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The Nordic Network Shows its Weakness as the Cold War sets in: The Visit of the Rev. A. Cotter to the Nordic Lutheran Churches of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, 1946

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2016

Mika K. T. Pajunen
Mika K. T. Pajunen*
Affiliation:
Diaconia University of Applied Sciences, Pori, Finland
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Extract

The Second World War afforded a major test of the strength of international ecclesial networks in war-ridden Europe. Most of the existing links between hostile countries and their churches were cut during the war and had to be rebuilt after the hostilities had ceased. Among the most complicated tasks was the re-establishing of relations with the German churches, whose position was further complicated with the onset of the Cold War. This essay discusses the British attempt to re-establish official relations between the German and Nordic Lutheran churches in 1946.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History Subsidia , Volume 14: International Religious Networks , 2012 , pp. 283 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1994 

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References

1 London, LPL, Council on Foreign Relations [hereafter: CFR], Lutheran and Reformed Churches [LR] file 113/1, Report on a visit to Scandinavian church leaders by the Rev. A. Cotter of Religious Affairs Branch of the Control Commission, Germany (British Element); Pajunen, Mika K.T., “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”: Archbishop Aieksi Lehtonen’s efforts for closer relations with the Church of England 1945–10.51, Schriften der Luther-Agricola-Gesellschaft 62 (Helsinki, 2008), 161.Google Scholar

2 LR file 113/1; LR file 28, Toivo Harjunpää to Douglas, J. A., 8 February 1945; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 161–2.Google Scholar

3 LR file 113/1; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 161–9.Google Scholar

4 LR file 113/1, 2.

5 LR file 113/1, 1; Jasper, Ronald, George Bell: Bishop of Chichester (London, 1967), 302.Google Scholar

6 LR file 113/1, 2.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid. 3.

9 Ibid. 2–3

10 Ibid. 3.

11 Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 163–4.Google Scholar

12 LR file 113/1, 5–8 Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 164.Google Scholar

13 LR file 113/1, 7; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 164.Google Scholar

14 LR file 113/1, 7–8 Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 164–5.Google Scholar

15 LR file 113/1, 8; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 165.Google Scholar

16 LR file 113/1, 8.

17 LR file 28, Harjunpää to Douglas, 8 February 1945; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 165.Google Scholar

18 Helsinki, Kansallisarkisto (KA), Elis Gulin (EG), Lehtonen, A. to Gulin, E., 10 September 1946; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 165.Google Scholar

19 Interview with the Rt Rev. Lehtonen, Samuel, 11 May 2000; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 165–6;Google Scholar.

20 LR file 113/1, 8; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 166.Google Scholar

21 Ripatti, Jaakko, Suomen kirkon ulkomaansuhteet ja kansainvdlinen polittikka 1944–1946 Suomen Kirkkohistoriallisen Seuran Toimituksia 149 (Helsinki, 1990), 115;Google Scholar Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 166.Google Scholar

22 On Finnish Lutheran war guilt and attitudes towards the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, see Lauha, Aila, ‘Die finnische Kirche und die Kriegsschuldfrage’, Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte 12 (1999), 404–25;Google Scholar eadem, , ‘Finnish Christianity since 1940’, in Ryman, Bjorn et al, Nordic Folk Churches:A Contemporary Church History (Grand Rapids, MI, 2005), 27–40, at 27–9.Google Scholar

23 LR file 113/1, 9; Ketola, Hanna-Maija, ‘Teaching “Correct” Attitudes: An Anglican Emissary to Sweden and Finland in 1944’, JEH 55 (2004), 75–101;Google Scholar Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 166–7.Google Scholar

24 Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 166–7.Google Scholar

25 LR file 113/1, 9; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 167.Google Scholar

26 LR file 113/1, 9–10 Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 167.Google Scholar

27 LR file 113/1, 10.

28 Ibid.; Pajunen, , “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 167–8.Google Scholar

29 LR file 113/1, 11.

30 Pajunen, Hanna-Maija, “Towards ‘a real reunion’?”, 168.Google Scholar

31 Ibid. 169.