Wednesday, July 12, 2023

It is the 12th of July, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Last weekend on the show, I introduced a kind of typology of the Christian experience from Mysticism and Monasticism to Confessionalism and beyond. As it is a work in progress, today’s show introduces a possible addition: the ecumenical movement, which hit a peak in the last century. The question, 400 years after the Reformation, was to what extent churches with different doctrines could unite in a common cause.

“Ecumenical” or “universal” is at its best what Jesus prayed for in the Garden of Gethsemane- that his church would be one- a prayer echoed across denominations today.

It was the 19th century- the Missions movement and the awareness of the “other” combined with the optimism of the pre-World War 1 world helped to spur it. The shock and tragedy of the First World War led many in the group to redouble their efforts. And there is perhaps no greater representative for this movement than a man who won a Nobel Prize for his efforts in 1930 for this cause and died on the 12th of July in 1931- he was the Swedish professor and Lutheran Archbishop Nathan Söderblom.

Born Lars Olof Jonathan- Nathan, as he would be called, was the son of an old-school Lutheran pietist minister and his wife. He would attend the University of Uppsala, where he was involved in the student missions movement and the YMCA. In 1890 he traveled to the United States, where he attended a Moody conference and met John R. Mott- head of the YMCA and international figure.

Söderblom was sent to Paris to pastor a Swedish Church (of which Alfred Nobel was a member). There he received his doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1901- he was the first foreigner to earn a Ph.D. with that faculty. In the same year, he was called back to Uppsala to be a professor. In 1914 he was selected to be the Archbishop of the Swedish church. This was controversial as he was 3rd in voting amongst his peers, but the King, as was his prerogative, chose Söderblom.  His cosmopolitan nature, fluency in German, French, and English, and connections made him an ideal public figure on the eve of the outbreak of war. Until America entered the war, he was able to keep a tenuous peace in the global Protestant community. In the aftermath of the War, Söderblom was a key member of the ecumenical movement. His book, translated as “Evangelical Catholicity,” would lay the foundation of the World Council of Churches.

In 1925 he held the first Universal Conference on Life and Work in Stockholm. This would become the foundational meeting that set off conferences of a similar nature for the rest of the century.

While ecumenical, he was the Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden and, in 1926, wrote the essay “Why I Am A Lutheran,” in which he stated that  “the history of religion has no genius equal to… that of Martin Luther”. In 1930 he gave the famed Gifford Lectures- like his forebear William James, his lecture was on comparative religions. In the printed version of the talks called “The Living God,” he compares the historical development of various religions. When he gets to the Christian faith, he sees the history of religion turned upside down: in the incarnation, we don’t see humankind seeking God, but rather God seeking humankind.  

The ecumenical movement, like all traditions in the history of Christian experiences, has its extremes, those who would sacrifice too much for the sake of unity and those who would not attempt the hard work of reconciliation. Nathan Söderblum- a pioneer in the new ecumenical age- was a professor and Archbishop with these concerns and lived through the great transition on either side of the great war. Born in 1866, he died on this the 12th of July in 1931- he was 65 years old.   

The last word for today comes from Exodus:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 12th of July 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by for whom Nathan’s means Hot Dogs and Competitive Eating- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man still gobsmacked by “Nathan,” being short for “Jonathan”… Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.