Word: earthly
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Europe's leading Protestant theologians are Karl Earth of Basle and Emil Brunner of Zurich. For years their religious arguments have set the world's theological seismographs to jiggling. Last week, through a paraphrase prepared by Dr. E. G. Homrighausen of Princeton Theological Seminary and published in the British Christian News-letter and the U.S. Christian Century, the English-speaking world was registering the rumbles of another Barth-Brunner set-to. The timely subject: Protestantism v. Communism...
...began in April when Earth, recently returned from a lecture trip in Hungary at the invitation of the Hungarian Reformed Church, published an article on his visit in a Swiss church paper. He declared himself much impressed by the Reformed Church's refusal to join with the Hungarian Roman Catholics against the present Communist-controlled government. The Reformed Church, wrote Earth approvingly, was holding aloof from both East and West; instead of concerning itself with politics, it was concentrating on formulating the Word of God in fresh terms...
Into Battle. Theologian Brunner lost no time in challenging this position. In an open letter to Earth in the same publication he said that he was unable to understand why Earth, one of the first and most uncompromising opponents of Naziism, has not taken a similar stand against Communism-and long since. Is not Communism totalitarianism? Brunner asked. And is not totalitarianism "in principle" unrighteous and inhuman? Must not Christians join in this battle? To remain silent is to deny a fundamental Christian principle, which Christians must never...
...Earth's reply may spark many a controversy among Christians. He holds that the church does not act according to eternal and abiding principles but by the authority of the Word of God, which may change according to times and conditions. The situation in 1948, he contends, is not the same as it was in 1933. Hitler's and Stalin's regimes may both be totalitarian. But what is important is the special temptation Hitlerism was to the church in prewar days, when many prominent people were extremely friendly to the Nazis. Thus, says Earth...
Hold Fire. But the evil of Communism is no such "temptation" today. It is too easy to be against it. Who but Communists, he asks, are tempted to go along with Communism? "Whoever wants a political negation from me against this system . . . can have it immediately," writes Earth, adding that it is cheap to give. He cannot admit that it is a Christian responsibility to say now what every citizen can read in his newspaper and what Mr. Truman and the Pope are saying often and well...