Ruth Rouse

This article deals with the theologian and ecumenist; on the Grenadian diplomat, see Ruth Elizabeth Rouse .

Clara Ruth Rouse (born September 17, 1872 in London-Clapham , † 1956 ) was a British Anglican theologian. As a long-time secretary of the Student Christian-World Federation ( World Student Christian Federation , WSCF) it was one of the leaders of the early ecumenical movement .

Life

Rouse's parents were members of the Baptist Metropolitan Tabernacle in London. Rouse was baptized there in 1892, but soon joined the Church of England . She studied at Bedford College in London and from 1891 to 1894 at Girton College in Cambridge , where she was unable to obtain a degree due to the restrictions at the time. During her studies, she joined the Student Volunteer Movement , whose magazine Student Volunteer she published from 1895. On trips through Great Britain, Scandinavia and the United States, she worked to network the international cooperation of both the Christian student movement and the colleges for women's education. From 1899 to 1901 she worked as a missionary in India, but had to return to Europe because of health problems. She was won over by John Raleigh Mott in 1903 to return to work as a travel secretary for the World Student Christian Federation. In 1905 she was officially employed and later became General Secretary of the Association, for which she also took part in the World Missions Conference in Edinburgh in 1910. After the First World War she was involved in founding the European Student Relief Fund , from which today's World University Service developed.

In 1924, Rouse gave up the work for the Christian Student Union to work as education secretary in the Mission Council of the National Assembly (now the General Synod) of the Church of England. In 1939 she retired, but continued to work as a journalist. So she organized the archives of the World Council of Churches in Geneva and wrote the first large-scale history of the ecumenical movement. From 1938 to 1946, she volunteered to chair the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), of which she had been a member since 1906.

Publications (selection)

• Excerpts from a report on the work of the Christian Student Union among female students. In: Report from the conference of the Christian Student Union at Zeist in Holland. Christian World Student Union, Halle 1905, pp. 133–151.
• Studies in the Epistle to the Philippians. Student Christian Movement, London 1906.
• The Missionary Motifs. Student Christian Movement, London Press, 1913.
• (with H. Crichton Miller :) Christian Experience and Psychological Processes. With Special Reference to the Phenomenon of Autosuggestion. Student Christian Movement, London 1917.
• Rebuilding Europe. The Student Chapter in Post-War Reconstruction. Student Christian Movement, London 1925.
• John R. Mott: An Appreciation. World's Student Christian Federation, Geneva 1929.
• The World's Student Christian Federation. A History of the First Thirty Years. Student Christian Movement, London 1948.
• (with Stephen Charles Neill :) A History of the Ecumenical Movement 1517–1948. Two volumes. SPCK, London 1954; ³ 1986.
  • History of the Ecumenical Movement 1517–1948. Two volumes. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1957/58; ² 1963/1973.

literature

• Ruth Franzén : The Legacy of Ruth Rouse. In: International Bulletin of Mission Research 1993, pp. 154-158 ( PDF file ).
• Ruth Franzén: Rouse, C (lara) Ruth. In: Gerald H. Anderson (Ed.): Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions. Macmillan, New York 1998, p. 580 ( online resource ).
• Christine Keim: Women's Mission and Women's Emancipation. A discussion in the Basel Mission in the context of the early ecumenical movement (1901–1928). LIT Verlag, Münster 2005, esp. Pp. 186-189.
• Kate Wilson: Ruth Rouse (1872-1956). "Mission and Ecumenism Are Inseparable". In: Mozaik 15, 2005, p. 26f ( PDF file ).
• Ruth Franzén: Ruth Rouse among students. Global, missiological, and ecological perspectives (= Studia missionalia Svecana, 105). Swedish Institute of Mission Research, Uppsala 2008.
• Johanna M. Selles: The World Student Christian Federation, 1895-1925: Motives, Methods, and Influential Women. Wipf and Stock, Eugene OR 2011, esp. Pp. 80-93.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Girton College Register: 1869-1946. 1948, p. 70.