Magyar Egyház, 1973 (52. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1973-03-01 / 3. szám
8 MAGYAR EGYHÁZ MAGYAR CHURCH INTRODUCING “THE REFORMED REVIEW” Three times each year the Western and New Brunswick Seminaries of the Reformed Church in America publish “The Reformed Review.” This journal is our nation’s foremost representative of the traditional Calvinist faith. Under the able leadership of Dr. M. Eugene Osterhaven it has come to the forefront of American theological scholarship. Ours is uniquely an age of experimentation. Public and private organizations are engaged in a constant search for new ways of doing things. As members of the Reformed faith we must recognize that our acts are all, essentially, theological in nature. We cannot subscribe to the belief that our religious lives can he separated from the daily demands of secular existence. I sense that the primary purpose of “The Reformed Review” is to keep all of us aware of this important fact. We do not “do” theology in the church or classroom alone: our theological bases are the workplace and community. This leads us to recognize that individualistic and pietistic expressions of spiritual life are by their very nature limited to an ecclesiastical environment. Our true witness for the Gospel is better recognized in our stewardship and service in the so-called secular areas of life. A number of observers have noted that young people ai-e more interested in theological questions at the present time than ever before. Traditional bible classes have, in many schools, been transformed into theological seminars. This is perfectly understandable to those of us who recognize that the crisis of our age is ultimately theological in origin. Political and economic solutions never really succeed, only inner transformation can rebuild the breakdown in human relationships. I would like to ask my readers whether or not they ever study theology? If most answer in the negative, I would have to say that they are wrong. Every article they read is ultimately theological in nature, that is, it presents a view of God and His universe. Their attempts to avoid involvement with divine power only serve to individualize them as those who would flee from the Power. But what of real-life theological study? Boring? Hardly, for in the theological ideas of the Reformation we find the Magna Charta of modern life. The attempts of great minds to wrestle with the truths of God present an amazing panorama. Here the real questions are faced, life and its purpose, death and its reality, resurrection and its promise! I heartily recommend “The Reformed Review.” Give your spiritual life a lift and share in great thoughts experience the joy of understanding better the ways of our God in the world all of us share. Rev. Charles A. Darocy REFORMED REVIEW, Holland, Michigan. Subscription price $3 per year (3 issues). NAVY CHAPLAIN: ‘FAITH IN GOD BUOYED POWs’ As the prisoners of war come home from Vietnam, their comments are sprinkled with references to God. A Navy chaplain who has interviewed many of them says the reason for it is that their experience had a powerful religious impact. Almost all of them say that faith and the power of prayer sustained them, says Lt. Cmdr. Alex B. Aronis, an American Baptist chaplain stationed at the Subic Bay Naval Air Station in the Philippines through which returning prisoners are processed. “The key to their survival and to their mental and emotional health was a deep abiding and growing relationship with God,” he said in a report to the American Baptist Chaplaincy Services in Valley Forge, Pa. “The story of the religious experiences of these men is inspiring beyond words,” he said. “During the most difficult, the most painful, the darkest hours, God sustained them and enabled them to get through.” Chaplain Aronis details this conversation with one of the returning POW’s: Returnee: “Without God, I would not have been able to survive.” Aronis: “In other words, God really helped you.”
