The renewal of Bible study and the quickening of Christian social conscience that have marked "ecumenical reformation" in our time are here shown to be intimately related. Kraemer outlines what is need for "the development of a Christian social ethic that will be at once more faithful to the Bible and more relevant to the modern situation" than previous ethics, writes the editor. Distinctive is the emphasis that Kraemer, a layman in The Netherlands and former director of the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches, puts on the part lay men and women must play in developing such as ethic. The important role he assigns to the social sciences, on which he says we must depend for information about the modern situation, should make his essay of particular interest to American readers.