Article Review

Extract

The purpose of this paper is to take account of the contribution to religious thought of Professor Nels F. S. Ferré with special reference to two fairly recent books, Reason in Religion and The Living God of Nowhere and Nothing. For more than a quarter of a century Dr Ferré has occupied a prominent place in the field of theological education in the United States, first at Andover Newton Theological School and for the last few years at Parsons College; and by articles and books he has proved himself a most prolific writer. By and large, moreover, he has persistently evinced an evangelical concern to be faithful to the fulness of the Christian Gospel, so that if by chance, at this point or that, he is deemed to have fallen short, that has certainly happened, not by intention, but in spite of it, by the logical development of his presuppositions. In a much earlier book he offered his readers a choice, ‘either a staggering faith beyond our wildest imagination, centred in God, or else the darkness of description, explaining nothing’ and there is no doubt which alternative he himself preferred. ‘Feeding back modern man his own thoughts and feelings will not nourish him. He must be helped to see and to accept the truth that saves.’ ‘Unless “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” in a historically factual way, without all cavil or equivocation, I know no Gospel for mankind.’