William Ralph Inge

William Ralph Inge (6 June 1860 – 26 February 1954) was an English author, Anglican priest, professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of St Paul's Cathedral. Although as an author he used W. R. Inge, and he was personally known as Ralph, he was widely known by his title as Dean Inge. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.
Early life and education
He was born on 6 June 1860 in Crayke, Yorkshire, where his father, Rev. William Inge (later Provost of Worcester College, Oxford), was then curate. His mother was Susanna Churton, daughter of Edward Churton, Archdeacon of Cleveland.
Inge was educated at Eton College, where he was a King's Scholar and won the Newcastle Scholarship in 1879. In 1879, he went on to King's College, Cambridge, where he won a number of prizes including the Chancellor's Medal, as well as taking firsts in both parts of the Classical Tripos.
Career
Positions held
Inge was an assistant master at Eton from 1884 to 1888, and a Fellow of King's College from 1886 to 1888.
In the Church of England, he was ordained deacon in 1888, and priest in 1892.
He was a Fellow and Tutor at Hertford College, Oxford from 1889 to 1904.
His only parochial position was as vicar of All Saints, Knightsbridge, London, from 1905 to 1907.
In 1907, he moved to Jesus College, Cambridge, on being appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity.
In 1911, he became Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He served as president of the Aristotelian Society at Cambridge from 1920 to 1921.
He retired from full-time church ministry in 1934.
Inge was also a trustee of London's National Portrait Gallery from 1921 until 1951.
Writing
Inge was a prolific author. In addition to scores of articles, lectures and sermons, he also wrote over 35 books. Inge was a columnist for the Evening Standard for many years, finishing in 1946.
He is best known for his works on Plotinus and neoplatonic philosophy, and on Christian mysticism, but also wrote on general topics of life and current politics.
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.
Views
Inge was a strong proponent of the spiritual type of religion—"that autonomous faith which rests upon experience and individual inspiration"—as opposed to one of coercive authority. He was therefore outspoken in his criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church. His thought, on the whole, represents a blending of traditional Christian theology with elements of Platonic philosophy. He shares this in common with one of his favourite writers, Benjamin Whichcote, the first of the Cambridge Platonists.
He was nicknamed 'The Gloomy Dean' because of his pessimistic views in his Romanes Lecture of 1920, "The Idea of Progress" and in his Evening Standard articles. In his Romanes Lecture he said that although mankind's accumulated experience and wonderful discoveries had great value, they did not constitute real progress in human nature itself.
He disapproved of democracy, which he called "an absurdity" and compared it to "the famous occasion when the voice of the people cried, Crucify Him!" He wrote "Human beings are born unequal, and the only persons who have a right to govern their neighbours are those who are competent to do so." He advanced various arguments why women should have fewer voting rights than men, if any.
He was also a eugenicist and wrote considerably on the subject. In his book Outspoken Essays, he devotes an entire chapter to this subject. His views included that the state should decide which couples be allowed to have children.
Inge opposed social welfare "on the grounds that it penalized the successful while subsidizing the weak and feckless".
He was also known for his support for nudism. He supported the publishing of Maurice Parmelee's book, The New Gymnosophy: Nudity and the Modern Life, and was critical of town councillors who were insisting that bathers wear full bathing costumes.
Recognition
He was made a Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO) in 1918 and promoted to Knight Commander (KCVO) in 1930. He received Honorary Doctorates of Divinity from both Oxford and Aberdeen Universities, Honorary Doctorates of Literature from both Durham and Sheffield, and Honorary Doctorates of Laws from both Edinburgh and St Andrews. He was also an honorary fellow of both King's and Jesus Colleges at Cambridge, and of Hertford College at Oxford. In 1921, he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.
Personal life
On 3 May 1905, Inge married Mary Catharine ("Kitty"), daughter of Henry Maxwell Spooner, Archdeacon of Maidstone. They had five children:
William Craufurd Inge (1906–2001)
Edward Ralph Churton Inge (1907–1980)
Catharine Mary Inge (1910–1997), married Derek Wigram
Margaret Paula Inge (1911–1923), died from type 1 diabetes
Richard Wycliffe Spooner Inge (1915–1941), priest, killed on an RAF training flight
Inge's wife died in 1949.
Inge spent his later life at Brightwell Manor in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire, where he died on 26 February 1954, aged 93, five years after his wife.
Publications
The following bibliography is a selection taken mainly from Adam Fox's biography Dean Inge and his biographical sketch in Crockford's Clerical Directory.
Society in Rome under the Caesars 1888
Eton Latin Grammar 1888
Christian Mysticism (Bampton Lectures) 1899
Faith 1900
Contentio Veritatis Essays in Constructive Theology by Six Oxford Tutors (two essays) 1902
Faith and Knowledge: Sermons 1904
Light, Life and Love (Selections from the German mystics of the Middle Ages) 1904 also online at Project Gutenberg and CCEL
Studies of English Mystics 1905
Truth and Falsehood in Religion (Cambridge Lectures 1906
Personal Idealism and Mysticism (Paddock Lectures) 1906
All Saints' Sermons 1907
Faith and its Psychology (Jowett Lectures) 1909
Speculum Animae 1911
The Church and the Age 1912
The Religious Philosophy of Plotinus and some Modern Philosophies of Religion 1914
Types of Christian Saintliness 1915
Christian Mysticism, considered in eight lectures delivered before the University of Oxford (1918)
The Philosophy of Plotinus (Gifford Lectures) 1918. Online: Volume 1 Volume 2 Print versions: (softcover), (hardcover)
Outspoken Essays I 1919 & II 1922
The Victorian Age: the Rede Lecture for 1922 1922
Assessments and Anticipations 1922 (2nd ed. 1929)
Personal Religion and the Life of Devotion 1924
Lay Thoughts of a Dean 1926
The Platonic Tradition in English Religious Thought Hulsean Lectures 1926
The Church in the World 1927
Protestantism (London: Ernest Benn Limited, 1927)
Christian Ethics and Modern Problems 1930
Things New and Old 1933
God and the Astronomers 1933
The Post Victorians 1933 (Introduction only)
Vale 1934
The Gate of Life 1935
A Rustic Moralist 1937
Our Present Discontents 1938
A Pacifist in Trouble 1939
The Fall of the Idols 1940
Talks in a Free Country 1942
Mysticism in Religion 1947
The End of an Age and Other Essays 1948
Diary of a Dean 1949
The Things That Remain edited by W R Matthews 1958
References
Footnotes
Sources
Further reading
External links
Bibliographic directory from Project Canterbury
Recording of Inge speaking
1860 births
1954 deaths
19th-century Christian mystics
20th-century Christian mystics
Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
Deans of St Paul's
English Anglicans
Fellows of Hertford College, Oxford
Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge
Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Lady Margaret's Professors of Divinity
People educated at Eton College
People from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell
People from Hambleton District
Presidents of the Aristotelian Society
Protestant mystics
Social nudity advocates
English eugenicists
Presidents of the Classical Association