THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 4

THE NEW TESTAMENT.

BOOKS FOE THEOLOGIANS. ■"The Gospel of St. John.” By the Bov fd TeU MearS ' Loncion: Jolm Murray, (7a "The Reign of. God." By Sir - FrnnrU Younghusband, London; John Murray (5* " The Life, of Our Lord" By Reclnnld 6d on net.) y ' ° nd ° n: G - BbU «*“d Sonsf“(3s “The Fishermen’s Saint.’’ By Sir Wilfred LtT (2s net°“ d °“ : H ° dder an<! Stou^to^

Thf Rev. Edward Mears is Warden of the Brotherhood of St. Paul and Rector of Little Bardheld, Essex It has been Ins custom to make a study of John’s Gospel in Greek, an essential portion of tire reading done by ordination students Bardfi P w’ 0t H erh i 0 I d ° f S V PauI at Li ttlc m h, i- He takes up the position that d i sc ?, ursea which ar e the unique feature of the Gospel are to a large extent the composition of the Evangelist woven round actual utterances of our L-ord quite in accordance with the custom religious teachers of that day; (hi t|ie boot; written by a persona) dishm P n Chrlst ’, a Ol John the Apostle, a younger John of Jerusalem; and (c) the value of this Gospel for the Church 1S almost inestimable. Une wonders at a book of this type on the kourth Gospel. Yet it has come into being under the conditions of actual work. It is prepared not to h! ‘Z 10 eniß i o an academic character, but to make'clear to members of a class of men preparing for ordination the meanwlnoh n< hn f H 1C t e 0 f t lC Gos P el - Questions had . to . Le answered, difficulties winch required to be met in the course of r Instruction, n,re faced’. ■ LLore is a lack of smoothness about the ‘ r ' t ™ c ', u ? tlon f which makes it somewhat unplerfsing to read At the same time, bearing in mind the people to whom, and the purpose for which, the lectures were i prepared, this disjointed style has its advantages in that the essential points I are made to stand out clearly. Thus the reader who ls not . by habit a student in tne ordinary sense, is able to see clearly what are the points in dispute and to I sum up the arguments which Mr Mears adduces in support of his view of things, ror this reason we are able to commend the book to those readers who wish to ha Y e > n succinct and easily comprehensible form the critical position taken by students, of the Fourth Gospel at the present time. Mr Mears is, we think, fair in his statement though some of his contentions are curious, as for example his idea that modern Continental professors make

up their minds from certain infallible an dUaen proceed to establish their case by third degree methods. * * *

Sir Francis Younghusband is well to a Brest number of readers the World over. He has no small number of books to his credit, and some of them are 2s wil SP? etber .this one be4e us will add to his lustre is an open cues* £ “The Reign of God ” is a drSma£ which he attempts to communicate to his readers the/ Spirit” of S we fA i th ® w °rd readers” advisedly, for. while Sir Francis trusts that the nlav minf« e h ad S lited Particular menta, he has written it with a view to its being read rather than acted. To use his own words: “It is only occasionwould be possible to produce such a play, whereas it might freauentlv by prt vate. but also by expert readers in imbibe play comprises five acts, with 10 scenes in all, and an epilogue. Beginninir with a description, of the® way in® whi£f Jesus becomes aware of the heavenly vision the play describes how the light spreads, the shadows begin to fall Ind the darkness takes control, and it’ ends with an act of one scene which depicts the joy among the disciples when it is main emphasis has been nut on the Baptism rather than the Crucifixion because !t was in the solemn moment by Derfpr-?imf n th . at Jeeus touched absolute a / ct ßs . m ,? st mtimately in tb( :. ? oly Spirit which ani,the. W°rld.” Sir Francis Younghusband believes that the phrase “the Kingdom of God is. merely a name for the vision all creation has of better TZ \ C -°T- JesUß , ia the forerunner In,, higher race of men, fashioned more and more , m the likeness of God, SrT k “ d process of creating under the inspiration of the Creative ° f tb \ Wo^, d - e Thoße who read this, paragraph will form their own conelusions as to whether they like or dislike such a view of Jesus. ' The chronthe. life of Christ, is wrested ?? e *i7 s , everely to meet the exigencies of the drama, and in some cases there are manifest distortions of acta. Most of the speeches are in the actual words of the gospela. • ,

*** 1 . ■ f Jjif eof our Lord ”is a presentation ot a complete consecutive life of Christ m chronological sequence and compiled entirely from the New Testament in the very words of the four Gospels. Where any episode is narrated by more than one evangelist the fullest account is taken and worked into it at appropriate paints are such other passages as give additional information. The work seems to us to be well done, and we commend it to our readers with chrdiality. In a SO°d—and short—introduction Sir Wilfred Grenfell says: " Youth, in the bustle _oi these-, days, needs increasingly just what this book attempts to afford, it.has been compiled by a layman, of a brilliant mind, after several years of work, with the single object of meeting that need. If in the slightest degree it succeeds in this, it will find a place not merely in every wise man's library, but on every earnest man’s table. It will certainly find a place upon mine.” We sincerely hope that. Mr Ponsonby will find a big sale for this book. It deserves it.

Sir Wilfred Grenfell is rector of St. Andrews (Scotland) University, arid his factorial address in November, 1920, was entitled “ The Fishermen’s Saint.” The address works in much personal experience as a doctor in Labrador, gives shrewd advice upon the essentials of education, and some illuminating comment upon modern science and thought. It reads well, and makes the reader wish he had heard it delivered. It is well worth consideration. G. H. J.