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T h e A p o l o g i s t ’ s E y e
Truth of the Virgin Birth
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This Rock
Volume 12, Number 3
 March 2001 
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In the December-January 2000 issue of Jerry Falwell’s National Liberty Journal, which covers politics and social issues from an Evangelical viewpoint, a page-one article by Edward Hindson asks, "Does the Virgin Birth Really Matter?" Hindson, dean of the Institute of Biblical Studies at Falwell’s Liberty University, says it does—and uses arguments that sound suspiciously Catholic.
Noting that the Virgin Birth has been called into question by modern scholars as well as the media (he cites Peter Jennings’ recent television special, In Search of the Real Jesus), Hindson calls the doctrine "foundational to the New Testament theology of the person of Jesus Christ." He quotes Protestant author A. N. Lane that "the paucity of references in the New Testament is something given as an argument against the historicity of the doctrine." Yet, notes Hindson (echoing Lane), "in Scripture there is no evidence anywhere that biblical writers ever felt the need to question or defend the doctrine on the Virgin Birth.
"That Matthew, a Jewish believer, and Luke, a gentile convert, both refer to the Virgin Birth emphasizes its wide acceptance throughout the early church. [Hindson, an Evangelical, may be forgiven for not capitalizing church here.] Aside from the unsubstantiated theories of a few modern scholars, there is no evidence that this doctrine was ever in question, except among heretical fringe elements . . . who denied the whole idea of the Incarnation. There was remarkably unanimous acceptance of the validity of the Virgin Birth." Hindson then cites some familiar figures: Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian—Church Fathers one and all.
Which goes to show two things: many Christians share the Catholic belief in the doctrine of the Virgin Birth and that, when dealing with many non-Catholic Christians, appealing to the Fathers is a good apologetic strategy.
Our Lawyers Will Be Contacting Their Lawyers
Speaking of Catholic doctrines shared by Protestants, a reader from Steubenville, Ohio tells of perusing a rack of literature recently in the vestibule of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in downtown Steubenville. Amid the pamphlets she saw a familiar cover: Catholic Answers’ tract The Real Presence. Though not surprised to find a Catholic apologia in a High Anglican church, she was bemused when she turned the pamphlet over and saw affixed over the place where Catholic Answers’ name, address, and phone number appears a sticker with St. Paul’s Church’s name and contact information.
Our headline, by the way, is in jest. We applaud St. Paul’s Church’s choice of literature, but we would insist on credit where credit is due.
Einstein Got It
Add the voice of Albert Einstein as witness to how the Catholic Church, led by Pope Pius XII, stood up to the moral Blitzkrieg of the Hitler and the Nazis. In his essay "Einstein and God" (www.geocities.com/Athens/3806/eingod.html), Thomas F. Torrance relates how the famous German scientist, a Jew who as a child was instructed in the Bible and Talmud, came to a great appreciation of the Church during World War II. In a letter to an American Episcopal bishop, Einstein wrote:
"Being a lover of freedom . . . I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom, but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks.
"Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly."
One of Einstein’s colleagues at Princeton, Max Jammer, wrote in his 1955 book, Einstein and Religion, that Einstein’s understanding of physics and religion were bound profoundly together. It seemed to Einstein, said Jammer, that nature exhibited traces of God like "a natural theology." Einstein spoke of God so frequently, Jammer wrote, that another scientist friend, Friedrich Durrenmatt, said, "Einstein used to speak of God so often that I almost looked upon him as a disguised theologian."
Here is a snippet from a 1929 interview in The Saturday Evening Post:
Post: "To what extent are you influenced by Christianity?"
Einstein: "As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud. I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene.". . .
Post: "You accept the historical Jesus?"
Einstein: "Unquestionably! No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life" (Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929).
Discipline Is Good
Last month one of the many requests for help we received came from a church in Zimbabwe, Africa. In sincere but somewhat mangled English, the letter writer asked for books, Bibles, and audio and video tapes to help with a "Ministry of Encouragement" that his parish had started. The team, he noted, is responsible among other things for "Disciplining New Belivers" (sic). "We don’t have any means to get Christian material," he wrote. "We beg your highness. . . . Waiting forward to hear from you."
Of course, we sent him a package of apologetic material, feeling somewhat ambivalent about the possibility that the practice of disciplining new believers spreading to this country.
This Rock Readers Are Good People
In February, the conversion story in our "Damascus Road" department was by Marco Mura, an inmate in a New Hampshire prison. In his powerful story of the triumph of Christ in his life over physical abuse and substance addiction, Dr. Mura mentioned that he rarely has received mail in his five years in prison. Since his story appeared, that has changed. "All of a sudden I am getting mail from people all over the country wishing me well and lending support," Mura writes. "Three of these letters were from people who said they were headed to prison but because my story they sought help through treatment and through God as I did."
Mura, who earned his master’s and Ph.D degrees through correspondence courses since he has been in prison, says most of these letter come with no last name or return addresses, so he would like to thank all those who have written to offer encouragement. After his release in August he looks forward to working in human services, "with addicts and alcoholics like myself and also those people who suffered physical and emotional abuse as a child, as I did."
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