William Temple And Christian Social Ethics Today

The outstanding British religious leader of this century (1881-1944) became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1942. His career as the last great defender of the welfare-oriented Church of England is all the more significant at a time when the British Welfare State's survival is in jeopardy.

This volume, commissioned by a group of Bishops in hard-hit dioceses, looks to develop strong theological foundations for local social action initiatives by churches, especially for activists who are not familiar with the Church of England’s tradition of social theology, developed by William Temple and others a century ago.

Here, theologians explore religion, economics, and culture in our increasingly globalized world. The book covers conflicts inherent in conversation, embodied conflicts and conversations, and expanding boundaries of conversation.

Leadership is a growing preoccupation of the contemporary church, but for some of the most inspiring examples of good leadership we need to go back, not forwards. Archbishop William Temple is widely regarded as one of the most influential church leaders of the twentieth century. In this book Stephen Spencer unpacks Archbishop Temple’s life and legacy, and the ways in which his leadership transformed society in remarkable ways. From education to politics, and from spiritual direction to leading the church through national crisis, this book draws on Temple’s biography to offer a unique and profound portrait of the kind of servant leadership the church needs today.

This book evaluates William Temple’s theology and his pursuit of church unity. It exposes a number of paradoxes and conflicts that have generally gone under-appreciated in assessments of Temple. William Temple was one of the most outstanding leaders of the early ecumenical movement. In many ways his ecumenical efforts provided a paradigm others have looked to and followed. Through detailed analysis of primary sources, this study sheds light on several behind-the-scenes conflicts Temple experienced as he worked toward church unity. Edward Loane explores the foundation of Temple’s work by analyzing the philosophy and theology that underpinned and fueled it. The book also exposes the tensions between Temple’s denominational allegiance and his ecumenical convictions—a tension that, in some ways, undermined his work for reunion. This book reveals issues that contemporary Christians need to grapple with as they seek to further church unity.

A. PURPOSE AND PLAN William Temple was trained as a philosopher and lectured on phi losophy at Oxford (1904), but his concern for labor, education, journalism, and the Church of England led him away from philosophy as a profession. Enthroned in 1942 as Archbishop of Canterbury, Temple persisted in applying his Christian position to the solution of the problems of the day. He will be remembered for his contributions in many areas of life and thought: his work in the ecumenical movement, and his writings in theology and social ethics attest to the variety and depth of his concern, but of special significance is his contribution toward the construction of a distinctly Christian philosophy relevant to the twentieth century. Although Temple did not work out a systematic formulation of his Christian philosophy, the bases for a Christian philosophy are never theless evident in his position. It is the purpose of the present work to enter sympathetically and critically into the major facets of Temple's position and to weave together, as far as is legitimate, the separate strands of his thought into a meaningful, even if not a completely unified, Christian philosophy. The intent is not simply to present Temple's conclusions on a variety of philosophical and theological issues; rather, Temple's position is developed systematically, and the arguments for the conclusions at which he arrived are carefully ex pounded.