While doing research for the short Video I am putting together on the Bishop Pfohl 1917 sermon “Christ is All” that Rev Campbell read 2 weeks ago, I stumbled back on something I had read before.
I was interested in what was going on in the life of the church and country when Bishop Pfohl gave this sermon.
Remember we had just gone through what has been referred to as the theological Crisis in 1909. For more than 10 years theological conservative were witnessing a major shift in church theology to liberalism. These are the words recorded by Crews.
There was kind of a show down in the 1909 Synod where conservative forces were able to hold their ground so to speak. As we know that does not stop the liberal forces from regrouping and laying groundwork for their next chance at synod.
In 1914 doctrinal changes again was on the back burner the next attack on doctrine came from the British and was brought to the 1931 Synod. As the following transcription from Daniels book indicates the attempt got little attention although it was requested that it be considered by various committees before the next Synod.
Bishop Pfohl was undoubtably aware of the tempest that was brewing when he wrote this powerful sermon delivered at Home Moravian Church in 1917. It is clearly a response to the liberal attempts to change Moravian Theology as rooted in the Holy Scripture.
I have often talked about a phenomena we notice that there seems to be a 100 year pendulum swing in theology from left to right. If the 1909 Crisis was a swing to the left and even if the brakes were applied, the swing back to the right never completely happened.
I rediscovered Daniel Crews little Red Book Titled “Confessing our Unity in Christ”
One could draw many analogies to the account of our history 100 years ago to 2009 and 2010.
Are we so distracted by what we understand to be major financial and governmental structure problems that we do not look up to see what is on the horizon regarding implications to our theology by the Full Communion Agreements with the Lutheran and Episcopal Church?
Task Force Members became visibly disturbed by questions at the Town meeting in King regarding their use of principles for building a healthy church in their proposal that they said was successfully used by the Episcopal Church. Their final response to the question: “Do we know how healthy the Episcopal Church is based on their declines in members are?” –their response was “we are getting off Track here” and they did not answer any more questions or even mention the Episcopal Church in any of the several remaining Town Meeting around the Southern Province.
Read this excerpt from Crews Book.
Two World Wars and the Great Depression
The next General Synod met in 1914. As usual, the missions and how to pay for them occupied much of the agenda. Doctrinally, this Synod made no change in the Results of 1909. It was hoped to be able to have General Synods more frequently, and another was called for in six to ten years’ time. However, as Bishop Kenneth Hamilton says: “Then before ever the members of Synod could reach home, marching armies began to reshape the face of Europe and the fate of the world.”62
Following the First World War, Unity Conferences were held in 1919 and 1922 to deal with pressing issues that
demanded immediate settlement. It was not until May 28, 1931, that a full General Synod could be assembled, and even
then the number of delegates was reduced.63 New political circumstances and other factors necessitated the division of the missions work among the various provinces, rather than having one board headquartered in Germany as before. It was decided that at future General Synods, the Southern Province was to be given equal representation with the other “Home Provinces,” because of its 94 percent communicant increase since 1914.
Doctrinally, the British Province presented a proposal to shorten drastically the opening chapters of General Synod Results. In this proposal the sections on doctrine are reduced to eight paragraphs, making a single printed page.64 Careful analysis might indicate that what is not said in this is perhaps as significant as what is. In any event, Synod was too preoccupied with questions of church government and finance to be able to deal with the British proposal. No action was taken on the proposal itself, and the British Province was asked to “give further consideration to this matter,” and to submit any forthcoming proposals to the PECs of the other provinces. Each province was recommended to appoint a committee to examine the proposals to shorten the portions of the General Church Order dealing with doctrine and other basic matters.~ As Bishop Hamilton says: “Unquestionably Synod thus avoided what might well have developed into a heated debate.”66
Another World War intervened before the next General Synod could meet. Following that war, as in 1919 and 1922, Unity Conferences were held to deal with immediate needs in 1946, 1948, and 1953. A full General Synod was called to meet in the Quincentennial year of 1957, and for the first time it assembled in the western hemisphere, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to be exact.
From Archivist Daniel Book Titled “Confessing our Unity in Christ”