Spring 1997

Volume XII, Number 1

In This Issue

• What Plato Knew about E-Mail by Earl Schwartz

  I ran into an acquaintance recently at a local bookstore. In the course of exchanging greetings, my friend asked, "Do you have E-mail?"

• On the Aisle by Max Carlson

  Well, another year has passed, March is here and so are the Academy Awards. I have always enjoyed the excitement of this show, wondering who is going to win an award and what film will be named Best Picture of the Year.

• Books Review: The Covenant Hymnal, A Worship Book by Philip Brunelle

  Almost 40 years ago, I first held in my hands a Covenant hymnal — it was the "green one" — when at age 15 I accepted my first church organist position at Bethany Covenant Church in Bloomington, Minnesota.

• Books Review: The Momentous Years, by Vernoy Johnson by Phil Johnson

  Vernoy Johnson has given us a treasure. He has skillfully woven an account of the lives of his parents, Ruth and Alfred Johnson, in China from 1921 to 1927. The materials out of which he has woven this book are his mothers letters, writings by his father, relevant historical documents, and interesting photographs.

• Books China on Their Minds by Gordon Nelson and Molly Nelson

  Because there are parallels between Vernoy Johnson's upbringing and mine, Pietisten requested that I respond to his book The Momentous Years.

• Waldenstrom's Commentary Romans 3:21-25 and Waldenström's Commentary by Paul Peter Waldenström and translated by Tommy Carlson
• Walker Percy Musings by Bruce Carlson

  Don Erickson, an English teacher at Augustana, a top notch liberal arts college in Rock Island, Illinois, sent off a post card 20 years ago with just two sentences: "Read Walker Percy's The Moviegoer. I guarantee it."

• If You Want to Know: Write by Robert Elde

  >"Most people think mistakenly that writers are people who have something to tell them. Nothing I think could be wronger (sic). If I knew what I wanted to say I wouldnt (sic) write at all. What for? Why do it, if you already know the answers?

• Beyond Conscience by Elder M. Lindahl

  In 1946, after completing two years of military service, I started work on an A.A. degree at North Park College. Moral issues, important for the GIs because of WWII, were often discussed.

• From Hong Kong to Hershey by Owen Youngman

  "We Chinese eat everything in the sky that is not an airplane, everything under the sea that is not a submarine, and everything on land with four legs that is not a table." — Endlessly repeated aphorism in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

• J. S. Bach and Pietism J. S. Bach in Leipzig: Cantata as Text by Don O Franklin

  In tuning to Bach's Cantorate in Leipzig, a position he accepted at the age of 38 and retained until his death 27 years later, we enter the final stage of our study of the composer's encounters with pietism.

• Whose Team Is It? by Arthur Bowman

  The Dallas Cowboys seemed content with being America's team. Not so the Green Bay Packers, however. Over in Wisconsin, hubris seems to know no bounds. Some believe the Packers are more than America's team; they are God's team, God's chosen.

• Saint Patrick and the Irish by Fred Nairn

  As an exercise in public relations, the annual Irish American Saint Patrick's Day celebration has few equals. Spreading the good news that the Irish are as fine a bunch of hearty lads and black-eyed colleens as a person could hope to meet in a day's walk, parades now take place in most of the major cities in the nation.

• A Fierce Caring by Lois Vetvick

  Dear Diary, I'm having a very difficult time with these humans. I'm so angry, I'm seeing red. I have such a strong desire to just chuck it all. I thought maybe writing about some of this might help calm me down a bit.

• Bridge Building Can Be Tough by Arthur W. Anderson

  In our local Presbyterian church one Sunday a few weeks ago, Dr. Mustansir Mir, new Coordinator of the Pluralistic Project at Youngstown State University, spoke to the Contemporary Issues class on Muslims.

• Kaj Munk, Courageous Saint by Charles Peterson

  In 1982, I was developing a new course for North Park College called Scandinavian Cinema. During research to develop a list of films to be shown to the class, I came across a Danish film directed by Carl Dreyer, Ordet, [The Word] based on the play by Kaj Munk.

• Practical, Therapeutic, Theological Thought by Penrod

  How's your game been going? Have you been hitting some sweet notes? Have you had lighthearted times with your wife? What's the score as of now? Have you had any bad innings? I hope they have been few.

• Tributes Milton B. Engebretson

  When Milton Engebretson died, my pastor died. When life's journey led me into dark and stormy weather, I realized I needed a pastor. Who pastors a pastor? Milt pastored me.

• Tributes Phoebe L. Olson by Phil Johnson

  Phoebe Olson was quiet and competent and more than adequate to any task. Sometimes the task was to take the role of pastor. At North Branch, Ontario, Canada, in the bush country about 60 miles northwest of Fort Frances, she shared the ministry with her husband, Alrick, and would handle the services when he was gone.

• Out and About