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The Revival of Spiritual Healing in the Church of England 1920–26

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Stuart Mews
Stuart Mews*
Affiliation:
University of Lancaster
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Extract

‘How are your healing groups going?’ the present archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, enquired rhetorically in a charge to service chaplains in 1979. ‘The renewal of the Church’s ministry of healing’ the bishop of Selby has even more recently written, ‘is one hard obstinate fact that future historians will be unable to ignore when examining the Christian scene in the present century.’ The bishop, who is co-chairman of the Churches’ Council for Health and Healing, particularly singled out for praise the pioneers of this renewal: ‘individuals like James Moore Hickson, George Bennett and Dorothy Kerin’ as well as such later contributors as Leslie Weatherhead from the free churches, and more recently Cameron Peddie in Scotland and the American Dominican, Francis MacNutt. The bishop has further argued that ‘these powerful initiatives given to the healing movement by individual leaders were matched by the leadership of the Churches’, an assertion which is backed by citing the discussions devoted to the subject at the Lambeth conferences of 1908, 1920, 1930 and 1958. The first two of these conferences were presided over by archbishop Randall Davidson, who in the bishop of Selby’s book is presented as a crypto-champion of spiritual healing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 19: The Church and Healing , 1982 , pp. 299 - 332
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1982

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References

1 ‘The Archibishop of Canterbury’s Charge to his Service Chaplains’, The Journal of the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department 25 (July 1980) p 14.

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9 It is a pleasure to acknowledge here my gratitude to my neighbour, Canon Robert Tindall, curate of Heaton, Bradford 1921-25. Canon Tindall also pointed out to me the important role of Canon E.T.G. Hunter, rector of Kcighlcy 1919-26, who was an enthusiast for spiritual healing, and who is cited frequently in the local press as an authenticator of specific instances of recovery in the Frizinghall mission.

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71 Ibid: H. Anson — H.M. Burge 24 March 1922.

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76 Ibid: H.M. Burge — R.T. Davidson 12 April 1923.

77 Ibid: R.T. Davidson — H.M. Burge 10 August 1922; Lambeth Palace Library: Bishops’ Meeting minutes 22 May 1924 p 33.

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79 Ibid: H.M. Burge — H. Anson 2 August 1923.

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82 Ibid: H.M. Burge — R.T. Davidson 18 November 1922.

83 The Ministry of Healing (London 1924).

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88 Diary of Henson 22 May 1924.

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90 Ibid 24 October 1924.

91 Diary of Henson 29 January 1925.

92 Ibid 8 February 1925, Durham County Advertiser 13 March 1925, Diary of Henson 9 March 1925, H.H. Henson ‘Spiritual Healing’, Hib J April 1925 pp 385-401, Harold Anson, ‘Spiritual Healing — What is it? A reply to the Bishop of Durham’ Hib J October 1925 pp 101-111, H.H. Henson, Notes. A year later Henson recorded that the book had only earned him £11.6s.5d.: ‘It is sufficiently evident that that book also has been an almost total failure’ (Diary of Henson 29 May 1926). The report of Burge’s committee sold a first edition of 2,000, a second edition of 3,000, and went into a third edition: Davidson Ms: W.K. Lowther Clark — H.M. Burge 13 February 1924.

93 Diary of H.H. Henson 11 November 1925.

94 Ibid 13 November 1925, Iremonger pp 612f.

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98 Davidson Ms: CG. Lang — H.M. Burge 26 July 1924; R.T. Davidson — H.M. Burge 5 August 1924.

99 The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisory Committee on Spiritual Healing: Interim Report on Missions and Cases of Healing Investigated. (Privately published 1928) p 2.

100 Diary of H.H. Henson 19 November 1925, [York Minster Library] Garbett Ms, C.F. Garbett — R.T. Davidson 15July 1925.1 am grateful to Dr Gerald Ellison for permission to consult these papers.

101 Inge, W.R., Diary of a Dean (London 1949) p 111 Google Scholar, Garbett Ms, W.R. Inge — CF. Garbett 11 March 1925.

102 arbett Ms, H. Anson — C.F. Garbett 1 June 1925, 14 July 1928.

103 Garbett Ms, A. W. Perowne — C. F. Garbett 7 July 1925.

104 Grensted, L.W., Psychology and God (London 1930) pp 106f.Google Scholar

105 Ibid pp 123f. A similar approach was taken by the Melbourne conference of the World Council of Churches on World mission and evangelism. See the report: Your Kingdom Come (Geneva 1980) p 200. I owe this reference to Miss Monica Humble.