In: Volume 1 Dawn of Ecumenism | Part II. Prehistory: The Challenges of Modernity previous chapter 1 Introduction When war broke out, the editor of the Protestant journal Christianisme au XXe siècle, Paul Doumergue, wrote in sorrow: “For twenty centuries now, in our so-called Christian civilization, the church has preached: love one another. This is certainly an hour of mourning for all Christians.”1 War, by its very nature, seemed to widen the gaps between confessions as it did between nations. The Christian ideals of fraternity, charity, and unity found …