50 years ago —  January 29, 1968 A reader’s outlook on the Outlook’s 150th anniversary: Congratulations to the Presbyterian Outlook and on its distinguished ancestors, who together have performed a noble ministry to various areas of our denomination, and more recently through the Outlook to the entire church. The Presbyterian Outlook has absorbed the functions performed by the various papers of the long past … . A distinguished and dedicated staff of ministers … have performed a noble service to the entire church. The Outlook has undertaken, without special bias, to serve all areas … of the Presbyterian Church. In this it has rendered a unique and far reaching service. I trust that in the future, as in the past, the Outlook may keep in mind the continuing need and ministry of the independent press in the service of the church. As you have done in past years … so I trust you may continue in the years ahead. May God’s Spirit guide and bless you in the important service … [Read more...]

40 years ago — January 2, 1978 The change in our volume number with this issue to 160 is the reason for the reappearance of our genealogical chart on our cover. … We cannot trace the path from paper to paper, week by week, back to the 1819 origin in Mt. Zion, Ga. What we can do is to identify with Benjamin Gildersleeve, whose length of service has never been challenged. It is a clear line … from The Missionary to The Georgia Reporter to The Charleston Observer to the Watchman and Observer in Richmond … to his concluding service in 1860. … This Gildersleeve came from the neighborhood of Norwalk, Conn., he attended Middlebury College and Princeton Seminary.  … He went from New England to Georgia’s Mt. Zion as a teacher when he was 23. Soon he produced The Missionary, and from that time until 1860, he was the Presbyterian editor, spending his late years, until his death in 1875, as a home missionary in Southwest Virginia. … The reproduced titles of papers that have converged to form … [Read more...]

30 years ago — January 18, 1988 The Religion Newswriters Association selected the top 10 news stories of 1987 in the field of religion. First was the “PTL financial and sex scandal involving Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker.” The 10-day visit of Pope John Paul II to the U.S. was second and the third was religious leader Pat Robertson’s entrance into the race for the Republican Party’s nomination for the presidency. “The fourth selection … was the scandals in business, government, politics, sports and religion which raised questions about ‘the condition of the nation’s soul.’” Fifth was the formation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Sixth was television evangelist Oral Roberts’ claim to have raised people from the dead. AIDS took the seventh spot. The eighth selection was the tension between Pope John Paul II and Jewish leaders over his audience with Austrian president Kurt Waldheim, a former Nazi and officer in the German army. “The ninth selection on the list was the action … [Read more...]

20 years ago — December 29, 1997 “Each of the three monotheistic religions has a ‘Christmas story.’ That is, each has a story in which heaven touches earth with heaven’s glory. In Judaism there are a number of such great moments. One can point to the call of Abraham, the sacrifice of Isaac and the burning bush. Islam affirms such a moment in the revelation of the opening sura of the Quran to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. For us it is a babe in a manger … . This season invites us to reflect… on incarnation! “Authentic incarnation always includes vulnerability and in the Gospel story that vulnerability appears as a two-sided coin: a manger and a cross, incarnation and atonement, a beginning with a slaughter that foreshadows the end, a babe in the arms of an old man and a sword that pierces the heart.” This vulnerability informed Paul’s visit at Philippi. Even though he was a Roman citizen and protected from beatings, Paul allowed himself to be arrested and beaten. When he revealed … [Read more...]

70 years ago — November 24, 1947 Norman Corwin, a radio producer, who has been smeared frequently … is to be congratulated for the fighting speech he recently made against what he called a dangerous national wave of bigotry. … “According to standards of those who would control American thought, any opponent of the policies, ethics, and practices of the right wing of … [politics] or the advocates of … white supremacy is … a Communist.” And he was correct in assessing the idiocy of the present witch-hunting hysteria in the following words: “If you fight for lower rents, higher wages, better working conditions; if you are against silicosis in the mines or fraudulent advertising; if you favor health insurance and protection of the rights of foreign born; if you favor consumer cooperatives and fair employment practices; if you are for equal opportunity in education; if you are against Jim Crowism and the poll tax; if you are for foreign cultural exchange; if you stand for one world or … [Read more...]

Leaders of the Presbyterian Church, USA, and the United Presbyterian Church produced a joint statement in support of Christians taking a courageous stand pertaining to racial integration of the schools. “The faithfulness of your witness to the Gospel of Reconciliation through the ministry of the church is known even though it has not been widely reported. … The work of Christians and others in civil agencies to bring about orderly compliance with the law is also known. We thank God for your obedience in these days, remembering that suffering may be both a sign and a consequence of obedience, for ‘we should not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon us’ when we answer the call of Christ.” The statement continues, when you “recently brought Christians of both races together to share their faith and wisdom, when you went to the scene of violence and stood with those who were the object of hatred, when you spoke out clearly and boldly for the right, you were acting out the … [Read more...]