The ‘themes’ of church conferences are often no more than umbrellas which, if they conveniently gather together the business to be discussed, also tend to shelter the discussions too effectively from sunlight and storms. Fortunately, the more cloying slogans are generally short-lived, and therefore harmless. Truth will out in the long run even if it does not appear at a given ecumenical meeting. On the other hand, if a conference theme does express a biblical truth uncommonly well, the fact that the meeting is soon over may render that insight quite prematurely out of fashion. Perhaps it is no service to a really good idea for it to be made the watchword of an international conference. Yet there is the possibility that time, place and thinking may coalesce in such a way that the insights of a congress may become a permanent gain for Christian thought.

In discussions on the ministry those who claim to belong to the more ‘catholic’ branch of the Church, often say that their ministry is priestly whereas that of the ‘reformed’ tradition is prophetic. The representatives of the latter are usually happy to accept this as an accurate description of their own ministry, but go on to point out that the ‘catholic’ ministry is not really priestly, arguing that, since there is one priest, Jesus Christ, who has already offered the one necessary sacrifice, there is no longer need of other sacrifices, or priests to offer them. With the validity of that argument we are not at present concerned; we are concerned, though, to inquire in what sense the Reformed minister may be described as a successor to the prophets, or, to put it another way, what is prophetic preaching? Since the word ‘prophet’ occurs in Scripture and since we claim that our faith is biblical, it is incumbent on us to examine the conception of the prophetic office as found in Scripture. Since the prophets of the Old Covenant and those of the New are not necessarily the same it is necessary to divide our inquiry; we consider first the prophets of the Old Testament.

The Report on ‘Relations between the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches’ has given rise to much discussion of the Episcopate; but it may not be unprofitable if some study were to be given, in the churches of both traditions, to the true nature of the diaconate, especially as the Report invites the Anglican churches to consider setting apart lay persons for some measure of pastoral responsibility for their fellow-Christians, ‘possibly through a reform of the diaconate’.

From the time of their first discovery the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused keen interest in the world of scholarship, while the publication of certain sensational theories regarding the relation of these documents to the origins of Christianity has brought them to the notice of the general public also. The result has been a consistent flow of books and articles, ranging from detailed scholarly analyses based on minute study of the texts to more or less popular presentations. The whole area in which the Scrolls were found has been thoroughly explored, and yet more documents discovered. The texts themselves have been subjected to the closest scrutiny by workers in many fields of learning. Answers have been found for some old problems, and new questions have been raised for investigation; and still the study continues. It has been reckoned that the number of publications relating to the Scrolls is now in excess of three thousand, and still the end is not in sight, for not all the texts have yet been published.

The Second Coming (otherwise called the Parousia)1 of Christ constituted a serious problem for the apostolic Church. One of the earliest of Paul's Epistles (1 Thessalonians) shows how quickly his converts became discouraged when some of their number died before the Lord's appearing. In reply Paul repeats his promise that the Lord will soon return, although in his second epistle he has to give a reminder that Antichrist must first make a final bid for power (1 Thess. 4.15–18, 2 Thess. 2). Similarly the author of Hebrews, writing to a disillusioned and apathetic group of Christians some decades later in the first century, recalls the words of Habakkuk that ‘the Lord will come and not be slow’ (10.37). Finally 2 Peter, the latest book of the New Testament (written, perhaps, as late as the middle of the second century), continues to offer the hope of an imminent Parousia to be accompanied by the world's destruction and renewal (ch. 3). If Christians are tempted to despair they must remember that the word of prophets and Apostles is sure (v. 2) and that with God ‘a thousand years are as one day’ (v. 8).