Nathan Söderblom

Lars Olof Jonathan Söderblom, better known as Nathan Söderblom (January 15, 1866 - July 12, 1931), was a Swedish clergyman, and later Archbishop of the Church of Sweden and laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize. He was born in Helsingia to Jonas Söderblom, a Pietistic pastor, and Sophia (Blume) Söderblom, among whose ancestors there had once been a bishop of Oslo.

International

At Stockholm in 1925, he organized the Universal Christian Council on Life and Work. Meanwhile, a chiefly Anglican group had formed an inter-denominational Conference on Faith and Order. In 1948 the two groups merged to form the World Council of Churches under the impulse of Wilhem A. Visser't Hooft. Internationally, he is best known, however, as the architect of the ecumenical movement of the twentieth century. However he has no biographical notice in 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica nor his name in Unitatis Redintegratio which began the Catholic Ecumenism.

Related Topics:
Stockholm - 1925 - Life and Work - Anglican - Faith and Order - 1948 - World Council of Churches - Wilhem A. Visser't Hooft - Ecumenical - 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica - Unitatis Redintegratio

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He had already begun to move toward intercommunion between the Swedish Church and the Church of England as early as 1909; in 1920 he arranged to have Bishop Woods of Peterborough, England, participate in the consecration of two Swedish bishops; the following year Woods welcomed Söderblom's «Life and Work» movement to Peterborough.

Related Topics:
Intercommunion - Church of England - 1909 - 1920 - England

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Söderblom found that the ecumenical movement was hampered during this period for various reasons: the French, German, and American church officials were conservative, the Archbishop of Canterbury cautious, the patriarchs of the Eastern Orthodox churches just emerging from isolation, the Roman Catholic Church decidedly opposed, and the proponents usually men without power. Rome was a constant opponent as can be seen in Mortalium Animos 1928 encyclical Letter form Pope Pius XI and Cardinal Armido Gasparini.

Related Topics:
Mortalium Animos - 1928 - Pope Pius XI - Armido Gasparini

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The Stockholm Conference in 1925, which brought together Anglican, Protestant, and Orthodox Christians, was the culminating event in Söderblom's ecumenical efforts. Catholicism is not represented and in his opening address, Söderblom regretted the absence of the «Apostle Peter». The Conference, described in detail in Söderblom's book Stockholm 1925, laid the basis for a future ecumenical creed, emphasized the need to reconcile the competing philosophies of subjective spirituality and of objective social action, and sought to find unity in appealing for world peace.

Related Topics:
Stockholm Conference - 1925 - Catholicism

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Söderblom was proud of his election to the Swedish Academy in 1921, of his Nobel Peace Prize in 1930, and of his invitation to deliver the Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh in 1931. For this famous lectureship he planned a great scholarly effort - one series of lectures to be delivered in 1931 and another in 1932, both series to be published in two volumes. He delivered the first series of ten lectures between May 19 and June 8, 1931. An appropriate title for his book eluded him, but on the last day of his life, July 12, he found it: The Living God.

Related Topics:
Swedish Academy - 1921 - Nobel Peace Prize - Edinburgh

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