DOCSLIB.ORG

John Henry Newman's Areopagus: the Tamworth Reading Room As

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
John Henry Newman's Areopagus: the Tamworth Reading Room As THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA John Henry Newman’s Areopagus: The Tamworth Reading Room As an Apology for the “Christian Difference” A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Philosophy By David P. Delio Washington, DC 2013 John Henry Newman’s Areopagus: The Tamworth Reading Room As an Apology for the “Christian Difference” David P. Delio, Ph.D. Director: John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D. John Henry Newman’s Tamworth Reading Room presents a unique a distillation of his Anglican thought on education, faith and reason, and the Church. This work of theology and literature challenged his contemporaries and continues to challenge its readers today. Newman crafted seven letters to the editor of The Times of London in February 1841 in response to an address given by a leading British politician, Sir Robert Peel. The letters, witty and woven with theological and philosophical arguments, contrasted with Peel’s view of secular knowledge and institutions as means to human fulfillment. Although the letters were pithy and written for a general audience, they were provocative and insightful. Together they anticipated Newman’s later works as a Roman Catholic including the Idea of the University and An Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent. Themes, ideas, and the context of the letters have been treated by a variety of scholars with varying degrees of accuracy and ability. This study seeks to clarify the history and interpretations of the Tamworth Reading Room. More importantly, the dissertation tries to connect the letters to Newman’s deeper theological concerns. In order to achieve these goals, the aspects of nineteenth century England as well as biographical portraits of Peel and Newman are narrated. Peel’s address is then detailed followed by summary interpretations of Newman’s letters. The legacy of the letters is traced to the end of Newman’s career. This study does not follow along the lines of particular scholarly interpretations of the Tamworth Reading Room, e.g., as literature, education, or religious epistemology. Rather, the dissertation complements these prior efforts, but concludes that the Church figures as the original idea undergirding the letters. For Newman, the Church and the faith she proclaimed created a “Christian Difference” to Peel’s vision. The faith of the Church was flexible and inclusive enough to elevate the truths found in modern institutions and innovations in knowledge, yet remained distinct in its origin and telos as the means for human salvation. This dissertation by David P. Delio fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral degree in Systematic and Historical Theology approved by John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., as Director, and by Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D. and Christopher J. Ruddy Ph.D., as Readers. ______________________________________ John T. Ford, C.S.C., S.T.D., Director ______________________________________ Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D., Reader ______________________________________ Christopher J. Ruddy, Ph.D., Reader ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my wife Ella. Her love and support for this project extend back to when we first met. Her devotion to God, our marriage and family (along with her gentle, yet persistent, “reminders” to “get it done!”) were at times the only beacon to keep me focused and to finish. I love you Ella―you are God’s special blessing for me, Naomi, and so many others. iii Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of this Dissertation ............................................................................................ 6 Methodological Considerations ...................................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 – Newman and Peel in Nineteenth Century Britain ......................................... 10 John Henry Newman and Sir Robert Peel .................................................................... 10 Revolution, Recovery, and the Young Robert Peel ...................................................... 12 The Newman Family and the Napoleonic Wars ........................................................... 15 Peel, Newman and the Reaction to Revolution ............................................................ 17 Newman’s Religious Conversion ................................................................................. 19 Peel, Member of Parliament for Oxford ....................................................................... 24 Newman at Oxford ........................................................................................................ 28 Catholic Emancipation .................................................................................................. 31 The Reform Act and the Oxford Movement ................................................................. 37 Peel and the Conservative Ascendency ........................................................................ 40 Newman’s “Great Revolution of Mind” ....................................................................... 47 A Patristic Vacation ...................................................................................................... 49 Newman and Peel: Idealists and Reformers ................................................................. 56 Chapter 2 – Adult Education and Peel’s Tamworth Address ........................................... 58 Sir Robert Peel in 1841 ................................................................................................. 58 The Adult Education Movement ................................................................................... 59 Background to Peel’s Address ...................................................................................... 62 Sir Robert Peel’s Tamworth Address ........................................................................... 66 Press Reaction to the Address ....................................................................................... 79 From Public Address to Pamphlet ................................................................................ 82 The Advent of Catholicus ............................................................................................. 84 Chapter 3 – The Catholicus Letters: Interpretation and Context ...................................... 86 Section 1: The Offer to Respond and Letter 1 .............................................................. 86 The Walters’s Offer .................................................................................................. 87 The British Critic ...................................................................................................... 89 Tract 90 ..................................................................................................................... 97 Avoiding Controversy ............................................................................................. 101 Newman Encounters the Walters ............................................................................ 103 The First Letter: An Anonymous Venture .............................................................. 105 Changing Liaisons: From Walter III to Walter II ................................................... 115 Section 2: Letters 2-4 .................................................................................................. 117 Letters to the Editor and the “Leading Article”: from Anonymous to Catholicus . 118 The Second Letter: Catholicus Appears ................................................................. 120 The “E” Critique ..................................................................................................... 129 The Third Letter: Grace and the Church ................................................................. 132 A Second Note from Walter II ................................................................................ 141 iv Newman’s “Incendiary” Response ......................................................................... 143 “Errata” in the Second and Third Letters ................................................................ 145 The Leading Article: Praise for Peel ....................................................................... 145 The Fourth Letter: Rising from the Ashes .............................................................. 147 The Times’ Volte-Face ............................................................................................ 152 Hiatus between Letters Four and Five .................................................................... 154 Another Account of the Hiatus ............................................................................... 156 Section 3: Letters 5-7 .................................................................................................. 159 The Fifth Letter: The Christian Difference ............................................................. 161 The Sixth Letter: Faith as Action, Reason and the Person ..................................... 168 Letter to Henry Wilberforce: The Identity of Catholicus ....................................... 176 The Seventh Letter: Final Arguments and Summary ............................................. 178 Chapter 4 – The Reception and Legacy of the Tamworth Reading Room...................... 184 Section 1: The Reception of the
Load more

Recommended publications
  • John Henry Newman and the Significance of Theistic Proof
    University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Master's Theses 1983 John Henry Newman and the Significance of Theistic Proof Mary Susan Glasson University of Rhode Island Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses Recommended Citation Glasson, Mary Susan, "John Henry Newman and the Significance of Theistic Proof" (1983). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 1530. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/1530 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. - JOHNHENRY NEWMAN ANDTHE SIGNIFICANCE OF THEISTICPROOF BY MARYSUSAN GLASSON A THESISSUBMITTED IN PARTIALFULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR THE DEGREEOF MASTEROF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITYOF RHODEISLAND 1983 ABSTRACT The central problem of this paper is to decide the significance of formal argument for God's existence, in light of John Henry Newman's distinction between notional and real assent. If God in fact exists, then only real assent to the proposition asserting his existence is adequate. Notional assent is inadequate because it is assent to a notion or abstraction, and not to a present reality. But on Newman's view it is notional assent which normally follows on a formal inference, therefore the significance of traditional formal arguments is thrown into question. Newman has claimed that our attitude toward a proposition may be one of three; we may doubt it, infer it, or assent to it, and to assent to it is to hold it unconditionally.
    [Show full text]
  • Richard Hooker
    This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com 2，or. - Qºbe (5teat Qbutchmen 56tíč3 EDITED by VERNON STALEY RICHARD HOOKER ** - - - ---- -- ---- - -- ---- ---_ RICHARD HOOKER. Picture from National Portrait Gallery, by perm 13.5 to ºr 0. 'f Macmillan & Co. [Frontispiece. ICHARD as at HOOKER at By VERNON STALEY PROVOST OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH of ST. ANDREW, INVERNESS ... • * * * LONDON: MASTERS & CO., LTD. 1907 78, NEW BOND STREET, w. \\ \ \ EDITOR'S PREFACE It has been recently said by one accustomed to weigh his words, “I do not think it can be doubted that in the early years of Queen Elizabeth a large part, numerically the larger part, of the clergy and laity who made up the Church of England was really Catholic at heart, though the Reformers made up for deficiency of numbers by energy and force of conviction.” And again, “When Elizabeth came to the throne, the nation was divided between a majority of more or less lukewarm Catholics no longer to be called Roman, and a minority of ardent Protestants, who were rapidly gaining—though they had not quite gained—the upper hand. The Protestantism generally was of a type current in South West Germany and Switzerland, but the influence of Calvin was increasing every day.” Dr. Sanday here uses the term “Catholics,” in the * Dr. Sanday, Minutes of Evidence taken before The Royal Com †: on Ecclesiastical Discipline, 1906. Vol. III. p. 20, §§ 16350, V b 340844 vi EDITOR'S PREFACE sense of those who were attached to the old faith and worship minus certain exaggerations, but who disliked the Roman interference in England.
    [Show full text]
  • Best Half 1-10
    The Best Half of the Human Race Rare Book Catalogue Twenty Five Up-Country Letters Item 60 Gardnerville, Nevada From item 60 From item 60 Item 20 From item 5 Item 21 Item 62 and Sullivan), a new genius - countryman of mine, I fancy - whose 'Tempest' music is certainly very original. I heard of him as a modest young fellow. We much want a new composer Best Half of the Human Race (Sullivan means One-eyed - he may be king among the blind) - it would take a strong fellow to make head against the villainous taste of our present theatres & salons, - villainous, though great Catalogue Twenty Five names are in fashion, & executancy very finished. But the public taste in literature & in art is still more rotten -". Two conjugate leaves, four pages, folded for mailing, half a dozen spots of from Up-Country Letters in Gardnerville, Nevada foxing. A Fine letter. $1250 Shipping is extra and will be billed at or near cost. Payment may be made with a check, PayPal, 2. Allingham, William, editor. The Ballad Book. A Collection of the Choicest British Bal- Visa, Mastercard, Discover. We will cheerfully work with institutions to accommodate accounts lads. London and Cambridge: Macmillan, 1864. First edition (Lasner, A9). Original purple payable policies (constraints). Any item found to be disappointing may be returned inside of a cloth, gilt, decorated in gilt and blind, 393 pp., the last leaf (CC6) a leaf of ads. In the "Golden week of receipt; please notify us if this is happening. All items subject to prior sale. Please direct Treasury" series.
    [Show full text]
  • Oxford Movement
    Oxford Movement This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on theLearn talk more The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of some older Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy and theology. They thought of Anglicanism as one of three branches of the "one holy, catholic, and apostolic" Christian church. By the 1840s many participants decided that the Anglican Church lacked grace, and converted to Roman Catholicism. Edward John Henry Bouverie Newman Pusey The movement's philosophy was known as Tractarianism after its series of publications, the Tracts for the Times, published from 1833 to 1841. Tractarians were also disparagingly referred to as "Newmanites" (before 1845) and "Puseyites" (after 1845) after two prominent Tractarians, John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey. Other well-known Tractarians included John Keble, Charles Marriott, Richard Froude, Robert Wilberforce, Isaac Williams and William Palmer. Origins and early period In the early nineteenth century, different groups were present in the Church of England. Many, particularly in high office, saw themselves as latitudinarian (liberal) in an attempt to broaden the Church's appeal. Conversely, many clergy in the parishes were Evangelicals, as a result of the revival led by John Wesley. Alongside this, the universities became the breeding ground for a movement to restore liturgical and devotional customs which borrowed heavily from traditions before the English Reformation as well as contemporary Roman Catholic traditions.[1] The immediate impetus for the Tractarian movement was a perceived attack by the reforming Whig administration on the structure and revenues of the Church of Ireland (the established church in Ireland), with the Irish Church Temporalities Bill (1833).
    [Show full text]
  • Saint John Henry Newman, Development of Doctrine, and Sensus Fidelium: His Enduring Legacy in Roman Catholic Theological Discourse
    Journal of Moral Theology, Vol. 10, No. 2 (2021): 60–89 Saint John Henry Newman, Development of Doctrine, and Sensus Fidelium: His Enduring Legacy in Roman Catholic Theological Discourse Kenneth Parker The whole Church, laity and hierarchy together, bears responsi- bility for and mediates in history the revelation which is contained in the holy Scriptures and in the living apostolic Tradition … [A]ll believers [play a vital role] in the articulation and development of the faith …. “Sensus fidei in the life of the Church,” 3.1, 67 International Theological Commission of the Catholic Church Rome, July 2014 N 2014, THE INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL Commission pub- lished “Sensus fidei in the life of the Church,” which highlighted two critically important theological concepts: development and I sensus fidelium. Drawing inspiration directly from the works of John Henry Newman, this document not only affirmed the insights found in his Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine (1845), which church authorities embraced during the first decade of New- man’s life as a Catholic, but also his provocative Rambler article, “On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine” (1859), which resulted in episcopal accusations of heresy and Newman’s delation to Rome. The tension between Newman’s theory of development and his appeal for the hierarchy to consider the experience of the “faithful” ultimately centers on the “seat” of authority, and whose voices matter. As a his- torical theologian, I recognize in the 175 year reception of Newman’s theory of development, the controversial character of this historio- graphical assumption—or “metanarrative”—which privileges the hi- erarchy’s authority to teach, but paradoxically acknowledges the ca- pacity of the “faithful” to receive—and at times reject—propositions presented to them as authoritative truth claims.1 1 Maurice Blondel, in his History and Dogma (1904), emphasized that historians always act on metaphysical assumptions when applying facts to the historical St.
    [Show full text]
  • About Natstand Family Documents
    natstand: last updated 24/02/2018 URL: www.natstand.org.uk/pdf/MennellHT000.pdf Root person: Mennell, Henry Tuke (1835 - 1923) Description: Family document Creation date: 2018 January 26 Prepared by: Richard Middleton Notes: Press items reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) About Natstand family documents: A Natstand family document is intended to provide background information concerning the family of a deceased naturalist. It is hoped that such information will form a framework which will help interpret their surviving correspondence, specimens and records. In some cases it will also give an insight into the influences on their early lives and the family constraints within which they worked and collected. We have found that published family data concerning individuals rarely contain justification for dates and relationships and not infrequently contain errors which are then perpetuated. The emphasis in Natstand family documents will be on providing references to primary sources, whenever possible, which will be backed-up with transcriptions. Although a Natstand biography page will always carry a link to a family document, in many cases these documents will be presented without any further biographical material. We anticipate that this will occur if the person is particularly well known or is someone we are actively researching or have only a peripheral interest in. The following conventions are used: Any persons in the family tree with known natural history associations will be indicated in red type. Any relationships will be to the root naturalist unless otherwise stated. Dates are presented Year – Month – Day e.g. 1820 March 9 or 1820.3.9 1820 March or 1820.3 Dates will be shown in bold type if a reliable reference is presented in the document.
    [Show full text]
  • University College Dublin, Dublin- Ireland Facts
    University College Dublin, Dublin- Ireland Facts • Language of instruction: English • Number of students currently enrolled: 33,000 • Semester 1: Early September – Late December • Semester 2: Mid-January - Late May • Important information: http://www.ucd.ie/international/exchange- programmes/incoming-exchanges/erasmus-exchange-information/ About the University Founded in 1854 by Cardinal John Henry Newman, University College Dublin (UCD) is Ireland’s largest and most richly diversified university. Today UCD is a vibrant, modern university of over 33,000 students situated on a spacious and leafy campus some 5km to the south of Dublin city centre. Located on the east coast of Ireland, Dublin began as a Viking settlement founded over one thousand years ago. In the 21st century, with a population of over one million people, Dublin is the thriving capital of the Republic of Ireland and is the centre of the political, diplomatic, administrative and commercial life of the country. Famous for its literary tradition, Ireland's capital has been home to writers from Jonathan Swift to William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. Dublin allows you to explore both the historical and the modern, from castles and churches to cafés and clubs. Website: http://www.ucd.ie/ What to expect Application process If you are allocated for an exchange at the University College Dublin, you will be officially nominated by the Go Abroad Office and will then be provided with your detailed application instructions. You can ONLY apply if officially nominated. Type of Application: You will receive an email with application instructions. The application form is online. Notes of Guidance for Exchange students University College Dublin Academics Course/ credit load One full year of study should equate to 60 ECTS.
    [Show full text]
  • A Victorian Curate: a Study of the Life and Career of the Rev. Dr John Hunt
    D A Victorian Curate A Study of the Life and Career of the Rev. Dr John Hunt DAVID YEANDLE AVID The Rev. Dr John Hunt (1827-1907) was not a typical clergyman in the Victorian Church of England. He was Sco� sh, of lowly birth, and lacking both social Y ICTORIAN URATE EANDLE A V C connec� ons and private means. He was also a wi� y and fl uent intellectual, whose publica� ons stood alongside the most eminent of his peers during a period when theology was being redefi ned in the light of Darwin’s Origin of Species and other radical scien� fi c advances. Hunt a� racted notoriety and confl ict as well as admira� on and respect: he was A V the subject of ar� cles in Punch and in the wider press concerning his clandes� ne dissec� on of a foetus in the crypt of a City church, while his Essay on Pantheism was proscribed by the Roman Catholic Church. He had many skirmishes with incumbents, both evangelical and catholic, and was dismissed from several of his curacies. ICTORIAN This book analyses his career in London and St Ives (Cambs.) through the lens of his autobiographical narra� ve, Clergymen Made Scarce (1867). David Yeandle has examined a li� le-known copy of the text that includes manuscript annota� ons by Eliza Hunt, the wife of the author, which off er unique insight into the many C anonymous and pseudonymous references in the text. URATE A Victorian Curate: A Study of the Life and Career of the Rev.
    [Show full text]
  • Saint Anselm, Blessed John Henry Newman, and the Idea of a Benedictine University
    Saint Anselm, Blessed John Henry Newman, and the Idea of a Benedictine University Fr. Daniel Patrick Moloney, Ph.D. John Henry Newman's "Benedictine Essays" develop a strong thesis that Benedictine spirituality is necessarily at odds with the methods of the modern university. Benedictine spiritual life encourages the monk to mortify his intellect, not to satisfy it or to stir it up. It is best suited to grammar school, to the study of literature and history and Scripture, while rejecting the value of studying worldly topics that don't prepare a person for union with God in the next life. Newman's account makes the project of a Benedictine university like St. Anselm's College seem deeply problematic, even oxymoronic. St. Anselm of Canterbury, a transitional figure on Newman's account, shows some ways of reconciling a speculative intellectual life with Benedictine spirituality, but Newman's challenge to the project still remains. It’s a great honor to be here. When I was invited to give this lecture, that is to give the Saint Anselm Lecture at Saint Anselm College on the Feast of Saint Anselm, I thought I noticed a theme. I’m an expert on Saint Anselm, having written my dissertation on your patron saint and having been studying him since I was a senior in college more than twenty years ago. So I figured that the topic of my talk was going to be Saint Anselm. But then I read the fine print of the invitation, and realized that because this year is the anniversary of the College, that I was being asked to talk not just about Saint Anselm and his continued significance, but about something I didn’t know anything about, namely “distinctively Benedictine Catholic higher education.” I’m sure that’s a topic of some reflection here, at a Benedictine College, but it’s not something I’ve ever thought about.
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Poetry of Alice Meynell on the Basis of Her Personal Principles of Literature
    Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1949 An Analysis of the Poetry of Alice Meynell on the Basis of Her Personal Principles of Literature Gertrude Agnes Carter Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Carter, Gertrude Agnes, "An Analysis of the Poetry of Alice Meynell on the Basis of Her Personal Principles of Literature" (1949). Master's Theses. 744. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/744 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1949 Gertrude Agnes Carter AN ANALYSIS OF THE POETRY OF ALICE MEYNELL ON THE BASIS OF HER PERSOIlAL PRIBCIl'LES OF LlTERAl'URE BY' Sister Gertrude Agnes Carter A THESIS SUBMITTED IN .t'AH.1'!AL FtJLFlLUlENT OF THE REQUIRl!:MENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF AR'rS IN LOYOLA UNIVERSITY June 1949 VITA Sister Gertrude Agnes was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, August 31, 1898. She attended St. Rose Ch'ammar and High Schools in Chelsea. The Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in English was con£erred on her by St. Mary-of-the-Woods College, Indiana, June, 1932. In 1942 she received .t'rom the Indiana State Board of Education a lire license to teach Social Studies in the accredited high schools of Indiana The writer has taught in St.
    [Show full text]
  • The Canterbury Association
    The Canterbury Association (1848-1852): A Study of Its Members’ Connections By the Reverend Michael Blain Note: This is a revised edition prepared during 2019, of material included in the book published in 2000 by the archives committee of the Anglican diocese of Christchurch to mark the 150th anniversary of the Canterbury settlement. In 1850 the first Canterbury Association ships sailed into the new settlement of Lyttelton, New Zealand. From that fulcrum year I have examined the lives of the eighty-four members of the Canterbury Association. Backwards into their origins, and forwards in their subsequent careers. I looked for connections. The story of the Association’s plans and the settlement of colonial Canterbury has been told often enough. (For instance, see A History of Canterbury volume 1, pp135-233, edited James Hight and CR Straubel.) Names and titles of many of these men still feature in the Canterbury landscape as mountains, lakes, and rivers. But who were the people? What brought these eighty-four together between the initial meeting on 27 March 1848 and the close of their operations in September 1852? What were the connections between them? In November 1847 Edward Gibbon Wakefield had convinced an idealistic young Irishman John Robert Godley that in partnership they could put together the best of all emigration plans. Wakefield’s experience, and Godley’s contacts brought together an association to promote a special colony in New Zealand, an English society free of industrial slums and revolutionary spirit, an ideal English society sustained by an ideal church of England. Each member of these eighty-four members has his biographical entry.
    [Show full text]
  • Brian Knight
    STRATEGY, MISSION AND PEOPLE IN A RURAL DIOCESE A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE DIOCESE OF GLOUCESTER 1863-1923 BRIAN KNIGHT A thesis submitted to the University of Gloucestershire in accordance with the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities August, 2002 11 Strategy, Mission and People in a Rural Diocese A critical examination of the Diocese of Gloucester 1863-1923 Abstract A study of the relationship between the people of Gloucestershire and the Church of England diocese of Gloucester under two bishops, Charles John Ellicott and Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson who presided over a mainly rural diocese, predominantly of small parishes with populations under 2,000. Drawing largely on reports and statistics from individual parishes, the study recalls an era in which the class structure was a dominant factor. The framework of the diocese, with its small villages, many of them presided over by a squire, helped to perpetuate a quasi-feudal system which made sharp distinctions between leaders and led. It is shown how for most of this period Church leaders deliberately chose to ally themselves with the power and influence of the wealthy and cultured levels of society and ostensibly to further their interests. The consequence was that they failed to understand and alienated a large proportion of the lower orders, who were effectively excluded from any involvement in the Church's affairs. Both bishops over-estimated the influence of the Church on the general population but with the twentieth century came the realisation that the working man and women of all classes had qualities which could be adapted to the Church's service and a wider lay involvement was strongly encouraged.
    [Show full text]