A NEW CREATION*

REG CARR

This book tackles head-on over forty separate aspects of life in the Truth, from ecclesial organisation and practice through to personal morality and behaviour. It aims to be of use, as the subtitle implies, to those preparing for baptism as well as to those who have newly put on the saving name of the Lord Jesus. It will be appreciated by many both for its conciseness (no subject is given more than the seven pages allotted to “Money and Materialism”) and for its readability (with its shortish paragraphs, its clear layout, and its judicious use of a variety of typefaces and sizes). Important, too, is the overall balanced and sensible approach adopted by the author in what could easily have descended into a heavily legalistic ‘Thou shalt not’ type of publication: “Our faith is a faith of liberty, not of bondage. One of our greatest privileges, in Christ, is the privilege of setting our own standards, consistent with the example of our Lord, and free from the fear of being judged by another man’s judgement. The matters discussed in this manual are, in many cases, no more than suggestions of lines along which each person must think for himself, coming to his own conclusions. It is my intention to provide guidelines, not edicts”.

In addition to sound comments about the value and role of such things as the Ecclesial Constitution and the Statement of Faith, there is some really useful advice about “Selecting a Bible”, “Christadelphian Magazines”, and “Bible Schools”. Among the more personal topics touched upon are “Birth Control”, “Divorce”, and “Homosexuality”, where the issues are faced up to frankly and sensitively. The notes contain many valuable suggestions for further reading, and the author’s “Final word” gives the flavour of the reliable spiritual tone which is maintained throughout this excellent little book: “Growing up in Christ is not an immediate action, it is a slow process—by stops and starts, most likely—learning obedience, as our Master did, through sufferings. And to those who obey, whether they be wise or simple, God will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, and the trials through which they pass in the ‘fellowship’ of His Son. More and more, step by step, they will learn who Christ truly is, and become more conformed to that image”.

* A New Creation: A manual for new Christadelphians, young Christadelphians, and prospective Christadelphians, by George Booker, published by the author and available from Alethia Books, 2 Blanshard Lane, North Cave, East Yorkshire, HU15 2LN.

EXPLORING THE BIBLE*

JOHN MARSHALL

Whilst it is instructive to read books about the Bible and related subjects, there is no study which yields such instruction and spiritual profit as the study of the Bible itself. It is possible that theories discussed in other books can so divert one’s attention as to weaken faith: but this can never be said of Bible study which tends not only to increase one’s knowledge, but to arouse increasing admiration and wonder for the beauty of the divine purpose revealed therein.

Any book which directs attention and concentration to the Bible itself is worth reading, but a book which sets out to help the reader to discover more quickly treasures of revelation that might remain hidden for years, is doubly worth reading. This is the purpose of brother Harry Whittaker’s Exploring the Bible.

This is a book for young and old: it will interest the sister who normally likes reading an article of The Christadelphian on a Sunday afternoon, or a brother who is still gaining experience in the preparation of addresses.

The book covers a great variety of topics: marking your Bible, marginal references, the use of the Concordance, symbolic language, the study of the context, modem versions of the Bible, Christ in all the Bible.

You may not agree with all that brother Whittaker writes, but you will remain in no doubt as to his impact upon your mind. He will challenge you to ask questions; he will stimulate you into searching for proof of your own point of view if it differs from his. All the time he will keep you mentally alert to the wonders of scripture and reverence for its Creator.

The message of the book is that we must all become more studious readers of the Bible because it is the key to human history and to the life everlasting.

* Exploring the Bible, by H. A. Whittaker. Extracts from a review in The Christadelphian, August 1965, pp. 358-9. Available from Biblia, Mrs M. Whittaker, 23 Thirlmere Avenue, Standish, Wigan, Lanes. WN6 OAT. Price £1.80, plus postage.

FAMILY LIFE IN THE LORD*

MICHAEL ASHTON

That the family is the training ground for ecclesial life is part of the Lord’s gracious provision. It should assist us to live in today’s storm-tossed world as we hope to live in the sunshine of His future kingdom.

For this reason alone, the publication of the book Family Life in the Lord would be a most timely addition to the community’s literature. There is, however, an even more compelling reason why the subject it deals with is particularly important. We are living in unprecedented times. There is hardly a household untouched by the sharp decline in the moral standards of our so-sophisticated twentieth century. It is increasingly difficult for the believer to stand firm on the shifting sands of contemporary amorality. It is doubly difficult to ensure all the family members appreciate the “anchor of the soul” the Truth affords.

Brother Don and Sister Ellen Styles have compiled a book which brings together much of the Brotherhood’s best writings on this subject, linking them with sections based on their own exposition of Scripture and experiences as marriage partners and parents.

One of the book’s great strengths is that because it contains material penned by writers from three continents we can each be aware that our own situation is not unique. The problems we face are also faced by our brethren and sisters throughout the world. There is, however, a complementary statement which is of even greater comfort: the solutions, in that they are Scripturally based, are also of universal value.

It seems apparent that the longer our Lord’s coming is delayed, the more . . . ‘unspeakable’ things will have to be faced and families and ecclesias will need to be strong to meet the challenge to faith such matters create. There is, however, no doubt that the principles enunciated throughout the book will provide much needed guidance in these more serious situations as well as those that are the lot of each one of us.

* Family Life in the Lord, by Don & Ellen Styles. From a review in The Christadelphian, January 1985, pp. 25,26. Obtainable from Mrs R. Turner, 46, Wolds Drive, Key worth, Nottingham, NG12 5GA. Price £4.50, plus postage.

THE LIFE OF ROBERT ROBERTS*

REG CARR

For those of us who share Robert Robert’s religious faith, and who have cause to be personally grateful for the part he played in promoting and guiding the affairs of an earlier generation of Christadelphians, the life story of the first Editor of The Christadelphian magazine represents a topic of special relevance. His own biography is closely bound up with the story of our own spiritual heritage. To follow the life of Robert Roberts is essentially to relive the history of much of the development, under the guiding providential hand of God, of that system of belief now known familiarly, and affectionately, amongst Christadelphians as ‘the Truth’.

For these reasons alone this book has been valued by a wide circle of readers. And if the approach of the compilers is largely uncritical and often unashamedly partisan towards its subject, the book is still not by any means a volume of mere hero-worship. The book was prepared as a means both of introducing a new generation of Christadelphians to a heritage of which many are unaware, and also of drawing important lessons from the personal example of one who showed such determination and tenacity in holding to the Truth “in its simplicity and beauty”. And if the volume inevitably covers much of the same ground as Robert Roberts’s autobiography (My Days and My Ways, 1917) and the late Brother Islip Collyer’s Robert Roberts: a study of life and character (1948), it nevertheless makes an additional contribution to our appreciation of the subject by its pictorial and documentary approach. For the book not only brings together, from a variety of printed sources, much scattered material long since out of print, but also reproduces, some for the first time in published form, many contemporary photographs and manuscripts from private collections. These all combine with the text to provide fascinating insights into both the private and public worlds of a Victorian ‘man of God’.

But most helpful of all, and perhaps most valuable as far as modern readers are concerned, is the section which lists the many important publications produced by Brother Roberts, which he has left as a legacy to those who would follow in his faith. The list occupies sixteen pages, and is most helpfully arranged in date order of publication. The informative device of reproducing the covers or title pages of the items listed means that, right to the last, this little book succeeds in making its own original contribution to the worthwhile reconsideration of a life dedicated to the service of God.

* The Life of Robert Roberts (Christadelphian Scripture Study Service, South Australia, 1983). Adapted from a review in The Testimony, December 1984, p. 386. Regrettably this book is out of print. Use The Testimony Books Wanted and For Sale Section to obtain second-hand copies.

FREEDOM IN CHRIST*

JOHN MARSHALL

However enthusiastically we may join in ecclesial activities, however busily we may occupy ourselves at campaigns, Bible Exhibitions and the like, we are all the time conscious, especially the young, that “The world is too much with us” weakening our hold on the life of the spirit.

Brother H. A. Twelves, the author of Freedom in Christ, discusses the nature of this freedom and the ways it has to be exercised in a world which provides so many seemingly harmless pleasures. He states quite clearly what he is attempting to do: “Our aim will be practical. After laying Scriptural foundations we shall consider our freedom in relation to such subjects as work and leisure, money and gambling, films, radio and television, newspapers, and light reading, sport, smoking, politics and time itself.

Throughout the book the emphasis is on putting principles into practice and developing a spiritual attitude of mind that will make it easier to face the temptations of some of the pleasures of the world that are not as innocuous as they seem. Our lack of discussion, and even silence on some of the topics discussed in this book, tends to lead some to think that providing one is moderate in the enjoyment of the pleasures of the world there is no harm in our exercise of our freedom in Christ. This book will be a corrective to such an attitude of mind.

The author shrinks from a plain “Yes” or “No” on these issues, although, as he says, he expresses “an occasional negative judgment”. But his presentation of the principles is so clear that there can be little doubt of what the practice should be.

Most of the subjects discussed are of things that can have an insidious influence on our lives, and every brother and sister faces the problem of how to meet their challenge to our freedom in our own lives and in the lives of our children.

We are indebted to brother Twelves for placing before us thoughtful and searching arguments for using our freedom in Christ to his honour and glory. This book is particularly suitable for candidates preparing for baptism and for those who have recently been baptized.

* Freedom in Christ, by H. A. Twelves. From a review in The Christadelphian, June 1968, pp. 265-6. Obtainable from The Christadelphian Office. Price £2.75, plus postage.

THE FIRST-CENTURY ECCLESIA *

L. G. SARGENT

Brother James Norris has carried out [this study] by a careful examination of the direct and incidental evidence of Acts and the Epistles, supplemented by wide reading in works of scholarship, and extended to take in the evidence of writers in the age immediately following the Apostles. The effect is to show how utterly the Church in the second and third centuries and onwards departed from the early principles of organisation. But it is also to show to what an extent from the start responsibility rested in the ecclesia.

As the gospel spread beyond Judea so it became necessary to constitute ecclesias to function without direct apostolic authority . . . so the way was prepared for a day when the apostles would have gone and the Holy Spirit have been withdrawn.

For this reason the early church can be a guide for our own times. Between development then and ecclesial development in the nineteenth century there is a certain parallel, though necessarily not an exact one. The question for us is how the products of the two developments compare.

Broadly, the results of the investigation are reassuring. The principles of organisation today are sound so long as they are applied in the spirit which the apostles upheld. But as brother Norris examines step by step the functioning of the early ecclesias, the officers and workers and their various gifts, the conduct of meetings for worship, for preaching and for business, and the way in which apostolic insight was applied to ecclesial experiences and errors, he provides much food for thought and calls for much self-examination.

That such a book should be read by all who hold office in the ecclesia should go without saying: but it can also be said with conviction that it should be read by everyone else. The forms and the accustomed phrases of ecclesial life are here put to the test of careful scrutiny . . . But far more important than criticism in points of detail is brother Norris’s insistence—as Dr Thomas and brother Roberts insisted before him—that forms are only a mechanism and all depends on the spirit with which they are worked . . . Nothing could make plainer than this study that the life of an ecclesia must depend on the spiritual level of the whole body of its brethren and sisters; and this book, rightly used, should be a valuable aid to raising that level.

* The First-Century Ecclesia: A study in the earliest Christian organisation and development, by J. P. Norris. Extracts from a review in The Christadelphian, November 1951, pp. 332-4. Regrettably this book is out of print. Use The Testimony Books Wanted and For Sale section to obtain second-hand copies.