Book Talk

[Page 174]

     Leroy Garrett was in Saint Louis between planes a few weeks ago and Nell and I drove out to the air terminal to have luncheon with him. He mentioned that he had brought along the book Teeth on Edge, by Robert Fife, and was reading it with a great deal of interest. He was happy that it was in print and so am I. The book deals with the impact of slavery upon congregations, and it presents interesting material found nowhere else. It is a Baker Book House publication in a paperback edition, and it sells for only $1.95 per copy. Pat Boone's book A New Song is still being read by a lot of folk who are intrigued by the experience which he relates in the volume, and which he testifies changed his life. Those who believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit for our day and those who do not, all read this volume with a lot of interest. It is a publication of Creation House, and is priced at $4.95 per copy.

     The other day I was visiting in the home of a good friend and brother who is a farmer and hog raiser. We got to talking about books that had made an impact upon our lives, and he brought up the volumes by Elton Trueblood. He went and got a copy of The Incendiary Fellowship, and I could see that it was well marked up and underlined. I noted that he had underscored these words: "It is clearly a neat device for people to hire someone to be their minister, thus relieving all of the ordinary members of ministerial responsibilities." We can all be glad that Harper and Row brought out this $2.50 volume for us.

     On my way to Houston I slipped a copy of the newest little book by Francis A. Schaeffer in my pocket to read on the plane. It is called The Church Before the Watching World. Since I read about everything that Schaeffer writes I was anxious to get into this 104 page paperback, and I was not disappointed. He develops a rather clever approach on "Circles and Cliffs" to point out dangers on both sides of issues. I read with interest his statements about unity in diversity. The book is an Inter-Varsity publication, for only $1.25.

     While talking about books, let me mention What Is Human?, which is a study of three views of man: humanist, existential and Christian, by T. M. Kitwood, a Cambridge graduate, now teaching chemistry at Busoga College, Jinia, Uganda. If you are a college student and "bugged" by some of the modern approaches to the question of identity, you need to "plug in" on this one. It is about as fair a treatment of the subject as I have ever read. It also is an Inter-Varsity Press production, and costs only $1.50 per copy.