Nathan Söderblom

The nations of Scandinavia, the descendants of the Vikings, still from time to time send out world-conquerors of an increasingly spiritualized type. For centuries the name of Gustavus Adolphus, the saviour of continental Protestantism, has stood out, and we must go back to him to find the proper standards of comparison for a figure like Nathan Soderblom, himself a real 'defender of the faith.' His great name stands for a great cause. Already the ranks of his champions begin to grow thinner, but there are still many at work who received a decisive impulse from him: for them the saga of Nathan Soderblom, inspiring their loftiest thoughts and achievements, is no story of the past. So the following pages will be neither hagiography nor a monograph for experts, but directed to the wider circle of those for whom the struggle for church reunion, social peace, and international good-will forms an important part of their spiritual life. -From the Preface