Torch, Summer 1982

12 I can't r~member the first book ever put before my eyes . It wasn 't a Dick and Jane-of that I am sure . Nor, Dr. Seuss. It may have been a Beacon Reader , published by Ginn and Company. Somehow we acquired a few of these at our farm home . I do remember learning to read on my mothe_r's lap . Thank God for a mother like that! Thank God, too , for books to read! Books have been a primary force in shaping human history, especially over the last five centuries . And books have been a major influence in the history of Christianity . Luther's writings, for example, did more than his preaching. They brought about the Reformation; they led to the conversion of both John Bunyan and John Wesley. Jesus said He would send scribes (Matt. 23:34) . He has done so; they have written; their works have been printed. No one can ever estimate what these have meant to the cause of Christ. The enemy of men's souls , though , would never ignore such a potent weapon as the printed page . Through his own apostles he sowed literary tares . Unscriptural religious systems and cults have circulated their false teachings around the globe . Our century brought about the published denials of truth by apostate liberal Protestants. Most of this material was pretty plain . When Nels Ferre called Jesus the son of Mary and a blond German mercenary soldier, it was an evident departure from historic Christian teaching on the Virgin Birth. When Duncan Littlefair wrote, "Jesus is not and cannot be God, " no one had to guess what he meant. When a George Buttrick book stated that to believe in the infallibility of the Bible was to risk a trip to the insane asylum, it was evident where he stood. And the men who stood for the truth of Scripture were not idle. They responded in books in defense of the faith with fine expositions of the Word . Then about twenty years ago evangelical book production took off in a new way . What sparked it is beside the point, if, indeed, the impetus can even be identified . The fact is that evangelicals began to write , print, and sell as never before. Evangelical books hit the top in the religious sales market. Publishers learned how to "hype" their products in contemporary Madison Avenue style, and with effective results. Snappy titles, colorful jackets, and unique formats all contributed to the surge in sales . How one would like to stand up and cheer about this! Regrettably, the situation isn 't all that great. The fact is that evangelical publishing of today is quite different from the fundamental literary works of the first half of this century . Today's isn ' t all that bad, of course. But it has become a theological hodgepodge . In some cases, even if it fits under the dangerously expanded definition Books, Bo But, Let the by Merle Hull, D.D. of evangelical, it certainly couldn't be called fundamental . I recall an experienced Christian pastor telling me when I was his young assistant about a certain publishing house . "Anything they put out ," he stated, "is good. You can trust it." A quarter century ago the same might have been said of several other publishers . Today that isn't so . You can just about count on the fingers of one hand the imprimaturs that always present books sound in doctrine and position. We must examine each book by itself. While doctrinal vagaries are the greatest problem, contemporary evangelical publishing also seems to have gone overboard in trying to be relevant. True, today's problems need to be faced . People are hurting. But we have just about been saturated with books on the drug problem, psychological hangups, interpersonal relationships, family tensions, marital conflicts, and sex . The latter, of course, is from a Christian stand– point - though some of the material becomes quite explicit! Another fact to note is that much of this material borrows heavily from Freudian and other philosophies that from a Biblical perspective are weighed and found wanting .