(4 of 4)
"The old heresy" with which your reviewer charges me was enunciated by Jesus himself. He told the woman of Samaria, "Salvation comes from the Jews"; when all Israel had repented and turned again to strict Judaism, then according to the prophecy in Zachariah, which he plainly conceived himself to be fulfilling', the Gentiles too would be proselytized and flock to Jerusalem to worship. Yes, certainly, the disciples went into all the world to preach the Gospel: but to their fellow Jews, scattered in every country from Portugal to India: for Jesus had roundly condemned the practice of actively proselytizing the Gentiles. instead of concentrating on the Israelite mission field.
Protestants will, doubtless, go on for centuries reading, marking and inwardly digesting the Gospels: but those who do not study Hebrew history and literature of Jesus' time, and early Church history as well, have no hope of making sense of the story. . . .
If my sources are "tenuous" it is because the Gentile Church spent so many centuries routing out and destroying all historical evidence against its approved version of Jesus' life: but most of them are of equal validity with the canonical books.
ROBERT GRAVES Mallorca, Spain
Lower Slobbovia
Sirs:
In your Oct. 7 issue I notice along with sane reporting on the Foreign News front a short article about "Lower Slobbovia" of comic-strip fame. Don't you think TIME is going a little too far by including such trash within its renowned covers? I, an ardent reader, most definitely do. Comic strips have meant to me and many other thinking people nothing more than a beautiful example of America's love of escapist reading. I hope TIME too is not becoming slightly escapist.
PAUL E. KILLINGER
Buffalo fl Not even slightly—ED.