Pan-Christian Conferences

PAN-CHRISTIAN CONFERENCES. - Protestants clearly distinguish three classes of conferences, called world, or pan-Protestant, conferences. Those that dealt with confronting social, economic and international problems are distinguished by the name of "Life and Work" conferences; those whose purpose was the study and examination of doctrinal divergences and ecclesiastical discipline, with a view to a possible union desired as a precept of the divine will, are called "Faith and Order" conferences; finally, those dedicated to missionary questions are comprised under the name of World's Missionary Conference. It should be said, once and for all, that no official representatives of the Catholic Church took part in any of these conferences, while in some there were delegates of the Eastern schismatic Churches. They were almost all carefully prepared; all the sessions were preceded and followed by some religious act performed in common, and all the conclusions (findings), before having force or authority, had to be submitted to the decision of the individual sects, which were free to accept, modify or reject them.

I. "LIFE AND WORK" CONFERENCES. - Thus are called the two conferences of Stockholm (1925) and Oxford (1937). Their purpose was the study of the thought of Christ "as it was revealed in the Gospel" in the face of the great social, industrial and international questions, in order to make an attempt to lay the foundations of a Christian-social doctrine, in which all the sects might agree; for this reason care was taken to avoid any dogmatic question.

1. Conference of Stockholm (19-30 Aug. 1925). With the stated purpose, more than 600 people gathered at Stockholm, among delegates and invited guests of 31 Christian "communions," among which were some Eastern schismatic ones, under the presidency of the Lutheran archbishop of Uppsala, Nathan Soderblom (1866-1931). The questions treated were: a) the Church and economic and industrial questions; b) the Church and social and moral questions; c) the Church and international relations; d) the Church and Christian education; e) methods of cooperation and federation of the Churches. Among the dissertations and studies presented to the conference there were some of true topicality and importance, both for their subject matter and for their development. In the discussions two currents were observed: the Lutheran, which indeed wanted the spirit of the Gospel to permeate all social questions, but without descending to concrete problems; and the Anglo-Saxon, which wanted to apply the ethics of the Gospel to particular cases, such as the condemnation of war, the approval of the League of Nations, etc. Some unpleasant questions also arose, such as that of the responsibility for the war of 1914-18, skillfully set aside by the president, who recommended prayer for the reconciliation of peoples. Someone showed his pessimism about the final result of the conference, because of the lack of a common creed, the absence of the Roman Church, the apathy of many Churches on social questions, etc. The congress refrained from offering precise solutions to the questions proposed and from confirming by vote the results of the discussions. Protestants have compared this conference to the Council of Nicaea, but without the anathemas. To continue the work of the conference, a "Continuation Committee" was established.

2. Conference of Oxford (12-26 July 1937). Twelve years later the second "Life and Work" conference was held at Oxford. About 400 people attended, among delegates and invited guests, belonging to 117 Christian "communities," among whom were 26 delegates of 13 Eastern autocephalous churches. The conference was presided over by the archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo G. Lang. The Jewish conflict, which had arisen in various nations, the doctrine and theories developed on the concept of nation, State, race, totalitarianism (which is confused with authoritarianism) and the repercussions that all this had in the social and international world influenced the new conference to occupy itself principally with these problems. The topics treated were: a) the Church and the nation; b) the Church and the State; c) the Church, the nation, the State and the economic order; d) the Church, the nation, the State and education; e) the universal Church and the economic order. As in the previous conference, dissertations were read and very well made studies were presented. This time some conclusions were specified, among which are found, summarized in the final message, the following: "In the Church there must be no questions of race; the Church must claim the right to give its children Christian instruction and education; the Church cannot recognize any earthly authority as supreme." In this conference too two currents were noted: that of the Barthians, who, with their doctrine that the Church is a gift of God without man's participation, shunned any sociological acceptance of the Gospel; the other of those who tended to reduce the message of Christ to a canon of social action. In this conference an error was corrected into which the promoters of the "Life and Work" conferences had fallen. Protestants, being led to separate what is united, since they see Christianity in sectors and not in its totality, had believed they could separate sociology ("Life and Work") from eschatology and dogmatics ("Faith and Order"). This mistake was amended with the decision to propose at the next "Faith and Order" congress, which was to be held that same year at Edinburgh, the union of the two movements.

II. "FAITH AND ORDER" CONFERENCES. — Thus are called the two world Protestant conferences of Lausanne (1927) and Edinburgh (1937). Their immediate purpose was not the doctrinal union of all Protestants, but the presentation, examination and discussion, not in the manner of dispute or controversy but "in the effort of mutual understanding, esteem and love," of the points of disagreement, in order to prepare the future union of all sects and Churches into one. By the name of union or reunion, Protestants do not mean submission to the center of unity, of magisterium and of government that has its head in the pope; indeed they exclude it. In fact the last number of the official schema of the questions to be treated at the Lausanne conference says: "The questions concerning the necessity of a central authority are certainly of the greatest importance; but the conference, while recognizing such importance, considers it inopportune to include them in its program." Once this essential foundation for the unity of faith and discipline is removed, it follows that for Protestants the word union has different meanings. For some it is the grouping or federation of all existing Christian religions, each preserving its own doctrines and its own ecclesiastical regime and only united among themselves by a certain federal bond; for others it means a union by way of compromises, understandings and comprehensive interpretations, in such a way that under a single formula of ambiguous words each sect may preserve its own doctrine; and there are not a few who understand a reunion on a minimal foundation of beliefs, accepted by all, such as those proposed in the "Lambeth Quadrilateral" (v. CONFESSIONS OF FAITH); others finally would want organic union, that is, in the faith.

1. Conference of Lausanne (Aug. 3-21, 1927). On the appointed day, more than 400 delegates and guests gathered in Lausanne, belonging to more than 100 Christian "communions," under the presidency of the bishop of the Episcopal diocese of Western New York, Charles H. Brent. There were also 14 representatives of as many autocephalous Eastern Churches. The Catholic Church had forbidden its faithful to take part in it. In fact, "pro bono pacis," all the competing sects and Churches were placed on an equal footing with one another, as if each were the true Church of Christ; but all had to be prepared, should it be necessary for the longed-for union, to renounce some doctrine or to arrive at some doctrinal compromise with the others, something that the Catholic Church, which is the only true Church of Christ, could absolutely not accept. The topics treated were: a) the appeal to unity; b) the Gospel, the Church's message to the world; c) the nature of the Church; d) the confession of faith common to the whole Church; e) the ministers of the Church; f) the Sacraments; g) the unity of Christianity and the relationship among the existing Churches. The preparation and organization of this first Conference of "Faith and Order" were carried out with the utmost diligence; many of the studies presented were remarkably Protestant, the allusions to the Catholic Church rather respectful and with regret that it had not accepted the invitation to participate. All clearly confessed that the divisions of the Churches were contrary to the will of Our Lord Jesus Christ. But then, in reality, they approved a kind of appendix that included the opposing doctrines, concluding that "each of the Churches will continue to make use of its own special profession of faith." The Orientals showed themselves opposed, firm in not wanting compromises in matters of faith and conscience, and so did the Quakers. The Supreme Pontiff Pius XI, with the encyclical Mortalium animos (Jan. 6, 1928), clearly demonstrated that the path followed did not lead to unity. This displeased Söderblom, who responded (Jan. 29, 1928) with an article that contrasts, by its light and even ironic tone, with the grave tone of the encyclical. In it Söderblom shows that he had not well grasped the meaning of the encyclical nor the true problem of union.

2. Conference of Edinburgh (Aug. 3-18, 1937). After the Conference of Lausanne, the "Faith and Order" movement took on a new development. Various partial unions took place among the divisions of a single sect, as among those of the English Methodists (1932) and of the Scottish Presbyterians (1929), indeed even among different sects, such as those from which resulted the United Church of South India, a plan approved in 1933, and the Church of Christ in China (1927). The problem of union prompted Catholic authors (Congar, Pribilla, etc.) and Protestant ones (Mackenzie, Douglass, etc.) to write interesting books; indeed even some difficult points left unresolved at the Lausanne Congress were the cause of important writings on Grace (various authors), on the Eucharist (Brillioth), on ministers and Sacraments (Headlam). To all this must be added the proposal, already indicated by the Oxford Conference, to unite the two movements "Faith and Order" and "Life and Work." Under the direction of the Anglican Archbishop of York, W. Temple, 414 delegates and guests from 120 different Churches gathered in Edinburgh to discuss the proposed themes. A conspicuous 26 delegates of the Eastern Churches took part in the discussions. The topics treated were: a) Grace; b) the Church of Christ and the word of God; c) the Communion of saints; d) the Church of Christ, its ministers and Sacraments; e) the unity of the Church in life and worship. As in the previous conference, the preparation, the study of the themes, the organization, etc., were arranged with great care; the Catholic Church was spoken of with respect and, on the part of some, true regret was shown for its absence; the Catholic observers who attended, but without taking part, were treated with great kindness; insistence was placed on the harm of doctrinal divergences and on the need to return to unity. Unfortunately, in order to satisfy all the Churches represented at the conference, the same thing was done as at the Lausanne Conference, that is, the discordant opinions were included in the conclusions as an appendix, and through the use of certain vague and abstract expressions agreement was managed. Finally the Edinburgh Conference approved, as the Oxford one had requested (and according to one of the congress participants this was perhaps the only practical result of the conference), the creation of the World Council of Churches, uniting into one the movement of "Life and Work" with that of "Faith and Order." This council was to be for the Church, according to the text of its institution, a bond of union, a center of coordination, and was to give the Christian world an organ that would allow all the Churches to "speak with one voice." There was no lack of some Protestant critic who, with a certain horror, saw in such a council a kind of Protestant papacy (v. ECUMENISMO PROTESTANTE).

III. WORLD MISSIONARY CONFERENCES

This is the name given to the Conferences of Edinburgh (1910), Jerusalem (1928) and Tambaram, Madras (1938). The great development that Protestant missions enjoyed in the 19th century, and the difficulties that arose in mission countries from the competition of sects and missionary societies, led Protestants to hold congresses or conferences in order to reach a common agreement. For this purpose the Conferences of 1854 were held in London and New York, in Liverpool in 1860, in London again in 1878 and 1888, and finally in New York in 1900. The outcome of the latter encouraged them to convene a world conference, in which delegates of all Protestant sects and missionary societies would take part, and the city of Edinburgh was chosen as the meeting place in 1910.

1. Conference of Edinburgh (14-25 June 1910)

More than 1000 delegates or invited guests took part in it, from 46 English missionary societies, 60 North American, 41 continental European, 12 Australian and South African, and no representative of the Eastern Churches. From the very first session John R. Mott was elected president of the Conference. The topics discussed were: a) the preaching of the Gospel to all non-Christian nations; b) the Church in the missions; c) education as a means of Christianizing national life; d) the missionary message and the non-Christian religions; e) missionary preparation; f) the home base of the missions; g) missions and governments; h) cooperation and the promotion of union. In general all the topics were treated thoroughly, and the first yields important and curious documents on the state of Protestant missions throughout the world in the year 1910. The reef that always surfaces in these conferences is that of union and cooperation. The difficulty was clearly set out and discussed, the counsels given are Protestant-fashion good, but it concludes with the acknowledgment that the solution of so complex a problem "can be faced only with a spirit of penitence and prayer; of penitence for the arrogance of sin and the lack of foresight, through which a situation has been perpetuated that so greatly delays the progress of the Kingdom of Christ; of prayer because human wisdom sees no solution." And it should be noted that even in this conference the word Church seems to be used as if the Church of Christ were made up of the whole body of all the sects or Churches. One of the practical results of this conference was the institution of a "Continuation Committee," to continue its spirit, promote its conclusions and prepare others. This committee was to be a center of consultation and counsel, but with no authority other than that deriving from the intrinsic value of the services rendered.

2. Conference of Jerusalem (24 March-8 April 1928)

The Continuation Committee, after various vicissitudes, was replaced in 1921 by the International Missionary Council, which proposed the holding of a new world conference for 1928, to be held in Jerusalem. This was to be composed of an equal number of delegates from the missionary countries (sending countries) and from the missionized countries (receiving countries). On the appointed day 250 delegates and invited guests from 44 different nations assembled, and numerous were the representatives of the Chinese, Japanese and Indian Protestant Churches; there was no lack of some Filipinos and Latin Americans. The Eastern Churches, having no missions, were not invited. The presidency was again held by the dynamic and optimistic G. R. Mott. The topics discussed were: a) Christian life and message in relation to non-Christian systems of thought and life; b) religious education; c) relations between the new and the old Churches (mother Churches and daughter Churches); d) the Christian mission in the light of racial conflicts; e) the Christian mission in relation to industrial problems; f) the Christian mission in relation to rural problems; g) international missionary cooperation. On the first point excellent studies were presented on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, recommending to all missionaries that they "strengthen" in these religions those doctrines that were closest to Christianity. In points d), e), f) topics proper to the "Life and Work" Conferences were treated, but applied to the missions. The same error fell into as at other conferences, namely over the meaning of the word Church. The last topic of the two conferences is common, but at Jerusalem a step further was taken with the institution of national secretariats, in which all the missionary societies of each nation were to have a part. Such secretariats were to be in continuous contact with the "International Missionary Council," which at this conference was organized in all its parts and, according to one of the conclusions, "was to serve for a new Christian union, for corporate life, for solidarity of aims and purposes among all those who work to extend the Kingdom of God."

3. Conference of Tambaram, Madras (12-29 Dec. 1938)

The third Protestant world missionary Conference, convoked by the International Missionary Council, assembled in British India in 1938. In the 10 years between the Conference of Jerusalem and this one of Tambaram some important events had occurred in the Protestant world, such as the two Conferences of Oxford and Edinburgh, the union of the two movements "Life and Work" and "Faith and Order," and the famous "Laymen's Inquiry," with the publication of various volumes on the Protestant missions of the East and of the whole world in the work Rethinking Missions, rather unfavorable to Protestant missions and which stirred great commotion in their missionary world. 471 delegates and invited guests took part in the Conference, coming from 59 nations, among which were various Catholic countries. Once again the presidency was held by the tireless G. R. Mott. Given the breadth and importance of the topics treated, the general topics and the various studies made on each of them are given: a) the authority of the faith (series of studies on the controversy that arose from the publication of Kraemer's book, The Christian Message in a Non-Christian World), namely the faith by which the Church lives; b) the growing Church: nature and function of the Church: the unfinished evangelical task, the place of the Church in evangelism; c) evangelism: the Church's witness to non-Christian religions, practical questions, method and discipline of the Church's witness; d) the life of the Church: the inner life of the Church, national ministers, Christian education, the ministry of healing, the importance, function and preparation of the missionary future, a program of Christian literature; e) the economic bases of the Church: the Church, social changes and the economic order, the Church and the international order; f) Church and State, cooperation and unity. It should be noted how the first four themes are devoted to the question of the Church, of ineluctable necessity in the missions in the face of the pagan religions, with which the missionaries had to come into contact. The will to arrive at some agreement even in the doctrinal field led to the formulation, in the conclusions of the first point, of a kind of Creed of almost 850 words, precise enough to distinguish Christianity from every other religion and vague enough to be acceptable to the great majority of the sects. The breadth with which the questions of the education of ministers and of the economic bases were treated demonstrates that the grave accusations made by the laymen in their "Inquiry" were well kept in mind. In this conference there was also discussion of the missions among the Catholics of Latin America. Noteworthy was the sincerity and the force with which the daughter Churches insisted with the mother Churches to "put an end to the scandalous effects of the divisions." They were able to do this with all the more insistence inasmuch as they did not have the historical backlog of the mother Churches. Catholics cannot help but recognize that the aim of converting the pagans to the Christian Church, as it is understood by Protestants, that is, to the aggregate of all the Protestant Churches, is impossible, because such a Church was not founded by Christ, and does not exist.

Camillo Crivelli