Radical carols

I note a little ripple of interest in Christmas carols and the recovery of their folk origins and occasionally radical nature. Esther Addley wrote to this effect in the Guardian, and BBC4 followed up with Howard Goodall on Sunday on their 'secret history' (available on the iPlayer for the next five days.)

The church and censorship of the theatre

I'm delighted to be able to announce that an article of mine on this subject has been accepted for a forthcoming volume of Studies in Church History. There are some revisions to make, but it examines the private correspondence between the archbishops of Canterbury and the Lord Chamberlain over stage plays that were received for licensing between 1909 and 1949. Dealing mostly with archbishops Davidson and Lang, it examines the grounds on which the archbishops advised for or against the licensing of plays, and situates the relationship between archbishop and Lord Chamberlain in relation to the peculiar position of Cantuar at the heart of the 'establishment'. It should appear in 2012.

The 'Catholic novel'

I note a minor flurry of interest from the Guardian in 'Catholic' novelists, around the time of the Pope's visit in September. David Lodge wrote most interestingly on Muriel Spark's Memento Mori, and D.J. Taylor on the theme at large. There was also an interview with Piers Paul Read to accompany his new novel The Misogynist.

War memorials and the Church of England

I'm delighted to be able to say that my article on the Church of England and war memorials after 1945 is available to read in SAS-Space. It appeared in the Forum for Modern Language Studies in 2008, but is now available on an open-access basis. It explores the debates concerning the relationship between beauty, utility and the notion of "Christian civilisation", particularly with regard to the reconstruction of bombed churches.

CFP: The Power of the Word

I note an interesting conference in June next year on 'The Power of the Word: Poetry, Theology and Life' at Heythrop College, University of London. I'm thinking about offering a paper myself; deadline for abstracts is October 14th; details on the Institute of English Studies site.

Pop music and the post-war churches

I'm bound to note the appearance on SAS-Space of two more of Ian and my articles on music in the post-war church. The first is our contribution to the Redefining Christian Britain volume, and the other is a more theological piece for Crucible, which is rather hard to get hold of in print.
See also an earlier post on Redefining Christian Britain.

Dorothy L. Sayers and William Temple

I'm delighted to report the publication of the latest Miscellany from the Church of England Record Society, which includes my own edition of and introduction to the correspondence relating to Temple's offer of a Lambeth D.D. to Sayers, which she refused. It's a most interesting episode, which reveals much about the position of the 'Christan writer' in England, and the relationship between the Church of England and the arts.

The Michael Harper papers

I note from the most recent annual review of Lambeth Palace Library that they have received the papers of Michael Harper. Once they are catalogued and released, these promise to be of interest in that Harper's wife Jeanne was co-editor of the hugely influential Sound of Living Waters song collection.

Religion in modern drama

An intriguing flurry of related items in the Guardian last month. Firstly, Michael Billington drew a contrast between the animating force of religious themes in much drama in the Fifties and the lack of religious interest in plays written in more recent years. This was in part a response to Drew Pautz's play Love the Sinner (reviewed, again by Billington, here).
This elicited a response from Ian Bradley, pointing out that religious themes were alive and well in the musical.
Finally, some enterprising soul in the Guardian's research department pulled out a most intriguing archive item from 22 May 1958, on a debate in the Church of Scotland's General Assembly over the future of the Gateway Theatre, which, improbably, was actually owned by the Church.

Christ the King, Sophiatown

I note an intriguing report on the consecration of a new mural in this Johannesburg church, which replaces one painted between 1938 and 1941 by an Anglican nun, of which only photos remain (Guardian, May 22nd). It seems to have been more or less unreported in Britain, despite that period seeing the beginnings of much discussion and campaigning in favour of new art in England.

Penelope Fitzgerald

Rather belatedly, I note an interesting piece by Hermione Lee in the Guardian (April 3rd), in advance of her forthcoming biography. It gives tantalising glimpses, from Lee's work on Fitzgerald's library, with her engagement with religious writing, including Murder in the Cathedral and Bonhoeffer.

The good man Jesus and the scoundrel Christ

I note an interesting response from Rowan Williams to Philip Pullman's recent offering, in the Guardian on April 3rd.

It is part of an interesting ongoing exchange between the two men: hear a podcast of the two in conversation in relation to His Dark Materials at the National Theatre in 2004, (and an edited transcript in the Telegraph) and an article by Williams on the same in the Guardian, March 10th 2004

The Church and literature

There is now a provisional programme available for the Ecclesiastical History Society's conference in July, to be held at St Andrews. I mention it here for the theme, 'The Church and Literature', and for one of the plenary lectures by Crawford Gribben on rapture fiction.

The deadline for proposals for papers is very soon (tomorrow,, in fact), but there is plenty of time to book to attend. More details are available on the EHS site.

The Believers

I note the broadcast last Saturday of this radio play by Frank Cottrell Boyce, about a Christian band in the Merseybeat era. I recorded it and haven't had chance to listen yet, but it is available for a few more days on the BBC iplayer service. It is trailed as a comedy, but the fact that it is a subject at all is of some interest.

Allan Wicks

I note recent obituaries of Allan Wicks, organist of York Minster and Canterbury cathedral (from the Times and Church Times). While the writers note his championing of contemporary classical music, less well known was his openness to experimentation with pop genres for church. He contributed an article on "relevance" in church music to a special issue of Modern Churchman in October 1964, alongside articles on the new Coventry cathedral and on liturgy (by Eric James, at that time one of the more avant-garde clergy in south London, and subsequently biographer of John A.T. Robinson.)