William Ralph Inge

Infobox clergy
name = William Ralph Inge

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image_size = 220px
caption =
birth_date = June 6 1860
birth_place = Crayke, Yorkshire, England
death_date = February 26 1954
death_place = Wallingford, England
church = Church of England
other_names =
education = Eton College and King's College, Cambridge
ordained =
writings = over 35 books
congregations =
offices_held =
title = Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral
spouse = Mary Catharine Inge
children =
parents =
footnotes = Anglican Portal

William Ralph Inge (pronEng|ˈɪŋ "ing"; [ [http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Inge Inge - Definitions from Dictionary.com ] ] June 6 1860 – February 26 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, and professor of divinity at Cambridge. He was nicknamed "The Gloomy Dean".

Life

He was born at Crayke, Yorkshire, England. His father was William Inge (a provost at Worcester College, Oxford) and his mother Susanna (Churton) Inge. His mother's father was the archdeacon of Cleveland. Inge was educated at Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar and Newcastle Scholar, and at King's College, Cambridge, where he won a number of prizes as well as taking firsts in both parts of the classical tripos. He was a tutor at Hertford College, Oxford starting in 1888, which was the year he was ordained as a deacon in the Church of England.

In 1907, he became a professor of divinity at Jesus College, Cambridge, holding the Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity chair. In 1911, was chosen by Prime Minister Asquith to be the Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He served as president of the Aristotelian Society at Cambridge from 1920 to 1921. Inge then became a columnist for the "Evening Standard", a position he would hold until 1946 - a period of 25 years. Ing was also a trustee of London's National Portrait Gallery from 1921 until 1951. He had retired from the Church in 1934. Inge's wife, Mary Catharine Inge, was the daughter of Henry Maxwell Spooner. She died in 1949. [See [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp64560 Portraits of Mary Catharine Inge] .] Inge spent his later life in Brightwell near Wallingford, where he died on February 26 1954.

Legacy

Inge was a prolific author. In addition to scores of articles, lectures and sermons, he also wrote over 35 books. [ [http://www.giffordlectures.org/Author.asp?AuthorID=85 Gifford Biography] ] He is best known for his works on Plotinus and neoplatonic philosophy, and on Christian mysticism. He was a strong proponent of a spiritual type of religion--"that autonomous faith which rests upon experience and individual inspiration"--as opposed to one of coersive authority; so he was outspoken in his criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. His thought, on the whole, represents a blending of traditional Christian theology with elements of Platonic philosophy. He shares this much in common with one of his favorite writers, Benjamin Whichcote, the first of the Cambridge Platonists.

He was nicknamed "The Gloomy Dean" because of his pessimistic views in his "Evening Standard" articles and he is remembered as a supporter of animal rights.

Bibliography

The following bibliography is a selection taken from Adam Fox's biography "Dean Inge".

* "Christian Mysticism" (Bampton Lectures) 1899
* "Faith and Knowledge" 1904
* "Studies of English Mystics" 1905
* "Truth and Falsehood in Religion" 1906
* "Personal Idealism and Mysticism" (Paddock Lectures) 1906
* "All Saints' Sermons" 1907
* "Faith and its Psychology" (Jowett Lectures) 1909
* "Speculum Animae" 1911
* "The Church and the Age" 1912
* "Types of Christian Saintliness" 1915
* "The Philosophy of Plotinus" 2 vols. (Gifford Lectures) 1918. ISBN 1-59244-284-6 (softcover), ISBN 0-8371-0113-1 (hardcover)
* "Outspoken Essays" I 1919 & II 1922
* "Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion" 1924
* "Lay Thoughts of a Dean" 1926
* "The Platonic Tradition in English Religious Thought" 1926 ISBN 0-8414-5055-2
* "The Church in the World" 1927
* "Assessments and Anticipations" 1929
* "Christian Ethics and Modern Problems" 1930
* "More Lay Thoughts of a Dean" 1931
* "Things New and Old" 1933
* "God and the Astronomers" 1933
* "Our Present Discontents" 1938 ISBN 0-8369-2846-6
* "A Pacifist in Trouble" 1939 ISBN 0-8369-2192-5
* "The Fall of the Idols" 1940
* "Talks in a Free Country" 1942 ISBN 0-8369-2774-5
* "Mysticism in Religion" 1947 ISBN 0-8371-8953-5
* "The End of an Age" 1948
* "Diary of a Dean" 1949
* "Light, Life and Love" (Selections from the German mystics of the Middle Ages) 1904 available online from [http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4664 Project Gutenberg] and [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/inge/light.html CCEL] )

See also

* Theology
* Mysticism
* List of Christian mystics

Sources

*Adam Fox "Dean Inge".
*Robert Helm "The Gloomy Dean".

References

External links

*
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp02358 Portraits of William Ralph Inge]
** [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp64560 Portraits of Mary Catharine Inge, his wife]
* [http://www.hwwilson.com/print/6ingew.html Profile]
* [http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/william+ralph+inge HyperDictionary Definition]
* [http://www.questia.com/popularSearches/william_ralph_inge.jsp W.R. Inge from Questia.com]
* [http://www.ccel.org/i/inge/ Information from Christian Classic Ethereal Library]
** [http://www.ccel.org/i/inge/light/ Light, Life and Love]
*** [http://www.ccel.org/i/inge/light/light.htm Complete text of Light, Life and Love]