The Reverend Professor Ian Bradley | |
---|---|
Born | Berkhamsted, England | 28 May 1950
Occupation(s) | Academic, author and broadcaster |
Relatives | Robert Blackburn (father-in-law); Kari Blackburn, (sister-in-law) & Norman Archer, (grandfather-in-law). |
Academic background | |
Education | Tonbridge School |
Alma mater | New College, Oxford (MA, PhD) University of St Andrews (BD) |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History and Divinity |
Ian Campbell Bradley (born 28 May 1950) is a British academic,author and broadcaster. [1]
He is Emeritus Professor of Cultural and Spiritual History at the University of St Andrews, [1] where he was Principal of St Mary's College, [2] the Faculty and School of Divinity,and honorary Church of Scotland Chaplain. [3]
The author of over 35 books,Bradley has written widely on cultural and spiritual matters,including Celtic Christianity,the Victorian era,Gilbert and Sullivan,religious music,musical theatre,and the spirituality of water,spas and pilgrimage.
Bradley was born in Berkhamsted,Hertfordshire,on Whit Sunday 1950, [4] the first of two sons of civil servants William Ewart Bradley of County Durham and Mary Campbell Tyre of Argyll. [5] He grew up in the southeast of England and was educated at Tonbridge School and New College,Oxford,where he graduated with a "congratulatory first" in 1971 in modern history. [6] He remained at the University of Oxford to complete a doctoral thesis on religion and politics in early nineteenth-century Britain,earning his DPhil degree. [7] He stood as the Liberal candidate for Sevenoaks at the February 1974 general election,coming second place. [8]
After leaving Oxford,Bradley took up a post as a general trainee with the BBC. [6] He spent six years on the staff of The Times as a feature writer and leader writer. [6] He has lived in Scotland since 1986. Following further study at the University of St Andrews,from which he graduated with a first-class honours BD degree in theology in 1989, [9] Bradley was ordained to the ministry of the Church of Scotland in 1990,and served as Head of Religious Broadcasting for BBC Scotland between 1990 and 1993. [7]
Having lectured on church history at the University of Aberdeen for many years,Bradley was appointed to a position at the University of St Andrews in 1998,where he was later awarded a Chair in Cultural and Spiritual History in its School of Divinity.[ citation needed ] He served as Principal of St Mary's College,St Andrews between 2014 and 2017,during which time he was styled The Very Reverend,as is custom for the office. [10] After this,he retired.[ citation needed ]
He was also associate minister of Holy Trinity Church,St Andrews,and honorary Church of Scotland chaplain for the university. [2] He sat on the committee that drafted the Church of Scotland's Hymnary (Fourth Edition),which was published in 2005. Bradley has taught in the areas of Christianity in contemporary Britain;hymnody,liturgy and worship;monarchy,church and state;and the theology of musical theatre. According to his profile in his 1997 book Abide with Me,he was one of the first lecturers to teach an honors course on hymnology at a British University. [11] In 2013,Bradley was appointed a Commissioner on the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life. [12]
As a journalist,Bradley has contributed to The Guardian , The Daily Telegraph , The Tablet and Life and Work as well as often appearing on Songs of Praise and BBC Radio 4. In 2007,he was awarded a Prize for Outstanding Religious Broadcasting for his BBC Radio 4 documentary on the English hymnal. [6] Bradley frequently writes,broadcasts and lectures about Gilbert and Sullivan and is a regular speaker at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festivals in Buxton and Harrogate,England. [13]
According to Stephen Bates in his book Royalty Inc.:Britain's Best Known Brand,Bradley preached at Crathie Kirk then stayed the weekend at Balmoral Castle,where he was "driven through the estate by the Queen" and attended a barbecue hosted by Prince Philip. [14]
Bradley is the author of over 35 books. He is married and has two children. [7]
Columba or Colmcille was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona,which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts,and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
A hymn is a type of song,and partially synonymous with devotional song,specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer,and typically addressed to a deity or deities,or to a prominent figure or personification. The word hymn derives from Greek ὕμνος(hymnos),which means "a song of praise". A writer of hymns is known as a hymnist. The singing or composition of hymns is called hymnody. Collections of hymns are known as hymnals or hymn books. Hymns may or may not include instrumental accompaniment. Polyhymnia is the Greco/Roman goddess of hymns.
Celtic Christianity is a form of Christianity that was common,or held to be common,across the Celtic-speaking world during the Early Middle Ages. Some writers have described a distinct Celtic Church uniting the Celtic peoples and distinguishing them from adherents of the Roman Church,while others classify Celtic Christianity as a set of distinctive practices occurring in those areas. Varying scholars reject the former notion,but note that there were certain traditions and practices present in both the Irish and British churches that were not seen in the wider Christian world.
Thomas Chalmers,was a Scottish Presbyterian minister,professor of theology,political economist,and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nineteenth-century churchman".
Erik Reginald Routley was an English Congregational churchman,theologian and musician and prominent hymnologist.
"Abide with Me" is a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican cleric Henry Francis Lyte. A prayer for God to stay with the speaker throughout life and in death,it was written by Lyte in 1847 as he was dying from tuberculosis. It is most often sung to the tune "Eventide" by the English organist William Henry Monk.
The English Hymnal is a hymn book which was published in 1906 for the Church of England by Oxford University Press. It was edited by the clergyman and writer Percy Dearmer and the composer and music historian Ralph Vaughan Williams,and was a significant publication in the history of Anglican church music.
George Matheson FRSE was a Scottish minister and hymn writer and prolific author. He was blind from the age of 17.
As of the 2022 census,None was the largest category of belief in Scotland,chosen by 51.1% of the Scottish population identifying when asked:"What religion,religious denomination or body do you belong to?" This represented an increase from the 2011 figure of 36.7%. 38.8% identified as Christian with most of them declaring affiliation with the Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church. The only other religious persuasions with more than 1% affiliation were 'Other Christian' and Muslim at 5.1% and 2.2% of the total population,respectively.
Jessie Seymour Irvine was the daughter of a Church of Scotland parish minister who served at Dunottar,Peterhead,and Crimond in Aberdeenshire,Scotland. She is referred to by Ian Campbell Bradley in his 1997 book Abide with Me:The World of Victorian Hymns as standing "in a strong Scottish tradition of talented amateurs who tended to produce metrical psalm tunes rather than the dedicated hymn tunes increasingly composed in England."
Rhind Lectures are a series of lectures on archaeological topics. They have been hosted by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland since 1874. The content of the lectures is usually published in journals or expanded into new works by their authors.
St Clement is a popular British hymn tune,most commonly set to John Ellerton's hymn The Day Thou Gavest,Lord,is Ended. The tune is generally credited to the Rev. Clement Cotteril Scholefield (1839–1904). It first appeared in Sir Arthur Sullivan's Church Hymns with Tunes (1874). Scholefield was born at Edgbaston,Birmingham,and was the youngest son of William Scholefield,MP for Birmingham.
The Christianisation of Scotland was the process by which Christianity spread in what is now Scotland,which took place principally between the fifth and tenth centuries.
"Praise,my soul,the King of heaven" is a Christian hymn. Its text,which draws from Psalm 103,was written by Anglican divine Henry Francis Lyte. First published in 1834,it endures in modern hymnals to a setting written by John Goss in 1868,and remains one of the most popular hymns in English-speaking denominations.
The history of popular religion in Scotland includes all forms of the formal theology and structures of institutional religion,between the earliest times of human occupation of what is now Scotland and the present day. Very little is known about religion in Scotland before the arrival of Christianity. It is generally presumed to have resembled Celtic polytheism and there is evidence of the worship of spirits and wells. The Christianisation of Scotland was carried out by Irish-Scots missionaries and to a lesser extent those from Rome and England,from the sixth century. Elements of paganism survived into the Christian era. The earliest evidence of religious practice is heavily biased toward monastic life. Priests carried out baptisms,masses and burials,prayed for the dead and offered sermons. The church dictated moral and legal matters and impinged on other elements of everyday life through its rules on fasting,diet,the slaughter of animals and rules on purity and ritual cleansing. One of the main features of Medieval Scotland was the Cult of Saints,with shrines devoted to local and national figures,including St Andrew,and the establishment of pilgrimage routes. Scots also played a major role in the Crusades. Historians have discerned a decline of monastic life in the late medieval period. In contrast,the burghs saw the flourishing of mendicant orders of friars in the later fifteenth century. As the doctrine of Purgatory gained importance the number of chapelries,priests and masses for the dead within parish churches grew rapidly. New "international" cults of devotion connected with Jesus and the Virgin Mary began to reach Scotland in the fifteenth century. Heresy,in the form of Lollardry,began to reach Scotland from England and Bohemia in the early fifteenth century,but did not achieve a significant following.
John Glasse (1848–1918) was a Church of Scotland Minister at Greyfriars Kirk,Edinburgh,Scotland,1877-1909. He was a leading advocate of Christian Socialism,and was described by Sidney Webb as one of the "two most influential Scottish socialists".
Francis Pott was an English hymnwriter and Anglican priest. He is noted as the author or translator of a number of popular Christian hymns including "Angel Voices,Ever Singing" and "The Strife is O'er,the Battle Done". His hymns are an established part of the Anglican church music repertoire and commonly feature in hymnals such as The New English Hymnal.
"Angel Voices,Ever Singing" is an English Christian hymn. It was written in 1861 by the Church of England vicar Francis Pott (1832–1909). It was written for the dedication of an organ.
I Will Mention the Loving-kindnesses is an anthem for Easter by Arthur Sullivan. The text is taken from the Book of Isaiah,scored for solo tenor,mixed choir and organ. It was published by Novello in 1875,dedicated to John Stainer.
Barbara Elizabeth Crawford OBE FRSE FSA FSA(Scot) is a British historian. She is a leading authority on the mediaeval history of the Northern Isles of Scotland and Norwegian-Scottish 'frontier' and relations across the North Sea. She is Honorary Reader in Mediaeval History at the University of St Andrews,and Honorary Professor at the University of the Highlands and Islands. She was awarded an OBE for services to History and Archaeology in 2011. She became a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1997 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2001.