The Church of the Reformation Faces Today's Challenges

Abstract

Prefatory Note—Dr. Joseph L. Hromádka, Dean of the Jan Hus Theological Faculty in Prague, is considered the foremost Protestant theologian and Church leader in Czechoslovakia. He fled the Nazi terror and came to the United States to spend eight years in exile as a professor of theology in Princeton Theological Seminary. Shortly after the War closed, during the summer of 1947, he and his family returned to his native land to help in the reconstruction.

Political conditions changed rapidly and the Communist Party came into power early in 1948. Since that time Dr. Hromádka and his colleagues have had to face a new situation. They have tried to maintain a Christian position in their national revolution, believing that while the new order represents an inevitable development in history, the Christian must not withdraw from it, but take a positive yet critical attitude towards it and give his Christian witness in it. That this is being done is evidenced by this powerful address, which is here presented in unabridged form.

Some think that Hromádka has gone too far in working with the new order, although they admire his courageous stand and his precarious position. Others, who know the European situation, feel that he is on the right course, and that his future will no doubt determine the future of evangelical Christianity in all Communist countries. Communists in Czechoslovakia respect men like Hromádka, because they know that such Christians are sincere, fearless, and incorruptible. They also know that Christians like Hromádka have great social concern for the people.

This address, delivered a few months ago to several thousand people in one of the large halls of Prague, is based upon Psalm 75 and will indicate to those who read the Psalm how relevant the Bible is! It reveals the core of the Protestant faith of the Reformation which is coming to renewed life in many areas of the Church. The address also communicates the tension which in a sense always exists between the Church and the world, the tension which in our time has become acute.—E. G. Homrighausen.