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 deadly sin as a death of the soul, separating us from God who is the life of the soul, causing unrest in the heart, sickness of the faculties, blindness of the senses, and a loss of all graces. He emphasizes that every creature must abide in God, as falling out of His mercy leads to falling into His justice, highlighting the madness of not wanting to be with God, without whom we cannot exist.
Sin
DEADLY sin is a death of the soul. To die is to lose life. But God is the life of the soul; since then deadly sin separates us from God, it is a death of the soul. Deadly sin is also an unrest of the heart. Everything can rest only in its proper place. But the natural place of the soul is God; as St Augustine says, Lord, thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it finds rest in Thee. But deadly sin separates us from God; therefore it is an unrest of the heart. Deadly sin is also a sickness of the faculties, when a man can never stand up alone for the weight of his sins, nor ever resist falling into sin. Therefore deadly sin is a sickness of the faculties. Deadly sin is also a blindness of the sense, in that it suffers not a man to know the shortness of the pleasures of lust, nor the length of the punishment in hell, nor the eternity of joys in heaven. Deadly sin is also a death of all graces; for as soon as a deadly sin takes place, a man becomes bare of all graces. (217) Every creature must of necessity abide in God; if we fall out of the hands of his mercy, we fall into the hands of His justice. We must ever abide in Him. What madness then is it to wish not to be with Him, without whom thou canst not be! (169)
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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.