Building on History: The Church in London Project

10/06/09

A pioneering project aiming to disseminate fascinating and important new insights into the modern history of religion in London will be launched at a reception at Lambeth Palace Library on 18 June 2009.

The Bishop of London, will speak at the event along with the Project leader, Professor John Wolffe of The Open University. Over the next three years the project will see two leading historians of modern British religion, Professors Wolffe and Arthur Burns (King’s College London), work with the leading national depository for English religious history, Lambeth Palace Library, and the Diocese of London to enhance the diocese’s self-understanding and effectiveness.

Building on History: The Church in London is funded by a £234,000 Arts and Humanities Research Council Knowledge Transfer grant. It is amongst the first ventures of its kind involving academic historians collaborating not with a gallery or museum but with a major public institution, as the Church of England seeks eagerly to unlock its own history to bring insights to its clergy, congregations and the broader multi-cultural community of contemporary London.

The project is supported by the Bishop of London, who spoke at a Building on History seminar at St Paul’s Cathedral on 5 May of the importance of historical awareness to London Anglican identity and the development of informed strategy. Many of the social changes and pastoral challenges currently facing the diocese, such as rapid urban development and heavy migration (both within and to the area), have been perennial issues for both the Church and metropolis since at least the late eighteenth century. A historical perspective on the experience of these phenomena over time will help inform current and future responses.

The last twenty years have transformed academic understanding of the place of religion in modern English society, particularly in relation to 'secularisation'. It is increasingly clear that claims of religion’s inevitable decline in the face of modernisation are not borne out by the ability of religious groups to respond react to changing contexts. Building on History creates a new space in which those active in the contemporary religious life of the capital can reflect on and learn from the remarkable stories now emerging about the experience of the churches in one of the world’s great cities responding to two centuries of challenge and change.