Religion: Muscular Christ

A prelate who for twelve years was headmaster of Rugby School may be expectedto admire all that is rugged and two-fisted. Such a man is Dr. Albert Augustus David, Anglican Bishop of Liverpool. Last fortnight he and some other British ecclesiasts publicly deplored the traditional custom of picturing Jesus Christ as meek & mild. They urged artists to paint Him as “strong and muscular.” Said they: “We would not mind if the beard were sacrificed if that would make for a stronger face. People these days are inclined to be irreverent about beards, children particularly so. We want to get rid of sentimentality and substitute virility.”

Bishop David, a stern-faced, side-whiskered churchman, startled high-church Anglicans in 1924 by inviting any and all Nonconformists to preach in his new Liverpool Cathedral. Later, deploring “anything mean or tawdry in music,” he vigorously led his congregation in hymn-singing. Last week U. S. radio-owners learned that they would be able to hear Bishop David talk from England March 17, during a series of international and national Lenten broadcasts* sponsored by the New York Protestant Episcopal Missionary Society. This week London’s stalwart Bishop Arthur Foley Winnington Ingram leads off. Others: New York’s Bishop Manning, Montreal’s Bishop Farthing, Washington’s Bishop Freeman, Niagara, Canada’s Bishop Owen, Chicago’s Bishop Stewart.

*Fridays, 1 p. m. (E. S. T.), Columbia chain.