Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1937-08-11
By ELBERT RUSSELL, az,
Dean, Duke University School
of Religion.

Oxford. England, Aug. 2-(By Mail)
The Conference on Church, Com
munity and state came to a close
sunday afternoon with an impressive
conservation service led by the Arch
bishop of Canterbury The conference
issued a message to the churches OF
Christendom at its last business ses-
sion with a degree of unanimlty that
was gratifying, even though the mes
SAGE was a sort of compromise be-
tween conflicting theological and &c
clesiastical views. This was more or
loss inevitable, when we consider that
the conference was made up of many
diverse elements until recently hardly
acquainted with their differing views
and never accustomed to actual CO.
operation.
Continental Viewpoint.
The most fundamental of these
divergences was between the con
tinental" point of view. and that of
the churches of the English-speaking
world. 1t was almost symbolized by
the matter of boards. One could al
most draw a line at the English chan
mel and say that those from east of
it wore beard or moustache and those
TO the west were clean shaven. There
were exceptions, of course. William
Adams Brown, one of the beloved
American leaders, has a white NOUS
tache while the Swedish archbishop
was clean shoven, as were a few of
the orientals The logical cleavage lay
in the delicate matter of the churchs
function in the world. The continent
tails held the view that the church's
business was to preach the gospel, adj
minister the sacraments, shepherd the
flock and leave the Christian indivi-
dual as citizen or business man or
member of the family, to do the will
of God as best he could in these other
social institutions, more or less co.
ordinate with the church, having been
created by God and given functions
and laws of their own, and yet all so
affected by sin that the Christian life
in this world must be more or less
of compromise. Only at the second
coming could we hope for thorough
ly Christian world.
The other view stressed the pres
ent working of Gods Spirit in the
world, Transforming not only the
character of individuals, but also their
social conduct, ideals and institutions.
In the discussion the logical cOnsis-
tency of each side became clearer,
each emphasizing a different side of
the gospel. The continentals became
more ready to acknowledge that there
- et;u n crroot doa1 which tho o0nunrt-
ed Individual can do to better things
in this sinful world. The example of
the abolition of slavery showed them
that even evil institutions could be
modified and destroyed. On the other
hand the "Anglo-Saxons" were forced
more and more away from anything
like 'humanism."
In Don Quixote there is a story of
three wine-tasters who sampled
fresh key of wine One said that it
had a taste of brass; another that
there was a tang of leather, and the
third that there was suggestion of
iron. When the key was emptied there
was found in the bottom of it a brass
key on an iron ring with a leather
thong Of course all had tasted the
wine Our first consciousness in COM
ing together was of the differing
flavors to our theology and practice.
1t was easy to find a taste of con-.
tinental theology, a tang of ritualiSm,
and strong suggestion of mysticism.
Gradually we became conscious that
We had essentially the same gospel;
the historic Christ, the Scriptures,