APOLOGETICS
Evangelical Ministries to New Religions (EMNR), Watchman Fellowship, and Beeson Divinity School have collaborated to present "Modern Trends and the Growth of the Cults" scheduled for September 19-21, 1997 at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Main speakers include Norman Geisler, Wayne House, and Ronald Enroth. For more details see <http://apologia.org> or email <EMNR@aol.com>.
The Journal of Christian Apologetics, a new bi-annual from Wayne House and the Michigan Theological Seminary, is scheduled for its first publication later this month. The premier issue will include articles by House, Craig Hazen, Gary Habermas, Greg Koukl, Frank Beckwith and others. Topics include: "Science and the Origin of New Religious Movements in the 19th Century," "When and How to Deal with Heretics," "The Use of Biblical Archaeology in Apologetics," "The Witness of the Holy Spirit in Apologetics," and a "Philosophical Analysis of New Age Thinking." To get your subscription send $12 payable to MTS, 41550 E. Ann Arbor Trail, Plymouth MI 48170. More detail can be found at <http://mts.edu/> or e-mail <mts@mich.com>.
BIBLICAL CRITICISM
"The Impact of Postmodern Thinking on Evangelical Hermeneutics" by Robertson McQuilkin and Bradford Mullen -- the authors seek to demonstrate the "profound" influence of postmodernism. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar '97 (behind schedule), p69.
What Is Postmodern Biblical Criticism? by A.K.M. Adam (Fortress, 1995) -- reviewer D.A. Carson finds it "the best introduction to the subject now available." Still, he offers five criticisms:
* Adam attempts "no evenhanded evaluation of postmodern epistemology,"
* he "offers no word on how postmodern Biblical criticism might be affected if there is a sovereign / transcendent and omniscient God,"
*Adam's brief treatment of science is "woefully inadequate,"
* he "denies that what he is advocating descends to absolute relativism," and last,
* "Adam resorts to the absolute antithesis I have found in every one of the hundreds of books I have read by postmodernists," i.e., either human knowledge is exhaustive or it is relative with no alternative models considered.
Good stuff. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar '97 (behind schedule), p146.
KUBLER-ROSS, ELISABETH
"Expert on Death Faces Her Own Death" by Don Lattin -- awash in bitterness after being incapacitated by a series of strokes, Kubler-Ross, world-famous for her work on death and dying, has changed her perspective from what was strictly medical and psychological to the world of the paranormal. "[I]n the 1970s, Kubler-Ross became involved with a controversial Southern California channeler and began to speak of her conversations with spirit guides from beyond. ...While her current spiritual vision contains more gloom and doom, Kubler-Ross continues to believe in the afterlife and spirit guides, whom she affectionately calls 'my spooks.'" San Francisco Chronicle, May 31 '97, pA1, <http://www.sfgate.com>.
MAILER, NORMAN
"He Is Finished" by James Wood -- can you stand to hear more about Mailer's awful work? (Mailer's Christ says the former gospel writers were motivated by selfish ambition and that his account is the more accurate.) This cover story is so hilarious that I just have to share it with you. Subtitled "Mailer Nails Himself," the lengthy review of his book, The Gospel According to the Son (Random House, 1997), really rips. Wood cries, "Mailer is not a novelist here; he is a very late, very bad pseudepigraphist." Ranging widely, Wood even covers an interview in which "Mailer seems to think that, in effect, he became a Christian while writing this novel." The reviewer does not. A well written piece. New Republic, May 12 '97, p35.
NEW AGE MOVEMENT
"Transpersonal Psychology: Models of Spiritual Awakening" by Dan Merkur -- a joint review of seven titles from 1990 to 1995. Of more value than a list of those titles is the synthesis here. While the work of Ken Wilber, "the most influential transpersonal theorist," is not included in the list, Merkur makes the comparison. Includes a significant bibliography. Religious Studies Review, Apr '97 (behind schedule), p141.
NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
Cults in Context: Readings in the Study of New Religious Movements, Lorne L. Dawson, ed. (Canadian Scholar's Press, 1996) -- the brief book note explains the anthology is comprised of 21 readings and is designed to be an introductory textbook from a sociological perspective. Groups covered include: the Unification Church, the Rajneesh movement, and the Peoples Temple. Topics covered are: Nature and Study of Cults, Historical and Sociological Context of Cults, Who Joins NRMs and Why, Coercive Conversion Controversy, Satanism Scare, Violence and NRMs, and the Cultural Significance of NRMs. Authors include William Sims Bainbridge, James D. Hunter, James T. Richardson, and Rodney Stark. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Mar '97 (behind schedule), p138.
NUMEROLOGY
"Seek and Ye Shall Find" by Sharon Begley -- a report on The Bible Code, by Michael Drosnin (Simon & Schuster, 1997). It "argues that a highly complex code in the Hebrew Bible, which depends on the precise positions of all 304,805 letters in the text, 'reveals events that took place thousands of years after the Bible was written.'" Newsweek, Jun 9 '97, p66 (also in Time, Jun 9 '97, p56).
"The Christian Use of Jewish Numerology" by William Varner -- briefly reviews the history of the "Cabala" (the various spellings make research on the subject tricky) and its early use in both Jewish and Christian circles. The discussion includes: the book Zohar, and the dispute over its authorship; the Christian Cabala movement of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola; and the influence of John Reuchlin and Paul Ricci. This is followed by a discussion of early Cabalistic interpretations by Christians regarding the doctrines of God's transcendence and/or immanence. Here Varner introduces Cabalistic emanations teaching, gematria, and how some early Christians used the Cabala to defend the doctrine of the Trinity. The second half of the article is titled "Christian Cabalists Today?" and briefly covers the related work of E. W. Bullinger and Ivan Panin. The similar errors of Harold Camping are only mentioned in a footnote. Sources mentioned include Robert Morey's series of articles on "Bible Numerics" in The Truth Seeker (his own publication) which began in Nov '96 and the book Biblical Numerology, by John Davis (Baker, 1968). Very significant work condensed into just a dozen pages. I wish it had greater length and considered the current aberrations in the church. That valuable work has been left for someone else (but then, I haven't seen Morey's efforts). Master's Seminary Journal, Spr '97, p47.
RELIGIOUS PLURALISM
"Is There Common Ground Among Religions?" by Terry C. Muck -- an excellent example of introducing a question to which the average person expects a black-and-white answer only to be teased into a technical discussion that justifies the further introduction of the necessary grey area surrounding issues involved. In all, masterfully done. Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Mar '97 (behind schedule), p99.
SCIENTOLOGY
"Giving Cults A Good Name" -- the following [in brackets] comes verbatim: [Shortly after the Heaven's Gate mass suicide, the Cult Awareness Network, which has long battled cults, sent reporters a list of "experts" on the subject. One of them, J. Gordon Melton, is considered by many cult foes to be an apologist for the groups. Melton, who has written extensively on cults and religions, has come out in defense of Aum, the Japanese cult linked to the gassing of a Tokyo subway in March 1995 that killed twelve people, and the Church of Scientology has asked him to testify in court on its behalf. What's more, Melton, whom CAN identified as "executive director, Institute for the Study of American Religions, University of California, Santa Barbara," is not a professor at the school; he works in the library.
Why would CAN list someone known to be a sympathetic to these groups? "We have a different philosophy here now," says Isadore Chait, CAN's new director. "We're an information source on religions." He adds that Melton has written "the authoritative book on religions in America."
Chait was appointed after CAN lost a recent lawsuit, went bankrupt, and saw its name, logo, and hot line bought by a Scientologist.
"We figured this would happen," says a source. "The foxes are guarding the henhouse."] Brief news item. Esquire, Jun '97, p20. (Special thanks to Marty Butz for this item.)
TRINITY, DOCTRINE OF THE
The Trinity in Asian Perspective, by Jung Young Lee (Abingdon Press, 1996) -- a review of the "fifth book that Lee has written on the I Ching and yin-yang thought." From the description Lee's work will be highly controversial for its challenges to Western thinking and claim of Eastern representation. Missiology, Apr '97 (behind schedule), p221 (also see Religious Studies Review, Apr '97, p155).
WORLD RELIGIONS
"Christianity and the Religions in the History of the Church" by James F. Lewis -- begins with the Apostolic Era and moves on through the Patristic, the Barbarian Age, 13th-century Christianity in the Far East, Reformation times in Europe, and on to the modern missions movement in the first half of the 19th century. International Journal of Frontier Missions, Jan/Mar '97 (behind schedule), p39.
"One's Future in Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam" by Daniel P. Fuller -- the former dean of the Pasadena seminary which shares his name contrasts the biblical promise of heaven with "the prospects for happiness that one would have as an adherent of each of the three great non-Christian world religions." International Journal of Frontier Missions, Jan/Mar '97 (behind schedule), p15.
