About us

Building on History seeks to enhance the historical self-understanding of the Church of England diocese of London and its congregations and clergy. The project addresses a need which the Church itself recently identified when the London Diocesan Synod called for a clearer ‘sense of [its] identity and deep roots’. Building on History brings together three organizations- Lambeth Palace Library, The Open University and King’s College London– in a new collaboration exploiting their academic strengths and resources to work with the Diocese of London over the next three years to disseminate the findings of the latest research into the religious history both of London and Britain more widely during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which has many resonances with our own time. The central aims are:

• To prompt further investigation of the past history of London religion, both advancing contemporary purposes and feeding back into academic research.
• To inform the development of appropriate strategies for the Church of England’s pastoral and social engagement at local, diocesan and national levels, through enhanced awareness of the original context of current organizational structures.
• To share an understanding of the Church’s role in past responses to national or local crises, and thus informing planning for future contingencies.
• To stimulate constructive reflection on relationships between the Church of England and other faiths and with secular culture.
• To highlight Lambeth Palace Library’s remarkable collections to a wider audience who might be able to use them in pursuing local and wider historical enquiries.
• To stimulate and inform the future work of academic historians by bringing them into direct contact with contemporary religious practice in London.
  

The project draws upon the historical expertise of its core research team and steering group (see People), and provides a context for them both to share and to develop their understanding of the changing fortunes of religion and social change in the Diocese of London during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This promises to offer something of considerable value to a variety of audiences. For example, clergy and their congregations have previously had little opportunity to engage properly with history, and as a result the potential for understanding and reinterpreting contemporary conditions in the light of this history has yet to be fully realized, not least in clerical training. There are striking parallels between the pastoral challenges of the nineteenth century and those of the present, notably rapid urbanization and social change, the growth of religious diversity, and the migration into London of a wide variety of religious and ethnic groups. Historical distance can serve to sharpen understanding of the underlying issues by circumventing the vested interests and personal recollections that can cloud objective assessment of the contemporary scene. Moreover, even those who do not express an allegiance to the churches in contemporary London have much to learn about the development and shaping of the communities in which they live and work from a history in which the churches and religion were much more central than has until recently been assumed.

Key Themes

These are some of the themes that will be examined in seminars, lectures, and local meetings over the course of the project:

• How should we understand ‘secularisation' – and to what extent and why has it taken place?
• Are there alternative ways of telling the story of London 's recent religious history?
• What impact did migration (both internal and external) have on religion in London and the place of the Church of England within it?
• Why were churches originally sited where they are, and how might a better understanding of their builders' intentions inform their future strategy or (if redundant) decisions about their future use?
• What can the contemporary Church of England learn in this respect from the historical experience of other denominations or even other faiths?
• To what extent does historical experience suggest that additional money can enhance pastoral effectiveness? Or does it rather suggest that the ‘normal' condition of the Church of England in London has always been one of doing the best possible with limited resources?
• How can a parish or congregation go about recovering or writing their own history in ways that can contribute to planning for the future?