Luther, according to Soderblom, was not the antagonist of the Roman Church, but verily its real herald and divine prophet. In Calvinism, too, we find active defenders of catholicity. Wilfred Monad, Siiderblom's great Calvinistic associate, also applies catholicity to the three main groups of Christian bodies. In his inspiring speech at the Stockholm Conference (1925), he mentions the "three great groups of universal and universalistic Christendom" as embracing: Roman Catholicism, Greek Catholicism, and Protestant Catholicism. Later he added Anglican Catholicism to these three groups.
G. van der Leeuw, the Dutch Calvinist and precursor of the liturgic movement, also associates himself with the idea of catholicity in all Christian bodies. "Christianity," he said, "cannot abide without catholicity. The church is one, and is catholic." Ugo Janni, leading theologian of the Italian Waldenses, also applies the name "catholic" to all Christendom: "The Catholic Church of Christ," he writes, "embraces the various historical branches which are: the Orthodox, the Greek Oriental, the Roman Church, the Reformation (reformatorische) Church. These part communities taken together make up the whole universal Christian Church."—"Il movimento pan cristiano," p. 2. Rome, 1928.
The influence of Catholic appraisal as brought to view in the ecumenical movement has also reached the field of dialectic theology in the person of Karl Barth. No less a theologian than Paul Tillich has taken ' his stand for "Evangelical Catholicity." He explains:
"Catholicity contains validity for everyone in a double sense: that of claim upon every one, and that of suitableness for everyone. With her name the Catholic Church represents the claim of Christianity that it applies to and is suitable for everyone. Inasmuch as this claim is indissolubly linked with Christianity, there can he no Christian church which is not catholic in its conception. To limit that claim would mean to say that the evangelical is not 'Evangelium' (according to the gospel), that is, the message of the salvation of the world. Viewed in this light 'Evangelical Catholicity' is not a casual, paradoxical combination of words, but a matter-of-fact statement. . . . Evangelical catholicity is a liberation of the Protestant principle from its narrow conception of the evangelical church.
"Evangelical catholicity is, more universal than Roman Catholicism, and gives expression to the radicalism of the Christian message by virtue of its universality. To contend for evangelical catholicity means to contend for Christian realization, which is catholic without subjecting itself to Roman Catholicity ; Protestant without being tied to the narrowness of evangelical churchdom. Evangelical -catholicity in this sense is the aim of all striving for the new forms of Christian evangelism."— "Nene Formen Christlicher Verkiindigung," 1930, p. 194.
Today, voices which proclaim the catholicity of the Church of Christ are growing numerous in German Protestantism. Hans Lilje wrote in behalf of a day of prayer for world union (Feb. 16, 1936) : "Really the great denominations have never forgotten that a true Christian church must be catholic in principle, that is, she must be a general, universal church. It is the duty of our ecumenical work to awaken this consciousness." And Bishop Meiser of Bavaria, a Lutheran, announced on September 29, 1934: "We believe in one body, the catholic and apostolic church, which God has called from all nations and races to await the day when all who believe on Jesus Christ will be united under Him as the Shepherd of one flock."—Beilage, Halbmonatschrift, "Lutherisch,e Kirche," Oct. 12, 1934.
Thus we have found that the ecumenical movement has rescued the name "Catholic" from being a word that stands for corruption and derision, and has placed it in the most honorable vocabulary of the Christian church. This movement has discovered a new meaning in the word, a meaning that it has not had for centuries. The enthusiasts of church unity are prepared to embrace all branches of Christendom in the name "Catholic." The story is told that the Archbishop SOderblom said, as he was beino-b introduced to the "only Catholic present" at the Stockholm Conference in 1925: "All who are here are catholics."
One thing, nevertheless, must still be borne in mind : The name "Catholic" has not yet been officially accepted by Protestant bodies. Neither the 1925 conference at Stockholm nor the 1927 conference at Lausanne have been successful in introducing catholicity officially. There is still a certain timidity in the use of "catholic" in the great Protestant circles. Such words as "ecumenical" and "all-Christian" are still preferred. But great progress has been made in bringing about a closer unity in Christianity, and a great "Renaissance of catholic principles," as Friedrich von Hiigel put it, "has become evident with the finest Protestants."—"Essays and Addresses in the Philosophy of Religion," p.. 245.
The winged words of Eric Gustav Gejer, Swedish poet and scholar, spoken from the lecture platform in Upsala are truly applicable at this time: "Es geht ein katholischer Zug durch die welt (a catholic movement is passing- through the world)."
Reunited Methodism.—Returns from all of the three major branches of Methodism in this country indicate an overwhelming approval of the union of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Methodist Protestant Church into a single organization of some 8,000,000 communicants. Formal reunion will probably take place by next summer, the new body being known simply as the Methodist Church. . . . This will be the nation's largest Protestant-body.Living Church, reprinted in Zions Herald. January 5.
