Job Introduction - College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

BIBLE STUDY TEXTBOOK SERIES

THE SHATTERING OF SILENCE
Job, Our Contemporary

by
James D. Strauss

Questions for Discussion by Don DeWelt

Today's English Version

College Press, Joplin, Missouri

Copyright 1976
College Press Publishing Company
Second PrintingFebruary, 1983
Third PrintingMarch, 1989
Printed and Bound in the United States of America
All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 77-155412 International Standard Book Number: 0-89900-015-0

Today's English Version of Job. Copyright, American Bible Society, 1971, used by permission.

DEDICATION
To Three Deans
Whom God is Using
To Break His Silence
In the Contemporary World

Dr. Wayne Shaw, Dean
Lincoln Christian Seminary

Dr. Rondal Smith, Dean
Lincoln Christian College

Prof. Thomas Ewald, Dean of Students
Lincoln Christian College

Colleagues at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary
and
To My Three J'S
Jewel, Joye, and Jeaneen
and
To One Christian Rabbi

To our late brother, colleague, and contemporary of Job John Rails, Rabbi par-excellence in Job's native tongue, who more than any among us knew the wealth to be mined from the rich ore of the Old Testament.

PREFACE

Every believer in Jesus Christ, Job's vindicator, who is old enough to be aware of international crises of cataclysmic proportions which are visible in our western civilization, as well as the Third and Fourth Worlds, must become sensitive to the intensification of evil in all our personal and social structures. Population explosions, famine, wars and rumors of wars, inflation, radically destructive revolutions, diseases, and general deterioration of our social institutions are everywhere self-evident.

The Book of Job is a highly relevant resource for Christians who are asking, as did Job, Why me, God? Our commentary could be used effectively for both personal, devotional, and group studies of a central concern of our eraWhy so much human hurt, hunger, and hopelessness if God has spoken once and for all in His Son, Jesus Christ? If God has actually shattered his silence in Christ, then the cult of evil and the astronomical number of those participating in the syndrome of insecurity must be banished from the world by the new man in Christ. This volume is set forth to the whole body of believers who are called of God to proclaim His triumph over tragedy in that Christ was raised from the dead. Christ, our hope, has redeemed us from sin and evil and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; therefore, we must always be prepared to make a reasoned defense for the hope that orients our daily participation in the fallen universe (1 Peter 3:15). This is especially true in that ours is the time in which the presence of evil keeps millions from giving heed to God's silence shattering and final wordJesus Christ. To all believers, He is the only reorderer of the disordered world (Colossians 1:10; Ephesians 1:10).

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JOB[1]

[1] See especially the studies of E. J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949), pp. 309-321; and R. K. Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), pp. 1022-1046; for more mature students of the Word, see A. Bentzen, Introduction to the Old Testament (Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad Pub,, 6th ed., 1961), Vol. It, 174-179; E. Sellin and G. Fohrer, Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville: Abingdon, E. T. by David Green, 1968), pp. 323-334; Eissfeldt, The Old TestamentAn Introduction (New York: Harper & Row, E. T. by P. R. Acbroyd, 1966 printing), pp. 454-470; and H. H. Rowley, From Moses to Qumran (New York, 1963), pp. 141-83.

Milieu of Misery

Theme: The fundamental problem with which we are confronted in the Book of Job is why do the righteous suffer? Basically, the theme is not why does suffering exist in a world which was created by an all-powerful and holy Creator-redeemer God, but why do good people suffer? Two issues must be faced by all Christians as we witness to a world where evil intensifies daily: (1) What is the cause of evil? Is it caused by rebellion against the will of God? or economic and social injustice? or genetic and environmental factors? etc. and (2) What is the explanation of evil?[2]

[2] See my essay, Silence, Suffering, and Sin: Present Evil in the Presence of a loving, holy, creator-redeemer God. The Christian view of the origin and solution to the problems precipitated by the fact of sin and evil have been challenged by the genetic and behavioral sciences since the 18th century. Biblically sin and its solution have both vertical (God) and horizontal (social) dimensions. Presently the WCC and its Neo-Marxian interpretation of Salvation contains only the horizontal category, i.e., economic, social, and political factors which preclude the production of the good society full of good individuals. The Gospel has imperative social ramifications, and when these two dimensions are in harmony in the concrete world of human injustice, contemporary man might once more believe, as did Job, that our hope is based only in resurrection possibilities. Resurrection and hope are inseparable, The resurrection of Christ (Job's Vindicator and our Suffering ServantPsalms 22; Psalms 69; Psalms 73; Isaiah 53:1 ff; the books of Habakkuk and Jeremiah) is a history-making event and not only an historical event.

Name of Major Participant in the Drama:[3] The work receives its title from the dominant character -lyyov. The name is transcribed as Iob in the Septuagint (Greek translation or LXX of the Hebrew Bible); and also Iob in the Latin Vulgate. It is only one further step in deriving the English name Job, which is the Latinized form of the Greek Iob. The book carries the name of its main character and that he was an historical person is strongly supported by Ezekiel 14:14 and James 5:11. There is no positive evidence which justifies the widely held view that the book is anonymous.

[3] The Hebrew of the word for Job probably comes from the root system meaning come back or repent. The name Job appears in Akkadian inscriptions, in the Man documents of the eighteenth century B.C., and in the Tel el Amarna Letters. See Koehler-Baumgartner, Lexicon, for suggestion that root comes from word to hate, be at enmity, and Brown-Driver-Briggs, Lexicon, for suggestion that the root means object of enmity.

Place in the Bible: Canon: The LXX and our English Bibles place Job in the historical books. In the Syriac versions, the book is located after the five books of Moses, because according to the Baba Bathra v. 14b, Moses was the author of Job.[4] At least this suggestion fits the patriarchal description in chapter one. The description plus the fact that not one Israelite institution is mentioned could indicate the antiquity of the events related in the book. There is not one positive bit of evidence against the probability that Job was a contemporary of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But some of the grammar of the prologue (latter sections) suggests a later linguistic revision. Yet the critical arguments which attack the unity of the book are at best unnecessary. All available information can fit the period between the time of the Patriarchs and the Solomonic age without doing violence to the evidence or the intellectual integrity of the student. The exact date is impossible to determine, but the biblical text does not provide a specific date, so we are in no way jeopardizing God's activity in the production of The Book of Job.

[4] For Jewish opinions concerning the person of Job, see full discussion in H. Torczyner (Tor-Sinai), Commentary on Job, 1957 ed., pp. 391-94; Baba Bathra, v. 14b-15a. Rabbinic opinions range from ca. 2100-1550 B.C. The strongest reason for this suggestion is the presence of some words in both the Pentateuch, i.e., Patriarchal to Persian period, and Job such as -ulam, tnu-'ah, netz, yeret, and qshitah. On the critical issues concerning The Canon see reprint of W. H. Green, General Introduction to the Old Testament (Joplin: College Press, 1972) with my annotated bibliography The Canon Revisited, pp. 1-14.

Possible Dates for Authorship: The Prologue-Epilogue reflect an authentic patriarchal background. Job's wealth consists of cattle and slaves, like Abraham (Job 1:3; Job 42:12; compare with Genesis 12:16; Genesis 32:5). Job appears as priest for the family (Job 1:5; Job 42:8). There is neither central place of worship nor priesthood mentioned in the text of Job. Both the Chaldeans and Sabeans are pictured as nomadic raiders which antedates their later more developed political and economic order (Job 1:15; Job 1:17). The money unit mentioned in Job 42:11 is found elsewhere in the Old Testament only in Genesis 33:19 and Joshua 24:32. Literary features and motifs found in Job are found also in both Akkadian and Ugaritic literature. This fact would also suggest a date sometime during the patriarchal period. The antiquity of Job is already assumed in Ezekiel 14:14; Ezekiel 14:20 (see also James 5:11) where he is identified along with Noah and Daniel. Mesopotamian parallels[5] to Job also reinforce the strong probability of a patriarchal date for Job.[6]

[5] For full citation of this literature, see Babylonian Wisdom Literature by W. G. Lambert (Oxford, 1960), pp. 27ff; see also J. Nougayrol, une version ancienne du -juste souffrant. Revue Biblique, 1952, pp. 239-50.

[6] For complete survey on opinions on date for Job, see R. Pfeiffer, Introduction to Old Testament (New York: Harper, 1948), pp. 675-78.

Literary Influence of Job: Job's influence persists to this very hour in the last quarter of the 20th century. The play's the thing, declares Hamlet, wherein I-'ll catch the conscience of the king. Catch is the emphatic word. Job is our contemporary, and he catches every invader of his domain of despair. Is Job Camus-' absurd man? Well, then, how about Dostoevsky's Underground Man, who eloquently says Shower upon [man] every earthly blessing. even then out of sheer ingratitude, sheer spite, man would play you some nasty trick. simply to introduce into all this positive good sense his fatal fantastic element.[7] This fatal contradiction on the side of evil is also posited by both C. S. Lewis and Tolkien. These two weavers of words powerfully reveal that the mystery of evil is its rejection of joy. The same type of joy was experienced by Job when he knew the who (came to the knowledge that his redeemer lives) even when he did not understand the why.

[7]F. Dostoyevsky, Notes From the Underground (New York: The Dial Press, 1945), p. 149.

The consummate art of the matterhorn of the Old Testament surely fulfills the three criteria of literary greatness which are set forth by Rabbi Reichert: (1) It must have the dimension of heightthat up-reaching unto the sublime that brings one nearer to the eternal stars. (2) It must possess the dimension of breadththat spacious universal quality that can leap barriers of creed, color, rank, and race. and (3) It must know the dimension of depththat drive into the soul of man where as in a well of living water surge the profoundest tensions of the heart.. [8]

[8] Victor E. Reichert, Job, The Soncino Press, 1946, p. XIII.

Martin Luther as theologian, Tennyson as poet, Dostoevsky as novelist, each proclaims that Job is indeed a literary work of the most sublime order. Job is indeed every man's contemporary because he is infinitely provocative. Job has sent both messages of hope and despair into the human orbit. Job's God is not the solution to the haunting penetration of the dark spaces of a lonely universe. Dostoevsky exclaims How much that is great, mysterious, and unfathomable there is in it! From Aeschylus-' Prometheus Bound to Pascal's Pense-'es we detect a cycle of suffering, doubt, and acceptance by faith of that most disturbing dimension of existence: Why do the righteous often suffer and the unrighteous often prosper? The French unbeliever, Voltaire, projects the problem of evil and innocent suffering in his Candide. The persistence of modern man's preoccupation is startlingly expressed in Camus-' La Peste, Here we wrestle all night to no avail with the horror of meaningless suffering and death. This emphasis has a long history of classic expression. It is widely conceded that Dante's Divine Comedy and Milton's Paradise Lost have penetratedly looked long into the Jobian pool reflecting on our cosmic hurt. The paradox of the Fortunate Fall appears in the first book of Paradise Lost. Why is Satan permitted to roam freely among men?

That reiterated crimes he might
Heap on himself damnation, while he sought
Evil to others and enraged might see
How all his malice served but to bring forth
Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown
On man by him seduced.. [9]

[9] John Milton, Paradise Lost, The Complete Poetical Works of John Milton, ed. by H. F. Fletcher (Cambridge: Houghton Mifflin, 1941), Bk I, Us pp. 214-219; compare also his Samson Agonistes, patterned after Sophocles and Euripides.

Only in the resurrection is hope assured that we will not be eternally deaf to the voice of God.
During the great intellectual, spiritual, and cultural revolutions, between Milton and Goethe, the influences of radical individualism and deism began to capture the modern mind. Faust is placed in a Jobian situation. The Prologue in Heaven is heavily saturated with the presence of Mephistopheles. He extracts from Faust the promise of his soul in exchange for youth and pleasures no man yet has seen.[10] Faust's radical naturalistic individualism becomes crystal clear as he seeks meaning through his own will and action, not in the will and purpose of Job's creator-redeemer God. Faust's anti-God diatribe reveals his intentions:

[10] J. W. von Goethe, Faust, Parts I & II, Great Books of the Western World (Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1952), 1.1674.

My bosom of its thirst for knowledge sated,
Shall not, henceforth, from any pang be wrested,
And all of life, for all mankind created
Shall be within mine inmost being tested:
The highest, lowest forms my soul shall borrow,
Shall heap upon itself their bliss and sorrow,
And thus, my own sole self to all their selves expanded,

I, too, at last shall with them all be stranded![11]

[11] J. W. von Goethe, Faust, Part I. Tr. by B. Taylor (New York: Three Sirens Press), p. 94.

Faust's ultimate salvation is through sheer human effort who e-'er aspiring, struggles on, For him there is salvation.[12] (Sounds strangely similar to the contemporary Neo-Marxian Liberation by Revolution thesis.) Another Jobian figure appears in Melville's Moby Dick. Melville's Ahab is embittered by the blows of fate and knowing no way to challenge it except at the origin of his own plight. Ahab responds to Starbuck's questioning that

[12] Goethe, Faust, Part II, v. Us, 11936-37.

All visible objects, man, are but as pasteboard masks.
But in each eventin the living act, the undoubted deed
There, some unknown but still reasoning thing
Put forth the mouldings of its features from behind

The unreasoning mask. If man will strike, strike through the mask![13]

[13] H. Melville, Moby Dick (New York: The American Library of World Literature, 1963), p. 167. Here we can note Melville's rebellion against his classic Calvinistic background.

One of the most penetrating of all modern[14] literary efforts to employ the Job theme is Archibald MacLeish in his J.B. While the drama recreates the tale of the trial of Job, the character of J.B. is completely at variance with the biblical Job. J.B. is caught in a vortex of violence. We enter the drama as two has-beens, Nickles and Mr. Zuss, decide to perform the story of Job late at night after the roar of the crowd is gone, silenced by the night. Mr. Zuss, after finding the proper masks, takes the role of God, while Nickles plays Satan. Satan's mask represents the nihilism[15] that tempted Job, The God-Mask represents absence or indifference. MacLeish's God is not the source of Shattered Silence, which is necessary for solution. We are left with the Father of Lies who is the rebel and accuser of God, not J.B. J.B. loves life and expresses a buoyant faith in the God who has blessed him. The misfortune strikes a series of paralyzing blows. Into this arena of suffering come three callous scavengers who smell the. human smell of heartsick misery. After J.B. cries out My God! My God! What have I done?![16] he is trounced with Marxian critique, behavioral psychology, and a Freudian view of culturally caused guilt. Bildad expounds that guilt is a sociological accident.[17] Eliphaz rhapsodizes on the naturalistic philosophy of Skinnerian behaviorism, while denying the reality of such concepts as guilt and justice. Zophar, the ecumenically open-minded cleric, declares that Guilt is illusion? Guilt is reality! The one reality there is![18] J.B. defends God's integrity, while Zophar, collapsing, repeats, without the Fall, we-'re Madmen all,. [19] MacLeish concludes that only humanism, i.e., the light within can honestly respond to the enigma of suffering.

[14] Of all modern authors, only Robert Frost approaches our theme in a light vain. In his Masque of Reason, an epilogue or Forty-Third Chapter to the Book of Job, is a verbal caricature of a scientific-technological world-life viewpoint. See his Selected Poems of Robert Frost (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962); and Elizabeth S. Sergeant, Robert Frost: The Trial by Existence (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960).

[15] See my essay on nihilism in The Baker Dictionary of Christian Ethics, ed. by C. F. H. Henry, p. 461ff.

[16] A. MacLeish, J.B., p. 117.

[17] Ibid., p. 121.

[18] Ibid., p. 122.

[19] Ibid., p. 127. (Esp. for Job theme analysis The Voice out of the Whirlwind, ed. by R. E. Hone (San Francisco: Chandler Pub., 1960); and Jean Steinmann, La Livre De Job (Paris: Cerf., 1954), pp. 323-379.

As we plunge deeper into the century toward 2000, we have been blessed in the western world with a brilliant and powerful spokesman for a Christian view of suffering. Such a one is Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn. We have been both warned and blessed by this voice in the wilderness from his One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to the multiple volumed The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn is a fellow sufferer with Job, our contemporary. With splendid elaboration he declares that only the resurrection can ultimately give meaning to suffering and death. In part four of Gulag, entitled The Soul and Barbed Wire, he uses as epigraph 1 Corinthians 15:51: Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Here he identifies with Job and our contemporary need for God to continually Shatter His Silence during our suffering.

STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF JOB

Simplified Outline

Job 1-2 :

Facing the Issues, A Look at the Whole Book, Prologue of Job

Job 3-5 :

A Surprising Lament, Enter Eliphaz, The Speeches of Job's Friends, Eliphaz's First Speech

Job 6-8 :

Enter Eliphaz, Job's Responses to Eliphaz, First Response to Eliphaz, Bilious Bildad, The Speeches of Bildad, Bildad's First Speech

Job 9-11 :

Bilious Bildad, Job's Responses to Bildad, First Response to Bildad, Zealous Zophar, The Speeches of Zophar, Zophar's First Speech

Job 12-15 :

Zealous Zophar,Job's Responses to Zophar, First Response to Zophar, Enter Eliphaz, Eliphaz's Second Speech

Job 16-18 :

Enter Eliphaz, Second Response to Eliphaz, Bilious Bildad, Bildad's Second Speech

Job 19-21 :

Bilious Bildad, Second Response to Bildad, Zealous Zophar, Zophar's Second Speech, Second Response to Zophar

Job 22-25 :

Enter Eliphaz, Eliphaz's Third Speech, Third Response to Eliphaz, Bilious Bildad, Bildad's Third Speech

Job 26-31 :

Bilious Bildad, Third Response to Bildad, Hymn to Wisdom, Summation for the Defense

Job 32-34 :

Enterprising Elihu, The Fourth Friend, Elihu's First Speech, Elihu's Second Speech

Job 35-37 :

Enterprising Elihu, Elihu's Third Speech, Elihu's Fourth Speech

Job 38:1, Job 40:5

Voice from the Whirlwind, God's First Speech, First Reply to God

Job 40:6, Job 42:17

Voice from the Whirlwind, God's Second Speech, Second Reply to God, Epilogue of Job, Summary

The Meaning of the Book of Job For A Broken World

Concerning the Book of Job, M. Buttenweiser, an American Jewish scholar, says: Of the masterpieces which time has handed down, of the Biblical books especially, it is the one which in every age is felt to be modern.[20] Job is indeed our contemporary. The significance of this great work of art for the weary pilgrim who walks in a world filled with injustice and violence cannot be over-estimated. Mankind's experiences over the past three decades have brought him face to face with the horrors of the concentration camps and the haunting loneliness of Bangladesh's hungry and homeless. As alienation, exploitation, and human tragedy continue to fragment humanity, we turn once more into the full face of Job to gaze deeply into his wounded soul and ask once moreWhy?

[20] M. Buttenweiser, The Book of Job (New York, 1922), p. 3.

SufferingA Common Near Eastern Theme

The precise literary form of Job has received extended but often futile treatment. The same fundamental question raised by Job, i.e., Why do the righteous suffer? is also discussed by the Greek philosophical tragedies and Babylonian wisdom poetry. Prometheus, though not innocent, responds to his excessive punishment with bitterness and despair. Oedipus Rex undergoes an accumulation of destructive misfortunes; and the sadistic cruelties of the gods crush Heracleus. But does the Book of Job fit the exact framework of the Near Eastern writings? The Accadian Suffering Just Man reveals that the Babylonian tradition was also vitally concerned with the theme of the suffering of the just.[21] Though the theme is in common with the Book of Job, H. H. Rowley is correct in asserting that in truth it is not to be classed with any of these.[22]

[21] For excellent survey of the principal extrabiblical texts relating to the problem, see Jean Steinmann, Le Livre de Job (Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1955), pp. 17-55; see also H. H. Rowley, From Moses to Qumran (New York: Association Press, 1963), pp. 141ff.

[22] Ibid., p. 142.

Before the message of Job can be appreciated and assimilated, it will first be necessary to examine the contents of the book as a whole. The Prologue Job 1:1, Job 2:13 relates to us that Job is both a pious and prosperous man. Job lives east of Palestine in the Arabian desert.[23] Two factors in the prologue suggest a pre-Mosaic age: (1) Job is priest for the household, and (2) he presents a burnt offering (-olah). The Prologue suggests a parallel with the results of the fall narrative in Genesis. In Genesis the first sin has disorganizing power, to such an extent that the relationship between (1) God and man is fractured; e.g. especially since first scientific revolution to the Death of God, Political Theology and Politico-Revolutionary Theology have replaced salvation by grace revealed in Jesus; (2) Man and self, i.e., man is internally fragmented, e.g. the pathology scrutinized by both psychologists and psychiatrists; (3) Man and others reflect the disordering power of sin, egs. social, economic, political anomalies; and (4) Man and creation are at variance, e.g. ecological crisis. Each of these factors also appears in the structure of the Jobian drama.

[23] The appendix of the LXX rightly places the land of Uz on the border of Idumea and Arabia. Some details of the book suggest some relation to the Egyptian world, egs. Job 28:1-11mines of Sinai; Job 40:15, Job 41:26; Behemoth and Leviathon; Job 9:26boats made of reeds; Job 8:11papyrus; Job 40:11-12lotus, compare evidence in Father Tournay's reply [Revue Biblique, Paris, 1956, p. 134) to Fr. Humbert's claims in Recherches sur les sources egyptiennes de la litterature sapientiale d-' Israil (Paris), pp. 75-106.

Drama BeginsFirst Series in Dialogue

The patience of Job exhibited in the Prologue is short lived as patience metamorphisizes into complaintJob 3:1-26. It next appears in the drama of the three friends who enter the world of Job's hurt by way of DiscoursesJob 4:1Job 31:40. Eliphaz's first speechJob 4:1, Job 5:27begins by showing apparent sympathy for our uninhibited sufferer. But sympathy soon turns into an assertion of Job's guilt. Job's first response in Job 6:1, Job 7:21 is a bitter outcry to God, either pardon him, or he will perish. Bildad's first discourseJob 8:1-22asserts that Job's plight is the result of God's judgment. Job's second response in Job 9:1, Job 10:22 begins by admitting the basic principle set forth in Bildad's speech, and then enters upon a verbal tirade against God for His irresponsible use of power both in bringing Job into existence and permitting evil to elicit more than its just share of Job's happy and prosperous life. Next, impetuous Zophar enters the discussionJob 11:1-20. He first condemns what has been going on in the form of the multitude of words, then sets forth God's incomprehensibility as balm for Job's woes. Job reveals that he is unimpressed by Zophar's wisdomJob 12:1, Job 14:22. Intensification of Job's suffering causes him to bitterly complain about God's injustice. Job's discourse on the weakness and frailty of man (chp. 14) ends the first round of discourses.

Cycle Two of Dramatic Debate

In the second cycle of speeches, Eliphaz appeals to ancient tradition for his words of wisdomJob 15:1-35. Nevertheless, ancient authorities cannot heal the gaping wound in Job's existence. Despondency and despair fill his cross-shaped emptiness. Realizing the futility of his friend's council, Job responds for the fourth timeJob 16:1, Job 17:16. Sinking more deeply into his sickness unto death, Job still hopes in ultimate vindication as he confesses that the righteous shall hold on his way and he that has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger, Job 17:9. Bildad's second speechJob 18:1-21describes the fate of the wicked, but he has not modified his basic assumptions which appear in the first cycle of discourses. Next appears Job's fifth responseJob 19:1-29. His complaint is now lodged against his friends. His hope is grounded in his Living Vindicator (go-'elone who defends, see Book of Ruth).[24] In Zophar's second speechJob 20:1-29he describes the punishment of the unrighteous. Job's sixth response in Job 21:1-34 manifests his new confidence and boldly exposes the fallacies of his former attitudes.

[24] In light of Resurrection hope, Job can now reflect on his existential situation without being destroyed by suicidal despair. Contemporary man is preoccupied with Death in the face of despair. See my essay, Death Be Not Proud, in The Seer, The Saviour, and The Saved (Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1972 ed.), pp. 366-381; and E. Becker, The Denial of Death (New York: Free Press, pb); and J. Choron, Death and Western Thought (New York: Collier, MacMillan, 1975 printing, pb.)

Third Cycle in the Dramatic Dialogue

Eliphaz's third discourse initiates the third cycle of this dramatic dialogueJob 22:1, Job 31:40. Eliphaz's defective theology appears in his assertion that God has no interest in human suffering, except as an instrument for vindicating His justice. Job's former bitterness is absent from his seventh replyJob 23:1, Job 24:25. Bildad's third speech in Job 25:1-6 is a brief protest against Job's former response. But Job immediately asserts that. Bildad's counsel is irrelevant pedantryJob 26:1-14. The silence of God has been shattered, and thus Job can set forth in mashal or proverb his final and mature conclusion regarding the relationship of a just sovereign creator-redeemer God to human sufferingJob 27:1, Job 31:40.

The Speeches of Elihu: Job 32:2, Job 37:24

Though the poetical accents are retained throughout the section of the text, there is a change indicated by an introduction in proseJob 32:1-5. The Aramaic flavor and other grammatical peculiarities do not necessarily imply different authorship as many contemporary commentators would imply.

Yahweh's Speech and The Final Shattering of Silence Job 38:1, Job 42:6

Only if God is sovereign Lord of heaven and earth is there grounds for human hope in the midst of a tragedy-filled world where malignant forces perpetrate injustice in millions of lives. Human suffering is a problem fit for God![25]

[25] For the critical problems involved in a study of The Book of Job, see especially H. H. Rowley's brilliant survey, The Book of Job and Its Meaning, in his From Moses to Qumran (New York: Association Press, 1963), pp. 141-183; E. F. Sutcliffe, Providence and Suffering in the Old and New Testaments (London, 1955); N. H. Torczyner (Tur-Sinai), Job, reprinted in 1957; M. Dahood, Some Northwest-Semitic Words in Job, Biblica XXXVIII, 1957, 306-20; Charles L. Feinberg, The Poetic Structure of the Book of Job and the Ugaritic Literature, Bibliotheca Sacra, CIII, 1946, 283-92; W. A. Irwin, Job's Redeemer, Journal of Biblical Literature, LXXXI, 1962, 217-29; C. Kuhl, Neure Literarkritik des Buches Hiob, Theolagische Rundschau NF, XXI, 1953, 163-205indispensable survey; P. W. Skehan, Strophic Patterns in the Book of Job, Catholic Biblical Quarterly XXIII, 1961, 125-43; M. A. Regnier, La distribution des chps. 25-28 du livre de Job, Revue Biblique XXXIII, 1924, 186-200; R. J. Tournay, L-'ordre primitif des chapitres XXIV-XVIII du Livre de Job, Revue Biblique LXIV, 1957, 321-34; R. A. F. MacKenzie, The Purpose of the Yahweh Speeches in the Book of Job, Biblica, XL, 1959, 435-44; W. G. Lambert, Babylonian Wisdom Literature, Oxford, 1960; and Sellin-Fohrer, Introduction to the Old Testament (Nashville: Abingdon, E. T., 1968), pp. 304ff, esp. pp. 323-334.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

What is the basic problem in the book?

How is righteousness defined? Was Job a sinless man?

Is all suffering permitted by God or is some of it sent by God?

What can we learn about Satan from the book of Job?

Show the contemporary value of the book of Job.

What is the response of Greek philosophical thought to suffering?

Job is a very ancient bookhow do we know of its antiquity?

How can we compare Job with the fall of man in Genesis?

Job is patientbut he is also full of complaintwhy? Is this a contradiction of terms?

10.

Of what does Eliphaz accuse Job? Why does he do it?

11.

Job does have hopewhat is it?

INTRODUCTORY BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL:

Hulme, W. E. Dialogue in Despair. Abingdon, 1968. Kent, H. H. JobOur Contemporary. Eerdmans, pb., 1967.

Kierkegaard, S. The Sickness unto Death, pb.

______ The Gospel of Suffering, pb., English Translation, 1955, (many paperback editions).

Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain, pb.

Morgan, G. C. The Answers of Jesus to Job, 1950.

Unamuno, M. de. The Tragic Sense of Life, pb.

Wenham, J. W. The Goodness of God. InterVarsity Press, 1974, pb.

EVIL:

Hick, John. Evil and the God of Love, pb., 1966.

Hopkins, H. A. E. The Mystery of Suffering. London, 1959.

Journet, C. The Meaning of Evil. New York, 1963.

Sutcliffe, E. F. Providence and Suffering in the Old and New Testament. Edinburgh, 1953.

COMMENTARIES:

Basic but often contain technical discussion:
Andersen, F. I. Job. InterVarsity Press, 1976.

Delitzsch, F. Job 2 vols. Eerdmans reprint.

Dhorme, E. A Commentary on the Book of Job. New York: Nelson E.T., 1967The paradigm of a technical commentaryfor advanced students only.

Driver, S. R. and Gray, G. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Job. ICC, T. & T. Clark, 1950.

Pope, M. H. Job, Introduction; translation and notesNew York: Doubleday, Anchor Bible, 1973.

Rowley, H. H. The Book of Job. New York: Nelson, 1970.

SPECIALIZED WORKS PERTAINING TO THE BOOK OF JOB:

Blommerde, C. M. Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job. (Biblica et Orientalia, 1969).

Calvin, John. Sermons from Job. English Translation, L. Nixon, 1952.

Candale, G. S. Animals of the Bible, 1970.

Coleman, E. D. The Bible in English Drama, 1931.

Fisher, L. R., ed. Ras Shamra Parallels I. (Analecta Orientalia, No. 49, 1973) The Job parallels are given on pp. 472-74 of the index. They number over 250. Parallels are found throughout Job and are an impressive mark of literary unity.

Kidner, D. Psalms 1-72. InterVarsity Press, 1973for felicitous introduction to Hebrew Poetry, pp. 1-4.

Reymond, P. L-'eau, sa vie et sa signification dans l-'ancien Testament, supplement, Vestus Testamentum, VI, 1958.

Siggens, L. D. Mourning: A Critical Survey of the Literature, International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 1966, pp. 14-25.

Ploeg, J. P. M. van der, and Woude, A. S. van der, eds. Le Targum de la Job de Grotte XI de Qumran, Leiden, Brill, 1972.

MAJOR JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS COMMENTARY

AASOR

The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, New Haven

AnBibl

Analecta Biblica, Rome

ANEP

The Ancient Near Eastern Texts relating to the Old Testament edited by J. B. Pritchard, Princeton, 2nd ed., 1955

AOS

American Oriental Series, New Haven

The Biblical Archaeologist, New Haven

BASOR

The Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, New Haven, Baltimore

BDB

F. Brown, S. R. Driver, C. A. Briggs, eds. of W. Gesenius-' Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, 2nd ed. Oxford, 1952

Biblia Hebraica, edited by R. Kutel, 9th ed., 1954

BHEAT

Bulletin d-'Histoire et d-'Exegese de l-'Ancien Testament, Louvain

Bibl

Biblica, Rome

BJRL

The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Manchester

Bibliotheca Sacra, Dallas, Texas

BWL

Babylonian Wisdom Literature by W. G. Lambert, Oxford, 1960

BZAW

Beihefte Zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, Berlin

CAH

The Cambridge Ancient History, Cambridge

CBQ

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Washington

The Expository Times, Edinburgh, Aberdeen

HAT

Handbuch zum Alien Testament, edited by Otto Eissfeldt, Tubingen, J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck)

HThR

The Harvard Theological Review, Cambridge, Mass.

HUCA

Hebrew Union College Annual Cincinnati, Ohio

ICC

The International Critical Commentary of the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testaments, Edinburgh

INT

Interpretation, Richmond, Virginia

INTB

The Interpreter's Bible, Nashville, Tennessee

IDS

The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Nashville, 1962

JLB

Journal of Biblical Literature, Philadelphia

JewEnc

The Jewish Encyclopedia, New York

JNES

Journal of Near Eastern Studies

JQR

The Jewish Quarterly Review, Philadelphia

JThS

The Journal of Theological Studies, Oxford

KBL

Ludwig Kohler, Walter Baumgartner, Lexicon in Veteris Testamenti libros, Leiden, 1953

LThK

Lexikon fur Theologie und Kirche, Bd 1-10, Freiburg, 1957ss

Qumran Targum (11Qtg Job) Le Targum de Job de la Grotte XI de Qumran, edited by J. P. M. van der Ploeg and A. S. van der Woude, Leiden: Brill, 1972

Revue Biblique

Review and Expositor, Louisville, Kentucky

Vetus Testamentum, Leiden

VTS

Supplements to Vetus Testamentum, Leiden

ZATW

Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

MAJOR REFERENCE WORKS

Dhorme, Job

E. Dhorme, A Commentary on the Book of Job. New York: Nelson, E.T., 1967

Leveque, Job

Jean Leveque, Job et Son Dieu Tomes MI, Paris: Librairie Lecoffre J. Gabalda, 1970

Pope, Job

M. H. Pope, Job. The Anchor Bible. New York: Doubleday, 1965

Rowley, Job

H. H. Rowley, Job, New Century Bible. Ontario, Canada: T. Nelson & Sons Ltd., 1970 Steinmann, Job Jean Steinmann, Le Livre de Job. Paris: Cerf., 1955

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Eschatology and Apocalyptic in General
The Background of the New Testament and its Eschatology,

In honor of C. H. Dodd, Ed. by W. D. Davies and D. Daube, 1956.

Bietenhard, H., Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spatjudentum, 1951.

Block, J., On the Apocalyptic in Judaism, 1953.

Bousset, Wilhelm, Der Antichrist in der Ueberlieferung des Judentums, des Neuen Testaments und der Alten Kirche, 1895.

______. Die Religion des Judentums in Spathellenistischen Zeitalter, 3rd edition by H. Gressmann, 1926.

Bultmann, Rudolf, Die Bedeutung der Eschatologie fur die Religion des Neuen Testament, in Zeitschrift fur Theologie u. Kirche, Bd. 27, (1917), p. 76ff.

Bultmann, Rudolf, The Bible Today und die Eschatologie, in The Background of the New Testament (Dodd-Festschrift), 1956, p. 402-408.

Bultmann, Rudolf, History and Eschatology in the New Testament, in New Testament Studies I (1954-55) p. 5-16.

Burkitt, F. C., Life, Zoe, Hayyim, in ZNW, 12 (1911), p. 228-230.
Charles, R. H., A Critical History of the Doctrine of Future Life in Israel, in Judaism, and in Christianity, 1899. (2nd ed. 1913).

Conzelmann, Hans, Auferstehung V. Im N.T. in RGG I3, p. 695-696.
______ Eschatologie IV. Im Urchristentum in RGG 113, (1958), pp. 665-672.
Cullmann, Oskar, Le retour de Christ, 1943.

______ Unsterblichkeit der Seele und Auferstehung der Toten, in Theol Zeitschrift 12 (1956), pp. 126-156. Dodd, C. H., The Apostolic Preaching and its Developments, 1936.

Fascher, E., Anastasis-Resurrectio-Auferstehg, in ZNW 40 (1941), p. 166-229.
Glasson, F. G., The Second Advent, 1947.

Goguel, M., Eschatologie et apocalyptique dans le Christianisme primitif, in Revue de l-'Histoire des Religions 106 (1932) p. 381-434, 489-524.

______ Eschatologie et apocalyptique dans le Christianisme primitif, in Revue de l-'Histoire et de Philos. Religion, 1937, p. 337-356.

Gunkel, Hermann, Schopfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit., 1895.

Guy, H. A., The New Testament Doctrine of the Last Things, 1948.

Kasemann, Ernst, Eine Apologie der urchristlichen Eschatologie, in Zeitschrift fur Theologie u. Kirche 49 (1952) p. 272-296.

Korner, J., Endgeschichtliche Parusieerwartung und Heilsgegenwart im N.T., in Evang. Theologie 14 (1954), P. 177-192.

Kummel, Werner George, Promise and Fulfillment, 1957.

Lohse, Eduard, Auferstehung IV. Im Judentum in RGG 13, p. 694-695.
Manson, William, Eschatology in the New Testament.

Meyer, R., Eschatologie III, Im Judentum, in RGG II3, 1958, p. 662-665.
Minear, P., The Christian Hope and the Second Coming, 1954.

Nikolainen, A. T., Der Auferstehungsglauben in der Bibel und ihrer Umwelt. Bd. II, 1946.

Ringgren, H., Apocalyptik II, Judische A. in RG G3 Bd. I (1957), p. 464-466.

Rowley, H. H., The Relevance of Apocalyptic, 1947.

Schutz, R., Apocalyptik III., Altchrisliche Apocalyptik in RGG 13 (1957), p. 467-469.
Schweizer, Eduard, Die Gegenwart des Geistes und die Eschatologische Hoffnung., in The Background of the New Testament (Dodd-Festschrift), 1956, p. 482-508.

Torge, P., Seelenglaube und Unsterblichkeitshoffnung im A.T., 1909.

Volz, P., Die Eschatologie der judischen Gemeinde im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter, 1934.

Wilder, A. N., Kerygma, Eschatology and Social Ethics, in The Background of the New Testament (Dodd-Festschrift), 1956, p. 509-536.

Eschatology of Paul

Braun, Herbert, Gerichtsgedanke und Rechtfertigungslehre bei Paulus, 1930.

Bonnard, P., mourir et vivre avec Jesus-Christ selon St. Paul in Revue d-'Histoire et de Philos. Relig. 36 (1956), p. 101-112.

Clavier, H., Breves remarques sur la notion de soma pneumatikon, in The Background of the New Testament (Dodd-Festschrift), 1956, p. 342-362.

Deissner, K., Auferstehung und Pneumagedanke bei Paulus, 1912.

Dibelius, Martin, Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus, 1907.

Faw, C. E., Death and Resurrection in Paul's Letters, Journal Bibl Rel 27 (1959), p. 291-298.

Goquel, M., Le caractere a la fois actuel et future, du salut dans la theologie Paulinienne, in The Background of the New Testament (Dodd-Festschrift), 1956, p. 322-341.

Guntermann, F., Die Eschatologie des heiligen Paulus, 1932.

Hamilton, Neill Q., The Holy Spirit and Eschatology in Paul, Scottish Journal of Theology Occasional Papers No. 6, 1957.

Kabisch, Richard, Die Eschatologie des Paulus inlhren Zusammenhangen mit dem Gesamtbegrijf des Paulinismus, 1893.

Macgregor, G. H. C, Principalities and Powers, The Cosmic Background of St. Paul's Thought, in New Testament Studies I (1954), p. 17-28.

Molitor, H., Die Auferstehung der Christen und Nichtchristen nach dent Apostel Paulus, 1932.

Porter, Frank C, The Place of Apocalyptical Conceptions in the Thought of Paul, in JBL 1922 (Vol. XLI), reprinted in Kepler, Contemporary Thinking, 1950, p. 283-292.

Teichmann, E., Die Paul Vorstellungen von Auferstehung und Gericht und ihre Beziehungen zur judischen Apocalyptik, 1896.

Vos., G., The Pauline Doctrine of the Resurrection, in Princeton Theological Review 27 (1929) p. 1-35, 193-226.

Vos., G., The Pauline Eschatology, 1930.

I. HEBREW TEXT AND ANCIENT VERSIONS

The Hebrew Text

Jeffrey, J. The Massoretic Text and the Septuaginta Compared, with Special Reference to the Book of Job, ET 36, 1924/ 25, 70-73.

Jouon, P. Notes philologiques sur le texte hebreu de Job, B 11, 1930, 322-4.

Sarna, N. M. Some Instances of the Enclitic -m in Job, JJS6, 1955, 108-110.

Stevenson, W. B. Critical Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Poem of Job. Aberdeen: University Press, 1951.

Sutcliffe, E. F. Notes on Job, Textual and Exegetical, Bi 1949, 66-90.

_____. Further Notes on Job, Textual and Exegetical, B 1950, 365-378.

Greek Versions (LXX)

Brock, S. The Testament of Job, Edited with an Introduction and Critical Notes (in Greek). Dans Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece, II. Leiden E. J. Brill, 1966.

Gard, D. H. The Exegetical Method of the Greek Translator of the Book of Job. JBL Monograph Series, Vol. VIII. Philadelphia, Sec. of Biblical Literature, 1952.

_____. The Concept of Job's Character According to the Greek Translator of the Hebrew Text. JBL 1953, 182-186.

_____. The Concept of the Future Life According to the Greek Translator of the Book of Job. JBL 1954, 137-143.

Gehman, H. S. The Theological Approach of the Greek Translator of Job 1-15. JBL 1949, 231-240.

Orlinsky, H. M. Job 5:8, a Problem in Greek-Hebrew Methodology, JQR 25, 1935, 271-278.

_____. Some Corruptions in the Greek Text of Job, JQR 26, 1935-36, 133-145.

_____. apozaion and epizaion in the Septuagint of Job, JBL 56, 1937, 361-367.

____. The Hebrew and Greek Text of Job 14:12, JQR 28, 1937-38, 57-68.

.. Studies in the Septuagint of the Book of Job, HUCA 28, 1957, 53-74; 29, 1958, 229-271; 30, 1959, 153-167; 32, 1961, 239-268; 33, 1962, 119-151; 35, 1964, 56-68.

Zimmermann, L. The Septuagint Appendix to Job, The Scotist (Teutopolis), 1960, pp. 48-59.

Latin Versions

Barret, L. Job selon la Vulgate, Toulon Imprimerie J. d-'Arc, 1925.

The Syrian Text

The Arabian Text

Ulback, E. An Arabic Version of the Book of Job, The Open Court 46, 1932, pp. 782-786.

Coptic, Ethiopian, and Georgian Versions

The Targum

Fohrer, G. 400rNab, 11QTgJob und die Hioblegende, ZATW 75, 1963, 93-97.

Van der Ploeg, J. P. M. Een Targum van het boek Job: een nieuwe vondst in de woestijn van Juda, MAA XXV, 9, 1962; and Le Targum de Job de la grotte 11 de Qumran (11QTgJob). Premiere communication, MAA, Nieuwe reeks, Deel 25, No. 9, Amsterdam, 1962.

Van der Woude, A. S. Das Hiobtargum aus Qumran Hohle XX. Congress Volume, Bonn, 1962-3, 322-331.

II. THE BOOK OF JOB IN DIFFERENT TRADITIONS
A.

Jewish Tradition

Greek Tradition

Latin Tradition

Wasselynck, R. L-'influence des Moralia in Job de S. Gregoire le Grand sur la theologie morale entre le VII et le XII siecle, These Lille, 1956.

Syrian Tradition

III. COMMENTARIES

Bourke, M. M. The Book of Job, Pamphlet Bible Series, 35 and 36, New York: Paulist Press, 1963.

Buttenwieser, M. The Booh of Job, London: Hedder & Stoughton, 1922.

Catmull. An Interpretation of the Book of Job, Diss. Univ. of Utah, 1960.

Cranfield, C. E. B. An Interpretation of the Book of Job, ET 54, 1943, 295-8.

Davidson, A. B. A Commentary on the Book of Job, 1862.

_____. Job (Book of), in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible.

_____. The Book of Job, with Notes, Introduction and Appendix, adapted to the Text of the Revised Version with some supplementary Notes by H. C. O. Lanchester, in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, Old Testament, edited by A. F. Kirkpatrick. Cambridge: University Press, 1951, 1960.

Delitzsch, F. & Wetzstein. Das Buch Hiob, BC IV, 2, Leipzig, Dorffling & Franke, 1864, 2nd ed., 1876.

Dhorme, P. Le livre de Job (Etudes bibliques). Paris: Gabalda, 1926.

Driver, S. R. & Gray, G. B. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Job together with a New Translation, ICC, 3rd ed., 1964.

Ellison, H. L. From Tragedy to Triumph, The Message of the Book of Job. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1958.

Freehof, S. B. Book of Job, A Commentary, New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, XV, 1958.

Guillaume, A. Job, in A New Commentary on Holy Scripture, edited by Charles Gore, Henry Leighton Goudge, Alfred Guillaume. London: S.P.C.K., 1951.

Hanson, A. & M. The Book of Job, Torch BC. London: SCM Press, 1953, 1962.

Jastrow, M., Jr. The Book of Job. It's Origin, Growth and Interpretations. Philadelphia, London: Lippincott Company, 1920.

Kissane, E. J. The Book of Job translated from a critically revised Hebrew text with commentary. Dublin, Browne & Nolan, 1939; New York: Sheed & Ward, 1946.

Lods, A., and Randon, L. Job, in La Bible du Centenaire, t. III. Paris, 1947.

Lofthouse, W. F. Book of Job, in Abingdon Bible Commentary. New York and Nashville: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1929, 483-508.

MacBeath, A. The Book of Job. Glasgow: Pickering & I., 1967.

Minn, H. R. The Book of Job. A Translation with Introduction and Short Notes. Auckland (N. Zealand). The University of Auckland Press, 1965.

Nairne, A. The Book of Job, edited with an Introduction. Cambridge: University Press, 1935.

Pope, N. H. Job. in The Anchor Bible, 15, New York: 1965.

Reichert, V. E. Job with Hebrew Text and English Translation, Commentary in Soncino Books of the Bible, ed. A. Cohen. Hindhead, Surrey, The Soncino Press, 1946.

Schweitzer, R. Job (coll. La Bible et la vie, 6). Paris: Ligel, 1966.

Snaith, N. H. The Book of Job. London: The Epworth Press, 1945.

Stier, F. Ijjob. Das Buck Ijjob hebraisch und deutsch. Munchen: Kosel, 1954.

Terrien, S. Job, in Commentaire de l-'AT, XII. Neuchatel-Paris, Delachaux & Niestle, 1963.

Torczyner, N. H. The Book of Job Interpreted. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press, 1941 (See Tur-Sinai).

Tur-Sinai, N. H. (::Torczyner). The Book of Job; a New Commentary. Jerusalem:

IV. STUDIES AND ARTICLES

Albright, W. F. The Name of Bildad the Shuhite, ASJL 44, 1927-8, 31-36.

_____. Archaeology and the Religion of Israel. Baltimore: John Hopkins Press, XII, 1946.

______ A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems, HUCA 23, 1950-1, 1-39.

______ Some Canaanite-Phoenician Sources of Hebrew Wisdom, in M. Noth & D. Winton Thomas. Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, VTS, Vol. Ill, Leiden, 1961, 1-15.

Anderson, H. Another Perspective on the Book of Job, in Transactions publiees par la Societe Orientale de VUniversite de Glasgow. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 18, 1961, 43-46.

Baab, O. J. The Book of Job. Int 5, 1951, 329-343.

Baker, A. The Strange Case of Job's Chisel, in CBQ 11, 1969, 370-379.

Barrett, W. The Hebraic Man of Faith, Hebraism and Hellenism, in Irrational Man, A Study of Existential Philosophy. Garden City: 1958, p. 64.

Barton, G. A. Some Textoritical Notes on the Elihu Speeches, Job 32-37, in JBL 43, 1924, 228.

Barton, G. A. The Composition of Job 24-30. JBL 30, 1911, pp. 66.

______ Some Textcritical Notes on Job. JBL 42, 1923, 29-32. Barucq, A. Prophetisme et eschatologie individuelle, VS100, 1956, 407-420.

Baumgartner, W. The Wisdom Literature, III, Job; in The Old Testament and Modern Study, ed. H. H. Rowley. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1951, 216-221.

Beaucamp, E. Sous la main de Dieu, 11. La Sagesse et le destin des elus. Paris: Fleurus, 1957, 80-126.

______ Justice -divine et pardon; ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis (Psalms 51:6 b), in Memorial A. Gelin. Le PuyParis, X. Mappus, 1961, 1929-144.

Bentzen, A. Introduction to the Old Testament. Kopenhagen: C. Gads Forlag, 1952.

Berry, D. L. Scripture and Imaginative Literature Focus on Job, in Journal of General Education, 19/2. Pennsylvania, 1967, 119-131.

Black wood, A. W. Devotional Introduction to Job. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1959.

Blank, S. H. The Curse, the Blasphemy, the Spell, and the Oath, HUCA 23, Part I, 83 et 85, note 44.

______ An Effective Literary Device in Job 31, JJS 2, 1951, 1-5-7.

______ Men Against God. The Promethean Element in Biblical Prayer, JBL 72, 1953, 1-13.

Blommerde, A. C. M. Northwest Semitic Grammar and Job, Diss. Pont. Biblical Institute. Rome: 1968, dactyl. (Biblica et Orientalia, no. 22, in preparation.

Blumenthal, D. R. A Play of Words in the Nineteenth Chapter of Job, VT16, 1966, 497-501.

Bottero, J. Le -dialogue pessimiste-' et la transcendance, in RThPh XCIX, 1, 1966, 7-24.

Breakstone, R. Job. A Case Study, New York: Bookman Associates, Inc., 1964.
Burrows, M. The Voice from the Whirlwind. JBL 47, 1928, 117-132.

Cambier, J. Justice de Dieu, salut de tous les hommes et foi, RB 71, 1964, 537-583.

Carstensen, R. M. Job, Defense of Honor. New York/Nashville: The Abingdon Press, 1963.

______ The Persistence of the -Elihu-' Tradition in Later Jewish Writers, in Lexington Theological Quarterly II/2, 1967, 27-46.

Cazelles, H. A propos de quelques textes difficiles relatifs a la justice de Dieu, in l-'Ancien Testament. RB 58, 1951, 169ss. Condon, K. The Biblical Doctrine of Original Sin, IThQ 34, 1967, 20-36.

Cosser, W. The Meaning of Life (hayyim) in Proverbs, Job, Qoheleth Glasgow: University Oriental Society Transactions 15, 1955, 48-53.

Coste, J. Notion grecque et Notion biblique de la -Souffrance educatrice.-'RSR 43, 1955, 481-523.

Cross, F. M., Jr. The Council of Yahweh in Second Isaiah, JNES 12, 1953, 274ss.

______ The Ancient Library of Qumran and Modern Biblical Studies. London: 1958, pp. 120-145.

______ Yahweh and the God of the Patriarchs, HThR 55, 1962, 225-259.

Dahood, M. Some North-westSemitic Words in Job, Bibl 38, 1957, 306-320.

______ Hebrew-Ugaritic Lexicography, I. Bibl 44, 1963, 289-303; II. 45, 1964, 393-412; III. 46, 1965, 311-332; IV. 47, 1966, 403-419; V. 48, 1967, 412-438.

______ Mismar, -muzzle,-' in Job 7:12. JBL 80, 1961, 270s.

______ Northwest Semitic Philology and Job, in J. L. Mac-Kenzie: The Bible in Current Catholic Thought. Gruenthaner Memorial Volume. New York: 1962, pp. 55-74.

______ Ugaritic usn, Job 12:10, Job 12:11 QPs Plea 3-4. Bibl 47, 1966, 107s.

______ The Metaphor in Job 22:22. Bibl 47, 1966, 108

______ S-'RT -Storm-' in Job 4:15. Bibl 48, 1967, 544s.

HDK in Job 40:12, in Bibl 40, 1968, 509-510.

David, M. Travaux et service dans l-'Epopee de Gilamesh et le livre de Job. Revue Philosophique 147, 1957, 341-349.

Davison, W. T. Art. Job (Book of), in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, II, 1889, 660ff.

Dhorme, P. Le pays de Job. RB 20, 1911, 104ss.

______ Ecclesiaste ou Job? RB 32, 1923, 5-27.

______ Les c. 25-28 du livre de Job. RB 33, 1924, 343-356.

Donald, T. The Semantic Field of -Folly-' in Proverbs, Job, Psalms, and Ecclesiastes. VT13, 1963, 285-292.
Driver, G. R. Studies in the Vocabulary of the OT. JThS 36, 1935, 293-301.

______ Problems in the Hebrew Text of Job. VTS 3, 1955, 72-93.

______ Two Astronomical Passages in the OT (Job 9:9; Job 39:3 H), JThS, 7, 1956, 1611.

Dussaud, R. La nephesh et la rouah dans le livre de Job. RHR 129, 1945, 17-30.

Eerdmans, B. D. Studies in Job, 2 vol. Leiden: Burgerdijk & Niermans, 1939.

Esh, S. Job 36:5 a in Tannaitic Tradition, VT 7, 1957, 190s. Feuillet, A. L-'enigme de la souffrance et la response de Dieu, in Dieu Vivant 17, 1950, 77-91.

Fine, H. A. The Patient Job. JBL 72, 1953, pp vi. and vii. ______ The Tradition of a Patient Job. JBL 74, 1955, 28-32. Fohrer, G. Glaube und Welt in Alten Testament. Frankfurt a.M.J. Knecht, 1948.

______ Vorgeschichte und Komposition des Buches Hiob. 7ZZ81, 1956, 333-336.
______ Art. -Sophia-'in TWNT, VII, 1962, B: Ales Testament, pp. 476-496 (see Wilckens).

Freedman, D. N. The Elihu Speeches in the Book of Job, in Harv. Theol. Rev. 61, 1968, 51-59.

______ The Structure of Job 3, in Bibl 49, 1968, 503-508. Friedman, M. The Modern Job: On Melville, Dostoevsky and Kafka in Judaism 12/4, 1963, 436-355.

Fullerton, K. The Original Conclusion to the Book of Job. ZATW42, 1924, 116-145.

______ Double Entendre in the First Speech of Eliphaz. JBL 49, 1930, 320-74.

______ On the Text and Significance of Job 40:2. AJSL 49, 1932-3, 197-211.

______ On Job 9:10. JBL 53, 1934, 321-349.

______ Job, Chapter s 9 and 10. AJSL 55, 1938, 225-269.

Gehman, H. S. Job II in The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1944.

Gemser, B.: The Rib-or Controversy Pattern in Hebrew Mentality, in M. Noth & D. W. Thomas: Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, VTS, III, 1961, 135.

Gerber, I. J. A Psychological Approach to the Book of Job. Diss. Boston: 1949.

______ The Psychology of the Suffering Mind. New York: The Jonathan David Company, XVI, 1951.

Ginsberg, H. L. The Ugaritic Texts and Textual Criticism. JBL 62, 1943, 109-115.

______ Job the Patient and Job the Impatient; in Conservafive Judaism. New York 21, 1966/67, 12-28.

Goldsmith, R. H. The Healing Scourge. Int. 17, 1963, 271 279.

Good, E. M. Irony in the Old Testament. Philadelphia: 1965, 196-240.

Goodheart, E. Job and Romanticism (Reconstructionist 24, n. 5, 1958, 7-12).

______ Job and the Modern World. in Judaism 10, 1961, 21-28.

Gordis, R. -All Men's Book.-' A New Introduction to Job. Menorah Journal, XXXVII, 1949, 329ss.

______ The Lord out of the Whirlwind. The Climax and Meaning of Job.-' Judaism 13/1, 1964, 48-63.

______ The Book of God and Man. A Study of Job. Chicago-London: The University of Chicago Press, 1965.

Guglielmo, A. De: Job 12:7 and the Knowability of God. CBQ 6, 1944, 476-482.

Guillaume, A. The use of h-l-sh in Exod. XVII, 13, Isa. XIV, 12, and Job XIV, 10, in JTS 14 (1963), 91-92.

______ The Arabic Background of the Book of Job, in Promise and Fulfillment, Edinburgh: 1963, 106-127.

______ The Unity of the Book of Job, in The Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society, IV, 1962-63, released 1965, 26-46.

_______ A Root s--'h in Hebrew, JTS, NS, 17, 1966, 53s. Studies in the Book of Job, with a New Translation, ed. by John MacDonald (Supplement II to the Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society)-Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968.

Hanson, R. P. C. St. Paul's Quotations of the Book of Job. Theology 53, 1950, 250-253.

Hastoupis, A. P. The Problem of Theodicy in the Book of Job. Theologia (Athenes), 1951, 657-668.

Heras. The Standard of Job's Immorality. CBQ 11, 1949, 263-279.

Holladay, W. L. Jeremiah's Lawsuit with God. Int. 17, 1963, 280-287.

Irwin, W. A. An Examination of the Progress of Thought in the Dialogue of Job. JR 13, 1933, 150-164.

______ The First Speech of Bildad. ZATW 51, 1933, 205 216.

.. The Elihu Speeches in the Criticism of the Book of Job, JR 17, 1937, 37-47.

_____ Poetic Structure in the Dialogue of Job. JNES 5, 1946, 26-39.

Job and Prometheus. JR 30, 1950, 90-108.

Irwin, W. A. The Old Testament: Keystone of Human Culture, 1952, (pp. 72, 99ss).

______ Job's Redeemer. JBL 81, 1962, 217-229.

Jeffre, C. J. La Providence, mystere de silence. Lumiere et Vie, no. 66, 55-77.

Johnson, A. R. The Primary Meaning of g--'-l. VTS, 1, 1953, 67-77.

Jung, C. B. Antwort auf Hiob. Zurich, Raschen, 1952.

______ Response a Job, traduction de R. Cahen. Postface de Henri Corbin. Paris.

King, A. R. The Problem of Evil Christian Concepts and the Book of Job. New York: Ronald, X, 1952.

Knight, H. Job (Considered as a Contribution to Hebrew Theology). SJTh 9, 1956, 63-76.

Kraeling, E. G. H. The Book of the Ways of God. London: S.P.C.K., 1938.

______ Recension du livre de J. Lindblom. La composition du livre de Job, in JBL 65, 1946, 224-228.

______ Man and His God. A Sumerian variation on the -Job-' Motive. VTS, 111, 1953, 170-182.

Kuyper, L. J. The Repentance of Job. VT9, 1959, 91-94. Langdon, S. Babylonian Wisdom. Paris-Londres, Geuthner, Luzac & Co., 1923.

Legrand, L. La creation, triomphe cosmique de Yah we. NRT 83, 1961, 449-470.

Leveque, J. -Et Yahweh repondit a Job-'; in Foi Vivante. Bruxelles-Paris, 7, 1966, No. 28, 72-77.

Lillie, W. The Religious Significance of the Theophany in the Book of Job. ET 68, 1956, 355-8.

Lindblom, C. J. Die Vergeltung Gottes im Buche Hiob. Eine ideenkritische Skizze, in Blumerincq-Gedenkschrift, Abhandlungen der Herder-Gesellschqft und der HerderInstituts zu Riga, VI, No. 3, 1938, 80-97.

______ Vedergallningsporblemet i Jobs bok. SvTK 14, 1938, 209-228.

.. Job and Prometheus, a Comparative Study. Acta Instituti Romani Regni Sueciae, II/1. Lund, 1939, 280-287.

______ Joblegenden traditionshistoriskt undersokt. SEA 5, 1940, 29-42.

______ Boken om Job och hans Lidende. Lund, C. W. K. Gleerup Forlag, 1940.

Lods, A. La croyance a la vie future dans l-'antiquite Israelite. Paris, 1906.

______ Recherches recentes sur le livre de Job. RHPR 14, 1934, 501-533.

.. Les origines de la figure de Satan, ses Junctions a la cour celeste; dans: Melanges Syriens, offerts a R. Dussaud, II, Paris, 1939, 649-660.

Lods, A. Histoire de la litterature hebraique et juive. Paris, Payot, 1950.

Lusseau, H. Job, in Introduction a la Bible, under the direction of A. Robert and A. Feuillet, t. I, 2 ed., 1959, 642-654.

Macdonald, D. B. Some External Evidence on the Original Form of the Legend of Job. AJSL 14, 1898, 137-164; cf. JBL 14, 63-71.

______ The Hebrew Literary Genius. Princeton: University Press, 1933.

MacKenzie, R. A. F. The Purpose of the Yahweh Speeches in the Book of Job. Bibl 40, 1959, 435-445.

Martin-Achard, R. De la mort a la resurrection d-'apres l-'Ancien Testament. Neuchatel, 1956, 133-134.

May, H. G. Prometheus and Job: the Problem of the God of Power and the Man of Worth, AThR 34, 1952, 240-246.

Michael, J. H. Paul and Job. A Neglected Analogy. ET 36, 1924/25, 67-70.

Morgan, G. C. The Answer of Jesus to Job. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, s.d.

North, C. R. The Redeemer God. Int. 2, 1948, 3-16.

Obermann, J. Sentence Negation in Ugaritic. JBL 65, 1946, 233-248.

O-'Neill, G. The World's Classic: Job. Milwaukee: 1938.

Onimus, J. Face au monde actuel. Paris: 1963, 249-260. Parente, P. P. The Book of Job. Reflections on the Mystic Value of Human Suffering. CBQ 8, 1946, 213-219.

Paton, L. B. The Problem of Suffering in the pre-exilic Prophets. JBL 46, 1927, 111-131.

Peake, A. S. The Problem of Suffering in the Old Testament, 1887; reprinted at London, the Epworth Press, 1946; 73-91.

Pfeiffer, R. H. Wisdom and Vision in the OT. ZATW 52, 1934, 93-101.

______ The History, Religion and Literature of Israel. Research in the OT 1914-1925, HThR 27, 1934, 241-325, surtout pp. 286 and 319-321.

______ Introduction to the Old Testament. London, New York: 1948.

Philonenko. M. Le Testament de Job et les Therapeutes. Semitica 8, 1958, 51-53. Le Testament de Job, in Semitica 18 (1968), 1-77.

Philp. H. L. Jung and the Problem of Evil. London: 1958, 133-171.

Pope, M. H. The Word s-h-th in Job 9:31. JBL 83, 1964, 269-278.

Pury, R. De. Job ou l-'homme revoke. Geneve (Caheris du Renouveau), 1955.

Rankin, O. S. Israel's Wisdom Literature, its bearing on the Theology and the History of Religion. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1954.

Rendtorff, R. El, Ba-'al and Yahwe. Erwagungen zum Verhaltnis von kanaanaischer und israelitischer Religion. ZATW 78, 1966, 272-292.

Robertson, St. The Nature of Religious Truth (Job 19:26). JET 39, 1927/28, 181-183.

Rohr Sauer, A. von. Salvation by Grace: The Heart of Job's Theology, in Concordia Theological Monthly XXXVII/5, 1966, 259-270.
Rowley, H. H. The Book of Job and its Meaning. BJRL 41, 1958, 167-207; reprinted in From Moses to Qumran. Studies in the Old Testament. London: Lutterworth Press, 1963, pp. 139-183.

Sanders, J. A. Suffering as Divine Discipline in the Old Testament and Post-Biblical Judaism. Colgate Rochester Divinity School Bulletin 28, 1955, 28-33.

Sanders, P. S. Twentieth Century Interpretations of the Book of Job. A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1968; abbreviation: TCI.

Sekine, M. Theodicee dans l-'Ancien Testament. Orient (Tokio), 1960, 23-24.

______ Schopfung und Erlosung im Buche Hiob; dans Von Ugari nach Qumran. BZAW 11, 1958, Berlin: A. Topelmann, pp. 213-223.

Sewall, R. B. The Vision of Tragedy. New Haven, 1959, Yale U. P. IX, 9-24.

Shapiro, D. S. The Problem of Evil and the Book of Job. Judaism 5, 1956, 46-52.

Skehan, P. W. Job 36:16. CBQ 16, 1954, 295-301.

______ Job's Final Plea (Job 29-31) and the Lord's Reply. Bibl AS, 1964, 51-62.

______ Second Thoughts on Job 6:16, Job 6:6, Job 6:25, in CBQ 30, 1969, 210-212.

-I Will Speak Up!-' (Job 32); The Pit (Job 33), in CBQ 30, 1969, 380-382.

Smid, T. D. Some Bibliographical Observations on Calvin's Sermons sur le livre de Job. Free University Quarterly 1960, 51-56.

Snaith, N. H. Notes on the Hebrew Text of Job 1-6. London: The Epworth Press, 1945.

______ The Book of Job. Its Origin and Purpose. Studies in Biblical Theology, Second Series, 11, SCM Press, London: 1969.

Steinmuller, J. E. A Companion to Scriptures Studies, II. New York, 1944, p. 167.

Stockhammer, M. Das buch Hiob. Versuch einer Theodizee. Wien, Europaischer Verlag, 1963.

______ The Righteousness of Job, in Judaism 7/1, 1958, 64-71.

Sutcliffe, E. F. Notes on Job, Textual and Exegetical. Bibl 30, 1949, 66-90.

______ Further Notes on Job, Textual and Exegetical, ib. 31, 1950, 365-78.

Sutcliffe, E. F. The Old Testament and the Future Life. 2 ed., 1947.

______ Providence and Suffering in the Old and New Testament. Oxford: 1955.

Taylor, W. S. Theology and Therapy in Job. Theology Today (Princeton) 12, 1955/56, 451-463.

Terrien, S. T. The Babylonian Dialogue on Theodicy and the Book of Job. JBL 63, 1944, p. vi.

______ Job: Poet of Existence. Indianapolis: Bobbs Merrill Co., 1958.

-Quelques remarques sur les affinites de Job avec le Deutero-Isaie. VTS, XV, 1965, 295-310.

Thomas, D. W. (See M. Noth). Job XXXVII, 22 JJS 1, 1948, 116-7.

______ The Root --d--' in Hebrew. JTS 36, 1935, 409-412.

______ The Interpretation of bsod in Job 29:4. JBL 65, 1946, 63-66.

______ Note on lada-'at in Job 37:7. JTS (NS) 5, 1954, 56-57.

______ Job XL, 29b. Text and Translation. VT 14, 1964, 114-116.

Thompson, K. Jr. Out of the Whirlwind. The Sense of Alienation in the Book of Job. Interpreter 14, 1960, 51-63.

Tillich, P. The Courage to Be. New Haven, 1952, 171ss.

Tsevat, M. The Meaning of the Book of Job. HUCA 37, 1966, 73-106; see also, under the same title, an article in Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies, Vol. I, Jerusalem, 1967, 177-180.

______ Hiob XI und die Sprache der Amarna-Briefe, BiOr 9, 1952, 162ss.

______ Job 30:17 ss, Sefer Jobel S. K. Mirsky, New York, 1958.

Ulanov, B. Job and His Comforters. The Bridge 3, 1958, 234-268.

Vischer, W. Hiob ein Zeuge Jesu Christi, ZZ 11, 1933, 386 414 (6th edition: Zurich, Ev. Verlag Zollikon, 1947).

______ Valeur de I-'Ancien Testament. Commentaire des livres de Job, Esther, Ecclesiaste, Second Isaie. Geneve, Labor et Fies, 1958.

______. God's Truth and Man's Lie. A Study of the Message of the Book of Job. Interpreter 15, 1961, 131-146.

Ward, W. B. Out of the Whirlwind. Answers to the Problems of Suffering from the Book of Job. Richmond: J. Knox Press, 1958.

Waterman, L. Note on Job 19:23: Job's Triumph of Faith. JBL 69, 1950, 379-380.

______ Note on Job 28, A. JBL 71, 1952, 167-170.

Wedel, Th. O. I Hate Myself. A Sermon, Job 7:20, in Interpretation 5, 1951, 427-431.

Wilckens, U. Art. Sophia, sophos, sophizo, in TWNT VII, 1962, 465-528 (except B, consecrated to the OT, and which is owing to George Fohrer, 476-496).

Williams, R. J. Theodicy in the Ancient Near East. Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies, tire a part, 1954 (20 p), or Canadian Journal of Theology, 1956, 14-26.

Wood, J. Job and the Human Situation. London: G. Bles, 1966.

_____ The Idea of Life in the Book of Job. Transactions published by the Oriental Society of the University of Glasgow, 18, 1959-60, 29-37. Leiden: Brill, 1961.

Zhitlowsky, C. Job and Faust. Translated with Introduction and Notes by P. Matenko. Leiden: Brill, 1966.

Zimmerli, W. Zur Struktur der ATlichen Weisheit. ZATW 51, 1933, 177-204.

_____. Der Mensch und seine Hoffnung in Alten Testament. Gottingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1968.

Zink, J. K. Impatient Job, JBL 84, 1965, 147-152; Uncleanness and Sin. a Study of Job XIV, 4 and Psalm LI, 7, in VT, 17 (1967), 354-361.

Goodheart, E. Job and the Modern World, in TCI (cf. P. S. Sanders), 98-106.

Kissane, E. J. The Metrical Structure of Job, in TCI (cf. P. S. Sanders), 78-85.

Lipinski, E. Le juste souffrant, in La Foi et le Temps 1 (1968), 329-342.

MacKenzie, R. A. F. Job, in The Jerome Biblical Commentary, ed. by R. E. Brown, J. A. Fitzmyer and R. E. Murphy. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1968, I, 511-533.

Murray, G. Prometheus and Job, in TCI (cf. P. S. Sanders), 56-65.

Toynbee, A. J. Challenge and Response; The Mythological Clue, in TCI (cf. P. S. Sanders), 86-97.

Job Topical Text

Fifteen Jobian Themes for Discussion

GOD AND GOLEM[410]

[410] In Jewish legend, golem is an embryo adam, shapeless and not fully created, hence a monster, an automation.

And Moses said to God, If I come, I come to the people of Israel, and say unto them, -The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and they shall ask me, What is his name? What shall I say to them?-'God said to Moses, I am who I am. Exodus 3:13-14.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?. Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand. Job 1:8; Job 1:12.

Freedom and Finitude

If God is good, why do the righteous suffer? If God is all-powerful, why doesn-'t He do something about human heartache and hurt? If man is only a machine, i.e., a golem, then suffering is an illusion. If he is as the scriptures sayin the image of God, then his freedom permits decision making which has negative effects on both the individual and his social environment.

God and Justice

Not once did Job deny the existence of God. But he did deny God's justice. What does our view of the nature of God have to do with our attitudes toward sin and suffering?

Discussion Questions

What was Job's view of God? How does this compare with your own? (See the essayIs Job's God in Exile? beginning on page 487.)

Discuss the following descriptions of God:

Yakweh-jirehYahweh will see to it, or provide

Yakweh-nissiYahwehmy Banner

Yahweh-ShalomYahwehour Peace

Yahweh-TsidkenuYahwehOUT Righteousness

Yahweh-ShammahYahweh is there, i.e., present

If God is all-powerful and holy, should He permit sin and evil in His creation? Give reasons for your answer.

What is the relationship of your view of God to creation, self, history, society, and all the suffering which man experiences? Give at least two reasons why anyone should share your belief?

How do you relate your belief in God with the fact of disease and suffering? Discuss concrete examples of self-inflicted suffering and non self-inflicted suffering such as accidents, famines, earthquakes, fires, wars, etc.

Freedom and Responsibility

Discuss how man's freedom creates sin and suffering. Discuss the moral evil that man creates, then compare with the larger problem of surd evil, i.e., earthquakes, famines, etc., which human action does not necessarily create. Some suffering is caused by sinful men, but some is caused by fallen nature.

To whom is man responsible for his actions? God and/or society? Discuss crime and punishment. Discuss the moral implications of human law. (See J. W. Montgomery's The Law Above the Law. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany Fellowship Press, 1976.)

Can sinful man create the good society?

Bibliography on God

Hamilton, To Turn from Idols, Eerdmans, 1973, pb.

W. Smith, The God of All Comfort, Moody Press, 1956, pb.

MEANING OF PERSONS: SUFFERING AND BECOMING

What is man that thou art mindful of him? Psalms 8:4.

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return: the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:20-21.

Man is what he eats. Feuerbach
No man is an island. Johnn Donne

None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. Romans 14:7

Masks and Roles

As a person, Job played many roles, as do we all. The rich variety of interpersonal relationships with children, wife and friends made Job a very complex person. He was related to nature, as land owner, the community, as an influential wealthy Sheikh to his possessions, and ultimately to his God. As disaster struck, the security grounded in each of the relationships deteriorated, except his relationship to his personal God. Job's personal identity was organized around four types of relationships: (1) God, (2) self, (3) others, and (4) nature. He repeatedly declared that he was alive and suffering and that is an experience that cannot be reduced to a causal explanation. Discuss the above four relationships in your life.

Man the Contradictory Being

In spite of the fact that introspection has failed as a method of discovering the person, contemporary man is once more on the Eastern road inward. Job was conscious of his own inner feelings and attitudes and was unaware of the cause of the cruelty that fell his lot.

The Person and Dialogue

Discuss the issues which were stressed in the dialogues between Job and his three friends.

Discuss the relationship between holiness and wholeness in our psychological processes.

Does Job have a bad conscience concerning his past behavior? Discuss the implication of your answer.

Discuss Job's dialogue with his three friends, then compare with his monologue with God. What were some of the results of each respecting Job's feelings and frustrations. Read Martin Buber'S, I-Thou and compare with Job.

Identify five of Job's anxieties and their resolution or lack of same. Compare with your own.

List five obstacles to Job's well-being and discuss them.

Discuss how Job becomes what God wants him to be through his grace and encounter with the Living God. Is your God living? Is your church relationship based on a personal relationship with Christ, or are there merely social and psychological reasons for your church affiliations?

Becoming and Commitment

Trusting God and His purposes are of vital importance for Christian personhood.

Job's commitment to the living God enlarges the dilemma of uniqueness. Our personalities are less a finished product than a transitive process. Compare Job and yourself with respect to trust, commitment, and the processes of maturity. Are we becoming more like God's servant, Job? If so, how?

Bibliography on Man

J. Adler, The Difference of Man and the Difference It Makes, World Pub. Meridian, 1967, pb.

Gordon W. Allport, Becoming, Yale, 1968, pb.

Leslie Stevenson, Seven Theories of Human Nature, Oxford University Press, 1975, pb.

D. Strauss, Christians Come of Age in a World Come of Age, Newness on The Earth, 1969, pp. 113-125.

Paul Tournier, The Meaning of Persons, Harper, 1957.

TOUCHED BY EVIL: JOY IN THE MORNING

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. Job 40:1-2

Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:22

If you become a Christian then you will have on your plate a first-class philosophical problem. Hugh Silvester
Dr. Zhivago is a mirror of modern man. The bitter and cruel winter in the Ural mountains, the ruthlessness of the revolution, inhumaneness of the class war, Victor's unbridled lust, and Zhivago's unfaithfulness reveal the facts of life in a world which has revolted against God. Human ruin is everywhere visible. What and who causes this decadence on the human scene?

Evils of Man's Inhumanity

We are barraged with the twin claims of genetic and environmental determinism. Contemporary criminology insists that criminals are only persons with the misfortune of being born and reared in a completely negative environment. But why should the Jews have suffered such excruciating agony in Hitler's Germany because they bore a certain name? Where was God when they constructed the Gas Ovens? Why should individuals suffer for something over which they have no control? Why should evil men prosper? Why should some punishment be out of all proportion to the offense? e.g. Job's charges against God. Why does God allow the loss of life and limb in an auto accident, while he allows the oppression and exploitation by some exploiters?

DiseaseDeath Milieu

While man is searching for life on Mars, death and disease go unchecked on earth. Overwhelming sorrow results from the loss of a loved one. In C. S. Lewis-', A Grief Observed he lays bare his broken heart and personal anguish. He describes sorrow, Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape. you wonder whether the valley isn-'t a circular trench. (Read this beautiful work and discuss death and dying, sorrow and healing and wholeness.)

Nature Red in Tooth and Claw

Animals and insects balance nature's systems by the survival of the fittest. Every animal, fish and insect feeds on some form of life. Everywhere we find either the prey or the plunderer. Nature is one big slaughter house. Back to nature mentality means back to tooth and claw. Is this the best of all possible worlds? Should God resign? Should we believe in the existence of a God who cannot control His kingdom with any more benevolent mercy than seems evident as millions of live specimens are daily consumed to perpetrate nature's life systems? Is dualism, i.e., eternal good and eternal evil a feasible solution to our dilemma, if not, why not?

Is evil real? What is the ultimate cause of natural and moral evil?

If there were no God, would evil exist?

Discuss morals and the problem of evil.

Is evil merely caused by environment, economic conditions, psychological conditions, etc.?

Discuss the biblical doctrine of judgment and hell in the context of evil.

If man is not free as Crick, Wilson, Monad, Skinner, et al., assert then who is responsible for human behavior?

Bibliography on Evil

Hick, Evil and the God of Love, Macmillan, 1966, pb.

S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Macmillan, pb.

S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy, Macmillan, pb.

High Silvester, Arguing with God, Inter-Varsity Press, 1972, pb.

CARING IN AN AGE OF CRISIS

Be not anxious. Matthew 6:25

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Luke 10:41

Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which said, a man-child is conceived. Job 3:3

Why did I not die at birth. Job 3:11

I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes. Job 3:16

Anxieties: Constructive and Destructive

Job's life was filled with anxieties. He was surrounded by death, destruction, heartache, and calloused counselors. Doesn-'t anyone really care for Job? How do you identify with Job's needs? Is there any healing for his and our hurt? Can anything creatively good come out of our anxieties? Freud's fallacy concerning the negative nature of our anxieties still haunts modern man. Anything that reduces our anxious hours is adjudged to be good, according to Freud. But creative use of anxiety has been at the heart of every major advancement of man. Imagine a Moses, Isaiah, or Paul without anxiety. These men were anxious about ultimate issues not trivial human values. What are some of the areas that cause our deepest frustrations? Locate these crises in Job's life and compare with your own.

Nature of Contemporary Crises

There are economically grounded anxieties: egs. taxes, inflation, recession, hostility to the work ethic, local congregation, Bible Colleges in the free church tradition, counter cultures and Marxist attacks on our economic institutions and the entire evangelistic outreach of the church.

Death and Dying: egs. Face death definitely, and thanatology since Elizabeth Kuber-Ross; high school mini courses on death.

Grief and Guilt: egs. Anxieties grounded in grief and bereavement, are we guilty or are we merely culturally caused to feel guilty?

Freedom and Security: We desire to be free, yet need security more. How can we be both free and secure? How do we relate our freedom and security to others? Can freedom and security be only a private matter? How is our individual freedom and security related to others by caring?

Sin and Salvation: The contemporary behavioral sciences maintain that man is dominated by the twin forces of genetic and environmental determinism. If true, we could hardly sin against God. If these theses are scientifically definable, then sin and salvation in the biblical sense is false. (If available read the works of Menninger, Crick, Monad, Wilson, and Skinner and discuss in light of the biblical doctrines of sin and salvation.)

Ingredients of Caring

Some of the conditions for caring are:

Knowledge and Caring: Caring requires knowledge and preparation.

Patience and Caring: Patience is not passivity, rather a mediation between extremes.

Trusting and Caring: Trusting in a loving Lord entails risk in our relationship with others. Risk entails the possibility of failure and. frustration.

Honesty and Caring: Honesty implies truth; truth implies responsibility to both God, self, and others.

Hope and Caring: As Christians we are begotten again unto a new and living hope; therefore, we must care for God's view of creation, the home, the church, etc.

These ingredients, when well-mixed with love and compassion, will heal lives in our times of crises. So, right on with Christ and caring in an age of crises. Maranatha.

Bibliography on Caring and Crisis

Jay E. Adams, Your Place in the Counseling Revolution, Baker, 1975, pb.

Willard Gaylin, Caring, A. A. Knopf, 1976 (See excerpt from Psychology Today, Aug., 1976).

Seward Hiltner, The Christian Shepherd, Abingdon, 1959. Wayne E. Oates, Anxiety in Christian Experience, Westminster, 1955, reprinted by Baker in pb.

Lillian Rubin, Worlds of Pain, New York: Basic Books, 1976. (See the Journals in the bibliography for technical clinical data.)

THE GREAT MYTH: PIETY PRODUCES PROSPERITY

Behold my servant shall prosper. (The word means to attain a goal, not get rich.) Isaiah 52:13

Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:10

So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. Job 5:16

Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us. Micah 3:11

Your rich men are full of violence;. Micah 6:12

The issue can no longer be evaded. It is becoming clearer every day that the most urgent problem besetting our church is this: How can we live the Christian life in the modern world? D. Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Presence and Piety

We are living in a Jobian world without his piety. Job's integrity was contingent on his awareness of God's presence. Not since the great influence of Lutheran and Reformed pietism has western man shown so much aversion to the devotional life. There is not only a crisis of piety, there is a loss of piety in western civilization. Wayne Oates refers to a conspiracy of silence about personal religion that prevails in our churches and theological seminaries.
The post-Reformation spiritual movements known as Pietism, Puritanism, and Evangelicalism sought to recover the centrality of the devotional life. The Reformers place the accent on Christ for us, and the pietiestic movements emphasized Christ with us and Christ in us as well. Francke, Zinzendorf, Spittler, Kierkegaard, Blumhardts, Spener, et al., each in his own way emphasized the Christian life as centering in the devotional life. As contemporary man attempts to deliteralize the demonic, Satan's powers increase as Eastern meditation techniques are utilized to fill the void.

As America enters her third century, perhaps Jobian piety in the face of his loss of prosperity and with itits security, can rekindle our concern for Christ in us. We did not learn the American myth that prosperity is proof of our piety from Job.

The Gospel of Wealth in America's Third Century

A fundamental driving force in our past two hundred years has been, if you are successful it is necessarily a blessing from God. If you are a failure it is God's judgment on your entire life-style. But what of Job? What of the world's hungry, destitute, poor? What of the Third and Fourth Worlds in the last quarter of the 20th century? Below the thirtieth parallel lies almost eighty percent of the world's population and most of the world's poverty. Above the thirtieth parallel is twenty percent of the world's population and most of its wealth and productive power.

Piety in Spite of Prosperity

Discuss the arguments employed by Job's three friends in light of the following questions:

Is poverty proof of God's judgment on your life style?

Is prosperity proof of His blessings?

Was Job not pious without the security of things?

Did Job have integrity before God? Was Job's faith (and ours) contingent on God's blessings, i.e., things which his culture valued which in turn produced psychological and sociological security?

Discuss the relationship of piety, devotion and prosperity.

Discuss Satan's first attack on JobDoes Job fear God for naught? Job 1:9. What is the relationship of reward, punishment and piety? Compare Job and yourself.

Bibliography on Piety and Devotion

G. Bloesch, The Christian Life and Salvation, Eerdmans, 1967.

Donald G. Bloesch, The Crisis of Piety, Eerdmans, 1968. D. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, Macmillan, pb.

John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, pb.

Soren Kierkegaard, Journals of S. Kierkegaard, Oxford University Press, 1951.

Soren Kierkegaard, The Purity of Heart, New York: Harper, 1956.

Bro. Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, Revell, pb., 1958.

Merton, Seeds of Contemplation, Norfolk, Conn., 1949, pb.

HORRORS OF ESTRANGEMENT: RELIEVED BY RECONCILIATION

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return;. Job 1:21

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him,. Job 2:13

They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. Job 5:14

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth;. Isaiah 53:7

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. I Cor. 5:19

The Lonely Crowd

Biblically, alienation is always a consequence of sin. Pablo, in Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls, expresses human estrangement after an act of calculated treachery and betrayalHaving done such a thing there is loneliness which cannot be borne (p. 367). Restless and rootless Joe Christmas is described in Faulkner's Light in Augustthere was something rootless about him, as though no town or city was his, no street, no walls, no square of earth his home. Man's contemporary identity crisis is rooted and grounded in alienation. Many live in a Lonely Crowd where there is No Exit. Lewis Mumford's The Culture of Cities contains a brilliant chapter entitled, A Brief Outline of Hell. In hell no community is possible, no meaningful fellowship, no personal relationships. Sartre magnificently displays his powers of penetration in No Exit. The one-act play is structured around three characters: (1) Garcin, a military coward who has been wounded; (2) Inez, a lesbian; and (3) Estelle, a nymphomaniac, who has murdered her own child. In this mirror of modern man, we learn that hell is other people.

The Principle of Hell

George Macdonald saysThe one principle of hell is -I am my own-'(G. Macdonald, An Anthology, London, 1946, p. 85). Radical individualism, whether 19th century or Ayn Rand type is an ultimate expression of alienation. The Church with 1 Thessalonians 20th century expression has failed to produce an alternative to isolation. Fellowship is a catch-all word for those who seek reduction of the anxiety caused by alienation through activities, all-be-it church activities. American pragmatic activism has all but paralyzed the American Church. Men have been programed to become islands of egocentricity, an island of tormenting loneliness and guilt.

Discuss Job's alienation from God, creation, others, and self.

Compare your own life with that of Job and list ranges of your most profound alienation.

Discuss the neo-Marxian Post-Bangkok W.C.C. attitudes toward economic and political causes of alienation.

Compare the biblical doctrines of sin and salvation with the most successful alternative in the history of the churchneo-Marxian theory that all alienation is economically caused; and therefore salvation becomes available only after the socio-politico-economic removal of the conditions which cause the Horrors of Estrangement.

For advanced studentscompare the views of estrangement in The Scriptures Hegel, Marx, and contemporary neo-Marxists, e.g. Adorno, Horkheimer, Marcuse, et al.

Discuss major characteristics of The Secular Cityanonymitye.g. I-'ll never forget what's his name.

Discuss present Eastern response to the problem of technologically led group alienation, e.g. TM, Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and I Ching.

Bibliography on Estrangement

Istvan Meszaros, Marx's Theory of Alienation, Harper Torch, 1972, pb.

Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, Eerdmans, 1956, pb.

Richard Schacht, Alienation, Doubleday, 1971, pb.

Vincent Taylor, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, London, 1946.

DIALOGUE IN DESPAIR: CONFRONTATION AND INTEGRITY

The word of the Lord came to me sayingJeremiah 1:4

In the beginning was the word, and the word became fleshJohn 1:1; John 1:14

Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. Job 14:1

The Almighty has terrified me; for I am hemmed in by darkness. Job 23:17

How long will you say these things, and words of your mouth be a great wind? Job 8:1

His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor,. Isaiah 9:6

Authoritative Word vs. Dialogue in Despair

Every time the church abandons God's authoritative Word, she enters dialogue with the world. There is a communication crisis both in and out of the church. Prior to the coming of media specialists, i.e., communication specialists, is the inevitable crisis in communication. We certainly live in McLuhan's Global Village which requires a word from outside our cultural malaise, if healing is to be affected.

Changing People's Lives

The purpose of dialogue is for effecting change; it is not for the mere sake of transferring information, or for mutual expression of feelings. If dialogue is to move us beyond despair, then correct diagnostic evaluation is imperative. Contemporary specialists in dialogue know the works and results of Mowrer, Glasser, Perls, Rogers, Harris, Lazarus, Erickson, or Skinner and these men are often known more thoroughly than Paul and Jesus. Often we meet an eclectic accommodation of the gospel in books entitled Freud and Christ or Psychiatry and the Church, etc. Christ is often only syncretistically added to the clinical works of a Freud or Erickson, et al. But added to what? We must baptize Skinnerian Behaviorism, Piaget's Developmentalism, Rogerian Human Potential Movement or the Berne-Harris-Steiner views of transactional analysis into the body of Christ with utmost care. We must not approach the human need for healing with a God-as-additive approach. Pagan naturalism is gummed over by common grace in superficial works like Marian Nelson, Why Christians Crack Up, Moody, 1960; or Gary Collins-', Effective Counseling, Creation House, 1972.

Crisis in Communication: Content and Relationships

Daniel Moynihan recently expressed a widely held opinion regarding the loss of an authoritative word from God in American preachingIn some fifteen years of listening seriously I do not believe I have more than once or twice heard an interesting idea delivered from the pulpit of an American Church. (Commonwealth, July 1, 1966) No wonder we have entered a day of dialogue. Martin Buber's Between Man and Man and I-Thou present the most defensible approach to an existential viewpoint. Read Reuel L. Howe's The Miracle of Dialogue and discuss the following questions in light of Job's experience in contrast to your own.

Discuss five purposes of dialogue.

Discuss five fruits of dialogue.

Discuss five barriers to dialogue.

Discuss roles and masks in dialogue.

Discuss contentless encounter or the new relationalism.

Discuss how commitment to either truth or ideology might jeopardize dialogue.

Are all or most of our personal and social problems caused by a crisis in communication?

Discuss organization and development in the life of a mature, growing church.

Bibliography on Dialogue

Believers need to understand the implications of the loss of an authoritative word from God in the last quarter of the 20th century. In Homiletics, based on the new hermeneutics, see D. J. Randolph, The Renewal of Preaching, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969, we encounter neo-personalism as the only effective method for communication. For a therapeutic theory of preaching and teaching see Clement Welsh, Preaching in a New Key, Philadelphia: Pilgrim Press, 1974, and Karl Menninger, Whatever Became of Sin, New York: Hawthorne Books, 1973; Reuel L. Howe, The Miracle of Dialogue, New York: Seabury Press, 1963; Walter Wink, The Bible in Human Transformation, Philadelphia: Fortress, 1973.

TRUSTING IN THE TRUTH: INTEGRITY VS. HYPOCRISY

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 3:31

Miserable comforters are you allshall windy words have an end. Job 16:2-3

They refused to love the truth and so be saved. 2 Thessalonians 1:10

I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee. Job 42:6

Though he slay, yet will I trust him. Job 13:15

To Tell the Truth

Ernie Fitzgerald was a cost analyst for the Secretary of the Air Force. He told the truth about wasted billions on weapons systems, etc., and the government fired him. Can one man make a difference against the establishment in our society? Who can survive bucking the system? Ernie Fitzgerald and Ralph Nader et al. are in the Jobian tradition of trusting in the truth. Yet in our age of Sentio Ergo Sum (I feel therefore I am) truth is doing your thing. For the philosopher, truth has its logical and ontological dimensions; for the historian, an historical truth, for the lawyer, the truth based in evidence. In our post-positivistic scientific era, science stands only at the edge of objectivity. Since the brilliant analysis of the late Michael Polanyi, science has been chastised for its earlier arrogance based on its unchallengable objectivity, after the collapse of the Unity of Science Movement and the development of Kurt Goedel's theorem which proves that even elementary numbers do not contain their own completeness or sufficiency proofs. The developments between Galileo and Newton removed God from the truth arena. Now even scientific method and number theories are adjudged to be dependent on presuppositions. If truth will set us free, it becomes imperative that we have some understanding of this freeing agent. Job did.

Trusting Beyond Evidence

The Hebrew word for truth (Heb. emeth; Greek aletheia) also means trust. Though we must challenge Martin Buber's analysis in his Two Types of Faith, we acknowledge that the biblical doctrine of truth entails more than facts and evidence. It means to trust the person of God, but never without some sign of His presence. Trust will not always demand proof, though this must not be carried as far as the late R. Bultmann does, when he asserts that a request for proof is a sign of unbelief. There is a biblical difference between blind gullibility and faithful trust.

Integrity vs. Hypocrisy

The word integrity comes from a root system meaning integration or wholistic perspective. Hypocrisy does not necessarily imply conscious deception. Jesus said that the Pharisees say and do not, meaning that they have no conscious correlation between theory and practice, saying and doing. Both Job and Jesus call for the unity of word and deed. The Greek word kalos means honest in the Latin sense of honest, i.e., winsome, attractive behaviorMatthew 5:16; Romans 7:16; 2 Corinthians 13:7; Galatians 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Christian truth is more than telling the truth; it is making the truth attractiveEphesians 4:15. Paul tells us to do the truth (no Greek word for speak in the Greek text of Ephesians 4:15). Job maintained his integrity in spite of everything. Jesus maintained His integrity all the way to the cross, and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Truth, Health, and Wholeness

The Freudian Ethic of Honesty demands that we understand the inseparable relationship between truth, honesty, and our psychological well-being. Job and Jesus raise some very crucial questions.

Discuss intellectual integrity in a world of propaganda, power of manipulation, media, advertisement.

Discuss the alienating power of truth in light of Job and his three friends.

Discuss emotional health in view of truth, honesty, and wholeness.

Discuss Christ's attitude towards hypocrisy, e.g., role playing, etc.Mark 6:14; Mark 2:27; Mark 13:25-28.

Discuss the relationship between trust, evidence, proof, and faith.

DiscussCan contemporary man live with his assumption that there is no truth, only pluralism? Can the world survive if this is true?

Bibliography on Truth

Paul S. Minear, Yes or No: The Demand for Honesty in the Early Church, Novum Testamentum, 1971, pp. 1ff.

Rudolf Schnackenburg, The Truth Will Make You Free, New York: Herder and Herder, 1966.

James D. Strauss, article on Honesty, Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics, ed. by C. F. H. Henry, Baker Book House, p. 297.

TETHERED TO TERROR: DESPAIR AND ANXIETY

There is none to deliver out of thy hand. Job 10:7

When I think of it I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. Job 21:6

Today also my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning, oh, that I knew where I might find him. Job 23:2-3

The Almighty, who has made my soul bitter;. Job 27:2

We commend ourselves in every way; through great imprisonment, tumults, labors, watching, hunger;. 2 Corinthians 6:4-5

All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord abides forever. 1 Peter 1:24-25; Isaiah 40:6-9

Technology and our Global Odyssey

As our knowledge increases (recorded knowledge doubles every three and a half years) and technological prowess causes us to stand in awe, we find man Tethered to Terror. There seems to be no healing for our anxieties though the search has turned Eastward for its final failure. The post-World War II generation was the Lost Generation who lived between the turbulent forties and the gray-flanneled fifties. Camelot appeared in the early 60'S, only to die attempting to deliver the brave new world of the counter culture. The 60'S was the generation of Woody Allen's Sleeper who believed only in freedom and sex and not God or government. (See Kenneth E. Boulding, The Meaning of the 20th Century, New York: Harper, 1965, and J. Ellul'S, Technological Society, Doubleday, 1966, pb.).

Modern man is so frightened by his own potential powers of destruction that all mass-behavior is geared to the survival syndrome. The grim possibilities facing our global village necessitates that We. choose now for survival through population control and global cooperation, or for destruction through short-sighted policies of waste and hatred. (Isaac Asimov) Spaceship Earth is rapidly moving to a condition of Red Alert. The curve of exponential growthin population, agriculture, industry, and consumption of natural resources is leading western Jobian man on to cataclysm. Doomsday is to be warded off by bioengineering and vast international governmental combines. But man's environment (earth, air, water) is being contaminated faster than his technology can remove the metabolic poisons and pollutants that now befoul our air and water. All informed persons will respond with a high level of anxiety. Man is indeed Tethered to Terror. Is there hope in time of abandonment? Yes, for He therefore who has learned rightly to be anxious has learned the most important thing (Kierkegaard).

Fear and Trembling

In our highly complex world, discord causes an anxious dread of an unknown something. We dwell in disquietude. If our abundant life is to enjoy the health and vigor of the presence of the Holy Spirit we must sever the tether of terror. One thing is certain, that the problem of anxiety is a nodal point,. Freud.

The Meaning of Anxiety

Discuss the relationship of freedom, defiance, and rebellion.

Discuss how anxiety destroys our freedom, i.e., reduces our possibilities for growth.

Discuss how sin, anxiety, and failure to grow in Kingdom matters are related.

Discuss how anxiety and inferiority feelings are related.

How might anxiety be related to non-rational dimensions of reality, e.g. occult?

How is anxiety related to interpersonal relations both individual and group?

Discuss anxiety and the present increase in psychosomatic illnesses, i.e., non-physical illnesses?

Discuss anxiety and competitive-aggressive cultures.

Bibliography on Anxiety/Dread

Rollo May, The Meaning of Anxiety (Ronald Press, NY, 1950). Soren Kierkegaard, The Concept of Dread; The Sickness Unto Death (Doubleday, pb., 1954).

(See Kittel article, merimna words, i.e., rendered by anxiety and care roots; and the works of the late Tillich and Heidegger for analysis of angst or dread, especially Tillich'S, The Courage to Be (Yale, 1953).

THE END OF INNOCENCE

Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Job 4:7

Move upward, working out the beast, and let the ape and tiger die. Tennyson's 19th century evolutionary naturalism.
We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. C. S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, p. 14.

For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these things come from within, and they defile a man Mark 7:21-23.

Revenge and Irreverent Audacity

We know from our Jobian experience that evil is irrational; therefore no mere rational process will remove it from East of Eden. We live on Spaceship Earth at the end of innocence. Dostoevsky brilliantly relates how man will often, without any discoverable reason, do things completely absurd. He will upbraid the shortsighted fool who talks with excitement and passion about the significance of virtue by revenge and irreverent audacity. (See notes from The Underground; also John Steinbeck's novel, East of Eden.)

Freed from the Victorians

In the name of freedom what prophet could tell of the totalitarian tyrannies which would arise dedicated to the destruction of the very freedom which gave them birth? We live in a world of shattered illusions. The optimism of our brave new world has been repeatedly revisited. The sanctities of the past have been violated by the audacity of the Counter Culture which was conceived in the Secular City. Freedom at all costs but absolute freedom is insanity. One thing that freedom cannot rid us ofis our guilt, or our guilt feelings. We are not innocent and cannot pronounce atonement for our sins. The atonement must be vicarious and commensurate with our guilt (see Romans and Galatians).

The Origin of Our Defect?

What is the origin of our social anomie? Is it environment, education, a defect in human nature? After the 19th century Marxian-Darwinian-Freudian revolution, men began to talk of the human condition rather than human nature. The powers of the scientific method could be applied to our condition and thus create new men, or so it was assumed. Job our contemporary knew, as we know, that our problem is a problem fit for God. Things are now soul size, this time for exploration into God. Contemporary man agonizingly repeats Job's ancient lamentOh, that I knew where I might find him,... Job 23:3. The omen of guilt hangs heavy over humanity; it is our cultural albatross.

Questions about Guilt and Innocence

Discuss how Job found relief from his guilt.

How are faith and repentance related to innocence?

Discuss God's gracious forgiveness in your own life.

Discuss the differences between Job and his three friends regarding the grounds of his innocence.

Discuss the contemporary behavioral science perspective that guilt is a myth.

How are love and mercy related to our innocence in Christ?

Discuss the conditions for our innocence in light of contemporary Universalism and the ecumenical doctrine of Christians anonymous.

Do you think that man can heal himself? Discuss your reasons.

Bibliography on Innocence/Forgiveness

Woody Allen - (Cinema) - The Sleeper

Dostoevsky, Notes from The Underground (pb., many editions).

James G. Emerson, The Dynamics of Forgiveness (Westminster, 1964).

William Klassen, The Forgiving Community (Westminster, 1966).

S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man (Oxford University Press, 1944) also MacMillan pb.

Wm. Golding, The Lord of The Flies (pb., 1960).

THE ENIGMA OF FREEDOM: RISK, SECURITY AND FREEDOM

For freedom did Christ set you free. Galatians 5:1

For he who has died is freed from sin. and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Romans 6:7; Romans 6:18

I have spoken once and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further Job 40:5Job finds freedom in the will of God.

Search for Security

Job lived a prestigious life style until the things that make most men feel secure were removed. His family, prosperity and prestige are also our security blankets. Wealth provides a freedom from certain dimensions of reality. Once these are removed, we begin our Jobian journey, searching for our lost security. Freedom is essential for this pilgrimage, and freedom entails risk, and risk entails anxiety. How are we to break this endless cycle? Freud is correct in his analysis of Self-Investment. We invest ourselves in others, things, self, or some creative balance. In an effort to maintain this constructive balance, man meets the enigma of freedom. But contemporary man has an ambivalent feeling toward freedom, because he values security more than freedom.

Beyond Freedom

Paradoxically, B. F. Skinner reasons with man to abandon his myths of freedom and dignity. If these are mere illusions, they are the most constructive illusions in the history of human thought.

Faith and Risk

Job's faith in God enabled him to engage his freedom at a high risk level. His faith in God alone survived the onslaught of his suffering and heartache. Only when God Shattered His Silence out of the whirlwind did Job know in whom he had believed through all the hours of lonely darkness. Job reveals to modern man the powerful import of the enigma of freedom.

Discuss Our Jobian Freedom

Discuss how risk is related to being free.

Discuss how freedom can be the cause of anxiety.

Discuss how faith and freedom are related.

Discuss our American view of legal freedom, i.e., through The Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc., in the view of Christ.

Discuss the four basic freedoms in our American Heritage.

Discuss the view of freedom in Romans (1) Freedom from wrathChp. 5; (2) From Sinchp. 6; (3) From the Law chp. 7; and (4) From deathchp. 8; (5) Freedom to serve in the realization of God's purpose in historychps. 12-16.

Bibliography on Freedom

Adler, ed., Idea of Freedom, 2 vols. reprint of original (Doubleday).

Jacques Ellul, The Ethics of Freedom (Eerdmans, 1976); The Politics of God and The Politics of Man (Eerdmans, pb.).

Nestle, Eleutheria: Freitheit bei den Griechen und im Neuen Testament, 1967/2 Bd.

Niederwimmer, Der Begriff der Freitheit im Neuen Testament (Berlin, 1966).

Clark Pinnock, ed., Grace Unlimited (Bethany Fellowship Press, 1975).

MIND-FORGED MANACLES: GRACE AND GUILT

In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong Job 1:22

O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! Job 6:2

I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes. Job 42:6

Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Psalms 51:1

Struggle for Reign

Goethe makes Faust say, Two souls, alas! are log-'d within my breast, which struggle there for undivided reign Eichmann declared at his Jerusalem trialI am not guilty. Who then was guilty? Job, our contemporary, also struggled between guilt and grace (see Paul Tournier'S, Guilt and Grace). Which shall it be?Menninger's Man Against Himself, or Jung's Man In Search of a Soul.

Fact and Feeling

There are certain extreme conditions in which the sense of guilt appears to be completely lacking. The psychopathic personality is well known in psychiatric practice and in our law courts. This type of person is emotionally immature and generally accepts no responsibility for his or her own acts. The paranoid also locates all faults, sins, and problems outside of himself. Whatever happens, it is always someone elses fault. It is true that some overly-sensitive people have a disproportionate sense of guilt arising from trivial behavior, but there is objective guilt. All guilt cannot be reduced to guilt feeling and thus removed by depth psychology. Guilt often creates a feeling of helplessness mingled with dread. The resultant disaster can open the door for the healing grace of God.

Symptoms of Guilt

Some of the symptoms of guilt are: (1) self-rehabilitation through appeasement; (2) self-righteousness or super-religious goodness; (3) self-concealment or withdrawal; (4) self-contraction because internal forces are unmanageable; (5) self-expansion which magnifies the guilt of others; (6) self-punishment; and (7) self-disintegration, e.g. Judas in John 13. Another large group of disorders fall under the category of psychoses. Carl Whitaker compares neuroses and psychoses to two different conditions of a camel. Neuroses nearly broke the camel's back, but by rearrangement of the straws the camel is able to function. In psychoses, the camel's back is broken, and thus cannot function. In Job's life, God speaks and reveals His healing grace which frees him of his mind-forged manacles.

Questions

Discuss Job's mental health at various stages of his suffering.

Discuss any behavioral symptoms of guilt found in Job's life.

Discuss the conditions under which Job accepted God's forgiveness.

Discuss the relationship of righteousness, wholeness, and suffering.

Discuss the characteristics of real guilt and guilt feelings.

Discuss the place of grace in the healing processes of life.

Bibliography

Samuel J. Mikolaski, The Grace of God (Eerdmans, pb., 1966).

James Moffatt, Grace in the New Testament (London, 1932).

Henri Rondet, The Grace of Christ (Newman Press, E.T., 1967).

Lewis J. Sherrill, Guilt and Redemption (Richmond: John Knox Press, revised edition, 1957).

THE MORTAL NO: DEATH AND DYING

If a man die, shall he live again? Job 14:14

For I know that my vindicator lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth. Job 19:25

And Job died, an old man, and full of days. Job 42:17

I am the resurrection and the life. John 11:25

Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? Acts 26:8

By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,. 1 Peter 1:3

Resurrection - The Heart of Hope

Job was resigned to the grave. His only ultimate hope was in a vindicator. This is the very condition in which we all find ourselves. The heart of the gospel is the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. One of the creative architects of contemporary theology and denier of the historical resurrection of Jesus, R. Bultmann, at 92 has now been called into His presence to test the ultimate power of his theology. Without resurrection man only hopes against hope.

God's Eucatastrophe

Tolkien has brilliantly employed the ancient myths of resurrection as an apologetic tool. Though others aspired to resurrection in myth, only in Jesus is the resurrection a historical reality. There was never a myth that men would rather have true than the resurrection from the dead. It is only in the Christian gospel that hope now has historical justification. All the recent emphasis by the Theologians of Hope is futile, if God has not raised Jesus from the dead.

Resurrection and the Recovery of Wholeness

The hope of Job our contemporary was vindicated by the word of God, which broke His Silence and His Absence from Job's human situation. Yet it is in such a world that has witnessed the resurrection that contemporary man is neurotically preoccupied with death. Since the publication of E. KuberRoss-' Death and Dying there has been an epidemic of literature on the ultimate barrier to man's self-conquestDeath. Stoic resignation cannot quench man's desire for life after the grave. Humanity's survival does not satisfy the lure of life.

Challenging the Mortal No

Discuss how hope comforts the terminally ill Christian.

What reasons can you give for believing in the resurrection?

How and why is Christ's resurrection the basis of our hope?

What are your attitudes toward death? What or who is the origin of your attitude?

Discuss hope, resurrection, and artificial life support systems.

Discuss suffering, evil, hope, and resurrection.

Bibliography on Death/Dying

Culter, ed., Updating Life and Death (Beacon Press, pb.).

J. Hoffman, The Mortal No: Death and Modern Imagination (Princeton, 1964).

Kuber-Ross, Death and Dying, and Questions and Answers on Death and Dying (MacMillan Collier Books, 1974).

Jean Laplanche, Life and Death in Psychoanalysis (John Hopkins University Press, 1976).

D. Strauss, The Seer, the Savior, and the Saved (Joplin, Mo.: College Press, 1972 edition) Extensive bibliography; see also full bibliography on Death, Concordia Press.

FACES OF FRIENDSHIP: HEALING PRESENCE

If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? Eliphaz (Job 4:2)

How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Bildad (Job 8:2)

Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be vindicated? Zophar (Job 11:2)

Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know; for the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. Elihu (Job 34:2-3)

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Yahweh (Job 38:2)

And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 1 Samuel 20:17

You are my friends if you do what I command you.. I have called you friends,. John 15:15

A Warm Word

Job's three counselors hardly revealed compassion to a friend in need. Their identification with him was through a paralyzing legalistic tradition-bound response. They located all of Job's woes in some unconfessed secret sin. If he would but recognize this fact and repent, God would restore His blessings. Of all the words used in the scriptures to express human relationsfriend is one of the wannest. The most affectionate regard for another is expressed by the Greek noun philia and the verb philein. Our English word cherish is perhaps the closest to its meaningMatthew 10:37; John 11:3; John 20:2. Jesus, Job's vindicator, elevated friendship to its highest form. The marvelous friendship of David and Jonathan endures trials and heartbreak1 Samuel 18:1-4; 1 Samuel 19; 1 Samuel 20; 2 Samuel 1:25 ff. Their relationship was so powerful and vivid that it could not be erased from the memory of the heart2 Samuel 9:1; 2 Samuel 21:7.

Birds of a Feather

Why do the rich seem to have so many friends, and the poor, the sick, and the persecuted have so fewProverbs 14:20; Psalms 38:12; Psalms 55:13 f; Pss. 88:19; Psalms 109:4f; Job 19:19? Many friendships produce only sad experiences. The choice of friends will reveal our ultimate values. Friendship may be sincereJob 2:12 f, but deceivingJob 6:15-30. Some friendships are even able to draw one into the devil's snareDeuteronomy 13:7; 2 Samuel 13:3-15. Friendship with this present world is enmity against God. When God is removed new demons take up residenceJ. Ellul, The New Demons (Seabury, 1976).

True Faces of Real Friends

God's model of true friendship is always relevant. Abraham was a friend of GodGenesis 18:17 ff; Isaiah 41:8, so was MosesExodus 33:11, and the prophetsAmos 3:7. Jesus has given friendship a face of fleshMark 10:21; John 11:3; John 11:35 f. He has many companions (hetairos)Mark 3:14, but a few friends (philos)Matthew 26:50; John 15:15. His friends share His trials, heartaches, and joys. They are also prepared to face the night of His passion. Jesus created a perfect friendship, something completely lacking in Job's circle of friends. What of you and your friends?

Questions on Friendship/Presence

Describe five characteristics of Job's friends.

Describe five characteristics of Jesus-' friends.

Describe five characteristics of your friends.

Discuss five differences between Christian and non-Christian friendships.

Bibliography on Friendship

Yves Congar, The Mystery of The Temple (London: Burns & Oates, 1962).

Kittel article on philia or friend-friendship.
J.

D. Strauss, Is Job's God in Exile? The Shattering of Silence (College Press), for the presence of God.

CELEBRATION OF WONDER

His name is wonder. Isaiah 9:6

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:10

The sense of wonder that is our sixth sense. D. H. Lawrence Count it all joy, my brethren. Rejoice, again I say, rejoice. The fruit of the spirit is. joy.

The Great Celebration

What did Job have to celebrate? What do we have to celebrate in a world filled with hate and hunger? Our Jobian cries have been heard and God has broken His Silence. Yet we live in an age of unprecedented human need and search for significance. But only if Job's God is not in exile can there be ultimate meaning to life. God does not die on the day when we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason (Dag Hammarskjold, Markings, p. 56). As believers in Job's vindicator, we ask what power is it that draws man's mind up through wonder into joy (Henry Van Dyke). Our joy is based in Him who is the wonder of wonders. Believers in the one who Shattered Silence out of the whirlwind have reason to celebrate, but Zorba the Greek only celebrates to a mute Dionysius.

Job's Vindicator and a Dionysian Manifesto

The Apollian way maintains that man is the molder of his environment. His will and intellect are dominant forces. His authentic life is gained by aggression, and his values are created by his action. The Dionysian manifesto forces man to dance rather than think. His central preoccupation is the gratification of his sensual urges. His values are created through his passive encounter of the world in wonder. God's Wonder is the third way. His name is wonderIsaiah 9:6! In Job's redeemer we have the power which excites to celebration which meets our need for joy, is our source of joy, and object of our expression of joy. Jesus is our joy. He is the cause of our celebrationThe celebration of wonder. Yes, Plato was right, all real learning begins in wonder.

Questions on Wonder

Discuss Job's rediscovered sense of wonder.

List three reasons that you have to celebrate God's precious promises.

Discuss the relationship of hope and wonder.

Have you lost the sense of awe? Discuss how our culture has moved from awe to awwww!

How is suffering related to celebration?

How are wonder, grace, and gratitude related?

Discuss the relationship of gratitude and the mystery of God's grace.

Discuss the rhetoric of gratitudeworship and praise.

How does repentance open the door of appreciation for God's redeeming mercy expressed in Job's vindicator?

Bibliography of Wonder

Dag Hammarskjold, Markings (NY: A. A. Knopf, 1964).

Sam Keen, Apology for Wonder (NY: Harper, p. 69).

Maurice Merleau-Ponty, In Praise of Philosophy (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1963).

Psychology Today, The Pursuit of Happiness, pp. 26ff. Compare and discuss the similarities and dissimilarities of happiness and joy.

Theological Essay: Theology and Therapy in Job

IX. THE GOD WHO SHATTERED THE SILENCE: THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF JOB.

IS GOD IN EXILE?: JOB'S GOD IS THE CREATOR AND REDEEMER OF THE UNIVERSE.
God
Creation (Nature-History)

IS JOB'S GOD IN EXILE?

In the book of Jeremiah, the king Zedekiah asks the prophet, -Is there any word from the Lord?-' Our times are haunted and disturbed by a more basic question, -Is there a Lord?-'[411] During the past three centuries, there has ingressed into western thought five species of atheism. Job, our contemporary, was a monotheist in the Abrahamic and Mosaic tradition. Even in the furnace of affliction he held to his faith and never questioned God's existence, only His justice. But the 20th century Christian belief in God has been confronted with the most sustained attack in the history of the church. The confrontation has been sustained since the 17th century. Contemporary unbelief cannot be evaluated without knowing the five major species of modern atheism. These five forms of atheism must be evaluated before its Promethean spirit can be effectively challenged. They are: (1) Scientific Atheism had its origins in the intellectual revolution from Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Comte (Sociological Positivism). As the social sciences developed, God became absent as a necessary condition for explanation. (2) Psychological Atheism is grounded in Freud's theory of projection, i.e., religion and belief in a personal transcendent creator-redeemer is caused by illusion. (3) Social Atheism finds expression in Marx's social, economic, and political explanation of the origins of the dehumanization of man, i.e., the fact of human alienation. (4) Moral Atheism actually begins with Kant and finds its highest form in Nietzsche. If man is to be moral, he must be free; if he is to be free, he must be free from God; therefore, man's morality is contingent on the Death of God. (5) Anthropological Atheism is expressed by Sartre and Merleau-Ponty and Levi Strauss, et al. They maintain that if man is to become truly human, he must be free from God once and for all. This search for the fountain of humanization sends out seekers as diverse as Sartre and the Marcuse, and all the contemporary Neo-Marxists from the Frankfurt School of Social Research, Frankfurt, Germany.[412]

[411] 1 Georg Siegmun, God on Trial (Desclee, E.T., 1967 on Der Kampf um Gott.). Se Bavinck, Herman. The Doctrine of God. Eerdmans, 1951.

Burkle, Howard R. The Non-Existence of God. New York: Herder and Herder, 1969

Collins, James. God im Modern Philosophy. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1967.

Cottier, G. M. M. Horizons de L-'Atheisme. Paris: Les Editions du Cerf, 1969.

Dewart, Leslie. The Future of Belief. New York: Herder and Herder, 1968.

Fabro, Cornelio. God in Exile. New York: Newman Press, 1968.

Luijpen, William A. Phenomenology and Atheism. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1964.

Marty, Martin E. The Infidel New York: Meridian Books, pb., 1961.

_____ Varieties of Unbelief. New York: Doubeday, pb., 1964.

Mascall, E. L. The Secularization of Christianity. Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1965

Matha, Ved. Les Theologians de la Mort de Dieu. Paris: Mame, 1965.

Mooney, S. J. Christopher F., eds. The Presence and Absence of God. New York Fordham University Press, 1969.

Novak, Michael. Beliefand Unbelief. New York: Mentor-Omega, pb., 1965.

Reid, J. P. Man Without God. New York: Corpus, 1971.

Schrey, Simon, etc. L-Atheisme Contemporain. Paris: Editions Labor et Fides Geneve 1964, III Tomes.

Hamilton, Kenneth. To Turn From Idols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1973.

Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Paul Edwards, ed. New York: MacMillan Pub., 4 volumes

[412] See my Seminar syllabus, The Biblical Doctrine of God, for extensive analysis and bibliography, which compares the biblical heritage with each step in the development of contemporary unbelief.

That men may know that thou, whose name alone is Yahweh, art the most high over all the earth. Psalms 83:18.

Crisis in Communication

But another nominalistic crisis is upon western man.[413] Nominalism maintains that there is no necessary connection between words and things, i.e., reality. Two very crucial implications of nominalistic assumptions for the Christian belief in God are (1) Man can never receive any final, propositional, personal, rational, and authoritative revelation in linguistic form from God, even if He exists; and (2) God cannot possess a name which communicates His true nature. But the history of western philosophical thought confirms the fact that God has not been without a name. The deity nomenclature in the great creative philosophical literature abounds with names for God., e.g. Socrates-' Daimon, Plato's Idea of the good, Aristotle's Prime Mover, Plotinus-' One, Spinoz Ubermensch, and Sartre's transcendental Ego, though his is a purely human god. These names are often contradictory, and in contrast to the biblical names they are purely of human origin. One need not be Harvard Phi Beta Kappa to understand that when cultures have communication specialists, crisis has already dawned upon that civilization. Australian Bushmen have no communication specialists because they have no communication crisis, and our crisis is more profound than a mere accumulation of data. Recorded knowledge doubles every three and one-half years. The crisis is not merely one of ignorance. We are living in the McLuhan's global village, where there are two communication options, either hot or cold. Successful media penetration requires cold, i.e., contentless communication. Prime time TV is almost always entertainment, not information oriented. (Prime time TV costs ca. $18,000 per minute.) Few prophets of hot communication have popular audiences; in fact, so few do that they exemplify an empty class. Our culture knows what one means by Coke, Johnny Carson, the Yankees, but not God. Yet, if God exists, knowing Him and having information about His will and purpose would constitute the most significant knowledge available to man. It is no accident that God is a cultural unmentionable. Some of us are most grateful that to Job the nature of God is of utmost significance for daily life, and not as a theoretical theistic dialogue with a world of unbelievers.

[413] There has been a basic cultural crisis five times in western civilization, and each time there has been a communication crisis caused by nominalism: (1) During Greek culture, 4th and 3rd centuries B.C.; (2) During Roman Empire, 4th to 5th centuries A.D.; (3) During the Medieval Nominalist Controversy, 12th to 13th centuries; (4) In the 17th century after the assent of empirically based epistemology and semantics; and (5) During the 20th century when science and relativistic linguistics generated the world of Wittgenstein, et al. The language game acknowledges that we use language according to rules, and there can be contradictory sets of rules. We are banished to the world of Alice in Blunder Land where words mean what the user wants them to mean. Pluralism is the basis of cultural chaos, and nominalism is necessary for pluralism.

Job's God was not named by progressive speculative insight, but by progressive divine disclosure. As Vos asserts, there is a history in the revelation of God's names. Certain divine names belong to certain stages of revelation. They serve to sum up the significance of a period.[414] In the same vein, Brunner declares that The hidden center of the revelation of the Old Testament is the name of God. The name means: God Himself is the One who makes Himself known.[415] In scripture, a name is a description of the person bearing it. The Hebrew word -shem probably means sign or signum (cf. Greek onoma and Latin nomen; AbrahamGenesis 17:5; IsraelGen 32:38; JoshuaNumbers 13:16). He broke His silence in creation, then again as He reveals His name. Contemporary man interprets God's silence as being synonymous with His absence. But in another age of injustice, Amos declares that God's silence is His judgment on His disobedient people. Behold the days are coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it, Amos 8:11 ff (A. V.) He had withdrawn His presence, not because He was dead but because His people were. Another prophet to the spiritually deaf was Hosea. He fearlessly rebuked the apostate people of Israel, but to no avail. Then God reveals to Israel that His most serious judgment upon them will be when they cannot find him. For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will rend and go away, I will carry off, and none shall rescue. I will return to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress they seek me saying -Come, let us return to the Lord,-'Hosea 5:14, Job 6:1. Jesus of Nazareth, God's ultimate shattering of silence, encountered a Canaanite woman. Three times she begged Him to help her. At last he breaks His silence in her healingO woman great is your faith! Matthew 15:21-28. But His loudest silence was before Pilate. The ultimate Word was silentMatthew 27:14.[416] God's name signifies His presence. Briefly we will discuss two issues: (1) How does the Old Testament describe God? and (2) What names for God are specifically employed in The Book of Job?[417] God was present in a special way wherever the name of Yahweh was. The last development of this theology came when Judaism evolved the notion of the Shekinah, the dwelling, which is an attempt to express the gracious presence of God amid Israel without taking anything away from his transcendence. The sovereignty of God is what gives the Old Testament its unifying power. There can be no defensible claim concerning an evolutionary development of the person of God in the Old Testament. To speak of Israel is to speak of a people who are called and covenanted to Yahweh creator-redeemer of the universe. The existence of God is never questioned in the Old Testament, only His sovereignty. Fools say there is no GodPsalms 14:1; Psalms 53:2; Job 2:10. Jeremiah also speaks to unfaithful Israelites who deny God's sovereignty by saying It is not he, Job 5:12. But even apostate Israel was not atheistic, only rebellious. He is a living God (el hay, elohim hayyim)[418] which differentiates Yahweh from all other gods in Israel's Sitz im Leben. The faith of Israel is a full monotheism. Because God is a living God, we can express in anthropomorphic terms true but non-exhaustive dimensions of the nature of God. F. Michaeli correctly asserts that the idea of a living God gives to the anthropomorphism of the Bible a significance quite other than that which applies to similar expressions about pagan idols. it is because God is living that one can speak of him as of a living man, but also in speaking of him as of a human being one recalls continually that he is living.[419] The names of God can reveal His true nature, but cannot exhaust His transcendent nature. One does not need total knowledge to have correct knowledge about either God or man.[420]

[414] G. Vos, Old and New Testament Biblical Theology (Eerdmans, 1948), p. 40.

[415] E. Brunner, Revelation and Reason (Westminster, 1946), pp. 88ff; see also Karl Barth's first edition of his classic Kirkliche Dogmatik, Vol. I, The Doctrine of the Word of God, p. 347.

[416] In my following essay, Silence, Suffering and Sin: Present Evil in His Presence, we will discuss the biblical doctrine of the presence of God, in relationship to both His absence and His silence.

[417] See the great work of Jean Leveque, Job et Son Dieu (Tome I, Paris, 1970), pp. 146-179.

[418] For examination of the most extensively used names for God, see Ludwig Koehler, Old Testament Theology (Westminster, E.T., 1957), pp. 30-58; H. H. Rowley, The Faith of Israel (Westminster, 1956), pp. 50-73; Edmond Jacob, Theology of the Old Testament (Harper, E.T., 1958), pp. 43-67; Paul Heinisch, Theology of the Old Testament (Liturgical Press, 1955), pp. 36ff; G. von Rad, Theology of the Old Testament, 2 vols., 1965; Paul van Imschoot, Theology of the Old Testament, Vol. I; God, 1965; W. Eichrodt, The Theology of the Old Testament, 2 vols., Vol. I, 1961, Vol. II, 1967. For the relationship between the name of God, human language, and the hermeneutical problem raised by anthropomorphis, see H. M. Kuitert, Gott in Menchengestalt Eine dogmatisch-hermeneutische Studie uber die anthropomorphismen der Bibel, 1967; F. Michaeli, Dieu a I-'image de I-'homme etude sur la notion anthropomorphique de dieu dans I-'ancien Testament, 1950; W. Vischer, Words and the Word, The Anthropomorphisms of the biblical revelation, Interpretation, 1949, pp. 1ff; J. Hempel, Die Grenzen des Anthropomorphismus Jahwes in alten Testament Zeitschrift fur alttestamentlischen Wissenschaften, 1939, p. 75; Charles T. Fritsch, The Anti-Anthropomorphisms of the Greek Pentateuch (Princeton, 1943).

[419] F. Michaeli, Dieu a I-'image de I-'homme, p. 147; see also O. Grether, Name und Wort Gottes in A. T., 1933.

[420] This is a fundamental error in Barth. His view of God's sovereignty is apriori. If God is actually sovereign, then let Him define His sovereignty, i.e., the nature and extent of His transcendence in relationship to His immanence.

Job's Redeemer[421]

[421] Elohim is used 41 times, Shaddai 31 times, which only occurs 17 other times in the Old Testament, and 55 times El, El-Elohim only onceJob 12:8; and Yahweh in Chapter s 1, 2, Job 38:13; Job 40; Job 42, 31 times.

The four names used for God in the Book of Job are: (1) El, (2) Elohim, (3) Shaddai, and (4) Yahweh. El is used in the Book of Job by Elihu 19 times, by Eliphaz 8, Bildad 6, and Zophar 2 (a total of 55 times). It is the most common and certainly the earliest description for God among all Semitic peoples except the Ethiopians, and means might or power. It appears in many compound forms in the Old Testament. El is the usual word for God in the Ugaritic texts from Ras Shamra. But Israel's El and the Canaanite El are similar in name only,[422] Genesis 14:18; Genesis 16:13; Genesis 21:33; Genesis 35:3; Genesis 49:25; Exodus 20:5; Joshua 24:19; Deuteronomy 7:9; Deuteronomy 7:21; Deuteronomy 32:4. But when the term is applied to God, the article occurs46:3; Psalms 68:20; or some modifier, eg. el-'olamGenesis 21:33, el hayJeremiah 3:10, el beth elGenesis 35:7. The appearance of El in the materials from Job's three friends merely sustains the widespread appearance of the description.

[422] See M. H. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts (Leiden, 1955); compare with A.S. Kapelrud, Baal in the Ras Shamra Texts (Copenhagen, 1952).

Elohim is probably a plural form of El, and thus has the meaning of force or power. The name appears in the Tell-el-Amarna and Ras Shamra documents. When Elohim designates the true God, generally the modifiers and following verbs are in the singularJoshua 24:19; 1 Samuel 17:26; Genesis 20:13; also the Creation narrative; Exodus 32:4; Exodus 32:8. Yahweh alone is the ha-elohimDeuteronomy 4:35; Deuteronomy 4:39. Idols, too, are called elohimExodus 20:23. And the pagan gods are also ElohimExodus 12:12; 1 Samuel 5:7. Judges, too, are called Elohim (note Jesus-' quotation of the Psalm, I called you gods; this matter has nothing to do with the often disseminated nonsense that God is a family, e.g. Mormonism and Armstrongism). An especially powerful description of God is -elohey ha elohimGod of gods Deuteronomy 10:17.[423]

[423] Though it is an establishment assumption that the various names for God actually reflect different documents, redactors and theologies, in reality this type of subjective analysis belongs to the area of Creative Literature rather than scientific exegesis.

The third name which appears in Job is Shaddai This name appears most frequently in the patriarchal narratives and JobGenesis 43:14; Genesis 49:25. In Exodus 6:3 God says that I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as el shaddai, and in Genesis 17:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham, and said unto him, I am el-shaddai; walk before me and be thou perfect. (See the play on words in Isaiah 13:6 and Joel 1:15.) In Genesis 49:24-25 shaddai[424] is parallel to -abbir, the Mighty one, so probably the root means the all-powerful one, the Almighty (Latin trans, as omnipotence, and LXX as pantocrator).

[424] W. F. Albright, The Names Shaddai and Abram, JBL, 1935, p. 173; and A. Alt, Der Gott der Voter, 1929.

The fourth and final name to appear in Job is Yahweh.[425] God is called Yahweh over 6700 times in the Old Testament. Yahweh is not both designation and name as Baal is. Baal can mean a possessor, but Yahweh is only a name; technically it is God's only name, the others are designations. We find many appendages to the name: Yahweh God of Israel, Yahweh Sabaoth, etc. The name Yahweh or the tetragrammaton (from its four consonants) is never used of false gods as are the names El, Elohim, EloahIsaiah 42:8. In Exodus 3:14-15 the name is derived from -hawah, thus the meaning of Yahweh is probably to be, i.e., the one who is. In this classic passage of scripture we are told that God was known as El Shaddai in the past, but now by His name Yahweh. It was through Mosaic revelation that God became known as Yahweh. The root analysis of the name Yahweh of Driver, Albright, Buber, et at, is technically not unimportant but adds little more than can be expected of speculative linguistics. Though Albright's position is the more probable, he maintains that Yahweh could be a hiphil form of the verb hawa, so Abermann, but up until now they know of no example of hawah in the hiphil, though there is no necessary linguistic reason why we need more than the one before us in Exodus 3:14-15.[426] In the Book of Job, only Job employs the name Yahweh, which is consistent with the assumption that he is a son of the covenant. His three friends use El, Eloah, and Shaddai interchangeably in the dialogues. God is described by many other terms in the scriptures, some of which are (1) the God of the Father[427]Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:13; Exodus 3:6 and throughout Deuteronomy; (2) Jahweh Sabaoth[428] does not appear from Genesis to Judges, nor Isaiah 56-66, Ezekiel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, and II Chronicles. It appears 77 times in Jeremiah, 14 times in Haggai, 44 times in Zechariah 1-8, Zechariah 1:9 times in Zechariah 9-14, and 24 times in Malachi. Sabaoth (occurs 279 times in the Old Testament) probably means a leader who summons armies; (3) He is the Holy God of IsraelNumbers 6:8; Nehemiah 8:9; Leviticus 21:6; Hosea 12:6; Amos 3:13; Jeremiah 5:14; Psalms 89:9. Holy is at once exalted, supreme, and fearful. It reveals God's attitude toward sin and His demand for a holy life; (4) Yahweh is the Living God1 Samuel 17:26; 1 Samuel 17:36; Isaiah 37:4; Isaiah 37:17; esp. Deuteronomy 5:26; Joshua 3:10; and Psalms 42:2; (5) He is the Terrible GodIsaiah 10:33; Jeremiah 20:11; Psalms 89:8; (6) God is also called Baal, a very common name among the SemitesHosea 2:10; Hosea 2:15; Hosea 2:19. Names compounded with Baal disappear after the time of David. Hosea requested that Israel no longer use the word Baal to designate Yahweh as her husbandHosea 2:18-19;[429] (7) God of the Heavens was used often during and after the Persian period, but note also Genesis 24:3; Daniel 4:23. He is also referred to as the Mighty One of Jacob, Rock of Israel, Fear of IsaacGenesis 31:42; Genesis 31:53; (8) King is another common name among the Semites. In Israel Melek[430] was applied to God as early as the time of MosesNumbers 23:21; Numbers 24:7-8. Gideon rejected the concept of kingship for himself, because Yahweh is your kingJudges 8:22-23; 1 Samuel 8:6 ff. After the establishment of the Kingdom, the ruler was Yahweh's representative. The later prophets battled with the Canaanite Melekh, who later reappearedIsaiah 43:15; Zechariah 14:16; Malachi 1:14. Even in slavery, Israel believed that Yahweh remained her king. This is a very important insight of Israel's suffering and God's sovereignty.

[425] E. Dhorme, Le nom du dieu d-'Israel, Revue de l-'histoire des religions, 1952, p. 5; A. Murtonen, The Appearance of the name YHWH outside Israel, Studia Orient Society (Helsinki, 1951); J. Obermann, The Divine name YHWH in Light of Recent Discoveries, JBL, 1949, p. 301; G. Lambert, Que signifie le nom divin YHWH? Nouvelli revue theologique (Louvain), 1952, p. 897; R. de Langhe, Un dieu Yahweh a Ras Shamra, Bulletin d-'histoire et d-'exegese de I-'A. T. (Louvain, 1942), p. 91; A. M. Dubarle, La signification du nom de Yahweh, Revue des sciences philosophiques et theologiques, 1951, p. 3.

[426] See his From the Stone Age to Christianity, p. 198; also JBL, 1924, p. 370; and his Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, pb. (Doubleday, Anchor).

[427] A. Alt, Der Gott der Vater, 1929; and G. van Rad, Der heilige Krieg im alten Israel

[428] B. N. Wambacq, L-'epithete divine Yahweh sabaoth (Paris, 1947).

[429] Names compounded with Baal inscribed on the ostraca of Samaria from the time of Jeroboam are certainly from Baal worshippers; see Prichard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton), p. 321; compare also with A. S. Kapelrud, Baal in the Ras Shamra Texts (Copenhagen, 1952). Some of Baal's names were Baal-Hadad, Baal-Zebul, Baal-peor, Baal-Sidon, Baalbek, et al.

[430] There is no necessary proof that Israel borrowed the Enthronement concept from her neighbors, but see on Near Eastern parallels I. Engnell, Studies in the Divine Kingship in the Ancient Near East (Upsala, 1943); H. Frankfort, Kingship and the Gods (Chicago, 1948); J. Gray, Canaanite Kingship in Theory and Practice, Vetus Testamentum 1952, pp. 193-220; S. Mowinckel, Studies in the Psalms, 2 vols, (E.T., Abingdon) contains his thesis on the Enthronement Psalms; A. R. Johnson, Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel (Cardiff, 1955); The Sacral Kingship, Supplement IV to Numen (Leiden, 1955), pp. 285-293; and esp. J. Coppen's Les apports du Psaume CX a l-'ideologie royale Israelite, pp. 338-348 in above The Sacral Kingship.

We will conclude this brief study by returning to the name Yahweh, because He was Job's God. The name occurs in several compound forms in the concrete context of Israel's historic experience (1) Yakweh-Jireh (verb to see) appears in Genesis 22:8 where the verb is translated Yahweh shall provide, or see to it; (2) In Exodus 15:22-26 Yakweh-Rophe (verb heals) describes the triumph which is the origin of the victory song; In Exodus 17:15 Yahweh-Nissi describes the presence of Yahweh in times of crisis. The compound means Yahweh my banner; Yahweh sanctifies His people, and in Leviticus 20:8 He is called Yahweh-M-'kaddesh, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26; Hebrews 10:14; (5) He is the righteousness of His people. In Jeremiah 23:5-6 He is called Yahweh-tsidkenu, Yahweh our righteousness; Acts 3:14; Hebrews 11:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:24; Romans 6:18; (6) In the great Psalms 23, He is Yahweh my Shepherd, Yahweh-Rohi; 2 Samuel 5:2; 2 Samuel 5:12; Exodus 33:11; John 10:11; Hebrews 13:20; Revelation 7:15-17; (7) During the great national crisis (cf. National Condition Red), Ezekiel describes God as Yahweh-ShammahYahweh is thereEzekiel 48:35. His presence is both audible and visible where His people are lovingly obedient. He is silent and absentonly as His final acts of judgment; see Colossians 1:19; Isaiah 7:14; John 1:14; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16; and Revelation 21:1-3. Job's God, though Lord of heaven and earth, is both silent and absent for millions once more as we hurtle toward the 21st century. What follows is a brief sketch of the cultural, though not ontological, demise of Yahweh our creator-redeemer in Western civilization. An historical perspective might provide awareness for some; challenge others who are intellectually discouraged, as well as spiritually empty; and provide, hopefully, enough insight to challenge contemporary unbelievers to come to know both the intellectual and spiritual satisfaction of personally knowing the presence of Yahweh in His living Word. Lord, give us this generation of your church to equip them, while the

Shattering of Silence

is still

possible for millions who wait in enslaving muteness for the excitement of the sound of the Word which can empower us to call God from His Exile into the daily lives of billions.

Is Job's God in Exile?

It is true that Job's God shattered His silence and in speaking revealed Himself to Job, but to contemporary western man He has become silent once more. To most of the world's four billion people (over two billion have never heard of Christ), God is in exile, that is if He even exists. Evil, moral and surd, is everywhere evident. Injustice is the order of the day in every social structure known to man. Every major cultural categoryart, literature, law, the physical, biological and behavioral sciences, economics, politicsexpress His absence from creation. The only remaining place for God to dwell is deep within man, in his heart! Here He is unavailable for public scrutiny. His abode within this radically subjective[431] dimension of man precludes any exposure of His presence in either nature, history, or society. This is the basis of both the Death of God thesis and New Humanism. The depth of being is resident in each human being and is His last opportunity for residence within creation. This possibility opens up our present pluralistic Universalism. God is everywhere and in everyone. Kierkegaard's Scandal of Particularity has been forever removed. Experience-oriented culture welcomed the Beatles, the Drug Scene, Eastern Gurus with their meditation technique, because the West had become mindless in the 17th century, with the ingression of an epistemology based within the human psyche, which provided only a pluralistic constitutive activity of the ego, from which reality could be erected. This thesis is based in Kant's epistemology, rather than Descartes-'. With the 19th century developments of the social and behavioral sciences, western man attains to his most destructive form of relativism ever conceived by man, i.e., the Sociology of Knowledge Thesis (cf. my critique in my Newness on The Earth). This was soon reinforced with the Darwinian Model of development throughout all of nature-history. God was soon to be attacked by the application of the scientific method in the History and Comparative Religion schools. Soon the biblical God found welcome residence only within pietistic groups or those who were anti-intellectual, because they assumed that all human contributions to reality are evil, as man's nature and reason are fallen. Here is the basis for most anti-cultural positions found in the religious groups from the counter-culture perspective. The implications of this mental stance for eschatology are all but self-evident. Since this is supposedly a terminal generation, witnessing is that which calls to people to get off the sinking ship of human culture and society. Yet those who call to this spiritually destitute generation hold that the faith to which they call men is the True faith. But it is surely self-evident that they have removed the faith from any arena in which its Truth Claims can be verified or falsified. Who should believe them? Why? This neo-gnosticism is not an adequate ground for calling sinners to repentance. If God has shattered silence by speaking His word, where and when has He done so? Now how did western man come full circle to be once more faced with the Jobian dilemma of the silence of God in a world filled with malignant suffering? A brief survey must be adequate for our present purposes. The Renaissance emphasis on man's indeterminateness or freedom surfaces in the Faustian interpretation of Pico. His Oration on the Dignity of Man (composed 1486, pub. 1495-1496) argues for man's special rank in the universe, which is grounded in his creative freedom and strikes at the scholastics, as does Erasmus-' The Praise of Folly.[432]

[431] All those informed concerning the intellectual developments of the past three centuries are aware of two powerful but divergent mental streams which control the flow of the western mind. One of these creative forces finds its headwaters in the methodology and epistemology of Descartes. The other is in the methodology and epistemology of Science. See Carl F. H. Henry's Remaking the Modern Man, College Press, reprint, 1972 with my extensive bibliography. The former spawned phenomenology, existentialism, and the contemporary aberrations of various mindless sorts. The later has generated a secularistic, naturalistic basis for protection of the status quo. Against this implication much of our recent hostility to the industrial, educational, military complex expressed itself. Scientific empiricism does not often generate paradigm revolutions (one of the issues which I am presently considering in a doctoral thesis). Suspension of anything resembling newness, i.e., challenge to the assumptions of the establishment, religious or scientific, will not be well or pleasantly received. Generally, derision or concrete repudiation will be the results. This was also one of Job's dilemmas; he rejected the traditional views of God, and how He related to justice within the world. His integrity stood or fell on whether or not he received the advice of those who both held and transmitted the ancient traditional answers to his suffering. For an excellent initiation into Cartesian Subjectivism, see T. A. Burkill, Une Critique de la tendance subjectiviste de Descartes a Sartre, Dialogue, 1967, pp. 346-354; also Hiram Caton, The Origin of Subjectivity, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1973; see the indispensable bibliography by Gregor Sebba, Bibliographia Cartesiana: A Critical Guide to the Descartes Literature 1800-1960, Archives internationales d-'histoire des idees, The Hague: Hijhof, 1964, pp. 1-510. The second powerful force is that of the methodology of physical sciences. For an excellent survey of Scientific Theories, see Theories of Scientific Method: The Renaissance through the Nineteenth Century, Blake, Ducasse, and Madden, eds., Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1960; and Gerd Buchdahl, Metaphysics and the Philosophy of Science, the Classical Origin: Descartes to Kant, Oxford: Blackwell, 1969; further see the JournalsBritish Journal far the Philosophy of Science: Archives Internationales d-'histoire des sciences; Journal of the History of Ideas; his: Archive for the History of Exact Sciences. For further resources, see my seminar syllabus on The Philosophy of Science with extensive bibliographical tools.

[432] See the Renaissance Philosophy of Man, edited by Cassirer, Kristeller, and Randall; and H. Jantz, Goethe's Faust As a Renaissance Man (Princeton, 1961).

God on Trial: What? How Can That Be?

With this emphasis in Renaissance thought we are on the way toward realization of the actual conditions which constitute the polemity between freedom and necessity or fortune, which appears in Machiavelli. Here is our challenge: We are living at a time of the most extensive unbelief in the history of the church. If this is true, how can such a phenomena develop in Western Christian Civilization where millions are waiting for Beckett's Godot? Though it oversimplifies the actual development of contemporary unbelief, it does not distort the facts to say the lack of awareness of the influences which were present in our world, from Descartes to the decline of the unity of science movement, are largely responsible for our present condition. Freud is correct, most decisions are not rationally made; they are subliminally accepted. But the real, the deepest, the sole theme of the world and of history, to which all other themes are subordinate, remains the conflict of belief and unbelief (Goethe).

The Resurgence of Promethean Spirit

Goethe is symbolic of resurgence of the Promethean spirit in the western world. The great western revolt against Job's God has its origins in a misunderstanding of the nature of faith in God which permeated medieval Christian Europe. Believers misplaced faith in Godin an institution which could not possibly justify their allegiance. Then the great metaphysical revolt shook most of the intellectual au courant. But grass-roots believers were still intact.

Spiritual Transformation of Europe

Then the Reformation powerfully altered the social and political structures of Europe. But by the end of the 19th century, it had spent its force, and a new messianic movement developed rapidly in its efforts to save civilization. That movement was authorized by the staggering success of the scientific enterprise turned practical in technology (cf. J. Ellul's The Technological Society, 1964). The developments in scientific method brought the demise of Aristotle as the reigning philosophic monarch. The new Grand Inquisitor was science.[433]

[433] Cf. A Koyre, From a Closed to Open Cosmos, John Hopkins, Press, pb.; and A. O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being, Harper Torch, pb.

Banishment of God by the Absolutization of Finitude

The scientific power to modify reality, and not merely to control it, soon reinforced man's Promethean spirit. If man is to freely apply his new-found strength, God's domination of the world of nature-history must be challenged. Now western man, schooled in the natural sciences, espouses an atheistic world-view. God is an unnecessary explanatory hypothesis whose term of heuristic authority has expired; no longer scientifically feasible, God has become an obstacle to free thought. Belief and unbelief are the ultimate poles around which reality revolves. The revolt of Titans expressed the atheism of their age. God was dethroned and forgotten. Contemporary Titans believe that the time has come for the last god, the god of the Christians (cf. Tillich's God Above Gods), to abdicate. Ernst Juenger and others corroborate the message of Nietzsche's assertion that God is Dead.

Paradox of Pluralism

Paradoxically, this is the basic fact of our present pluralistic chaos, and the premise for the unfolding of man's immanent power to redeem the universe. Heidegger interprets the nihilism of Nietzsche as the message of the fate of man, a fate which he must shoulder resolutely. If the fact and significance of atheism is an event of radical ramification, then there is no virtue in belief or sin in unbelief. Man is condemned to freedom. The last quarter of the 20th century is the final act in the drama of western man's valiant struggle for emancipation from God.[434] The East has always exemplified an atheistic stance within their monastic perspective, but this western brand of atheistic scepticism keeps man tethered to terror. He is terrified by death and dying. No longer is atheism merely voiced from Russia or China. Marx and Engels are now involved in necessary dialogue with western Christians; I believe the reason that is given for such dialogue is called survival. Post-Vatican II Catholics, especially in Europe and Latin America, are busy removing the classical stigmas of materialism and atheism from what is now adjudged to be the real Marxist humanism. Will the real Marx please stand up. After we have put away God, then we must utilize our cosmic brain tanks to bring about the humanization of man and redemption from exploitation and injustice. Few neo-Marxists would concur with Eduard Humann, though he is absolutely correct in his evaluation, Atheism is integral to all Marxist thought and is, in a way, its climax and the test of its perfection.[435]

[434] For excellent survey, F. Mauthner, Der Atheismus und seine Geschichte im Abendland, reprinted 1963; Kant's second critique held that God. Freedom, and Immortality were practical decisions, but were not amenable to verification or falsification; then followed A. Vailhinger's Philosophy as If, we act as if there is a God that we are free, and that there is immortality, but none of the three claims are open to evidence or justification. The next generation asked, then why act as if?

[435] Reason and Faith in Modern Society (Middletown, Connecticut, 1961).

Coming of Contemporary Titans

The Titans are moving among us once more. Once Aeschylus had observed Etan's volcano while on a voyage to western Greece. Then men believed that the Titan Typhon, brother of the rebel Prometheus,[436] lay imprisoned under Etna, and from time to time expressed his freedom from the chains that bound him, in helpless rage. For Typhon too had rebelled against the gods. The rebellion against God as creator-redeemer and origin of True Belief necessitated a counter-explanation which became the Pan applicability of Darwinian Model of the development from primitivism to civilization.[437] Richard Mohr, the ethnologist, presents 20th century technologically dominated man this curious bit of truth. We find particularly among peoples with few technological interests a highly developed religion, ritual, and art, which leads us to suspect that these people display little interest in the development of technical accomplishments because their physical attention is absorbed by other things.[438] Western man now finds fulfillment in things. Things and more and more things make us happy; the key word is happy. The word is present, but the experience is not. When Hegel's geist evolved, for all his dialectical shuttling, he is utilizing what is really a pre-intellectual and subpersonal category that has no connection with spirit. Hegel's geist, under Freudian psychoanalysis, becomes the driving force of the irrational and non-rational in our present chaos, because chaos begets chaos. Monad, et al, are wrong; the feasibility is zero for a chance origin of the universe and man. Yet since God's demise, man has been living in a universe that is actually a colossal Las Vegas where change and chance prevail. Man's low level of toleration drove him to Camelot where magic and mysticism continue to multiply his misery. One group of modern western man's cohorts, in a rampant raging world, are the pygmy races which show no interest in religious ideas or God in their daily lives. Egotism is a flagrant characteristic of such tribes (cf. Mohr above). Altruism is not a characteristic of egocentric western individuals either. Naturalistic humanism's effort to defend rational self-interest cannot survive the blistering attack of the Freudian rationalization category.

[436] Aeschylus-' Prometheus Bound; Edith Hamilton, Three Greek Plays (Norton, 1937); C. Kerenyi, Prometheus, Archetypal Image of Human Existence (Pantheon Books, 1963).

[437] Cf. contra see R. Mohr, Die Christliche Ethik im Lichte der Ethnologie, 1954.

[438] R. Mohr, Die Christliche, p. 3.

Contemporary man has been tamed by technology. Technology and specialization are imperative for production; production is imperative for our well being, but our well being becomes enslaved to the security of things. But for freedom did Christ set us free, Galatians 5:1. Contemporary atheism was conceived in a free enquiring atmosphere similar to that expressed in Genesis. Satan was not an atheist; his first attack on God was not his existence but His wordDid God say that?Genesis 13. The old Egyptian Kingdom collapsed when more and more gods were included in the celestial ranks.[439] What is the difference between Egyptian pluralism and our present western pluralism? Modern unbelievers are impotent in a creation that is out of joint; man is inclined to make the creator responsible for an original flaw in creation, thereby freeing man of responsibility. But if God is dead, who is to blame? Once more Homer's Titans have invaded the world of man.[440] Even in chains Prometheus boasts of his accomplishments, as does our contemporary Prometheus who is enslaved to technological efficiency, which reduces man to mere functional value. Enough of that. I speak to you who know. Hear rather all that mortal suffered. Once they were fools, I gave them power to think. Through me they won their minds. Seeing they did not see, nor hearing hear. Like dreams they led a random life.[441] But all human skill and science was Prometheus-' gift. Even Hesiod's theogony cannot give a coherent account of a free Prometheus, because freedom means the lack of coherence, which smacks of rational determination. But man will be free, but at the expense of God's existence and man's mind. Certainly Olympian Zeus can conjure up a transcendent God.

[439] M. Eliade, The Sacred and The Profane (New York, 1959).

[440] See H. Schrade, Gotter und Menschen Homers, 1952; B. Snell, The Discovery of The Mind, The Greek Origins of European Thought (Oxford: Blackwell, 1953); and W. Jaeger, The Theology of the Early Greek Philosophers (Oxford, 1947).

[441] Edith Hamilton, ed. and trans., Prometheus Bound, p. 115.

Two more creative actors in our drama are Socrates and Plato. Surely once and for all a personal transcendent God will be removed from the human scene. Neither Plato's one, nor Aristotle's unmoved mover will be able to save fallen man in his or from his demoniac environment. The state will redeem man (cf. The Laws) and unbelief can be corrected by dialectical arguments. Erroneous opinions can be eradicated by education and improved logic. Yet, the first word in the book of The Laws is God, written largeGOD. God is necessary for a stable world and justice, according to Plato. Yet, the Neo-Hegelians revived an ancient errorthat God did not create the world, rather man created gods.

A Contemporary Prototype

A classical precursor of Feuerbachian atheism is Lucretius, the father of western atheism. In his De Rerum Natura he dared to relieve man of his religiously oppressive load.

Then into the dark chaotic world of Graeco-Roman religion came the revolutionary word of God, Jesus Christ. This powerful force saved and sustained both sinners and society, until the disintegration of the medieval world-view, which was not Christian but pagan, Aristotelian. The order of the world was no longer grounded in God or His structures. Order was to be placed in man's hands.

Ecology of The Nietzschean Revolt

From the Renaissance to the French Revolution man was being encouraged to rebel against God. From the 18th century forward western man was in metaphysical revolt against God as Lord of heaven and earth. Fichte, Kant, and Rousseau were the prophets of autonomous man. The Enlightenment[442] or the Age of Reason conceived the cultural basis of contemporary unbelief and the Age of Reason (1680-1715) paved the way for the Age of Revolution. One of the belligerent voices of the era was D-'Holback who put God on trial in the modern world, as Job did in his world. Faith in God was an illusion, according to D-'Holback, (cf. System of Nature), thus paving the way for Freud's psychological atheism. Onto the stage of this great drama came some of the most creative minds in the history of the world. Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Newton were among them. When the intellectual revolution was complete, the Newtonian World-Machine model dominated the western scientific enterprise. Fast on the heels of this vast cosmic machine, based in total Newtonian quantification of reality, came Deism. God was ruled out of the universe by science. Meanwhile back on earth, Locke's essay on Toleration and Rousseau's Social Contract removed God from the social institutions of man. Their naturalistic functional approach to the origins of all social structures is in direct conflict with the scriptural witness. Rousseau's world-view was based in man as the center of self-legislation. Camus-' Rebel is a self-legislator, who was born in another revolutionary era, our own.

[442] See indispensable work of .Peter Gay The Age of The Enlightenment, 2 vols. (New), A. A. Knopf, Vol. I, 1967, Vol. II, 1969.

Revolt Against Heaven

As though revolt against God's Lordship was not enough, Kant's First Critique; his The Only Possible Evidence for a Demonstration of the Existence of God, 1763; and his Religion Without the Limits of Reason produced a dichotomy between volition and act (cf. theory and practice are fractured, i.e., thinking and acting are unrelated). Man is just now realizing the tragic consequences of Kantian philosophy for the Christian enterprise. Kant's upper and lower storied universe places faith outside of the world of causation and scientific analysis, and evidential justification, or rejection. Even Fichte refers to Kant's skeptical atheism, and Schelling triumphantly shouts that Kant has cleared the decks completely. Marx called the classical proofs for God's existence empty tautologies, clearly not worth close analysis. His conclusion was the terminal results of Kant's epistemological revolution.

Creative Nothingness and the Exiled Living God

Next came Fichte's loud cry for human freedom. Now with the death of God, man can be free! Fichte marks the culmination of the Age of Reason. Prometheus redividus! Goethe had written in 1793 that the Titan was conscious of his good and just deedlaughs, unafraid, to see the ruins of the world crash down upon him. While the world laughs, God returns to Tubingen by way of Hegel's influence. Kant removed God from the universe; Hegel reinstated him, but as totally immanent. There is thereafter a rumor of angels, but it is only an immanent rumor. Hegel preached the gospel of self-liberation from the fear of sin. Hegel's drive to freedom as self-liberation was from an ominous burden.[443]

[443] Cf. for the relationship of revolution to Hegel see J. Ritter, Hegel und die Franzoesische Revolution, 1957.

After Kant and Hegel, it is a cultural presupposition that man's reason is autonomous and his will is autonomous. Both claims are in direct confrontation with biblical assertions. Fate or destiny replaces deity. In the wake of this fate, a young Hegelian, Bruno Bauer's path moves from that of theologian to that of atheist. His circle of influence intensified greatly the power of unbelief.
The waves of unbelief swept over Ludwig Feuerbach and His mind shifted from idealism to atheism.[444] Feuerbach's anthropological atheism is discernible in his claim that Der Mensch ist dem Menschen Gott, man is the supreme being for man. Following in Feuerbach's atheistic footsteps came Marx's powerfully articulated hostility to Job's redeemer. Marx's naturalistic atheism maintains that man's world-view is the perfect construct of the consciousness. The Hegel-Marx consciousness is not necessarily materialistic, but it is a naturalistic expression of human creativity. From now on it will be God in man's image, whereas in classic Christian thought it was man in God's image. The new atheistic world-view now only requires a prophet to popularize its tenets and implications. Nietzsche is that prophet. His message is man's will to power. His authorization is man's creative and autonomous reason. Scientific Method and man's will to power became the foundations for the coming totalitarian systems of western Europe. This phenomena occurred just one generation ago, and we have forgotten what a group of elite tyrants can do to man, even when it is in the name of man's betterment. Zarathustra declares that God is only a projection, and Freud psychoanalyzes that projection into an illusion. Kant's incurable dichotomy generated unprecedented human hybris, and our cultural sickness unto death.

[444] Cf. L. Feuerbach, Das Wesen des Christentums, 1956.

Hybris and Our Present Crisis: The Cogito of Atheistic Nihilism

How did we arrive at western man's postulatory atheism today? The brilliant work of Elimar von Fuerstenberg[445] correctly asserts that the death of God has created the death of man. God's death causes man to misconstrue his own essence, resulting in self-contradiction. He says that a philosophy that must contradict itself in order to trace being back to nothingness is basically a futile philosophy which can only rivet man to despair. Atheists are opponents of the establishment, from Dostoevsky's Dmitri Karamazov to Camus-' hero.

[445] Elimar von Fuerstenberg, Der Sebstwidespruch der philosophischen atheismus, 1960, p. 8.

Intoxication of Pride: The True Adversary of God

Arrogance is always the true adversary of faith. Pride is always the pyramid to rise against God, as it is the basis of unsupportably exaggerated self-estimate. A new fall will be required, but this time a fall from pride, as did Job our contemporary. For the fear of the Lord is always the beginning of wisdom. This thesis is in dramatic opposition to Fichte's The Vocation of Man. As believers, we must rebel against unbeliefPsalms 2:2.

From Indictment to Imprisonment: Banishment of God

Atheism is a fact of life in the contemporary world, but what is the fundamental relationship between unbelief, freedom, and resurgent naturalistic humanism? How does God's nature and existence relate to man's nature and existence? It is a fundamental mistake and ultimately will seriously impoverish and disfigure human existence. The mute gloom which man's newly found freedom from God has created requires that we retrace the tragic steps of western man's journey into oblivion. From Descartes to Sartre we can discern the fatal flaws which follow man's Promethean rejection of God. Where are the focii of freedom, and what of their fate in the last quarter of the 20th century, as America enters her third century? We have excellent resources by which we can trace our path to oblivion. Interdisciplinary methodology will certainly be concerned with the correlation between man's rejection of God and his search for freedom,[446] especially from the 17th century to the present. The fact remains that a mighty power of affirmation both of the human and of the divine permeates and sustains Descartes-' world. Two centuries of crisesreligious as well as scientifichad to pass before man could win back that creative freedom which Descartes attributed to God, before at last truth, the essential foundation of humanism, understood: Man is the being whose appearance causes the world to exist.. Let us admire him for insisting on the demands of the idea of autonomy and for understanding long before Heidegger. that the only foundation of being is freedom,[447] freedom from God.

[446] On the nature of freedom, see M. Adler, Idea of Freedom (Doubleday), 2 vols, reprint; the article Eleutheria in TKNT; the Syntoptican; D. Nestle, Eleutheria, Freiheit bei den Griechen und im Neuen Testament, 1967; Niederwimmer, Der Begriff der Freitheit im Neuen Testament, 1966; also my extended bibliography in my two essays in Clark Pennock, ed., Grace Unlimited (Bethany Fellowship Press, 1975).

[447] Jean Paul Sartre, Rene Descartes, Discount de la Methode, 1948, pp. 203ff.

God As a Cultural Unmentionable

Today one does not discuss God in public. The Death of God is a cultural unmentionable, often in the most conservative groups. But for Job's contemporaries, this can be no norm of behavior. Naturalistic humanism has fabricated a freedom that enslaves. Security, not freedom, is the fate of our civilization. One must taste the fruit to be able to evaluate the tree that bears it. The fruit of the fear of the Lord will be freedom, His freedom for our fulfillment. This is true humanism. As long as Kierkegaard's parable of the barnyard is an appropriate evaluation of many churches, men will not expect any word from the Lord from that quarter. In order to recover God's authentic voice in His church and His creation. Fichte's arrogant ape must be replaced, but man's creative imagination has produced gods in his own image and in every stage of progress they think of him ... as a greater man, and still a greater; but never as [Job'S] Godthe Infinite whom no measure can mete. I have only this discursive, progressive thought, and I can conceive of no other.[448] Only Job's vindicator can challenge the powerful human pride present in Fichte's proclamation. If the church is to Shatter the Silence again, it must avoid repeating the triple fall of Christendom: (1) The first temptation was to seize earthly power by autonomous human reason,[449] which completely disregarded the prophetic word in times of crisis. This attitude reached its apogee in Hegel and the late Heidegger. (2) The second temptation was to assert the power of speculative abstract reason, which collapsed under the intolerable burden of objective truth as it emerged from scientific investigation. (3) The last and worst deviation is the arrogance of the flesh. Western technology, which recognizes only man's earthly needs, was tempted to turn stones into bread, but man cannot live by bread alone.

[448] J. G. Fichte, The Vocation of Man (New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1956), p. 140.

[449] For excellent history of The Enlightenment, see F. Valjavec, Geschichte der abendlendischen Aufklarung (Munich, 1961).

God in Exile?

Finally fell the sentence of banishment in the stormy sea of conflict of interests, the name of him who was accused of aspirations to tyranny, illicit circumscription of man's rights, connivance at or imbecility in consent to evil, inaccessibility to man's reason or defiance of that reason, logical inconsistency and mythical monstrosity. Who is able to respond? Only Job's Vindicator who invaded the fallen earth to redirect the systems of nature-history toward redemptive fulfillment. 2 Corinthians 5:17 f.

Change is imperative, and change of heart always begins in the quiet privacy of contemplation. We must contemplate the Word from God which Shatters His Silence, and also the intellectual developments of the past three centuries in order to understand why millions in western civilization believe that God is in Exile. Is God in Exile? Job knew better, but what of his contemporaries[450] Renegade theoretical theists are no match for roused atheists, roused by man's inhumanity to man. Only those who hear Him say, As you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me, will be able to respond in the name of Job's Jesus. God still pursues all who fluctuate between anxiety and pride.

[450] Utilize the excellent film series depicting and documenting How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture written by and featuring Dr. Francis Schaeffer (Gospel Films, Inc., P.O. Box 455, Muskegon, MI, 49443); for the book version, Fleming H. Revell Co., 184 Central Ave., Old Tappan, NJ, 07675. If possible, examine the BBC series on The Ascent of Man and critically compare the assumptions and their implications for witnessing in the 20th century.

APPENDIX TO IS GOD IN EXILE?

Salvation by Humanization

Take care, Brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12; Hebrews 4:1

Subject: Contemporary idolatry and the youth culture: by 198075% of the world's population will be 21 years old and under; and 50% of the population in the USA will be 25 years old and under. Problem: What does this group believe? What are some of the ideologies which are competing for this age group?
I.

With Heart and Head: The Whole Person and Christian Faith

What does it mean to be a Christian believer in the 20th century?

What does the O.T. mean by faith? Person, promise, content, purpose, response, i.e., root significance is reply or answer to question/challenge.

What does the N.T. mean by faith? (Believing that something is true and believing in a person, apistia, apeitheia)

What does it mean to hear the Word of God?

Faith after Freud

Hearing God's Word in a visibility culture (audibility and visibility of Word of God)

Proclaiming the Word of God in an entertainment culture: Listening for ego satisfaction rather than decisionlife changing, behaviour modification decision.

Word of God, Decision, and Integrity (wholeness of person, integration, i.e., lifestyle from new lifewe need both integrity of mind and emotion, i.e., feelings).

II. Social and Psychological (personal and group) Reasons for Unbelief

European culturesfrom revival to revolution (e.g. French Revolution and Russian.)

American culture200 years in the Promised Land. The Spirit in 76 Restoration principlefrom the Frontier to WatergateA study in influence.

Social and Psychological reasons for belief: Alternatives unknown or unavailable.

Ignatius Lepp with Christ on the psychiatrist couch (converted communist propaganda expertnow Roman Catholic priest.)

Third times charmResurgent concern in counseling (3rd time in 20th Century) and for meaningbelongingcaringsharing.

III. American Forms of Unbelief18th and 19th Centuries

The Great Intrusion: Tom Paine's form of Infidelity1784-1809.

The Great Definition: Coming of New England Liberal-Urn1749-1805.

The Great Foil to Orthodoxy1759-1818 (e.g. Timothy Dwight, President of Yale, most effective vanquisher of infidelity in American history).

The Great AllianceSyncretism and the Established Church 1776-1818.

The Great AdjustmentModification of attitudes of religious institutions.

Robert Owens (A. Campbell's debate) Image Maker after 1824churches as Virtuosi of Exploitation.

From Liberalism and Unitarianism to the FrontierMuscular Christianity

Infidelity IncarnateRobert Ingersol to 1899.

The Great Decline after 1899.

The Great Absence

The Great Silent MajorityThe Sin of Silence European forms Kant, Hegel, Marx, Darwin, Freud, Nietzsche.

IV. Characteristics of Our World and Forms of Unbelief in the 20th Century

Originality of Modern unbelief (not merely ignorance, faithlessness, apathy or rebellion because they were present in age of Faith)secularism, humanism, and scientism.

Characteristics are worldwide: Penetration into every area of life, dispensable, processes of secularization.

Pluralism, i.e., contradictory claims have equal standing in universe of discourse.

Loss of truth as basis of community.

Community based on symbolic order (communication) has disintegrated (e.g. McLuhan's Hot and Cold Communication)

Secular Varieties of Unbelief

Anomie (no norm, i.e., lawlessness) and Accidie (paralysis of action, listlessness).

Rejection of possibility of positive belief, i.e., Nihilism or absolutization of nothingness (see my article on Nihilism in Dictionary of Christian Ethics, edited by Carl F. H. Henry, Baker, Grand Rapids).

Atheism (see Ephesians 2:12) and anti-theism touches every individual and structure of the new humanity.

Pantheisms (Panentheisms, e.g. Spinoza, Hegel, Whitehead and Teilhard de Chardin) and Paganism of history and power.

Syncretistic unbelief, e.g., combines elements of Christian beliefs and contradictory cultural features.

Syncretistic unbelief and contradictory political features, eg. Nazism, Communism, Americanism (we cannot have two absolutes: Only God and His Word is absolute and sets in judgement on every facet of this world's experience).

VI. Religious Varieties of Unbelief Integral Unbeliefof the Grand Inquistor

(O.T. and N.T. examples of unbeliefBaalism, Gnosticism, Judaistic Legalism, etc.)

Private and public faith

Private lives and public morals (Nixon, Mills, et al.)

Individual faith and institutional unbelief (Part is faithful; whole is visibly unfaithful, e.g. Niebuhr's Moral Man and Immoral Society).

Social functionalism, institutionalism (free association since Hegel and modern democracy), specialization and commitment to organizational development and the cult of efficiency, i.e., heresy of success orientation.

Reasons for affiliation and cultural stratification, egs. Poor and store front, rich and elaborate edifice complex. Christ and cultural basis of being successful.

Church and acculturationChrist and culture(against, parallel assimilated, critical interaction or confrontation).

VII. Positive Approach to Problem: Education for a Christian World Life Style

Being Christian is representing God in this world.

Being Christian is committing one's life to ultimate vindication of God's promise and purpose for His creation.

Let us not witness throughout the remainder of the 20th Century, or until He comes, withnot much, not yet, or not enough.

Conclusion:

We are living once more in a Dionsysian age where we existSentio Ergo Sum: Therefore, unbelief is a problem fit for God. It cannot be effectively responded to by the church in its present spiritual and educational condition. Revival is imperative; and equipping every saint in every congregation for service in a sine-qua-non for a Christian response to contemporary unbelief.

Toward a Bibliographical Delimitation of the Notion of Atheism:

(A) Principal Works:

Adolfs, Robert. The Church Is Different. London: Compass Books, 1966.

._____. The Grave of God. translated by N. D. Smith, New York: Harper and Row, 1967.

Barth, Karl. Church Dogmatics III/1, translated by G. T. Thomson. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1952.

Bartley, William Warren. The Retreat to Commitment. New York: Knopf, 1962.

Baumer, Franklin L. Religion and the Rise of Scepticism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960.

Bayle, P. Dictionnaire historique et critique, 5th edition, Basle, 1738.

Blackman, H. J., editor. Objections to Humanism. London: Constable, 1963.

Borne, Etienne. Atheism, translated by S. J. Tester. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1961.

Burke, T., editor. The World in History. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1966.

Collins, James. The Emergence of Philosophy of Religion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967.

Descartes, R. Correspondence. Oeuvres de Descartes, Vol. V. Edited by C. Adam and P. Tannery. Paris, 1909.

Denzinger, Henricus. Enchiridion Symbolorum, edited by J. B. Umber. 25th edition. Barcelona: Herder, 1948.

Dewart, Lesie. The Future of Belief. New York: Herder & Herder, 1966.

Diderot, D. and dAlembert. Encyclopedic ou Dictionnaire raisonne-'des sciences, des artes et des metiers. Paris, 1751; 2nd ed. Lucca, 1758.

Dondeyne, Albert. Contemporary Christian Faith and European Thought, translated by John Burnheim and Ernan McMullin. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1958.

______ Faith and the World, translated by Walter van de Putte. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1958.

Duquoc, Christian, editor. Opportunities for Belief and Behavior (Concilium Vol. 29). Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1966.

Etcheverry, A. Le Conflit actual des humanismes. Rome: Gregorian University Press, 1964.

Fabro, Cornelio. God in Exile, translated by Arthur Gibson. Westminster, Md.: Newman, 1968.

Feuerbach, L. Grundsatze der Philosophie der Zukunft. Werke, Vol. II. Stuttgart, 1904. Ed. by M. G. Lange. Leipzig, 1950. English translation by Manfred H. Vogel, Principles of the Philosophy of the Future. Indianapolis-New York-Kansas City: The Library of Liberal Arts, Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.

Hartshorne, Charles, and Reese, William L., editors. Philosophers Speak of God. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1953.

Hebblethwaite, Peter. The Council Fathers and Atheism. Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1967.

Hegel, G. W. Enzyklopaidie der philosophischen Wissenschaften, Ed. by J. Hoffmeister. Leipzig, 1959.

______ Philosophie der Weltgeschichte. Werke, Vol. 1. Ed. by Lason, Leipzig, 1925.

Hofmans, Flor. Jesus: Who Is He? Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1968.

Johann, Robert. The Pragmatic Meaning of God. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1966.

Kung, Hans. The Unknown God? translated by W. W. White. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1966.

Lacroix, Jean. The Meaning of Modern Atheism, translated by Garret Barden. Dublin: Gill & Son, 1965.

Lepp, Ignace. Atheism in Our Time, translated by Bernard Murchland. NY: Macmillan, 1963.

Marx, K. Kritik der Hegelschen Dialektik und Philosophie uberhaupt. Oekonomisch-philosophische Manuskripte aus dem Jahre 1844, M.E.G.A. (Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe) Abt. I, Vol. 3. Ed. by D. Ryazanov and V. Adoratsky. Moscow and Berlin, 1926ff.

Metz, Johannes. Poverty of Spirit, translated by John Drury. Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1968.

______ editor. The Church and the World (Concilium, Vol. 6). Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1965.

Novak, Michael. Belief and Unbelief. New York: Mentor-Omega, 1965.

Ogden, Schubert M. The Reality of God. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.

Rahner, Karl. Belief Today, translated by M. H. Heelan. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1967.

______. On Heresy, translated by W. J. O-'Hara. London: Burns & Oates, 1964.

______ editor. The Pastoral Approach to Atheism (Concilium, Vol. 23). Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1967.

______, editor. The Renewal of Preaching (Concilium, Vol. 33) Glen Rock, N.J.: Paulist, 1967.

Reid, John P. The Anatomy of Atheism. Washington, D.C.: Thomist Press, 1965.

Roper, Anita. The Anonymous Christian, translated by Joseph Donceel. New York: Sheed & Ward, 1966.

Schleiermacher, F. Der christliche Glaube. Gesammelte Werke, Vol. I. 7th edition by M. Redeker, Berlin, 1960.

______ Zur Theologie. Gesammelte Werke, Vol. I. 7th ed. of M. Redeker, Berlin, 1960.

Schlette, Heinze Robert. Toward a Theology of Religions, translated by W. J. O-'Hara. New York: Herder & Herder, 1966.

van de Pol, W. H. The End of Conventional Christianity, translated by Theodore Zuydwijk. New York: Newman, 1967.

Verneaux, Roger. Lecons su l-'Atheisme Contemporain. Paris: P. Tequi, 1964.

Veuillot, Mgr., et al. L-'Atheisme: tentation du monde, reveil des Chretiens? Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1963.

Yvon, Abbe-', article Athe-'e, Encyclopedic of Diderot and d-'Alembert, Vol. I. fol. 798b ff. (1751 edition), fol. 692a ff. (1758 edition).

Periodical A nicies:

Barthelemy, D. -Les idoles et l-'image.-' La Vie spirituelle, March, 1962, 288-294.

Fabro, Cornelio. -The Positive Character of Modern Atheism.-' Concurrence 1 (1966): 66-76.

Krejci, Jaroslav. -A New Model of Scientific Atheism.-' Concurrence 1 (1969): 82-96.

Murray, John C. -On the Structure of the Problem of God.-' Theological Studies 23 (1962): 1-26.

Rahner, Karl. -Atheism and Implicit Christianity.-' Theology Digest, February, 1968, pp. 43-56.

(B) Secondary Works:

L-'Atheisme contemporain. Geneva: Edition Labor et Fies, 1956.

Bacon, F. De augmentation scientiarum. The Works of Francis Bacon, Vol. I, Edited by J. Spedding, R. L. Ellis and D. D. Heath. London, 1879.

Brunschvicg, L. Heritage de mots, heritage d-'idees. Paris, 1945.

______ La querelle de l-'atheisme, De la vraie et de la fausse converions. Paris, 1950.

______ La raison et le religion. Paris, 1939.

Dilthey, W. Einleitung in die Geisteswissenschaften. Werke, Vol. I. Leipzig, 1933.

Flint, R. Agnosticism. Edinburgh and London, 1903.

Hazard, P. La pensee europeene au XVIII siecle. Paris, 1946. English translated European Thought in the Eighteenth Century. Cleveland: World, 1964.

Jacoby, F. Diagoras, d-' AOeos, Abhandlungen der deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften Klasse fur Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst, Jahrgang 1959, Numbers 3.

Kant, I. Kritik der reinen Vernunft. Kants gesammelte Schriften, Abot. I, Vol. 3. Berlin: Reimer, 1911. English translation by F. Max Muller, Critique of Pure Reason. Garden City, NY: Dophin Books, Doubleday & Co., Inc. 1961.

Kierkegaards, S. Edited by Walter Lowrie, Concluding Unscientific Postscript to the Philosophical Fragments, Oxford-Princeton, 1941.

Lacrois, J. Sens et valeur de l-'atheisme contemporain, Monde moderne et sens de Dieu. Paris, 1954.

Lange, F. A. Geschichte des Materialismus. Leipzig: Reclam, 1905.

Leibniz, G. W. Confessio naturae contra Atheistas. Gesammelte Werke, Vol. IV. Edited by Gerhardt. Hildesheim, 1961.

Marcel, G. Le sens de l-'atheisme moderne. Paris-Tournai, 1958.

Merleau-Ponty, M. Eloge de la philosophie. Paris: Gallimard, 1953. English trans, by John Wild and James W. Edie, In Praise of Philosophy. Evans ton, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1963.

Schlegel, D. B. Shaftesbury and the French Deists. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Studies, 1956.

Voltaire, Questions sur les miracles. Geneva, 1765. Oeuvres completes de Voltaire, Vol. XXV. Edited by Moland, Paris, 1883.

The Atheism of Rationalism
A. Principal Works:

Bayle, P. Pensees philosophiques. Edited by P. Verniere. Paris, 1961.

Descartes, R. Epistola ad G. Voetium. Oeuvres de Descartes, Vol. VIII. Ed. by Adam and Tannery. Paris, 1909.

d-'Holbach, D. Systeme de la nature. 2nd ed. London, 1774.

Montesquieu, C. Del-'Esprit des Lois. Paris, An IV de la Republique; first edition, 1748.

Rousseau, J. J. Entile. Oeuvres Completes, Vol. II. Paris: Hachette, 1856.

Spinoza, B. Ethica. Opera, Vol. II Ed. by C. Gebhardt, Heidelberg, 1924.

B. Secondary Works:

Blondel, M. L-'action. Paris, 1936.

Brunschwieg, L. Descartes et Pascal lecteurs de Montaigne. 2nd ed. NY-Paris, 1944.

Busson, H. Le Rationalisme dans la litterature francaise de la Renaissance. 2nd ed. Paris, 1957.

Deborin, A.M. Spinoza's World-View, Kline et al., Spinoza in Soviet Philosophy. London, 1952.

Desautels, A. R. Les Memoires de Trevoux et le mouvement des idees au XVII siecle. Rome, 1956.

Feuerbach, L. Pierre Bayle, Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der

Philosophic und Menschheit. Werke, Vol. V. Stuttgart, 1905.

_____ Geschichte der neueren Philosophie von Bacon von Verulam bis Benedikt Spinoza. Werke, Vol. III. Stuttgart, 1906.

.. Vorlaufige Thesen zur Reform der Philosophie. Werke, Vol. II. Stuttgart, 1904.

.. The Essence of Religion, NY: Harper and Row, 1967.

Hazard, P. La crise de conscience europeenne. Paris, 1935.

Hegel, G. W. Geschichte der Philosophie. Ed. by Michelet. Berlin, 1844; reprinted as Vols. 17-18 of the Jubilaumsausgabe of Hegel's Samtliche Werke. Stuttgart, 1959. Ed. by J. Hoffmeister. Leipzig, 1944.

Jaquelot, I. Dissertations sur l-'existence de Dieu, ou Von demontre cette verite par l-'histoire universelle, par la refutation du systemme d-'Epicure et de Spinoza paries caracteres de divinite qui se remarquent dans la religion des Juifs. The Hague, 1697.

Kline, G. et al. Spinoza in Soviet Philosophy. London, 1952. Labrousse, E. Pierre Bayle. The Hague, 1964.

Lachieze-Roy, P. Les origines cartesiennes du Dieu de Spinoza. Paris, 1932.

Marx, L. and F. Engels. Die Heilige Familie. K. Marx-F. Engels Werke, Vol. II Berlin, 1958.

Mason, H. T. Pierre Bayle and Voltaire. Oxford, 1965.

Mauthner, F. Der Atheismus und seine Geschichte im Abendlande. Stuttgart and Berlin, 1921.

Plechanov. G. W. Die Grundprobleme des Marxismus. Berlin, 1958.

Randall, J. H. The Career of Philosophy, From the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment. NY: Columbia University Press, 1962.

Rex. W. Essays on Pierre Bayle. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1965.

Sartre, J. P. Descartes. Collection Les classiques de la liberte. Paris, 1946.

Soviet tern of historians of philosophy. Geschichte der Philosophie. Berlin: VEB Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1959.

Strauss, L. Die Religion skritik Spinozas als Grundlage seiner Bibetwissenschaft. Berlin, 1930.

Verniere, P. Spinoza et la pensee francaise avant la revolution. Paris, 1954.

Wolfson, H. A. The Philosophy of Spinoza. New York, 1958.

Deism and Atheism in English Empiricism

(A) Principal Works:

Berkeley, G. Alcyphron, or the minute Philosopher. Berkeley's Works, Vol. II. Ed. by A. C. Fraser. Oxford, 1901.

______. Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous. Berkeley's Works, Vol. I. Oxford, 1901.

______. A Treatise concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge. Berkeley's Works, Vol. I. Oxford, 1901.

Butler, J. The Analogy of Religion natural and revealed to the Constitution and Course of Nature. Originally published in 1736; reprinted Glasgow-London, 1827.

Hobbes, T. The Question concerning Liberty, Necessity and Change. English Works, Vol. V. Aalen, 1962.

Hume, D. Dialogues concerning Natural Religion. Ed. by Norman K. Smith. 2nd ed. Toronto-NY, 1947. German trans, by Paulsen, Berlin, 1904.

Jacobi, F. H. Idealismus und Realismus, Ein Gesprach. Werke, Vol. II. Leipzig, 1816.

Lenin, V. I. Materialism and Empiriocriticism. Moscow: Foreign Languages Pub. House, no date. German trans. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1949.

Locke, J. An Essay concerning Human Understanding. The Works of John Locke, Vol. VII. London, 1823; Aalen, 1963. ______ A Second Vindication. The Works of John Locke, Vol. VII. Friends. London, 1708.

Marx, K. and F. Engels. Die Heilige Familie. K. Marx-F. Engels Werke, Vol. II. Berlin, 1958. Marx Engels, Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe: Werke, Schriften, Briefe (M.E.G.A.), Abt. I, Vol. 2. Ed. by D. Rjazanov and V. Adoratsky. Moscow and Berlin, 1926ff; English Trans. The Holy Family.

(B) Secondary Works:

Benn, A. W. The History of English Rationalism in the Nineteenth Century. New York-London, 1906.

Cassirer, E. Die Philosophie der Aufklarung. Tubingen, 1932.

Crous, E. Die Religionsphilosophischen Lehren Lockes und ihre Stellung zu dent Deismus seiner Zeit. Abhandlungen zur Philosophie und ihre Geschichte. Leipzig, 1910.

Dilthey, W. Aus der Zeit der Spinozastudien Goethes. Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. II 4th ed. Leipzig and Berlin, 1940.

Fabro, C. Foi et raison dans l-'oeuvre de Kierkegaard, Revue de sciences philosophiques et theologiques, 1948, pp. 169ff.

Gibson, J. Locke's Theory of Knowledge and its Historical Relations. Cambridge, 1917.

Heinemann, F. H. Toland und Leibniz, Beitrage zur Leibniz-Forschung, ed. by G. Schichkoff. Reutlingen, 1947.

Helfbower, S. G. The Relation of John Locke to English Deism. Chicago, 1918.

Hildebrandt, K. Leibniz und das Reich der Gnade. The Hague, 1953.

Lempp, O. Das Problem der Theodicee in der Philosophie und Literatur des 18. Jahrhunderts bis auf Kant und Schiller. Leipzig, 1910.

Leroy, A. La critique de la religion de David Hume. Paris, 1930.

Meinecke, F. Die Entstehung des Historismus. 2nd ed. Munich, 1964.

Mintz, S. The Hunting of Leviathan, 17th Century Reactions to the Materialism and Moral Philosophy of Th. Hobbes. Cambridge, 1962.

Mossner, E. C. The Forgotten Hume, Le bon David. NY: Columbia, 1943.

______ The Life of David Hume. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1954.

Smith, N. K. The Philosophy of David Hume. London, 1941. Soderblom, N. Naturliche Theologie und allgemeine Religiongeschichte. Stockholm and Leipzig, 1913.

Sorley, W. R. A History of English Philosophy. Cambridge, 1920.

______ Moral Values and the Idea of God. 3rd ed. Cambridge, 1935.

Staudlin, C. F. Geschichte des Rationalismus und Supernaturalismus. Gottingen, 1826.

Troeltsch, E. Deismus, Realencyklopedie fur protestantische Theologie und Kirche, Vol. IV. Leipzig, 1898. Abridged version in Augsatze zur Geistesgeschichte und Religionssoziologie. Werke, Vol. IV. Tubingen, 1925.

Wild, J. George Berkeley, A Study of his Life and Philosophy. Cambridge, 1936.

Enlightenment Atheism

(A) Principal Works:

Bergier, Abbe J. Examen du materialisme ou refutation du Systeme de la Nature. Tournai: J. Casterman, 1838.

d-'Holbach, D. Systeme de la nature. 2nd ed. London, 1774. La Mettrie, J. O. de. L-'Homme machine. Ed. by M. Solovine. Paris: Boissard, 1921.

______ L-'Homme Plante. Leyden, 1748. Ed. Francis Rougier. Columbia University Press, 1936.

Vartanian, A. La Mettrie's L-'Homme Machine, A Study in the Origin of an Idea, Critical Edition with an Introductory Monograph and Notes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1960.

Voltaire. Dictionnaire Philosophique. Ed. by J. Benda and R. Naves. Paris: Gamier, 1954.

(B) Secondary Works in addition to those already listed:

Belaval, Y. Preface to the 1966 reprint of the Paris 1821 edition of d-'Holbach's Systeme de la nature. Hildesheim, 1966.

Lenin, V. I. Ueber die Religion. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1956.

Plechanov, G. W. Beitrage Zur Geschichte des Materialismus. Berlin, 1957.

Soviet author team. Grundlagen der marxistischen Philosophie. Berlin, 1959.

Vartanian, A. Diderot and Descartes, A Study of Scientific

Naturalism in the Enlightenment. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.
______ From Deist to Atheist, Diderot Studies, Vol. I. Syracuse: 1949.

Wartofsky, M. W. Diderot and the Development of Materialist Monism, Diderot Studies, Vol. II. Syracuse: University Press, 1952.

Zebenko, M. D. Der Atheismus der franzosischen Materialisten des 18. Jahrhunderts. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1956.

Disintegration of Idealism into Atheism

(A) Principal Works:

Fichte, J. G. Angewandte Philosophic Werke, Vol. VI. Ed. by F. Medicus. Leipzig, 1912.

Hegel, G. W. Berliner Schriften. Ed. by J. Hoffmeister. Hamburg, 1956.

______ Glaube und Wissen. Werke, Vol. I. Ed. by Lasson. Leipzig, 1930.

______ Phanomenologie des Geistes. Ed. by Hoffmeister. Leipzig, 1937.

______ Philosophic der Geschichte. Ed. by Gans. Stuttgart, 1961.
Hegel, G. W. Philosophic der Religion. Reprinted Vols. 15-16 of the Jubilaumsausgabe of the Samtliche Werke. Stuttgart, 1959. Ed. Lasson. Leipzig, 1930.

______ Die Positivitat der christlichen Religion. In Hegels Theologische Jugendschriften. Ed. by H. Nohl. Tubingen, 1907.

Schlegel, F. Die Entwicklung der Philosophie. Werke, Vol. XIII. Ed. by J. J. Anstett. Munich, 1964.

Schleiermacher, F. Der christliche Glaube. Werke, Vol. I. 7th ed. by M. Redeker, Berlin, 1960.

______ Dialektik. Ed. by R. Odebrecht. Leipzig, 1942.

(B) Secondary Works:

Brunner, E. Die Mystik und das Wort. Tubingen, 1924.

Erdmann, J. E. Die Entwicklung der deutschen Spekulation seit Kant. Stuttgart, -31.

Fabro, C. Hegel, La dialettica. Brescia, 1960, 2nd ed., 1966.

Levy-Bruhl, L. La philosophic de Jacobi Paris, 1894.

Rohmer, F. Gott und seine Schopfung. Nordlichen, 1857.

Vaihinger, A. Die Philosophie des Als ob. 7th-8th ed. Leipzig, 1913.

Wahl, J. A propos de l-'lntroduction a la Phenomenologie de Hegel par A. Kojeve, Etudes Hegeliennes, Deucalion 5. Neuchatel, 1955.

Explicit and Constructive Post-Hegelian Atheism

(A) Principal Works:

Engels, F. Die Lage der arbeitenden Klasse in England. Leipzig, 1845. Berlin, -58.

Feuerbach, L. Principles of the Philosophy of the Future. Bobbs-Merrill, 1966.

Lowith, K., ed. Die Hegelsche Linke. Stuttgart, 1962.

Reding, M. Der politische Atheismus. Graz-Vienna-Cologne, 1957.

(B) Secondary Works:

Arvon, H. Ludwig Feuerbach ou la transormation due sacre. Paris: P.U.F., -57.

Cornu, A. L-'idee d-'alienation chez Hegel, Feuerbach et K. Marx, La Pensee 17, 1928.

Cottier, M. M. L-'atheisme du jeune Marx, see origines hegeliennes. Paris, 1959.

Dicke, G. Der Identitatsgedanke bei Feuerbach und Marx. Cologne and Opladen, -60.

Ehlen, P. Der Atheismus im dialektischen Materialiamus. Munich, 1961.

Garaudy, R. Dieu est mort, Etude sur Hegel Paris, 1962.

Gollwitzer, H. Die marxistische Religionskritik und christlicher Glaube. Tubingen, -62.

Hyppolite, J. Genese et structure de la Phenomenologie de I-'esprit de Hegel Paris, 1946.

Landgrege, L. Das Problem der Dialektik, Marxismus-Studien III, 1960.
Nudling, G. L. Feuerbachs Religionsphilosophie. Die Auflosung der Theologie in Anthropologie. Paderborn, 1936; 2nd ed., 1961.

Rohr, H. Pseudoreligiose Motive in den Fruhschriften von K. Marx. Tubingen, -62.

Vuillemin, J. L-'humanisme athee chez Feuerbach, Deucalion IV. Neuchayel and Paris, 1952.

Religious Atheism of Anglo-American Empiricism

(A) Principal Works:

Alexander, S. Space, Time and Deity. Gifford Lectures, Glasgow, 1916-18. London, 1920; 2nd ed., 1934.
Bradley, F. H. Appearances and Reality. London, 1893; 9th ed., 1930.

Dewey, J. A. The Philosophy of Whitehead, The Philosophy of A. N. Whitehead, Ed. by P. A. Schilpp. NY: Tudor, 1951.

Hartshorne, C. Philosophers Speak of God. Chicago. University of Chicago Press, -53.
____Whitehead's Idea of God, Schilpp, Tudor, -51.
James, W. A Pluralistic Universe. NY: Longmans, Green, 1909.

McTaggart, E. The Nature of Existence. Ed. C. D. Broad. Cambridge, 1927.

Morgan, L. Emergent Evolution. NY: H. Holt & Co., 1923.

Schilpp, P. A. The Philosophy of George Santayana. NY: Tudor Pub. Co., -51.

(B) Secondary Works:

Bixler, J. S. Whitehead's Philosophy of Religion, Ed. Schilpp, NY, 1951.
Christian, W. A. The Concept of God as Derivation Notion, The Hartshorne Festschrift, Process and Divinity, Ed. by W. L. Reese and E. Freeman, LaSalle, IL. 1964.

______ Whitehead's Explanation of the Past, A. N. Whitehead, Essays on his Philosophy. Prentice-Hall, 1963.

Reck, A. J. The Philosophy of Charles Hartshorne, Studies in Whitehead's Philosophy. The Hague, 1961.

Reese, W. L. and E. Freeman, eds. The Hartshorne Festschrift, Process and Divinity, LaSalle, IL, 1964.

Stokes, W. E. Whitehead's Challenge to Theistic Realism, The New Scholasticism 38, 1964.
Williams, D. W. How does God Act? An Essay in White-head's Metaphysics, The Hartshorne Festschrift, Process and Divinity, ed. by W. Reese and E. Freeman, LaSalle, 1964.

Freedom as an Active Denial of God in Existentialism

(A) Principal Works:

Camus, A. L-'homme revoke. Paris: The Rebel, NY: Vintage Books, Random House, 1956.

Heidegger, M. Identitat und Different Pfullingen: Neske, 1956. English translation by Kurt F. Leidecker, Essays in Metaphysics: Identity and Difference. NY: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1960.

Jaspers, K. Antwort, in Karl Jaspers, Philosophen des 20. Jahrhunderts. Stuttgart, 1957.
______ Nietzsche and Christianity. Chicago: Gateway, 1961.

Merleau-Ponty, M. In Praise of Philosophy. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1963.

Nietzsche, F. Thus Spoke Zarathustra. London, 1961.

(B) Secondary Works:

Birault, H. De l-'etre, du divin, des dieux chez Heidegger, L -existence de Dieu. Tournai, 1961.

Lowith, K. Heidegger Denker in durftiger Zeit. Frankfurt a. M., 1953.

Ricoeur, P. Phenomenologie existentielle in Philosophie-Religion, Encyclopedic Francaise, Vol. XIX. Paris, 1957. Schofer, E. Die Sprache Heideggers. Pfullingen, 1962.

Welte, B. Nietzsches Atheismus und das Christentum. Darmstadt, 1958.

Dialectical Theology and Death-of-God Theology

(A) Principal Works:

Altizer, T. J. J. The Gospel of Christian Atheism. Phil: Westminster Press, 1966.

Barth, K. Die christliche Dogma tik. Zurich, 1927.

Bonhoeffer, D. Concerning the Christian Idea of God, The Journal of Religion, 1932. Gesammelte Schriften, Vol. III. Ed. E. Bethge. Munich: C. Kaiser Verlag, 1966.

Ogden, S. M. The Christian Proclamation of God to Men of the So-Called -Atheistic Age,-'Concilium, Vol. 16. NY: Paulist Press, 1966.

The Temporality of God, Zeit und Geschichte. Dankesgabe an Rudolf Bultmann zum 80. Geburtstag. Tubingen, 1964.

Tillich, P. Biblical Religion and the Search for Ultimate Reality. University of Chicago Press, 1953.

Tillich, P. The Shaking of the Foundations. NY: Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1948.

Vahanian, G. The Death of God. NY: George Braziller, 1961. Van Buren, P. M. The Secular Meaning of the Gospel. New York: MacMillan, 1966.

(B) Secondary Works:

Hamilton, W. The New Essence of Christianity. New York: Association Press, 1961.

Hartnack, J. Wittgenstein und die moderne Philosophie. Stuttgart, 1962.

Kasch, W. F. Die Lehre von der Inkarnation in der Theologie Paul Tillichs, Zeitschrift fur Theologie und Kirche 58, 1, 1961.

Krause, G. Dietrich Bonhoeffer und Rudolf Bultmann, Zeit und Geschichte, Dankesgabe an R. Bultmann zum 80. Geburtstag. Tubingen, 1964.

Krech, W. Analogia fidei oder analogia entis? Antwort, Festschrift zum 70. Geburtstag von K. Barth. Zollikon Zurich: Evangelischer Verlag, -56.

Schmithals, W. Die Theologie Rudolf Bultmanns. Tubingen, 1966.

Schnubbe, O. Der Existenzbergriff in der Theologie Rudolf Bultmanns. Gottingen, 1959.

Thomas, J. H. Some Comments on Tillich's Doctrine of Creation, Scottish Journal of Theology 14, 2, 1961.

The Inner Nucleus of Modern Atheism

(A) Principal Works:

Great Soviet Encyclopedia (Bol'Shaya Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya). German translation, Grosse Sowjet-Enzyklopedie. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1950.

Hegel, G. W. Die Beweise vom Dasein Gottes. Ed. by Lasson. Leipzig, 1930.

(B) Secondary Works:

Alexandrov, G. Introduction to the Russian and German translations of M. Cornforth, Science versus Idealism, Berlin, 1955.

Bultmann, R. Der Gottesgedanke und der moderne Mensch, Glauben und Verstehen, Vol. IV. Tubingen, 1965.

Chatelet, F. Logos et Praxis, Recherches sur le signification theorique du marxisme. Paris, 1962.

Horkheimer, M. Theismus-Atheismus, Zeugnisse, Theodor W. Adorno zum 60. Geburtstag. Frankfurt a M., 1965.

Jordan, P. Der Naturwissenschaftler vor der religiosen Frage. Oldenburg-Hamburg. 1963.

Titius, A. Natur und Gott, Ein Versuch zur Verstandigung zwischen Naturwissenschaft und Theologie. Gottingen, 1926.

Ueber die formate Logik und Dialektik. Berlin: Verlag Kultur und Fortschritt 1952.

Vorret, M. Les marxistes et la religion. Paris, 1961.

SILENCE, SUFFERING, AND SIN: PRESENT EVIL IN HIS PRESENCE

I have done no harm. But I remember now
I am in this earthly world; where to do harm Is often laudable, to do good sometime

Accounted dangerous folly.

Lady Macduff in Macbeth, IV, IX, 74-77.

A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear.Hamlet

The rest is silenceGood-night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.Horatio

Is there any cause in nature that makes these hard heartsKing Lear
It will come, humanity must perforce prey on itself, like monsters of the deep.Albany's prediction in King Lear of our Nuclear Age

To thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.Charles Lamb

I shouldn-'t be surprised if in this world

It were the force that would at last prevail.Robert Frost
It was Brutus who stabbed Caesar with the most un-
kindest cut of allEt tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

Cinna criesLiberty! Freedom! Tyranny is dead!

A cruel sensuality is close to the fountainhead of all human evil whatsoever.Dostoevsky
(Our culture has moved from Crime and Punishment to the Crime of Punishment.)

Evil and Symbolic Duel

The duel is the solution in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet; Turgenov's Fathers and Sons; Tolstoy's War and Peace; Dostoev-sky's The Brothers Karamazov; and Chekhov's The Duel

Our chief concern in the following essay is to allow the scriptures to speak their mind on the nature of the presence of God in a fallen universe. The Silence of God in a world of suffering does not make our Christian witness any easier. The biblical doctrine of the fall has since the 19th century developments in the genetic and comparative sciences been interpreted according to the Darwinian model. Two features of this model are: (1) the fall was not an historical event, and (2) the fall is a myth which seeks to interpret man's loss of innocence. The presuppositions of naturalistic evolution cannot be harmonized with the biblical claims. Man cannot fall upwards. Though the evidence does not support the four basic assumptions of Classical Liberation their influence persists unabated in the intellectual life of the last quarter of the 20th century. The four assumptions are: (1) the complete animality of man; (2) the inevitability of progress; (3) the inherent goodness of man; and that (4) reality is exhausted by nature.[451]

[451] See C. F. H. Henry's Remaking of The Modern Mind, College Press reprint, 1972, with my extended bibliographical essay.

The Four Horsemen

Suffering is a fact in our world. Death, disease, war and rumor of wars, famine, social unrest, political intrigue, deception and intimidation as characteristic of multinational industrial complex, Lockheed pay-offs, Washington scandal, crime in the streets are marks of our present condition. The four horsemen of the apocalypse are running rampant through the third and fourth worlds. The 30th parallel divides the haves and the have nots.

In order to respond to the contemporary epidemic of alternatives to the biblical view of newness, we must take note that according to the scriptures, nature is not autonomous. Neither is man who applies the scientific method to correct all of nature's alterations. The biblical witness is plain, and the evidence overwhelmingly supports its consistent judgment that neither man, nor nature, nor man's methods are autonomous. The ecological crisis was caused by man's failure to acknowledge the wholeness of nature. The ectosystemic imbalance was created by a lack of wholistic perspective on man's part of nature and her interconnected systems.

The collapse of the unity of science movement is proof that scientific method is not autonomous; and K. Godel's theorem demonstrates that even elementary mathematics contain no eminent consistency proof; i.e., metamathematics is imperative for both completeness and consistency proofs. Pluralism is the price paid for the loss of any universally valid organizing principle. Biblically, God is the solely autonomous being in the universe, as well as man's universe of discourse. Chancism, i.e., probability theory, is the basis for modern man's effort to explain the negative factors in a finite universe (cf. evil in a finite universe, Whitehead'S, Hartshorn'S, and Teilhard's statistical views of evil). Man sinned and disorder entered the universe. The first Hebrew word for sin (ra-') in the book of Genesis has a root significant of violent rebellion against order. The fall narrative reveals three important matters: (1) how sin happens, (2) what it is, and (3) what consequences it produces. The disordering power of sinful rebellion extended into four areas of reality: (1) the relationship between God and man, (2) the intersubject relationship of man's wholeness, (3) the societal dimensions, and (4) the interrelation between man's dominion mandateGenesis 1:26 and God's purpose for naturehistory, resulting in fragmentation, i.e., the ecological crisis.[452]

[452] See my analysis in my doctoral thesisTheology of Creation and The Ecological CrisisEden Theological Seminary, 1974, under Dr. M. Douglas Meeds, translator and friend of Jurgen Moltmann.

Salvation in the biblical sense is the recovery of God's fallen universe and the consummation of God's purposes for His creation. In both creation and re-creation God's creature and relevatory Word and His organizing Spirit are inseparably involved. If we are to be representatives of Job's Creator-Redeemer God in the last quarter of the 20th century, then we must be (or become) aware of the presence of non-Christian and revolutionary concepts of salvation which dominate most contemporary international discussions (cf. Conference on Salvation Today at Bangkok, WCC, 1973, compare and contrast with The Chicago Declaration on the relationship of Evangelism and Social action).[453] No informed person is satisfied with the present human condition. Man as he is cannot create the good society, let alone the great society. Creative architects of contemporary thought from Kant to Hegel sought to remake man in their own image. Nietzsche's Ubermensch is his Frankenstein monster created to replace Christian man in 19th century Europe. The 19th-20th received many new models of newness: Darwin's biological man, Freud's indivisible man, Monod's genetic man, Crick's coded man, Skinner's conditioned man, Zen's and TM'S inward true self, but what of Christ and the new man?Romans 8:19 ff; Romans 12:1 ff; Galatians 6:15; 2 Corinthians 5:17 ff; Ephesians 2:15; Revelation 21:5.

[453] For my analysis of the relationship between Evangelism and Social action see my The Word of God far a Broken World, LCC, 1977.

The Christian view of salvation in no way dismissed as irrelevant many of the creative insights of our late great mental giants, but for the most part the vertical dimension of both sin and salvation have been abandoned and replaced by a totally immanent horizontal dimension of sin and salvation. If Job's God is in exile or perhaps ever died, then neither sin nor salvation have anything to do with a fragmented relationship between God and man. Therefore, we must not forget the state of the God question, as discussed in the previous essayIs Job's God in Exile?, if we are to have proper perspective in our considerations of salvation from sin. What is the nature of sin? Our answer to that question will largely determine our answer to the question, what does one mean by salvation?

The Bible is consistent and clear that sin has both personal and social dimensions; therefore, an emphasis on only personal salvation, which is certainly biblical, pays no heed to the social significance of either sin or salvation.[454] Sin is more than economic exploitation and alienation by poverty, but it is not less than these social results. Salvation is more than acceptable living standards, the recovery of just social and political structures, and the happiness attained from the possession of things, which gives to us a sense of psychological wellbeing and personal security. But salvation must become publicly visible, fulfilling David's admonition Let the redeemed say so, if millions in our present world will ever come to believe that God is working out His purpose within the context of nature-history. The Biblical Theology of sin includes: (1) fractured relationship with God, (2) negative results throughout the structures of nature-historyGenesis 1-3; fragmentation and alienation of man's essential nature, the Fall as an event which disorganized created order at every level of reality, (5) the distinction between the principle of sin and sins, e.g., I John, (6) recognition of the socio-psychological dimensions of sin, (7) redemption in Christ as victory over the powers of sin and guilt, through the loving merciful forgiveness of our Creator-Redeemer God, and (8) redemption has an eschatological dimension which is empowered by hope (see next essayHope in Time of Abandonment) to live the abundant life (see John for the present reality of Abundant Life) now, even in a context of pain, suffering, and death.

[454] The classical prolonged debate between Billy Graham and Reinhold Niebuhr, the late neo-orthodox Social Ethicist, was doomed at the start as each was emphasizing only one dimension of the problem of Sin and Salvation to the exclusion of the other.

Sin in the Secular City

How does the Bible describe sin? The irony of sin is seen in the biblical semantics. Sin is both personal and social. Man is both individual and corporately responsible for the consequences of sin. A systems analysis of the effect of sin and sins reveals the interrelatedness of human acts to the social drama. All evil is not accountable from personal sins. Many suffer (John 9) and their personal sins are not the cause. As with Job, and our Suffering Servant, often the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Surd evil, e.g. tornado, famine, war, disease, etc., is a larger category of cosmic disorder than mere moral anomie on man's part. The large picture reveals both macro and micro disorder in the universe. Before turning to the biblical semantics of sin we must briefly confront alternative explanatory systems to our own biblical base. Biblical presuppositions regarding the nature and significance of sin were challenged in the very century in which the totally secularization of man was initiated, the century of Rousseau, et al. The naturalistic counter explanation to the biblical position maintains that evil originates in man's environment (cf. contemporary thesis of the Behavioral Sciences that man is totally genetically and environmentally determined). Man is neither naturally good nor naturally neutral. He learns to do evil in the contexts of his environment institutions. J. J. Rousseau says that man is naturally good and that our social institutions alone have rendered him evil. Marx's creative destruction thesis is derived from this naturalistic assumption. Contemporary anti-institutionalism also stems from this position. Man's vested interests, i.e., his values cause him to create institutions to protect his vested interest. If the status quo is to be effectively challenged, then destruction of his social institutions is imperative. One of the men with whom A. Campbell debated, R. Owen, about whom Marx remarked that he was the only intelligent socialist that he knew, claimed that man is essentially good and that evil arises from ignorance and harsh living conditions (cf. plot of The Republic and The Laws). In those characters which now exhibit crime, the fault is obviously not in the individual but the defect proceeds from the system in which the individual has been trained. Evil comes from governments and institutions.[455] (Cf. contemporary naturalistic functionalistic theory of the origins of all human institutions, e.g. marriage, home, church, etc. The thesis asserts that institutions exist merely to meet needs, when they no longer meet the needs, then one abandons the institution to oblivion.) Karl Marx claims that the origin of evil is outside of man, i.e., the capitalistic economic system and the deprivations spawned by it. When economic needs are met, harmony will result. But empirical evidence from Neo-Marxists states, even Cuba and China, hardly justifies this optimism. B. F. Skinner believed that the current malaise could be redeemed in one giant Skinner Box. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Skinner Box, man lost his freedom and dignity. Man is indeed controlled by his environment. Practices in which a person is held responsible for his conduct and given credit for his achievements; a scientific analysis shifts both the responsibility and the achievement to the environment. These four classic examples of the naturalistic theory of the origin of evil have at least two factors in common with our immediate concern: (1) for these men, God is dead; and (2) only a scientific study of the social interrelationship can modify man's environment which ultimately will make new man. The central problem which they all share is: If we are all totally environmentally determined, how could the scientific method have broken the power of nature, and where does the scientist stand in a determined universe to set us free from nature's claims? If God is not allowed to be transcendent over the systems of the universe, why and how could the scientific method achieve saving transcendence? This sounds like the myth of value free, i.e., objective science. At least it is possible to demonstrate that value free decision making is not the case, but the same cannot be substantiated regarding the existence of a Creator-Redeemer God. God is still the most viable option available.

[455] Consider the brilliant survey on World Economy in the 1976 edition of The Great Ideas Today and a concrete evaluation of the expropriation of our health by the famous Roman Catholic priest, Ivan Mich, Medical Nemesis, New York: Pantheon, 1976, as men have been programmed to think that economic security and physical and mental well-being are our supreme values since man has become terrified by death and dying.

Other naturalistic cohorts of the above famed prophets of environmental determinism are those who claim against the Christian understanding, that evil originates in man himself. Naturalistic evolutionary presuppositions maintain that human nature, now known as the human condition, has evolved from lower to higher forms of lifeand certain innate tendencies, which may have been functional at one time in man's development ceased to be functional, yet continued to exist, thus plaguing man's attempt to build a good society. Since these assumptions control contemporary social, legal, penal theories, it is imperative that Christians understand their significances. For a naturalistic reading of our problem, see the thesis of the anthropologists, Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox. The Imperial Animal, New York, Dell, 1971, and Morris-', The Naked Ape. For a slightly more advanced defense, see the work of the Austrian naturalist, Konrad Lorenz, On Aggression, Harcourt, Brace, and World, E.T., 1966. Lorenz sees aggression in man as a part of his innate, inherited nature and as a drive which is presently malfunctioning to the point of being a disease: aggression and technological competence to destroy. Darwin's survival of the fittest, is not surviving. Natural selection (cf. When God is dead, men must speak anthropomorphically of nature.) has failed to eliminate the aggressive drive. The American dream has been built on conflict, competition, disruption, tragedy and in that order. Koren Horney's The Neurotic Personality of Our Time originally published in 1937 had already warned of the destructive tendencies in a society whose very dynamic for progress was nothing more than a friendly competitive spirit that would become demonic in power and fragment its users. Her prophecy had been fulfilled long before America entered her third century.

From the naturalistic assumptions regarding the origins of evil follow the contemporary socio-politico-economic theory of salvation.[456] But the biblical witness sees evil as a much more radical phenomenon than mere privation of good, as did the Rationalists, or as something that progressive development in biological and social evolution will eliminate as did the participants in the Enlightenment,[457] nature is red in tooth and claw and man continues to inflict pain on his fellow pilgrim.

[456] I.

Sociological Views of Salvation (corporate versus individual)

[457] For Kant's view of evil see Kant et Le Probleme du Mai, Presses de L-'Universite de Montreal, 1971; see also Jean Nabent, Essai sur le Mai, reprinted 1966.

Auguste Comte - Positivism

Herbert Spencer - Evolution and society

Man - Economic determinism

Schools of Sociological Theory: Social Darwinism, Psychological Evolution, Early Analytical Sociology, Russian Sociological Theory,-Decline of Evolutionism and rise of neo-Positivists, Sociology of Knowledge thesis, Interdisciplinary approach.

II.

Political and Economic Views of Salvation: From Man to the Theology of Revolution

III.

Psychological Views (Sin, Sickness, Psychosomatic medicine, etc.) and Psychological Theories of Explanation of Individual Disorders

Areas of Psycho-Pathology

Ethics, guilt, responsibility

Psychosomatic concept of disease

Psychoneuroses

Narcotics

Physiochemical methods of therapy

Mental deficiency - the exceptional child

Psychopathic personalities

Sex deviation and immediate need for sex education within Christian context.

Subliminal research in the age of technique: Manipulation via Brain washing, Madison Avenue Hard sell.

IV.

The Concept of Conversion and/or Salvation in Non-Christian Religions

Pilgrims with Cold Feet in the Promised Land

What are the prospects of the promised land of faith? What evil do the believers experience as they travel through existence? Evil is an irrational and malignant force in the fallen universe. Since Hume's classical argument in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, it has been philosophically acceptable to assert that the fact of evil is proof against the very existence of the Christian God.[458] Though it is not our intention here to deal technically with this crucial challenge to the Christian reading of reality, we must briefly state the fundamental issues. Often the opponent of the Christian view of reality poses the questionWhy does God allow it: Perhaps there is an equally appropriate interrogationWhy does man perpetrate it? Does evil vanish from the human scene upon the arrival of Nietzsche's madman announcing the cultural demise of the deity? Hardly!

[458] See the brilliant but technical response by Alvin Plantinga, God and Other Minds, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1967; and his God, Freedom, and Evil, New York: Harper Torch, 1974; for non-technical discussion see C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, pb. 1940; and A Grief Observed, New York: Seabury Press, 1961; for some excellent but futile efforts to formulate the problem of evil against the Christian perspective see N. Pike, God and Evil, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1964; for confrontation with PlantingaRobert Pargetter, Evil as Evidence Against the Existence ofGod,Mind, Apr. 1976.

A Metaphysic of Evil[459]

Though an attack on the existence of the Christian God from the phenomenon of evil is not a recent insight, or lack of it, we will take David Hume's (cf. Dialogues) questions as the classical formulation of our dilemma: (1) what is the origin, i.e., cause of evil; (2) what is the purpose of evil, i.e., its justification; and (3) what is the purpose for allowing evil to continue to function, if there does in fact exist a God both holy and all powerful?

[459] Metaphysics of Evil:

Altizer, Thomas J. J., and Hamilton, William. Radical Theology and The Death of God.

Barth, John. The End of the Road.

______ The Floating Opera.

Buber, Martin. Eclipse of God.

Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus.

______ The Plague.

______ The Rebel.

Dewart, Leslie. The Future of Belief.

Dostoevsky, F. The Brothers Karamazov.

Eliade, Mircea. Cosmos and History.

Fabry, Joseph P. The Pursuit of Meaning (read with Frankl, Victor, Man's Search for Meaning)

Gilkey, Langdon. Naming the Whirlwind.

Hamilton, William. The New Essence of Christianity.

Hartshorne, Charles. The Divine Relativity.

Hick, John. Evil and the God of Love.

Hume, David. Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion.

Jung, Carl. Psychology and Religion.

Kaufman, Gordon. Relativism, Knowledge, and Faith.

_____ Critique of Religion and Philosophy.

Kazantzakis, N. Report to Greco.

_____ Spiritual Exercises.

Keen, Sam. Apologyfor Wonder.

_____ To a Dancing God.

Kierkegaard, Soren. Fear and Trembling.

_____ The Concept of Dread.

_____ Sickness Unto Death.

Lamont, Corliss. The Philosophy of Humanism.

Lewis, C. S. The Problem of Pain.

Macquarrie, John. An Existentialist Theology.

Marcel, Gabriel. The Philosophy of Existence.

Meland, Bernard E. The Secularization of Modern Cultures.

Munitz. The Mystery of Existence.

Nietzsche, F. Thus Spake Zarathustra.

Novak, Michael. Beliefand Unbelief.

_____ The Experience of Nothingness.

Robinson, John A. T. Honest to God (read also in connection with this, Edwards, D. L., ed., The Honest to God Debate).

Rosen, Nathan. Nihilism.

Rubenstein, Richard. After Auschwitz (for studies in socio-pathology of evil see Sanford N. and Comstock, C. Sanctions for Evil, San Francisco, Jessey-Bass, Inc., 1971).

Siwek, Paul. The Philosophy of Evil.

Smith, Huston. Condemned to Meaning.

Sontag, F. The Existentialist Prolegomena.

Tannant, F. R. Philosophical Theology, Vol. II.

Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be.

_____ Dynamics of Faith.

Vahanian, Gabriel. The Death of God.

_____ Wait Without Idols.

Suppose that these are fundamental questions but that they cannot be answered with our present level of information. If these questions are unanswerable, what philosophical consequences follow? We must not confuse biographical, sociopsychological questions with theological or philosophical ones. This warning is appropriate because it has been assumed that Hume's arguments are necessary proofs[460] against the existence of the Christian God.

[460] The nature of proof, evidence, argument in relation to world-views must be considered, but for our basic purposes their consideration will be postponed. For an analysis of the nature of necessity see Alvin Plantanga, The Nature of Necessity, Oxford University Press, 1974; also John Machie Evil and Omnipotence, in The Philosophy of Religion, ed. B. Mitchell, Oxford University Press, 1971; and A. Flew, Divine Omnipotence and Human Freedom, in New Philosophical Theology, eds., A. Flew and A. Maclntyre, London: SCM, 1955, pp. 150-3.

The epistemic consequences of Hume's questions center around the justification for believing that God is both omnipotent and benevolent. What reasons can we give for believing that He possesses both of the above characteristics yet allows evil to continue? Before we become too troubled with this dilemma, let us ask ourselves a fundamental question. Why does man need to know why God permits evil? Epistemologically the argument is not effective. But psychologically it has a more telling effect on the seeker. Yet our concern is for necessary reasons for rejecting either God's existence or His omnipotence and benevolence. Even from a human viewpoint we should not be disturbed, at least logically, by our ignorance of God's ways because we do not very often understand man's ways. An example might be that we do not understand a given behavior pattern found in a non-western culture. In order to understand the given behavior we would need to comprehend the cultural configuration of that particular group. Missionaries have made the mistake of putting clothes on girls in cultures where such garments are not used. The people begin to think that the missionaries have made their daughters into prostitutes because only prostitutes can afford clothes in that particular culture. Another example might be the behavior of a CIA agent. Without knowing the overall plan which dictated a given behavior, we cannot understand the interrelationship of each given behavior as it relates to the overall plan. In God's case, we would need to know the interrelatedness of the systems of the entire universe, which is not an appropriate aspiration even for our contemporary Prometheus. This approach is an effective response only for those who believe that the Human arguments necessarily prove the non-existence of God.

But the second argument which is concerned with the justification for God's allowing evil to continue, depends on a conceptual connection among the notions of evil, power, and goodness. If God is omnipotent, then He is surely justified in allowing evil. But if He is benevolent, why does He: But the why does not provide any necessary argument against either His benevolence or omnipotence. Yet the dilemma as an epistemic problem continues. It is strange that those who are often most hostile to truth and logic are the most certain that evil is necessary proof against God's existence. What effect would an epistemic solution have on belief? Belief must be kept distinct from truth, because one may believe that which is either demonstrably false, or has no verification whatsoever. Anyone can believe what he wishes, but if he wishes others to share that belief, then justification must be forthcoming, via logic, evidence and arguments. Why should anyone believe anything about anything? We do not believe that our brief statement has resolved the haunting hurt caused by the fact of evil, but we do maintain that technical arguments can be structured to prove that evil is not a necessary proof either against God's omnipotence or His benevolence. Since Hume's classic statements it has been assumed that his arguments necessarily generate a dilemma for any informed person, that either God's existence or His benevolence must be rejected.[461]

[461] See the excellent survey of views of the nature and reality of evilft. P. Sertillanges, Le Probleme du Mai, Paris: Ambier, 1948, for statement of the positions espoused by Eastern religions, Graeco-Rome religions, Gnosticism, Neo-Platonism, Christianity on into the Enlightenment and present world.

For millions, God is still silent and their suffering unbearable. Denying the existence of evil or postulating an eternal dualism is neither philosophically defensible, nor existentially encouraging. Stoic resignation does not remove the broken heart of the rivulets of tears, but what of man's participation in the cosmic malignancy?

A Problem Fit for God[462]

[462] On the Biblical dextrine of sin see J. Pedersen, Israel, its Life and Culture, pp. 411ff; C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks, pp. 76-81; G. F. Moore, Judaism, 3 vols., Harvard University Press; H. Buchler, Studies in Sin, 1928; E. Brunner, Man in Revolt, especially Chapter s 6-7; R. Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man, Chapter s 7-10; F. R. Tennant, The Concept of Sin; N. P. Williams, The Ideas of the Fall and of Original Sin, 1927; Quell, Bertram, Stahlin, and Grundmann, art harmatia TWNT, Vol. I; A. Gelin, Sin in the Bible, New York: Desclee, 1965; S. Porubean, Sin in the Old Testament, 1963; P. Schoonenberg, Man's Sin, Notre Dame, 1965; S. Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death, especially Despair is Sin, and G. C. Berkouwer, Sin, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Evil is a larger problem than sin, but man is no match for sin, let alone evil. What does the Word say regarding sin and sins? How does human sin perpetrate the disordering effect on life and man's environmental structures?

Design and Disorder

God has a design for His creation; and man's sin disorders it. Redemption is the ultimate eschatological recovery of that order through Christ, our Savior from sin and its consequences. How do the scriptures address themselves to the fact of sin?

Old Testament Vocabulary far Sin: (1) Early vocabulary(a) hattah, miss the mark (Judges 20:16), (b) awon, iniquity, crookedness (Genesis 4:13; Genesis 15:16), and (c) ra, evil (earliest root), physical calamity or violent breaking of God's orders (Genesis 2:9); (2) Patriarchal Periodtwo new words(a) resha, wickedness (Genesis 18:23root, loose, ill-regulated), and (b) peshatransgression (Genesis 50:17root rebel, 1 Kings 12:19, deliberate and premeditatedJob 34:37 speaks of adding pesha to hattah); (3) Moses period2 new words(a) ma-al, trespass (Leviticus 5:15, Numbers 5:12, marital faithlessness, roottreachery or faithlessness to covenant (1 Chronicles 9:1); (b) awel (or awal), perversity (Leviticus 19:15root, to deviate, man's deviation from right course; and (4) Moses-Davidawen, wickednessroot, to be tried.

New Testament Vocabulary for Sin: Sin in the New Testament is regarded as the missing of the mark or aim (hamartia or hamartema); the overpassing or transgressing of a line (parabasis); the inattentiveness or disobedience to a voice (parakoe); the falling alongside where one should have stood upright (paraptoma); the doing through ignorance of something wrong which one should have known about (agnoema); the coming short of one's duty (hettema); and the non-observance of a law (anomia); adikia, unrighteousness. The Biblical Theology of Sin includes: (1) God, (2) Created Cosmos; (3) Man; (4) the Fall; (5) Sin and Sins; (6) Social and Psychological Dimensions of Sin; (7) Redemption through the victory of Christ, love, guilt, forgiveness, etc.

The sound of His silence continues to deafen man in his cauldron of pretentious piety. Suffering, both physical and spiritual, is an everywhere event. Who is to blame? Who can do anything about it? The biblical witness, for which we are responsible, calls us once more to bear witness to His presence, even in a fallen universe. He is in Christ reconciling this world unto Himself.

The Manner of His Presence[463]

[463] For the Biblical theology of His presence see J. Danielou, Le Signe du Temple ou de la Presence de Dieu, Paris: Gallimard, 1942; M. Foeyman, La spiritualisation Deuteronomy 1-' idee du temple dons les epitres Pauliniennes, Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 1947, pp. 378-412; W. J. Phythian-Adams, The People and The Presence, London, 1942; E. C. Dweick, The Indwelling God, Historical Study of the Christian Conception of Immanence and Incarnation, London, 1938; On the gloryKabod see Kittel, TWNT, Vol. II, pp. 237-41; G. R. Berry, The Glory of Yahweh and the Temple, JBL, 1937, pp. 115-7; for Shekinah concept see M. J. Lagrance, Le judaisme avant Jesus Christ, p. 446ff, and Yves Congar, The Mystery of the Temple, London: Burnst Oates, E.T., 1962.

The only hope man has in his time of abandonment is the presence of our redeemer God. Evil and silence raise the issue of His presence, not His existence. God manifested His presence by His creative word. He said let be and there was creation. Creation was good, very good, but sin disordered that purpose for which God had created. Neither man nor nature can find fulfillment when God's presence is not only acknowledged but publicly visible. At the time of the Exodus, God's presence was visible in confrontation with the gods of Egypt. His presence always liberates for fulfillment of His purpose, not necessarily ours. As Israel marched in the desert the pillar of clouds was the visibility of His presence, then Moses acted in unbelief. The result was that God withdrew His public visibility and chose to be available only in the holy of holies (Hebrew is root for word or that which supports or holds up everything else in the universe) and available to a special mediator, the high priest. God came closer to creation in the words of the prophets, then one dark nightthe Word came to enlighten the fallen world. His redemptive presence engaged the forces of evil, sin, and suffering. The majesty and mystery of His presence again becomes silent before Pilate, and Pilate marvels. God manifested His redemptive grace in His presence.[464]

[464] G. Philips, La grace des justes de l-'Ancien testament, Ephem. Theo-Lovan, 1947, pp. 521-56; 1948, pp. 23-58.

God's supreme identification with the fallen universe and sinful man was in the incarnation of Jesus, Job's vindicator. As in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament, only a faithful remnant will hear and obey the living word, who was silent, who suffered, and bore the sting of sin and evil in Himself. His resurrection is the shattering of silence, a permanent clue in nature-history for man that God's purpose will prevail.
The return of God's silence to 20th century man is, as it was in the Old Testament, a sign of His judging presence, but the history making resurrection is the source of power to live between the times until all creation fulfills its original purpose. There is hope in times of abandonment, but that hope must not be based in man's Promethean pride, but in the power of His presence.

APPENDIX: ORIGINS OF THE SECULAR CITY

A. Comte: Presuppositions, Scientific Method, and Quantifiability of Total Reality.

Fundamental Theoriesthe law of the three stages, history of human thought can be divided into three stages: (1) Theological, (2) Metaphysical, and (3) Positive.

In the first stage man attempts to explain everything in terms of supernatural causes, progressing from animism to polytheism to monotheism. This stage extends from the most primitive times down through the Middle Ages.

The second stage is characterized by the substitution of abstractions for a personal God or gods. Nature is frequently substituted for God, and fictions such as the social contract, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people appear in the social philosophy of this stage, e.g. 18th century.

The third stage is the age of science when man discards all abstractions and metaphysical concepts and confines himself to the empirical observation of successive events from which he induces Natural Lawsall other stages have been progressing toward the Goal: Establishment, with and of scientific methods, of perfect order and social harmony. New Science of Society necessarySocial Physics, later renamed Sociologyto replace Theology.

Comte's orderfrom Simple to Complex: (1) Math, (2) Astrology, (3) Physics, (4) Chemistry, (5) Biology, (6) Sociologysocial statics, i.e., categories, ideas, customs, institutions; social dynamicsdescribing development of society in terms of the three stagesprogress. Social Statics and Social Dynamics emphasize both order and progress. Positivism consists in substituting study of invariable laws of phenomena for causes, i.e., studying How instead of Why.

A religion necessary to harmonize man's Intelligence and heartby surrendering himself to something outside himself and to which he is necessarily related. Comte proposes Religion of Humanity (on the Way to Secular City Secularism).

From Comte to John Stuart Mill: Logic of the Moral Sciences

Scientific Method to Human and Social Phenomena. Sect. On the logic of the Moral Sciences, in his System of Logic, 1843.

Mill's presuppositions: establishment of natural science of man and of society.

All phenomena of Society are phenomena of Human Nature generated by action of outward circumstances upon masses of human beings, and if, therefore, phenomena of human thought, feeling, and action are subject to fixed laws, the phenomena of society cannot but conform to fixed laws.

The Great Obstacle: Obstacle to establishment of Natural Social Science is lack of sufficient data. (Prediction of history of society?) Difference of certainty is not laws per se but data to which laws are applied; amount of knowledge quite insufficient for prediction, may be most valuable for guidance.

New Science of the Formation of Character Mill called Ethology. This science will discover what makes one person, in a given position, feel or act in one way, another in another. Deductive Science. Mill concludes: Good mantypical 19th century gentlemen.

From Mill to Darwin: Origin and Significance of the Darwinian Model

EvolutionProgressive development in nature of plants and animals from lower stages to higher ones. Modern theories of evolution seek to explain progressive change in purely naturalistic termscauses of change immanent in the process itself rather than outside the process. (See Newness on the Earth, Strauss)

Theories:

Simple to ComplexGreeks

Ceaseless flux and changeLucretius and Heracletus

Recent TheoriesFrom Darwinian model to Big Bang, Steady State Models, and DNA, etc., of Watson, Crick, Monad, Wilson, et al. and the Genetic and Environmental determinism.

APPENDIX: COSMIC DISORDER AND THE ECOLOGICAL CRISES:

Scripture: Psalms 24The Whole Earth Is The Lord'S

Introduction: The O.T. begins by asserting that God created the heavens and the earth. The N.T. ends with the consummation of God's purpose for His universe. All in between reveals that God is the God of both creation and redemption.

Man's relationship to God

The Fall

Man's relationship with himself

(Genesis 3)

Man's relationship with his fellowmen

affected the

Man's relationship with nature

four areas.

The biblical doctrine of reconciliation includes all four categories and not just fallen man, as is often popularly supposed.

God, Creation (Nature), Man and the Dominion Mandate (Genesis 13)

Nature of God

Purpose of nature

The image of God and creation freedom to participate in God's purpose in nature and history (Genesis 1:26).

Biblical account vs. creation myths from the Near East

Place of Creation in Israel's Worshipi.e., in the Psalms

Doctrine of Creation in Jobespecially Chapter s 3341

Creation and evil

Creation and justice

Creation and righteousness

Creation and suffering

Theology of Creation in IsaiahChapter s 4055

The relationship of creation and redemption

The relationship of creation and history

The relationship of nature, history, and God's final purpose for activity

The relationship of God's act and man's scientific technological activity

Christ as Lord of Nature

Miraclesnature

Miraclesseeing, hearing, etc.

Christ and Cosmology

Christ and the CosmosEphesians 1:10; Colossians 1:17

Christ, Redemption and CreationRomans 8:19 ff

Christ and the New Heaven and New EarthIsaiah 6066; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:5

Man as creature and new creationRevelation 21:5; Behold, I am making all things new. Maranatha

Christ, the New Creation, the Dominion Mandate, and Fragmented NatureOur Present Ecological Crisis

Schaeffer'S, Pollution and the Death of Man (Inter-Varsity Press).

Commoner, Barry. The Closing Circle (Knopf Press).

My doctoral thesis. Theology of Creation and The Ecological Crisis with bibliography.

APPENDIX: SOCIAL THEORY AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SIN AND SALVATION: CHRIST, MARX, AND CRITICAL SOCIAL THEORY:

Theologies of Hope, Revolution, and Liberation:
(Neo-Marxism of The Frankfort School of Social Research)
(Spokesmen - G. Lukas, E. Bloch, H. Marcuse, J. Habermas, M. Horkheimer, Mao-Tse-Tung, E. Fromm. et al.)

I. Critical Questions:

Nature of Critical Knowledge, i.e., Dialectical Logic.

Relationship of Theory and Practice

Control and Liberation of Critical Consciousness (i.e., necessary condition for revolutionary social/cultural change

Labor and its relationship to man's Essence

Industrial Technological Society and its impact on Liberation (Basis for non-aggressive, non-repressive society); Vested Interests, Values, and Repression, Domination and Aggression.

II. Methods and Consequences:

Kant's Epistemology

Hegel's Dialectical Method (and Dialectical theory of Society).

Phenomenology, critique of certain types of scientific models, and emphasis of primacy of life-world.

Hermeneutics and Historical interpretation of meaning (Heidegger-Bultmann; Dilthey - Gadamer - Hirsch and the Post-Bultmannians.)

M. Weber's theory of rationalization and its contribution to the development of one-dimensional society.

Adaptation of Freud's psychoanalytic theory as the basis of a radical social theory (esp. Marcuse and Habermasand their philosophy of history and theory of knowledge).

III. Critical Theory, The Individual as agent of liberation, Structure of Communication, and the Nature of Technological Rationality

Habermas-' three types of knowledge: Natural science, cultural science, and critical science.

The great failure in theories of knowledge and sciencetaking account of Interests guiding modes of knowledge.

Theory is not merely intellectual contemplation; it is also practice.

The Party of Eros: Post World War IIRadical Social TheoristsMarcuse, Goodman, Brown, and the new R. C. Left, e.g., Joseph Petulla. Basic assumptions: (1) Common on look on the question of man's alienation and liberation, (2) Nature-history is the arena of man's self-creation and self-redemption.

IV. The Word in a World of Dissident Voices (John 1:1-18)

Data of Doom

Spiritual Renewal or Marx's Creative Destruction

Jesus the Revolutionary

The Enemy of the People (Ebsen)The Truth

New LifeNew Life StylePursuit of the Good Life; LifeDeathThe Resurrection (Romans 6:1 ff; John's Gospel)

SATAN IN A SCIENTIFIC WORLD: RISE AND FALL OF SATAN IN WESTERN CULTURE

For now the devil, that told me I did well, says that this deed is chronicled in hell. Exton in Hamlet.

The idea of Satan and demons is finished. Finished is the theory of the Virgin Birth. Finished is the question of whether Jesus of Nazareth is God's Son or not. Finished is the teaching of the substitutionary atonement, the resurrection, and the ascension. Finished is the belief in the Second Coming. Finished are the miracles and answers to prayer. R. Bultmann, Kerygma and Myth.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters.

Satan is the absolute anti-model. Denis de Rougement in The Devil's Snare.

The demonic is the elevation of something conditional to unconditional significance. Paul Tillich Systematic Theology, Vol. I, p. 140.

To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the most high. Milton, Paradise Lost, I, pp. 39-40.

Look to your feet, for you shall presently be among the snares. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 256.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Satan and The Jobian Drama

The third major participant in the Jobian drama is Satan.[465] But since the scientific revolution in the 17th century and the behavioral-cultural studies revolution in the 19th century, more and more people find belief in a personal evil being difficult to accept. After the developments in the history and comparative religious areas the case against the existence of an ontological Satan grew more secure. Paul clearly declares that we are not contending against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers. (Ephesians 6:12) But such description is very difficult for technologically oriented 20th century man to appreciate. The 19th century produced the Comparative Religion School and the History of Religions school, each of which cast serious doubts on the ontological existence of Satan, principalities and powers, and evil spirits, etc. James G. Frazer'S, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Experimental Science, 12 volumes, MacMillan Co., 1935, and Lynn Thorndike's A History of Magic and Experimental Sciences Volumes, I-VI, MacMillan and Columbia University Press, 1923-41 were and are influential in circles which believe that the revolutionary developments in the sciences preclude the validity of the biblical witness to the existence of supernatural evil beings such as Satan. M. Dibelius, Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus, Gottingen, 1909 was the result of the most radical developments in the history of religion. Fused with R. Bultmann's radical hermeneutical principle, which relegates the biblical data concerning Satanology to the category of myth, though to be sure that is the technical connotation of myth which stems from folklore research and comparative religion, Dibelius-' word removed the demoniac from serious exegetical consideration until the outbreak of irrational evil forces, especially immediately following the II World War. In Heinrich Schlier's inaugural lecture, Machte und Getwalten im Neuen Testament, Theologische Blatter, 1930, we hear the Marburg of Heidegger and Bultmann denounce the objective realities of principalities and powers. Even the old neo-orthodox exorcist, K. Barth, gives token consideration to the Powers in his Church Dogmatics, Vol. III. 3.

[465] For a thorough analysis of the person and role of Satan in Yahweh's adversary see Roland Villeneuve, Bibliographie demoniaque, pp. 647-664; A. Lefevre, Ange ou bete, pp. 13-27; A. Frank-Duquesne, Reflections sur Satan en marge de la tradition Judeo-Chretienne, pp. 179-315; C. G. lung, Symbolik des Geites, 1948, pp. 151-319; A. Lods Les origines de la figure de Satan, ses fonctions a la cour celeste, in Melanges Syriens, for R. Dussaud, Vol. II, Paris, 1939, pp. 649-660; Kittel article, Diabolos, TWNT, Vol. II, pp. 71; and R. S. Kluger, Satan in The Old Testament (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1967.

Between the 19th and 20th century, many in Western Christian civilization rejected the biblical category of evil powers and replaced the biblical explanation with the counter explanation of sociology and psychology, etc. These explanations were satisfactory to many until the most radical outbreak of occult in the history of the world, in the last 25 years. Christianarm for battle!
The near Eastern parallels hardly prove that Satan is unreal, i.e., only a mythological projection of man in his search for a solution to his experience of evil and suffering. The existence of counterfeit ten dollar bills do not prove that there are no genuine bills, but rather that there are also some spurious ones. Note the implications of the following statements concerning shifts in assumptions.
There are three great configurations of basic assumptions in the revolution in Western thought and education: 1) The Graeco-Roman or classical outlook flourished to the 4th century; 2) The triumph of Christianity; the post 4th century replaced the classical outlook by a Christian world-view; 3) A Christian Weltanschauung dominated western European education and civilization until the 17th century rise of modern science inaugurated a third waythe modern mind.
Three basic assumptions of the Christian Weltanschauung are: 1) Ultimate reality focuses in a person; i.e., God; 2) The mechanics of the physical world exceed our comprehension (mechanics and explanatory hypotheses vs. God); 3) The way to salvation lies not in conquering nature but in following the will of God (secular salvation: educational, political and economic messianism). The Renaissance interest revived Hellenistic interest in nature. The second of the above assumptions was challenged by 16th-17th century science. For the first time in 2000 years western man began to look intently at his environment instead of beyond it. Newton caught the excitement perfectlyGod, I think thy thought after thee (quipGod said Let Newton Be and there was light.) Needed: One contemporary Christian Newton!
Three basic assumptions of the scientific outlook are: 1) Reality may be personalbut is less certain and less important than that it is ordered; 2) Man's reason is capable of discerning this order as it manifests itself in the laws of nature; 3) The path to human fulfillment, i.e., redemption or salvation, consists primarily in discovering these laws, utilizing them where this is possible and complying with them where it is not. (Salvation through the Behavioral Sciences and Social Engineering). One of the contemporary problems is the failure of the unity of science movement and the fragmentation of knowledge (cf. C. P. Snow, The Two CulturesThe Humanities and the Sciences.)

Some controlling assumptions of Western secularistic education are: 1) The death of Goda culture coming of age from Nietzsche to Bonhoeffer. The age of secularization and religionless Christianity (see T. S. Eliot, The Idea of a Christian Society, pb; Ernest Koenker, Secular Salvation; E. L. Mascall, The Secularization of Christianity criticism of Robinson's Honest to God; Paul van Buren, The Secular Meaning of the Gospel; Bonhoeffer, Prisoner for God); 2) Ethics after Kant: Morality without God; 3) The secularist reduction of the sacred to a complex of pre-scientific cosmologies, outmoded metaphysical projections, or merely psychological cultural economic phenomena, has been plausible to an increasing number of persons in the contemporary world. The new unbelief, the new Jesuit order to analyze and answer resurgent atheism in its multiple forms, the new cultural status of the unbelieverall stem from the above assumptions. (See Martin Marty, The Infidel, pb. and his Varieties of Unbelief for introductions to this phenomena of the age of secularization.); 4) Witnessing to Christ and His Word: Christian thinking and witnessing is grounded in propositional Revelation 5) Hegel and Historicism: The results of this culminated in the Sociology of Knowledge thesis of Mannheim, et al. Historical, religious, ethical, relativism follows logically from this thesis; 6) Thinking and witnessing in an age which is materialistically oriented. From Science to technology, from technology to cultural materialismtheism and thingsMan and matter, etc. The cultural captivity of the Church! As man finds himself at the end of his 20th century technological tether, he adjudges Satan to be no more than a cultural myth. But. !

Aninism: Biblical and Contemporary

One-half of the contemporary world live in fear of demons. This is very similar to the pre-Mosaic period, as well as later times in Israel. During Israel's wilderness journey, they sacrificed to the Se-'irim (Leviticus 17:1-7), a practice continued in the reign of Jeroboam I in the North (2 Chronicles 11:15), and in the South during Menasses time of rule. The demons might have been symbolized as having a goat's body as is suggested by the Hebrew wordsa-'ir (Isaiah 34:14). On the day of atonement Israel sacrificed to Yahweh and to Azazel (Leviticus 16). He stands opposed to Yahweh as Satan does in Job 12, and the serpent does in Genesis 3. In Deuteronomy 32:17, we are told that the Israelites sacrificed to the Shedim (root sudmeaning mighty one)Psalms 106:37. Deuteronomy 18:9 ff is the classical Old Testament passage against Canaanite occult practices. The LXX was influenced by Greek, i.e., Intertestamental Hellenistic demonology. The Hebrew -elilimthings of nought, or no gods was rendered by demon in the LXXIsaiah 13:21; Isaiah 34:14; Isaiah 43:20; Jeremiah 50:39; Micah 1:8; and Job 30:29,

The Coming of The Accuser

The word Satan means to accuse, to attack or manifest hostility toward a person or thingGen. 17:41; Genesis 49:23; Genesis 50:15; Psalms 55:4; Job 16:9; Job 30:21; and Hosea 9:7 contains mastemahostility or animosity. In Israel there is a more advanced notion than among the Mesopotamian religions, which maintained that Satan was responsible for evil, especially disease. Following Persian influences, A-Lods and Torczyner declare that Satan is a type of secret police. R. Scharf, following the Jungian theory of the origin and nature of symbol, maintains that Satan was originally identified with the angel of Yahweh. But there is no concrete evidence for any of the above notions. Von Rad more accurately describes Satan as an antagonist of Yahweh throughout the scriptures.[466] Yet in classical Hebrew, Satan is not a proper name, but the name of a function. It designates: (1) an adversary in 1 Samuel 29:4; 2 Samuel 19:23; 1 Kings 5:18; 1 Kings 11:14; 1 Kings 11:23; 1 Kings 11:25; Psalms 109:6; (2) angel of Yahweh in Mi. 22:22, 32 as adversary confronting Balaam; (3) the person of Satan the adversaryJob 12; Zechariah 3:1; (4) In a single place it is employed as a proper name without the article1 Chronicles 21:1. Satan incites David to number the Israelites2 Samuel 24:1, thus he is both an accuser and one who initiates to sin. The Philistines called David Satan in 1 Chronicles 5:18; 1 Chronicles 11:14; 1 Chronicles 11:23; 1 Chronicles 11:25. In Job, Chapter s 12, the name Satan with the article indicates an individual already known to the readers. Satan seeks to cause Job to despair and thus destroy his relationship with God. Satan is not only man's enemy, but God's as well. He sought to falsify God's judgment concerning Job. He is the diabolus (source of Devil), the slanderer par excellence.[467]

[466] G. Von Rad, Theo. of O.T., Vol. I, p. 353.

[467] For advanced study see E. Langton, Essentials of Demonology, 1949; Foerster and Schaferdiek, TWNT, article satanas, pp. 151-165; also the articles in TWNT daimon, II, 1ff; echthros, II, pp. 814ff; kategoros, III, pp. 636ff; peira, VI, pp. 24ff; and poneros, VI, pp, 558; H. W. Huppenbauer, Belial in dem Qumrantexten, Theo. Zeitzchrtft, 1959, p. 819; L. Bouyer, Le probleme du mal dens le christianisme antique, Dieu Vivant, 1, 1947, pp. 17-42; for Dead Sea Scrolls see P. Wernberg Moller, The Manual of Discipline, p. 70ff, E.T., 1957; see E. Schweizer's essay in The Background of the New Testament and Its Eschatology, Cambridge University Press, 1956, pp. 482-508.

In Zechariah's fourth vision, Job 3:1-5, Satan appears as the accuser at the right hand of the high priest, Joshua. Here it is not a case of personal sin, but a national one. If the high priest can no longer absolve the people, then the judgment of God's wrath will abide destructively on the nation. Yahweh commanded that Satan be silent and forgave the high priest's guilt. In Job, Satan confronted an individual, in Zechariah he confronted an entire nation endeavoring to destroy God's plan of redemption. Satan is presented as an intelligent creature from Genesis to Revelation.

Belial at Qumran

Satan is generally called Belial in the Qumran literature, especially IQS 3:4:26. God has set two spirits for man, one light, one darkness. The sons of righteousness walk in the light; the sons of wickedness walk in the darkness. Demons or evil spirits are associated with fallen angels and are understood as seducers of men. They are so understood in Pseudepigraphic Literature, but in Rabbinic Literature they are understood primarily as beings who are morally neutral, but cause sickness. The spirit of error, Belial, is the root of all evil in the world of men. In IQH 4:6 Belial is called Satan, in the War Scroll 13:11 and Damascus Document 16:5 Satan is called an angel of enmity (Mal-'ak mastemah), he is called mastema, prince of evil spirits in The Book of Jubilee 17:15-16; 48:2; 48:17; 49:2. In both the Qumran Literature and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs Satan is called Belial. In the War Scroll Satan is spoken of in reference to angels of the dominion of Beliah 1:15 and of spirits of his lot15:11 ff. Angels of destructions (malake hebel) are mentioned in IQS 4:12 and they carry out punishment of evil men.

Gnostic Demiurge

No specie of Gnosticism fails to manifest the Demiurge as a distorted image of Yahweh. The Gnostic concept of Satan shows interaction with Judaism and current popular philosophy, though ultimately deriving its demonology from Persia, Satan being modeled on Ahriman.[468] But the Persian model exemplified an eternal dualism. There is no redemption from that form of dualism, as in the New Testament, e.g. I John.

[468] See Dupont, Gnosis, entire; H. Wolfson, Philosophy of the Church Fathers. Harvard, Vol. I, p. 538ff; R. Me L. Wilson, The Gnostic Problem, London: Mowbray, 1958; B. Reicke, The Disobedient Spirits and Christian Baptism, 1946.

Christ and the Principalities and Powers

Once the supernatural, i.e., paranormal, was removed from western man's interpretative schema, it was apparent that Satan and demons, as well as angels must be removed from objective existence, of course, in the name of the scientific method. Classical Liberal Christology of the 19th century confronted the Gospel records and their detailed description of the influence of demons on human behavior with scepticism. This central issue became immediately apparent, if Jesus is God in human flesh, why does He believe in the objective nature of demons? Mere survey level of awareness makes the theology of the frog in beaker crystal clear. In the laboratory a frog can be made comfortable in a beaker filled with warm water, by turning up the heat gradually, the frog's system adjusts to the heat until the terminal point of death. He thinks that he is comfortable and thus he adjusts to the new increased heat influence until his body systems collapse. This is a paradigm of 19th, 20th century theological adjustment to the necessary rigors of scientific hermeneutics. When supernatural evil beings are removed, supernatural good beings will be removed shortly thereafter. The issue is not one of evidence but of the radical shift in controlling presuppositions. Cultural and psychological, i.e., subjective, explanations were given for the belief in such beings as Satan, demons, and angels.[469]

[469] It is very strange that in our crisis-filled world of the decade of the 70'S that Billy Graham's work on Angels was the best seller in the general field of evangelical religious books, perhaps challenging the documentation of works on Occult and demonology. It is not necessary here to discuss the bene elohim which the LXX renders as the angels of God. Cf. Genesis 6:2-4; Psalms 29:1; Psalms 82:1; Psalms 82:6; Psalms 89:6; Daniel 3:25; 1 Kings 22:19; Zechariah 6:5.

A complete rewriting of the Gospel records would be necessary if the category of demoniac is removed as primitive superstition. As long ago as the work of A. B. Bruce, The Miraculous Element of the Gospel, it was clear that a rejection of demons entailed a rejection of the picture of Christ presented in the Gospels. The Synoptic Gospels do not discuss Satan's origin nor do they set forth the solution as the problem of evil as in IQS Job 3:13. Satan is the great seducer from the temptation narratives to the cross. As the cross comes closer, Satan intensifies his efforts to destroy Jesus of NazarethMatthew 4:7 ff; Matthew 12:34; Matthew 23:23; John 8:44; Romans 7:11; Revelation 12:9; Luke 4:13; Luke 22:53; 1 John 3:8; 20:8-10. Satan comes as in the Prologue of Job to test God's Son. Christ defeats the prince of this world(John 7:31; John 16:11; Revelation 12:9-13), tells us to witness to His victory over sin, Satan, and death. Satan is always seeking to destroy both individual and corporate witness through the New Testament recordsMark 4:15; Matthew 13:39; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Thessalonians 2:18; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; Galatians 5:7; 1 Peter 5:8; and Psalms 22:14. The entire biblical theology[470] of the anti-ChristActs 5:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; 1 Corinthians 7:5; James 4:7; 1 John 3:18; Ephesians 6:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:7 ff; Romans 5:12; Romans 7:7; Hebrews 7:25reveals the presence of an evil person, not merely an abstract evil force, which symbolizes forms of social economic, and political injustice. Again the issue is Christ or Belial? 2 Corinthians 6:15.

[470] Paul employs ho satanas most frequently, but also ho diabolos, ho pierazon, ho poneros; see Foerster, TWNT 7, especially pp. 156ff. All major commentaries reject the biblical category of paranormal evil beings as mythology, e.g. Bultmann, et al. The ultimate issue is the nature of science and the Critical Scientific Historical Method which is my doctorate thesis category at St. Louis Universitycf. a critique of the scientific historical method. The nature of Scientific Epistemology I am examining in another doctoral thesis.

In the New Testament Epistles Satan is mentioned predominantly in connection with his confrontation with the Christian communityRevelation 2:10; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:7; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Peter 1 Thessalonians 13; 2 Corinthians 2:11. The climax in the work of the anti-Christ is his seducing activity2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; Revelation 13:17. Victory over his temptations is grounded in the blood of ChristRevelation 12:11, by putting on the whole armour of GodEphesians 6:11; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Timothy 3:6 ff; 1 Timothy 5:14 ff; Ephesians 4:27; Romans 16:17; Romans 16:20. God's victory is through the community. Satan prevents the community from carrying out its purpose1 Thessalonians 2:18; 2 Corinthians 12:7. For rejection of traditional Rabbinaic interpretation of Satan's works see Philippians 2:25-30 and Romans 1:13; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20. Biblical references to the final destruction of Satan are only two in numberMatt. 25:47 and Revelation 20:10. Paul also speaks of the end of every arche, exousia, and death in the great resurrection narrative1 Corinthians 15:24-26.

The Kingdom of God and the Prince of This World

John uses the designationdiabolos seven times in 1 John 3:10; Satan occurs only once in John 13:27 in reference to Judas Iscariot. Ho proneros occurs in John 17:15 and six times in I John. This description cannot always be distinguished from the neuter to poneros. John's final name for Satan is the archon toy kosmou toutouand appears in John 12:31; John 14:30; and John 16:11. The crucial passage occurs in John 8:44 where Satan's power to determine man's whole being is discussedJohn 6:70; Mark 8:33; John 13:27; and Luke 22:3. The imperative is enclosed in the ontic sayings of JohnJohn 17:15; 1 John 2:13 ff; 1 John 3:8; 1 John 3:12; 1 John 5:18. Christ is the bearer of God's presence, The Kingdom of God and our salvation, according to the scriptures. One of the central challenges to Christian thought, since science supposedly removed the supernatural category and reduced it to a mythical hermeneutical limbo, is the place and significance of The Powers[471] which certainly have a dominant place in New Testament theology.

[471] See H. Berkhoff, Christ and the Powers. Herald Press, E.T., 1962; A. J. Badstra, The Law and the Elements of the World, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans; P. Benoit, La loi et la croix d-'apres Saint PaulRomans 7:7, Job 8:4) Revue Biblique, 1938, pp. 481 509; H. Bietenhard, Die himmlische Welt im Urchristentum und Spatjudentum, 1951; G. B. Caird, Principalities and Powers, Oxford, 1956; I. Huby, Stoicheia dous Bardesane et dons Saint Paul, Biblica, 1934, pp. 365-368; H. Roller, Stoicheion, Glotta, 1955; pp. 161-174; H. B. Kuhn, The Angelology of the Non-canonical Jewish Apocalypses, JBL, 1948, pp. 217-232; E. Langton, The Angel Teaching of the New Testament; S. Lyonnet, L-'histoire du salut selon le chapitre vii de le-'epitre aux Romains, Biblica, 1962, pp. 117-151; L-'epitre aux Colossians (Colossians 2:18) et les mysteres d-'apollon Clorien. Biblica, 1962, pp. 417-435; G. H. C. Macgregor, Principalities and Powers, NTS, 1954-5, pp. 17-28; C. D. Morrison, The Powers that Be, Naperville, 1960; and J. S. Steward, On a Neglected Emphasis in the New Testament Theology, SJT, 1951, pp. 292-301.

The Challenge of the Powers

Paul repeatedly refers to cosmic powers which play a definite role in the cosmic conflict between good and evilRomans 8:38 f; 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 15:24-26; Ephesians 1:20 f; Ephesians 2:1 f; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:15. What is the significance of this biblical category after the first and second scientific revolutions, and especially since the work of the comparative religion school?

Culturally we have witnessed the rise and fall of Satan in our scientific age. But the empirical evidence does not destroy the place of the powers (exousia, TWNT) in interpreting personal and international anomia, which clearly has irrational dimensions which cannot be forced into any a priori model, even in the name of science. After the Einsteinian revolution, nothing can be rejected on a priori grounds, not even the existence of Satan and his demonological cohorts. Paradoxically, our generation has witnessed the most radical occultic outbreak in the history of the world. Yet recorded knowledge doubles every three and one-half years in the technological categories.

Biblically, the powers are structures of fallen creationHe is before all things and in Him all things have their being (Greek synesteken relates to our word system and means to order for fulfilling a purpose) Colossians 1:15-17. The disordering power of sin can be overcome only in Christ, not in the organizing strength of the powers or scientific enterprise. The organizing center of Rome was The Law; the organizing center of the medieval world was the Church; after the scientific revolution in the 17th-18th centuries, the organizing center of western civilization became the scientific method. But after the collapse of the Unity of Science Movement, the western mind had no organizing center, thus cultural pluralism precipitated, of course in the name of freedom. If Christ is the undying center of God's cosmic purpose, what forces unify the state, politics, class social struggles, national interest, public opinion, accepted morality, ideas of decency, humanity, democracy, exploitation, capitalism, socialism, Communism? Fragmentation is everywhere empirically evident, perhaps the organizing powers vs. Christ's organizing power is not an irrelevant mythological category from an ancient and prescientific age when men were guided by irrational superstition. Our cosmic Humpty-Dumpty cannot be restored by any known human contemporary power. Paul is so relevant to our age. He needs to be voiced in our present crisis. He reminded the Galatians (Job 4:1-11) that they formerly lived under world powers., before they learned of Christ and His organizing presence Ephesians 1:10. Redemption in Christ frees us from bondage to the organizing power of the stoicheia. God's preserving mercy still holds life together where men do not know Christ's liberation.

In His resurrection Christ broke the power of the organizing forces which refuse to order life and live around Christ the center, Colossians 2:13-15. The cosmic Christ is the cosmic orderer and re-orderer; He is not merely my personal Savior, though He is that, too. He alone triumphed over the power to give every man and all men regulations for ultimate joy. In Galatians 4:20, Paul employes the verb dogmatizein, rendered to impose regulations. The dogmata in question is expressed in Galatians 4:22. No law can organize life, only the living, risen Lord. Contemporary man finds life to be meaningless.

Loss of Center

All powers but His power can only organize for frustration and despair. Death was dethroned (katergein means to make ineffective, to disconnect) by Him1 Corinthians 15:28, yet only E. Kuber Ross-' Death and Dying seems to stimulate concern for life after death. Why not Him, because of His resurrection? Christ alone reveals the cosmic purpose of GodEphesians 1:10. We live between the already and the not yet in this organizing power. Demons ask Jesus if He had come to torture them before their time?Matthew 8:29. Since Christ's resurrection their time is fulfilled.

Powers, Cultural Crisis, and Christ

Christ not only limited the influence of the powers, He destroyed it. Yet in secularized western civilization the powers have reappeared. But Christ's desacralization of the fallen universe cannot be undone. Yet the powers of a humanistic ideal or personality, of a decent human existence, of public morality, or mammon, eros, and technology, limit and presuppose one another, maintaining a range of tolerable equilibrium. But the balance, as is everywhere evident, is extremely unstable. Nihilistic pragmatism hardly engenders optimism of human solution. Anti-Christian usurpers, propaganda, terror, and the artificial ideologizing of every dimension of life are inseparable concomitants of the rule of the powers since Christ. World view is no longer a word in good repute but neutrality is epistemically impossible. World-views are expressed either implicitly or explicitly. Total scientific objectivity is a myth which can no longer be tolerated either scientifically or theologically. We must recover the organizing center of Christ in our lives, churches, school or continue to be dominated by fragmentations. One of the fundamental factors of Christ's power to fulfill God's purpose is His destruction of the principalities and powers, which since Martin Dibelius-' Die Geisterwelt in Glauben des Paulusa mature product of the history of religions school has been relegated to a nostalgic museum of myth. Schier's effort to voice the marburg of the late Heidegger and Bultmann his Machte und Gewalten un Neuen Testament, which sees no objective reality in the powers, but projections of what some call, with Bultmann, man's self-understanding, must not go under-challenged by followers of Job's vindicator from the powers of sin, evil, suffering, and death.

HOPE IN TIME OF ABANDONMENT: JOB'S JESUS IS LORD OF THE FUTURE

What have you done? Genesis 4:10

I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Genesis 4:14

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;.

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fear,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

Hound of Heaven

That night, in Magdalen College, Oxford, C. S. Lewis says that he was conscious of the steady, unrelenting approach of Him who I so earnestly desired not to meet..
The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation. Surprised by Joy, p. 215.

Hell is oneselfHell is alone, the other figures in it merely projections. There is nothing to escape from and nothing to escape to. One is always alone. T. S. Eliot, The Cocktail Party, p. 342.

There was something rootless about him, as though no town or city was his, no street, no walls, no square of earth his home. William Faulkner, Light in August.

Can contemporary man maintain hope in the time of abandonment, like Job our contemporary? Is there any hope for the trousered ape (C. S. Lewis) in an age of The Abolition of Man? Can we hope in a salvation from elite specialists as the decision makers in Orwell's 1984, especially in light of Marshall McLuhan's definition of a specialist as one who never makes small mistakes while moving towards the grand fallacy? Our whole world is out of joint. The anti-civilizing trend in art, cinema, and literature is all but ubiquitous. We live in a world of Juliet of the Spirits, i.e., there is no discernible difference between illusion and reality. If you are insane then you are a member of the secure establishment; if you are healthy you are an archist. Men as diverse as the German philosopher Ernst Junger, Norman Mailer, and Jean Paul Sartre canonize the criminal and pervert because they both lead an existence outside of normal society. Social anomie abandons a permissive world. Permissiveness is here identified as freedom, but this form of freedom is actuallyinsanity. George Santayana insightfully presents an analysis of our world which expresses, instead of freedom, a many-sided insurrection of the unregenerate natural man. against the regimen of Christendom. The resurgent interest in the manifold mysticism of William Blake is also proof of our value vertigo. Many hold that Blake's nonsense has salvic potentialityactive evil is better than passive good. Golding's Lord of Flies provides no hope for a naval officer to rescue us from the onslaught of savagery. This savagery is empirically available in Ireland, the Middle East, or at the Olympics as a Russian participant attempts to use a specially equipped sword to score without touching the opponent.

Tragic Consequences of Awareness

The words of Burke are truer today than when first uttered, the age of chivalry is gonethat of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Only the truth of heart's imagination prevails. The evil nightmarish symbolism of Wordsworth and Blake prevail, as in Christabel and The Ancient Mariner. The reasoning power in a man is the negation of energy and therefore the source of all evil, according to Blake. His strategy was to cast aside from poetry all that is not inspiration. James Joyce brilliantly and accurately describes the romantic dimension of the 18th revolutionary spirit by contrasting the classical and romantic tempers; the classical frame of reference displayed security and satisfaction and patience, and the romantic temper as being insecure, unsatisfied, impatient. These emotional responses to harsh reality required the coming of Napoleon to reintroduce into France even the vestiges of discipline and control which had been destroyed because all Europe had been following the advise of Blake that the road of excess leads to the palace wisdom. These conditions are exemplified by 20th century culture. The romantic temper always produces a revolutionary milieu. Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth based the arguments against injustice on reason. Yet the revolutionary action came when the power passed from the moderates to the extremists and finally to the mob. The literary trends during the revolutionary 18th century are once more exemplified in the literary trends between 1900-1960. The psychological theories of Freud and Jung dominate Camus, Genet, Gide, Proust, Sartre, Valery in France, and Albee, Eliot, Ginsberg, Miller, Hemingway, Pound in America, and Ireland's Joyce, Beckett, Shaw, and Yeats, to say nothing of the ubiquitous Brecht, Kafka, and Lawrence. The possibilities for political justice as envisioned in William Godwin's Political Justice are strangely present in contemporary neo-Marxian politico-Liberation theology. Since reason and technology have enslaved man, we are told that we must return to the concept of Noble Savage, i.e., back to nature (cf. hippie and various 20th century subcultures). This contempt for rationality is always a symptom of decline, as was recognized by Spengler in his classic the Decline of the West. When culture looks back nostalgically to childhood and becomes preoccupied with the darkness of proto-mysticism, it is in its death-throws. Western culture is certainly past its gleaming autumn and rapidly moving into its winter of discontent. When virtue is sacrificed to convenience, we are always moving in a down hill, self-destructive direction. Now there are times when a whole generation is caught. between two ages, between two modes of life and thus loses the feeling for itself, for the self-evident, for all morals, for being safe and innocent. (Hermann Hesse, Steppenwolf, 1929)

The Reasons Why

Once more Matthew Arnold's words cause us to sit in wonder at his powers to deduce the results of the temper of his age, as he mourns the fact that rigorous teachers seized his youth and purged its faith, and trimmed its fire. Little wonder that his age, like ours, is wandering between two worlds, one dead, the other powerless to be born. Do we have any hope in our 20th century time of abandonment? Ultimately there are two sources of hopeGod or technological man. There is no empirical ground for optimism that man possesses Promethean powers. Yet our age has generally abandoned the only God who can save to the uttermost. The scientific secularistic stance of our age maintains that anyone who believes in Job's Creator-Redeemer is either an escapist, e.g. a moral coward or clown, or else lacks the mental apparatus to challenge those that know. Will we rise up to witness to the viable alternative to atheism, despair, situation ethics, the theatre of the absurd and the conditions rampant in our age of unbelief, i.e., unbelief in a supernatural creator-redeemer in whom we place our trust. Ortega Y. Gasset draws the ultimate conclusion regarding the fatal flaw in relativism, which dominates our age of pluralism, when he says, if truth does not exist, relativism cannot take itself seriously. belief in truth is a deeply-rooted foundation of human life; if we move it, life is converted into an illusion and an absurdity (his Modern Theme).

Believers in the living God do have hope in a time of abandonment; we are not victims of a hostile cosmos. Because George Santayana's insight into our plight is truly appropriate to man in his long day's journey into night, spiritual anguish. cannot be banished by spiritual anarchy. Men have abandoned mimesis, i.e., imitation in the name of freedom, but this merely becomes the mimesis of chaos and anarchy, which inevitably generates social anomie. As believers in the living God revealed in Christ, we must provide a concrete alternative to a cosmic Animal Farm or 1984. Almost sixty years ago, Yeats (1919) expressed our nihilistic potentiality in The Second Coming.

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold: mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of innocence is drowned.

Greece was organized by a world-view, Rome by law, Christendom by Catholicism, modern Europe by science, but by the 20th century the organizing center collapsed with the demise of the unity of science movement. After the Second World War, the results were plain. By the 60'S, riots and revolution shook the last vestiges of the unifying power of the establishment's control of education, industry, and of life style it was visibly at an end. But for God we might actually be the terminal generation. Dostoevski's Rasholnikov is the prototype of our age, as Rashol means dissent. Dissent is never more viable than in an age of widespread dissatisfaction. Man's craving for security causes a vast muteness to hover over his deep despair. But the sin of silence has now been set aside.

Job and Our Present World Weariness

This world weariness is caused by the silence and absence of Job's vindicator. Contemporary disbelief no longer relies on science as it did at the end of the last century. It denies both science and religion. It is no longer a sceptical reaction to miracles. It is passionate unbelief.[472] Man's technological competence reached its zenith July 20, 1976, when the invader from earth set down on the surface of the planet Mars. Yet science cannot still man's longing for a greater hope. The sum of man's negligible atrocities has reached astronomical proportions. Norman Mailer's prototype of a pathological person who murders his wife can hardly save this present age. Murder as a positive act in the development of his personality, as a liberating catharsis can hardly recover man's lost innocence. The moral should be apparent; when man attempts to be God, he descends to the level of the brute. Violence is a mark of Cain. When the environment tolerates violence, violent behavior is apt to happen.[473] Western man seems to be dwelling in a self-annihilating moment-to-moment continuum. Who wants to live in a world shaped by John Osborne, or plunged into lunacy by Harold Pinter or peopled by the hideous strength of a Beckett or Genet?

[472] Albert Comus, La Vie Intellectuelle, 1949.

[473] At a recent meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, 80% of those present concurred with this judgment. Our cultural anomie is adequate evidence.

How can man still hope in the future of a world where the absurd purveyors of avant garde can verbalize with Newspeak in response to Duncan Williams sane advice. At a university lectureship where he was exposing the fact that an extreme ideology is in process of seizing power over our minds, a young student of very avant garde views of moral and literary license responded, Your-'re advocating censorship; you shouldn-'t be allowed to publish it. This is an extreme representation of the myth of a liberal mind and The Crisis of Our Age, the age of the sensate culture.[474] If we do not provide a living alternative to this despair, then we are all guilty of ignorance, frivolity and blindness and the accusing fingers of billions of the unborn are pointed angrily towards us (Kenneth Boulding, Economist, Ecologist). If this sounds a bit reactionary, let us be reminded that we are counseling a blind culture to remain immobile as it stands tottering precariously on the edge of a cosmic cliff, until it gains an organizing perspective. Not just any perspective, but the perspective of the one for whom all reality exists. Job's hope is once more relevant!

[474] Read Pitirim Sorokin's The Crisis of Our Age; and Talcott Parsons and E. A. Shils, eds., Toward a General Theory of Action and weep, then after tearful catharsis rise up and witness to our Hope. See my Seminar-syllabus for Philosophy of Culture and its extended bibliographical references.

An Erroneous Diagnosis

Man has committed an enormous diagnostic error in announcing the premature demise of God. In a world where 1,000 new Christian congregations are started every week, there are also signs of abandonment in some local situations. Death by mediocrity and institutional paralysis caused by the virus known as identifying God's purpose with local vision and aspirations, or lack of same, is generally visible. Dryness and derision are widespread. Those who are both informed concerning the world conditions and without hope in the living God are conjuring up their own form of humanistic aspiration[475] based in magic and mysticism. But the cultural magicians cannot turn stones into bread. Human initiative is encouraged as we are called to rise up oh men of God and be done with lesser things to create the Kingdom of God. This social gospel admonition is futile inducement to service.

[475] Since the rise of the Theologies of Hope and Neo-Marxian Liberation Theology there has been an epidemic of literature on hope. J. Moltmann's Theology of Hope; P. Schutz, Parusie Hoffnung und Prophetie, 1960; E. Block, Das Prinzip Hoffnung; E. Gleg, Nous de I-'esperance; A. Moillot, L-'Epitre de L-'Esperance, 1970; and the absolutely indispensable study of A. Neher's L -exile de la parole, 1970.

Contemporary theology has grossly overstated the silence of God thesis. God has not chosen impotence in order to give man freedom, a freedom to transform himself and his environment into a paradisical Utopia.[476] It does not follow that God is powerless because there is widespread institutional impotence. God's word will not return unto Him in vain. His word is always both creative and revelatory, from Genesis (dabar) to Jesus (logos) the scriptures bear witness to His powerful word. But what are the signs of His presence to 20th century man? Western man can only faintly hear the fading murmur of silence or the subtle voice of silence1 Kings 19:12. Much artificial importance is pressed into the fact that Hebrew has no thematic word for God. There is only the proper name for the purpose of calling upon God. God's name is pronounceable only in dialogue[477] with a view to mutual covenant commitment. The entire group of Death of God theologians have refuted God's existence by the cultural myth that He does not exist, only Vahanian sees this fact clearly. If God does not exist, then it is much ado about nothing. Nothing has ever before in human history generated so many heated debates. Even in Tillich the absence of God has a positive value. He asks for the cause of His absence? Is it our apathy, indifference, callousness, cynicism, our advanced knowledge? The final answer to the question as to whom and what makes God absent is God himself![478]

[476] This fatal plan is visible in all progressive post-Vatican II theology, but especially see I. Mancini, Alayse du language theologique, Paris, 1969, for analysis of the incarnation as God's instrument of silence, absence, and impotence.

[477] So Martin Buber's I-Thou thesis, see my critique in my Seminar-syllabus in Contemporary Continental Theology, also for critique of his reduction of faith to the single category of trust, it is trust but not only trust.

[478] P. Tillich, The Eternal Now, Scribner, 1963, especially pp. 87-9.

Clues of His Absence

No longer does man attribute his catastrophic injustices, misfortunes, famines, and wars to God's wrath; they are attributed to his abandonmentPsalms 30:8; Psalms 104:29; Psalms 143:7. Few there are who interpret the present human condition as resulting from God's judging silence, as Amos and Hosea. The Old Testament reverberates with the anxiety that God might turn away His face. This panic inducing experience is more than psychological angst caused by the hidden face of God, it is a theological problem, stemming from the silence of the Creator-Redeemer when it is interpreted as His abandonment. This is the brilliant and biblical thesis of Neher which he expresses in his L-'exil de la parole. This thesis is corrective to the errors of Harvey Cox, who thinks that God's absence is His granting the power of triumph to man. God triumphed over the fallen universe in our risen, regnant reigning Lord, as God was silent on the cross (Ps. 22:69; Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:1), but verbal in the resurrection event. God speaks under His own conditions, not those imposed by His creature-man. Neither Robinson's Depth nor Tillich's Ultimate Concern can provide clues of His presence.

Much contemporary preaching causes us to remember what the First Book of Samuel declares the word of the Lord was rare in those days. In the history of preaching, every time God's people abandon an authoritative word from God they enter dialogue with those who can neither save nor heal. If God is eclipsed[479] it is not as Sartre asserts in his Being and Nothingness, that God's silence is proof of His non-existence.

[479] M. Buber's critique of the Death of God mentalityThe Eclipse of God. New York: Harper, Torch, 1957.

Some of the real reasons for the eclipse of God are (1) the mediocrity of the church, i.e., being satisfied with being average in the name of the Creator of heaven and earth. Every church that has no higher vision than average brings the average down. Though in this mediocre church there are many who tasted new wine and are God's becomers. Mediocrity manifests itself in the cultural death of God's influence in this world. Churches do not reflect the image of mediocrity from the face of God, but from the face of the archangel of confusion and personal impotence in daily lives. Kierkegaard is surely correct in claiming that mediocrity is the constituent principle of the compact mass of humanity. Personal power has often been relegated to the bureaucratic machine called the Ecumenical council. The crushing dominance of this dead demagog is visible from Africa to Asia. It attacks one specie of sociological and theological conformity as demoniac, while imposing its own value conformity on all who would espouse the laurels of the world's theological au courant. (2) Another sign of God's absence is the lack of excitement and joy in the assembly of the saints. Worship has often become a spectator sport for those who aspire to leave their heads in the vestibule and be fed theological pabulum or psychological aspirins which is supposed to provide them a fleeting high![480] (3) Another sign of this absence is in the western pulpit. On the right, we note legalistic belligerents who often destroy the power of the redeeming mercy of God by their constant projection of God as an angry cosmic tyrant. On the left, we find the hermeneutical rehabilitation of Prometheus who probes deeper and deeper into the meaning of the text, but in the marvelous moment of discovery, he finds that God is both silent and absent. This generation of hermeneutical Prometheuses find God's voice is actually a verbal reflection of their own profound wisdom and learning, which is available only to those with the correct academic credentials. (4) Another sign of God's absence from any institutional churches is (We must not forget that Christ's Church is an empirical institution, but not all empirical religious institutions reflect His Church.) conformity to culture. Historically the church related to culture one of four ways: (1) Parallel to culture, which forever precluded witness; Kierkegaard's parable of The Barn Yard is so appropriate for this lack of response. (2) by being immersed in culture, which meant the loss of identity of the unique purpose of the people of God. (3) It has withdrawal from contact, which stems from the assumption that everything that fallen man has made is per se evil. This monastey mentality has done untold harm in the history of Christian existence. (4) The only possible response to human culture in the context of Christ's CommissionMatthew 28:19-20 is creative confrontation. Every thought and act must be consciously brought under the Lordship of Christ. There are no value free decisions; there is no neutrality. Luther's misunderstanding of the two kingdoms has done irreparable damage to man's awareness of the presence of God in His creation through His Church. By conformity to its cultural context, the church has often come to identify the culture's patterns and norms with God's presenceonly His Word is autonomous in human culture. It sits in judgment on all things human. His Church is God's revolutionary force in a troubled world. To identify a certain dress code, physical appearance, types of music, worship services, songbooks, etc. with God in all probability is a futile identification of God with our cultural values, whether in America, Europe, or the Third World. Only God's autonomous word is transcultural. Only if it is a universal word can it have ultimate authority for all cultural contexts. As long as we continue to listen with our cultural filters, or evaluate with our cultural norms, millions will continue to experience the deafening silence of God and the terrible loneliness produced by His absence.

[480] The hermeneutical presuppositions of both C. Levi Strauss-' Structuralism and Redaktionsgeschichte contribute to the evaporation of even the possibility of trans-cultural meaning. These are major factors for the Silence and Absence of God in major theological seminaries in the western world. Contemporary Homiletical theories and Hermeneutical theories (e.g. Gadamer) both reinforce the unintentional expression of the silence of God. I suspect that it would do us all good to compare the sophistic rhetoricians in Plato's Gorgias with Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Paul on speaking in behalf of the Lord of the universe. Today these great bearers of the Word would be judged as authoritarian personalities.

When the light of the world becomes a darkened light, when the rainbow is reduced to the physical phenomenon, when the Ark of the Covenant is eaten by termites, when the empty tomb is rilled with our hermeneutics, when the Kingdom of God is a political product, when the dethroned King takes refuge in speeches, then the dead of night has won the heart and darkened the eyes. That dead of night is now.[481]

[481] See the brilliant critique of Jacque Ellul, Hope in Time of Abandonment, Sea-bury Press, E.T., 1973, p. 155; and the indispensable work A. Neher, L-'exile de la parole, Paris, 1970.

I Believed, and So I Spoke1 Corinthians 4:13

Pessimism is rationally imperative for those who believe that there is no God and are informed of the present human condition. No less a person than our Secretary of State, H. Kissinger, recently, non-officially, announced that there is no human salvation to the multiplicity of international crises. But believers in Job's Redeemer have hope in this time of abandonment. Job's entire response becomes a paradigm for his contemporaries. The very essence of Job's hope is also expressed by IsaiahTruly, thou art a God who hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour, Isaiah 45:15 and I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him Isaiah 8:17. Neher marvellously meditates on the ramification of God's absence and silence. Hope is the shield against defeat, against God's rejectionfreedom's shield against death. Hope is alive and well in the face of His silence. Our brother in hope, Daniel, brings great comfort to those of us who wait hope. Before Nebuchadnezzar he affirms that Our God. is able to deliver us. and he will deliver us. Then the most awful of all falls on the ears of that tyrant, But if not, in spite of everything, be it known to you, O King, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set upDaniel 3:17-18.

Hope in the Face of Failure

This hope is the very opposite of stoic resignation as of human revolution. The central issue iswho must changeGod or man? Even God said that He repented that He made man. Many stand troubled before such a declaration. But here is hope. The Hebrew word rendered repent is nehoma which means regret, weariness, miscarriage of his expectations, but also consolation, recovery in the face of failure. Likewise, the Hebrew word azav means both abandonment and gathering in. Abandonment and ingathering do not necessitate change in God, or His silence and absence, but the unbreakable relationship grounded in His promises.[482] We live from promise to promise; hope is inseparably linked to abandonment. If we thought that we were not abandoned, would we hope? Yes, hope is imperative for powerful daily existence. When His promise is fulfilled, His presence will be complete and Ezekiel's last word will be actualized, Yahweh Shammah, i.e., Yahweh shall be thereRevelation 2122. We must never confuse hope and the thing hoped for, as many theologians of hope and liberation have done.

[482] See The Theology of Promise theme worked out in my forthcoming biblical theology study2 Corinthians 1:20, All the Promises of God are Yes in Jesussee the appendix after this present essay.

Hope for Saints Without God

Contemporary man aspires to the status of self-imposed sainthood. But to Job's contemporaries creation was God's act of hope. God's creative word must be the only basis for an ethic of freedom, which is actually an ethic of hope.[483] The only hope for saints without God is the absent God who has Shattered His Silence in His ultimate word. When He speaks, He breaks His silence, displays His absence, provides our freedom, which is freedom to please Him, not ourselves. His freedom is His gift to man. This gift enables us to please Him, praise Him, and wait for Him, because in the beginning and the end is hope, His hope in Himself. Prometheus must be bound once more, but not by chains of intolerance or censorship, but by His Presence. The pride of Prometheus can never inherit the promisesHebrews 6:12.

[483] See J. Ellul's The Ethics of Freedom, Eerdmans, E.T., 1976.

S.O.S. - Maranatha[484]

[484] His Presence in His Kingdomsee Bright, The Kingdom of God, pb.; J. Ellul's The Presence of the Kingdom, Seabury Press, and False Presence of the Kingdom, Seabury Press; H. Ridderbos, The Coming Kingdom, Presbyterian Reformed Publishing Co., E.T., 1962; also the eschatology section in his Paul, Eerdmans, E.T., 1976; G. C. Berkouwer, The Return of Christ, Eerdmans, 1972; and James D. Strauss, Apocalyptic Literature, The Seer, The Saviour, and The Saved, College Press, 1972 ed., extensive bibliography on apocalyptic and prophetic literature, pp. 438-457.

APPENDIX: HOPE IN TIME OF ABANDONMENT OR THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE HISTORIOGRAPHICAL REVOLUTION

ANTECEDENTS and CONSEQUENCES: Luke 1:1-4; Acts 1:1 ff

Before the 18th and 19th century Historiographical Revolution it was considered a supreme advantage of the Christian faith to be historically grounded against the myth structures of non-Judaeo Christian religion. After Kant's First Critique, which maintained that all of reality was reducible to thinking and acting, western thought progressively grew more hostile to the classical Christian faith. The Scientific Revolution from Galileo-Newton-Maxwell removed God from the explanatory hypothesis and reduced the Judaeo-Christian God to a God of the gaps. Two of Kant's students, Lessing and Herder, played fundamental roles in the new historiography. Hegel leads directly to Heidegger and the historization of all reality.

Kant's First Critique; Critique of Practical Reason

Lessing's Theological Writings: The Leibnitzian Epistemology of the broad ugly ditch

Herder's Naturalistic Pantheism, Natural Religion, and Immanent god

Hegel's geist as the orderer of all matter; Marx invented geist into natural laws controlling matter, directing it to higher forms of expression.

Marx and Hegel's dialectical view of realitycontra 1.Law of Identity, i.e., 1 = 1

Law of Excluded Middle, i.e., A cannot be both A and non A at the same time. From absolute Time and Space to Space-Time

Law of Contradiction, i.e., A cannot be both true and false at the same time under the same circumstances.

Theory and Practice from Aristotle to Marx: Priority to Theory or Practice?

From Dilthey to Darwin: Erlebnis and the meaning of history

Dilthey to Troeltsch: Analogy of expression and recovery of the past

Overcoming polarity of Subject/Object Logic and Epistemology in 19th century Existentialism and Penomenology, e.g. Husserl Ebner and Buber

Encounter Epistemology and historically mediated data about truth (from Realism to Existential view of Truth)

History, Truth and Encounter

God, Mediated Knowledge and Man

Nietzsche and Freud: Death of God and rejection of objective status of God's existence

From death of God and death of absolutes to death of man Keat's All things are falling apart. the center cannot hold.

Conclusion: The Historiographical Revolution and the Christian Faith in the 20th Century Mad, Mod World

APPENDIX: CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE FUTURE CHRISTLORD OF THE FUTURE

Eschatological Perspectives in the O.T.: Theology of Promise (1 Peter 1:10 ft)

Genesis 3:15

Genesis 12:1 ff. (Promise to Abraham and N.T. interpretationLuke 24:44 f; Acts 26:6-7; Hebrews 6:13-17; Hebrews 11:9 f; Hebrews 11:39-40; Romans 4:13-14; Romans 4:20; (pi) Romans 9:4; Romans 15:8-9; Hebrews 7:6; Hebrews 8:6; Acts 7:2; Acts 7:17; Acts 13:22-23; Acts 13:32-33; Luke 1:69-73; Galatians 3:15-18; Galatians 3:22; Galatians 3:29; Galatians 4:23; Galatians 4:28.

Promise and the Patriarchs

Seed is promised to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob (Genesis 13:14 ff; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:6-7; Genesis 15-16; Genesis 26:3-4; Genesis 28:3-4; Genesis 35:11-12; Genesis 48:3-4.

Persons

A Great NationGenesis 18:18; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 46:3;

Gathered NationsGenesis 28:3; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 48:4; Genesis 17:6; Genesis 17:16;

Kings from Abraham, et al.Genesis 17:6; Genesis 17:16; Genesis 35:11;

Promised LandGenesis 18:18; Genesis 22:17-18; Genesis 26:3-4; Genesis 17:4-5. Paul correctly cites this passage in proof that the Gentile Christians are children of AbrahamRomans 4:11-12; Romans 4:16-18.

Covenant is promise in different form SeedGalatians 3:16-19.

Promise renewed to Israel and David.

IsraelExodus 6:7; Deuteronomy 29:12-13; Exodus 31:16-17; Leviticus 26:44-45; Deuteronomy 4:30-31; Deuteronomy 28:9-10; Exodus 19:5-6 (see 1 Peter 2:5-10); (Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:9-10); Exodus 3:13; Exodus 2:24; Exodus 6:3-5; Exodus 4:31.

House of David2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 22:9. Promise to David parallels that to the patriarchs and to Israel of the exodus. Is the promise to David for all mankind like the promise to Abraham and Israel?

Promise of the Prophets and Psalms

Psalms 89 (Identity of promise made to David, Israel and Abraham).

The nations, the Temple and the PromiseIsaiah 55:1; Isaiah 55:3; Isaiah 56:3-7; Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17; Luke 19:46; Zechariah 14:16-21. Nations going up to Jerusalem to worship at feast of tabernacles.

Promise and the MessiahIsaiah 4055; Isaiah 55:3 1 Kings 2:4; 1 Kings 8:25; 1 Kings 9:5; Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 45:19-25. Promise is for the nationsIsaiah 39-66; Servant as IsraelIsaiah 41:8-10; Isaiah 42:18-19; Isaiah 43:9-10; Isaiah 44:1-3; Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 45:4; Isaiah 48:20; Isaiah 49:3; Romans 9:6-8.

Isaiah 42:1-4, Matthew 12:18-21.

Isaiah 52:13-15, Acts 8:32-33; Light to the nationsIsaiah 49:6.

PromiseKingdom of God (Kingdom and the Messiah)

Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 11:6-9; Ezekiel 34:24-31; Isaiah 4:2-6; Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:27;

Messiah as coming personMatthew 11:3; Matthew 21:9; Matthew 23:39; Luke 7:19-20; Luke 19:38; John 6:14; John 11:27; John 12:13; Acts 19:4; Joel 3:12; Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:14 ff; Obadiah 1:14-16; Amos 3:14;

Day of YahwehMatthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Acts 2:17; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; 2 Peter 3:10-12; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4; Matthew 9:22; Matthew 11:22-24 (See Ladd'S, Jesus and the Kingdom).

Eschatology in Intertestamental Literature.

Eschatology of the Book of Enoch.

Eschatology of the Similitudes

Jewish Eschatology in time of Jesus Christ (see Voltz-' Eschatology).

Parousia in Teaching of our Lord.

Reply to Caiaphas.

Prophecies of Jerusalem's Fall.

Parables.

New Israel.

Goyyim.

II.

N.T. Eschatology Since the 19th Century. Eschatology:

Derived from eschaton, the last things. Used only since 19th century.

God's definitive intervention in history through Christ Jesus.

N.T. generally regards as being deployed in two distinct phases delineated by Christ's first and second coming.

Biblical eschatology may be subdivided into personal (ultimate destiny of the individual), collective (national in O.T., Body, i.e. Church in N.T.), and cosmic (final status of the universe).

Biblical understanding is far more comprehensive in its concern than with judgment, heaven and hell.

be-'aharit hayyamim, at the end of days, i.e., at the conclusion of history, or simply the last times? The question iswhat is the relationship of history to eschatology. (B. Wawter, Apocalyptic: Its Relation to Prophecy, CBQ, 1960, Vol. 22; J. Barr, Biblical Words for Time. London, 1962; O. Cullmann, Christ and Time. Phil. Westminster.

Biblical view of time as linear in sense of implying teleological conception of history, i.e., history of Israel, Church, and the universe, is a history with definable beginning, moving toward a purposeful goal, determined by God's power and providence.

On the other hand, the biblical view of time is not linear if that term implies an evolutionary process.

The End is based upon set of occurrences in the past by which salvation has been essentially accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Future is determined by crucial events of N.T. history involved in the person of Christ. Eschatology is inseparable from Christ and His mission of redemption.

A. Ritschl eliminated the eschatological element from Jesus-' teaching. A. R. claimed that Jesus had preached a purely spiritual invisible Kingdom of God existing in the souls of men. See P. Hefner, Faith and Vitalities of History (NY: Harper, 1966).

J. Weiss, A. R.'S son-in-law, and A. Schweitzer rediscovered the significance of the eschatological features of the Gospel.

A. Schweitzer maintained that Jesus thought himself to be the Messiah (wrongly) and that the Kingdom was imminent. Jesus forced the issue of Kingdom and was crucified (Schweitzer's thoroughgoing eschatology).

C. H. Dodd's reaction comes to be known as realized eschatology. Eschatology has been realized in history in the person of the historical Jesus. Paul and John introduced realized eschatology into N.T. theology, according to Dodd, et al.

Eschatology of Synoptics and in Apostolic preaching.

Pauline EschatologyTwo characteristics which differentiate it from Jewish eschatology and apocalyptic:

He who comes at the end of history is not some unknown but the glorified historical Jesus (Kummel, Promise and Fulfillment).

N.T. eschatology is consistent with and dependent upon O.T. thought for most of its conceptions and imagery. The tension between the already and the not yet. e.g., 2 Peter 3:4. Where now is the promise of his coming? Our fathers have been laid to rest, but yet everything continues exactly as it has always been since the world began.

Conversion of Israeldifficulty in converting Diaspora Jewry.

Apocalyptic Imagery (ref. Synoptic imagery) egs. 1 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 15:23-28; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 2:14; Ephesians 1:22.

Salvation the redemption of our bodyRomans 8:23; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; II Thess. 2:18; Philippians 2:12; 2 Corinthians 6:2 (Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2); Romans 13:11; Ephesians 2:5-8; 2 Timothy 1:9; 2 Timothy 4:18; Titus 3:5.

Parousia, apocalypsis, epiphaneia1 Thessalonians 2:19; 1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:8-9; 1 Corinthians 15:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:7.

Judgment1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8-10. For excellent bibliography on Pauline Eschatology see B. Rigaux, Les Epitres aux Thessaloniciens (Paris, 1956), pp. xxiii xxix; and H. A. A. Kennedy, St. Paul's Conception of the Last Things (London, 1905), and G. Voss, Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, pb).

Jesus and the Future (Eschatology of the Synoptics)

John the Baptist's eschatologyMatthew 3:10 f; Luke 3:10-14.

Matthew 4:14-16; Matthew 10:23; Matthew 13:24-30; Matthew 13:37-40; Matthew 25:1-13; Matthew 27:51-53 (Matthew 24 considered elsewhere).

Lk. Gospel of Salvation Luke 1:69; Luke 1:71; Luke 1:77; Luke 2:30; Luke 3:6; Luke 19:9 savior Luke 1:47, Luke 2:11.

Mark 1:21-27; Mark 2:1, Mark 3:6; Mark 3:11-12; Mark 5:1-17; Mark 7:24-30; Mark 9:14-29. J. M. Robinson, The Problem of History in Mark (London, 1957); E. Best, The Temptation and the Passion. (Cambridge, 1965); Gr. Beasley Murray, Jesus and the Future (NY: MacMillan).

Johannine EschatologyJohn 12:31krisis aspects of Jesus-' ministry. See J. Blank, Krisis: Freiburg, 1964; P. Ricca, Die Eschatologie des Vierten Evangeliums, (Zurich, 1966). The Apocalypse is only prophetic book in N.T. Central theme is eschatological Lordship of the Risen Lord (see my The Seer, Saviour, and the Saved).

The Significance of the Future has been created and revealed to us by Jesus Christ.
III.

Maranatha: The King Is Coming!

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole earth as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

Come, Lord Jesus Revelation 22:20

Christ is coming! The time between His first and last coming (second coming is not a biblical term) is the last days. (Read Matthew 2425; Mark 13; Luke 21; MI Thess.; and the Revelation). Ours is the day of insecurity and prophets on every hand, from every spectrum, from occult practitioners to Edgar Cayce and Jean Dixon, reveal the secrets of the future. What does the Word say regarding these signs?

The Coming Again of Jesus Christ

New Testament terms for the Second Coming.

Personal Presence (Gk. Parousia)denotes both an arrival and consequent presence1 Thessalonians 4:15; Matthew 24:27; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; Matthew 24:38-39; 2 Peter 3:12-13.

Come (Gk. Erchomai)to come from one place to anotherMatthew 24:30; Matthew 25:6-13; Matthew 24:37; Matthew 24:44; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10; Revelation 22:7; Revelation 22:12; Revelation 22:20. Be waiting and watchful.

Arrive (Gk. Heko)in contrast to erchomai it stresses the point of arrivalMatthew 24:14; 2 Peter 3:10; Hebrews 10:37; Revelation 2:15. Hope for Christians and warning to the lost.

Revelation (Gk. Apokalupsis) a manifestation, uncovering and unveilingRomans 2:5; Romans 8:19; 1 Corinthians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Peter 1:13; 1 Peter 4:13; Luke 17:26-30; 1 Peter 1:5. Revelation brings final judgment to the lost and final peace and joy to the saints.

Appearing (Gk. Epiphania)-an appearance or a shining forth2 Thessalonians 2:8; 1 Timothy 6:13-14; 2 Timothy 4:1; 2 Timothy 4:8; Titus 2:12-13.

The Day of Christ: In these last daysJoel 2:28-32;

Acts 2:16-21; Hebrews 1:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 1 Peter 1:20; 1 John 2:18.

Day of the Son of Man Luke 17:24; Luke 17:30.

Day of Judgment Matthew 10:15.

Day of Wrath Romans 2:15.

Day of Our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 5:5; Philippians 1:6.

Day of ChristPhilippians 1:6; Philippians 1:10; Philippians 2:16.

Day of the LordI Thess.

Day of Visitation1 Peter 2:12.

Day of God2 Peter 3:12.

Great DayJude 1:6.

10.

Day of RedemptionEphesians 4:30.

11.

Day of VengeanceIsaiah 61:2.

12.

The Day1 Corinthians 3:13; Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 24:36.

Old Age and World Order.

New Age and New World Order.

Believers live in last days upon which the end of ages are come but the last day, the consummation of the age still lies in the future. (Matthew 13:39-40; Matthew 13:49; Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20; John 6:39; John 6:44; John 6:54; John 12:48; 1 Corinthians 10:11; 2 Timothy 3:1; Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 1:5; 1 Peter 1:20; 2 Peter 3:3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 1:18.)

Two Ages: (1) This age (Houtos ho aion; ho nun aion)-', (2) the Present Age (ho enestos aion) Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:22; Luke 16:8; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 2:8; 1 Corinthians 3:18; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:17; 2 Timothy 4:10; Titus 2:12.

That Age (ho aion ekeinos); The Future Age (ho aion mellon; ho aion erchomenos) Matthew 12:32; Luke 18:30; Luke 20:35; Ephesians 2:7; Hebrews 6:5. (Dalman, Die Worte Jesu, I, pp. 132-46Kosmos never used of future world.)

Christ-centered character of N.T. Eschatology: (1) Resurrection; (2) Judgment. Consequent upon the Parousia of Christ.

The realities of the future life are so vividly and intensely felt to be existent in heaven and from there operative in the believer's life.

AnticipationEphesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:20-22; Ephesians 2:6; Ephesians 3:9-10; Ephesians 6:12.

RealizationPhilippians 2:5-11; Philippians 3:20; Colossians 1:15-17; Colossians 3:2;

Hebrews 1:2-3; Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 3:4; Hebrews 6:5-11; Hebrews 7:13-16; Hebrews 9:14; Hebrews 11:10-16; Hebrews 12:22-23.

The Coming King (Parousia)never applied to Incarnation2 Thessalonians 2:8; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:11-13; I Thess. 6:14only to coming again, i.e., final culmination (First advent/Second advent appears only in Test, of 12 Patriarchs, Test, of Abraham 92:16).

Signs Preceding His Coming

Characteristics

SuddenRev. 22:29; Luke 17:24.

UnexpectedMatthew 24:39; Luke 12:40; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; Revelation 16:15.

Visible by allRevelation 1:7.

Heard by allMatthew 16:27; Mark 13:26; 2 Thessalonians 1:7.

Accompanied by angels and cloudsMatthew 16:27; Matthew 24:30-31; Matthew 25:31-32.

Calamities and afflictions.

Results

Complete work of first comingHebrews 9:28.

Complete salvationHebrews 9:28.

Complete and final separationMatthew 24:37-39.

Kingdom consummated1 Corinthians 15:24; Romans 8:20-21; 2 Peter 3:7.

Defeat of SatanRevelation 12:10-12; Revelation 20:3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

Purpose of God worked out in historyMatthew 12:32; Mark 10:30; Luke 20:34.

Millennium and Signs of the Times: Revelation 20:4; Psalms 56:8; Acts 1:7; Matthew 12:38; Matthew 16:4; Luke 11:29; Mark 8:12; Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21.

A-millennial

Premillennial (Dispensational, e.g. Scofield Reference Bible and Late Great Planet Earth, etc.).

Post-millennial pp. 438-457; and Boettner's Millennium. (See Strauss, Seer, Saviour, and the Saved.)

ProphetsIsaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Daniel, et al.

Kingdom and Church (use of Kingdom and Matthew 16:16 f;Isaiah 4066.)

2. Covenant (Hebrews 89; Jeremiah 31:31 f).

Israel and the Church (Romans 8:9, Romans 8:10; Gal.)

Meaning of Everlasting

Tribulation

Anti-Christ and Man of Sin

Judgment

Resurrection (First and Second)

Heaven and Hell (See Strauss study, esp. pp. 455-457).

Conflict (1) Parousia will come suddenly and unexpectedly; (2) Come heralded by these signs; (3) This generation2 references to 2 different issues. Mark 13:30these things (a. dem. pron. that); Mark 13:32that day or that hour (b. dem. pron. but) Mark 13:28-29 preceding parable. These things and parousia are distinguished.

Question: How muchthese things (Mark 13:20: Luke 21:31) all these things (Matthew 24:33-34; Mark 13:30), all things (Luke 21:32) is intended to cover up what is described in the preceding discourse.

Answer: depends onIs Jesus referring to 2 crises or 1? a. ZahnSigns cover only Matthew 24:4-14. What is related afterwards, viz. the abomination of desolation, great tribulation, false prophets and christs, commotions in the heavens, the sign of the Son of man, all this belongs to the end.

Prediction fulfilled in Jesus-' World or Ours?

Mark 13:15-29 subsume under The End? Compare with Mark 13:4-14Signs.

Problem of existence of Temple and Temple worship as presupposed in last days immediately before the parousia.

The abomination of desolation taken from Deuteronomy 8:13; Deuteronomy 9:27; Deuteronomy 11:31; Deuteronomy 12:11. destruction of cityTemple desecration of templesite by setting up idolatry flight from Judaea

Recurrence of difficulty2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 where the man of sin is represented as sitting in the Temple of God and in Revelation 11:12 where temple of God, and altar and the court which is without the temple and the holy city (between sixth and seventh trumpet).

It is not easy to conceive of preaching the Gospel to all nations as falling within the lifetime of that generation (Matthew 24:13; Romans 1:13; Romans 10:18; Romans 15:19-24; Colossians 1:6; 1 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 4:17.)

Preaching to all nations

Preaching to Gentiles

Jesus-' discourse relates to 2 things:

Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple

End of the world

Signs (negative Mark 13:5-8; Positive Matthew 13:9-13).

Signs of destruction of Jerusalem and the TempleMatthew 13:14-17.

Abomination of Desolation in period preceding the national catastrophe.

Signs of parousiaMatthew 13:24-27.

Attitude toward national crisis is defined in parable of fig tree.

Attitude toward the parousiaMatthew 13:32-37.

Events Preceding Coming Again:

Uniform teaching of Jesus, Peter, PaulIsraelMatthew 23:39; Luke 13:35; Acts 1:6-7; Acts 3:19-21. Seasons of refreshing and Times of restoration of all things dependent on eschatological sending of Christ to Israel and dependent on Israel's repentance, conversion and blotting out of the sins of IsraelRomans 11Israel's unbelief: (1) Now in Israel an election according to grace; (2) Future extensive conversion of IsraelRomans 11:5; Romans 11:25-32.

Coming Anti-Christ

1 John 2:18-22; 1 John 4:3; 2 John 1:7 (also in Synoptics, Paul, and Revelation).

Synopticscoming of false Christs and false prophets (Mark 13:6; Mark 13:22).

Paul's view of Counter Christ: 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12) e.g. Gunkel, Bousset whose works have been reprinted, claim the origin of concept of final struggle between God and great enemyfound in myth of chaos conquered by Marduk, i.e., what had happened at the beginning of the world is transferred to the end (compare with O.T. eg. Ez., Dan., and Zech.) Note also conception of a single enemy in Apoc. Baro. Job 40:1-2 which charges conception of 4 Esdras Plurals false Christs and false prophets, and instigator of the abomination of desolation. (1 John 2:18-22; 2 John 1:7spirit of anti-Christ and the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.) Same expectation in Revelation 13:3; Revelation 13:12-14; Revelation 17:8; Revelation 17:10-17; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12.

Working of Satan: Supernatural character of Satan's activity in the world (the lawless one, the man of sin power signs and wondersto accredit a lie. (gen. pseudous).

Who is the hinderer in 2 Thessalonians 2:7?

The abomination of desolation connected with apostasy via false teaching (Mark 13:22-23; the lawless one and destructive effects of error 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

Evangelion, anti-Christ and Apostasy, Forces of evil gather strength toward the end (Matthew 24:27 ff; Luke 17:24 ff; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Thessalonians 1:7.

Resurrection and the Coming Again of Christ.

History Making Power of the Resurrection:

Resurrection and Coming AgainLuke 20:35; John 6:40; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:13.

Resurrection of the WordEgeireinto awake; Anistanaito raise (Resurrection and the SpiritIsaiah 26:19; Deuteronomy 12:2).

Resurrection a single event. N.T. nowhere teaches, as chiliasm (Millennium) assumes, a resurrection in two stages, one at the coming again of Christians living and dead, and a second one at close of the millennium. Passages supposedly teaching a double resurrection are: Acts 3:19-21; 1 Corinthians 15:23-28; Philippians 3:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12; Revelation 20:1-6 (Acts 3:21must receivea present, not future tense; times of restoration of all things; and seasons of refreshing.)

Two Orders: Two tagmata1 Corinthians 15:23-28.

Two orders not believers and unbelievers

Two orders are Christ and Christians

Possible exclusion and provisional reign? 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (1 Thessalonians 4:14resurrection is guaranteed); 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12.

Resurrection for all believersPhilippians 3:9-11.

Millennial Reign of ChristRevelation 20:1-6.

First resurrection Revelation 19.

Second resurrectionspiritual, physical (compare resurrection in I Thess. and I Cor.) (See Straus bibliography on Resurrection in Orr's Resurrection, College Press reprint and my paper The Resurrection as a History-Making Event.)

Nature of the Resurrection Body1 Corinthians 15:35-58, 1 Corinthians 15:35 with what manner of body do they comeanswer from 1 Corinthians 15:50 ff.

An Appointed Time: Judgment

Day of JudgmentMatthew 7:22; Matthew 10:15; Matthew 24:36; Luke 10:12; Luke 21:34; 1 Corinthians 1:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Timothy 4:8; Revelation 6:17 (e.g. O.T. The Day of Yahweh).

N.T. does not speak of judgment after death, not even Hebrews 9:27-28.

Recognize two groupscondemned and saved (Matthew 25:33-34; John 5:29).

Degree of guiltbased on knowledge of Divine will possessed in life (Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 10:12-15; Luke 12:47-48; John 15:22-24; Romans 2:12; 2 Peter 2:20-22.)

Descriptions of destructioneternal fireMatthew 18:8; Matthew 25:41; Jude 1:7; eternal punishmentMatthew 25:36; eternal destruction2 Thessalonians 1:9; eternal judgmentMark 3:29; Hebrews 6:2; unquenchable fireMatthew 3:12; never-dying wormMark 9:43-48; the smoke of their torment goes up for ever and everRevelation 14:11; tormented day and night forever and foreverRevelation 20:10.

Conditional immortality urged via termsapoleia, perdition; phtora, corruption; olethros, destruction; thanatos, death. Both testaments use these terms in sense of undesirable state of existence, not nonexistence.

Restoration of All Thingsfulfillment of promises to Israel. Apokatastasis ponton only Acts 3:21never used in sense of absolute Universalism, but rather to fulfillment. Universalism as cosmic not every individual, e.g. Romans 5:18; 1 Corinthians 15:22; 1 Corinthians 15:28; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:20.

Kingdom, Life and GloryNew Heaven and New EarthIsaiah 6166; Revelation 1921; 2 Peter 3:6; Romans 8:18-22.

Second chancism and intermediate state between death and the consummation of the Kingdom of God. (1 Peter 3:19-21; 1 Peter 4:6).

Punishment, Person and Place(GehennaMatthew 5:22; Matthew 5:29-30; James 3:6; AbussosLuke 8:31; Romans 10:7; Revelation 9:1-2; Tartaroun2 Peter 2:4; Hades, SheolMatthew 11:23; Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:27-31; 1 Corinthians 15:55; Revelation 1:18; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 13:14; Luke 16:23only passage where concept is localized.

Maranatha

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