This venerable journal--born 1804

Giving birth to The Churchman in 1804 was "an act of faith," wrote Dr. E. Clowes Chorley, Episcopal Church historian. 'The church catered solely to the socially privileged; she had neither thought nor care for the poor."

Describing early American church-goers, Dr. Chorley wrote in The Churchman (reprinted November 15, 1949): "Church people were correct, but cold, unimpeachably orthodox in their expression ... concerning themselves with a quiet contempt for the less privileged ... tolerating sin, denouncing enthusiasm as the height of vulgarity."

Now, nearly two centuries later, The Human Quest, successor to The Churchman, acknowledges leadership as belonging to anyone who earns it, including women. Episcopal Church approval of the ordination of women to the priesthood came in 1968. Margaret Sanger, a good friend of this journal, met this issue head-on. She and I once shared a taxi ride with editor Guy Emery Shipley, a memorable dividend in my journalistic career.

In 1931 a group of supporters formed The Churchman Associates. These men and women believed in free journalistic comment as part of our democratic heritage. Governors Herbert Lehman of New York and Elmer Benson of Minnesota joined with bishops and top newspaper men and women in support of a free press. Dr. Walter Russell Bowie, on the faculty of Union Theological Seminary, New York, was the group's first president, succeeded by Dr. Joseph Fletcher (author of Situation Ethics) on the faculty of Episcopal Theological Seminary, Cambridge, Mass. His autobiographical essay, entitled "An Odyssey: From Theology to Humanism," was presented at the annual Unitarian Universalist General Assembly at Michigan State University in June, 1979. Fletcher was followed as president by Dr. Lee A. Belford, New York University professor, and Bishop John Spong, whose questioning of Episcopal theology is well known.

So this magazine's controversial flavor has complemented its spirit of independence through the decades.

The Churchman's successor was named The Human Quest at the suggestion of Board member John Ogden Fisher, pastor of the Unitarian Church, St. Petersburg, Fla., to represent the magazine's humanistic spirit.

Its liberal bent is in keeping with the men and women who believe in freedom of thought and expression.

In 1979 this journal published a remarkable article by Dr. Paul Blanshard, whose book, American Freedom and Catholic Power, was first published in 1949 by Beacon Press. His article was titled, "Religious and Anti-Religious Freedom," and the following quotes give a flavor for Blanshard's message:

"By one of the luckiest breaks in history some really broadminded statesmen got hold of the machinery of government of our emerging nation. It was not Jonathan Edwards with his gospel of hell and a vengeful God, but a squad of skeptics including Jefferson the Unitarian, Madison the partially redeemed Anglican, Franklin the flexible free thinker who knew how to play it safe, and on the outside Tom Paine, the best of all."

Blanchard cites the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as "a good beginning for a new nation." Our magazine has been steadfast in this thinking, proud that Jefferson was in office in 1804 when The Churchman began.

Its political comments have been a pungent attraction, and still are seen in Dr. John Swomley's penetrating analyses of church chicanery that needs exposure. This journal lives up to Professor Elton Trueblood's description in "Light penetrating the darkness," written for this journal's 175th anniversary issue in 1979.

When the Rev. William Austin Smith and Guy Emery Shipler, a Buffalo Evening News journalist, began a new era-in religious journalism, their predecessor, Episcopal Bishop Charles Kendall Gilbert wrote in The Churchman for November 15, 1947: "I believe I rendered The Churchman my best service ... with these two gifted men thoroughly in harness I had sense enough to stand aside."

These two men felt a kinship with two Baptist visionaries, Walter Rauschenbusch and Harry Emerson Fosdick, in believing that "the life of the church is saved only by being lost."

The Churchman's influence broadened lay leadership, prompting Episcopal Bishop Edward L. Parsons of California to comment: "The Churchman is a leader in the interpretation of the relation of Christianity to the life of society. It has been liberal, open-minded, forward looking. It has hated obscurantism. It has protested against conformity. In days when our constitutional liberties are imperiled, it has spoken fearlessly. We need its message."

The University of South Florida's St. Petersburg campus maintains an exhibit of Churchman volumes of the past century in a bookcase, Mark Twain style, adjoining the classrooms of Professor Raymond Arsenault, whose history teachings include a special Thomas Jefferson course, an appropriate adjunct to the messages of this journal. Part of that exhibit features my paintings and personal reminiscences honoring my graduation at USF, class of `71.

A link has been Red Cross Col. Raymond Robbins, who gave several acres of land near Tampa to USF during years of warm correspondence with Dr. Shipler. The Robbins-Shipler letters, showing Robbins' approval of the liberal stance of The Churchman, are part of USF's historical documents.

Humor has been an undergirding part of this journal's milieu. Dr. Shipler's whimsical demeanor kept the light-hearted ball in the air among contributors.

I recall an instance when he received a message from Dr. William Larremore Caswell, Contributing Editor for several decades, whose memo also named Percy Sylvester Malone, writer of the Gargoyles column in each issue for many years. "Ship," it began, "shouldn't we have something religious in the next issue of The Churchman for a change?"

Dr. Shipley's skirmishes with Cardinal Spellman in the Letters columns of the New York Times, usually on church-state issues, inspired a New Yorker comment: "It appeared as though the two divines were slugging it out toe to toe."

There was always an element of fun in our kind of religious journalism. This journal has afforded me the unique privilege of knowing men and women of innate nobility. I feel enriched!

By Edna Ruth Johnson, Human Quest Editor Emeritus

Copyright The Human Quest Sep/Oct 2001
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved