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| Edward King (bishop of Lincoln) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Edward King |
| Birth date | 1829 |
| Death date | 1910 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Bishop, Theologian |
| Known for | Bishop of Lincoln |
Edward King (bishop of Lincoln) was an English Anglican bishop and theologian who served as Bishop of Lincoln in the late 19th century. He was notable for his pastoral energy, liturgical interest, involvement in theological controversies, and influence on Anglican clerical education. King's ministry intersected with figures and institutions across the Church of England, Oxford, and the wider Anglican Communion.
Edward King was born in 1829 into an English family with connections to parish life and regional institutions such as Oxfordshire and Cambridge. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, where he came under the intellectual influence of John Henry Newman, Edward Bouverie Pusey, and the broader Oxford Movement. At Oxford he studied alongside contemporaries from Trinity College, Cambridge and engaged with debates framed by publications like the English Churchman and the British Critic. King's formation included exposure to liturgical scholarship associated with William Palmer (scholar), patristic studies promoted by John Keble, and pastoral theology informed by movements in Durham and Canterbury.
Ordained in the Church of England, King served in parish appointments that brought him into contact with diocesan structures in Oxford Diocese and with clergy trained at seminaries linked to Westcott House, Cambridge and Cuddesdon College. He ministered amid ecclesiastical reforms influenced by the Gothic Revival and by educational initiatives advocated by Thomas Arnold and Richard Whately. King's early incumbencies involved pastoral responses related to urbanization in London and rural ministry in counties such as Lincolnshire and Norfolk. He was active in clerical associations comparable to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel and engaged with charitable networks including the Church Missionary Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
Elected Bishop of Lincoln, King succeeded predecessors shaped by the Victorian ecclesiastical landscape such as John Jackson (bishop of Lincoln) and worked with metropolitans like the Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Canterbury. His episcopate focused on diocesan visitation, clergy discipline, and cathedral worship at Lincoln Cathedral. King navigated relationships with cathedral chapters, diocesan synods, and institutions such as Ripon College Cuddesdon and the Royal Society of Literature when addressing clerical training and pastoral provision. He engaged with parish reorganization driven by population shifts to industrial centers like Grimsby and rural parishes around Louth. King's episcopal administration intersected with social welfare agencies such as the National Society for Promoting Religious Education and public bodies like county councils formed under the Local Government Act 1888.
King's theological stance reflected High Church affinities connected to figures like Edward Bouverie Pusey and the legacy of the Oxford Movement, while he also engaged critically with liberal theologians at University College London and King's College London. His views brought him into disputations concerning ritualism debated in courts influenced by cases like the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 and by judges including Lord Penzance. King corresponded with theologians such as D. H. Marshall and exchanged ideas with continental scholars from University of Bonn and University of Göttingen about patristic interpretation and sacramental theology. He was involved in controversies over clerical vesture, eucharistic theology, and episcopal authority that implicated parties in the House of Lords and in ecclesiastical commissions.
King contributed sermons, pastoral letters, and theological essays published in outlets and series associated with The Times (London), the Church Quarterly Review, and collections held in the libraries of Lincoln Cathedral and Bodleian Library. His sermon series addressed themes drawn from Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Richard Hooker, and he referenced liturgical sources such as the Book of Common Prayer and patristic homilies translated by J. B. Lightfoot. King engaged with contemporary hymnody promoted by editors like John Keble and Sir John Stainer and corresponded with hymnologists and liturgists active in the Hymn Society and College of Preachers. His writings interacted with ecclesiastical histories by Edward Churton and with pastoral manuals used in diocesan clergy training.
King's personal network included friendships with bishops such as Harold Browne and academics linked to Magdalen College, Oxford and St John's College, Cambridge. He influenced clergy who later served in dioceses across the Anglican Communion, including Canada, Australia, and South Africa, and his pastoral methods informed training at institutions like Wycliffe Hall and St Stephen's House, Oxford. Posthumously, King's legacy was reflected in commemorations at Lincoln Cathedral, collections in the British Library, and discussions in ecclesiastical biographies alongside figures such as Edward White Benson and Charles Gore. His episcopate remains a reference point in studies of Victorian Anglicanism and in histories addressing the Oxford Movement and the development of modern Anglican liturgy and pastoral practice.
Category:19th-century Church of England bishops Category:Bishops of Lincoln (ancient)