THE CHURCH.AND THE WORLD

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 89, 9 January 1919, Page 6

THE CHURCH.AND THE WORLD

THE ARCHBISHOPS' COMMITTEE'S REPORT. FRANK AND TIMELY. Sir,—The interesting and significant, extracts reproduced in your columns (Tuesday, .January 7) from theTeport of the committee (appointed by the Archbishops of the Church of England) on "the teaching office of the Church" must be regarded as a call to all our churches to bring themselves into active'and living relationship to the life of the age nnd the aspirations of the people. The churches have, it. is feared, got left behind from a disposition to mate the present and the future the bond-slave of fho past. It won't do—and i';». report of the Archbishops' Committee empha-' sises the hopelessness of expecting that , it should do. It clearly and solemnly urcos the clergy and thoso associated with them in Church activities, that piety and the best nf intentions can but count for very little in a preacher, or a teacher, unless intellectual resource and educational equipment are unfailing i nocoronanimcnU of them. It- is inci- 1 dpntfilly conceded that the churches win no longer draw appreciably on the intellectuals in the nntion or Empire, and that if the churches are to be live, fipiritu.il, moral, or social influences a really learned as well as spirituallyminded clergy is the first consideration. A few supplementary extracts speak eloquently for themselves: (11 "There hns been (anions the clergy) a depreciation ond fear of ' the. honest operation of the intellect. Freedom nf research hns been discouraged, the minds nf the clergy have been cramped and their authority weakened. ■ Many people, ' especially among the clersrv. owins to intellectual sloth and indecision, never seriously endeavour ■to make up their, minds on dUniiM. questions—such, for . Instance, as Biblical criticisi". '• Rometimes they shut theiv eyes aid refuse to that such questions exist at all." (Si "We, have failed also to discriminate sufficiently between the.Christian standards of character nnd conduct and fh"SO displayed in the historical books of the Old Te=tnme"t. As a- child's religio"* T-nceptjons deepen many of the-Old, .Testament stories challenge his developing cnpscis'ice." . (3)'"lntellectual qualifications are loss and less considered in- the itppnintnipnt t-i bishoprics and even to deaneries. T!<ere are few bishops on the bench w'-o can speak with any weight or authority on matters of science or learning, even on. theology the nHernnnnce of, many would uot be attended to." (■!■) "In our Army.' while 70 >per "cent. o f *ht soldiers are HescribM as Church of England,, only, an insignificant proportion has any real knowledge of what a churchman is simnnsed to believe o' , m>y. practical appreciation of the use of the sacraments. Even though it must be rememborcd that of tho«c officially known as Church of England a large number i cannot be regarded as genuine members nf the Ch'ii'cli. t-M« statement is startliwr and significant." While the report 'contains much Hint should rouse the clergy from Hieir lethnrgie slumbers/and thnt_ is likely to create something approaching a sensation among the unsophisticated laity, there are to lie found in U\e appendices (from individual members of tVio committee) "suggestions" or "admissions" Hint are jf'n more startling ohnractei' than anv found in' the bp'lv of the report. For example, the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Gore), referring to the clergy, remark*:—"They never renlly" ,nmke up their minds, for instance, whether or no they regard the opening chapters of Genesis as giving a history of primitive times or as "doctrines in the form of a story" (to use St. Gregory's phrase), and without such a decision! they cannot renlly teach." Dr. B. W. Barnes (master of the Temple), in nnother appendix, observes: "St. Paul tried to explain the atonement by'means of the Fall. Yet the atonement is nono the less real to us, who know that the story of the Fall is a legend. AVs regard the story -as a valuable par- | able, and use it as ive should use one of our Lord's parables." Again, Dr. Barnes urges: "It is advisable that a 'clergyman, especially during the whole of his pie-ordination life, should have associated on. equal terms not only with members of other schools of thought within the Church of England but also with .humane agnostics nnd members of other Churches." • ; Dr. Hendlom 'attaches an appendix in wliich he takes, incidentally, strong objection to the clergy submitting dogmatic utterances to their hearers without explnnntion or .proof, and remarks: -VTho result is that people do not believe them. They go elsewhere to find a solution of their .theological questionings," ' In the following Bishop. Gore nnpears almost in the role of cynic: "It can hardly be denied that the insistence in Hip duty towards my neighbour as tendience to superiors and humility.und reverence to betters (which word certainly means those above us in social station), is' not sufficiently balanced by an equal insistence upon .the duties of the stronger towardnthe weakor, and the true prill-, ciples of Christian equality and brotherliness I cannot but think that the kind of criticism which is commonly heard of the duty towards my .neighbour es tending to keep ' the people down; and as being in favour of the- upper-, classes, though it is often accompanied with a misquotation ("that state of life into whihe it 'hath pleased God to call me, instead of "that state of life unto which it 'shall please' God to , cnll me') has yet a eood deal of. justification." . The Church's problem of problenie, ir, is duly recoenised, is the efficiency of the clergy. The committee allows itself to adniit'that while "science has much learning behind it, the weight of learnin" in the Church of England is wadermate." Again, "The vast development of sivil' administration demands nn increasing number of the best men. Education hns become a specialised profession. Science, medicine, and engineering attract many. There is not a fnifficient' number of educated men for the work to be done, and in tho competition the Church fails." ■ . ■ ... . It must be admitted that this report of the Archbishops' Committee (comprising two of the Church's moet .eminent Bishops' and several of 'its. most distinguished scholars) is a frank and honest expression of tho opjnion of the more enlightened clergy and laity in the Church, and should he "found of great value and help to all the Churches in equipping. themselves for efficient service in. the task to l>9 set Christianity, and religion senerally. in the post-war world. If a.League of '.Nations be indispensable-, as an -agent in the larger world fraternisation politically, socially, and economically, so devoutly wished for—surely a' League of Churches, broadly based on sound otmeii) principles;..would be of incalculable value in securing stability and perpetwtv ,f<>r this larger world fraternisation. If the . Churches could but unify themselves on legitimately rational and mornl lines-the tnsk of unifying the .world would oeaje to be the formidable -undertaking and expectation it .has always hitherto ap-peared.-I am, etc.,, . . EXCELSIOR,