This event sees two of our leading commentators from the world of academia and policy discuss the implications of our new Temple Book, Towards the Conversion of the Church of England by the rest of England.
The book is the product of a roundtable of distinguished commentators from a wide variety of different disciplines reflecting on the types of challenges and opportunities facing the new Archbishop of Canterbury Bishop Sarah Mullally as the Church of England seeks to understand its relationship and purpose to the huge diversity of citizens who reside in this country and who identify to a lesser or greater extent with this county and the notion of Englishness.
Professor Linda Woodhead, currently F D Maurice Professor at King’s College where she is also Head of the Department of Theology and Religion, is a globally renowned sociologist of religion who has the tracked the rapidly shifting social and cultural landscapes of Britain and other societies. Her most recent work has looked at the experience of the Gen Z generation, and she has previously written on the place of the Church of England in English society in a book co-written with journalist Andrew Brown (one of our roundtable witnesses) entitled That Was the Church that Was (2016): https://www.amazon.co.uk/That-Was-Church-England-English/dp/147292164X
Professor John Denham approaches the question from a non-religious perspective but with a deep passion and commitment to finding a viable form and expression of an English identity that is inclusive and open to all. His interest in this question stems when he was a Minister in the Labour government of Tony Blair, before becoming Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government in Gordon Brown’s cabinet. He also chaired the Home Affairs Select Cttee from 2003–2007.
To this end, and after he left government, he founded the Centre for English Identity and Politics where he continues to research write, speak and broadcast regularly on identity and England related issues. He takes a particular interest in how the Labour Party responds to the evolving pattern of national identity related politics.
Following Professor Woodhead’s lecture, Professor John Denham will offer a detailed response, before we open up to questions and comments from the floor.
