UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Christian Theism in Anglican Theology, 1945-2014 Richard Adrian Lindley Doctor of Philosophy April 2014 This Thesis has been completed as a requirement for a postgraduate degree of the University of Winchester THE UNIVERSITY OF WINCHESTER ABSTRACT FOR THESIS Christian Theism in Anglican Theology, 1945-2014 Richard Adrian Lindley Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Doctor of Philosophy April 2014 Rowan Williams, David Ford and others have drawn attention to the importance of the ‘informal theology’ of ordinary believers, its validity as representing genuine insights, and the risk of detachment that occurs if academic theologians do not take it into account. Jeff Astley has examined the phenomenology of informal theology (which he calls ‘ordinary theology’) and the processes that have been and can be followed in examining it. Largely, however, he has not surveyed the actual content of believers’ informal theology. This thesis examines the most basic, yet profound, theist concept, that of ‘God’, in historical, academic theology since the Second World War, and in contemporary informal theology measured by an exercise in practical theology. The historical theology consists of a review of academic and popular writings by professional United Kingdom Anglican theologians (as they have taken into account logical positivism, human suffering and scientific insights). This review is presented according to a series of eight themes. The thesis then describes the preparation and execution of a survey of the understanding of God on the part of a sample of Anglican church-attenders in Winchester, carried out by questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, together with analysis of the results. Most importantly, the thesis then sets the results of this exercise in practical theology against the views of academic theologians, draws out areas of commonality and deviation, and offers a distinctive contribution in this respect. The writer’s thesis is that the informal theology of ordinary believers coincides in most ways with academic theology over fundamental issues of understanding God. The practical research contributing to this thesis has revealed many ordinary believers’ capacity to assimilate and hold a variety of views of God, and to do so in creative tension, sometimes despite paradoxes of apparent contradiction. The thesis sets out some proposals for further research, and makes some recommendations as to how the findings within the thesis could inform practice in the Church of England. However, its distinctive contribution to scholarship lies in its relating the content of some informal theology to a wide spread of Anglican academic theology, and its finding considerable spiritual and theological insight within a sample of ordinary believers. 2 CONTENTS Page Abstract 2 Contents 3 Declaration 4 Acknowledgements 5 PRELIMINARY 1. Introduction 7 2. Literature Review 16 3. Methodology 38 HISTORICAL THEOLOGY 4. Analogy 48 5. Immanence 74 6. Process Theology and Passibility 89 7. Cultural Relativism and Feminist Theology 99 8. Liberal Theology Landmarks since 1960 117 9. Reclaiming Tradition 141 10. Pastoral Theology 165 PRACTICAL THEOLOGY 11. Informal Theology 183 12. Questionnaires and Interviews 205 CONCLUSIONS 13. Some conclusions 228 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CITED WORKS 256 ABBREVIATIONS 280 APPENDICES 1. Some influences on the current Church of England 282 2. Planning of questionnaires, interviews and analysis 284 3. The Questionnaire 290 4. Researcher’s list of interview topics 292 5. Summary of churches’ self-descriptions 293 6. Bibliography of non-cited works 295 3 No portion of the work referred to in the thesis has been submitted in support of an application for another degree or qualification of this or any other university or other institute of learning. I confirm that this thesis is entirely my own work. Copyright in the text of this thesis rests with the author. Copies (by any process) either in full, or of extracts, may be made only in accordance with instructions given by the author. Details may be obtained from the University’s RKE Office. This page must form part of any such copies. Further copies (by any process) of copies made in accordance with such instructions may not be made without the permission (in writing) of the author. Biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version: Anglicized Edition, Oxford, OUP, 1989. Italics, emboldening and capital letters within quotations are original unless otherwise indicated. References to ‘Ramsey’ are to Ian Ramsey, Michael Ramsey being differentiated. References to ‘Williams’ are to Rowan Williams, Harry Williams being differentiated. References to ‘Ward’ are to Keith Ward, Graham Ward and Pete Ward being differentiated. References to ‘Phillips’ are to J. B. Phillips, D. Z. Phillips being differentiated. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I wish to register my immense appreciation of the time, effort, expertise and painstaking attention that Professor Elizabeth Stuart, as Director of Studies, and Dr. Angus Paddison, as Supervisor, have accorded me and my thesis over the years of its preparation. I would not have completed the project without their kindness and advice, and am very grateful to them both. Also essential to the project have been the people in the sample of Winchester church- attenders who took part in the practical project that formed part of the research, and the local clergy who facilitated my contacts with them. Many of the participants were kind enough to say that they had enjoyed and benefited from the experience, but I am still indebted to them for their participation. I am grateful, too, to Bishop John Baker and Bishop Michael Perham for the sessions I had with them, and the information and insights they shared with me. I am especially grateful to David Harte, Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff, for undertaking the laborious task of checking the text of the thesis. I am also grateful to Dr. Bridget Egan for her advice and encouragement, and to other University staff for their assistance. Last, but not least, I want to thank my wife, Susan, for her patient enduring of my absence in my study for many long hours over recent years, while this thesis has been in preparation. She could have protested, but in fact has been unbelievably patient and supportive. 5 PRELIMINARY This section introduces the thesis, describes the literature review that has taken place, and provides a methodology for the thesis, including the practical theology exercise that has taken place. 6 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The focus Conceiving God has probably always been as difficult for some as it is natural for many. In the Jewish narrative, Jacob wrestled with God for God’s blessing, was not vouchsafed God’s name, but, despite the lingering mystery, still believed he had seen God’s face.1 Moses was granted the name, but it remained mysterious and ambiguous, ‘YHWH’;2 he recounted that, at the delivery of the Ten Commandments, ‘You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice’.3 Solomon told God that ‘even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you’, but still prayed for his prayers to be answered’;4 and God was recognised as a ‘God who hides himself’.5 Paul wrote that ‘now we see in a mirror, dimly. Now I know only in part’.6 The Christian tradition is of revelation to the extent of incarnation, and immanence in the prevailing presence of God’s Spirit. Tom Wright notes that the common usage of the word ‘God’ as a proper noun is foreign to biblical practice, with ‘YHWH’ or a phrase such as ‘Israel’s god’ preferred in Jewish culture, and often ‘ho theos’ among early Christians.7 So the mystery remains, and this thesis is an exercise in wrestling. Wright is clear that: in every age sophisticated thinkers have been perfectly well aware of the problematical nature of pre-critical language about God and its referent: one distressing modern phenomenon is the spectacle of a would-be Christian positivism which imagines that god-language is clear and unequivocal, and that one can have the kind of certainty about it which Logical Positivism accorded to scientific or even mathematical statements.8 Nevertheless, the physical sciences are seen by many as providing convincing explanations of many phenomena often previously attributed to God. So challenges remain for many people of faith in the fundamental process of conceiving and speaking of God. This does not relate simply to traditional images of God, but to the very act of conceiving a Being for whom even the attribution of existence can seem nonsensical or meaningless. The issue has always confronted academic philosophers and theologians, and has come to the fore and entered the consciousness of many ‘ordinary’ believers in the wake of logical positivism and twentieth and 1 Genesis 32. 22-32. 2 Exodus 3. 13-14. 3 Deuteronomy 4. 12. 4 I Kings, 8. 27-28. 5 Isaiah 45. 15. 6 1 Corinthians 13. 12. 7 Wright, N. T., The New Testament and the People of God, Minneapolis, Fortress, 1992, pp. xiv- xv, 473. 8 Wright, The NT and the People of God, p. 128. 7 twenty-first century cultural shifts. Some popular theology writers have attempted to meet such needs of ‘ordinary’ believers,9 sometimes to rebut claims by popular atheists.10 The expression, ‘ordinary believers’, refers to believers without academic theological training. Rowan Williams’s term ‘informal theology’11 denotes the living theology of ordinary believers who think and speak about God, and has the same meaning as Jeff Astley’s ‘ordinary theology’.12 ‘Informal theology’ will be examined at greater length in this thesis. ‘Academic theology’ refers to theology produced by professional academic theologians (including philosopher-theologians), usually working within higher education. The term ‘popular theology’ is used to refer to the writings of academic theologians who use their professional understanding and insights to address the needs of ordinary believers (and disbelievers) in ways that are sensitive to the instinctive and learnt positions that emerge within informal theology.