252
April 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s - B u s i n e s s
The Christ o f th e Ind ian Road A D iscussion of E. S tanley J ones ’ B ook
might not be equally well adapted to all situations, it should be conceded that he is a man who knows something of his Subject. T he M ain C ontention His main contention, as we grasp it, is that Christianity must be defined as ,Christ— not a System built around Him in western lands, but the divine Person, Christ. To be a Christian means, to receive Christ, to be indwelt by Christ, to follow Christ, and Christ must be interpretedto men in terms of Christian experience, rather than through arguments. 'H e declares that the way to the heart of India’s people is through straight forward, open proclamation of Christ crucified. They are not impressed by theological discussions. They will listen to one who preaches Christ, allowing Him to commend Himself to their consciences. Some immediately jump to the conclusion that Mr. Jones: means by this that the missionary is not to be concerned with Christian doctrine and the Bible as a whole. But how is it possible to separate Christ from the doctrine of Christ or the Scriptures to which He appealed? We doubt if Mr. Jones had in mind the elimination of what we know as “doctrinal preach ing.” Rather, he pleads,that greater emphasis must be placed upon the presentation of Christ Himself, both in word and in experience. “We often quote Paul’s speech at Athens,” says Mr. Jones, “as a model of missionary approach, and yet it was one of Paul’s biggest failures. He did not succeed in founding a church there. Mackintosh analyzes his failure thus: ‘The Chris- F R E E rheVyÎessaëe ° f the Lily
E. Stanley Jones.’ book by the above tide has been favorably commented upon in these columns. In more recent days it has been coming in for some criticism on the part of a few Funda mentalist writers. Accordingly, several have written the editors, fearing that unknowingly we had recommended a book with mod ernistic tendencies. We would not classify Mr. Jones as a Modernist without better proofs than have yet been adduced. He seems to be a man who has had a very real experience of Christ, and his passion for winning India for Christ has apparently resulted ' in his being greatly used of God. We must remember that we live in a day when an atmosphere of suspicion has been created by propaganda which has not always- been of the wisest kind. One may be as orthodox as Paul, yet if he is not given to using cer tain stereotyped expressions with which a few well advertised teachers have made us familiar, many very devout people imme diately suspect that he is leaning toward liberalism. We think it was wise counsel which Dr. McNeill gave our students recently: “Woe unto you if you make a man an offender for a word. A man who is right in his idea may not express his view in the precise language that Some would desire.” From the standpoint of the theologian in his study, it might seem that Mr. Jones does not say all that needs to be said. However, he has written from the standpoint of one who has labored many years among the people of India, knows their philosophical and religious trend, and even though- his method
Send u s th e nam es and addresses o f f iv e persons who you conscien tiou sly believe would be in terested in tak ing up a B ible Study Course by Correspondence, and we w ill m a il you a b s o lu te ly fr e e a copy of th is new and beau tifu l Easter story w ritten by K eith L. Brooks, Secretary o f th e Correspondence School of th e Bible In s titu te of; Los Angeles.
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