THE P
RTAL
Charles Gore
January 2011 Page 9
Anglican Luminary
Born in Wimbledon in 1853 Charles Gore was the great-grandson of both the Earl of Arran and the Earl of Bessborough . He was educated at Harrow and Balliol College , Oxford . At the first establishment he became a weekly communicant and at the latter a trades-unionist . Elected a Fellow of Trinity in 1875 , he was ordained to the priesthood of the Church of England in 1878 and in 1880 became Vice-Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College .
Pusey House
Gore became the first Principal of Pusey House Oxford in 1883 , and 1888 published The Ministry of the Catholic Church and later the same year Roman Catholic Claims , a reply to assertions that the Anglican Church was not the true successor of the New Testament Church . In 1889 , he helped to found the Christian Social Union .
Lux Mundi
Gore was general editor of Lux Mundi ( 1889 ), thought rather “ modernist ” by many it caused a sensation . His critics were most outraged by his Kenotic Theory of the Incarnation . The Greek word Kenosis , meaning “ emptying ,” is used in Philippians 2:7 , where we read that Jesus , “ having the nature of God ”, “ did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped ”, “ but emptied himself , and took the nature of a servant ”. Gore ’ s position was that Jesus , when He took upon Himself the limitations of our human nature , accepted the limitations of human knowledge , and that therefore , when He spoke ( for example ) of the Flood , He was simply accepting the common assumptions of His culture , and we are not bound to accept these assumptions as correct .
Bampton Lectures
In 1891 he delivered the annual Bampton Lectures . It provided him the opportunity to assure his listeners of his fundamental orthodoxy . They were subsequently published as The Incarnation of the Son of God .
Society of the Resurrection
It had been in 1887 that Gore founded the Society of the Resurrection , an association of priests , aimed at a deepening of the spiritual life . In July 1892 this became the Community of the Resurrection , a religious order for priests and layfolk . The Rule enjoined celibacy for life . The Order is now at Mirfield in Yorkshire . On S . James ’ s Day , July 25 th , 1892 , the six original brethren
made their formal profession in the Chapel of Pusey House . They were , Charles Gore , Superior , Cyril Bickersteth , John Carter , Walter Frere , George Longridge , and James Nash .
He was made a canon of Westminster in 1894 , in 1902 Bishop of Worcester , and in 1905 the first Bishop of Birmingham . In 1911 he translated to Oxford . Anxious for the educational and economic improvement of the working class , he gave an annual lecture to the Workers ’ Educational Association .
When a number of Anglican clergy declared that an Anglican might reasonably deny the Virgin Birth and the physical Resurrection of Christ , Gore was horrified and even threatened to resign . After The Great War he preached on reconciliation and the necessity of restoring Germany to the family of nations as soon as possible . Gore retired in July 1919 . As he was still only 66 years old , he led an active retirement , preaching and teaching .
Struggle
In “ Charles Gore : A Biographical Sketch ” ( Milwaukee : Morehouse , 1932 ) Gordon Crosse writes : “ It was loyalty to Christ that inspired his continual insistence on the truth that Christianity is a hard thing , and demands from the Christian an unceasing struggle .
For himself the struggle was no easy one . ‘ I am a successful hypocrite ,’ he would say ; and ‘ I am sometimes tempted to thank God that I am so naturally wicked .’ His friends would attribute such sayings to his humility expressing itself in humorous exaggeration , and no doubt they were right . But with all reverence it may be said that this humility was the outcome of self-knowledge . His nature was no placid one , and the complete victory over self was not won , his will was
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