share with others. flicts, and demonstrating the meaning of a new life made possible During recent experiences in China, Althea and I have been by the power of God. The proclamation of the good news by very much impressed with the attitudes of Chinese Christians word and by life has made a difference, in fact, a tremendous and non-Christians toward the missionary movement, in which difference in the lives of millions of people. Not only in concrete prior to 1949 tremendous investments were made in medical help,. results but also in Widespread goodwill, missions have contrib­ education, and social services. What seems to have impressed uted far more than all the government programs put together. the Chinese people has not been primarily these humanitarian Political initiatives come and go, but missionaries have stayed on, services, but the godly, sacrificial lives of individual Christian often to pick up the pieces of well-intentioned government proj­ missionaries. Both Christians and non-Christians have gone out ects that have collapsed from administrative indecision or cal­ of their way to mention how deeply impressed they have been culated neglect. Even when people have rejected the claims of with the personal qualities of certain missionaries. the gospel, they have usually been deeply impressed by the sin­ Our most significant discovery has been the recognition that cere witness of the Lord's dedicated servants. The world has not in general the missionary enterprise has accomplished a magnif­ been won to Christ, but the lives of millions of people have been icent task. No other humanitarian undertaking even comes close enriched and transformed through the extraordinary dedication to equal what the missionaries have done in relieving physical of the selfless thousands of missionaries, beginning with the apos­ suffering, educating deprived persons, mediating in social con­ tles themselves. Never has the world been so blessed by so few.

The Legacy of Nathan Soderblom

Eric /. Sharpe

mong the 370 students present at Dwight L. Moody's missionary in the commonly accepted sense of the word. How­ A Northfield Summer School in June-July 1890 were two ever, the missionary component may be seen as throwing a bridge who later would be acknowledged as world Christian leaders. between comparative religion and ecumenical theology in his own Slightly the older of the two was John R. Mott, then in his second work. There is therefore ample reason to recall his heritage as a year as assistant secretary of the YMCA College Department. The missionary theologian. younger was one of a handful of overseas visitors to the Summer Lars Olof Jonathan (Nathan) Soderblom was born on January School, a slightly built, fair-haired student from Sweden, twenty­ 15, 1866, in the Swedish country parish of Trone, the eldest son four years old and in the midst of his first intoxicating venture of the Rev. Jonas Soderblom (1823-1901) and his Danish wife, outside his own country. His name was Nathan Soderblom, Both Sophie (nee Blume). Jonas Soderblom came from a long line of became recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, Soderblom in 1930 independent farmers, his wife from a family of Copenhagen and Mott in 1946. But they were by no means identical or even burghers (her father was a medical doctor). From his father, Na­ similar personalities. Coming as they did from different countries, thaninheriteda high-indeedat timesalmosta superhuman-level speaking different languages (Soderblom several, Mott only one), of discipline and a capacity for sustained hard work. From his educated differently, moving in different spheres and nurtured mother came an expansiveness, a love of company, a highly de­ in different theological traditions, it would be a mistake to judge veloped sense of humor and considerable musical talents. In the either in terms of the other. Soderblom was a Lutheran and not 1840s the province of Halsingland had been swept by a wave of a Methodist, Swedish and not American or British. Most of all; Pietist revivalism, and Jonas Soderblom had been deeply affected perhaps, he wasa scholar-notin parentheses, butfundamentally. by its message, emerging from a severe crisis of faith with a Unlike Mott, he was never really a world traveler; apart from two profound sense of the one thing needful in life, the proclamation visits to the United States and one to Turkey, he never left Europe. of the Christian message in the strictest and most uncompromis­ Almost a century on from Northfield 1890, Soderblom remains ing terms. Jonas was in no sense a liberal, and in later years was relatively little known, other than in silhouette, outside his own profoundly disturbed that his eldest son might be on the way to country. No complete biography of Soderblom has ever been becoming a "freethinker." written, even in Swedish, let alone in any world language.' He The facts of Nathan Soderblom's career may be rapidly sum­ does, however, have two entirely separate reputations: one as a marized. After secondary education in the coastal town of Hu­ scholar, chiefly in what is variously called comparative religion, diksvall, he entered the University of Uppsala in 1883, graduating the history of religions, or Religionswissenschaft: the other as an in Arts in 1886and in Theology in 1892. Ordained into the ministry ecumenical pioneer. His missionary thought, on the other hand, of the Church of Sweden in 1893, he served for a year as a hospital has attracted relatively little attention." Soderblom was never a chaplain in Uppsala before being appointed in 1894 as pastor to the Swedish Legation in Paris, with subsidiary duties as pastor to seamen in the ports of Calais and Dunkirk. Also in 1894 he married Anna Forsell (187~1955).3 Between 1896 and 1914 they Eric J. Sharpe, Professor of Religious Studiesat the University of Sydney, Aus­ had twelve children, four daughters (one of whom died in in­ tralia, studied comparative religion in Manchester, England, under S. G. F. Brandon and missiology in Uppsala under Bengt Sundkler. He is presently pre­ fancy) and eight sons. All three daughters, incidentally, married paring a book on "Nathan Soderblom and the Study of Religion." His earlier future bishops in the Church of Sweden: only one of the sons articles published in this series were"The Legacy ofJ. N. Farquhar" (April1979), entered the ministry, and then only in later life. "The Legacy of A. G. Hogg" (April 1982), and "The Legacy of C. F. Andrews" While in Paris, Soderblom studied under Auguste Sabatier (July 1985). in the Protestant Faculty of the Sorbonne, obtaining his doctorate

April 1988 65 in 1901 with a dissertation in the field of comparative eschatol­ is determined by an act of free will in obedience to that which is ogy." As a student in Uppsala in the 1890s he had become a divinely revealed. sincere, though not an uncritical disciple of Albrecht Ritschl, at Over the next few years, though his faith remained soldily a time when, in the eyes of the orthodox, "Ritschlian" and evangelical (indeed, surprisingly orthodox), Soderblom's intel­ "heretic" were practically synonymous terms. In later years lectual position moved more and more in a liberal direction. He he was to leave Ritschl behind, but the reputation he had acquired and his closest friends were devouring the writings of Wellhau­ was to plague him for the remainder of his career, as a professor sen, Harnack, Ritschl, and other "liberal Protestants" of the in Uppsala from 1901 to 1914 (from 1912 to 1914he worked chiefly period, and entering more and more into conflict with the powerful in Leipzig, while retaining his Uppsala chair), and as archbishop conservative element in the Swedish theological and ecclesiastical of Uppsala from 1914 to his death at the relatively early age of establishment. Of his contemporaries, Samuel Fries-a brilliant sixty-five on July 12, 1931. Old Testament scholar-suffered more than Soderblom from the Soderblom attended many conferences, chiefly in connection odium theologicum that resulted."? But Soderblom was not unaf­ with the "scientific" study of religion (Stockholm 1897, Paris fected. Although Soderblom won a position that Fries was never 1900, Basel 1904, Oxford 1908), the international student move­ to achieve, there was always an element in Scandinavia that was never able fully to trust him. At no point in his career would Soderblom seem ever to have contemplated becoming an overseas missionary; of the members "Soderblom's of the Student Missionary Association in the Uppsala of the 1880s, contention was that only two served overseas: Erik Folke in China and Ernst Heuman in India." His contribution was to be that of the scholar and without a knowledge of, pastor. The techniques of historical investigation he learned from and a feeling for history, Harnack, and from the no less erudite but less well known Harald Hjarne in Uppsala, and it was to a historical problem-that of the the theologian is reduced influence of Iranon the thought-worldof theBible-thathe initially to bare and unsupported devoted himself. But comparative religion is a limitless field, and assertion." in the 1890s, at first in Uppsala and later in Paris, he became drawn into first one, and then another, of its interconnected man­ sions. ment (Northfield 1890, Amsterdam 1891, Constantinople 1911), What had this to do with his view of the Christian mission? and the emergent ecumenical enterprise (Stockholm 1925, Lau­ On the face of it, little enough. But in a period in which the claims sanne 1927). Only once was he on the point of attending an inter­ of Christianity to uniqueness in the world of religion were being national missionary conference-Jerusalem 1928-but poor health challenged in an altogether new way, and in which "history" prevented his traveling, though he submitted a paper, printed in was being called to the witness stand both for and against the the report." In 1910 he was formally outside the missionary circle, Christian claims, a vast exercise in ground-clearing was necessary, and therefore could not attend the Edinburgh conference. an exercise that few were qualified to undertake. Partly it was a Returning now to Soderblom's early years, his Pietist home historical question: Had the Judeo-Christian tradition always been had received many missionaries "on deputation," and over­ unique as a revelation of God? Partly it was contemporary: What seas missions was a matter of great concern in the circles in which had Christianity to offer to Asia and Africa that Asia and Africa his father moved. In his first year as a student he was enthused did not already possess? Were religions in bondage to cultures, by a public lecture given in Uppsala by the Norwegian missionary or were they not? Was the answer to be found in a boundless Lars Skrefsrud, on the subject of "Heathenism and Christi­ relativism, or in a dogmatic exclusivism? That we are still strug­ anity"-asubject that in lateryears was never far from Soderblom's gling with these questions today is at the very least a sign of their concerns." A few months later, in February 1884,there was founded importance. But to Soderblom's generation they were very largely in Uppsala the Student Missionary Association (Studentmissions­ new questions: On the answers given to them depended much [oreningen), of which he very soon became a member, and which more than scholarly reputation and academic preferment. did a great deal to determine the course of his later career. The Soderblom's contention was that without a knowledge of, association brought together two complementary impulses: evan­ and a feeling for history, the theologian is reduced to bare and gelistic enthusiasm in the style of the Student Volunteer Move­ unsupported assertion. The science of religion does not so much ment, and assiduous study of world religions and cultures on the provide new answers to old questions, as recognizable answers pattern of German Missionswissenscha[t, with the latter, perhaps, underpinned by altogether new bodies of evidence. In the person holding the upper hand. It was in the pages of the association's of Jesus Christ, and in his message of the kingdom of God, there journal that Soderblom first appeared in print. 7 From 1888 to 1892 is something altogether new and unique in the world of religion, he served as its editor. and that "something" could be demonstrated through the In the summer of 1890 Soderblom received an invitation to findings of "scientific" history, without recourse to dogmatic represent Sweden at the Northfield Student Conference of which special pleading. we have previously spoken, and was thrown headlong into the The missionary implications of this were, he believed, ob­ expansive world of the international student missionary move­ vious. His own task he saw as being primarily that of the historian. ment.8 At this time he began to sense that mission and Chris­ However, he was enough of a Hegelian to see world history as tian unity were to be the great concerns of his life, writing in his one history, one progressive record, in which earlier and later diary: "Lord, give me humility and wisdom to serve the great phases were organically connected. In the manner of his time, cause of the free unity of Thy Church.':" The word "free" was he drew a distinction between "general" and "special" rev­ important: neither then nor later did Soderblom have any feeling elation (the former brought to completion in the latter), and for any manner of unity among Christians other than that which between "natural" and "prophetic" types of religion. 12

66 International Bulletin of Missionary Research Throughout his career, he was notably disinclined to superimpose or Indian or African Christianity will look like: "We can scarcely theory upon fact. A key word in all his writing is verklighet, discern even the most general outlines of these edifices.":" But "reality," not in a metaphysical but in a phenomenological we must not force non-European Christians into European-style sense. The scholar's calling and duty is first of all to investigate churches: to do so would be to render them homeless." what is actually there, observably there in the world of religion, Soderblom was too honest not to acknowledge a certain over­ past and present; only then can interpretations be attempted and lap and community of interest between Protestant missions and conclusions drawn. colonial politics. However, he thought Sweden fortunately free Soderblom never wrote, nor did he ever contemplate writing, of such entanglements, for which reason Swedish missions were a large work on the theology or the praxis of the Christian mission. in a position to concentrate on the essential issues, that of helping He did, on the other hand, publish a number of essays and lec­ ,to bring about "a free acceptance of Christ in the lives of tures on missionary subjects in a sequence extending over a pe­ individuals and communities, inward re-creation, independent riod of more than forty years. The first of these, dating back to 1889, was on the life and work of Ansgar, the first known mis­ sionary to Sweden, and the second on the missionary revival among American students; during his student years Soderblom Personalia also contributed surveys of modern missionary literature to the Student Missionary Association's Communications." In the 1890s One of the mostinfluential missionary statesmenin the post­ and early 1900s he was for the most part engaged with historical 1945era, Charles Wesley Ranson, died on January 23, 1988, and social issues, and published little in the overseas missionary in Lakeville, Connecticut. He was 84 years old. area. But after his return to Uppsala from Paris in 1901he became A missionary of the Methodist Church in Ireland, Ran­ a regular contributor to the Swedish missionary debate. son went to Madras, India in 1928. He was secretary of the On February 28, 1904, for instance, Soderblom delivered the National Christian Council of India, Burma and Ceylon, closing address to the twentieth-anniversary gathering of the Stu­ 1942-45; research secretary of the International Missionary dent Missionary Association." pointing out that, the world over, Council, 1946-47; general secretary of the IMC, 1948--58; peoples and cultures were on the move and that a struggle for then director of the Theological Education Fund of the World spiritual supremacy was developing between a "Christian" Council of Churches, 1958--64. During 1964-68 Ranson was and a "Buddhist" set of principles (Marxist influence had not dean and professor at Drew University Theological School, yet made its presence felt). New qualities were called for. and taught at Hartford Seminary, 1968--71. When he retired in 1975, he was pastor of the Congregational Church in One condition of mastering the situation is a deep, genuine insight. Salisbury, Connecticut. His book The Christian Minister in Whoever would help people must possess as the most important India (1946) was considered a classic study. His autobiog­ condition, alongside profound and sincere love for them, true in­ raphy A Missionary Pilgrimage was published by Eerdmans sight. As far as is humanly possible, we must understand them. . . . a few weeks after his death. We need people who know Eastern culture in depth. 15 The pioneering missiologist of the Assemblies of God, Melvin L. Hodges, died February 25, 1988, in Springfield, The point seems a fairly obvious one. But in 1904 it was not Missouri. He was 74 years old. After missionary service in obvious at all-at least not among pious but superficially informed Central America, Hodges served as field director for Latin "friends of missions." Zeal is one thing. Zeal without under­ America and the West Indies for twenty years until his standing is dangerous. Soderblom was in effect pleading for an retirement in 1973. He then taught missions at the Assem­ alliance and a sharing of expertise between mission and com­ blies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield until 1985. parative religion, or rather (for a sharing of expertise there had He expounded indigenous-church principles and a Pente­ always been), for a more conscious and deliberate pooling of costal perspective on missions in his books The Indigenous resources between the two. Two years later, in an address on , Church (1953) and A Theology of the Church and Its Mission "Mission and the History of Civilization," he was making the (1977). same point;" and again in a 1915 article, in which he wrote that James A. Cogswell, associate general secretary for "the future will show a closer connexion between missions overseas ministries of the National Council of Churches in and the now more generally recognized science of religion.r " the U.S.A. since 1984, has announced that he will retire by Probably the science of religion would be able to stand on its own November 1988. Cogswell, 65, served in Japan for thirteen feet, but mission would have "an increasingly imperative need" years, then six years as area secretary for Asia and six years of the expertise that only comparative religion could provide. 18 as director of World Service and World Hunger for the Soderblom's 1906 lecture was very much a programmatical Presbyterian Church in the United States. statement, containing most of the points on which his mature missionary theology was based;" Missions do not exist merely in order to transmit the habits and values of a certain type of culture, nor merely to secure numerical accessions to Christianity. There have been heroic missionaries, but it is wrong to concen­ character-formation, church formation and Christian forma­ trate only on missionary heroism. Mission involves a certain tion. ,,23 And finally: "Mission cannot, if it is Christian, stop measure of compassion, but while not altogether bad, the com­ short at the point of preaching; it must awaken a new social passion motive may lead to the painting of the non-Christian conscience and liberate new social forces.,,24 world as altogether corrupt, which it certainly is not. What, then, Before 1914 Soderblom was himself basically a "friend of has the Christian world to give? "The gift is not our dogmatics missions," albeit one whose connections and academic training or our church organization-they can make those up for them­ had placed him in the position of an analyst and a diagnostician. selves-but the gift is Christ.,,20 On becoming archbishop of Uppsala in 1914, he became at the At present, we simply do not know what a Japanese or Chinese same time ex-officio chairman of the Church of Sweden Mission

April 1988 67 Board, and thus responsible for many missionary practicalities. 25 Moving briefly from India to China, during the 1920s Soder­ Symbolically, his first officialdutyas archbishop-lateron the very blom was deeply concerned to establish a modern Lutheran pres­ day of his consecration-was to commission a missionary. His ence in the Middle Kingdom. In 1920 he was approached by the appointment had coincided with the outbreak of World War I, Norwegian missionary Karl Ludvig Reichelt, who was seeking and while it lasted, he saw his chief international concern as being support for a mission to the Chinese Buddhist monastic com­ to mediate between the Christians of the belligerent nations--a munity. On Soderblom's invitation, Reichelt visited Uppsala in virtually impossible task, theologians and church leaders being the spring of 1921 and lectured on his proposed mission, and on among their respective countries' most energetic propagandists.26 Mahayana Buddhism. Thereafter Soderblom was one of his It would be useless to deny that Soderblom's own natural sym­ strongest advocates, ensuring continued support for "Rei­ pathies lay very much on the German side in the conflict. But much chelt's mission" from the Swedish board;" as he admired Germany, he detested war even more passionately. Another Chinese initiative in which Soderblom was very much Soderblom's peace initiatives were to culminate in the Stock­ involved concerned the setting up in 1923 of a Lutheran college holm Life and Work Conference of 1925-theend of hostilities had at Tao Hwa Lun (Hunan), with Soderblom's former international by no means brought to an end the mutual suspicions that had secretary, Knut B. Westman, as its first principal.34 Both ventures, poisoned international Christian relations in the war years. In however, were to suffer greatly from the ravages of civil war later 1917, on the heels of the Russian Revolution, President Woodrow in the 1920s. Reichelt soldiered on, finally settling in Hong Kong. Wilson had sent a commission to Russia to establish a relationship Westman returned to Sweden, to become in 1929 Uppsala's first with the new government, and one of the members of that com­ professor of missionary and church history. mission had been John R. Mott. Previously regarded as a model Soderblom's definitive breakthrough as an international of Christian internationalism, Mott was abruptly disowned by the Christian leader came in 1925, with his Stockholm Life and Work Germans, who withdrew formally from the Edinburgh Contin­ Conference. Shortly thereafter, Soderblom addressed the Scan­ uation Committee;" The future of the ecumenical movement re­ dinavian Missionary Conference, also meeting in Stockholm, on quired that a new leader be found; and in the event it was the subject of "Mission as a Herald of Peace. ,,35 Soderblom, trusted by the Germans while still having cordial "What is the task of missionaries," Soderblom asked, "if relations with the British, the Americans, and the French, who not to be messengers of joy, proclaiming peace and making more and more assumed the role of mediator. That, however, is peace?":" Before the war, he pointed out, it had been common the side of his work that is best known, and we have no need to to lay emphasis on the usefulness of mission to the great colonial discuss it further here. powers. Scandinavians, however, had never been seriously tempted On the outbreak of war, most German missionaries at work to use missions in this way, for which reason they now found in British territories were either expelled or interned, creating an themselves occupying a position unique among Protestants. The acute crisis on many mission fields, nowhere more so than in Life and Work Conference had been a unique manifestation of South India, in an area shared between the Leipzig Mission and what might be achieved by a nation uninvolved in power con­ the Church of Sweden. Emergency measures were undertaken stellations, and carrying out mission, not as an adjunct of politics, by the board chaired by Soderblom." The Swedes had to assume but solely for the sake of the gospel. "Mission," he concluded, responsibility for the whole of the field, despite the lack of money "is proof that the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom and personnel (added to which, the British were even suspicious of men.,,37 The Stockholm conference would not have been nec­ of those Swedish missionaries who had been trained in Leipzig). essary had not the nations to whom the mission had been chiefly The outcome was the creation, in January 1919, of the indepen­ entrusted in the past proceeded with such obviously and disas­ dent Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church, with a Swede, Ernst trously mixed motives. Missionaries are not to be colonial agents Heuman, as its first bishop.29 in disguise; they are to be "nothing more and nothing less Soderblom had always had a profound interest in India, and than insigificant heralds"-heralds of peace and reconciliation, not a no less deep concern with the question of the nature of religious envy and divison." . experience on the individual level, culminating in "mysti­ Three years later Soderblom returned to the missionary theme cism." So it was that in the immediate postwar years, alongside in a paper prepared for the Jerusalem International Missionary his efforts to repair the damage done by the war, he became Conference of 1928.39 There is much in this paper, "The His­ fascinated by the witness and personality of Sadhu Sundar Singh toric Christian Fellowship," that has a prophetic ring. Soderblom (1889-1929?). In 1921 he lectured on the Sadhu, and in the fol­ set his face against that "ecclesiastical imperialism" that would lowing year published his lecture, both in Swedish and in Eng­ treat the churches of what today we call the "third world" as lish. 30 In 1922 the Sadhu visited Sweden in the course of his "insignificant colonies of the confessions and institutions of second world tour, and spent some time with Soderblom. Sod­ western Christendom.T" Looking into the future, he foresaw a erblom's book Sundar Singhs budskap (The Message of Sundar Singh, time when "the Christian faith and the whole historic Christian 1923), as well as translating some Sundar Singh material into fellowship will have centres in India and the Far East just as Swedish and giving an account of his visit to Uppsala, concluded important for the Lord's Church, its life and its future, as the old with an interesting comparison between "modem India's three centres.":" On the issue of Christian unity, he was happy to allow great men," Gandhi, Tagore, and Sundar Singh." At this stage that the unity of the future would include "very marked dif­ Soderblom was, as were so many others, disposed to see the ferences of Life and Work, Faith and Order.,,42 What holds Chris­ Sadhu as precisely the spiritual leader, Indian and Christian in tians of different backgrounds and temperaments together is not equal measure, the circumstances demanded. Later in the 1920s, their interpretation, but the reality, of what God has done in when the Sadhu's credentials were called in question, Soderblom history and human experience. The Christian church as it actually was one of those who sprang to his defense. That for various exists is plagued and rendered powerless by its egocentricity, its reasons the Sadhu's promise remained unfulfilled is not the ques­ timidity, its disunity, and its "ridiculously and scandalously tion: rather, that in him Soderblom saw (for a time at least) a inefficient life.,,43 In the West, Christians had learned to acquiesce living illustration of what the integration of East and West might in all this. But where mission is concerned, "the curse of dis­ mean for the future of the church in India." ruption" had often rendered the church powerless." Union was

68 International Bulletin of Missionary Research needed-but not union at any price, not a careless sinking of dif­ God).49 Shortly after his return to Uppsala he had to undergo ferences brought about as much by theological sloth as by com­ emergency surgery for an intestinal obstruction. He survived the mitment to a larger vision. Soderblom frequently used the term surgery, but his heart proved too weak to withstand the strain, "evangelical Catholicity" to describe that vision-of a concen­ and he died on July 12, 1931, at the age of sixty-five. By royal tration on a common source of revelation, strength, and inspi­ permission he was buried in Uppsala Cathedral. The text on his ration, and not a tacit agreement to eliminate everything in the grave was one he had often quoted: tradition that might give offense: "It would be ungodly to sacrifice anything essential in our faith and our divine heritage So likewise ye, when ye shall have done well those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have for the cause of unity.,,45 And what better way to distinguish done [in Swedish, only done] that which was our duty to do [Luke essentials from nonessentials than through the missionary out­ 17:10, K.J.V.]. look? To Nathan Soderblom, as to many of the pioneers of the In the course of the 1906 address from which we have pre­ ecumenical movement, the cause of unity and the cause of mis­ viously quoted, Soderblom said: "Mission means that the sion were not two causes, but one. His intellectual liberalism struggle between the great types of human civilization, between notwithstanding, in all theological essentials he was solidly Lu­ the great powers of spiritual culture, must be as deep, as con­ theran and could be deeply suspicious of ecumenical experiments cerned with [matters of] principle, as many-sided as possible.r''" (for instance, those of his contemporary Rudolf Otto) that passed In his own case, he brought together precisely that combination beyond the revelation of God in Christ into the regions of a vague of qualities needed to analyze that "struggle" as it presented and comfortable theism." Although never himself a missionary itself in his day. One may have profound commitment without in the conventional sense of the word, mission was always one analytical expertise, and of course vice versa-and that is in large of his deepest concerns, and from his own "home base" he measure the situation in which we find ourselves today. One inspired and encouraged many individuals and communities in fears that the legacy of Soderblom and his generation, and his many parts of the world. Some of those he influenced were schol­ capacity to hold together the study of religion on the highest level ars, others active missionaries, others again no more than quiet of professional competence and the deepest sense of having been and unobtrusive witnesses and workers for unity. He was not laid hold on by the living God, is one that today is, while not without his opponents, however. Especially in his own Sweden, unknown, at least uncommon. But that surely is ample reason there were some who always saw him as a dangerous liberal; why it should be recalled. Much has happened since 1931 to alter others mistrusted his somewhat flamboyant style in public; others the terms of the struggle: the "great powers" of our day are again were no doubt envious of his capacities and achievements.47 by no means what they were in his. But that we are in increasing But although saddened by all this, which hurt him more than he need of his type of mission-analytical and devoted-would seem was able to admit, he was not deflected by it. to go without saying. In 1930Soderblom was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, chiefly The final word, however, I give to Soderblom's disciple and for the work of which his 1925 Stockholm conference had been only recent biographer, Bengt Sundkler: the great symbol-reconciliation among the nations. Alone among Nobel prizewinners, he had actually known the enigmatic Alfred Nathan Soderblom points the way. He was an archbishop-and thus 48 a representative, responsible church leader. At the same time he Nobel-indeed he had conducted Nobel's funeral in 1897. was a free spirit and therefore creative. In this regard there is a In the spring of 1931, though in a precarious state of health, striking resemblance between him and [Pope] John XXIII. The ex­ he went to deliver the first of what should have been two courses ample of both points to a fundamental problem for the Church and of Gifford Lectures in Scotland. For a few happy days he was ecumenism: to combine free creativity with responsibility for in­ able once more to "play professor," lecturing on "Basal stitutions. But of course this is not only a problem for church Forms of Personal Religion" (afterward published as The Living leaders. It is a responsibility for all of us. 51

Notes ------.011!"-­ References are to works by Soderblom, unless otherwise stated.

1. Incomparably the best account in English is Bengt Sundkler, Nathan 7. "Om Sveriges forste kristne larare" (1889), reprinted in Tal och Soderolom: His Lifeand Work (London: Lutterworth, 1968). skrifterMalmo: Varldslitteraturens Forlag, 1930), vol. 5, pp. 9-37. 2. See, however, Gunnar Dahlquist, "Arkebiskop Soderblom och 8. For Soderblom's personal account, see Anna Soderblom, ed., Som­ missionen," in Nils Karlstrom, ed., Nathan Soderblom in Memoriam marminnen (Stockholm: SKOB, 1941), pp. 10-103. (Stockholm:Svenska Kyrkans Diakonistyrelses Bokforlag [SKOB], 1931), 9. Quoted in Sundkler, Nathan Soderblom (1968), p. 38. pp. 235-72; Carl F. Hallencreutz, "Nathan Soderblom, Mission and 10. Fries never obtained a permanent academic post, and died early, in the History of Religions," in Eric J. Sharpe and Anders Hultgard, 1914, the vicar of a Stockholm city church. eds., Nathan Soderblom and His Contribution to the Study of Religion 11. Mimmi Folke, Erik Folke (Stockholm: Svenska Missionens i Kina For­ (Uppsala: Soderblom Society, and Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1984), pp. 52­ lag, 1941); Gunnar Brundin, Ernst Heuman: Biskop av Tranquebar (Stock­ 67. holm: SKOB, 1926). 3. On Anna Forsell-Soderblom, see Sundkler, Nathan Soderblom och hans 12. Stated most clearly in Uppenbarelsreligion (Uppsala: Schultz, 1903, and moten (Stockholm: Gummesson, 1975), pp. 80-95. later editions). 4. La Vie future d'apres le Mazdeisme (Paris: Leroux, 1901). 13. "Ofversikt av viktigare missionslitteratur," in SMF Meddelanden 2 5. See below, notes 38-43. (1889/90): 136-52, 226-28. 6. On Skrefsrud, see Olav Hodne, L. O. Skrefsrud: Missionary and Social 14. Tal och skrifter 3 (Malmo, 1931): 75-81. Reformer among the Santalsof Santal Parganas (Oslo: Egede Instituttet, 15. Ibid., p. 79. 1966). 16. "Missionen och odlingens historia," in Soderblom and others,

April 1988 69 Nutida missionsuppgifter (Uppsala: Schultz, 1906), p. 20. visionary and ecstatic experience. 17. International Reviewof Missions 4 (1915): 529. 33. See Sharpe, Karl LudvigReichelt: Missionary, Scholar and Pilgrim (Hong 18. Ibid. Kong: Tao Fong Shan, 1984), pp. 68ff. 19. In Nutida missionsuppgifter, pp. 1-32. 34. On Westman, see Sundkler, Nathan Soderblom och hans moien (1975), 20. Ibid., p. 5. pp.110-34. 21. Ibid., p. Sf. 35. Gemensam giirning: foredrag vid nordiska missionskonferensen i Stockholm 22. Ibid., p. 6. (Stockholm: SKOB, 1925), pp. 58--66. 23. Ibid., p. 16. 36. Ibid., p. 58. 24. Ibid., p. 26. 37. Ibid., p. 64. 25. See the essay by Dahlquist, cited in note 2, above. 38. Ibid., p. 58. 26. The Soderblom library in Uppsala contains a large uncatalogued col­ 39. "The Historic Christian Fellowship," in The Relations between the lection of this wartime literature. From the German side, most would Younger andtheOlder Churches, Jerusalem IMC Report, vol. 3 (London: seem to have been supplied by Soderblom's close friend Adolf Oeiss­ Oxford Univ. Press, 1928), pp. 13~3. mann of Berlin, publisher of Evangelischer Wochenbrief (in English, 40. Ibid., p. 136. Protestant Weekly Letter). The English edition was discontinued on 41. Ibid. America's entry into the war in April 1917. 42. Ibid., p. 139. 27. See C. Howard Hopkins, John R. Mott 1865-1955: A Biography (Geneva: 43. Ibid., p. 150. World Council of Churches, and Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerd­ 44. Ibid., p. 151. mans, 1979). Mott's address to a "Cossack Congress" on June 27, 45. Ibid., p. 153. 1917, in which he was reputed to have insulted Germany (a charge 4:6. See Sundkler, Nathan Soderblom (1968), pp. 422f. he always denied), "temporarily cooled the affection of some Swedes, 47. This aspect has seldom been recorded in print. But see Sundkler, including his intimate friend Nathan Soderblom" (ibid., p. 501). "Nathan Soderblom-s-A Complex Personality," in Sharpe and Hult­ 28. Of the various accounts in Swedish, the best is by Sigfrid Estborn, gard, eds., Nathan Soderblom (1984), p. 10. Frdn Taberg till Tranquebar: Biskop David Bexell (Stockholm: SKOB,1940), 48. Soderblom's oration at Nobel's funeral is reprinted in Taloch skrifter, pp. ioorr. vol. 4, pp. 217-22. 29. Heuman had been a fellow member with Soderblom of the Student 49. The LivingGod: Basal Forms of Personal Religion (London: Oxford Univ. Missionary Association in Uppsala. See note II, above. Press, 1933; reprinted 1939). A later paper back reprint (Boston: Bea­ 30. Tre livsformer (Stockholm: Hugo Gebers Forlag, 1922), pp. 11-52; con Press, 1962) on the front cover replaces "Basal" with "Basic," "Christian Mysticism in an Indian Soul," International Review of and adds the absurd words: "Ten faces of religion-from witchcraft Missions 11 (1922): 22&-38. to revelation." However, the remainder of the book actually is a re­ 31. Sundar Singhs budskap, pp. 244ff. print. The planned second series of lectures was of course never 32. See Sharpe, "Nathan Soderblom, Sadhu Sundar Singh and Eman­ delivered, though part exists in note form. uel Swedenborg," in Sharpe and Hultgard, eds., Nathan Soderblom SO. "Missionen och odlingens historia" (see notes 19-24, above), p. andHisContribution to theStudy ofReligion (1984),pp. 68-95. The whole 26. Sundar Singh episode is greatly in need of fresh investigation in the 51. Sundkler, Nathan Soderblom och hans miiten (1975), p. 173. light of what has been learned since the 1920s about the nature of

Bibliography

Works by Soderblom in English Having Reference to Mission

Soderblom wrote relatively little in English. There is a full, though still incomplete, bibliography of his vast output in Nils Karlstrom, ed., Nathan Soderblom in Memoriam (Stockholm: SKOB, 1931), pp. 391-451. 1919a "Christian Missions and National Politics," International Review 1928 "The Historic Christian Fellowship," Jerusalem Report 3; pp. of Missions 8; pp. 491-99. 13~3. 1919b "The Church and International Goodwill," Contemporary Re­1933a The Living God: Basal Forms of Personal Religion London: Oxford view 116; pp. 309-15. Univ. Press. 1922 "Christian Mysticism in an Indian Soul: Sadhu Sundar Singh," 1933b TheNatureof Revelation (trans. Frederic E. Pamp). London: Oxford International Reviewof Missions 11; pp. 226-38. Univ. Press.

Works about Soderblom in English

Curtis, Charles J. Nathan Soderblom: Theologian of Revelation. Chicago: Cov­ 4, (1969): 259-74. enant Press, 1966. --and Anders Hultgard, eds. Nathan Soderblom andHis Contribution to Neill, Stephen. Men of Unity. London: SCM Press, 1960; pp. 26-38. the Study of Religion (Horae Soederblomianae VII). Uppsala: Sod­ Sharpe, Eric J. "Christian Mysticism in Theory and Practice: Nathan erblom Society, and Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1984. Soderblom and Sadhu Singh," Religious Traditions 4, no. 1 (1981): Sundkler, Bengt. Nathan Soderblom: His LifeandWork. London: Lutterworth 19-37. Press, 1968. --. "Nathan Soderblom and the Study of Religion," Religious Studies

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