Movement 103

T1
A shared name and shared heritage - but what exactty is the connection between
the Student Christian Movement and SCM Press?
o
Pressf ng tssues
gGM Pnrss, wHtcH ts wIDELY
regarded as one ofthe most
important religious and
theological publishers in the
English-speaking world, grew out of the
Student Christian Movement just before the
First World War.
The then Secretary of the Publications
of SCM was a young man named Hugh
Martin, and his choice of three best sellers
- two by great American liberal preacher
Harry Emerson Fosdick, The Meaning of
Prayer and The Manhood of the Master, (ll
- Ed), together with fhe Jesus of History, by
the English scholar T.R. Glover (each sold
over 100 000 copies) - provided finance
not only for the Movement but for an
extensive publishing programme.
By !929 the activities of SCM Press had
grown so much that it was decided to turn it
into a separate limited company, SCM Press
Ltd - so SCM Press as a commercial is
seventy years old this Year.
ln the years leading up to the Second
World War SCM Press published large
numbers of study books for students, not
only on the Bible and other religious, but on
the economic situation to the rise of
Nazism. lt was fortunate to secure enough
paper (tightly rationed) to go on publishing
through the war (still under Hugh Martin),
and emerged after the war in good shape.
Hugh Martin was succeeded by Ronald
Gregor Smith, who as well as serving in the
War had been responsible for reconstructing
the German universities immediately after
it. This acquainted him with much important
German theology, and it was through him
that SCM Press began to publish important
continental works in translation. Among
these were two books bY Dietrich
Bonhoeffer, hanged by the Nazis, fhe Cost
of Discipleship and Letters and Papers from
Prison, which have become classics.
ln the 1960s, npw under David Edwards,
SCM Press achieved unprecedented fame
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(or notoriety) with Honest Io God by John
A.T. Robinson, the Bishop of Woolwich,
which questioned many aspects of
traditional Christian faith. lt caused a great
sensation and was translated into many
languages. Just over ten years later an
equally radical book, The Myth of God
lncarnate, also attracted tremendous media
attention. and several years ago the Press's
publication of Antony Freeman's God /n Us
led to a controversy as result of the author
was removed from his ministry in the
Church of England - the first time this has
happened this century.
However, SCM Press has notjust
published controversial books. Over the
years tens of thousands of theological all
over the world have benefited from its
textbooks, and it is now active publishing
Roman Catholic theology and books by
Muslim and Jewish authors, as well as
pioneering feminist and liberation theology.
During the 1980s, when SCM was
particularly disorganised, there was a real
risk threat the Press might be irresponsibly
sold off by students (who in fact had the
power to do this). To protect the Press, a
special SCM Press Trust was formed to give
the security and independence. ln effect the
Trust bought SCM Press Ltd from SCM.
However, over the years this buy-out left
the Press undercapitalised, and it was
decided by the Trust that the best way of
safeguarding the future was for the Press to
join a larger group which would allow it to
continue but it the necessary financial
background. So SCM Press is now part of a
larger company, SCM-Canterbury Press Ltd,
owned by Hymns Ancient and Modern,
which is a registered charity. lt is not safe to
go on doing what it has always been doing'
);.r"r change a bit, but the activity goes
John Bowden is the Managing Director of
SCM Press.
lf you are a reader, you could be a writQf...
M
is always interested in new ideas.
Fancy doing a reYiew? Having a rant? Generating ideas?
lf so, please get in touch ' see address on page one'
movement 4