J. H. Oldham and George Bell: Ecumenical Pioneers

by Keith W. Clements

Overview

This book introduces the life and thought of two British contemporaries who were decisive in shaping the modern ecumenical movement: the Scottish layman J. H. (Joe) Oldham (1874-1969) and the Anglican bishop G. K. A. (George) Bell (1883-1958). Their careers were rather different but closely related.

Oldham was a missionary statesman, the organizing secretary of the 1910 Edinburgh World Missionary Conference, and a pioneering thinker and writer on race and social ethics who set the agenda for the crucial ecumenical conference on Church, Community, and State at Oxford in 1937. A quiet, skillful diplomat, he was the decisive mind behind the formation of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Bell was the public, prophetic voice of the ecumenical fellowship from the 1930s onward, steadfastly leading the churches' support for the Christian opposition to Hitler in Germany, tirelessly working for refugees and all victims of oppression, and after the war pioneering the work of reconciliation. After the inauguration of the World Council of Churches in 1948, he served as the first chairman of its central committee. It was widely believed that he would have become Archbishop of Canterbury but for his courageous and outspoken opposition to the British and American policy of bombing civilian populations during the war.

The book outlines the life and main engagements of each figure in turn, and then provides a selection of their key writings to illustrate their thinking and their impact on ecumenism. A final chapter reflects on their pioneering significance and their relevance today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781506470009
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	03/29/2022
Series:	Shapers of Ecumenical Theology , #3
Pages:	235
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Keith Clements is a theologian, historian, and ecumenist. In addition to teaching at Bristol Baptist College and Bristol University in the UK, and at Whitley College in Melbourne, Australia, he has worked extensively at the international level in the ecumenical movement, concluding as General Secretary of the Conference of European Churches. He has written prolifically on modern ecumenical history, including the definitive biography of J. H. Oldham, and studies on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his contemporaries, including George Bell. He is a minister of the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

Table of Contents

Shapers of Ecumenical Theology Series vii

Introduction 1

Part I J.H. Oldham

1 J.H. Oldham: The Wily Prophet 9

2 Selected Writings of J. H. Oldham 57

The World and the Gospel 57

"Nationality and Missions" 63

Christianity and the Race Problem 72

The Church and Its Function in Society 83

"A Responsible Society" 96

Part II George Bell

3 George Bell: Watchman of Humanity 113

4 Selected Writings of George Bell 165

"A Message regarding the German Evangelical Church" 165

"Humanity and the Refugees" 167

"Christianity and War" 176

"The Church and the Future" 188

"If Thine Enemy Hunger" 198

"The Approach to Christian Unity" 203

"Christ the Hope of the World" 208

Conclusion: A Lasting Legacy? 214

Selected Bibliography 229

Index 233