How often does the preacher long for a biographical reference work, with entries quite brief and accurate, which he/she can use to refer to great 20th century Christians and their thought and works as illustration of the sermon theme? The longing for such a reference work is over. The Twentieth Century Dictionary of Christian Biography, 439pp, hardback, General Editor, J. D. Douglas, Paternoster Press, Carlisle, UK, £2.99 will meet all ordinary needs.
J. D. Douglas excels as an editor of Christian reference works. As editor of The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church in 1974, for example, he provided a dictionary noted for its comprehensiveness, its catholicity, and for in places improving the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, and complementing it in others.
In the Dictionary of Christian Biography, the lives, the thought and the work of over 700 men and women who have influenced the course of modern church history are covered. Lay persons, and clerics/missionaries/pastors/evangelists/musicians/authors/artists/ statesmen/educators, administrators and great leaders are included in this work.
The over 130 contributors are generally conservative scholars from all parts of the world. No claim is made to comprehensiveness, which would be impossible anyhow in a modest single volume. But the discerning editor has intuited the pastor/preacher's needs.
A noteworthy feature too is that the informed brief biographies are invariably succinctly evaluative of the subject's thought and work. A short list of subjects must convince one of the catholicity and general usefulness of this work - Edward Schillebeeck, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, John and Donald Baillie, Lesslie Newbigin, Reinhold and Richard Niebuhr etc.
This book is a must for the student of church history and those who preach week after week.
Walter A. Elwell, Professor of Bible and Theology, New Testament scholar, and leading editor of Biblical and theological works, has edited the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 1204pp, hardback, Paternoster Press, Carlisle, UK, £29.99. It has more than 1,250 articles from about 200 contributors of diverse evangelical persuasions.
Among them are FF Bruce, J. I. Packer, Alec Motyer and Leon Morris. Comment in fairness to all traditions and highest standards of accuracy have been aimed at.
Where there are non-evangelical theologies such as neo-orthodoxy, liberation and process theologies, criticism is strong but eirenic and from the standpoint of classic orthodoxy.
A goal of the editor has been that the scholar might find entries correct, and the layman especially find the work understandable. The Dictionary, to achieve the latter goal, is therefore written in popular language.
This is the best one-volume Dictionary of Theology to come our way in recent times and is highly commended.
This year, when the 50th anniversary of independence for India is being celebrated, Christian Aid will focus on the millions of dalits, the so-called untouchables who live on the edge of Indian society.
A special harvest pack has been prepared with poster and ideas for services in churches and schools and is available from Christian Aid (Ireland), Christ Church, Rathgar Road, Dublin. Harvest Gifts of £5 will immunise 30 children against childhood diseases; £10 will buy 40 fruit tree saplings; and £50 will run a nursery for six months. All harvest income this year will go to Christian Aid projects in India.
A volunteer is being sought to edit the Christian Aid Irish News Letter. It is composed on Word Perfect 6.1 for Windows. Those with word-processing skills and some experience and willingness should apply to Christian Aid, Christ Church, Rathgar Road, Telephone 4966184.