Stephen Richard Lowe (born 3 March 1944) was, until his retirement in July 2009, the

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

Bishop of Hulme in the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Diocese of Manchester, Link Bishop for

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and Chair of the Urban Bishops Panel. From 1988 to 1999 he had served as Archdeacon of Sheffield. In 2006, he was released from all pastoral oversight in the diocese to concentrate on his 2006 appointment as the Church of England's first "Bishop for Urban Life and Faith", charged with the promotion and dissemination of conclusions of the '' Faithful Cities'' report.

Political views

In 2004, Lowe commented in a diocese newsletter on the patriotic hymn '' I Vow to Thee, My Country'', criticising it for being " heretical" and calling on fellow Church of England clergymen to think "long and hard" about singing the song due to (in Lowe's view) its

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

undertones. In 2006, Lowe defended the Church of England's review of its shares in Caterpillar Inc. and other companies used in the territories occupied by the Israeli government, and the Church's planned sale of ''Jacob And His Twelve Sons'' by Francisco de Zurbarán. In 2008, Lowe voiced support of Rowan Williams,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, in the media controversy over Williams' remarks on

sharia law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...

, calling the media treatment of Williams "disgraceful" and a "knee-jerk" reaction in interviews on '' Newsnight'' and Radio 4 on 8 February and an appearance on '' Question Time''. In June 2008 a report commissioned by Lowe, ''Moral, But No Compass – Church, Government and the Future of Welfare'', by Francis Davis and Elizabath Paulhus was the lead story in ''The Times'' and has subsequently been the subject of two House of Lords debates. In June 2009 his book, ''What Makes a Good City? Public Theology and the Urban Church'' (which Lowe had co-authored with the theologian Elaine Graham), was published by Darton, Longman and Todd. On 11 February 2017, Lowe was one of fourteen retired bishops to sign an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to the then-serving bishops of the Church of England. In an unprecedented move, they expressed their opposition to the House of Bishops' report to

General Synod The General Synod is the title of the governing body of some church organizations. Anglican Communion The General Synod of the Church of England, which was established in 1970 replacing the Church Assembly, is the legislative body of the Church ...

on sexuality, which recommended no change to the Church's canons or practices around sexuality. By 13 February, a serving bishop ( Alan Wilson, Bishop of Buckingham) and nine further retired bishops had added their signatures; on 15 February, the report was rejected by synod.The Grauniad — Church of England in turmoil as synod rejects report on same-sex relationships
(Accessed 17 February 2017)

References

External links

Stephen Lowe's Diocese of Manchester homepage
on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowe, Stephen Archdeacons of Sheffield Bishops of Hulme Bishops for Urban Life and Faith 20th-century Church of England bishops Living people 1944 births