(This little book consists of a succession of editorials w...)
This little book consists of a succession of editorials which appeared in The Christian Century in the weeks immediately following the outbreak of war between the Axis powers and the United States.
(This is a hard-hitting book on sectarianism in America, w...)
This is a hard-hitting book on sectarianism in America, written as only a great crusading editor, one of the outstanding religious journalists of this generation, could write it.
Charles Clayton Morrison was an American Disciples of Christ minister and author. In 1908 Charles Clayton Morrison took over The Christian Century, by then a publication floundering in financial distress, and eventually turned it into the most influential Protestant magazine of its time.
Background
Charles Clayton Morrison was born on December 4, 1887, in Harrison, Ohio, the United States. Charles Clayton Morrison was the second of four children born to Hugh Tucker and Anna MacDonald Morrison. His father was a carpenter and a preacher, and his mother passed on to him her gift for music.
Education
When his father was taken ill on a Sunday morning, Charles preached in his place. Not a particularly good student, he decided to follow his father’s footsteps and enter the ministry.
He graduated from high school in 1892 and took a congregation in Woodbine, Iowa. His father pushed him to attend college despite his lack of academic prowess, and, after remedial studies, Morrison entered Drake University. He soon dropped out to preach at a church in Osceola and was successful enough that he was asked to take on the largest Disciples of Christ Congregation Church in Des Moines as a soloist.
Morrison eventually succeeded in graduating from Drake, taking his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1898, though he worked the entire time on the pulpit. He also fell under the sway of H. O. Breeden, the proponent of a progressive theology that accepted evolution. This experience spurred him to return to school, and he chose studies in philosophy at the University of Chicago rather than divinity school. There, Morrison was deeply influenced by John Dewey. Although he finished the necessary course work for a doctorate, he chose not to graduate, believing that the credential was unnecessary for a minister.
Morrison started as a minister of several different churches. Morrison bought the Christian Century magazine and became its publisher in 1908. The magazine had initially been started in 1884 as Oracle to serve the Disciples of Christ community. The name was later changed to Christian Century, a moniker that Morrison continued. Morrison used the magazine to espouse his liberal ideas, He gave it the subtitle A Constructive Weekly, which he later changed to ‘An Undenominational Journal of Religion” when the magazine attracted subscriptions from outside the Disciples community. In time, the magazine became a major commentator on important issues of the day.
In 1927, Morrison published The Outlawry of War The book argued that war was akin to piracy or the slave trade, and should be outlawed. Later, Morrison praised Gandhi’s pacifism, while Niebuhr aligned himself with a more pragmatic philosophy. Christian Century, under Morrison’s guidance, also took an unprecedented stand against censorship; while its criticism of Hollywood was often scathing, the magazine did not set itself up as a moral arbiter of culture. For the same reason, Morrison’s Christian Century opposed censorship of radio, even when it was designed to silence bigotry and anti-Semitism.
Christian Century blamed capitalism for the Great Depression and called for replacing the capitalist economy with a planned economy. Still, outright support for the socialists was beyond the scope of Morrison’s radicalism. Instead, he proposed the establishment of a disinterested party which would argue for progressive policies such as adherence to the World Court jurisdiction, recognition of the Soviet state, progressive income tax, and nationalized utilities. Opposition to Zionism was another important stand of the paper, although Morrison was nevertheless a staunch advocate for Jewry, writing of what was happening in Germany as early as 1933 and supporting a boycott of the Berlin Olympics.
In addition to the Outlawry of War, Morrison wrote numerous books addressing Protestantism and social issues, including The Meaning of Baptism (1914), The Social Gospel and the Christian Cultus (1933), What Is Christianity (1940), The Christian and War (1942), Can Protestantism Win America? (1948), and The Unfinished Reformation (1953). Along with Herbert Willet, he also edited a book of hymns. The books were generally well-received.
Before retiring in 1947, Morrison spent nearly forty years editing the magazine, observing, commenting on, and sometimes participating in some of the major historical developments of the middle of the century. Morrison’s Christian Century also published Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” the first national publication to do so. Morrison continued to be involved in various issues after retirement. Although he was going blind, he helped found Protestants and Other Americans United for the Separation of Church and State in 1949. Eventually, he turned more and more toward Episcopalianism in his beliefs.
Charles Clayton Morrison was an American Disciples of Christ minister and Christian socialist.
Connections
Morrison had been working as the pastor of a church in Springfield, Illinois, where he met his wife, Laurel Scott. They were married in 1906 and had two daughters, Helen and Jane.