W.R. Inge
William Ralph Inge (June 6, 1860 – February 26, 1954) was an English preacher, Anglican priest, and scholar whose intellectual ministry as Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and prolific writings earned him the nickname “The Gloomy Dean.” Born in Crayke, Yorkshire, to Rev. William Inge, a curate and later Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, and Susanna Churton, daughter of an archdeacon, he grew up in a staunchly high-church family. Educated at Eton College as a King’s Scholar, where he won the Newcastle Scholarship in 1879, Inge excelled at King’s College, Cambridge, earning first-class honors in the Classical Tripos. Ordained a deacon in 1888 after teaching at Eton (1884–1888), he married Mary Catharine Spooner in 1905, finding personal stability in middle age that eased his earlier melancholy. Inge’s preaching career blended academic rigor with pastoral influence. After serving as a tutor at Hertford College, Oxford (1888–1904), he became vicar of All Saints, Knightsbridge (1905–1907), then Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (1907–1911). Appointed Dean of St. Paul’s in 1911 by Prime Minister Asquith, he served until 1934, drawing large congregations with sermons that fused Christian mysticism and neoplatonic philosophy—most notably in The Philosophy of Plotinus (1918), his Gifford Lectures. His Outspoken Essays (1919, 1922) and Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926, 1931), alongside a long Evening Standard column (1921–1946), showcased his sharp critiques of Roman Catholicism, social welfare, and naive progressivism, earning three Nobel Prize in Literature nominations. A proponent of experiential faith over institutional authority, he opposed dogma while defending reason in religion.
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W.R. Inge preaches about the transformative power of love as the ultimate way to surrender to God completely. By turning to this love, one becomes a willing prisoner to God, offering every part of their being to Him. Overcoming the flesh and worldly temptations is best achieved through love, which is described as strong as death and as unyielding as hell, separating all things from the soul that are not God-like. The more one embraces this divine love and becomes a prisoner to it, the more they will experience true freedom, guided by the love of God.
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Love
HE who has found this way of love, seeketh no other. He who turns on this pivot is in such wise a prisoner that his foot and hand and mouth and eyes and heart, and all his human faculties, belong to God. And, therefore, thou canst overcome thy flesh in no better way, so that it may not shame thee, than by love. This is why it is written, Love is as strong as death, as hard as hell. Death separates the soul from the body, but love separates all things from the soul. She suffers nought to come near her, that is not God nor God-like. Happy is he who is thus imprisoned; the more thou art a prisoner, the more wilt thou be freed. That we may be so imprisoned, and so freed, may He help us, Who Himself is Love. (30)
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William Ralph Inge (June 6, 1860 – February 26, 1954) was an English preacher, Anglican priest, and scholar whose intellectual ministry as Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and prolific writings earned him the nickname “The Gloomy Dean.” Born in Crayke, Yorkshire, to Rev. William Inge, a curate and later Provost of Worcester College, Oxford, and Susanna Churton, daughter of an archdeacon, he grew up in a staunchly high-church family. Educated at Eton College as a King’s Scholar, where he won the Newcastle Scholarship in 1879, Inge excelled at King’s College, Cambridge, earning first-class honors in the Classical Tripos. Ordained a deacon in 1888 after teaching at Eton (1884–1888), he married Mary Catharine Spooner in 1905, finding personal stability in middle age that eased his earlier melancholy. Inge’s preaching career blended academic rigor with pastoral influence. After serving as a tutor at Hertford College, Oxford (1888–1904), he became vicar of All Saints, Knightsbridge (1905–1907), then Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (1907–1911). Appointed Dean of St. Paul’s in 1911 by Prime Minister Asquith, he served until 1934, drawing large congregations with sermons that fused Christian mysticism and neoplatonic philosophy—most notably in The Philosophy of Plotinus (1918), his Gifford Lectures. His Outspoken Essays (1919, 1922) and Lay Thoughts of a Dean (1926, 1931), alongside a long Evening Standard column (1921–1946), showcased his sharp critiques of Roman Catholicism, social welfare, and naive progressivism, earning three Nobel Prize in Literature nominations. A proponent of experiential faith over institutional authority, he opposed dogma while defending reason in religion.