Doubting Christianity: The Church and Doubt: Ecclesiastical History Society Summer Meeting 2014, University of Sheffield, UK (Conference report)
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article37937
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Journal of the Canadian Church Historical Society
- Date
- 2014 Fall
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Date
- 2014 Fall
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 2
- Page
- [100]-103
- Notes
- "The 53rd summer meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society met at the University of Sheffield from July 22 to 24, 2014, under the presidency of Dr. Frances Andrews of St. Andrew's University, Scotland. .... Dr. Frances Andrews selected 'doubt' as the theme for her year as President of the Ecclesiastical Society. Doubt is a difficult subject for Christians in general and Christian historians in particular" (p. [100]). "There were four main papers at plenary sessions and thirty-five communications by members, a bountiful harvest indeed. The first plenary session was Dr. Andrews' presidential address, 'Belief, Doubt and Sanctity'. She explained that the Middle Ages was not necessarily an age of faith and that some medieval people either doubted or failed to believe. Much of her paper focused on the figure of St. John the Baptist, images of him in northern Italy, and the passage in the gospel according to Luke 7:18-35, which presents John as a doubter. Hence 'doubting John' parallels 'doubting Thomas'" (p. 101). "The fourth and final plenary paper was by Professor Kirstie Blair (University of Sterling), 'Unforming Faith: Poetry, Doubt and the Church of England in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries'. In this very fine paper, a literary scholar entered the realm of ecclesiastical history and charmed its inhabitants with her discussion of such poets as John Keble, Gerald Manley Hopkins, William Wordsworth ('Ecclesiastical Sketches and Ecclesiastical Sonnets'), Isaac Williams ('The Altar'), Geoffrey Hill, and Carol Anne Duffy. Her paper led to lively and happy discussion that ended with a question-and-answer period about the service of Evensong and the poets Robert Louis Stevenson, T.S. Eliot, and R.S. Thomas" (p. 101-102), "A third good [communications] paper was by Dr. Stuart Mews, 'New Testament "Miracles": Clergy with Doubts and Bishops with Discipline 1911-14'. He examined the ways in which Anglican scholars and leaders responded to doubts about New Testament miracles in the years just before the First World War. They faced such questions as, 'Do miracles violate the laws of nature ?' and 'Can we accept miracles in an age of reason ?' ... This historian [Stephen Sharman] also presented a paper at the conference, 'The Credible Witness: Bede's response to Doubt', in which he examined Bede's use of witnesses with religious qualifications to authenticate his accounts of miracles" (p. 101-102).
- Subjects
- Ecclesiastical History Society. Summer Meeting (2014 : Sheffield, Eng.)
- Doubt - Religious aspects - Christianity
- Christian poetry, English
- Religion and science - Church of England - 20th century
- Location
- General Synod Archives