T n o u r l a s t issue we discussed two weaknesses of Moral Re-Armament (Oxford Group): its neglect of the Scrip tures, and its reversal of works and faith. As we proceed with a brief history of this sect, and a study of its teach ings and techniques, these and other grave errors will become more apparent, and I trust we shall comprehend what actually is wrong with Moral Re-armament (Ox ford Group). The name “Moral Re-Armament,” adopted by the Group in 1938, not long before Pearl Harbor, was so ap propriate for our times that it caught the popular imagin ation. No Christian denies that the unspeakable moral decay of our world (now compared to the days preceding the fall of Rome by politicians) certainly calls for a change of armour. But the clear teachings of the Word of God and the history of the church and the world bear witness to the fact that there can be no true “moral re armament” until individuals receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, and commit themselves to live according to the Word of God. The Gospel of Christ is the only “ power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 1:16); and the only method of winning men to God was given by our Lord in the Great Commission: “ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Whatever of this message and method the Oxford Group may have had in the beginning it has minimized and obscured with double talk, and it has opened its doors to all kinds of “ religions” which ac knowledge the necessity of any kind of morals. It is ex pending the time, money, and lives of thousands of self- sacrificing (and doubtless sincere) people in the hopeless cause of “ Remaking the World” after its pattern. It is imposing upon saved and unregenerated alike a code of morals which neither the leaders nor the followers can live without the power of the Holy Ghost. It is now a “ Do-it-Yourself” system of religion and politics, with delusions of grandeur graphically expressed in the oft- repeated statement of its propagandists: “ There are only three ideologies in the world: Fascism, Communism, and Moral Re-Armament.” Some are confused about Moral Re-Armament (Oxford Group), thinking that it is British in origin and somehow connected with historic Oxford University. Such are not the facts. Its founder, who died August 8 , 1961, at the age of 83, was an American, and there was never any official connection between this group and the Univer sity- For about eight years it was known as First Century Christian Fellowship; then in 1928 it began to be called Oxford Group; and since 1938 it has operated under the title of Moral Re-Annament, although in Britain and some other places it is also known as Oxford Group. It should be distinguished completely from what was known as “ the Oxford movement” in the University. 16
As explained by Walter Huston Clark: “The Oxford movement was a really indigenous Oxford development of well over a century ago which involved John Henry Newman and others in their efforts to Catholicize the Angelican church. The effects of the movement are now represented in that communion by the High Church wing, often referred to as Anglo-Catholic, with its em phasis on liturgical tradition and dogma. The Oxford Group movement, on the contrary, is basically evangeli cal, with the emphasis on the conversion of the individ ual and the training of the will.” * As in most movements, Moral Re-Annament (Oxford Group) was the product of the imagination, effort and determination of one man, Frank Nathan Daniel Buch- man, whose greatest gifts seemed to be the ability to in fluence young men to follow in his train, and to enlist persons of means to invest in his cause. As one studies his personal life, one is struck with the similarity of the pattern of his history and that of the Group. Bom in Pennsburg, Pa. in 1878, of Swiss-German parents (often called “ Pennsylvania Dutch” ), Frank Buchman was educated at the Lutheran Schools of Muhlenberg College and Mt. Airy Seminary, from which he received both earned and honorary degrees. He was ordained to the Lutheran ministry and served three years in a poor section of Philadelphia. He founded a hospice for boys, thus early showing an interest in young men. After a minor dispute with his trustees, he resigned and went abroad. Travel became a characteristic of his life and ministry and this tendency Oxford Group inherited as well. It was on this journey which included England that Frank Buchman had an experience which greatly in fluenced his life and actually led to the founding of the Oxford Group. George A. West, Bishop of Rangoon, relates this incident: “ One day in the summer of 1908 in Keswick, England, Frank Buchman went into a small chapel. A woman was speaking and 17 people were listening. That day the speaker, in Buchman’s words, ‘unraveled the Cross for me.’ Six men stood out like tombstones in his heart, and across as it were a chasm, he saw the Crucified, and he was the seventh wrong man. He wrote six letters, asking forgiveness from each of the six men, and headed each with the words: My richest gain I count but loss, And pour contempt on all my pride’ “ That same day as he walked with a young man in *From The Oxford Group, Its History and Significance, by Walter Huston Clark, p. 18. Used by permission of Twayne Publishers, Inc., Union Square West, New York 3, N. Y. THE KING'S BUSINESS “ ‘When I survey the wondrous Cross, On which the Prince of glory died,
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