RELIGION

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30811, 24 July 1965, Page 4

RELIGION

The Mind Of St. Paul. By William Barclay. Fontana Books. 192 pp. Paperback. Dr. William Barclay, Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism at Glasgow University, is both a prolific and popular interpreter of Scripture. Few scholars have his gift of lucidity allied to a high degree of scholarship. For many years his page article in a weekly journal, probably the most widely read religious journal in the Commonwealth, has attracted an immense readership. The book under review is a popular and profound book —it is wrong to think that the profound is beyond the average reader: in this instance the two terms interlock in a study of “The Mind of St. Paul” as understood and recorded in the only place where Paul emerges into world history, the New Testament. It is amazing how ] this Apostle of Jesus Christ who lived 2000 years ago still holds the attention of thinking men. Professor Barclay makes it clear how Paul was the human and unique channel through which Christianity went out to all the world. A man of two worlds, the Hebrew and the Greek. Paul was peculiarly fitted to interpret both and to show their relevance within the sphere of Christianity. In this amazingly comprehensive study are two subjects of very great importance, namely, Paul’s conception of what Christ has done for man and his conception of the Second Coming of Christ. In the first. Paul uses metaphors that stand out as magnificent word pictures: to ponder on them is to get at the heart of Paul’s theology, and his theology was a burning passion in his heart. Here the ordinary reader will be able to grasp the great essentials of the Christian faith upon which Christian life must be based. The Second Coming of Christ, is a subject that interests ail and puzzles many. There is no doubt that Paul expected the imminent return of Christ: the New Testament is full of it. When and where and how are still debated. Professor Barclay’s conclusion is sound: “the fact of the Second Coming we must accept: of the method, the

date, the time of it we are forbidden to speculate. The great value of the Second Caming is that it guarantees that history is going somewhere ... It is a consummation, a final triumph." This study, so lucid and so firmly based on scholarship, [will surely beget a wide readership. Miracles. By C. S. Lewis. Fontana Books. 185 pp. Paperhack. This deeply interesting book on miracles is not a popular description on matters that are really beyond our understanding, but is a profound work based on sound scholarship and presented in the fascinating mode so well known to all readers of the work of a well-known writer. The book first appeared in 1947 and Is now in its fifth paperback edition. Professor Lewis bases his theme on the miracles of the New Testament and argues cogently for their verity and acceptance. God has always been a mystery to man, yei His reality has been accepted, though not Without wide gaps in theory and belief. Miracles are commonplace today, but many people, scholars and ordinary people, would hesitate to relate them to any action of God. The author of this book holds that all miracles must be related to God and philosophical as well as religious grounds he presents a reasoned case for their acceptance-