how “I was like that then, and now I’mnin real estate,” or “now I’m a ReagannRepublican,” or even “I’m a DukakisnDemocrat.” It’s a matter of politicalnmaturation, of realizing that the sourcenof one’s political urgency isn’t containednbehind one’s trouser zipper or innthat quagmire of adolescent hormones.n(Phil Ochs died in 1976, not “the eadyn70’s,” as so reported; a minor point,nbut if one is recalling factual evidence,nthen it should be reported accurately—na basic rule of history. And is thenreader to be drawn to the erroneousnconclusion that alcoholism leads tonsuicide? And, aside from his being anconvenient caricature, what aboutnHill’s Uncle Don?) I have my ownnrecollections of the 60’s, as do friendsnand acquaintances. But to trot themnout in autobiography for the printednpage with such a lack of perspective isnmuch like an argument with the thirtysomethingncrowd that holds the musicnof the 60’s in an elevated place short ofnthe Eucharist itself; it’s both self-promotionnand social fraud.nWhich brings me back to my firstnsentence. I’ve come to view Chroniclesnas a vehicle for intellectual observationnand analysis, itself based upon thenstrength of a moral core, a thing,nunfortunately, in short supply. It is thenrare article that fails to fulfill thatnexpectation. And it makes me hope fornthe strong arm of the editor the nextntime some “recollection” like that ofnR.A. Hill’s should come over the transom.n—Dennis T. JovenettinPrescott, AZnOn ‘YankeenSlavers’nClyde Wilson’s review (October 1988)nprovoked some meditation on my part. Incan understand the charge that proslaverynthinking marked the clergy of thenNorth. What intrigues me is to knownhow it all started. I would like to see annarticle relating biblical theology to thensocial life of America beginning withnthe Pilgrims.nThere is one statement in Mr.nWilson’s review that I can’t totally agreenwith. It is “antislavery is not biblical.” Infind no biblical sanction for the enslavingnof a race, be it black or Indian, suchnas has been practiced in America. Innfact, God repeatedly reminded His peoplento give equal treatment to thenforeigner, stating that they had beennslaves in Egypt. The biblical servitudenwas beneficient and the application ofnthe same to our modem life couldnimprove the quality of life for manynindividuals.nEarl /. Wilder, Jr.nBemidji, MNnOnnTime’nJocelyn Tomkin {Chronicles, Septembern1988) refers to the precession ofnthe perihelion of Mercury as evidencenfor Einstein’s theory of general relativity.nHowever, Einstein’s theory, with itsnbizarre distortions of space and time, isnnot required to explain Mercury’s orbit.nA formula accurately describingnmMimiMiiin5ERiES OF 51Â¥.5nnnthe advance of the perihelion was derivednby Paul Gerber in 1898, 17 yearsnbefore Einstein’s formula. Gerber,nwho was probably a high school teachernin Pomerania, used classical physicsnand assumed that gravity propagatesnwith velocity c.nMercury’s orbit, all other experimentallynverified phenomena predictednfrom special relativity, and twonadditional observations (the quantizationnof electron orbits and the Titiusnseries) are also explained by a theorynthat does not distort space and time,nproposed by Petr Beckmann innEinstein Plus Two (1987).nI agree with Tomkin that Einstein’sntheory does not support universal relativism.nBut Beckmann has also raisednthe possibility that Einstein might benwrong.n—Jane M. Orient, M.D.nTucson, AZnJANUARY 1989/5n