Historians discussing Anglican churches of the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have often claimed that churches were neglected. That claim is still made, although it has been questioned for over fifty years. There is, therefore, a need to investigate the care of churches as a distinct issue within ecclesiastical administration. This thesis focuses on a selection of 77 rural churches and three chapels in Herefordshire. It is based on detailed use of archives, supplemented by antiquarian notes, illustrations and the buildings themselves. Two assumptions are made. Firstly attention to detail is inescapable if the investigation is to reflect the continuing nature of care, year in and year out. Secondly, full attention needs to be given to the people involved as well as the buildings. Nine chapters are concerned with the system of oversight and with the churches. Oversights were fairly close, sometimes rigorous. Maintenance and restoration were an ordinary part of parish life and a considerable amount of rebuilding has been overlooked. Liturgical requirements, social hierarchies and practical problems all influenced the ordering and furnishing of churches. The common ideal was 'decency'. Six chapters examine the contribution made by clergy and laity within a complex pattern of commitments. Clergy played a substantial and generally effective part through oversight, ownership of tithes and help given to congregations. Neglect by the laity was unusual. Lay impropriators and tithe farmers were, with few exceptions, conscientious. Rural communities spent almost annually on maintenance. Such communities, like prominent individuals, improved, restored and rebuilt churches and they provided many of the craftsmen. Their churchwardens undertook and fulfilled substantial responsibilities. In country places the parish church or an Anglican chapel was the most important public building. It was cared for the best of everyone's ability, often at heavy cost to people with very limited resources.

The cult of King Charles the martyr did not appear out of nowhere in January 1649; rather the component parts were constructed during Charles' captivity and were readily available to preachers and eulogists in the weeks and months after the regicide. However, it was during the Republic that the political theology surrounding the martyr was developed; emphasising the martyrs radical innocence, the crime of regicide and the dangers of bloodguilt. As such the figure of the martyr, and the shared set of images and assumptions surrounding him, contributed to the survival of a distinctly Royalist and Anglican outlook during the years of exile. With the Restoration, the cult was given official sanction by the inclusion of the Office for the 30th January in the Book of Common Prayer. The political theology surrounding the regicide and a particular historiography of the Civil Wars were presented as the only orthodox reading of these events. Yet from the Exclusion Crisis onwards other, discordant voices were heard challenging the Royalist Anglican interpretation of the wars and the position of Charles. In these circumstances the cult began to fragment between those who retained the political theology of the 1650s and those who adapted the cult to reflect the changing political and dynastic circumstances of 1688 and 1714. A study of the cult reveals the extent to which political debate in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries was conducted in terms of the Civil Wars. It also goes some way to explaining the persistence of conservative assumptions and patterns of thought.

Through a semiotic analysis of Common Worship eucharistic Prayer B, this thesis illustrates how the Eucharist shapes the Church’s participation in the life of God in its relation with the rest of creation. In doing so it argues for and displays the complementarity of Anglican Evangelical and Anglican Catholic approaches to eucharistic theology. This thesis begins by highlighting the hallmarks of Anglican ecclesiology and the emphases of Anglican Evangelical and Anglican Catholic eucharistic theologies. It then offers an analysis of the development of the Church of England’s eucharistic liturgies, arguing that Anglicanism’s moderate approach to the eucharistic use of language permits a multi-layered interpretation of the sacramental bread and wine. Using Daniel Hardy’s insights as the theological framework for the analysis of eucharistic Prayer B, this thesis suggests that Anglicanism’s multi-layered eucharistic use of language occurs in the context of the transformation of language through worship as an instance of ‘abductive’ reasoning. Worship ‘moves’ language beyond its capacity to categorise, instead enabling it to become a means of drawing together the fragmented ‘extensity’ of the things of creation into the unitive ‘intensity’ of their creaturely relation to God. In facilitating such a relationship with creatures, language enables the Church’s participation in the life of God in its relation with the rest of creation. The semiotics of John Deely provides the technical framework for the analysis of eucharistic Prayer B. The latter illustrates how the Eucharist can be understood as a focal instance of participating in the life of God, interpreting the prayer as the ‘interpretant’ with respect to which creatures become ‘sign-vehicles’ of their Creator, with whom they are caught up in covenantal relation. The thesis ends by locating this approach to the Eucharist within Anglican eucharistic theology and highlighting its impact on the mission of the Anglican Communion.

Spiritual Capital (Theos and The Grubb Institute, 2012) concluded that the future of Church of England cathedrals lies particularly in their ability to enable and sustain a range of connections. The cathedrals’ capacity to do this is significant for the preservation/maintenance of their fabric, in which task they are supported by 55,000 subscribing Friends. As well as encouraging Friends to donate money, volunteer and pray for the cathedrals, these long-standing associations offer subscribers opportunities to develop social networks and enhance cultural knowledge. This study conceptualized the Friends as para-church organizations that promote various forms of capital in the social arena, including bonds with the cathedral, as corporate person. The aim was to examine the utility of social capital models to explain the ways in which belonging to a Friends’ association can promote gift-giving to cathedrals. Questionnaire data were collected from 923 Friends of six English cathedrals. Multiple regression was used to identify the key predictors of religious social capital (measured by two indices, accessing different aspects of the resource), cultural capital, and ‘regard for the cathedral’ (a form of bonding social capital between Friend and cathedral). In turn, the four forms of capital were tested as predictors of different types of giving to cathedrals. The analyses indicated that the form of capital which Friends contributed varied according to Friendship style (identified as Sociable, Networked, Attached, Cultured); and that the nature of gifts to cathedrals differed according to capital(s) contributed. There was no evidence that household income was related to capitals or gifting. The thesis contributes to the growing corpus of empirical work on cathedrals, and also to social capital theory (by developing notions of vicarious social capital, and ‘regard’). The findings of the study will assist cathedral Friends’ Councils that wish to adopt an instrumental approach to generate capital(s) in the social arena, in order to pursue charitable aims.

The subject of this research thesis is religious diversity and division within the early modern English Church. Its objective –– in a development of my Master’s dissertation research into the Admonition Controversy of the 1570s1 –– is to reveal the nature of disagreements which culminated in the split between the Church of England and Nonconformity in the early 1660s, the ‘Great Ejection’. What were the imperative incentives, the religious convictions, which motivated the participants, given the deprivation suffered by those driven from their positions of ministry, and the consequences suffered by the national Church in England? The thesis makes a comparative study of events in the late sixteenth century, when controversy in the Elizabethan Church did not result in division: rather the incentive was towards consensus, and a rejection of separation. Why was this, given that the issues at stake were not dissimilar and no less contentious? Having defined the terminology to be used, and explored the historiographical and analytical contributions from historians and theologians, the thesis moves to an exploration of primary evidence from the times under review, the documentary evidence extant from religious controversies during the periods, and the polemical literature from principal participants in religious debate in the late sixteenth, and mid-seventeenth centuries in England. The thesis draws together conclusions resulting from this research, and seeks to make meaningful observations regarding the nature and causes of religious divisions in any century, and then to make comment upon disagreements between Christian believers in our own time, drawing upon the nature of division as revealed in English Christendom’s post-Reformation history.

The Office is a form of daily prayer which all clergy are required to say by Canon law. Many writers suggest the present situation is one of crisis although it has never been established what proportion of clergy do or do not fulfil the requirement. This research project is based on a questionnaire completed by 270 clergy of the Church of England and explores the present usage and understanding of the clergy with regard to the formal daily prayer of the Church. Whilst the number praying the Office is higher than might be expected there is also significant variety of usage and understanding which points to a lack of information about the Office communicated by the Church at the point of training. The history of the Office is explored with a new suggestion made about its origins. Likewise other liturgical, psychological and professional contexts are explored. Out of these a proposal is then made to enable a clearer understanding of the rationale and possibilities of the Office in the light of the increased flexibility provided for it now by Common Worship. A draft of this proposal was piloted to a sample of clergy and was well received. In addition a more comprehensive theology is proposed here for the prayer itself and the Institution of the Church challenged to improve what is presented about the Office to those in training and those already in ministry. The aim here is to facilitate both the institution of the Church and individual clergy a richer and fuller understanding of the form, content and theology of the prayer so that the possibilities of the Office as a prayer of personal and ministerial transformation as well as one of obligation can inspire and empower the clergy afresh.

This study examines the entries covering the period 2002 – 2009 in the visitors’ books belonging to St Margaret of Antioch Church, Binsey. The study is placed in the context of pilgrimage and sacred space and explores their theology and spiritual significance. The nature of a visit to Binsey is compared to medieval and contemporary practice of pilgrimage and the similarities and differences of various components explored. The question is asked whether a visit to Binsey can be described as a pilgrimage and how this is justified. The nature of the reactions to the sacred space that is Binsey church as evidenced in the entries in the visitors’ books is examined and discussed in relation to comparative studies. The nature of the community that is evident in Binsey is explored and a new term coined ‘heterotopian koinonia’ to describe it. This term is then used to examine a particular event within the life of the visitors’ books, that of the felling of an avenue of chestnut trees on the approach to the church. Suggestions for further research are given and an appreciation of the nature of Binsey’s sacred space.

No description available.

This thesis is a biography of Robert Burnell (d.1292), chancellor of Edward I and bishop of Bath and Wells. Burnell was perhaps the most important administrator and politician of latethirteenth century England, but his life has never been studied i!", significant depth. My research has been designed to fill this gap, and to provide a detailed assessment of Burnell's achievements and an insight into the workings and priorities of Edwardian government. The thesis is divided into eight separate chapters, and the six major ones examine in turn: • Burnell's early life and career up to 1210. This deals with his origins, his entry into royal service and his progress through its ranks. • Burnell's role in the government of England during Edward's crusade of 1270-74. This describes the development in his status and importance from, in 1270, being one of those left in England by Edward to supervise the latter's personal affairs to, by 1274, being the person in overall charge of royal government. • The chronological course of Burnell's career between 1274, when he became chancellor, and 1292, when he died. This examines the evidence for his participation in English politics, war and diplomacy generally during the first half of Edward I's reign. • Burnell's career as royal chancellor. This assesses the basis of his authority as chancellor, the structure of the office under him, his approach to the job and an analysis of how far the chancery had 'gone out of court' by 1292. • Burnell's personal affairs. This deals primarily with the vast body of estates he accumulated in England during his lifetime, and his relations with his family. • Burnell's career as bishop of Bath and Wells. This discusses Burnell's attitude to his 'other' career, and how he carried out his diocesan duties.

A study of the relationship between the people of Gloucestershire and the Church of England diocese of Gloucester under two bishops, Charles John Ellicott and Edgar Charles Sumner Gibson who presided over a mainly rural diocese, predominantly of small parishes with populations under 2,000. Drawing largely on reports and statistics from individual parishes, the study recalls an era in which the class structure was a dominant factor. The framework of the diocese, with its small villages, many of them presided over by a squire, helped to perpetuate a quasi-feudal system which made sharp distinctions between leaders and led. It is shown how for most of this period Church leaders deliberately chose to ally themselves with the power and influence of the wealthy and cultured levels of society and ostensibly to further their interests. The consequence was that they failed to understand and alienated a large proportion of the lower orders, who were effectively excluded from any involvement in the Church's affairs. Both bishops over-estimated the influence of the Church on the general population but with the twentieth century came the realisation that the working man and women of all classes had qualities which could be adapted to the Church's service and a wider lay involvement was strongly encouraged. The Great War proved to be a major catalyst, both in breaking up class barriers and in confirming the estrangement of the masses from the Church and its message. Throughout the period, the Church's efficiency was impaired by having to operate through an archaic parochial system in which a large proportion of rural priests were considered by their bishops to display a high level of lethargy. Published work on this topic has hitherto been confined to some of the major industrial cities. This study offers an insight into an area of the country and at a period which has not previously received much attention.