Pentecost by Association?

Nobody sees any prospect of uniting Protestantism and Catholicism, but many a Protestant is hopeful that Protestants can and will unite. In a new book out this week, On This Rock (Harper; $1.50), Methodism's Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam writes:

"I believe the reunion of American Protestantism a far easier task than is generally thought. When I sit with ministers and laymen of other communions in committee, or kneel with them in prayer, or unite in worship, I know I am with Christian brothers. I know we are one. I am convinced that such men, sitting in conference and charged with effecting union, could do so...We simply do not want it enough. We do not love enough."

The Spirit. A primary step toward actual union, Bishop Oxnam feels, would be for the churches to send representatives (qualified "above all, by a life of Christian spirit") who would meet "and remain together long enough to know one another, long enough for another Pentecost...Their object would be to discover together, in the spirit of Christ, the basis upon which the churches might become the Church."

Unity does not mean absolute conformity. There was plenty of diversity, Oxnam points out, in the early Church. "The principle of diversity in unity is essential if we are to allow for 'fresh movements of the Spirit.' " Christians should be able to tolerate different conceptions of the Church itself, thinks Oxnam.

The Church of united Protestantism to which Bishop Oxnam looks forward is not simply a cooperative body like the newly formed National Council of Churches, which aims to coordinate the good works of member churches. Neither is it simply a "union of self-governing states...Questions must be faced and answers found"--questions & answers, for instance, about church government, appointment of ministers, standards of ordination, creeds, liturgies, finances, architecture.

However difficult the path to unity may seem, Bishop Oxnam feels that the moment is at hand: "Its time has come...Perhaps the surest way to progress is to unite the great families of similar tradition first...Whatever may be the method eventually used, certain it is that upon the confession of Peter* the united church will be built...if we are but Christian enough, persistent enough, intelligent enough."

Last week's attempt in Cincinnati (see above) was not sufficiently Pentecostal.

* Peter's exclamation: "Thou art the Christ!" In Christ's subsequent statement: "Upon this rock I will build my church," the rock is taken by many Protestants to mean Peter's confession of faith; by Roman Catholics, to mean Peter himself (hence, Rome--whose bishops succeeded from Peter).

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