Birmingham

Not every Bishop is a world figure. One is about to be.

To an episcopal throne will presently be elevated the Rev. Ernest W. Barnes, Doctor of Science, Fellow of the Royal Society, Canon of Westminster and onetime Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He will become Lord Bishop of Birmingham.

Canon Barnes will shepherd the greatest industrial diocese in the British Empire and will sit in the House of Lords; but his greatness has greater radii.

It is widely conceded that the Reverend Bishop-elect possesses more scientific knowledge than any bishop or archbishop in the history of Christendom.

Secondly, Canon Barnes is probably the greatest inspirational preacher in England today. It was a Congregational paper (Barnes is, of course, Anglican--equivalent of Protestant Episcopal in the U. S.) which declared that since Dr. John H. Jowett died (TIME, Dec. 31), no preacher has been able to create a queue outside a church-door in London except Canon Barnes.

Greatest scientist, greatest preacher, shepherd of the greatest industrial flock --such will be My Lord Bishop of Birmingham.

But the story is not all sweet. The most definite movement in contemporary English religion is the Anglo-Catholic, a movement which accepts much of Roman theology and which desires, on its own terms, "reunion" with the Roman Catholic Church. To this Canon Barnes is greatly opposed. Said he: "A reasonable system of faith and thought cannot be derived from the theories peculiar to Anglo-Catholicism. The earnestness and zeal of Anglo-Catholics only make the more pathetic the fact that their system is a hybrid, bred by fear in the Victorian era.* Its founders were afraid of liberal theology. ... In Latin Catholicism, the ancestral sacramental paganism of the Mediterranean races is veneered by Christian sentiment. To attempt to graft it on the English church is hopeless."

When it was first rumored that the King was graciously about to elevate Canon Barnes, his antagonists bellowed. Under the headline "Astounding Rumor," a leading Anglo-Catholic paper indignantly inquired: "Is the work of God to be threatened by a bishop from whom nothing can be expected but criticism and misunderstanding?"

The Anglo-Catholics have indeed a special grievance. Much of their strength lies in the laboring classes. Birmingham, a new bishopric born of the industrial era, was first tended (1905-1911) by Bishop Rt. Rev. Charles Gore (TIME, May 5), their brilliant and efficient ally. When Premier MacDonald recommended Canon Barnes for the post, they vigorously implored the King not to do the Prime Minister's bidding. The King refused to interfere. Barnes will be Bishop.

The faith of Canon Barnes, a Modernist, is generally described as childlike. He preaches the way of Jesus, His rejuvenative power, the life everlasting. With these themes, he fills churches.

The religious conflict in England differs totally from the U. S. squabbles over elementary science. English clergymen are amazed when they hear that some Americans object, for example, to the evolutionary theory. They are incredulous when told that U. S. divines predict bodily resurrection despite chemical demonstration of the decay and dissolution of flesh. Englishmen overrode these difficulties 40 years ago. Now their troubles are chiefly two. First, economic: Can one Christian child of God eat caviar when another eats nothing? Second, organic: Is there one true Church? If so, where is it? Who is it? What is it?

Bishop-elect Barnes would probably say that the people who make the most Christ-like answer to the first question will not be bothered by the second.

*Reference to John Henry Newman and the Oxford Movement. Newman and his enemy, Henry Edward Manning, went over to the Roman Catholic Church and became Cardinals; but today, most of the inheritors of the Oxford ideals remain in the Anglican Church. Newman had little influence in the Catholic Church, even as Cardinal: and Manning, ruler of English Catholics, had no sympathy with the reunion idea. Today powerful Manning is forgotten; gentle Newman is remembered.