William Temple (Archbishop)

William Temple. Sculpture by Victor Heyfron (1999)

William Temple (born October 15, 1881 in Exeter , † October 26, 1944 in Kent ) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942 to 1944 and a leading representative of the ecumenical movement .

Life

He was the second son of Frederick Temple , who was also Archbishop of Canterbury from 1895 to 1902. In 1909 he was ordained a priest . At that time he was still a lecturer (1904–1910) in philosophy at Queen's College , Oxford . He quickly rose in the ecclesiastical hierarchy : Temple was Bishop of Manchester (1921-1929), then Archbishop of York (1929-1942) and finally in 1942 Archbishop of Canterbury .

Temple was one of the most important figures in the Life and Liberty movement , which campaigned for the autonomy of the Anglican Church . He supported the labor movement and sought economic and social reforms. As the first president (1908-1924) of the Workers' Educational Association , he joined the Labor Party . He was involved in the ecumenical movement, was present at the Lausanne Conference (1927) and prepared the World Conference of Churches in Edinburgh in 1937 . William Temple also took part in the organization of the Malvern Conference (1940/41). He also helped establish the British Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches .

William Temple was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to receive a cremation . This contributed significantly to the acceptance of cremation in England. His ashes were in the garden of the cloister of the Cathedral of Canterbury buried near the grave of his father.

Works

• The Creative Mind 1917
• Nature, Man and God 1934
• The Church Looks Forward 1944

literature

• John Kent: William Temple: Church, State and Society in Britain, 1880-1950. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1992, ISBN 978-0-521-37630-3 .

Web links

Commons : William Temple (Archbishop)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Newspaper article about William Temple in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

predecessor	Office	successor
Edmund Knox	Bishop of Manchester 1921–1929	Guy Warman
Cosmo Gordon Lang	Archbishop of Canterbury 1942–1944	Geoffrey Francis Fisher
Cosmo Gordon Lang	Archbishop of York 1929–1942	Cyril Forster Garbett