Modern Church
Modern Church is a charitable society
- divine revelation has not come to an end;
- new ideas should be judged on their merits and ideas accepted or rejected in the past can be reassessed.
- human rationality and creativity are not contrasted with divine revelation, but are valued as means to receiving it.
Understood like this, theological liberalism is opposed to dogmatism.[3] Its style is open and enquiring, willing to dialogue with other traditions and accept new insights from unexpected sources. It values critical scholarship of the Bible and Christian history. It expects to contribute to, and learn from, contemporary society in ways that are public, relevant and respectful.[4]
History
The society was founded in 1898 as the Churchmen's Union for the Advancement of Liberal Religious Thought as a society to defend the tolerant 'middle ground' within the
From the outset it defended belief in evolution and critical scholarship of the Bible. It promoted the
Its journal was founded in 1911. At first known as The Modern Churchman,[9] it is now Modern Believing and is published by Liverpool University Press.
Annual conferences began in 1914 and have continued with the exception of the war years.[10] Over the years many distinguished theologians have addressed them. Its most controversial conference was 'Christ and the Creeds' in 1921. It generated so much debate that the Church of England set up a Doctrine Commission to investigate it. The Commission produced a report in 1938 exonerating the views expressed.[11]
The dominant figure in the early years was
The most detailed history of the organisation is Alan Stephenson's The Rise and Decline of English Modernism.[13] It was written in the early 1980s at a time when the society was in decline and Stephenson expected it to die out, but since then it has revived.
Apart from Henry Major, leading theologians in the past are
Leadership
In July 2017, Modern Church announced that its next General Secretary would be Jonathan Draper.[15] He took up the part-time post on 1 September 2017.
List of presidents:[16]
- 1898–1902: The Revd Prof George Henslow
- 1902–1908: The Revd William Douglas Morrison
- 1908–1915: Sir Charles Acland
- 1915–1922: Prof Percy Gardner
- 1923–1924: The Very Revd Hastings Rashdall
- 1924–1934: The Very Revd William Ralph Inge
- 1934–1937: The Very Revd Walter Matthews
- 1937–1958: Sir Cyril Norwood
- 1958–1966: The Rt Revd Leonard Wilson
- 1966–1990: The Very Revd Edward Carpenter
- 1990–1997: The Rt Revd Peter Selby
- 1997–2011: The Rt Revd John Saxbee
- 2011–2013: The Revd Prof John Barton
- 2014–2019: Prof Linda Woodhead
- 2019–present: Prof Elaine Graham
List of secretaries:[16]
- 1899–1900: The Revd William Geikie-Cobb
- 1900–????: The Revd William Manning
- 1916–1920: The Revd Cavendish Moxon
- 1920–1923: Philip Henry Bagenal
- 1923–1927: The Revd John Henry Bentley
- 1927–1942: The Revd Thomas John Wood
- 1942–1950: The Revd Robert Gladstone Griffith
- 1950–1954: The Revd Thomas John Wood
- 1954–1960: The Revd Clifford Oswald Rhodes
- 1960–1990: uncertain
- 1991–2002: The Revd Nicholas Paul Henderson
- 2002–2013: The Revd Jonathan Clatworthy
- 2013–2016: The Revd Guy Elsmore
- 2016 (acting): The Revd Lorraine Cavanagh
- 2017–present: The Very Revd Jonathan Draper
References
- ^ "Charity overview". Retrieved 2017-05-15.
- ISBN 978-0-70831-501-9.
- ^ "About Modern Church".
- ^ "Modern Church, An Introduction to Liberal Theology".
- ^ a b c "Modern Church - Our History".
- ^ "Our journal: The birth of the Churchmen's Union: Object statements past & present". Modern Church. October 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- ^ Stephenson, Alan M G (1984). The Rise and Decline of English Modernism: The Hulsean Lectures 1979-80. London: SPCK.
- ^ "Modern Church - Anglican Covenant Archive".
- ^ Modern Church history - Our journal
- ^ Modern Church - past conferences
- SPCK.
- ^ Pearson, Clive R. (1996). "Henry Dewsbury Alves Major". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- ^ Stephenson, Alan MG (1984). The Rise and Decline of English Modernism: The Hulsean Lectures 1979-80. London: SPCK.
- ^ Tebbutt, Simon (October 2005). "Obituary: The Revd Professor W H C Frend". Signs of the Times No. 19. Modern Church. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- ^ Bohan, Kieran. "Meet our new General Secretary - Modern Church". modernchurch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2017-10-02.
- ^ a b Bohan, Kieran. "Presidents & Secretaries". Modern Church. Retrieved 16 May 2018.