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ROBERT WILLIAM DALE (1829-1895)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 763 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBERT See also:WILLIAM See also:DALE (1829-1895)  , See also:English See also:Nonconformist divine, was See also:born in See also:London on the 1st of See also:December 1829, and was educated at See also:Spring See also:Hill See also:College, See also:Birmingham, for the Congregational See also:ministry . In 18J3 he was invited to Carr's See also:Lane See also:Chapel, Birmingham, as co-pastor with See also:John See also:Angell See also:James (q.v.), on whose See also:death in 1859 he became See also:sole pastor for the See also:rest of his See also:life . In the London University M.A. examination (1853) See also:Dale stood first in See also:philosophy and won the See also:gold See also:medal . The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the university of See also:Glasgow during the See also:lord rectorship of John See also:Bright . Yale University gave him its D.D. degree, but he never used it, " not because it came from See also:America, but because I have a sentimental objection—perhaps it is something more—to divinity degrees." Dale displayed a keen See also:interest in Liberal politics and in the municipal affairs of Birmingham; and his high moral ideal made him a See also:great force on the progressive See also:side . In 1886 he adhered to Mr See also:Chamberlain in opposition to Irish See also:Home See also:Rule, but this difference did not diminish his See also:influence even among those Liberals and Nonconformists who adopted the Gladstonian standpoint . In the See also:education controversy of 1870 he took an important See also:part, ably championing the Nonconformist position . When Mr See also:Foster's See also:bill appeared, Dale attacked it on the grounds that the See also:schools would in many cases be purelydenominational institutions, that the See also:conscience clause gave inadequate See also:protection, and that school boards were empowered by it to make grants out of the rates to maintain sectarian schools . He was himself in favour of See also:secular education, claiming that it was the only logical See also:solution and the only legitimate outcome of Nonconformist principles . In Birmingham the controversy was terminated in 1879 by a See also:compromise, from which, however, Dale stood aloof . His interest in educational affairs had led him to accept a seat on the Birmingham school See also:board . He was appointed a See also:governor of the See also:grammar school, served on the royal See also:commission of education, and was also chairman of the See also:council of See also:Mansfield College, See also:Oxford, with the foundatioi} of which he had much to do .

He was a strong See also:

advocate of disestablishment, holding that the See also:church was essentially a spiritual brotherhood, and that any vestige of See also:political authority impaired its spiritual See also:work . In church polity he held that See also:congregationalism constituted the most fitting environment in which See also:religion could achieve her work . Perhaps the most effective contributions he made to ecclesiastical literature were those dealing with the See also:history and principles of the congregational See also:system . At his death on the 13th of See also:March 1895 he See also:left an unfinished MS. of the history of congregationalism, since edited and completed (1907) by his son, A . W . W . Dale, See also:principal of See also:Liverpool University . Dale's See also:powers were fully appreciated by his colleagues in the congregational ministry, and at the See also:early See also:age of See also:thirty-nine he was elected chairman of the Congregational See also:union of See also:England and See also:Wales . His addresses from the See also:chair on " See also:Christ and the Controversies of Christendom," and the " See also:Holy Spirit and the See also:Christian Ministry " were remarkable for a keen insight into the conditions and demands of the age . For some years he edited the Congregationalist, a monthly See also:magazine connected with the See also:denomination . In 1877 he was appointed Lyman See also:Beecher lecturer at Yale University, and visited America to deliver his " Lectures on See also:Preaching." At the See also:International Council of Congregationalists, See also:meeting in London in 1891, the first gathering of the See also:kind, Dale was nominated for the See also:presidency . He accepted the See also:honour and delivered an address on " The Divine Life in See also:Man." As a theologian Dale occupied an influential position amongst the religious thinkers of the 19th See also:century .

He ably interpreted the Evangelical thought of his age, but his Evangelicalism was of a broad and progressive type . His See also:

chief contribution to constructive theological thought is his work On The See also:Atonement, in which he contends that the death of Christ is the See also:objective ground on which the sins of man were remitted . Among his other theological books are: The See also:Epistle to the See also:Ephesians (a See also:series of expositions), Christian See also:Doctrine, The Living Christ and the Four Gospels, Fellowship with Christ, The Epistle to James, and The Ten Commandments .

End of Article: ROBERT WILLIAM DALE (1829-1895)
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