CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27500, 6 November 1954, Page 3

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

(Ret?iewed by L.G.W.] A Restatement Published by Faber and Faber, pp. 152

Most theologians and even theologiral students.know that the Congregation Church of Great Britain has produced some of the most influential religious teachers of modern times; to mention only those referred to by Mr Jenkins, Dale, T. P. Forsyth, Bernard Manning, Whale, Micklem, and C. H. Dodd. But of the genius and inner working of this Church, few outsiders Sknow much. The author of this book IS Y i 8° rou s account of in’thJ’S looks at his Church in thq setting of the ecumenical moveinterprets its particular to the demands, make rightly sees, ecumenism will -i? ! only . °x Congregationalists, hn*. a « denominations who take the problem of reunion seriously. The rS?, ark ? of the Congregational FefioSihV are c Fa L th| freedom, and L,„“ wsblp - j Such churches do not inspire creeds, but they have resisted influences of “modernsbey5bey are based on a bounded freedom, and an appeal to sound scholarship. “Founded” freS p2rhil? a * s a d on Lordship of Christ. P? ost ,.striking feature of S® Longregationahst Church order is &®. oburch meeting in which the mindaac °ns, and the people have it« lft» al M ha T e ' 1F iS “ th * S P art Of its life, Mr Jenkins thinks, that the 9° n^ e 8 a tional Church has most to - otb ®f denominations. The author is not uncritical with regard to ? e S es the need for fresh adjustments to the new times. He is fitaStaJne Wlth regard to creeds and forms of worship, and recognises they have their uses. He has written a wise and ■open-minded book, S* which may well be pondered by all who have the interests of the Great Church at heart.