Download Session 4 - A century of change AD 1850 to 1950

St Pauls Summer School 2013
Session 4 July 10th
1850-1950 A Century of Change
Introduction
 Continue our journey through 2000 years of church history,
beginning with the Acts of the Apostles; uncovering the
deliberations and influence of the Church Fathers; travelling
the road to the reformation through the dark and middle ages
and last week looking at the legacy of the Reformation in the
work of the Reformers; the Romans; the Radicals and the
Revivalists- individuals who changed the spiritual landscape
of the West.
 In this story there is a model of the growth of the church
which is drawn from the OT journey of the People of Godthey were led by everyday provision (the manna and the
quails; the pillar of cloud by day and the fire by night) and by
defining moments like Sinai
 There is the day by day on going, often unseen and
unspectacular daily round of ministry, service and discovery.
There are also significant people, places and movements
and in this talk I want to focus on some significant individuals
and trends in the second half of the 19th century and the first
half of the 20th
 In the final talk next week we will reflect on the last half
century- our lifetimes and the lifetime of this church. What
has been happening and where does the church go from
here?
 The Victorian Period 1850-1900
 The Victorian Age
 AT HOME- industrialization; urbanisation; population growth;
developments in medicine; increased social mobility; wider
education; advances in transport technology; the growth of
the railways etc
 Behind the scenes there was real poverty- the emergence of
the class system in the industrial north- the East End
phenomenon which linked London as a world trade centre to
the poverty of the dockland communities- a situation which
prevailed well into our time as books like Call the Midwife
have exposed.
 AND ABROADThe British Empire and colonization
 Africa, India and SE Asia were opened up like never before
 David Livingstone died in 1873 His mission was to bring
commerce and Christianity to central Africa and missionary
endeavours at this time were seen in this way "Colonialism
and Christian Mission" went hand in hand
 These were fast moving and turbulent times.There were a
series of important Christian developments during this period
and some serious challenges to Biblical faith as well! Highlight some Positive and Negative themes and
challenges.
1. A Positive Century
(a) The Oxford or Tractarian Movement
 A surge of spirituality based on the notion that an equation
could be made between the position of Rome and that of the
Church of England.
 John Henry Newman had converted to Rome in 1845 and
became a Cardinal in 1879
 He and others like John Keeble believed that the Anglican
way was a third branch in the Catholic Faith- you had Rome;
the Orthodox and the Anglicans!
 This was not to be and so he and others left the church but
the spiritual surge that this thinking generated produced the
anglo-catholic stream within the C of E with its emphasis on
liturgy, vestments, ornate churches etc
 The movement was complicated by the tension it generated
between deep personal piety on the one side and a liberal
theology which adapted itself to Enlightenment thinking- see
later!
 But we cannot cover the Victorian period without reference to
the Oxford Movement!
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(b)Revivals break out!
1857 The evangelical awakening- 1 Million in the US and 1
Million in Britain come to faith
The Ministry of Dwight L Moody and Ira Sankey
In the East End of London The Rev Pennyfather, vicar of
Mildmay, invited Moody and Sankey to London- 2.5 million
heard Moody in London alone, Sankeys hymns hit England
“Sacred Songs and Solos”!!
Some still survive to this day!
 In 1906 the Holy Spirit fell in power on a worshiping
community in Azusa Street Los Angeles- the Pentecostal
Movement with its Elim and Assemblies of God traditions
had begun!
 unrelated to the USA was the great Welsh Revival of 1904
 Evan Roberts was a former miner and then minister in
training - his powerful preaching; signs; wonders and visions
swept an estimated 100 000 people into the kingdom as
chapels overflowed and new buildings were constructed.
 It spread across the border into England and up to a million
people professed faith.
 In 1929 revival broke out a CMS station in Ruanda and
spread rapidly across East Africa in the 1930s and 40's and
continued sporadically until the 1970's and its influence is
there to this day.
 At the end of our time frame there was the Hebridean
Revival based on the ministry of Duncan Campbell and
centred on Lewis from 1949-1952
(c)Social Reform and Mission
 The legacy of Wilberforce, John Newton and the
Abolitionists and the work of Lord Shaftesbury.
 Anthony Ashley Cooper- the 7th Earl, motivated by
his deep faith that he learnt as a young boy from
Moriah Millis, pioneered social reform through the
Lunacy Act, the Ten Hours (factory) act, the Climbing
Boys Act (chimney sweeps) and the Ragged Schools At his memorial service in London the streets were
thronged with miners, chimneysweeps, flower girls;
shoe shiners and the rest
 He was the "Poor man's Earl"
 Elizabeth Fry- (1780-1845) a Norfolk girl born in
Norwich; Quaker; Christian philanthropist who
pioneered prison reform "the angel of prisons"- her
face is on the £5 note!
 Tom Barnado – wanted to be a missionary in China but got
no further than the poverty of the children of the East End of
London
 William Booth (with Catherine)- Methodist minister but
Methodism had become too respectable- set up in the East
End of London- Livingston had published “In Darkest Africa”Booth wrote “In Darkest England”
 He refused to create a church – hence no sacraments but in
the end formed the Salvation Army- pioneered Gospel work
with social concern.
 The Victorian period had included- the building of churches;
the establishment of agencies for mission and social welfare;
the Trade Unions were inspired by Christians (Kier Hardie- a
lay preacher- founder of the Labour Party)
 The Sunday School movement had begun in the 1780's
under the influence of Robert Raikes-by 1785 250000
children attended Sunday school doing "Reading, writing,
cyphering and Bible knowledge" Along with Shaftesbury's
Ragged schools, it would dominate education in this country
for 100 years until the Education Act of 1870 introduced state
education
(d) Global Missionary Expansion
 The first missionary societies were established before this
period with both Catholic and Protestant missionary
endeavours.
 They were generally denominationally based and centrally
funded
 Methodist Missionary Society 1791
 A major protestant example was William Carey- an ex
cobbler and Baptist missionary to India
 He published a book in 1792 entitled(!) "An Enquiry into the
Obligations of Christians to use means for the Conversion of
the Heathen"
 In 1792 BMS formed
 "Expect great things from God- attempt great things for God!"
 In 1799 Church Missionary Society (CMS) began
 Hudson Taylor- missionary to China- formed the China
Inland Mission (1865) which was different from the other
mission agencies of the time..
 The CIM was interdenominational and faith based (ie
individuals were supported) Now known as the Overseas
Missionary Fellowship. (Alistair and Juliet Curry)
 “God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s
supplies”
 (both models of mission incidentally are appropriate)
 The Cambridge 7 and CT Studd
 "If Jesus Christ be God and died for me then no sacrifice can
be too great for me to make for him"
 The US “Student Volunteer Movement” “The evangelisation
of the world in this generation”
 RC Missions as well eg the White Fathers in Northern
Zambia
 The Faith becomes global, international and multi cultural
(e) Improved Biblical Literacy and Preaching
 In 1875The vicar of Keswick in the Lake District said Lets
invite people here to hear God’s word expounded, The
Keswick Convention began and exists to this day and has
been replicated all over the world.
 In the 1870's Scripture Union was born and works today
in 120 countries
 The growth in Christian publishing and the influence of
theologians and writers like Karl Barth, widely regarded as
the great Protestant theologian of his time (b 1886)
 In 1876 Christian students in Cambridge got together to
study the Bible and formed the Cambridge Inter Collegiate
Christian Union (CICCU) followed in 1879 by OICCU
(Oxford) They were under the auspices of the Student Christian
Movement- later to regroup as the Inter Varsity Fellowship
now UCCF (university and Colleges Christian Fellowship”part of a national and international Christian movement
among students and part of IFES the international
Fellowship of Evangelical Students (Keith Butler!)
 Let us not forget the influence of large London churches
as centres of excellence
 On Jan 6th 1850 on a snowy night in Colchester a 15 year
old lad stumbled into a Methodist Chapel and heard the
Gospel preached by a semi literate local preacher- the
text was Is 25.22 "Look unto me and be ye saved..."
 He had exceptional ability as a student, as a learner and
as a preacher- by 20 he was appointed pastor of the
largest Baptist congregation in London at New Park Street
Chapel in Southwark
 Later he founded a college in 1857 and opened a huge
church at the elephant and Castle in the 1860's
 He preached regularly to congregations of 10000 and his
largest audience was at Crystal Palace in Oct 1857 where
there were over 24000
 By the time of his death in 1892 he had preached 3600
sermons and published 49 books
 Known as the Prince of Preachers his name was Charles
Haddon Spurgeon
 Two lessons!(You don't need PA and it is worth investing
in 15 year olds!)
 Increased range of hymnody with hymn writers like
Frances Ridley Havergal; Christina Rosetti and Fanny
Alexander
 Emerging Tensions between old and new music! Booth
"Why should the Devil have all the best tunes! "
 (1900 London story of the Vicar and his congregation and
their objection to..... "What a Friend we have in Jesus")
The expectation was that the new century would herald the
universal advance of the Gospel but over those Victorian
years other challenges to faith had arisen.
Negative Factors- here are just 4
1. The Emergence of the Cults- Mormons/JW’s/Christian
science/Christadelphians/ Spiritualists – most from the Atlantic
seaboard of the USA- based around “Christology” and Eschatology
(end times)- selective use of the Bible and in the case of the JW’s
creating their own version.-"the New World Translation" with a
gnostic spin on any text alluding to the deity of Jesus Christ(SDA's are mostly orthodox)
2. Doctrinal shifts in the RC Church
(a) Doctrine of Mary 1854 “immaculate conception”
(b) Ex cathedra papal infallibility 1870 (1950 used for the first
time- “bodily assumption”
This maryology with her elevation to “Co redemptress” with Christ
would drive a further wedge between Catholicism and
Protestantism that exists to this day!
3. Science and Darwin
1859 Origin of Species
Darwin was a Deist and he said this (omitted by David
Attenborough!) “There is a grandeur in the river of life as
originally breathed by the creator”
Darwin lost his faith NOT because of the theory of Evolution
but because of the death of his daughter Annie
Today we see science and faith differently- then it was spelled out
by the Royal Society Debate between Bishop Wilberforce and
Thomas HuxleyWilberforce-" are you descended from an ape on your
grandfather’s side or your grandmother’s side!”
Huxley replied "I would rather have an ape for an ancestor than a
Bishop who was unwilling to face the truth!"
The vinyl illustration- Science and Faith are complimentary- they
address different questions- one addresses mechanism and the
other meaning!
4. Rationalism; The Age of Reason; earlier known as the
Enlightenment- atheism or agnosticism
Role of men and women like Thomas Carlyle; George Elliot;Stuart
Mill and ultimately Karl Marx (Das Kapital in 1867)
Rationalism invaded the church – liberal criticism deconstruct the miraculous because under the new god of science,
these things just don’t happen.
The 19th Century Enlightenment- period of scientific
rationalism where the new gods of science and technology were
worshippedthe churches response to this was an emasculated form of
the Gospel called liberalism whereby the virgin birth, the miracles
and the supremely the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ were
challenged, reinterpreted or even discarded.
Bishop David Jenkins example and Adrian Plass joke
One writer said this “Christianity was attacked, divided and
flourishing”And so to the 20th Century and into our life times!
Finish by outlining an intellectual , cultural and philosophical
change which has dramatically affected the spiritual landscape in
which we find ourselves.
It can be summed up in this statement
The Collapse of the Progress Myth and the Rise of Post
Modernism
“Glory to man in the highest for Man is the Master of things”
 The impact of W W1; the Great depression; W W2
 The “Broad Sunlit Uplands” (Churchill) did not
materialise
For most of the 20th Cent we inherited a world view based on
what people call the Enlightenment. Summed up by the
philosopher Immanuel Kant in the single phrase "Dare to Know"
Modern man must have the courage to think for himself; to
test everything in the light of reason and conscience and to be
prepared to question even the most hallowed traditions. There are
three very obvious trends arising from a shift from a God-centred
world view to a man centred world view(a) The status of science- God has become the last fading
grin of a cosmic Cheshire cat- the new gods are science
and technology
(b) God is Dead The death of God- a personal Creator with
whom we can have a relationship is now a redundant idea
as modern man has become of age. "God in the
wasteland, the reality of truth in a world of fading dreams!"
God is somehow irrelevant and weightless!
(c) Man is now autonomous and independent- "homo
sapiens" to "homo autonomous"
"My head is bloody but unbowed Amid the bludgeoning of
circumstance.
For I am the Master of my Fate and I am the Captain of my Soul"
Or "I did it my way"
The dream of the Enlightenment was a Brave New World of
Broad sunlight uplands where man could fulfil his glorious
potential.. As the years of the 20th rolled by something else
happened- World Wars/ Genocide/ the Holocaust /Ethnic
Cleansing/Famine/ accelerating crime and violence/the breakdown
of law and order/ the disintegration of the family- the death of the
Progress Myth that education and man's advancement would solve
our problemsThe result is a further shift into what we call post modernism-
Even in the rationalist world there was a big story of progress and
direction- now there is no big story
Notting Hill Carnival illustration- the procession or the
sideshows
So what happened ! Come back next week and see