EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANITY continued of historic fundamentalism with that of the new evangelicalism to find the place given fo the divine command, ‘Ye must be bom again.’ “ But, secondly, the leaders of fundamentalism were not wrong in giving first place to matters of Christian faith. For they under stood clearly that the new birth is not something which can be pro duced in a vacuum; and that with out certain factors such an experi ence is totally impossible. They
mentalism. With them, I sincerely share this concern. But a reading of their expressed views will only deepen the conviction of many that they are advocating a trend which could not only lead to another divi sion, but one which will be the deepest and most disastrous of all.” Yes, certain “ evangelical” theo logians and their theology are changing, but biblical theology is changing not one whit. It stands fast and sure. END.
knew, as the late D r. Ma c h e n asserted so effectively, that the new birth is a result, not a cause. There fore, if the editors of Christian Life should prove to be correct in their estimate of present trends — away from objective matters of Christian faith toward matters of subjective experience — the day might come when there will be no more new births. Finally, they express con cern over the divisions which have blunted the effectiveness of funda-
INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES
T hroughout the nineteenth cen tury the doctrine of verbal inspiration was the battle ground for a mighty theological conflict waged continuously in lec ture hall and divinity school, pulpit and press. In many areas the battle ended by default; for conservative forces with a few exceptions simply withdrew from the field. Conse quently Christian institutions throughout the world were soon overrun by heterodoxy and unbe lief. In many instances the over throw of orthodox Christianity was complete. For most scholars, verbal inspiration became the badge of hopeless theological obscurantism. In the last decade, however, the problem of inspiration has again come into prominence. Modernism, instead of ushering in its promised millennium, has been forced by the logic of history to a more real istic view of man as a sinner and, accordingly to a new appreciation of the Bible. And the rise of mili tant neo-orthodoxy, calling itself the theology of the Word of God, has radically changed the theo logical climate of western Christen
fathers, we dare not merely repeat their answers to opponents of a generation ago. We must rethink the doctrines of revelation and in spiration for our own generation and must fight on the battle lines as they are drawn today. This, we believe, demands an honest search into the truth of God in humble dependence upon the illumination of the Holy Spirit. This does not mean, however, that in rethinking the doctrines of revelation and inspiration, we are swerving from our orthodox com mitments. We desire to make it unmistakably clear that we are not like rudderless ships floating aim lessly, driven and tossed by every wind of doctrine. We are steering our thought by the clear light of Holy Scripture. As faculty mem bers of Wheaton College we gladly sign each year a “ Statement of Faith” which includes the words: “We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments as verbally inspired by God and in- errant in the original writing, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.”
dom and redirected attention to the Scriptures. As a result of this new crisis in contemporary theology, an atmos phere of uncertainty and indecision has been created within the ranks of evangelical Christians. Battle lines have become exceedingly con fused. Foggy and misleading gener alizations, rather than precise defi nitions, are the fashion of our day. Theological discussion is often car ried on under conditions of exceed ingly low intellectual and spiritual visibility. A true and living orthodoxy, we believe, must never become static. No true orthodoxy lives on the orthodoxy of the past. If we are to remain loyal to the faith of our Since the appearance of an article in another Christian magazine last spring (see above) there has been much talk about rethinking and. re-evaluating the evangelical position on the authority and place of the Bible. W e believe that in addition to the answer to this on the pre ceding pages, our readers would also profit from this statement by the Department of Bible and Philosophy of Wheaton College. — ED.
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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