The Work
Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944) was known as the ‘peoples’ Archbishop’. When he died suddenly in 1944 it was said that, on hearing the news ,housewives wept on buses. He is credited with laying the ethical foundations for the welfare state. His short book, Christianity and Social Order, explores the question of Christian involvement in political life. The book finishes with his famous ‘middle axioms’, the ethical rules that would be fundamental to the establishment of the post-war welfare state.
Speaker
Professor Andrew Bradstock is both a student and practitioner of faith-inspired social action. In the 1990s he taught at colleges of higher education in Southampton and Winchester, and later served as Secretary for Church and Society with the United Reformed Church. From 2009-13 he was inaugural Howard Paterson Professor of Theology and Public Issues at the University of Otago, NZ. His most recent book is Batting for the Poor, the authorized biography of Bishop David Sheppard, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an emeritus professor of the University of Winchester.
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