Michael Ramsey: A Life

by OwenChadwick (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1990

  $3.25

  Lord Ramsey of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 to 1974, died on 23 April 1988. During the sixties and seventies he was approached several times by authors or publishers with the suggestion that his life should be written. On this, however, he had strong views: that it was wrong to publish anyone's biography while he or she lived. He therefore courteously rejected all applications. In 1980 he invited Professor Sir Owen Chadwick to be his biographer, when the time came. He handed over to Professor Chadwick the materials he possessed, gave him free access to the Lambeth Palace archives, and at Professor Chadwick's request wrote some notes for the historian on various matters. The resulting biography is a full account of Ramsey's life and works. Professor Chadwick opens with a description of the early years, and then concentrates on particular areas of Ramsey's life: his involvement with, and attitudes to, British moral and parliamentary law, race relations, homosexuality, Rhodesia, and apartheid; his travels around the world; the Lambeth Conference of 1968; and his attitude to and relationship with all denominations of the Christian Church. Professor Chadwick then reflects on Ramsey's personal spirituality and brings the account to a close with a narration of Ramsey's retirement and death in Oxford.

• Used

  Paperback
  1991

  $3.25

  Lord Ramsey of Canterbury, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961 to 1974, died on 23 April 1988. During the 1960s and 1970s he was approached several times by authors and publishers with the suggestion that his life should be written. On this, however, he had strong views: that it was wrong to publish anyone's biography while he or she lived. He therefore courteously rejected all applications. But in 1980 he invited the present author to be his biographer when the time came. He handed over to the author the materials he possessed, and obtained for him free access to the Lambeth Palace archives. The resulting biography is a comprehensive account of Ramsey's life and works. He was the Archbishop in an unsettled age of new liberty in sexual mores; of the impact of television on politics and opinion and morality; of the arguments over the restatement of religious truth; of the post-colonial moods in Africa. At home he campaigned against racism in Britain and determined to secure justice and equality for immigrants. Abroad he was a stern opponent of apartheid, whether in South Africa or in Rhodesia. In Parliament he helped to abolish capital punishment and to secure better treatment for homosexuals. In Christendom at large he was leader in a new spirit of brotherhood among the churches, and benefited from the new ecumenical spirit in the Roman Catholic Church and in the orthodox churches of eastern Europe. He comes out of this book as a man of deep spirituality and rock-like conviction, who in an age of shaken opinion aspired to be an anchor of faith and hope among a pessimistic generation.

• New

  Paperback
  1998

  $59.59

  To write this life of Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, Owen Chadwick had unrestricted access to the archives of Lambeth Palace and materials fomerly in Lord Ramsey's possession. The resulting biography gives a uniquely perceptive account of Ramsey's life and work and, through them, his time. 'judicially selective and elegantly written...The book will repay several readings by all who are especially concerned with life in the Church of England and life in this country today' (David Jenkins, Bishop of Durham, in The Guardian). 'What will no doubt be his definitive Life, a fine gift to us all' (Archbishop Donald Coggan in The Church of England Newspaper). 'A triumph of the biographer's art' (Church Times). A splendidly unstately portrait of a highly unorthodox Prince of the Church' (Anthony Howard in The Independent on Sunday). Owen Chadwick is a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, and Chancellor of the University of East Anglia. He was knighted in 1982.