The Keene Lectures return for an autumn series refelcting on the history and the future of the Church of England.
'Will there be a Church of England after 2034? A short history 1534 – 2034, from the Act of Supremacy to today'.
The Act of Supremacy by which Henry VIII’s Parliament claimed rights over the English church cut links with the Pope in Rome was passed on 3rd November 1534. In these four lectures led by Revd Canon Dr Canon Nicholas Cranfield we will look at the broad history from the gradual establishment of the Church of England to the present and ask, ‘Will there be a Church of England in ten years’ time?’
Tuesday 8th October: ‘‘A done deal’ Henry VIII and the Break with Rome’
The first lecture examines the Henrician revolution in church governance in its wider European context with increased demands for ecclesiastical autonomy and the rise of the Nation State. Henry’s first marriage had linked the Tudors with the Catholic Kings of Spain. The funeral of his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, who outlived him, was the first Protestant funeral service to be held in English. The Great Bible (1540) and the Prayer Books of 1549 and 1552 all contribute to English literacy as a Latin-based culture is transformed.
Tuesday 29th October: ‘The spread of the Reformation and civil war in the age of Shakespeare and of Pepys’
Both Edward VI and his half-sister Elizabeth I ensured a Protestant economy for the emerging Church of England against a background of social dissent at home and mainstream European isolation. Many saw the new settlement as too Catholic in its practice, retaining bishops, vestments and formal services, while the Church of Rome refused to accept the validity of the Church of England. Tensions, leading to Civil Wars across the kingdoms of Ireland, Scotland and England, meant an uneasy settlement for the church. The 1611 Authorised Version and 1662 Book of Common Prayer become tools for evangelism and mission.
Tuesday 5th November: ‘The Long century 1685 – 1829’
From Parliament’s acclamation of William III and Mary II as monarchs following the exile of the Catholic King James VII and II (1689) until the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 the Church of England’s mission spread globally, paving the way for the establishment of the Anglican Communion. The rise of Dissent and parallel history of Methodism inform the challenges of social reform and of industrialisation in a profoundly rural country.
Tuesday 19th November: ‘Disestablishment and the Anglican Communion’
The final lecture looks at the history of the Church of England since the Victorian period and what the shift in the outward understanding of ‘Empire’ and ‘Establishment’ might mean for the CofE as it approaches the end of its first half millennium as our own world view, and that of what it means to be a Nation State, change.
Each evening will start at 7pm. The talks will last for 40 minutes, there will be a tea break of 20 minutes to submit questions and the evenings will finish at 8.30pm.
Canon Nicholas Cranfield has been vicar of Blackheath All Saints’ in Southeast London for twenty five years. Before moving to the Diocese of Southwark he was Dean of Chapel and a Fellow of Selwyn College Cambridge where he taught history as an Associate Lecturer in the University. He was ordained in 1986 and after his curacy became Director of the Berkshire Christian Training Scheme working with the Bishop of Oxford’s adult education team.
He has been a regular arts correspondent for the Church Times for more than thirty years and writes widely on Art and Sacred Space. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
The Keene Lectures discuss contemporary theological issues and are delivered annually in Chelmsford Cathedral. They take their name from John Henry Keene, a prominent citizen of Chelmsford, in whose memory a fund was established to bring distinguished speakers to Chelmsford for this purpose.