AN ECUMENICAL FAVOR—A crucifix was placed atop Mt. Everest last month by a Methodist minister, according to Religious News Service. Dr. William F. Unsoeld, one of four climbers who scaled the world’s tallest peak, said he performed the act as a favor to a Jesuit priest from Washington, D. C. Unsoeld, an assistant professor of philosophy and religion at Oregon State University, is now on leave and serving with the Peace Corps in Nepal.
PROTESTANT PANORAMA—Augsburg Theological Seminary of Minneapolis will be merged with Luther Theological Seminary beginning with the fall term. Both schools are affiliated with the American Lutheran Church as a result of the merger of the Lutheran Free Church with the ALC early this year.
American Baptist General Council named a six-member committee to explore merger with the Seventh Day Baptist Convention and the Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ) and to continue talks with the Church of the Brethren. A progress report is due in October.
Duke Divinity School and Candler School of Theology are co-sponsoring an effort to produce an eight-volume critical reference work of the New Testament based on extant Greek texts from Christianity’s earliest days.
Wesleyan Methodist Church is establishing a “Wesleyan Gospel Corps.” Projects may include an exchange-student program, missionary work, and local church efforts. Age span embraces some high schoolers as well as the elderly retired.
Only 6 to 7 per cent of Protestants attend church regularly in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, according to a sociological survey conducted by the Protestant Study Center. The year-long inquiry disclosed that divorce and mixed marriages adversely affect church attendance.
“Derry,” a thirty-one-foot diesel fishing boat, sailed from Northern Ireland to the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland this month. The craft is a gift from the Presbyterian Church in Ireland to the Iona Community to encourage youth work and to mark the 1,400th anniversary of St. Columba’s missionary journey to Scotland.
MISCELLANY—Dr. Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, will open the 1963 Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto on August 16. He will be the first clergyman so honored in the eighty-four-year history of the event, largest annual exposition in the world. Ramsey will be in the city for the Anglican Congress.
An experimental secretariat for the National Conference on Religion and Race is being established at 150 Fifth Avenue, New York. The office, under executive secretary Galen Weaver, has been pledged a year’s support from the National Council of Churches, the National Catholic Welfare Conference, and the Synagogue Council of America.
A campaign to raise worldwide Scripture distribution in the next three years to 150,000,000 copies annually—a tripling of the present rate—was launched this month by the Council of United Bible Societies.
Reports from Colombia indicate that another Protestant school in the country’s so-called mission territory was closed in February. The primary school at Yopal, where some 400 children are said to be without any formal educational instruction, was the fourth to be closed for religious reasons within the past year.
Pentecostal Evangel, official weekly organ of the Assemblies of God, will mark its fiftieth anniversary next month. The publication began without denominational affiliation as one of the results of the Pentecostal revival after the turn of the century.
A house trailer which will be the focal point of a spiritual ministry to merchant seamen was dedicated in Toronto last month. The Lutheran Seamen’s Center was begun last year by the Rev. Otto Winter under auspices of the Canadian Lutheran Council and the Eastern Canada Synod of the Lutheran Church in America.
A Senate subcommittee held hearings last month on the “Junior G. I.” bills which would provide federal grants to elementary and secondary school students. Among those who testified in favor of federal aid to parochial schools was Dr. Edwin H. Palmer, theology instructor at Westminster Theological Seminary.
PERSONALIA—Dr. David M. Stowe, secretary for interpretation of the United Church of Christ Board for World Ministries, named executive secretary of the National Council of Churches’ Division of Foreign Missions. He succeeds Dr. Luther A. Gotwald, who is retiring.
Dr. Ralph Elliott appointed visiting lecturer in Old Testament at Crozer Theological Seminary (American Baptist) for 1963–64.
Dr. Orville W. Wake, president of Lynchburg College, will succeed Dr. Wilbur H. Cramblet as president of the Christian Board of Publication when the latter retires next January 31.
Dr. Henry J. Cadbury, noted Bible scholar, retired as professor at Haverford College.
Dr. Edwin H. Rian appointed director of the American Bible Society’s advance program, which will culminate in the observance of the society’s 150th anniversary in 1966.
The Rev. Theophilus J. Herter appointed professor of New Testament at the Theological Seminary of the Reformed Episcopal Church.
The Rev. Marshall Lee Smith censured by the Hudson River (New York) Presbytery for violating his denomination’s constitution in officiating at the remarriage of Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Dr. James W. Parrish resigned as vice-president of Stetson University to become pastor of the First Baptist Church in Winter Park, Florida.
The Rev. John V. Taylor appointed general secretary of the Church Missionary Society.
The Rev. Elirehema Mwanga elected president of the Usambara-Digo Lutheran Church, the fourth of seven Lutheran bodies in Tanganyika to choose an African as its leader.
R. Sargent Shriver, director of the Peace Corps, named Layman of the Year by Religious Heritage of America, Inc. Mrs. Moses P. Epstein, noted Zionist leader, chosen Lay Woman of the Year. The group’s Faith and Freedom Award in Journalism will go to Robert Whitaker, religion editor of the Providence Journal-Bulletin. Miss Jacqueline Jeanne Mayer, Miss America of 1963, will receive the Religious Heritage Youth Award.
David J. Hildreth named 1963 “Endeavorer of the Year” by the International Society of Christian Endeavor.
WORTH QUOTING—“There has been much speculation about the reaction of the public to Governor Rockefeller’s divorce and remarriage.… The issue is not what one thinks about marriage after divorce.… The issue is actually a much more clear-cut moral principle, which is enshrined in the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. Perhaps the whole idea of this particular marriage did not occur to either participant until they were both legally free, but appearances are to the contrary.”—The Living Church.
“We must face the fact that something is wrong in America when our country moves steadily toward materialism and paganism in the face of an active and vigorous church life.”—Dr. Roy G. Ross, retiring general secretary of the National Council of Churches.
Deaths
POPE JOHN XXIII, 81, supreme Roman pontiff; on June 3; at the Vatican Palace.
THE REV. WILLIAM E. SWEENEY, 85, former president of the North American Convention of Christian Churches; in Lexington, Kentucky.
THE REV. ROBERT L. TUCKER, 73, noted Methodist pastor; in Westfield, Massachusetts.
FRANK E. BURKHALTER, 83, former publicity director for the Southern Baptist Convention; in Waco, Texas.
LOUIS LIPSKY, 86, noted Zionist leader and a founder of the American Jewish Congress; in New York.
