A lanky, long-necked clergyman emerges from the deanery of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, shuts behind him the learning of 40 centuries, gazes wearily down a hill black with automotive traffic, whispers: "Woe, woe is this perverse generation . . . A generation which travels 60 miles an hour must be five times as civilized as one which travels only twelve . . ."

Thus began TIME'S cover story (Nov. 24, 1924) on the Very Rev. William Ralph Inge, "The Gloomy Dean" of St. Paul's. Since then, TIME has carefully followed and reported the doings of that volatile theologian, up until his death two months ago at the age of 93 (TIME, March 8). The story of the Gloomy Dean is just one example of how TIME has chronicled the thoughts and actions of newsmakers in the world of the spirit. Another example is the Easter cover story this week on Henry P. Van Dusen, president of Union Theological Seminary, and the third religious figure to appear on the cover of TIME within the past year. (The others: Pope Pius XII and Bishop Dibelius, head of the German Evangelical Church.)

In its original prospectus, TIME announced that RELIGION would be one of the regular news sections of the magazine. Said the prospectus: "Whether or not they find the subject intrinsically interesting, men recognize the necessity of keeping in touch with the religious life of the world, because, to the majority of Americans and to the vast majority of the population of the earth, religion is a matter of major importance."

In reporting the news of the world's religious life, TIME'S RELIGION section assumes a threefold responsibility. The first is to follow the broad currents of religious thought, spot and report the important trends and ground swells in contemporary Protestantism, Catholocism and Judaism, review significant books and articles. There are also stories on the nonBiblical religions, from the Zuni Indians of New Mexico (TIME, Jan. 11) to the great religions of the East. The second aim of the section is to present the personalities of religion on the basis that the news cannot be understood without knowing the people who make it. This includes both the leading figures and the lesser lights whose works and words are worth recording. These stories may deal with lonely, isolated missionaries (e.g., Albert Schweitzer, TIME, July n, 1949) with prelates such as Pittsburgh's Episcopal Bishop Austin Pardue, who trains prospective ministers for his diocese by having them work in steel mills and coal mines (TIME, Dec. 31, 1951), or they may be stories on such figures as Bishop Fulton J. Sheen and Rabbi Louis Finkelstein (TIME, April 14, 1952; Oct. 15, 1951). The third aim of the section is to report the news in the field -- the meetings, mergers, appointments and pronouncements of the world's churches.

TIME'S RELIGION editor is Douglas Auchincloss. He was first introduced to religion by his Presbyterian grandmother. Her prescription for the good life: Sunday reading confined to the Bible, Sunday exercise confined to walking, at a sober pace, to & from church twice a day. But it was when he was a student at Groton, an Episcopal prep school, that Auchincloss became deeply interested in the subject of theology. Says he: "We studied it in class, attended chapel every day and twice on Sundays." (He also played football, made the first squad, but soon lost interest: "I had to spend too much time learning signals -- long, mimeographed lists of signals.") His religious interest continued at Yale, where his major was English. After college, he got an office-boy job in an advertising agency, later came to TIME Inc. as a copywriter and eventually became circulation-promotion manager for LIFE. After the war (which he spent largely in London with the Psychological Warfare Division of SHAEF), he came back to TIME as a book reviewer, and early in 1946 was named RELIGION editor.

In the job of keeping abreast of the religious news (there are 261 religious bodies in the U.S. alone), Auchincloss and Researcher Joan Wharton read some 50 church publications each week, plus the Religious News Service, which reports domestic and foreign news.

There are also trips to the field, such as the visit to Amsterdam in the summer of 1948 to cover the first assembly of the World Council of Churches and research the cover story on Methodist Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam (TIME, Sept. 13, 1948). One field trip which Auchincloss will be taking this summer: to Evanston, Ill. to attend the second assembly of the World Council of Churches.

Cordially yours,

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