Thursday 5 November at 2:15 pm, to conclude with tea at 3.45 pm
Venue: Pusey House, St. Giles
Britain was the first modern European country to adopt the widespread practice of cremation, and by 2010 it had become the custom adopted in around three quarters of all funerals. This paper explores the role of early-Twentieth Century Anglican bishops in advocating this change in funeral customs. Various prominent bishops - including Edward Lee Hicks, Charles Gore and William Temple - were keen and vocal early advocates. This was at a time when the Roman Catholic Church was still enormously hostile to the practice, which it equated with atheism and inhumanity. Although the Roman Catholic position began to soften from the 1960s onwards, this paper argues that the differing attitudes of Anglicans and Roman Catholics on the issue of cremation reveal significant religious and cultural fault lines between these two ecclesial communities which have hitherto been little explored.
Dr. Frances Knight is Associate Professor in the History of Modern Christianity and Head of Department, Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Nottingham
Series Conveners
Rev'd Prof. Mark Chapman, Dean of College, Lecturer in Systematic Theology, Ripon College Cuddesdon
Rev’d Dr. George Westhaver, Principal, Pusey House
There will be three further seminars in Trinity Term 2016.