W. A. Visser ’t Hooft’s confrontation with nationalist idolatry among Christians

The most influential, indispensable leader of the ecumenical movement during its formative years is a man largely forgotten today but whose example has never been more relevant. The man is Dutch theologian W. A. Visser ’t Hooft (1900–1985), a dominant presence and theological influence from the 1930s through the 1960s.

In his era and in ours, parts of the church have supported oppressive, xenophobic policies, while other parts lament their weakness in opposing them. In his era and in ours, the church has been split by fissures of race, class, and political ideology. In his era and in ours, many Christians have seen their faith as a retreat from the issues and problems of the day, not a basis from which to engage them.

Visser ’t Hooft’s theological example is worth remembering as we seek to deal with the idolatries and moral hesitancies of our own time. A study of Visser ’t Hooft is also a reminder that the ecumenical movement began as a response to a political and spiritual crisis in Western culture. In his books of the 1930s and 1940s, including None Other Gods and The Wretchedness and Greatness of the Church, he lamented the loss of human solidarity and the widespread longing for authoritarian leaders who promised protection in the face of insecurity, and he condemned the way “hate is made a national duty.” The times, he wrote repeatedly, cry out for a bold, united counterwitness from the church. When the church is true to its calling, it is “a fellowship which transcends all frontiers of nation or race or class” and, thus, challenges head-on, by its very existence, the idolatrous claims of racist and nationalist ideology.