William Temple (bishop) The Most Revd and Rt Hon William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury Appointed 1 April 1942 (nominated) Installed 17 April 1942 (confirmed) Term ended 26 October 1944 Orders Consecration 25 January 1921 Personal details Born 15 October 1881 Exeter, Devon, England Died 26 October 1944 (aged 63) Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England Buried Canterbury Cathedral William Temple served as Bishop of Manchester (1921–29), Archbishop of York (1929–42) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1942–44). A renowned teacher and preacher, Temple is perhaps best known for his 1942 book Christianity and Social Order, which set out an Anglican social theology and a vision for what would constitute a just post-war society. He is also noted for being one of the founders of the Council of Christians and Jews in 1942. He is the last Archbishop of Canterbury to have died in office. Temple was born in 1881 in Exeter, Devon, England, the second son of Frederick Temple (1821–1902), also Archbishop of Canterbury. From an early age, he suffered from gout and a cataract which left him blind in his right eye at age 40.[1] He was educated at Rugby School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a double first in classics and served as president of the Oxford Union. After graduation, he became fellow and lecturer in philosophy at Queens College, Oxford from 1904 to 1910 and was ordained priest in 1909. Between 1910 and 1914 he was Headmaster of Repton School after which he returned to being a full-time cleric by becoming Bishop of Manchester in 1921 and Archbishop of York in 1929. During his life, Temple wrote constantly and completed his largest philosophical work, Mens Creatrix (“The Creative Mind”) in 1917. In 1932–33, he gave the Gifford Lectures, published in 1934 as Gifford Lectures, Nature, Man, and God. Archbishop of Canterbury Support for social reforms In 1942, Temple became Archbishop of Canterbury. In the same year he published Christianity and Social Order. The work attempted to marry faith and socialism and rapidly sold around 140,000 copies.[2] Temple defended the working-class movement and supported economic and social reforms.[3] As the first President (1908–1924) of the Workers Educational Association he was a member of the Labour Party from 1918 to 1925. He was chairman of an international and interdenominational Conference on Christian Politics, Economics and Citizenship held in 1924 and participated in the ecumenical movement. He was one of the Anglican delegate to the World Conference on Faith and Order held in Lausanne in 1927, and helped to prepare and chair the second World Conference Faith and Order in Edinburgh 1937. Temple was also influential in bringing together the various churches of the country to support the Education Act of 1944. His influence also led to the formation of the British Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches. World War II Archbishop Temple conducts a service at Scapa Flow, September 1942 Against the background of persecution of Jewish people during the World War II, Temple jointly founded with Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz the Council of Christians and Jews to combat anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudice in Britain. In March 1943, Temple addressed the House of Lords, urging action to be taken on the atrocities being carried out by Nazi Germany. He said: “ My chief protest is against procrastination of any kind. ... The Jews are being slaughtered at the rate of tens of thousands a day on many days. ... It is always true that the obligations of decent men are decided for them by contingencies which they did not themselves create and very largely by the action of wicked men. The priest and the Levite in the parable were not in the least responsible for the travellers wounds as he lay there by the roadside and no doubt they had many other pressing things to attend to, but they stand as the picture of those who are condemned for neglecting the opportunity of showing mercy. We at this moment have upon us a tremendous responsibility. We stand at the bar of history, of humanity and of God.[4] ” Temple drew criticism from his numerous Quaker connections, by writing an introduction to Christ and Our Enemies which did not condemn the Allied carpet bombing of Germany citing the fact that he was not only non-pacifist but anti-pacifist.[5] In 1944, he published The Church Looks Forward (1944). He also publicly supported a negotiated peace, as opposed to the unconditional surrender that the Allied leaders were demanding. Death Temple died at Westgate-on-Sea, Kent on 26 October 1944. He was cremated at Charing Crematorium, Kent. He was the first Primate of All England to be cremated and this had an immense effect upon the opinion of church people not only in his country, but also throughout the whole Anglican community. His ashes were buried under a large stone in the cloister garden of Canterbury Cathedral, close to his fathers grave. There is a memorial to him at the parish church of St George in Bicknoller, Somerset where he spent his holidays from 1933 to 1944.[6]
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:42:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015