How to Find Joy in the Bible

To the Editors:

The faith of your Bible believers [Dec. 30] is the opposite of biblical faith. Biblical faith centers on the gift of grace, asks for adventure and is to be freely enjoyed and shared. TIME'S Bible believers count "a literal biblical faith" to be "a badge of honor," are driven by a need for "spiritual security," and pride themselves on being hardliners, splitters of congregations, book burners in Kanawha County, censors in California.

The Bible always solicits faith in God, never in itself. It does not claim for itself inerrancy, which is the invention of these Bible believers. So what does it solve for them? Subscribers to domino theories, they worry about giving something up and seeing everything topple, instead of looking for an increase of faith and hope and love. TIME says that they are reacting to rationalism, but you show them being rationalistic, deciding in advance and on philosophical grounds what kind of Bible they are going to allow their God to use. Instead of basking in their sense of being grasped, they nervously watch the odds on the Bible being true or the percentage of it that is true, as these odds constantly change on a tote board that is dependent on archaeologists and historians.

The grand themes found in the Bible throughout church history are missing: the power and love of God, the high-risk gift of Christ, the Holy Spirit's promise of hope. The current episode of regress will pass. Fortunately, TIME tells us that there is a surge of Bible reading. I hope it leads to what Samuel Sandmel calls The Enjoyment of Scripture. In TIME'S article, few seem to be enjoying much of anything.

Martin Marty Chicago

Dr. Marty, a Lutheran, is author of The Fire We Can Light and teaches church history at the University of Chicago.

How incongruous: a Christmas issue focusing on our fisticuffs over whether the Bible is human or divine, when the whole nativity scene shows so eloquently that God has become fully human--diapers, crib and all. The manger story means that the divine speaks only through the human. So what is all the fuss about?

I suspect that our society's flight from the Bible arises from the fact that its message makes us squirm--especially those parts about God's siding with the poor, the inept and the outcast. Proud, rich nations do not want to hear about camels and needles' eyes, suffering servants or crucified kings, but the Bible is a part of us. It lives in our language, our mental imagery and above all in our conscience, whether we like it or not.

The scholarly sophisticates analyze its sources or reduce it to "religious literature," somehow managing to avoid its discomfiting demands. The fundamentalists smugly laud its inerrancy about talking snakes and whales' bellies while they continue to lay up treasures on earth and trample the needy for a pair of shoes.

The Bible is basically a drama and we are all in it. When the author appears onstage after the last scene, he will not ask whether you believed it or whether you analyzed it. He will ask whether you did it.

Harvey Cox

Cambridge, Mass.

The writer, a Baptist, is professor of divinity at Harvard and author of The Secular City.

When all the research has been done and all the heavy volumes have been written, the effort to denigrate the Bible will always remain pure speculation.

The unfortunate thing is that some unthinking people trip over the ill-used word scientific and accept conjecture for fact. They erroneously believe that an atheist is a man who has proved that there is no God. In reality, he is simply a man who refuses to believe in God.

Dan Q. Brown

Sandusky, Ohio

For man to question the authenticity of the Bible is comparable to ants pondering the structure of the pyramids and contemplating how to transport them from Egypt to Saudi Arabia!

Mrs. John Elliff

Webb City, Mo.

It was good to read that Jacob Preus has not yet determined the length of the creation days or the age of the earth.

Thus we in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod are left with liberty of interpretation in these two areas until he arrives at a decision.

(The Rev.) Arthur M. Weber

Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N. Y.

Three cheers for Billy Graham and Jacob A.O. Preus. Not everyone in the institutional church has bowed the knee to Baal.

(The Rev.) Richard M. Morris

Parkway Church of God

Frederick, Md.

"How True Is the Bible?" was a well-balanced treatment of an important theme. I wish you had given some space to the query "How true is the New Testament picture of the Pharisees?" The holy season would have been a good time to set the record straight on the Pharisees, whose vilification in Christian holy writ constitutes one of the most heinous libels in history, as many Christian scholars are now attesting.

Rabbi Samuel M. Silver

Stamford, Conn.

One-Way Universe

The concept of an infinitely expanding universe [Dec. 30] is hardly philosophically disturbing. To the contrary, a cyclic universe, mechanistically doomed forever to repeat itself in entropic stroke and counterstroke is disturbing in its implications of the worth of human existence.

The great mystery of infinite expansion seems to allow hope for progress, human evolution and meaningful change. It is a concept which fits well with TIME'S Christmas evaluation of biblical criticism, for it is congruent with the existence of a great God who was, is, and always will be.

J. Scott Hauger

Chicago

"A terrible surprise" indeed! Under the old expanding-contracting theory, man could always look forward to a second chance in 30 billion years or so. Now, with a one-way street, perhaps we ought to do it right the first time.

Kenneth R. Ohm

Sheridan, Wyo.

McCall's "Third Force"

With the economy falling around our ears, the Administration amiably incompetent, and none of the possible Democratic presidential candidates catching fire, Governor Tom McCall's idea of a "third force" in American politics [Dec. 30] sounds appealing.

God knows the nation needs more basic change than either major party proposes. A generation of Government subordination to oil corporations has created a wasteful, vulnerable energy economy. The welfare handouts for agribusiness, known as the farm program, have increased both food prices and hunger. And so on.

But how do we transform these basically antisocial structures with the urgency that is required? Not by a vague third force. The Democratic Party is where the overwhelming bulk of the reform forces--trade unionists, minorities, women, the issue constituencies--is concentrated. As a Democratic Socialist and an elected delegate to the Democratic Party's recent Kansas City mini-convention, I have no illusion that it is as radical as the times demand. But it is just the only place where a beginning can be made. If Tom McCall wants to be an effective iconoclast, he should quit the party of Hoover, Nixon and Ford and join not a third force, but the only alternative we have--the Democrats.

Michael Harrington, Chairman

Democratic Socialist Organizing

Committee, New York City

The writer was national chairman of the Socialist Party (1968-72) and is author of The Other America.

Hooray for Tom McCall! Nobody can be perfect to everybody, particularly in politics, but what McCall has done for Oregon is a monumental achievement. Perhaps the rest of the country could use more environmental conservation and thoughtfulness, and less concrete, plastic, neon and selfishness.

John C. Binley

Diamond Point, N. Y.

I nominate Tom McCall to run for President in 1976 on a People's Party ticket. As far as can be seen at present, it's politics as usual with other aspiring candidates. Most are thinking in terms of what is good for the party. What is needed is a person thinking in terms of what is good for the people.

(The Rev.) K. Jay Bishop

Columbus

Appraising Amnesty

What ever do you mean when you say that the amnesty program seems bound to end with a sense of "sour failure" [Dec. 23]? A generous offer has been made. As to whether these people accept it or not--who cares?

I do not rule out the possibility that some of them may have been genuinely misguided and may now be repentant, and I am very glad that these, if any, have had their chance at rehabilitation. As for the rest, most of us would much prefer that they stay where they are. I am glad that President Ford made his offer, and I am equally glad that the country does not have to reabsorb many of these men. The sour failure looks to me like a smashing success.

D.R. Wilson

Washington, D.C.

You say that the offer to allow draft evaders and deserters to work their way back into American society has produced discouraging results. Discouraging to whom? The walking holders of the Purple Heart medal? The wrecks who serve out their time in veterans' hospitals? The holders of the Congressional Medal of Honor? The bereaved gold star mothers?

No way!

Edward C. Goodwin

Seaford, Del.

Fast Democracy in Greece

Many Greeks will take exception to the statement in TIME [Dec. 9] that "Greece is slowly returning to a democratic form of government."

Since last July the Greeks have sent the colonels packing, received a caretaker government for some weeks, elected a completely democratic government, rejected the return of monarchy, and decided to elect a head of state. Is this "slow" progress toward democracy?

Pericles Kollas

Athens

Litter v. Pollution

Your article "Attack on Litter" [Dec. 23] used terms such as "environmental problem," "plague," "defiling," "mess" and "blight." Your thinking is muddled. Litter is beautiful. Who wants to live in a sterile, well-ordered, Prussian-army-officer-shiny world?

Americans have been hoodwinked by the real polluters. While our cities and towns are dumping unimaginable amounts of raw sewage into our streams and rivers, Boy Scouts pick up harmless beer cans. While automakers demand a relaxation of air pollution standards, happy motorists fill their litter bags with dreaded candy-bar wrappers. While researchers warn that aerosol sprays are destroying ozone, millions are affected by such meaningless campaign slogans as "Every litter bit hurts."

John T. Halls

Wheaton, III.

False Hero

Some people who can accept anything at face value can accept the late Lucio Cabanas, as a Mexican folk hero in the American tradition of Jesse James or Bonnie and Clyde.

But what I cannot swallow is your comparison of Cabanas and Zapata [Dec. 16]. Emiliano Zapata. was a man with a legitimate cause who fought against a government of horrendous oppression. The personalities of these men are absolutely incomparable in their historical perspective and should not be carelessly twined. We have had enough erratic hero worship in Latin America.

Eugenia Novelo

Ensenada, Baja California

La Belle Mort

Your account of the private life of Giscard d'Estaing [Dec. 23] mentions la belle mart of Third Republic President Felix Faure (not Faure) who died at the Elysee Palace while making love to his mistress. The French enjoy relating that the priest who received an urgent summons to attend Faure asked on arrival, "Est-ce qu'il a toujours sa connaissance?" This means, "Is he still conscious?" but can also be understood to mean "Does he still have his acquaintance?" Little doubt exists as to the interpretation given the question by the member of the presidential staff who replied, "No, Father, she just left by the back door." The incident, some believe, gave rise to the expression, "It's the only way to go."

Graham Tucker

Crewe, Va.

Curb Your Werewolf, Please

Throughout mythology and recorded history, animals have figured in religion and mysticism. The Assyrians some 4,000 years ago worshiped gods who were half animal, and the ancient Egyptians deified cats. During the Middle Ages werewolves were real. Today our Halloween witches are accompanied by black cats.

Have our ancestors passed some dollop of DNA carrying a primitive association of animals with our fear of the unknown? By establishing our ownership over pets, do we try to confront the hereafter? By indulging them, do we propitiate the deities?

Perhaps Cerberus does indeed guard the gates of Hell.

R.A. Huebner

Athens, Ga.

No description of "The American Pet" seems adequate without reference to the root of the matter. We are ourselves animals who share the same origins with the rest of animal kind. We have been intimately engaged with other animals for millions of years. We have been eaten by them and we have eaten them. We have feared them and loved them.

In seeking out these fellow creatures we acknowledge our continued dependence upon other species.

Carol Weston Galloway

Cambridge, Mass.

You mention how few dogs there are in China and in Chinese-quarter streets. While visiting Russia, I made the same observation to my Intourist guide. She replied that 1) Russians love animals as much as Americans do, and do own pets; 2) she has a poodle; 3) in Soviet cities dogs are allowed only in certain side streets; 4) the owners have to pick up the souvenirs left by their pets, or else. That would be a sure cure for the problem in the U.S.

Claude Caron

St. Thomas, V.I.

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