The Twentieth Century

In WW1, although conflict went right around the world, fighting and deaths concentrated in northern Europe. Conscription led to more families to be affected.

In WWI, most deaths did not lead to repatriation of the bodies, so most bereavements could not be responded to with a funeral. It was this which led the many parishes in Church of England to reinstate prayers for the departed.

God is ‘on our side’? Most national churches fell in behind their army.

Hence, after war, a rise of the 'cult of the dead soldier-martyr': use of John 15:13 (“greater love hath no man”), without much thought or theological foundation.

Inter-war years: thinking about horror of war, rise of pacifism, critical theological reflection. Seeing one’s enemy as another human being and perhaps even another Christian.

In Germany, prior to the 20^th C, the role of church and state had always been very close, following Luther. Luther himself developed the 'Two Kingdoms' theology of church and state working together in their respective sheres, but never really communicating. The Manifesto of the Ninety-Three — backing the Kaiser’s war policy — including:

This ability to endorse murder prompted Karl Barth’s to see something intrinsically wrong in their theology. Ultimately he rejected their liberal theology, even though he himself was schooled in it, instead defining a theology that was not relativ to human context and started with God.

In the 1930s: rise of the Nazis to power, the German Lutheran Church was largely passive. Most actively supportive were the “German Christians” (Deutsche Christen) who promoted:

This was opposed by the Confessing Church, who actively opposed Nazification of the faith. Key leaders of the Confessing Church:

Barth was the key drafter of the Barmen Declaration, which declared the independence of the Church from the State and criticised State interference in Church affairs, as Jesus Christ is the only Lord of the Church.

Niemdller, Griiber and Bonhoeffer were sent to concentration camps. Bonhoeffer was executed in 1945.

In Britain, in the 1930s, the bishop of Chichester, George Bell, maintained contacts with the Confessing Church through his close friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bell himself signed the Barmen Declaration and got the backing of the bishops of the Church of England for the Confessing Church. Important after the war to evidence that not all Germans were Nazis and to prevent the writing off of the whole of Germany. During the war, Bell strongly and publicly criticized indiscriminate bombing of cities by the RAF and also supported the welfare of German POWs and conscientious objectors. He was strongly criticized for doing this and may well have contributed to his beign passed over for ABC after Temple.

Conscientious Objectors: a highly contentious position in WWI. The majority were Quakers. They were put to other duties to support the nation, if not the war effort. Other Christian conscientious objectors included the Plymouth Brethren. Was legally permitted in both wars after conscription introduced.

The Cold War: the advent of nuclear weapons accentuated the moral questions of exterminating millions of non-combatants, children included, in the incineration of a nuclear and thermonuclear explosion. In Britain, Christians of all denominations were at the forefront of the foundation of CND and participants in the Aldermaston Marches of the 1950s to protest at Britain’s nuclear weapons.

The facts of the 20^th century indicate that Christians are often divided on the issue of war and weapons. A single view seems elusive, although the relationship of nuclear weapons to traditional just war theory is a matter for ongoing concern.

Little work on the Holy Spirit in the medieval and reformation periods. cf. The BCP. In contrast to the very active ministry of the HS in Orthodoxy.

Regular outbreaks of charismata in revivals, but isolated to place and time. eg. Under Edward Irving in 1830s in Scotland (Irving ministered at Church of Scotland church in London). Developed theology for ongoing manifestation of gifts and expelled from ministry shortly after permitting charismata in his church.

Position after Reformation was that of the Council of Trent (1545-1563). 19^th century: things took a backward step: reaction to revolution and emergent triumphalism. The failure and condemnation of “Catholic modernism”.

In the early 20^th century: influence of WWI, socialism and ecumenism. Key influence of the Liturgical Movement - called for a return to primitive simplicity in the liturgy and an active participation by all the laity. The Popes gave it some support and it inspired both priestly and monastic vocations and inspired spiritual regeneration at parish level. (Services were still all held in Latin.)

Pope John XXIII (Angelo Guiseppe Roncalli) — elected 1958, died 1963. Called Second Vatican Council.

Sat from 11 October 1962 until 8 December 1965. Key areas of change included:

In the wake of the Council, ecumenical discussions opened up between the Catholics and Anglicans

1968 Humanae Vitae reaffirmed the traditional church rejection of artificial means of birth control. Sex is primarily for procreation. This also explains the rejection of homosexuality as intrinsically unnatural. Human Vitae was deeply challenged, not only by gay liberation, but also by the AIDS crisis in Africa, where heterosexual infection was aggravated by the condemnation of condom use by the Catholic bishops there.

In the NT there were many women in positions of leadership and influence in the Church, but from the second century onwards, their role was reduced with increasing formalisation of the authority structures of the church. Women’s influence in early Montanism.

Junia translated into Junius, a male form, though no evidence for Junius as a Greek name and plenty for Junia.

Strong anti-women bias in 2^nd and 3^rd century took hold.

Women took significant roles in radical non-conformity: Quakers and other fringe groups like the Shakers in America. Joanna Southcott (1750-1814) was a famous prophetess who claimed, at the age of 64, to be pregnant with the Messiah.

Women in the Salvation Army: William Booth — ‘all my best men are woman’. Women were allowed to hold officer’s rank in the SA from its outset. Catherine Booth changed her husband’s mind on the appropriateness of women teaching in the organisation, partly through the evangelistic effectiveness of her addresses.

The place of women in society — biology and technology. Patriarchal attitudes were undermined, to some extent, by the place of women in the industrialised workforce. The law: women didn’t legally have custody of their children until 1838. The Married Women Property Act 1870 granted married women the right to own property they had earned or inherited: prior to that, a married woman’s property belonged to her husband.

As medical practice developed in the latter part of the 19^th century, the experience and longevity of women improved significantly. The move for women to get the vote: began in Australia at the end of the 19^th century and moved to the UK in the 20^th century. Women were at the forefront of moves to take control of their fertility, with Marie Stopes (1880—1959) being a public advocate of the taboo subject of contraception. The Church of England formally opposed artificial birth control, with the Lambeth Conference of 1908 and retained this position until the Lambeth Conference of 1930 which lifted the condemnation.

Women made up a very significant proportion of the 19^th century missionary movement. Single women began to work within the deprived areas of British cities in the Church of England: the first deaconess in the Church of England was Elizabeth Ferard, who was admitted to the order by the Bishop of London in 1862.

In the twentieth century, gradually, women were accepted into the ordained ministry of protestant churches. The first congregational woman minister was Constance Coltman who was ordained in 1917. Edith Gates was ordained to the Baptist ministry in 1918.

In Anglicanism, the first woman to be ordained priest was Florence Li, who was ordained priest in 1944. In 1971, the province of Hong Kong and Macau was the first Anglican province to approve the ordination of women to the priesthood.

The Church of England General Synod agreed in November 2014, Libby Lane ordained as Bishop of Stockport in 2015.

Feminist theology is a distinct discipline and process from the opening up of ordained ministry to women.