Frances Young
Encyclopedia
The Reverend Frances Margaret Young (born 1939) is Emeritus Professor, University of Birmingham
, and a Methodist Minister.
in 1986. During her time at the University, she also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts (1995-7) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1997–2002). In 1984, she was ordained as a Methodist minister, and has combined preaching in a local Circuit and pursuing her academic career. In 1998, she was awarded an OBE for services to Theology and in 2004, elected a Fellow of the British Academy
. In 2005, she retired from the University.
On 15 November 2005, she preached at the opening service of the Eighth General Synod
Church of England
, the first Methodist and the first woman to preach at the five-yearly inauguration ceremony. She delivered her sermon
at the Eucharist
service at which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams
, presided.
Her books include both academic and more popular theological writings, drawing on her work on the New Testament and on Christianity in its formative centuries, but also on her experience as the mother of a son (Arthur) who was born with profound physical and mental disabilities.
Because of this she has worked on the theological and ecumenical dimensions of the L'Arche
communities with Jean Vanier
, their founder
(1977), alongside Don Cupitt
, Michael Goulder
, John Hick
, Leslie Houlden, Dennis Nineham
, and Maurice Wiles
. This book caused quite a controversy at the time of its publication, as it seemed to cast doubt on the traditional Christian
belief in the incarnation
.
It is notable that she took a very different line from the other contributors. In her essay "Two Roots or Tangled Mess", she criticised her fellow contributor Michael Goulder for presenting a hypothetical reconstruction which had "an exclusive concentration on one or two specific sources" and thus failed to look at the complexity of the borderlines of Judaism
. In "A Cloud of Witnesses", she calls attention to the different forms in which the early Church spoke of Jesus, and suggests also that the idea of incarnation is part of a symbolic or mythological framework, by which she does not mean the terms are false but rather that "they refer to realities which are.. indefinable in terms of human language, and in their totality, inconceivable within the limited powers and experience of the finite human mind."
Trevor Beeson, in his review in Christian Century (August 31-September 7, 1977. P. 74) found her section one of the most important, saying that her "contribution deserves the most careful examination".
In the follow-up volume, "Incarnation and Myth"(1979), she again looked at what kind of "evidence" existed in the sources, and showed the strangeness of the language used in her essay "God Suffered and Died", and questioned whether traditional concepts of incarnation made sense, and whether they tended to docetism, losing sight of the suffering of Christ: "I find myself able to say: “I see God in Jesus,” and “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,” and other such traditional statements without necessarily having to spell it out in terms of a literal incarnation. I find salvation in Christ, because in him God is disclosed to me as a “suffering God.” God is not only disclosed in him, nor is revelation confined to “biblical times”; but Jesus is the supreme disclosure which opens my eyes to God in the present, and while remaining a man who lived in a particular historical situation, he will always be the unique focus of my perception of and response to God."
However, after further historical research, when she came to write "From Nicaea to Chalcedon", she remarked that she had changed her views; she now thought that the metaphysical language of the early church fathers did make sense once understood properly "as a result of a more profound engagement with the material in the research", a position she was later to take up in "The Making of the Creeds".
Here she notes that "we are a psychosomatic whole. We cannot be divided into soul and body. I was even more convinced of this by the experience of Arthur. A damaged brain means that the whole personality is damaged, and lacks full potential for development." The biblical view of a person she sees as a whole creature, which is where the idea of resurrection speaks of restoration of the whole; it was later Christianity that brought in Greek ideas about immortality of the soul, and this strangely dualistic way of seeing people. "Granted all the difficulties in asserting a doctrine of bodily resurrection, it does at least preserve that profound integration of our selves which is inescapably part of being what we are in this world and experience"
This also throws up the problem of such suffering and evil and a good God. "The phenomenon of handicap can produce a naive sentimentality which refuses to admit it is an evil, but everything in me protested against it as cruel and unnecessary. And if every individual is important to God, how could he even afflict one of his creatures in this way... denying them the possibility of fullness of life."
She saw her questioning like the story in which Jacob wrestles with God; and will not let God go even when he is marked by the struggle, wounded, a thigh dislocated; he keeps on struggling until he receives a blessing: "In the end Jesus did not waft away the darkness of the world, all its sin and suffering and hurt and evil, with a magic wand. He entered right into it, took it upon himself, bore it, and in the process turned it into glory, transformed it. It is that transformation which the healing of the blind man foreshadows."
She convincingly explains that, far from being abstract theological mind games, the credal disputes were "fired by concern that the gospel of salvation be safeguarded. At the heart of the life of the church was the belief that salvation was being realised, and at the heart of early Christian theology was a sense of the sacramental and spiritual reality of that salvation."
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, and a Methodist Minister.
Biography
Frances Young taught theology at the University of Birmingham from 1971, becoming the Edward Cadbury Professor and Head of the Department of TheologyTheology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in 1986. During her time at the University, she also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts (1995-7) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (1997–2002). In 1984, she was ordained as a Methodist minister, and has combined preaching in a local Circuit and pursuing her academic career. In 1998, she was awarded an OBE for services to Theology and in 2004, elected a Fellow of the British Academy
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
. In 2005, she retired from the University.
On 15 November 2005, she preached at the opening service of the Eighth General Synod
General Synod
-Church of England:In the Church of England, the General Synod, which was established in 1970 , is the legislative body of the Church.-Episcopal Church of the United States:...
Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
, the first Methodist and the first woman to preach at the five-yearly inauguration ceremony. She delivered her sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
at the Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
service at which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams
Rowan Douglas Williams FRSL, FBA, FLSW is an Anglican bishop, poet and theologian. He is the 104th and current Archbishop of Canterbury, Metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury and Primate of All England, offices he has held since early 2003.Williams was previously Bishop of Monmouth and...
, presided.
Her books include both academic and more popular theological writings, drawing on her work on the New Testament and on Christianity in its formative centuries, but also on her experience as the mother of a son (Arthur) who was born with profound physical and mental disabilities.
Because of this she has worked on the theological and ecumenical dimensions of the L'Arche
L'Arche
L'Arche is an International Federation dedicated to the creation and growth of homes, programs, and support networks with people who have intellectual disabilities...
communities with Jean Vanier
Jean Vanier
Jean Vanier, CC GOQ is a Canadian Catholic philosopher, humanitarian and the founder of L'Arche, an international organization which creates communities where people with developmental disabilities and those who assist them share life together...
, their founder
The Myth of God Incarnate
Frances Young was one of the contributors to The Myth of God IncarnateThe Myth of God Incarnate
The Myth of God Incarnate is a book edited by John Hick and published by SCM Press in 1977. James Dunn, in a 1980 literature review of academic work on the incarnation, noted the "well-publicized symposium entitled The Myth of God Incarnate, including contributions on the NT from M. Goulder and F....
(1977), alongside Don Cupitt
Don Cupitt
Don Cupitt is an English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology. He is an Anglican priest, heretic and an emeritus professor of the University of Cambridge, though is better known as a popular writer, broadcaster and commentator...
, Michael Goulder
Michael Goulder
Michael Douglas Goulder was a British Biblical scholar who spent most of his academic life at the University of Birmingham where he retired as Professor of Biblical Studies in 1994...
, John Hick
John Hick
Professor John Harwood Hick is a philosopher of religion and theologian. In philosophical theology, he has made contributions in the areas of theodicy, eschatology, and Christology, and in the philosophy of religion he has contributed to the areas of epistemology of religion and religious...
, Leslie Houlden, Dennis Nineham
Dennis Nineham
Dennis Eric Nineham is a British theologian and academic, who served as Warden of Keble College, Oxford from 1969 to 1979, as well as holding chairs in theology at the universities of London, Cambridge and Bristol.-Life:...
, and Maurice Wiles
Maurice Wiles
Maurice Frank Wiles was a Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford University for 21 years, from 1970 to 1991.-Miracles:...
. This book caused quite a controversy at the time of its publication, as it seemed to cast doubt on the traditional Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
belief in the incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
.
It is notable that she took a very different line from the other contributors. In her essay "Two Roots or Tangled Mess", she criticised her fellow contributor Michael Goulder for presenting a hypothetical reconstruction which had "an exclusive concentration on one or two specific sources" and thus failed to look at the complexity of the borderlines of Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. In "A Cloud of Witnesses", she calls attention to the different forms in which the early Church spoke of Jesus, and suggests also that the idea of incarnation is part of a symbolic or mythological framework, by which she does not mean the terms are false but rather that "they refer to realities which are.. indefinable in terms of human language, and in their totality, inconceivable within the limited powers and experience of the finite human mind."
Trevor Beeson, in his review in Christian Century (August 31-September 7, 1977. P. 74) found her section one of the most important, saying that her "contribution deserves the most careful examination".
In the follow-up volume, "Incarnation and Myth"(1979), she again looked at what kind of "evidence" existed in the sources, and showed the strangeness of the language used in her essay "God Suffered and Died", and questioned whether traditional concepts of incarnation made sense, and whether they tended to docetism, losing sight of the suffering of Christ: "I find myself able to say: “I see God in Jesus,” and “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,” and other such traditional statements without necessarily having to spell it out in terms of a literal incarnation. I find salvation in Christ, because in him God is disclosed to me as a “suffering God.” God is not only disclosed in him, nor is revelation confined to “biblical times”; but Jesus is the supreme disclosure which opens my eyes to God in the present, and while remaining a man who lived in a particular historical situation, he will always be the unique focus of my perception of and response to God."
However, after further historical research, when she came to write "From Nicaea to Chalcedon", she remarked that she had changed her views; she now thought that the metaphysical language of the early church fathers did make sense once understood properly "as a result of a more profound engagement with the material in the research", a position she was later to take up in "The Making of the Creeds".
Christianity and Disability
Frances Young is notable for an extensive work in 1985, extensively revised in 1990 on Christianity and Disability, entitled "Face to Face: A Narrative Essay in the Theology of Suffering", which explores both theological and pastoral matters. She has also given talks on this subject, which draws its impetus from her faith, and the need to make sense of her severely disabled son Arthur within the framework of Christianity.Here she notes that "we are a psychosomatic whole. We cannot be divided into soul and body. I was even more convinced of this by the experience of Arthur. A damaged brain means that the whole personality is damaged, and lacks full potential for development." The biblical view of a person she sees as a whole creature, which is where the idea of resurrection speaks of restoration of the whole; it was later Christianity that brought in Greek ideas about immortality of the soul, and this strangely dualistic way of seeing people. "Granted all the difficulties in asserting a doctrine of bodily resurrection, it does at least preserve that profound integration of our selves which is inescapably part of being what we are in this world and experience"
This also throws up the problem of such suffering and evil and a good God. "The phenomenon of handicap can produce a naive sentimentality which refuses to admit it is an evil, but everything in me protested against it as cruel and unnecessary. And if every individual is important to God, how could he even afflict one of his creatures in this way... denying them the possibility of fullness of life."
She saw her questioning like the story in which Jacob wrestles with God; and will not let God go even when he is marked by the struggle, wounded, a thigh dislocated; he keeps on struggling until he receives a blessing: "In the end Jesus did not waft away the darkness of the world, all its sin and suffering and hurt and evil, with a magic wand. He entered right into it, took it upon himself, bore it, and in the process turned it into glory, transformed it. It is that transformation which the healing of the blind man foreshadows."
Theological Work
Other notable theological work includes "The Making of the Creeds" in which she explained how the creeds arose in the struggle to understand ideas of incarnation and trinity: they were not initially " 'tests of orthodoxy' but as summaries of faith taught to new Christians by their local bishops, summaries that were traditional to each local church and which in detail varied from place to place"She convincingly explains that, far from being abstract theological mind games, the credal disputes were "fired by concern that the gospel of salvation be safeguarded. At the heart of the life of the church was the belief that salvation was being realised, and at the heart of early Christian theology was a sense of the sacramental and spiritual reality of that salvation."
External links
- Sermon by Frances Young entitled Bodily Creatures on disability
- Myth and Incarnation by Jerry H. Gill, Christian Century December 21, 1977, p. 1190
- Debating the Incarnation by Trevor Beeson, Christian Century August 31-September 7, 1977. P. 740
- Book Review, The Making of the Creeds
- Review of Virtuoso Theology: The Bible and Interpretation
- Revd Frances Young to preach at opening service of the General Synod 2005
- Sermon on Judgement In The New Testament, Society of St Francis
- Text of Sermon at General Synod, 2005