CHURCH UNION: WHY NOT

by John R.Scotford 'n. Pilgrim Press, 1948, 123 pp.,$2.00.

According to its preface, "this book is intended for the intelligent layman who yearns for a greater unity in Protestantism—and wonders why it is so long in coming." However, ministers, too, will find here a valuable source of information and ideas relative to the growing movement toward church union.

The author is unusually well qualified to write on this subject. He has been the pastor of churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois and Ohio; he has been a denominational secretary, working with many church groups throughout the country; he is now Editor of the Congregational-Christian national magazine, "Advance," with wide and varied journalistic contacts with the other denominations; and he has been active in the great inter-denominational conferences of recent years.

In seven logically developed and clearly written chapters, Dr. Scotford outlines the reasons why church union is being increasingly urged (the breakdown of the old denominational distinctions, the waste of competition, and the desirability of a united, single-voiced, more effective Church); considers the obstacles to union; describes the historical development of interchurch cooperation (from the earliest lay-inspired move- ments, such as the Y.M.C.A. and Christian Endeavor, to the present time of city, state and national councils of churches and also of actual denominational mergers); analyzes each denomination from the point of view of its probable reactions to proposals of organic union; and makes some good practical suggestions as to what interested individuals and churches can do to further church union.