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SIXTY-EIGHTH YEAR.
PERTH, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1941.
NO. 3,000.
Archbishop Hails
Papal Encyclicals as "Great Landmarks" their Reports long and carefully reasoned statements on social policy in Africa and Asia. Church, State and Community. The last great expression of this movement was the Oxford Conference of 1937 on Church, State and Community, which reviewed the entire problem in its many aspects. It would be tedious to quote from the findings of these conferences. They all carry forward in relation to modern needs the tradition abandoned soon after the Reformation, while making room for what experience has taught us since that time. They stress the evils of an acquisitive society; they insist that the whole economic activity of man exists for an end beyond itselfthe fullness of human personality in fellowship-and must be judged by its service of this; and they urge a deliberate planning of life with a view to the preservation of personal freedom in spite of the mechanisation of industry. They insist that the due remuneration DR. TEMPLE, of labour is the first charge upon indusAnglican Archbishop of York. and they demand that political (Picture by courtesy of "The Daily try: freedom ,hall be fulfilled in economic News.") freedom. In the Church of England this moveThis independence of each depart- ment of thought has found expression ment left religion as one department during the present war, in a conference among the rest, not any longer the con- held at Malvern last January. Of troller of them all. But it was impos- course it was not speaking for the sible that Christianity should acquiesce Church, and could only express the in the tame role allotted to it as a prominds of those present. It republishvider of refined occupation for the lei- ed the traditional doctrine, while raissure of the mystical. In Wilberforce ing more pointedly than has been usual it attacked the slave trade, and then the question whether the private ownslavery itself; in Howard and later in ership of the principal industrial reElizabeth Fry it insisted on reform of sources is compatible with social welprisons; in Shaftesbury it denounced fare, and indicating some specific prothe conditions found in the new factor. posals as constituting a challenge suffiies, and carried the Factory Acts. While ciently serious to demand examination engaged on these practical crusades it by experts. set thinkers to work out aga;i: the Thus it will be seen that thought on Christian principles of social orderthis subject among Christians of all Ludlow, P. D. Maurice, Charles Kings- types is vigorous. It is of great imley, Ruskin. portance that it should be freely critiThis movement in our own country cised; but it is equally important that has become potent and effective in our so far as it can meet the criticism own day through such prophets as brought to bear upon it, it should gain Westcott, Gore and Scott Holland It the attention of the public and so inwas gathering momentum before the fluence the public opinion by which war of 1914-1918: after that it found the reconstruction of the world must signal expression in the Copec move- soon be shaped. ment, so called because its focus was The fundamental elements in the the Conference on Christian Politics, Christian tradition of social doctrine Economics and Citizenship, held in seem to be these: Birmingham in 1924. All branches of (1) Property is necessary to fulness the Christian fellowship took part in of personal life, and this is its justificathe preparation for this, though our tion Roman Catholic friends did not see (2) But the life of every individual their way to take part in the Confer- is within the fellowship of the comence itself. munity, so that property divorced from The same movements of thought are all social function or service forfeits apparent in the international field. It that justification. is most noticeable that the missionary (3) The mere lending of money should movement has developed an active so- not be a means of acquiring control The recent meet- over another man or his activities, and cial consciousness. ings of the International Missionary the interest payable, if any, should be Council at Jerusalem in 1928 and at proportioned to the service rendered, Madras in 1938-39, have included (Continued on Back Cover.)
Admits Reformation as Source of Social Evils General Correspondence With Catholic Thought The following article was written by the Anglican Archbishop of York, England (Dr. Temple) for "The Listener,' as one of a series of talks on "A Social Charter." It is remarkable for the tribute it pays to the Papal Social Encyclicals, for its acknowledgment of the Reformation as the historical source of the social problem, and for its general correspondence with Catholic social thought. The last hundred years, and conspicuously the last fifty years, have seen a great revival of the tradition of the Church concerning the ordering of social life. Two great landmarks in that revival are the two Papal Encyclicals "Rerum Novarum" (issued by Leo XIII in 1891), and "Quadragesimo Anno" (issued by Pius XI in 1931, to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the former)... These two great pronouncements, for which all Christendom should be grateful, are to be more fully expounded in the talks which will My task here is to illustrate follow. to some extent the movement as a whole in which those two Encyclicals take a very prominent place.
Rights and Duties of Property, THERE is a continuous tradition of Christian teaching on such subjects as the nature, right and duties of property, from the New Testament to the later Middle Ages. It was not unchanging; it was very much alive, and accordingly showed real development; but this development was marked by continuity; it was the growth of a living tradition which influenced conduct and was influenced by It is possible to point to experience. certain main stagr,s in the development, In the first period, the Church was a minority-unable .'"co control general policy; so its thinking was rather abstract and detached, and showed more interest in ideal conceptions than in the direction of practice. Accordingly it was insisted that property owes its origin to sin, for if all men loved their neighbours as themselves all things could be treated as common to all men without risk that some would take more than their share and deprive others. That is perfectly true, and is important as a background. But it does not help us to deal with the problems of the
1
sinful world. With the Conversion of Constantine, the Church entered on a period of practical influence and the emphasis changWhile the origin of property was ed. still traced to sin, it was recognised as necessary so long as men are sinful, and the effort was made with steadily
greater success to define its rights and duties in relation to each other. The Church was successful in securing universal recognition of the principle that property-owners are morally entitled to rights over their property only so long as they discharge functions in the life of society associated with it. Then St. Thomas Aquinas introduced from Aristotle the notion that some property is necessary as a means to the This full expression of personality. may be called the positive side of the earlier doctrine that property is rooted in sin: for sin is self-centredness; and what this doctrine says is that property is necessary for self-expression. I think you will find that in the exposition of Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical this view of property will be presented as underlying all the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church on this subject. In the entire economic scheme of St. Thomas, the two pillar -doctrines are the prohibition of usury (about which Moses and Aristotle agreed) and the just price, as distinct from buying Later, as cheap and selling dear. commerce developed, we find St. Antonino of Florence developing and qualifying the teaching of St. Thomas to meet the problems of a more complex age. He was confronted with the developments of city life, and the kind of commerce which it facilitates. Trade was taking more indirect forms in place of relatively direct exchanges, and he had to allow for means by which each stage in a complex transaction might be remunerative. But all this teaching was primarily adapted to a peasant civilisation. Luther was a peasant, and followed the tradition. But Calvin lived in a city, and was pressed by the needs of the He gave a newer urban civilisation. grudging and strictly guarded assent to usury. He only set the door ajar; but when once it was unlatched it would soon fly wide open, unless new principles for the regulation of interest on commercial loans were scientifically worked out. This was not done. The motto of the age was independence for every department of life: art for art's sake, business is business: and civilisation set its course on the track that has led us through chaos to hell.
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