BUCHMAN, FRANK NATHAN DANIEL

Founder of movement known variously as Oxford Group, Moral Re-armament (MRA), and Buchmanism;b. Pennsburg, Pa., June 4, 1878; d. Freudenstadt, Germany, Aug. 7, 1961. After receiving his M.A. from Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., Buchman was ordained in the Lutheran ministry (1902) and did parish work for three years in Philadelphia, Pa., where he subsequently directed a hostel for homeless boys. During a trip abroad, he experienced a "conversion" while listening to a sermon in an English village church. From this experience he formulated ideas that constituted a basic part of his movement: a Christian renaissance based on absolute love, honesty, purity, and unselfishness. For five years he did evangelistic work among the students of Pennsylvania State College. He spoke at youth conferences and traveled in the U.S., Europe, and the Far East. Convinced that men must be approached individually in order to be converted to God, he introduced "house parties" at which men might, in an informal setting, be induced to amend their lives. The first important house party was held at Oxford in 1921, hence the name Oxford Group. Buchman described the movement as a "Christian revolution … the aim of which is a new social order under the dictatorship of God." In 1938 he renamed it Moral Re-Armament, calling it a "God-guided campaign to prevent war by a moral and spiritual awakening." The activities of MRA, diminished during World War II, gained new popularity after 1945. MRA has been praised for its insistence on sincere devotion and personal commitment and denounced for its lack of emphasis on Christ. Buchman wrote extensively; among his publications are Moral Re-Armament (1938), Remaking the World (1948), and The World Rebuilt (1951).

Bibliography: f. e. mayer, The Religious Bodies of America (4th ed. St. Louis 1961). w. g. schwehn, What Is Buchmanism? (St. Louis 1940). w. h. clark, The Oxford Group: Its History and Significance (New York 1951).

[e. delaney]

Buchman, Frank (1878–1961). Founder of Moral Re-Armament. A Lutheran pastor in Pennsylvania, Buchman embarked for Europe in 1908 after a disagreement. There he began a campaign along evangelical lines. In Oxford in 1921 he founded the ‘First-Century Christian Fellowship’ or Oxford Group Movement, the chief activity of which was house parties including group confessions, prayers and listening for God's guidance, having as their aim the ‘changing’ of lives. The Oxford Group became Moral Re-Armament in 1938.