Soviet Evangelicals Since World War II, Walter Sawatsky, 1981

owth and progress and they are convinced that they have a legitimate place in Soviet society. Even the Soviet state has demonstrated that it is not purely an agent for evil, but must be credited with major positive achievements. There has been impressive progress in efforts to feed, clothe, shelter and educate all Soviet citizens. The standard of living may not be comparable to America, but the problems were greater in 1917, while the national recovery was de- layed by an expensive war in which 10 percent of the population (20 million people) perished. Not the least of the state’s worries in attempting a positive transformation of the Russian empire was the possibility that the church represented an evil opposition against these reforms, One must surely conclude that both theses are dangerously simplistic, of inadequate integrity. I have tried instead to present the Soviet evangel- icals and their opponents in their complexity, including the contradictions. Because a serious struggle for the faith of people is going on, it is the responsibility of fellow believers elsewhere to take Soviet evangelicals seriously. To dismiss large numbers of them as hypocrites or phonies is to judge where we have received no mandate to do so. To worship them as super-heroes of the faith in effect denies them a part in common sinful hu- manity which is looking with hope to a God who came to save sinners. They are part of the same single body of Jesus Christ which has not always main- tained a reputation as a healthy body. But this body, the church, has never lost its hope in Jesus, the head of the body. It is time for a much more reflective, deliberate, and nuanced response to the Soviet evangelicals. This applies equally well to those wishing to help and to those wishing to learn from Soviet evangelicals. This book seeks to provide a reference base for such responses. The Christian-Communist encounter is one of the basic events of the 20th century. It now seems apparent that increasing areas of the world will be attracted to socialism-communism in the future. Western Christians, especially evangelicals, find themselves ill-equipped intellectually, experientially, and practically to deal with such a situation creatively and re- demptively. Perhaps the reader will experience the story of the Soviet evangelicals as parable. It raises many issues for reflection—perhaps the most thought- provoking are the contradictions, the paradoxes, the ironies. In the 1920s Introduction ; 13 their leaders persuaded the members to abandon pacifism in order to gain credibility with the Soviet government, in order to keep their evangelization program functioning. Here they badly misjudged Soviet intentions. When church life was resumed after World War II, the leaders stressed how patriotically they had fought in the’ war and how patriotically they were now supporting the peaceful intentions of Soviet foreign policy. Yet in do- ing so