Working with his Rugby contemporary R. H. Tawney, the seminal Labour thinker, and William Beveridge, the architect of the welfare reforms which sought to banish the five giants of want, idleness, squalor, ignorance and disease, Temple’s book Christianity and Social Order, published in 1942, provided a challenging theological gloss to this vision: “. . . there is no hope of establishing a more Christian social order except through the labour and sacrifice of those in whom the Spirit of Christ is active, and that the first necessity for progress is more and better Christians taking full responsibility as citizens for the political, social and economic system under which they and their fellows live.”
After Temple’s death at the age of 63 after being Archbishop of Canterbury for only 30 months, Bishop Barry of Southwell asked angrily in The Spectator: “Is the Church so rich in prophets that it can afford to squander the gifts of God?” A contrasting view, expressed by Hensley Henson, was that he died just in time “for he had passed away while the streams of opinion in Church and State, of which he became the outstanding symbol and exponent, were at flood, and escaped the experience of their inevitable ebb”.
Although a much different world than that of 60 years ago, the weight of Temple’s greatness is still felt. Once described as “a man so broad, to some he seem’d to be Not one, but all Mankind in Effigy”, his wide informed vision checks our growing narrowness and self-obsession, his realism our Utopian perfectionism, his generosity of heart a worthy riposte to the mood of cynicism and anger epitomising the age and his statesmanship a powerful reminder of what it is to serve as the national church.
Maybe an online course in Temple’s writings and thoughts would be a helpful antidote to our Church malaise and confusion. Forever Anglican
Amen.
In the ongoing debate about what is true Anglicanism for the contemporary world, the study of the ministry and teaching of Archbishop William Temple is essential. The Iremonger biography is a good place to begin. Then move fifty years later to Bishop Leslie Newbigin, his autobiography “Unfinished Agenda”. Then for an African perspective, the life and ministry of Bishop Festo Kivengere. Unfortunately the Anne Coombs biography is out of print. Who are the others that we should consider?
“Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” Hebrews 13 7
Bishop Hathaway, I would suggest that any such study should include a reading of Michael Ramsey’s “From Gore to Temple: An era in Anglican Theology” as a survey to give the of late 19th to near mid-20th century Anglican theologians.
Also, there is something to be learned by a study of the Oxford Movement history after the departure of Newman. Richard Church is the Anglican contrast to Newman, and his history of the Oxford Movement from the beginning through Newman’s departure is a basic reference. Also, several good biographies of Church have appeared in the last decades. There is an introduction to Church in a short essay by Michael Ramsey in his “Canterbury Essays and Addresses”, p 112, with a reference to the Church biography by B. A. Smith (Oxford Press originally, but recently republished) titled “Dean Church, the Anglican Response to Newman”.
Ramsey’s “The Gospel and the Catholic Church” would be on my list too.
Brien Koehler