Building on History: Religion in London The Value of History for Contemporary Christianity Prof John Wolffe – The Open University

Building on History: Religion in London o PHASE 1 Arts and Humanities Research Council Knowledge Transfer Partnership o Knowledge Transfer NOT new research, but sharing fruits of existing research in ways that can ‘make a difference’ o Focus on 19 th /early 20 th century + Church of England o Aim to enable Church’s engagement with history at both local and strategic levels o Partners: The Open University Kings College London The Diocese of London Lambeth Palace Library

Building on History: Religion in London OUTCOMES PHASE 1 o Extensive programme of seminars, training sessions, workshops Resources o Website with Resource Guide o LOOK, LISTEN READ, RESEARCH o Parish/Church Audit Methodology o Forthcoming Grove booklet + other publications

Phase 2: Beyond the CofE  Open University development funding ( ) AHRC follow-on funding ( )  Partners Open University ( John Wolffe, John Maiden, Gavin Moorhead) Royal Holloway UL (Humayun Ansari) Advisory group of practitioners and academics  Work with Baptists, Black Majority Churches, Methodists, Roman Catholics + Jews and Muslims  Exploring distinctive and shared histories – vision of promoting better historical knowledge and understanding as resource for present-day ministry and community building

Specific Activities  Exploring and preserving history workshops for Muslims and BMCs  Public seminars for all six traditions  Three schools pilot projects – Autumn Term 2012  Small travelling exhibition  Development of existing web resource guide to provide resources for other traditions  Two religious diversity seminars  Prospective Phase 3 bid to Heritage Lottery Fund to resource more broad based development of community religious histories across London.

Why is it worthwhile? We often take for granted that things have always been like this, but … to understand the past is to understand how things change. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury It is very important for churches to understand that the identity they have is crucially locked into where they have come from. Neil Evans, Director of Professional Development, Diocese of London

1. Understanding religious change Secularization is not inevitable but change is Questioning demoralizing myth of golden age of ‘full church’ and subsequent inexorable decline Understanding significance of resurgence prompted by a) social factors – waves of migration b) spiritual dynamics – charismatic/Pentecostal renewal Importance of appropriate timescales for evaluation Appreciating contingency, uniqueness of each context and situation: role of human agency

2.Valuing Roots, Identity and Community Family History cultural fascination with origins – Christian community similarly needs to know where it has come from Hence importance of preserving archives and oral history for future generations – so much easily lost Important interface between church and wider community – eg in work with schools, museums, local historians Bridging generations – eg using young people to record the oral history recollections of elderly Objective evidence to test potentially inaccurate or even divisive mythologies

3. Exploring Recurrent Themes in Church Life: History Audit Location – constraints and opportunities; history of inherited building Leadership – ambivalent legacies of dominant founder? Recurrent constraining patterns of behaviour? Finance – are there ingrained expectations and assumptions? Vision – value of contextualised revisiting of initial/earlier values

Faculty of Arts The Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA