteat o f the Baptist Church also states on the jacket o f this book: "A fter the denunciations [o f the book] will come a sober effort to refute or modify his [Dr. Ferre’s] radical surgery. •CONTINUED ON P A G E 26
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