THE OXFORD GROUP

Southland Times, Issue 22158, 28 October 1933, Page 11

THE OXFORD GROUP

Some of the prominent clerics have declared that the Oxford Groups can have no place in the Church of England; but the controversial interest aroused by this movement is assisting to attract attention to it, leading to an expansion of its appeal. The fact that A. J. Russell’s “For Sinners Only” has achieved a sale of over 120,000 copies through the English edition is evidence not only of the power of Russell’s book, but of the growing influence of this reviving movement. Some of the critics of the Oxford group declare that in “For Sinners Only” there was not enough in it about the Atonement, and criticism of this kind was levelled against the group; but in “One Thing I Know,” Russell’s latest book this matter is dealt with succinctly and effectively. This later work is a companion to a development out of “For Sinners Only,” and may be described as a series of confessions, with some arresting sketches of some remarkable men, the Bishop of London, Gipsy Smith, Father Woodlock, Hugh Redwood and C. F. Andrews. There may be much in this book to stir controversalists but, of its sincerity, its fervour there can be no doubt. Russell writes from within the Oxford Group and he assists its stirring evangel. It is a remarkable growth in England and its force is being felt over wider fields so that such a book as “One Thing I

Know” will find an audience even larger than that which gathered about “For Sinners Only” and lifted it to the ranks of a best-seller. “One Thing I Know’ 1 by A. J. Russell (Messrs Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., London).