Renn Hampden
Colony of Barbados | |
---|---|
Died | 23 April 1868 London | (aged 75)
Nationality | English |
Denomination | Anglicanism |
Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
Renn Dickson Hampden (29 March 1793 – 23 April 1868) was an
His support for the campaign for the admission of non-Anglicans to the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford was unpopular at the time (1834) and led to serious protests when he was nominated to the Regius Professorship of Divinity two years later. His election as Bishop of Hereford became a cause celebre in Victorian religious controversies because it raised questions about the royal prerogative in the appointment of bishops and the role of the prime minister. He administered the diocese with tolerance and charity without being involved in any further controversy for nearly twenty years.
Early life, education and parish ministries
He was born in
He took his B.A. degree in 1813 with first-class honours in both
In 1827, he published Essays on the Philosophical Evidence of Christianity, followed by a volume of Parochial Sermons illustrative of the Importance of the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ (1828).[2]
Teaching and conflict in Oxford (1829–1846)
In 1829, Hampden returned to Oxford and in May 1830 became one of the tutors at Oriel where a disagreement about the tutors' duties led to John Henry Newman, Hurrell Froude, and Robert Wilberforce being relieved of their duties. Hampden was chosen to deliver the prestigious Bampton Lectures for 1832 in which he attempted to disentangle the original truth of Christianity from later accretions and superstitions, particularly scholastic philosophy.[5]
At the time, some thought he had committed himself to a heretical view of the Trinity akin to Socinianism and Sabellianism,[6] but serious questioning only started after the publication of his Observations on Religious Dissent in 1834, and wide-ranging outrage was sparked in 1836 after his nomination to the Regius Professorship of Divinity.[5]
In 1833, he moved from a tutorship at Oriel to become Principal of
Wider background of the conflicts
The years 1815–1914 were a time of radical social and political change in which religion played a significant role.[8] Politically the Church of England was overwhelmingly Tory and opposed to political reform. At the start of this period, many Anglicans equated the religious well–being of the country to that of their own church while Protestant and Catholic dissidents suffered under discriminatory religious legislation.[9] The Whig party and its reforming programme relied heavily on the support of Protestant dissidents who saw the parish priest as "the black recruiting–sergeant against us".[10] Feelings ran very high, particularly between 1825 and 1850.[8]
Despite the recent, partial relief afforded by the repeal of the
Oxford and Cambridge Universities played a central role in the Church of England. They were wholly Anglican institutions. At Oxford, students had to subscribe to the
The passing of the
Observations on Religious Dissent
In the summer of 1834, a bill to abolish subscription on admission to a university or on taking any degree rather than requiring a subscription to the
Even so, urged by the Duke of Wellington (recently elected Chancellor), on 10 November the heads of the Oxford Colleges recognised that public feeling was opposed to making schoolboys subscribe to the Articles on matriculation and by a single vote agreed to abolish the practice. Hampden then produced a second edition of the pamphlet and sent a copy to John Henry Newman who, while recognising its "tone of piety" regretted that the arguments of the work tended "altogether to make shipwreck of the Christian faith". Debate via published works and personal acrimony between the two scholars continued for two years.[18]
The decision of the heads of Colleges was rescinded but revived in March of the following year when a motion to that effect was roundly defeated in Convocation by 459 votes to 57 where all Masters of Arts whether resident or not had the right to vote and all types of traditionalist MAs combined to defeat it.[citation needed]
A few months later, Lord Radnor introduced a parliamentary bill with the same object and Hampden was the only resident to speak out openly in favour. He became the chief target of a book on the subscription issue edited by Newman who accused Hampden of being a Socinian in it.[citation needed]
Regius Professor
In 1836 the Regius Professor of Divinity died suddenly and the Whig Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, offered the post to Hampden. (The only other clergyman from Oxford who in Whig eyes deserved preferment was Thomas Arnold of Rugby School but he was already regarded as a heretic in conservative church circles). The news leaked out[n 1] before the appointment was confirmed and opposition was quickly organised in the hope of preventing it. It came from three different groups.
A few high churchmen and evangelicals genuinely believed him to hold heretical views and therefore to be unfit to train future clergymen; a large number of Oxford graduates resented the favour shown to the author of Observations on Religious Dissent; and a large number of Tory supporters throughout the country seized the chance of harrying a Whig government.[7] Despite all the objections, Melbourne pushed the nomination through and Hampden became the Regius Professor of Divinity. Melbourne told the House of Lords, when the appointment was debated, with brutal frankness that few if any of them had the expert knowledge to have an informed opinion on the matter.[citation needed]
Bishop of Hereford
Hampden's nomination by Lord John Russell to the vacant see of Hereford in December 1847 was again the signal for organised opposition; and his consecration in March 1848 took place in spite of a remonstrance by many of the bishops, and the resistance of John Merewether, the Dean of Hereford, who voted against the election.
As bishop of Hereford Dr Hampden made no change in his long-formed habits of studious seclusion, and though he showed no special ecclesiastical activity or zeal, the diocese certainly prospered in his charge. Among the more important of his later writings were the articles on Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, which contributed to the eighth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, and afterwards reprinted with additions under the title of The Fathers of Greek Philosophy (Edinburgh, 1862). In 1866 he had a paralytic seizure, and died in London on 23 April 1868. His daughter, Henrietta Hampden, published Some Memorials of R. D. Hampden in 1871.[2]
References
Notes
- ^ This was Melbourne's own fault in that the offer was sent to Hampden in an envelope which Melbourne himself had franked by signing his name on the envelope as a peer was entitled to do and so saving the postage. The signature was recognised in Oxford and someone drew the obvious conclusion.(Chadwick 1966, p. 114)
Citations
- ^ Hampden 1871, p. 1.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911.
- ^ Cross 1968, p. 962.
- ^ Newsome 1993, p. 166.
- ^ a b Green 1964, p. 268.
- ^ Carpenter 1933, p. 148.
- ^ a b Chadwick 1966, p. 115.
- ^ a b Neill 1965, pp. 230ff & 244.
- ^ Rosman 2003, p. 178.
- ^ Carpenter 1933, p. 53.
- ^ Chadwick 1966, pp. 3, 26.
- ^ a b Chadwick 1966, pp. 60, 90.
- ^ Cecil 1955, p. 198.
- ^ Chadwick 1966, p. 3.
- ^ Neill 1965, p. 255.
- ^ Vidler 1962, p. 135.
- ^ Chadwick 1966, p. 111.
- ^ Thomas 2003, p. 71.
Sources
- Carpenter, Spencer Cecil (1933). Church and People, 1789–1889: A History of the Church of England. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
- Cecil, David (1955). Melbourne. The Reprint Society.
- Chadwick, Owen (1966). The Victorian Church. Vol. Part 1. Adam & Charles Black.
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 902.
- ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
- Green, Vivian Hubert Howard (1964). Religion at Oxford and Cambridge. SCM Press.
- Hampden, Henrietta (1871). Some Memorials of Renn Dickson Hampden, Bishop of Hereford. Longmans, Green.
- Neill, Stephen (1965). Anglicanism. Penguin Books.
- Newsome, David (1993). The Parting of Friends: The Wilberforces and Henry Manning. Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3714-1.
- Rosman, Doreen (2003). The Evolution of the English Churches, 1500-2000. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64556-0.
- Thomas, Stephen (2003). Newman and Heresy: The Anglican Years. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-52213-7.
- Vidler, Alexander Roper (1962). The church in an age of revolution: 1789 to the present day. Penguin.