Grace and Nation: Coleridge's On the Constitution of Church and State

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-208
Author(s):  
Alan Gregory
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Classic Work ◽  
Christ Church ◽  
National Life ◽  
The Church

ABSTRACTUnderstanding Coleridge's classic work On the Constitution of Church and State requires paying close attention to the system of distinctions and relations he sets up between the state, the ‘national church’, and the ‘Christian church’. The intelligibility of these relations depends finally on Coleridge's Trinitarianism, his doctrine of ‘divine ideas’, and the subtle analogy he draws between the Church of England as both an ‘established’ church of the nation and as a Christian church and the distinction and union of divinity and humanity in Christ. Church and State opens up, in these ‘saving’ distinctions and connections, important considerations for the integrity and role of the Christian church within a religiously plural national life.

‘This Romish business’ - Ritual Innovation and Parish Life in Later Nineteenth-Century Lincolnshire

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
R. W. Ambler
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Holy Communion ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Mixing Water

In February 1889 Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, appeared before the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury charged with illegal practices in worship. The immediate occasion for these proceedings was the manner in which he celebrated Holy Communion at the Lincoln parish church of St Peter at Gowts on Sunday 4 December 1887. He was cited on six specific charges: the use of lighted candles on the altar; mixing water with the communion wine; adopting an eastward-facing position with his back to the congregation during the consecration; permitting the Agnus Dei to be sung after the consecration; making the sign of the cross at the absolution and benediction, and taking part in ablution by pouring water and wine into the chalice and paten after communion. Two Sundays later King had repeated some of these acts during a service at Lincoln Cathedral. As well as its intrinsic importance in defining the legality of the acts with which he was charged, the Bishop’s trial raised issues of considerable importance relating to the nature and exercise of authority within the Church of England and its relationship with the state. The acts for which King was tried had a further significance since the ways in which these and other innovations in worship were perceived, as well as the spirit in which they were ventured, also reflected the fundamental shifts which were taking place in the role of the Church of England at parish level in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their study in a local context such as Lincolnshire, part of King’s diocese, provides the opportunity to examine the relationship between changes in worship and developments in parish life in the period.

Crown, Mitre and People in the Nineteenth Century

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
First Century ◽  
Ecclesiastical Law ◽  
The People ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

Throughout the nineteenth century the relationship between the State and the Established Church of England engaged Parliament, the Church, the courts and – to an increasing degree – the people. During this period, the spectre of Disestablishment periodically loomed over these debates, in the cause – as Trollope put it – of 'the renewal of inquiry as to the connection which exists between the Crown and the Mitre'. As our own twenty-first century gathers pace, Disestablishment has still not materialised: though a very different kind of dynamic between Church and State has anyway come into being in England. Professor Evans here tells the stories of the controversies which have made such change possible – including the revival of Convocation, the Church's own parliament – as well as the many memorable characters involved. The author's lively narrative includes much valuable material about key areas of ecclesiastical law that is of relevance to the future Church of England.

scholarly journals Faith and Patriotism: Some Snapshots and Reflections on 1914 and Beyond

ANVIL ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-49
Author(s):  
Rt Revd Christopher Hill
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Critical Distance ◽  
The State ◽  
The Church

Abstract This article offers some fascinating ‘snapshots’ into theological activity and awareness between British and German theologians just prior to WW1, between the wars and post WW2. He helpfully surveys the differences between German and English understandings of the Church-Struggle or Kirchenkampf and some of its struggles which we might now name as too much identification with the prevailing culture and not enough critical distance. He considers how public opinion was divided in the 1930s the role of significant Anglican leaders in and post WW2. He concludes with reflections on Luther's two ‘regiments’, the essential spiritual domain of the Church and the temporal, political power of the State and with Harnack's understanding of the church with thoughts on implications for how we relate to church and state today.

scholarly journals ON SOME HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE INTERACTION OF THE CHURCH AND THE STATE IN THE EXECUTION OF PUNISHMENTS IN RUSSIA

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-83
Author(s):  
Валерий Вячеславович Харитошкин
Keyword(s):  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Historical Aspects ◽  
Role Of Religion ◽  
The Church ◽  
Historical Periods

В статье рассматриваются особенности взаимодействия церкви и государства при исполнении наказаний в России в разные исторические периоды, а также роль религии в духовно-нравственном воздействии на осужденных. The article examines the features of the interaction of church and state in the execution of punishments in Russia in different historical periods, as well as the role of religion in the spiritual and moral impact on convicts.

Theological Reflections on the Place of the Sacred in Society

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (35) ◽  
pp. 380-404
Author(s):  
John Inge
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Active Engagement ◽  
State Legitimacy ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
English Society ◽  
Christian Influence ◽  
The Church ◽  
Theological Thinking

This paper attempts an overview of currents of theological thinking on the place of the sacred in society. It considers the long tradition of active engagement between Church and State, which derives its authority from the New Testament and can be traced through St Augustine and Anglican Divines to the present day. Having examined contemporary arguments of those who question the propriety of such an arrangement it concludes that it remains theologically justifiable. The paper then turns to the particular question of the Establishment of the Church of England and engages both with those who support it and those who are in favour of disestablishment. It observes that Establishment functions at various levels in English society and, whilst acknowledging and welcoming the fact that its form will continue to change, argues that it offers distinct advantages to both Church and State. In a country where seventy-one per cent of the population professes itself to be Christian it gives the state legitimacy by reminding the latter that all authority derives from God and ensures that Christian influence for the maintenance of a just and peaceful society remains strong. Establishment reminds the Church that it has a responsibility to the whole nation, not just those who regularly attend its churches, and protects the mission and ministry of the Church throughout the parishes of the land.

Parliament and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-61
Author(s):  
Colin Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The State ◽  
Henry Viii ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Enoch Powell ◽  
Common Prayer ◽  
The Church ◽  
Previous Paragraph

A title such as this hardly suggests one is breaking new ground. But I edge into print on the subject, stirred by the interesting Speaker's Lecture given by the outgoing Second Estates Commissioner, Sir Tony Baldry, in December 2014, and published in the May 2015 edition of this Journal. It reads as the enthusiastic, even romantic, expression of the State–Church relationship by an almost doctrinaire establishmentarian; and I use the word ‘doctrinaire’ deliberately, for I have spent a lifetime of bumping up against leaders of both Church and State, from Enoch Powell to George Carey (let alone Derek Pattinson and Philip Mawer), who exude a firm conviction that the establishment of the Church of England is entrenched somewhere in the Apostles' Creed. Sir Tony continues in this tradition as he serenely asserts ‘We come then to the reign of Henry VIII. I think the important point here is that the Church of England is the creation of Parliament.’ But would not Augustine, Anselm and the drafters of Magna Carta (who are cited in Baldry's previous paragraph) all be turning in their graves? And what apoplexy would have come upon Newman, Pusey and Keble to have learned that their Church was thus created? Or, more to the point, is the ecclesiastical action of Parliament in the days when church and nation were co-terminous of any relevance to whether and how an unbelieving Parliament should hold control of a Christian body today? However, it is his brief section on ‘Parliament and Anglican liturgy’ which prompted the present submission.

The Episcopal Succession in Spanish America 1800-1850

1968 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert F. Schwaller
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
New World ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The State ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
History Of ◽  
Independence Era ◽  
The Church

Because of the role of the Catholic Church in the history of Spanish America, no thorough or genuine appreciation of the independence era is possible without an understanding of the situation of the episcopacy which is at the center of religious life and growth.Since the time of Columbus, relations between Church and State in Spanish America became so identified that by 1800 we can speak of one entity, a State-Church, rather than two distinct entities as we find in the separation of Church and State in North America. This point cannot be over emphasized, and it should be understood that it was not the Church which dominated the State, but rather the State which dominated the Church. It was the State, ultimately the king of Spain, which determined when and where a monastery was to be erected. It was the State which sent over missionaries to the New World. It was the State which even decided upon the erection of a new diocese and the nomination of a new bishop.

scholarly journals THE THEOLOGICAL DILEMMA VIZ-A-VIS THE MORAL OPTIONS FOR RELEVANT AND PRACTICAL MINISTRY TODAY: LESSONS FOR THE ZIMBABWE COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sifiso Mpofu
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Of Christ ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
Practical Ministry ◽  
Christian Leaders ◽  
The Church

There are many misconceptions about the role of the church in society. This is because the church is neither a political institution nor a social organisation but a mystery of grace. The church can best be defined or understood in terms of its mission or its work. This article will explore the mission and work of the Christian church; specifically the church in Zimbabwe. One cannot talk about the Christian church without reflecting on Jesus Christ’s mission. The church is the body of Christ, the true representative of the broken body of Jesus Christ. Paradoxically, while church leaders say that they are concerned about the poor, the downtrodden, the oppressed, they seem not to fight against harmful socio- economic and political structures that dehumanise many of God’s creation. The church, as God’s compass to direct humanity for the total good of all creation, should always advocate in favour of peace and social justice. Christian leaders have a moral and social responsibility in their proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ in an environment which is characterised by despondency, uncertainty and fear. This paper identifies moments of prophetic resistance to social evil. It is to be noted that such a prophetic dimension is an enduring reality of the life of an authentic church, despite the complex (and at times compromising) relationship between church and state. This paper proposes possibilities for a new paradigm shift in Christian ministry with a view to toward a rebirth of a socially conscious church within the established platform of Christian ministry.

Slaves to No Sect: The Anglican Clergy and Liturgical Change

1986 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 357-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Aldridge
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
National Life ◽  
Alternative Service ◽  
Common Prayer ◽  
The Church ◽  
Gradual Transformation ◽  
Christian Denomination

Many writers have argued that the Church of England, in common with other Christian denomination, is undergoing a profound crisis of identity. One crucial aspect of this is the clergy's rapid abandonment of the traditional services of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer in favour of the radically different, modern language services of the Alternative Service Book, published in 1980. Liturgical change on this scale is said to be both cause and effect of a gradual transformation of the Church of England into a sect. In this article, evidence from a survey of the parochial clergy of one English diocese is presented, showing that the great majority of respondents approve of the Alternative Service Book and use it frequently for the conduct of worship. However, then outlook on the role of the Church of England in national life does not display any of the essential characteristics of sectarianism, the fact that the Church of England is the established Church is an important obstacle to sectarian tendencies, and the argument that the Church is being transformed into a sect is not warranted.

The Prophetic Voice of the Church in a Democratic South Africa – A Theological Reflection

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufuluvhi Maria Mudimeli
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Liberation ◽  
South Africans ◽  
Black Liberation Theology ◽  
Prophetic Voice ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Church

This article is a reflection on the role and contribution of the church in a democratic South Africa. The involvement of the church in the struggle against apartheid is revisited briefly. The church has played a pivotal and prominent role in bringing about democracy by being a prophetic voice that could not be silenced even in the face of death. It is in this time of democracy when real transformation is needed to take its course in a realistic way, where the presence of the church has probably been latent and where it has assumed an observer status. A look is taken at the dilemmas facing the church. The church should not be bound and taken captive by any form of loyalty to any political organisation at the expense of the poor and the voiceless. A need for cooperation and partnership between the church and the state is crucial at this time. This paper strives to address the role of the church as a prophetic voice in a democratic South Africa. Radical economic transformation, inequality, corruption, and moral decadence—all these challenges hold the potential to thwart our young democracy and its ideals. Black liberation theology concepts are employed to explore how the church can become prophetically relevant in democracy. Suggestions are made about how the church and the state can best form partnerships. In avoiding taking only a critical stance, the church could fulfil its mandate “in season and out of season” and continue to be a prophetic voice on behalf of ordinary South Africans.

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