Joseph Houldsworth Oldham

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(1874–1969), known as J. H. or Joe, was a Scottish missionary in India, who became a significant figure in

Christian ecumenism Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...

, though never ordained in the

United Free Church The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; , ) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and the majority of the 19th-century Free Church of Scotland. The maj ...

as he had wished.

Life

J.H. Oldham was the son of George Wingate Oldham (1807-1859) and Eliza 'Lillah' née Houldsworth (1845-?). He was born in India and brought up in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

until age 7, when his family returned to Scotland, living in

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

before matriculating as a student at

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

. Joseph then went to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

in 1897, a missionary for the Scottish

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, there marrying in 1898 Mary Anna Gibson Fraser (1875-1965), daughter of Andrew Fraser and Agnes Whitehead née Archibald (1847-1877). He and Mary both suffered with

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

, and returned to Scotland in 1901. He became editor of the ''International Review of Missions'' in 1912, and travelled widely. At the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he was a secretary of the Emergency Committee of Cooperating Missions, chaired by

John Mott John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was an American evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 19 ...

. Article 438 of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

dealt with the property of German missions in territories ceded to the Allies by a mechanism of putting them in trust, and its inclusion is attributed to lobbying by Oldham. He was secretary of the

International Missionary Council The International Missionary Council (IMC) was an ecumenical Protestant Christian missionary organization established in 1921, which in 1961, merged with the World Council of Churches (WCC), becoming the WCC's Division of World Mission and Evangeli ...

from its setting up in London in 1921 to 1938, an organisation having its roots in the

1910 World Missionary Conference The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Pr ...

in which he was heavily involved, and which he helped found and make effective (with Mott, William Paton and

Abbe Livingston Warnshuis Abbe may refer to: People * Abbe (name) Places * Abbe (crater), a lunar impact crater that is located in the southern hemisphere on the far side of the Moon * Lake Abbe, African lake * Abbe Falls, waterfalls in India Other uses * Abbé, the Fren ...

). He promoted the 1926 founding of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures by his efforts to gather funding. He then played a major role in the formation of the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...

. From 1938 to 1947 he convened ‘

The Moot The Moot was a discussion group concerned with education, social reconstruction, and the role of culture in society. It was convened by J. H. Oldham, editor of the Christian Newsletter, and its participants were mainly Christian intellectu ...

’, a Christian think-tank concentrating on the problem of post-war reconstruction, at weekend residential meetings several times a year. The most regular members were John Baillie,

Fred Clarke Fred Clifford Clarke (October 3, 1872 – August 14, 1960) was an American Major League Baseball player from 1894 to and manager from 1897 to 1915. Clarke played for and managed both the Louisville Colonels and Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a le ...

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

, Eric Fenn,

Herbert Arthur Hodges Herbert Arthur Hodges (4 January 19052 July 1976) was a British philosopher and theologian. He was Professor of Philosophy at Reading University from 1934 to 1969. He was a member of The Moot, the discussion and study group begun by J. H. Oldham ...

, Eleonora Iredale,

Karl Mannheim Karl Mannheim (born Károly Manheim, 27 March 1893 – 9 January 1947) was a Hungarian sociologist and a key figure in classical sociology as well as one of the founders of the sociology of knowledge. Mannheim is best known for his book '' Id ...

, Walter Moberly,

John Middleton Murry John Middleton Murry (6 August 1889 – 12 March 1957) was an English writer. He was a prolific author, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime. ...

, Mary Oldham, Gilbert Shaw and

Alec Vidler Alexander Roper Vidler (27 December 1899 – 25 July 1991), known as Alec Vidler, was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and ecclesiastical historian, who served as Dean of King's College, Cambridge, for ten years from 1956 and then, follo ...

Stefan Collini Stefan Collini (born 6 September 1947)COLLINI, Prof. Stefan Anthony
''Who ...

sums up the discussions as bearing "in one way or another, on the issue of cultural leadership in a modern society". Oldham also edited the ''Christian News-Letter'' (taken over by

Kathleen Bliss Kathleen Mary Amelia Bliss (; 5 July 190813 September 1989) was an English theologian, missionary and official of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Early life Bliss was born in Fulham. She attended Girton College, Cambridge, graduating in th ...

), for the Council of the Churches on the Christian Faith and the Common Life. It published some papers derived from the Moot.

Works

His book ''Christianity and the Race Problem'' (1924), against

scientific racism Scientific racism, sometimes termed biological racism, is the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific belief that the Human, human species is divided into biologically distinct taxa called "race (human categorization), races", and that empirical evi ...

, has been called "a sophisticated attempt to develop an alternative Christian analysis of racial relations by attacking the determinism of Stoddard and Grant, both of whom are cited, on scientific, economic, and ethical grounds". His proposed solutions, however, have been criticised as vague. At the time of publication it was reviewed positively by Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje. Oldham was a principal leader in organizing and writing and editing material for the "Conference on Church, Community, and State", known as the Oxford Conference of 1937. At the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1948 Oldham contributed the important paper "A Responsible Society". In later work he was influenced by

Ludwig Feuerbach Ludwig Andreas von Feuerbach (; ; 28 July 1804 – 13 September 1872) was a German anthropologist and philosopher, best known for his book '' The Essence of Christianity'', which provided a critique of Christianity that strongly influenced ge ...

, Eberhard Grisebach and

Martin Buber Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...

.Reeves, p. 9. His book ''Life is Commitment'' (1959) is based upon a course of lectures given to the London School of Religion.

References

Biography
* Keith Clements (1999), ''Faith on the Frontier: A life of J. H. Oldham'' * Marjorie Reeves (editor) (1999), ''Christian Thinking and Social Order''

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oldham, Joseph Houldsworth 1874 births 1969 deaths People in Christian ecumenism Scottish Presbyterian missionaries Presbyterian missionaries in India Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire

Life

Works

References

Notes

Further reading

External links