Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 13, No. 20. Thursday, September 7, 1950

The Tasks that Confront us — Raven on..

The Tasks that Confront us

Raven on...

The most outstanding; single event that we at Victoria have known for a long time took place on the first Saturday evening of the recent vacation. It isn't possible for me to convey adequately the impact that all those present felt: this report, written some time after the event, may be a little distorted by personal notions.

The Rev. Canon C. E. Raven, D.D., D.Sc., F.B.A., Regius Professor of Divinity, Master of Christs College and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, addressed a meeting convened by the SCM. He knew. I suppose, that we in N.Z. gather every now and again to hear some person of reputed fame, and sometimes are disappointed. He said, anyway, that he had not come from the other side of the world just to talk platitudes—he was as good as his word. We must forgive him, he said, if he sounded dogmatic; time was short and we could ask questions afterwards.

The Predicament

He knew that we were aware of the troubles of the times—a world rushing to destruction it seems. He brought it home to us that we, members of the so-called great democracies had given atom bombs to-youths and had them obliterate two great cities. Platitudes unclothed became naked fact. You can't avoid this issue. Least of all can a Christian avoid it. Civilisation has about five years at the most left to decide whether it wilt continue. Because he could look all this in the face, because he knew what he was talking about, and because now, at 65, he is young, he convinced us in vigorous contrast to the Hamlet that irks our souls, that now is a great time to be alive.

Yes, he said, concluding his introduction—the terrible likelihood of yet another war surpassing all in devastation provides the best test case of just what our Christianity is. He did not protagonise his point of view upon us (his attitude is Christian and Pacifist). What he did show us was that we have an inescapable duty to face this issue with sustained effort and study.

We were confronted with the mass mess of our civilisation; civilisation does not depend on material prosperity. The destruction of Hiroshima, though this is terrible enough, does not matter so much as the wrong human relationships which cause, eventually, such destruction. Seeking, in consequence, to understand such a situation, he would offer four main fundamental problems.

The New Man-Woman Relationships

Raven referred to the changed position of women in our society which has come about in the last few decades. Women are more and more taking an equal part with men—rightly so—and this is being recognised. A further factor is the relaxing of the restraint of the old Victorian society and its morality. The old patterns of behaviour for man and woman are no longer adequate for our society. A new pattern of home life, and youth life, suited to the full contributions of the dual roles, must be built up. And built up by us. The reason why you cannot have an improving society when sex morality is declining is that, if you are the sort of person who takes sex lightly, it will mean that you are the sort of person who regards other people as existing solely for your own enjoyment. People must be valued for their own sake, not for what we can get out of them—sexual pleasure or anything else. This did not imply a need to reinstate Victorian prudery and ignorance. Yet the essence of whether society is good or bad lies in the tenor of human relationships, near and far.

Race Relationships

This is closely related to the first It is perhaps not such a problem in New Zealand, but we have only to cast our eyes on South Africa and America to see something of what we mean. Raven was amazed to hear Australians talking of "white Australia," a policy never moral, and now not even practical.

There are two aspects of this problem. As to the genetic aspect, it is high time the geneticists came out in the open and said, as Raven thinks they can, that there are no innate inferiorities in people due to their being members of mixed blood. The psychological aspect is more important. For instance, many of us feel some revulsion in regard to members of other races. We must learn how to overcome this, or at least to adjust to it. It is up to us to give all the effort we can to the problems of ways and means in improving race relationships. The N.Z. situation gives us a unique opportunity to give some lead here.

Religion and Science

At the root of the divisions among mankind is the lack of agreement on matters that happen to be basically philosophic or religious. One of the major ways in which this shows up on the surface is the conflict between popular notions of science and popular notions of religion. ( I think Canon Raven went further here and also referred to the incompatibility of and inadequacy of views based on mind as the only reality or matter as the only reality.) Not so long ago, religion and science used to be carefully departmentalised. Teachers in each sphere kept within their own ground. This attitude which was a strong factor in the production of "ivory tower" attitudes has crashed: it is seem that it just will not work. The kind of view of religion and science which it took is inadequate. Some of the top men in science are now throwing over their faith in weight and measurement as the key to reality. Heisenberg said in Raven's drawing room at Cambridge that any physicist who wishes to give the fullest account of the realm of physics today must accept incompatible hypotheses. Raven emphasised how it is that we must take into account what the poets and musicians are saying as well as what the scientists are saying. We see through a glass darkly—if we do not use all the light available we may not be able to move at all. A deeper, more open-minded and yet more inclusive (that is, a proper) view of religion could give us the best possible life view.

Many scientist are worried by the way in which science la being utilised. A group of them asked Raven to approach Temple when he was alive in the hope that Temple would be able to give them a total and basic view which, they could see, could not come from science alone. University scientists are worried by the "gadget-mangers" they are producing. In consequence, Cambridge is likely to insist on a background of philosophy and history to science study. Raven also wanted to mention the amazing popularity of the Saturday morning school of theology open to all students at Cambridge (as an instance of these lectures see Hodges H. A.: "Christianity and the World View.")

Rapprochement of Churches

One of the most significant things in our day is the fact that the churches are coming together more and more. There still exists, of course, the division between the Roman and Protestant churches. None of us who have received a liberal education could believe that human beings measure up to the standard of infallibility. Otherwise, however, there is much growing co-operation between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant churches. Apart from the Roman Catholic church, sectarian divisions now existing are anachronisms—the main issues which called them into being no longer exist and the extant differences are mainly in forms of government. The great differences which are to be found among Christians are (I suppose he was referring to differing attitudes to sex, war, fundamentalism, etc) cut across the barriers of denominations. A tremendous amount of saintliness is to be found in all sections of the Churches. The maintenance of such barriers as remain is causing grave damage to Christianity. It is for us to devise ways and means of reducing and removing these barriers. Is not N.Z. eminently suited in many ways to give a lead in this?

Discussion was slow in starting, evidence that he had taken our breath away somewhat. What about the "menace of Communism?" The first thing, said Raven, is to rid our minds of the bogy and to counteract the lamentably prevalent tendencies to hysteria. Though not as fundamental as the issues to which he had referred it was yet a serious question.

We should recognise the considerable good achieved within Russia and elsewhere: but we cannot shut our eyes to its defects. We must try to understand Communism, and also not forget that the peoples of the East are people. He suggested that our best means of contact was through China. He thought Communism was not the main force working for war at the present time.

As to food shortage and world population, a great problem but not necessarily so immediate, obviously we must consider proper and equitable distribution of food. Christianity and the rationing of population are compatible.

The problem of evil and pain was related to God's creation of freely responding persons, and an alternative where no-one could come to any harm seemed to be a sort of padded cell life. The apparent cruelty of nature seemed almost to indicate an all pervading law of sacrifice. Yet God was in it all: God did not stand and watch and say sometimes "Oh, well played, sir!" But Raven was acutely conscious of the difficulty of this problem.

Other points included that democracy is rather a question of social relationship than merely government by committee. The question of a university is to fit people for the fullness of life, not merely to impart technical skills.

Throughout the evening, one could not help but be profoundly impressed with the encompassment of his mind and the depth of his insights. The fundamental issues he raised were crucial, and that he could meticulously show their relevance in the short time was amazing. The unclothed platitudes stood as naked fact, and we were confronted—involved.

Canon Raven must have made his remarks about us (VUC) in the Listener on inadequate evidence. He saw us only in the vacation, and his was the rushed visit of the busy man—we at VU can forgive him.

E. E. Robinson.