brings people together to explore the history and significance of protestant non-conformity.
Thursday 7.11.2019 - ADHSCL (Association of Denominational Historical
Societies and Cognate Libraries) Annual General Meeting at 2.30pm, followed
by the Annual Lecture at about 3pm
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Was
George Muller Brethren?
Lecture by Neil Summerton from the Brethren Archivist and Historians'
Network.
We are also hopeful that
the archivist for the Brethren archives may be able to attend.
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at
Wesley's Chapel 49 City Road London EC1Y 1AU |
The Correspondence of
George Whitefield
Project
Lecture by Geordan Hammond, Director of the Manchester Wesley Research
Centre; and Senior Lecturer in Church History and Wesley Studies at the
Nazarene Theological College.
The aim
of this project is to produce the first complete and critical edition of
the correspondence of Whitefield, including all extant letters written by
and to him. Thus far over 2,600 letters have been identified with
manuscripts at over 50 institutions on both sides of the Atlantic. The
project is
being led by David Ceri Jones with assistance from Geordan Hammond
and was funded in its initial two years by the Leverhulme Trust. The
leaders of the project have secured a contact with Oxford University Press
to publish a projected seven volume series of the letters.
The paper will introduce and discuss the progress and present
state of the Correspondence of George Whitefield Project. In addition to
discussing the aims, progress, and challenges of the project, some case
studies of the letters will be presented along with suggestions about the
significance of the letters for our understanding of early evangelicalism.
Thursday 12.11.2018 at Dr Williams's Library. Annual General Meeting
at 2.30pm, followed by the Lecture at about 3pm.
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Isaac Watts. and the evolution of English Dissent
2017 Lecture by Robert Strivens, former principal of the London Theological
Seminary and a continuing lecturer in church history there, as well as soon
to be pastor of Bradford upon Avon Baptist Church.
Thursday 12.10.2017 at Dr Williams's Library. Annual General Meeting
at 2.30pm, followed by the Lecture at about 3pm. AGM Agenda: 1. Welcome -
2. Election of Convenor, Treasurer and Secretary -
3. Approval of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting 2016 - 4. -
Secretary's report - 5. Treasurer's Report and approval of accounts for
2016/2017 - 6. Election of independent accounts examiner 2016/2017 - 7.
Publication of 2016 Conference lectures - 8. Date of AGM and ideas for
annual lecture 2018 - 9. Any other business
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Nonconformist attitudes to war and peace in the long twentieth
century
Two day conference at Friends House, Euston Road, London - opposite Euston
station - on Friday 16.9.2016 and Saturday 17.9.2016
Cohosted by ADHSCL and the
Chapels Society
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Between 25 to 28 people gathered on both days to listen to a wealth of new
and fascinating material related to nonconformists and war. The hospitality
of Friends' House in providing the room and in the quality of the catering
was much appreciated.
The first speaker John Ellis spoke about his grandfather George Herbert Ellis who alone amongst his family of Congregationalists was resolutely pacifist and yet the family bonds remained strong. The family connections came out as well in both Judith James' lecture about the Strict Baptists and Professor Peter Ackers' lecture about the Churches of Christ. This added an intimacy to the history of those who fought and those who chose not to fight for conscience's sake. The letters home from the front were used by a number of speakers to show the personal spiritual experience of those fighting in the various arenas of conflict. Another theme that was highlighted by a number of the speakers was that of military chaplaincy. Dr. Neil Allison an ex army chaplain himself spoke about Captain Ernest Lodge Watson, an Australian by birth and Baptist pastor by profession who literally towered over the British troops and inspired them in his revivalist type services. David Seymour's research showed that many of the men who had been in the nonconformist colleges of Mansfield Road, Oxford either served as combatants or were involved in chaplaincy or service in the YMCA. Professor D. Densil Morgan pointed out how some of the chapel going Welsh troops had a very low opinion of the chaplains they met on church parade. Professor Clyde Binfield illustrated his talk about Lutyens and his non religious designs for memorials which became so important in the official war graves sites, but also influential in the way war memorials were conceived of in various nonconformist schools. Dr. Anne Brooke showed how rolls of honour in the chapels formed the basis for more permanent memorials in churches and chapels after the first world war. The rolls had their surprises like the Unitarian chapel which listed a Hindu soldier on its roll of honour and in another chapel the conscientious objector's name alongside those who fought. David Boulton spoke about Quakers and conscientious objection, but introduced his talk by pointing out that many conscientious objectors were Jehovah's Witnesses, Christadelphians and Seventh Day Adventists and their protest and suffering tended to be unnoticed. He showed how Quakers did not speak with one voice about participation in the war, though of course many thousands did refuse to fight and of those around 6,000 were in prison. Professor Peter Ackers was able to show that while the young men of the Wigan Church of Christ chapels were resolutely pacifist, their stand was not supported by the more middle class or older people in the same grouping. By way of contrast Dr. Andrew Chandler gave us an overview of the German Lutheran churches in Britain prior to the second world war and showed how their stance was profoundly against the rise of Nazism, when this was not mirrored by the Lutheran churches in Germany itself. Most of the pastors of the German speaking congregations in Britain joined with Dietrich Bonhoeffer in affiliating with the Confessing Church and were forthright in their stance against Nazism and doing what they could to help the 80,000 to 90,000 refugees fleeing from Germany in the 1930's. The conference discussions were marked by the knowledgable comments and questions from other participants. It is hoped that the papers given at the conference may be published in the future, if they have not been published already.
Pauline Johns
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The speakers
Friday 16.9.2016 10am: John Ellis "The warmongering pacifist: a family story" 11.30am: David Seymour "The colleges of Mansfield Road, Oxford in the Great War" 1.30pm: Dr. Neil E. Allison "Padre Ernest Lodge Wilson (1878 - 1951) and military chaplaincy during World War One" 2.30pm: Dr. Andrew Chandler "Dictatorship, Exile and Protest, British Christianity and the experience of German pastors and congregations in Britain 1933 - 1945" 3.30pm: ADHSCL AGM 4pm: Dr. Anne C. Brook "From Pride in the Living to Commemorating the Dead: Rolls of Honour in the First World War" Saturday 17.9.2016 10am: Judith James "Strict Baptist Reactions to war 1914 - 1919" 11.30am: Professor Clyde Binfield "Salute to the holiest: Lutyens, Free Churches and the commemoration of war" 1.30pm: David Boulton "Conscientious objection among the Quakers in World War One" 2.30: Professor D. Densil Morgan " Responses to World War Two amongst Welsh Nonconformists" 4pm: Professor Peter Ackers "Who speaks for the Christians? The Great War and Conscientious Objectors in the Churches of Christ: a view from the Wigan coalfield"
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Dear colleagues,
You will be sad to know that Revd. Professor Alan Sell passed away on Sunday 7th February after a long illness. We have been invited to a thanksgiving service in remembrance. Our thoughts and prayers are with Alan's wife, Karen, and their family. Alan was the inspiration behind our Association, and an enthusiastic promoter of it, and an appreciation of this has been written for us by Margaret Thompson.
With best wishes,
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Dr Karen Sell warmly invites you to A Service of Thanksgiving for the Gospel, on occasion of the death of Alan Philip Frederick Sell, at The Church of Christ the Cornerstone, Saxon Gate, Milton Keynes, on Thursday March 3rd 2016 at 2.15 pm. Refreshments will follow the Service. If so wished donations may be sent to Willen Hospice, Milton Road, Milton Keynes, MK15 9AD |
Alan Sell - an appreciation
by Margaret Thompson of the URC History Society.
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History of the
Association of Denominational Historical Societies and Cognate
Libraries
Before the world wide web, in late 1989-1999. Alan Sell began to correspond
(from Canada) with those
who might be interested in forming an umbrella Association which would
encourage cooperative research between the several historical societies,
would involve relevant libraries, and would hold an annual lecture and
occasional conferences without clashing with the programmes of the
societies. Alan says:
A constitution was adopted and the Association was formally constituted on 23.10.1993. Its stated objectives to facilitate the exchange of information among members by means of a newsletter, an annual meeting, and occasional conferences, and to encourage research into the denominational and related traditions, with special reference to projects which encompass more than one tradition. Founder members included the Baptist, Congregational, Friends', Unitarian, United Reformed, Welsh Baptist, Welsh Independents', Welsh Presbyterian and Wesley historical societies, together with such bodies having related interests as the Chapels Society, the Huguenot Society, and the Religious Archives Group of the Society of Archivists. Library members included Dr. Williams's Library, The Library of the Religious Society of Friends, The Huguenot Library, The John Rylands University Library of Manchester, the Angus Library Regent's Park College, Oxford, the Wesley Historical Society Library, and the libraries of Manchester and Mansfield Colleges, Oxford, Westminster College, Cambridge, and Wesley College, Bristol. Links to societies and libraries are provided on this website.
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The history of the Association has been largely developed from a history by Sue Mills in the Bulletin of the Association of British Theological and Philosophical Libraries, Volume 11, number 2, June 2004.
Conferences were held in 1995 - 2000 - 2004 and 2010. Each of them led to a publication |
First Conference: Westhill College, Birmingham, 28 - 30 July 1995
Protestant Nonconformists in the West Midlands of England
Publication: Protestant Nonconformists and the West Midlands of England (1996) edited by Alan P F Sell, Keele, Keele University Press ISBN-13: 978-1- 85331-173-4 Examining the contribution of Protestant Nonconformity to society in England's industrial heartland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, this study shows how a commitment to social transformation linked, amongst others, Quakers, Unitarians and Primitive Methodists. |
Second Conference: Westhill College, Birmingham, 26 - 29 July 2000
Protestant Nonconformity in the Twentieth Century
Publication: Protestant Nonconformity in the Twentieth Century (2003) edited by Alan P F Sell and Anthony R. Cross, Milton Keynes, Paternoster Press ISBN-13: 978-1-84227-221-3 Scholars representative of a number of Nonconformist traditions reflect thematically on Free Church life and witness during the twentieth century. Among the subjects reviewed are biblical studies, theology, worship, evangelism and spirituality, and ecumenism. Over and above its immediate interest, this collection will provide a marker to future scholars and others who may wish to know how some of their forebears assessed Nonconformity's contribution to a variety of fields during the century leading up to Christianity's third millennium. |
Third Conference: Westminster College, Cambridge, 21 - 24 September 2004
The National Sunday School Union: an anniversary retrospective
Publication The Sunday School Movement (2007) edited by Stephen Orchard and John Briggs, Milton Keynes, Paternoster Press ISBN-13: 978-1-84227-360-0
Today's Sunday Schools are a pale shadow of what they were in the past. The churches have found other ways of serving children and young people and carrying out adult education. From an historical point of view the Sunday Schools have immense significance. As late as the 1950s something like half the children in the country were associated with Sunday Schools. In the nineteenth century Sunday Schools were part of general educational provision. With National, British and Ragged schools, Sunday Schools represented the Christian philanthropic impulse to provide a basic education to the population at large and at low cost. The role of the churches in educational provision is again a topic of public interest and the time is right to reflect on some of the lessons of the past. A range of experts have been asked to assess different aspects of the history of the Sunday School movement: Clyde Binfield, Faith Bowers, John H. Y. Briggs, Grayson Ditchfield, Hugh McLeod, Stephen Orchard, Jack Priestley, Geoff Robson and Doreen Rosman. They provide a remarkable survey of many aspects of Sunday Schools, from their origin to their re-invention, from teaching the catechism to promoting sport. |
Fourth Conference: Luther King House, Manchester, 7 September-9 September
2010
Protestant Nonconformity and Christian Missions
Among the speakers were: Brian Stanley - Clyde Binfield - Tim Grass - Margaret Jones - John Darch - and J Gwynfor Jones Publication: Protestant Nonconformity and Christian Missions (2013) edited by Martin Wellings, Milton Keynes, Paternoster Press ISBN-13: 978-1-84227-798-0 The conference celebrated the centenary of the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, but the topics of the volume range more widely, covering missions in Britain and the wider world from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. |
Protestant Nonconformist Texts is a series of four books designed to allow English and Welsh Protestant Nonconformists to tell their story from 1550 to 2000 in their own words. Under the General Editorship of Alan P F Sell, the volumes, sections and individual texts are introduced by the volume editors. Themes covered include philosophy, theology, social witness, Church and state, spirituality, evangelism and mission, and worship. |
Volume one: 1550-1700, edited by R. Tudor Jones with Arthur Long and
Rosemary Moore
ISBN-13: 978-0-7546-3864-3
Volume two: The Eighteenth Century, edited by Alan P F Sell with
David J. Hall and
Ian Sellers
Volume three: The Nineteenth Century, edited by D W Bebbington with
Kenneth Dix and
Alan Ruston
Volume four: The Twentieth Century, edited by David M Thompson with
J H Y Briggs and
John Munsey Turner |
The books were published by Ashgate, Aldershot, between 2006 and 2007 and are now available in paperback from Wipf and Stock Publishers - Email for ordering For delivery to the UK please mark your order "UK fulfilment". |
After many years running this website, Robin Phillips is passing on the task to others. This is the link to the website Robin developed that is being used as the basis for this one.