² What, then, can we expect of the future? A United Church of Canada clergyman asserted: “No one can confidently forecast that a better day is coming. Whether civilization will disappear or whether there will finally be a new society with more abundant life for all, no one surely knows.”

Notice the answer given to that question by a prominent Presbyterian layman, writing in Christianity and Crisis:

“If there has been any great debate raging recently among theologians about the meaning of the Kingdom or its relevance to our world I have not heard of it. And as far as sermons are concerned, it has certainly been more than thirty years since I have listened to a minister attempt to explain to his people the reality of the Kingdom for them. . . . As a layman I plead with our theologians and with our clergy: Tell us about the Kingdom of God; explain to us what it is and how it is to be related to the world of our time.”