Letters: Mar. 31, 1967

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Saint & Sinner

Sir: Thank you for a most informative and forthright account of the story of the Protestant Reformation as seen through the eyes of that intriguing personage, Martin Luther [March 24]. I am grateful that this generation is increasingly developing an appreciation for this remarkable German Christian who was both saint and sinner at the same time. Luther may have rediscovered the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but he belongs to the whole Christian Church and not to Lutherans alone. Your compelling article goes a long way toward making this clear.

(THE REV.) GEORGE F. SPIEKER

Robeson Lutheran Church

Mohnton, Pa.

Sir: Your Luther story is an incisive appraisal of the man and his dimensions. It will become part of the permanent collection in my parish library and required reading for my senior confirmands.

(THE REV.) JOHN M. BRNDJAR

Saints Peter and Paul Lutheran Church

Hazleton, Pa.

Sir: Your story about Luther is so intensely interesting and so wonderfully enlightening that I want to thank you for it with all my heart.

As a Lutheran and the author of Katherine, Wife of Luther, I spent many years studying the times and life of this great, God-sent man. The only thing I can't quite agree with, even though Roland Bainton has said it, is that Luther was by the time of his death "an irascible old man." The last two weeks before Luther's death he was obliged to spend in Mansfeld to restore peace between two quarreling brothers. During these two weeks he wrote five lively letters to Kate, telling her how much he loved her and extolling her to "pray, pray."

CLARA SEUEL SCHREIBER

Chicago

Sir: Those of us responsible for planning the Lutheran observance of the 450th Reformation Anniversary are deeply grateful to you for a superb cover story. It captures the rationale of the observance in a most thought-provoking manner.

DALE E. GRIFFIN

Anniversary Coordinator

St. Louis, Mo.

Harvest of Wrath

Sir: TIME'S Essay "The Mind of China" [March 17] is a masterly synopsis; this old China hand is happy to find such erudition coming out of the West. But I believe the present China turmoil to be more a political than a philosophical problem.

The cities of China have been traditionally governed by boards of elders, mainly local merchants. Emperors Genghis and Kublai Khan, and those of the late Manchu dynasty, accepted the system and financed their activities by levying tribute on the cities according to size.

There is a widespread belief in China that a national government is not only unnecessary, but all bad. After the collapse of the Manchu dynasty in 1908, Sun Yat-sen and Generals Wu Pei-fu and Chiang Kai-shek all tried to unify the country, but failed because the city fathers wouldn't cooperate.

Mao Tse-tung came to power in the traditional way, by slaughtering his enemies. By operating on a grand scale, he even gained temporary control of the cities. Now he is reaping his reward.

ROY DOOLAN

Heraldsburg, Calif.